The VO is "the default"

the NO is "at fault" that the VO has been eclipsed.

Here is the latest in how this 'war is being waged'

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2016/07/more-deception-in-the-war-on-card-sarah/

I wonder how many of these "very vocal modernists" are Protestant converts who like things they way they are because they remind them of their former, Protestant churches.

Former ELCA Lutheran here. And I'm a reverse Puritan. That is for instance, when I walk into a modern church building and see all the soft-peddling of hard teachings (The tabernacle moved out of the sanctuary and into a repurposed broom closet), or generally contributing to a casual and trivialized atmosphere (the choir and piles of stage gear off to the side like they are Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band, etc.) my soul groans, "Put it back and make it Catholic again! I just left this silliness!"

But that's just me. Elsewhere it's a mixed bag. For every convert looking to smuggle Protestant (or secular, Leftist, etc.) bric-a-brac like Tony Blair, who didn't even wait for the ink to dry on the confirmation register before calling for the Church to reform its teachings on pelvic issues, there is a cradle Catholic who begins his Sexual Revolution rantings with, "I was born and raised Catholic" like that is supposed to mean something.

Francis, maybe, in hindsight, it might have been better to use the terms Novus Ordo and Vetus Ordo, despite the baggage that the moniker "N.O." has accumulated over the years. The terms "ordinary" and "extraordinary" do rather invite the spin that the Vatican Press Office placed on them.

Pope Benedict was very careful to give both equivalent honor: The Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI and the last edition prepared under Pope John XXIII, are two forms of the Roman Liturgy, defined respectively as ordinaria and extraordinaria: they are two usages of the one Roman Rite, one alongside the other. Both are the expression of the same lex orandi of the Church. On account of its venerable and ancient use, the forma extraordinaria is to be maintained with appropriate honor. (Universae Ecclesiae)

However, I've always thought "extraordinary" could too easily be taken to mean "special" and "unusual" and even "not normal" or "not typical". I do understand, though, how Pope Benedict's plan was probably to take this first step to acquaint people with the idea of integrating the Latin Mass back into regular parish life and not take on too much at one time.

It would be very interesting to know what the next steps would have been in Pope Benedict's plan for the renewal of the liturgy. Universae Ecclesiae turned things up incrementally after Summorum Pontificum, and the increased status of the PCED would have been an interesting development.

There were also the fascinating reports in May, 2012, of the revival of Gregorian chant and many other excellent proposals in the address by Msgr. Juan-Miguel Ferrer Grenesche reported on by Sandro Magister: THE NEW DUTIES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR DIVINE WORSHIP IN THE PROMOTION OF SACRED MUSIC AFTER THE MOTU PROPRIO "QUAERIT SEMPER" OF BENEDICT XVI.

OK, I'll bite. What is the significance of October, 2017?

Perish the thought, Padre, hat-makers can't get dates anytime?

OK, thanks. I see the anniversary dates. However, it is too easy to descend into superstition and numerology on these things.

The writer of the article mentioned the overthrow of the government of Louis XVI. He didn't mention that Louis XV had said, "After me, the deluge," recognizing the incompetence of his successor. Also not mentioned was the agricultural collapse caused by the Little Ice Age. The French, in typical fashion, were too hard-headed to change to growing crops that could flourish in a cooler climate. No wonder they were starving.

He mentions the Russian Revolution. He doesn't mention that Nicholas II was so removed from reality, he led the country into three devastating wars. He, like Louis XVI, was an incompetent leader.

The author makes vast leaps of logic connecting the Enlightenment with drug-crazed hippies of the sixties. A big jump in time and rather short on actual linkage between the groups of two greatly different cultures.

Also mentioned is Paul VI and the smoke of Satan entering the church. If anything held the door open for Satan to enter, it was the incompetence of Paul VI. The man was a holy fool who never saw the logical consequences of his actions. If you think the church is screwed up, then lay quite a bit of the responsibility for it at his feet.

