Conservative priests let down by Vatican

When dissenting voices of priests are heard grumbling about Vatican decisions, the voices are commonly liberal ones. But what happens when a conservative priest who has defined his priesthood by obedience to the pope finds himself in conflict with a papal decision?

A recent article in a traditionalist Catholic magazine said that more and more conservative priests are "demoralized" and even "totally disgusted" with Rome, finding themselves in a crisis between obedience and conscience.

For many conservative priests, a turning point came with the decision to allow altar girls, according to the article "Beyond Conservatism," which appeared in the fall 1995 issue of The Latin Mass. Authors Roger McCaffrey and Jeffrey Rubin said it was a "loss of face" for priests who had held out against altar girls on the grounds of fidelity to Rome.

"Rome did a real job on us with...