Our SSPX community in Linden, VA recently started a website that is now online. I invite and encourage you to visit virtually and then join us for Sunday Mass if you live in the area or are visiting. If you've never been to a Traditional Latin Mass it will no doubt seem a little uncomfortable at first. What's going on? Why is the priest doing that? Where am I in the book?
Fr. Joseph Gill has an important article at Crisis Magazine about the Novus Ordo, The Novus Ordo and the Interior Life. Don't miss it!
Whenever someone tells me that people didn't understand the Mass that was the norm for centuries, I ask myself whether that was really true. Do we only understand the spoken word? And, in fact, does the spoken word sometimes fail to impart a message? My contention is that the answer to those questions is NO and then YES.
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." Gustav Mahler
The pilgrimage by the French mothers (and grandmothers) of priests. They walked 800 miles to beg the pope for the continuation of the Traditional Latin Mass for the sake of their sons. His answer? The crushing and uncharitable Traditionis Custodes.
"The current situation regarding the episcopal consecrations in the Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has suddenly awakened the entire Church." [Source] Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Being awake is a good thing as St. Peter reminds us:
"Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour." [1 Peter 5:8]
In the Old Testament God told Gideon to dismiss any soldiers who knelt and drank directly from the stream. Those who stayed alert, awake so to speak to any advancing enemy by using their hands to bring water to their mouths, became the conquering army. [Judges 7]
Revelation has a particularly apt point:
"Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God." [Revelation 3:2]
I recently read several articles on substack defending the Novus Ordo by Msgr. Arthur Holquin, a retired priest of the Diocese of Orange in California. I don't subscribe to his account and won't. Once I realize someone isn't trustworthy, I shake the dust off my feet and move on. I left one comment and that's it. Someone else can argue with him. He writes a dissertation responding to anyone who disagrees with him and mentions over and over how educated he is.
Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort that occurs when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or attitudes, or when their behavior conflicts with their beliefs. This discomfort motivates people to change their beliefs, justify their actions, or avoid new information to reduce the inconsistency.
Think about that. What happens when the actions of our pope and bishops show diametrically opposed philosophies. How do you reconcile two mutually exclusive propositions? You can't! Jesus called Himself "The way, the truth and the life." Embracing truth means one has to choose. Which of two things is true, or are both untrue and is the truth elsewhere altogether.
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| SSPX Chapel in Linden, Virginia decorated for Christmas 2024 |
Gone to tradition every one. (Well, maybe not every one.) Some aren't fully there yet, but the trend is definitely away from Kumbaya and guitars and toward Gregorian Chant and sacred polyphony. God speaks in silence not in constant noise and "dialogue", and many young people are beginning to realize it. When the world is as crazy as ours is today, the only real rebellion is orthodoxy.
Some are saying that the survey of the bishops played almost no role in Pope Francis issuing Traditionis Custodes (TC) and the accompanying letter. Vatican correspondent, Diane Montagna, continues to investigate and posted additional evidence on her substack forum yesterday:
New Evidence Confirms CDF Report, Erodes Vatican Narrative...
Quoting Francis' own letter indicates that he used the survey to justify his draconian restrictions. As the pope of synodality, it isn't surprising to find him pretending that he acted in union with the bishops. Here's an excerpt from the letter:
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| Msgr. Nicola Bux |
THE INTERVIEW / MGR. NICOLA BUX
War on the ancient rite, it was not the bishops who started it
It was not the world episcopate that asked to "cage" the Mass in the ancient rite, as Pope Francis instead claimed, declaring that the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes was the response to a specific request from the bishops consulted on the matter.
Journalist Obtains Exclusive Access to World Report on Summorum Pontificum: Francis' Restrictions Based on Lies
Pope Francis lied to the world about the bishops' responses to the survey about implementing the TLM in their dioceses. The survey responses almost universally showed a positive impact with recommendations to leave Summorum Pontificum alone. Parishes using both forms, the TLM and the Novus Ordo, had little or no division among parishioners and the TLM tended to increase reverence at the Novus Ordo. That didn't stop lying Francis from issuing Traditiones Custodes with its draconian repressions.
It's hard to believe what Bishop Michael Martin is doing in Charlotte. Under Bishop Jugis the diocese thrived. Under this new bishop, the wreckovation is in process bigtime. The four pastors at the parishes where the TLM is being eliminated begged him not to do it. They pointed out there was no disunity in their parishes. The bishop didn't bother to visit any of the four parishes; he simply stomped on the flock with hobnailed boots. As of yesterday, the bishop has delayed his orders because of a significant backlash not only in his diocese, but across the country. The planned date of implementation is now October 2nd. [Source]
One of my readers left a link to a good sermon that outlines how we should respond to the pope. I found it personally challenging and a bit of a reprimand. The unnamed priest talks about "real Catholicism." He begins by making the distinction between the two ways the pope speaks, the first as the authoritative head of the Church expressing Catholic truth that is binding on the flock.
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| Mother of the innocent babies in the womb, pray for us. |
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| How many bishops are willing to walk in the footsteps of martyr Bishop John Fisher? |
That is not a proper image for the Catholic Church.
The pope is not a dictator with the ultimate power to throw out bishops on a whim because he doesn't happen to like them. Unfortunately, the bishops themselves have promulgated that image by the unjust treatment some have dished out to their spiritual sons. Cancelled priests are a growing problem. I know some of them and it is disturbing to see how unjust some bishops are. The sad truth for those bishops is that you reap what you sow. They will be measured out the same measure and rotten fruit they've dished out to others. Get ready for it, Your Excellencies!
I just watched a great video where the speaker talked about the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) to five groups/individuals: little children, a young Catholic who attends both the Novus Ordo (NO) and the Traditional Latin Mass, an atheist raised Catholic, a diocesan pastor of an NO parish, and a lay theologian. Fascinating! Check it out! especially the final segment with the theologian. He makes a very interesting distinction between the holy and the sacred. Really, it's only about half an hour. The beginning with the little ones was charming and lovely. "Out of the mouths of babes."
