Sara Haines made some explosive comments on “The View” last week when she forcefully distinguished between “devout Catholics” and “someone who is practicing … the Latin Mass.” The latter, she explained, is “cult-like and extremist, like some religions in the Middle East and Asia.”
Her comments were in response to Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s commencement speech at a Catholic college in which he encouraged the graduates to seek out the Traditional Latin Mass, which he devotedly attends. This is the Roman Rite as it has been practiced for centuries before liturgical reforms in the 1960s made it rare, but never, as Pope Benedict XVI reminded us, abrogated. Catholics and converts alike have been rediscovering it in recent years, and attendance has been rapidly increasing.
So what makes Butker such an extremist? Does he advocate for Shariah law? The harassment of Jews on campus? Let me recount some of the boldest points from his speech: He warned against gender ideology. He criticized Biden for proudly proclaiming to be Catholic while publicly supporting abortion. He lamented that church leaders let people die alone during Covid regulations. He warned of the tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion over free speech.
Perhaps most inflammatory of all, he used the word “homemaker” and encouraged young women to prioritize their marriages and children over worldly success and material gain. This advice was extended to the men in the room as he tearfully praised his own wife for reminding him to do the same: “She’s the one who ensures I never let
