"A Liturgy from Hell"? Traditionis Custodes Cannot Suppress the Traditional Latin Mass

As regular readers know, I'm a big fan of Chronicles Magazine. The February issue included an article by George Kendall an octagenerian who grew up with the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), but "for much of his life...has been a conservative Novus Ordo (NO) Catholic." Kendall's article, A Liturgy from Hell, illustrates his return to tradition and the realization that the liturgical chaos after Vatican II decimated Holy Mother Church. He laments the fact that "...our hierarchy was foolish enough, all those years ago, to twist a great parable, selling the pearl of great price in order to buy a truckload of trash chosen by committee."

Whoa! Let me pause here to emphasize that the NO, although seriously deficient and more Protestant than Catholic, is a valid Mass. I hesitate to call it a "truckload of trash."

Most people in the world have no realistic access to the TLM and God would not leave us orphans, hence the NO is valid and a source of grace. Also, God often permits evil so that good may come from it. Isn't the awakening of many faithful to what's been lost (or stolen) that's occurring in so many places a good sign?  

Many, like my husband and myself who were raised with the TLM, only recently, like George Kendall, have returned and embraced it once again with enthusiasm and gratitude. At the same time, the NO nurtured us for many years although we saw many walk away, often to Protestant churches that had more "fellowship." Isn't that what Protestants often do? Walk away from their long-term church home to find a preacher man they like better? Is that a sign that the NO often created a Protestant mindset? Just a random thought, but I saw it happen with dear friends.

Despite writing such a denunciation of the Novus Ordo, Kendall concludes his article with a recognition that, perhaps the solution lies in another way than simply mandating a return to the TLM by a future pope. In any case, that's an unlikely eventuality short of a miracle considering the future electors most of whom were named by Francis. Kendall uses the analogy of an oak tree to make his point:

Going back to the analogy between a tradition and a tree: if you have, for example, a big old oak tree in your yard, and someone comes along with an axe (probably in the night, while you are asleep) and chops a big chunk out of the trunk, how will you deal with this? Conceivably, if you could find the missing chunk of wood, you might put it back and graft it back into place. But certainly, if you waited 50 years, that would never work. Or, you could try to graft in a new chunk of wood from a very different kind of tree. Or, you could tell yourself that it is a natural part of an oak tree’s life cycle to have a chunk taken out of its trunk, unlikely though it is that any botanist would agree.

There is one more possibility: allow and encourage new growth from the wound site, new growth which will, over time, replace the lost tissue, and will have the same DNA and be the same kind of living tissue.

Now the Catholic tradition, which I have been comparing to a tree, is, like the tree, a product of slow growth, and it is only natural that its wounds should be healed by the same process—not by a new pope decreeing its prompt return, but by organic growth leading to the proliferation of Latin Mass communities. There is no doubt in my mind that the fear of such an eventuality is what prompted Pope Francis to issue Traditionis Custodes and launch his unholy war on the old Mass.

With that in mind, let us make it our serious business to make his worst fears come true.

A number of tradition-minded prelates recommend that very thing. Cardinal Sarah and Bishop Schneider both recommend returning to the ad orientem position where the priest and the people turn together toward liturgical East, toward God, with the shepherd leading the flock instead of facing them like an entertainer. Both advocate abandoning the practice of Communion in the hand. In many places we are seeing the restoration of the altar rail and kneeling for Communion. All of these positive events are due, in my opinion, to the yeast of the TLM saved from extinction by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a faithful son of the Church.

Padre Pio receiving Communion on the tongue

But more is needed.

Correcting, restoring, and emphasizing the sacrificial nature of the Mass is an absolute necessity. Replacing the seriously deficient Jewish meal prayer Offertory with the ancient Offertory of sacrifice and atonement is a priority. The Offertory has always been recognized as essential. A worshiper who arrives late and misses the Offertory on Sunday misses Mass and must attend another to avoid committing a mortal sin! It's that important. And yet the wreckovators after Vatican II gutted the Offertory making it the equivalent of grace before meals.

The Offertory of the TLM dates back to the Middle Ages and belongs to the codified service mandated by Pope St. Pius V in 1570. The pope didn't change the Mass, but affirmed a standard liturgy, one that had been in place for decades. Why did he mandate a specific missal? To prevent novelties being introduced arising from the Protestant revolt. 

Ironic, isn't it, that the revolt by today's modernists continue to introduce bizarre novelties to the Mass as they walk in the footsteps of the Protestant rebels? Have we learned nothing from history? And what a tragedy that the destruction has been enabled by so many recent popes including Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict. 

I have no doubt that the Church will re-embrace Sacred Tradition. I am less certain that it will come via the next pope since most of the electors were named by Pope Francis. But, as the priest who witnessed our marriage 54 years ago said, "The laity always return the Church to orthodoxy." 

"...the faithful have an instinct for the truth of the Gospel, which enables them to recognise and endorse authentic Christian doctrine and practice, and to reject what is false." (source)

Is that possible? Can a shrinking body of faithful which underlines Christ's lament ("But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?" Luke 18:8) 

Of course! Where are the most vibrant churches? They thrive where  laity cling to the faith of the fathers, reject the family-killing sin of contraception, and teach their children to love the true, the good, and the beautiful. We see that church every week at our little chapel. Large Catholic families, babies and children filling the pews with their parents, many homeschoolers, long lines for confession, etc. It is our weekly dose of vibrant hope for the future. Gloom and doom take flight!

One last point. Catholics need to know and understand the history of the Church. So many have fallen away out of ignorance. It's time for us to challenge our fellow Catholics to study the faith and embrace what was handed down to us from the apostles. Bishop Athanasius Schneider has given us a great resource in CREDO which uses the time-honored form of question and answer to teach the truths of the faith. It's easier to understand and avoids the mistakes in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. May we all commit ourselves to studying Scripture, the catechism, and the lives of the saints. One can hardly go wrong by living the sacraments, praying the rosary, and studying the faith. 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Guardian of the Universal Church, pray for us.

St. Pius V, protector of the Sacred Liturgy, pray for us.