A good (long) read by Fr. Z.

The following is a good point to keep in mind:

“ Allow me to go back to my food analogy for liturgy. This might seem a little insulting but it is just intended to make a point about the continuum we are on.

In 99% of a man’s day and activities, it is beneath his dignity to scrunch up his face and make airplane noises while moving a spoon around with his hand. People would think he was nuts. OR… if he is sitting in front of the high-chair of his little son, who can only eat goop and must sometimes be convinced to eat it, then that man is not doing anything beneath his dignity. On the contrary, he is performing a sacrificial act of love for his child. He sacrifices his dignity – becoming more dignified yet – for the sake of his boy’s eating something that will help him to grow out of the need to eat that sort of thing in that sort of way. He helps his boy move up the food and eating continuum to more complicated foods eaten in a more human way. Infants eat in the way that infants eat, not in the way that adults eat. To force an infant to eat steak and cabernet is abuse, not love.

“This is our situation with a large number of those who miraculously still self-identify as Catholic. Some can take the solid food of the Vetus Ordo, with its greater challenge and deeper apophatic approach to an encounter with mystery. Some are still pretty much bound up in the emphasis on the immanent in the Novus Ordo. Some are ready to make a move quickly and others need more time. Some are ready for steak and cabernet and others still need goop, or perhaps SpaghettiOs if they are into the Novus Ordo with some traditional elements. Eventually, they can handle a slice of bologna and maybe stab at it with a fork that they have to hold in various ways while they learn and their dexterity improves. You get the idea. Eventually, it is china, linens, crystal, sharp knives and bistecca alla fiorentina with a bottle Tignanello.

“Do not make the mistake of thinking that the toddler with Spaghetti O’s is bad because he can’t handle spaghetti all’arrabbiata. Do not make the mistake of thinking that mom and dad who give their toddler SpaggettiOs are bad. They would be bad if, once junior is grown and able to take more and better, they keep him eating pureed carrots in a special chair. They would be infantalizing him, which would be abuse of their child and beneath their own dignity as parents. Of course if the parents had been kept in an infantile state themselves, they wouldn’t know any better.

“Keeping people down liturgically is just plain wrong. However, if priests and bishops don’t have a clue themselves… what to do? Priests and bishops are included in this. Some priests are at the level of the boy in the high chair when in comes to liturgical identity. Remember: we are our rites! Alas, they listen to the “experts” who did the infantalization in the first place and the closed circles just grinds on and on.”

https://wdtprs.com/2025/05/oldie-ask-father-blessings-that-are-not-in-latin-wherein-fr-z-rants-at-length/