Our Spiritual Father Gave Us a Serpent Yesterday!

Do you ever read a post that strikes a chord of joy or sorrow and actually brings tears to your eyes? That happened to me this morning when I read Eric Sammons article at Crisis Magazine.

Traditionis custodes: Serpents over Fish

I grieve for children who have absentee or negligent or abusive fathers. What a tragedy for those youngsters! Today, after the pope dropped a bomb on the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) yesterday, I know how they feel. I'm sure many others who love the TLM could say the same thing. Here's a bit from Sammon's piece:

One of my first thoughts when reading the Pope’s decree was our Lord’s words, “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent?” (Luke 11:11) A growing number of Catholics have been asking to be fed by the “fish” of the TLM; now the Holy Father has given them instead a serpent.

 These divine words come to mind because I think of all the people I’ve met in recent years who have discovered the traditional Latin Mass and found it to be a source of strength and comfort in their spiritual pilgrimage here on earth. They don’t reject Vatican II; they don’t think they are better than Novus Ordo Catholics; they don’t hate the pope. By and large, they don’t concern themselves with Church politics. They simply love the beauty and reverence and richness of the traditional Latin Mass—a beauty, reverence, and richness they could not find at their local parish.

I also think of my Anglo-Catholic friend, who is considering conversion. He told me that the motu proprio is like “a door slammed in his face.” He has been off-and-on attending the Latin Mass at my parish, and he recognizes its timeless value. But now he hears the leader of the Catholic Church talk about it as if it’s a bad thing, something dangerous that needs to be hidden and locked up in the closet. He knows this isn’t true, and it makes him hesitant to swim the Tiber.

Francis claims he is responding to the world survey of bishops about the TLM. Let him release the results then. I expect most bishops affirmed the TLM in their dioceses. After all, polls and surveys comparing those who attend the TLM vs. those attending the Novus Ordo (NO) indicate these are the very Catholics who practice the faith most seriously. 

Last February, Fr. Donald Kloster of St. Mary's parish in Norwalk, CT, (a priest who says both the TLM and the NO Mass) with the help of a statistician, surveyed Catholics who attend the TLM. According to the Liturgy Guy blog: 

The TLM Survey was designed to parallel questions posed in previous research, allowing a direct comparison between the TLM attendees and those of the NOM. These were the topics:

Approval of contraception
Approval of abortion
Weekly Mass attendance
Approval of same sex marriage
Percentage of income donated
Annual Confession among weekly Mass attendees
Fertility Rate

The results speak for themselves. Almost 100% of TLM Catholics attend Mass weekly and go to Confession at least annually compared to 25% of NO Catholics. Only 1% of TLM Catholics approve of abortion, 2% approve of contraception, and 2% approve of gay "marriage" vs. a whopping 51%, 89%, and 67% of NO Catholics who accept those evils. Why the discrepancy? Is it because the TLM and the preaching that goes with it better catechize the faithful? More research is definitely in order.

The survey results say nothing about the holiness of individuals who attend either Mass, but they certainly indicate that those who attend the TLM follow the teachings of Holy Mother Church more faithfully. They are more open to life and give more of their personal treasure to the support of the Church. (You would think that last fact alone would make the money-hungry members of the hierarchy delight in the TLM!)

When Pope Francis was elected I had high hopes. I tend to be an optimist and see the glass as half full. The apparent humility of the man who "rode the bus" in Argentina and eschewed many of the trappings of high office seemed like a refreshing foil to bling bishops around the world living in their multi-million dollar mansions. How soon that "humility" proved to be a chimera as Francis beat up on the faithful, even young altar servers who folded their hands reverently or teenage girls who wear veils. He has shown himself time and again to be a bully abusing his authority, like a drunk dad who comes home, slams the door, kicks the dog, and gives his wife a black eye. Poor bride of Christ, Holy Mother Church, bears the bruises. And the faithful members of that mother do as well.

May God have mercy on this evil man who sits so unfaithfully on the chair of Peter. Let us all pray for him.