When People You Respect Disappoint You

There was a time when I totally trusted Phil Lawler's take on things. I read several of his books with pen in hand and made margin notes to return to later. A trusted source, he was my regular go-to source as I slogged along in the Church crisis. So I was truly disappointed in his recent articles on the SSPX situation and upcoming consecrations. I was staggered when he said there was no state of necessity since it's up to Rome to make that decision. Really? If I see a child about to run into the street and be hit by a car, I'm not waiting for a policeman to tell me I can jaywalk. I also disagree with Lawler's interpretation of Fr. Pagliarani's statement that “In an ordinary parish, the faithful no longer find the necessary means to ensure their eternal salvation.” Perhaps that statement was overbroad, but certainly not untrue. 

I returned to the Traditional Latin Mass during COVID. What happened in "ordinary parishes" during that disgraceful episode? Closed churches, priests violating canon law by demanding parishioners receive Communion on the hand, condemnation of those who didn't mask. Seriously... those things didn't endanger parishioners' "necessary means to ensure their salvation?" 

I was shocked at the lack of charity in my own parish! And how many Catholics stopped going to Church since their shepherds didn't think Sunday Mass was all that important. If they did, they would have fought government overreach. The liquor stores and abortion facilities were more important than the churches, and the bishops bent the knee. They caved to a government that thinks religion is unnecessary. The bishops apparently agreed.

For decades I attended daily and Sunday Masses according to the Novus Ordo. Sometimes I wonder how I managed to stay Catholic. I had a pastor who left to marry a mom I carpooled with, another who had someone coming to give him a massage every week and decked the rectory out with fancy furniture and a marble fireplace. I had pastors who were telling people in confession they could follow their consciences on contraception. A couple in charge of RCIA in one parish made a point of avoiding anything controversial that might make someone rethink entering the Church. The challenging doctrines, like contraception, abortion, Marian theology, etc. were dropped down the memory hole.

What world does Phil Lawler live in? Whenever my husband and I travel, I check all the local parishes to make sure we don't end up at the gong show. Once in Newport News I failed to do it, and we attended a Mass we were sure was invalid. The priest invented all kinds of prayers, a never-before-heard canon read from a pamphlet, and women participating in the fraction. At another traveling Mass in Detroit, the priest skipped the Creed and played showman on the altar. When I gently challenged him after Mass he walked away giving me the finger over his shoulder. 

How many parishes are like those? Most of the German bishops are so bad I wonder how many Masses there are actually valid. And France doesn't seem to be doing much better. The teaching in Ireland is apparently so bad the people voted for abortion, the only country where the people actively chose murder of the innocent. The snakes have returned to the country! Italy recently had about a dozen bishops involved in LGBTQ vigils. What are the "ordinary" parishes like there? 

But we don't need to look any farther than home to see the crisis. Is Cupich in Chicago preaching the faith? Are his priests? How about John Stowe of Lexington, a sodomy promoter who took a knee for BLM at an El Paso protest? D.C. and Baltimore are in a terrible state as well. And how many "all are welcome" parishes decorate the sanctuary with rainbow flags and participate in pride events? I won't even address all the political parishes that turn the prayers of the faithful into woke litanies about climate change and defending the invasion at the border.

Do I know of any Novus Ordo parishes where faithful priests offer reverent liturgies and defend the faith? Yes, but I would call them far from ordinary. I always feel like I've found a four leaf clover when I discover one outside Arlington which is still a relatively orthodox diocesem because we have so many faithful priests. But since I returned to the TLM I have a hard time going to NO Masses. I'm too aware of the deficiencies -- meal prayers substituted for the Offertory, multiple choices that make every Mass a source of diversity instead of unity. Hybrid, dual language Masses that nobody likes, little solid instruction. It's just too depressing.

With regard to Fr. Pagliarani's statement, you can quibble over the numbers, but the fact is that the situation in the Church is dismal everywhere. That's what is "ordinary." And all the statistics indicate that the faith, indeed, is being lost. The recent little jump was magnified with glee, but the overall statistics continue the downward trend.

Please, Phil, stop with the criticism of the SSPX. When I saw the headline "What if I'm Wrong?" I hoped you were going to defend the Society. Instead it was another opportunity to criticize the consecrations. But the reality is that the only reason we still have the traditional Mass and sacraments is because of Archbishop Lefebvre. It was his 1988 consecrations that gave the Society the ability to continue. And who knows if the SSPX will end up being the lifeline if and when the Vatican and hostile bishops cancel the Ecclesia Dei groups. How many dioceses have already expelled them?

Let's face it. Rome appears to want the total dissolution of the past as if there was no Church before Vatican II. Those who say Rome has created a "new" church, even the "ape" of the Church have plenty of evidence to defend their thesis. What if they're right, Phil?

With all that said, the "necessity" for us is prayer and sacrifice for Holy Mother Church and the pope. And we also need to pray for our own perseverance. The answer always begins with the individual. We need to do all we can to conform our wills to God's will and remain faithful. That will bring about the end of every crisis. It also guarantees that when Christ returns, He will find faith on the earth!

Make us saints, Lord!