For those prone to noticing patterns, there is a predictable sequence of events that unfolds whenever a bishop suppresses the Traditional Latin Mass in his diocese. First, the bishop makes an announcement that the Latin Mass is being suppressed. The statement, both in its content and wording, demonstrates shockingly little pastoral sensitivity to those who will be displaced. The callous disregard for the persons affected prompts an angry backlash; the bishop is subsquently lambasted in the Trad media. Anti-Trads, meanwhile, hold up Trads' predictable ire as justification of the crackdown (this is, of course, gaslighting by inverting causality, akin to beating a dog until it bites you and then arguing that the bite justified the beating). This level of delusion beggars belief. When the Latin Masses of Charlotte were suppressed, there was even someone, a relatively well-known commentator—a real special fellow—who actually argued that Charlotte's traditional Catholics should be thanking Bishop Martin for turning them out of their parishes and shuffling them off to a chapel!