Could there be a significance between 1917 and 2017? Who knows? You could go nuts trying to decipher these things. All I know is that we have problems - just like the church has had problems since the first century. Before attributing all ills to the supernatural, it wouldn't hurt to remember the incompetence and bungling of those in charge when those ills developed. Quite of bit of it was human caused, not devil caused.

I don’t think Louis XV saw incompetence so much as the fact that the whole system was on the brink of collapse.

I kind of think both were at play. They were in economic and agricultural trouble. When Louis XVI became king, he remarked that he wanted to be loved by his subjects. He didn't seem to have much of a clue as to how to fix the problems. Interesting that a contemporary ( I don't remember who) said that Louis XVI would have made an excellent clock maker.

We tend, in the west, to think of Islam as a religion of uniformity and sameness. It isn't. Even the Baptists and Methodists were not out to kill each other. That instability you imply in the Islamic world is all too real and still with us.

I found it interesting that Louis XIV reduced the threat of insurrection from the nobility by bringing them all to Versailles. They became a class of fawning courtiers living in luxury. I think I read somewhere that they were exempt from the taxes that the "lower" classes paid. The state income was borne heavily by those least able to afford it.

The 1789 meeting of the Estates General was the first meeting since 1614. My college history professor said the three estates could never agree on anything. LOL. Perhaps that is why they were not allowed to meet. I read that Louis XVI preceded the meeting of the Estates with a mass at Notre Dame to seek God's guidance. So in that sense, his heart was apparently in the right place.

My history professor also remarked that, "The Bourbons never learned a thing." LOL. Interesting stuff! I have wondered if our leaders are a bit like them in having never learned a thing, either.

Note: Just read about the truck driver in Nice who mowed down people in Nice who were celebrating Bastille Day. At least 60 were killed and I couldn't determine how many were wounded. I suppose that isn't known yet. It appears to have been deliberate. Prayers for them.

BTW, the total dead in Nice is now at 70.

Transplanting a fully actualized EF Missa Cantata into the life of a typical OF parish with little attempt to integrate it

People who want an example of a fairly seamless transition from "OF to EF" should check out St. Barnabas in O'Fallon Missouri. I had the chance to sit in and sing with Ryan Murphy's choir (which is excellent, but you know that) before I heard a little history about the church. Turns out it was on the endangered list before Fr. Hager, the priest in charge, decided to put it to the people at a full parish meeting what they should do to keep the church alive. The overwhelming vote was to include a Latin Mass in the Sunday morning schedule. So they did. And boy did they ever. Father went ALL OUT in promoting it and making it a part of parish life. They have a billboard for it on I-64 right as you drive across the river from St. Louis. They handed out bumper stickers advertising St. Barnabas's new mass. Father even three multiple dinners so parishioners could meet one another and form a parish life. He's even printed out stylized hand missals so parishioners can more easily figure out when to stand, sit, etc. The result is that the parish now has an Altar Guild, a Holy Name Society, and for the first time in decades, a youth group. Is the parish out of trouble just yet? No. Do they look like they're ready to give up anytime soon? No way!!! The parish follows Father into the traditions which their church has taught them for so long and which they are only now beginning to discover again. They have shown the enthusiasm to follow Father on this, because they know for sure where the alternative leads. And that, my friends, is how it should be done.

The overwhelming vote was to include a Latin Mass in the Sunday morning schedule.

This is wonderful. I would even say - a miracle. However, I cannot imagine anywhere near where I live that the parishioners would opt for such solution. Sure, no pastor has proposed it because there are no "endangered" parishes, perhaps only on countryside, because of people moving to cities. But even there I doubt that any pastor would consider such method of revitalization.

By the way, how it is now at St. Barnabas in O'Fallon, Missouri? Is the parish still endangered? Has the new initiative attracted more people? Is still Novus Ordo also offered? The relative numbers and demographics in both forms?

the traditions which their church has taught them for so long

The time is working against them, though. OF is there around for some 50 years, so it has become an 'immemorial and venerable custom'. The traditional Mass on this background is perceived as an unheard of novelty.