Defenders of the NO keep telling us it is getting better, and that the "abuses" are now under control. But that's not my observation, either. What has happened is that we have simply come to accept the abuses and people no longer recognize them as such.
And chide us for not going along. Now anyone who is 'traditional' is the odd one, at least in many dioceses. And sadly it is often the people in authority, the 'ministers' of things who go out of their way to make non-conformists feel out of place. And the more out of line the changes, the worse the behavior.
I've heard people say that this is the springtime of Vatican II. That this NO mass is the best ever. There will be no going back. Yet, for all their urging to accept change, they themselves refuse to hear of any changes that deviate from their notion of what Catholic should be. I find it wearying to discuss it at our parish ministries meetings. What is always most outstanding to me is that these defenders of the NO, these people who want the changes want only those changes as defined by them. If you question what they are doing, they are openly abusive and insulting, reminiscent of arguing with liberal dems. This was a huge problem at our parish a decade or so ago when our 2 priests were openly schismatic. It still is a problem, but more people just go along now. We lost 20-30% of our population.
Exactly. It's called systematic desensitization, like what happens to a child when they are exposed to violent or pornographic images over and over again, they are no longer repulsed or shocked. The homosexual activists use this method too as do many others advancing an anti God agenda.
Combine that with the ignorance of basic Church teaching that is quite common today, plus a false notion of obedience, "if it comes from the diocese, my priest, a religious, the bishop, the Pope etc. it must be OK" even if it goes against everything traditionally taught as Catholic and our better judgment; the sheep will be easily lead astray. The evil one is very clever.
You make a very important point: complacency breeds acceptablility of the previously unacceptable.
Refer back to the frog in the slowly, ever heating pot....who does not realize that he will sortly boil to death.