The Better, the Worse, and the Masculine

To begin with, we need always to remember the old adage that “dogmas come first, not liturgies.” That is not to say liturgies are unimportant or unconnected to dogma: one of the problems with the New Mass is that it does not convey as well as the TLM what the Church says is happening. And, of course, lex orandi, lex credendi. But what it does mean is that before succumbing to the spirit of division that is so great today, we need to recognize that all who can read and accept without flinching the four creeds of the Church are our brother Catholics, be they habitués of the New Mass, pre-1955, post-1955, Anglican Ordinariates, or any of the Eastern Churches in union with us.