Someone told me that it’s kind of amazing how Cleansing Fire grew so quickly to be so relevant in the whole DoR scene. I’m not flaunting our success, but I’d like to share some of the other comments the person said. He went on to draw a parallel between readership of blogs, and attendance at parishes. Those blogs which are undeniably orthodox in their faith, adhering to Rome without playing any of the childish games of the “reformers,” these are the blogs whose readership is dynamic, growing steadily. And look at the parishes that are overtly orthodox – they’re the ones that are growing steadily, too.
But look at the parishes that are either stuck in the 1970’s or engaging in liturgical abuses. They’re the ones that are dying off. You see losses in their finances, losses in their attendance figures, and gaping spaces in the pews. Like these parishes, blogs whose focus is rear-ward and not lock-step in line with Rome are the ones who see low readership, a total lack of comments, a non-existence of dialogue, etc.
We must continue to pray for those parishes that persist in their “retro” liturgy, theology, and spirituality. Remember – the Church is timeless, ever ancient and ever new. If we burden Her down with contemporary fads, not only do we strip her of her beauty, but we do ourselves the immeasurable disservice of not being able to gaze on Her in Her Divinely-created radiance. 
Tags: Liturgy, Music Sacred Catholic Liturgical and Chant, Orthodoxy at Work
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I wonder what the leaders in the DOR see. Sure, attendence is down and the finances are down too. But they are even more committed to their liturgical and majesterial destruction. The only things they seem to be concerned with is their own heretetical ideology.
You seen to assume that those who read this blog are of like mind. Let me assure you that many frequent readers of these pages find the views and the attitudes expressed herein utterly abhorrent. The continual rants and whines provide some of your readers with confirmation of the psychopathlogy inherent in neo=conservatism and fundamentalism clothed in self-righteousness and masquerading as orthodoxy. Mind you, I’m not suggesting I am one such reader, just saying….
I think that the trend is very much noticed at headquarters. And it is making some changes. There is now some effort to encourage vocations to the priesthood and we have some orthodox seminarians. Scott Caton has been ordained as a deacon and accepted as a candidate for priesthood.
actually – we are simply Catholic. Just so I understand where you are coming from anon 5:47 – are you a Catholic? If, by chance, you are, then you must place those same labels on your own Church and your own pope. We don’t push anything besides authentic Church teaching here. If you find something to the contrary please comment on specifics instead of making sweeping statements. If you continue with your flammatory remarks your comments will be deleted.
Anon 5:47 – You claim not to be “one such reader,” and yet you stated several weeks back that “For once, you have said something about which I can give an unqualified thumbs up.” It seems, perhaps, that you are “one such reader” from the tone of that comment. I don’t have a problem with your views, at all, and I look forward to continuing dialogue. If there is one thing I loathe, it’s duplicity and leading people on. You’re obviously not the kind of person to put up a false front. I thank you for your opinion.
That being said, I see the stats for our readership, and you’d be surprised, Anon 5:47, at just how many people are in support of us. I would say that, as a base-line, about 75% of those who read are impressed by what they find. The rate of positive/negative comments is around the same, too. The best thing is that those who read tend not to label themselves as you’ve labeled others. We aren’t neo-cons, nor are we “traditionalists” as Ray Grosswirth contends. We’re Catholics. We’ve got problems, and that’s why we band together like this to share our grievances with others for a chance at the fraternity we’ve been denied in this place of heterodoxy and dissent. If people have a problem with our tone, they are reminded that it’s their choice to read the blog, not ours. We don’t assume anything here – it’s fact, tempered with humor, sarcasm, and a bit of hard-hitting reality.
Can we ban the use of the rhetorical devise, “just sayin'”? It’s so overused. I’m just sayin’
So today we’ve been labeled “dissenting (from another post), neo-conservative, fundamentalists.” It seems people are getting annoyed. Wonder why?
Oh, wait, let me add “whiny, dissenting, neo-conservative, self-righteous, fundamentalists.” Phew. That’s a mouthful. New tag, Gen?
You must have us confused with a SSPV blog.
Nerina,
You left out “archaic.”
A deacon friend claims that my theology is right out of the 13th century, to which I reply that St. Thomas seems to have gotten a lot more right than the Gaillardetzes, Chittisters and Currans of our day.