A man once visited St. George parish for Mass. I spoke with him briefly after Mass, but it was a Sunday so there were quite a few people there, and most were in the back gathering area. He told me was just visiting, but that he wished he lived in the area so that he could come to St. George every week. Then he said something which did not really shock me, but I was saddened by it.
He told me that after having spoken with a number of parishioners, he realized that although he had visited a large number of parishes during his life, St. George in Republic, Missouri, was the only parish he had ever visited where he could be completely faithful to the Magisterium, and not be treated as though he were a "weirdo". (Again, he was only speaking from his own experience.)
I was encouraged by his perspective on St. George parish, and I had to work to keep myself from getting prideful. What struck me, though, was what he was saying about other parishes that he had visited. In essence, his experience was that Catholics who behave like all faithful Catholics did prior to 1965 were treated with disdain by Catholics who do not want to behave like all faithful Catholics did prior to 1965. We all know that there are internal quarrels in the Church. Yet we need to realize the depth of this disdain that traditional Catholics are often subjected to in your average Catholic parish.
Without realizing it, large numbers of "modernist" and "contemporary" Catholics are looking down at 97% of their forefathers in the faith. I have mentioned this number before, but it bears repeating. The new modernist practices of today's Catholic Church only amount to 3% of the history of the Catholic Church. Some might call this behavior foolish pride, and they would be right to do so.
The devil really did a number on the faith of most Catholics by getting them to dislike history, tradition, reverence, and the faith of our fathers. The modernist way is not just a "new way" of doing Catholicism, it is rejection of the way that the Saints practiced their faith for 97% of the history of the Church. There is nothing good about that. How did we get from the "faith once delivered to the Saints", to the new situation of faithful Catholics feeling unwelcome in a Catholic parish?
This is where the real division exists in the Church. It is not a division between traditionals and modernists. It is a division between those who reject the historic faith and those who want to submit to it. Let us pray, and pray fervently, for all who are deluded into believing that the modern era helped us find a new way to be Catholic. Modernism is of the devil and Christ will conquer it. Amen, Lord Jesus!