A friend of mine emailed me earlier today to inform me that, ironically, Father Foster was opposed to the restoration of the traditional Latin Mass. He was interviewed by the London Telegraph just prior to the issuing of Pope Benedict’s Summorum Pontificum, which granted universal permission for the offering of the Tridentine Mass by any priest who desired it. In that interview he made this outrageous comment:
“He is not going to do it,” Fr Foster said. “He had trouble with Regensberg, and then trouble in Warsaw, and if he does this, all hell will break loose.” In any case, he added: “It is a useless mass and the whole mentality is stupid. The idea of it is that things were better in the old days. It makes the Vatican look medieval.”
The priest may be the most brilliant Latin scholar in the world, but, apparently, he hasn’t a clue what the Holy Mass is; if he had he’d be honoring the ancient liturgy that did it justice. Nor, apparently, does he have a clue about the catholicity of the Church in terms of its universality in time as well as geographically. Does he think there a different Faith in the Middle Ages ? Nevertheless, despite his irreverence for the “holiest thing this side of heaven,” the personal tidbits that end the interview paint an intriguing figure. It’s just a shame that someone who captured the spirit of what education and teaching should be should be so flawed in his theology. You can read the interview here.
