So long Reform of the Reform and the Hermeneutic of Continuity?

Pope Francis, from the very first moment of his Pontificate, made a rather significant liturgical change by appearing after his election without the papal mozzetta and stole. His first Mass as Pope included hauling out the movable, free standing altar that the previous Pontificate had kept in storage. Pope Francis' recent liturgical practices while still Archbishop of Beunos Aires were far from embodying the Ratzinger liturgical aesthetic, which has been dubbed "The Reform of the Reform" or the "Hermeneutic of Continuity", or, from Ratzinger's book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, "The New Liturgical Movement".

There's a new sheriff in town, as the saying goes, and one can get a good feel for the tone and tenure of the new management by the kinds of citizens who are thrilled with that new sheriff. Take, for example, the over-joyed reaction of the priest-sex-abuser-protector, the liturgically (and everything else) liberal, Roger Cardinal Mahony, who enthusiastically tweeted: "Mass with Pope Francis: moving from HIGH Church to LOW and humble Church!"

If Cardinal Mahony, who protected sex abusing priests, and then pridefully attacked his successor and other detractors, for calling him to task for his clear negligence and disregard for the welfare of children and teen-agers, if this guy, who personifies the "filth" in the curia, is happy about Pope Francis, can we reasonably expect this new Pope to clean up that filth? It seems to me that the filth got its way. But that is a topic for another time. Maybe the giddy enthusiasm of the filth will be surprised in the future.

What is crystal clear, however, and what ought to be striking fear into the Hermeneutic of Continuity/Reform of the Reform crowd is that their project, on which they spent so much time and energy and emotion, has perceptibly come to an end. As I've stated before, this might be a good that God brings out of the evil. If these good people realize that they have been snookered by the Vatican elites and churchmen, maybe they will give up that hopeless endeavor and embrace promoting real traditionalism, the Traditional Latin Mass, and begin to fight the real crisis, which is a crisis of faith. We can only pray.