Is Anyone Listening to Catholics in the Pew? GIVE US THE MASS!

Newly elected Pope Francis with St. Gallen Mafia member Cardinal Danneels (seated)

Ever since Jorge Bergoglio came out on the balcony as Pope Francis (the first of that name - poor St. Francis), we've been bombarded with words like "pastoral".... "listening".... "dialogue".... "collegiality"...."synodality"....etc. ad nauseum. Like the Big Brother ministries in Orwell's 1984, the reality is the exact opposite. There is no pastoral treatment, listening, or collegiality for those who hold fast to the perennial teachings of Holy Mother Church. All the listening goes one way. Atheists, dissenting priests and bishop, abortionists, homosexuals, Muslims, idol worshipers, etc.; they all have the ear of Pope Francis. Those who stand firm and hold the ground for the teachings of the Church Fathers are treated with derision and contempt. 

And, sadly, our spiritual fathers, the diocesan bishops have almost universally betrayed and dismissed us and our concerns. My own bishop, Michael Burbidge, went along in lockstep with the most stringent restrictions imposed on the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) by Traditionis Custodes, an apostolic letter of questionable authority, and the Responsa ad Dubia, a document of no authority at all. 

Yesterday, I was browsing through articles on the OnePeter5 website and came across this.

“Unity Über Alles”: Bishop Burbidge in His Own Words

The author, Raymond Kowalski, lays down the case accusing Bishop Burbidge of hyperuberültramontism. 

In brief, ultramontism (or ultramontanism) stresses papal authority and the centralization of that authority in the pope for government of the Church. The word comes from the Latin and literally means "beyond the mountains." It rose from the northern Europeans looking southward over the Alps seeking the pope's guidance. 

Well, certainly all Catholics recognize the authority of the pope. We know he has absolute authority when he declares a doctrine of faith or morals ex cathedra which he rarely does. 

However.... and that's a big word... the pope's authority is not unlimited. He is not a Catholic dictator with no constraints on his decisions and opinions. He has no authority to say, for example, that a Catholic must always obey his pastor, or even his bishop, in every instance, or even himself. No one has a moral obligation to get the deathvax because Pope Francis advised it. And there are many other examples. 

Let me give a few examples that I've often experienced. When we travel, we've attended parishes where the congregation is instructed to stand throughout Communion until everyone receives. We kneel. We also know of situations where someone who kneels to receive Communion is instructed to stand and is refused Communion if he won't. That's a violation of canon law. Sometimes we run into the ridiculous order to stretch across the aisles to hold hands during the sign of peace. Not anymore thank God. One blessing of COVID is the disappearance of that nonsense! All these situations trample on the rights of the laity and no one has an obligation to obey.

In the Diocese of Arlington, many attend the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). Before the crackdown, it was celebrated in about two dozen locations, a few offering it almost every day. When Traditionis Custodes was released, Catholics (both priests and laity) implored Bishop Burbidge to exercise his pastoral care for the flock and continue the TLM. Here's how Mr. Kowalski described it:

Prior to the promulgation of his implementation Policy, the pastors in the diocese met with the bishop to impress upon him the importance of the Traditional Latin Mass in the daily lives of their parishioners. Many of us wrote to the bishop to implore him to forbear from implementing Traditionis Custodes, just like Msgr. Pope implored to bishops last fall. Yet the input* from some bishops around the world to Rome outweighed the specific input from the pastors and parishioners in Bishop Burbidge’s own diocese. There was no weighing of pastoral needs, no balancing of obedience with pastoral care. Nothing was more important than the absolute necessity for worldwide “unity” in the use of liturgical rites.

That is, indeed, hyperuberültramontism. The first responsibility of the bishop is the care of the flock and the salvation of their souls. Bishops do not owe the pope unlimited obedience. In fact, if the pope orders them to violate doctrines of the Church (like telling them to give the Body of our Savior to adulterers), they have an obligation to resist. 

Kowalski points out the reality of Bishop Burbidge's policy:

...parish priests and pastors will have to look the parents in the eye when they can no longer bring their children to church for the Mass that they have chosen for them. Those priests will have to face the altar boys who have chosen to learn and serve the Latin Mass at a proper altar. One priest will have to explain to my widow why her husband’s wish to be buried from his church with a requiem Mass cannot be fulfilled.

And next Easter, the holiest day in the year, there will be not one single TLM in the Diocese of Arlington unless some of the priests have the courage to just say no to Bishop Burbidge and disobey the draconian order. I hope the SSPX chapel has moved to a larger facility by then, because I expect we will be overwhelmed by traditional Catholics driven from their home parishes as refugees. It will be a challenge we welcome, and they will be greeted with love by our little congregation. We don't recruit, but we don't turn away those who come seeking a refuge.

BANNED! You won't see this next Easter in the Diocese of Arlington
or most other U.S. dioceses. Ask yourself why!

Please, readers, pray for our bishops. They will have much for which to answer on Judgment Day for implementing this wicked papal tyranny. Vatican II did not call for this. Kowalski also addresses that. Do yourself a favor and read the entire article. What Bishop Burbidge has done is one more example of the diabolical "spirit of Vatican II" prowling our dioceses and parishes seeking souls to devour. 

And a big thank you to Raymond Kowalski and OnePeter5 for this excellent article! May God raise many more warriors among the laity to defend the faith.