The Papal Push to Keep Latin Alive, by Jerry D. Salyer

By Jerry D. Salyer, Crisis Magazine, Aug. 9, 2022

Jerry D. Salyer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautics from Miami University and a Master of Arts from the Great Books Program of St. John’s College, Annapolis. A veteran of the US Navy, Mr. Salyer now works as an educator and as a freelance writer.

The Latin language is assuredly worthy of being defended with great care instead of being scorned; for the Latin Church it is the most abundant source of Christian civilization and the richest treasury of piety. We must not hold in low esteem these traditions of our fathers which were our glory for centuries. —Pope Paul VI

Especially now, most lay American Catholics regard with indifference if not suspicion the idea of teaching Latin in school. Did not Vatican II—and now Traditionis Custodes—make clear that Latin is obsolete and that an undue interest in it is a sign of pathological nostalgia? Why waste time making Catholic students study Latin when they could be mastering finance, doing social work, or cramming for standardized tests? Or so the conventional wisdom seems to go. …

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