Ever since Francis-Bergoglio issued his ironically named Apostolic Letter Traditiones Custodes (Guardians of the Tradition), it has been on my mind continually whether the majority of Catholics even care about this decree. To be sure, members of the Magisterium like Cardinal Burke, Cardinal Mueller, Archbishop Vigano, etc have shown great interest in it, however does the average Novus Ordo Catholic even know about this restrictive order? Has their parish addressed it at all? Have they read it?
It seems that the numbers of Catholics who care about the Traditions and customs of the Catholic Church is declining. As Catholics (and certainly as Traditional Catholics) we have a sacred obligation and duty: to protect the Church, its Sacred Tradition and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Sadly, many Catholics today are blissfully unaware. Unaware that as they prance into their Novus Ordo Mass every Sunday that the Canon's portrayal of the Mass is woefully inadequate. Unaware that as they participate in the new ritual, Tradition is slowly being smothered by modernist garbage. Unaware that there are abundant and odious blasphemies of Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother being spread about in the mainstream media.
It should be noted that many TLM Catholics accept the 95% of VII that is in line with Tradition and other parts of canon law, we only disagree with and therefore cannot accept the 5% that is both against Tradition and contradicts precedents set by other councils. The new Motu Proprio requires that all parishioners and clergy who choose to celebrate the Mass using the 1962 missal must accept ALL of the VII changes - a great injustice that many cannot abide.
Unfortunately, there are not many of us left who care about the Church's Tradition. As a young Trad, I feel that this issue is certainly going to rest ultimately on my generation. Because of this new order (as of now), I will be unable to learn the TLM as a future seminarian. That should bother anyone who claims to be faithful to Tradition. As such, who are really the Guardians of the Tradition? Is it Francis? How about Cardinal Gregory? (The answer is of course no to both). The true Guardians of Tradition are you and me, along with the faithful priests and clergy. Organizations like the SSPX or FSSP are good places to start. But don't just sit there and complain. Write to your bishop, express your concerns to your parish priest, heck, email the Cardinal. Just don't wring your hands like there is nothing you can do. We are the guardians of Tradition and it's high time we start acting like it.