"... lamenting the loss of the Tridentine Rite's stress on the power of the priesthood and the 'vertical' presentation of man's relationship with God...a vertical relationship that needed the clerical middle man to initiate."

I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head here... given that human nature is inherently selfish (this selfishness perhaps the greatest argument *for* Original Sin--although I think it misses the mark when weighed against more modern scholarship), who actually believes that Cdl Sarah is proferring "agape love" with all his talk of Sacred Liturgy and Tradition? We are not called to selfish "love" of ancient forms and customs but rather we are to love God and neighbor in real, tangible ways.

In other words, IMO the Church needs to show that it values substance over form as a means to agape love.  Mere "forms" and rituals are not capable of yielding this level of substance (i.e., agape love), which can only be found in relationships (with God and neighbor).