As the Liturgy goes, so goes the Church.

Moral laxity among the faithful. Abuse of authority by bishops and priests seeking personal gain. Is there a link between the moral failings of man and the current manner in which the (Ordinary Form of the) Mass is commonly celebrated?

More and more cradle Catholics and converts attend our local Ordinariate liturgies who are making the connection between the way the Mass is celebrated, the kind of Mass celebrated, and the positive effects in their lives and families when the Mass is celebrated reverently.

Turned-off by priestly showmanship and by pretentious lay folk who rule the Liturgy in ways that make the Mass into a buffet of personal preferences, people are reaching out to traditional communities such as our Ordinariate mission to find liturgical sanity, a space whereby they can encounter God and worship Him on God's terms. These same concerned citizens confess that they have been withering spiritually, distracted by sentimental homilies that neither challenge them nor assist them in spiritual growth. They are routinely mocked for their sense of traditional piety. They are seeking a challenge, but not the challenge of trying to overlook liturgical abuse at every Mass. They want mature food, real substance, the content of the Faith, not pablum that might as well be written on the cover of a tabloid in a grocery store magazine rack.

The restoration of the Sacred Liturgy will renew the Church.

Some would call that thought laughable, others ridiculous that a restoration of the Mass would assist in the renewal of the Church. That Catholics do not see the connection between the reverent celebration of the Mass and effective evangelization, abundant vocations and upright living, points to a sad state of affairs with regards to catechesis. Without the Sacred Liturgy at the centre of the mission of the Church, attempts to evangelize are reduce to trite marketing schemes doomed to fail.

What was that title lobbed at conservatives—Self-Absorbed Promethean Neopelagians? Perhaps the appellation is better aimed at those who promote nifty parish programs that sound more like the ploys of "We-can-make-it-happen" marketeers and spin doctors who think their slick advertising campaigns can do better than offering the Mass reverently.

94. This worldliness can be fuelled in two deeply interrelated ways. One is the attraction of gnosticism, a purely subjective faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of ideas and bits of information which are meant to console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in his or her own thoughts and feelings. The other is the self-absorbed promethean neopelagianism of those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus Christ or others. These are manifestations of an anthropocentric immanentism.—Evangelii Gaudium

Unfortunately, the confused use of the phrase "faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past" tends to obscure the need for true, good and beautiful liturgy so that God's grace, finding true liturgy (i.e., a window open to His grace), can flow through it to reach hearts desperate for truth, goodness and beauty. The criticism of Section 94 above is only partially true because it attacks clichés, and thus risks becoming a parody of authentic criticism.

Meanwhile, slick social and spiritual enterprises continue to be tried, and routinely fail. Why not look to the "source and summit of the Christian life", the Holy Eucharist itself, to provide the means by which wandering Catholics may find a way home, a means by which young men enthusiastically embrace the call to serve Christ and Church?

Dioceses that have recognized the necessity of celebrating the Mass with due reverence continue to experience a vocations boom. And, because respect for Holy Orders and respect for the Sacrament of Matrimony go hand in hand, healthy marriages characterized by an abundance of children are very present in those same dioceses that honour the Holy Eucharist. Vocations to religious life, or a lack thereof, are like the proverbial canary in the coal mine. A lack of vocations to the priesthood and religious life indicate there's something seriously wrong with a community lacking the means to host the Eucharist, i.e., lacking priests to celebrate Mass. Is it that God, not finding faith, "wrought not many miracles, because of their unbelief"(St. Matthew 13:58)?

It does not take a rocket scientist to understand why traditional communities—the FSSP, ICKSP, the Ordinariate and certain dioceses led by tradition-minded clergy—are doing far better than liberal dioceses with regards to vocations and families. Whether it is the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, the Ordinariate Form (Divine Worship: the Missal) or the Ordinary Form reverently celebrated, accompanied by orthodox preaching and orthodox extra-liturgical teaching (in Catholic schools), manifold blessings are manifest in those communities that honour God not merely with their lips but with their commitment to living the Mass in daily life.

The Liturgy Guy captures the statistics:

https://liturgyguy.com/2017/07/14/increasing-vocations-isnt-rocket-science/

In 2017 Wichita ordained 10 men to the priesthood, one of the top ordination classes in the entire country. Next year they are set to ordain another 10. This means that in just two years they will have increased their number of diocesan priests by 20%. The role of (authentic) Catholic schools in this boom can’t be overstated.

In their 2008 publication “Who Will Save America’s Urban Catholic Schools?”, the Fordham Foundation noted:

Wichita might be home to one of the strongestCatholic school systems in the nation . . .

As explained at Wichita’s diocesan website:

…Catholic schools are parochial; they belong to the parish. They are not private schools that are owned and operated by those who use them. Therefore, every school family is encouraged to be an active parish steward.

Because the entire Diocese is committed to Stewardship, parishes make every effort to make a Catholic education, from kindergarten thru high school, available to active parish stewards without charging tuition. As far as we know, the Diocese of Wichita is the only diocese in the United States where every child of active parish stewards can attend Catholic grade and high school without paying tuition.

Wichita’s diocesan newspaper recently identified the prominent role Catholic schools have played in their vocations boom. Unlike the rest of the country, which has seen decline and closures, Wichita has seen enrollment increase since 1985, including at the kindergarten level where they also exceed the national average.

Prior to this year ordinations, the diocese had 58 seminarians, or one for every 1,845 registered Catholics, far exceeding the ratios of archdioceses like Los Angeles or New York.

And yet, too many dioceses still behave as if they are searching for a way out of their vocational desert, as if the path eludes them.

Simply put, tradition and orthodoxy are not optional. Reverent liturgies, incorporating traditional disciplines such as ad orientem Masses and altar boys serving, aren’t merely a preference. They are foundational.

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—Author's note: by comparison, a western Canadian diocese of some 90,000 souls has one seminarian. Two-thirds of the priests of the same diocese are from other countries. Those visiting priests, many of whom are more Tradition-minded, have met ill treatment by their hosts/parishioners for their attempts to bring to the Liturgy a sense of decorum and reverence.

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Living the Mass requires a daily commitment to embodying the Mass. The most obvious way to embody the Mass is by attending daily Mass. To embody the Mass is to walk in the way of Jesus Christ. The pattern of the Mass is the Cross, and the Cross is a dying to self. At the intersection of the horizontal beam (patibulum) of the cross and the vertical beam is Jesus Christ. The heart of the Cross is Jesus, and there must Jesus be in each person's heart, at the centre. The heart centred on Jesus is at peace, and that peace expands into the home, the workplace, into rest and into play, into one's daily activities.

Let's be bold and insist that true reform, or renewal, depends on the conservation of Tradition. To treat the Mass with disrespect is to treat the Person of Jesus Christ with contempt.

The Ordinariate and those tradition-minded associations such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter offer a model to the rest of the Church of how to invite and sustain vocations. Those communities which keep Jesus' commandments are the ones which Jesus sees loving Him, and so He blesses them. Jesus blesses those who keep his commandments, those who truly love Him.

If you are part of a community that rarely promotes love of Jesus by keeping His commandments, perhaps it is time to write a letter to one's pastor, to encourage reverent liturgies, for you to engage by becoming an altar server or a sacristan who models reverence for the Holy Eucharist, to become one who is knowledgeable about how the Mass should be prayed.

It only takes one saint to turn around a parish, a diocese. “Sanctify yourself, and you will sanctify society." (St. Francis of Assisi)

Pray the Rosary. Pray the Office. Pray the Mass.