Why You Can’t Have The Latin Mass

When the new form of the Mass was introduced in the 1960s, there was no popular demand for it. Supply was not thought to be a detriment either: all the priests in the world were trained in the old form of the Mass, but the changes were implemented anyway.

What made the change possible were the bishops simply saying, “We are doing this for your own good. The Church needs to adapt, and we will shepherd you through the process.” The average parishioner in the pew, then, was not asking for the change; instead, the change was imposed from above, under color of authority.

The bishops today are the souls who championed the changes to the new form of the Mass; they imposed it; they directed the change to take place; they allowed the innovations to occur, and all this without a request or mandate from the majority of the faithful. The chief reason that the new Mass remains the norm, then, is that the bishops want it; they simply do not want the old Mass.

With sufficient motivation by the authorities, the lack of a demand and the lack of a supply were not an impediment to change in the 1960s. Absent the leadership of the hierarchy, all the demand in the world for the Latin Mass will not be supplied.

And that is why more people cannot have the Latin Mass.