Yes, Virginia, there is a Traditional Latin Mass!

...with apologies to Francis Pharcellus Church, whose "Yes, Viriginia, there IS a Santa Claus" article appeared in 1897, and is history's most reprinted newspaper editorial. To refresh your memory, see the full original editorial at the end of this post.

Dear Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei:

I am 58 years old. Some of my liberal detractors say there will be never be a Traditional Latin Mass in our diocese. The Holy Father says, “If you see it in a motu proprio, it's so.” Please tell me the truth; will we have a Traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Baker?

Philothea

PHILOTHEA, your liberal detractors are wrong. They have been affected by the modernism of an age of moral relativism. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Philothea, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. This is why there is resistance to the extraordinary form of the Mass, which opens the Mysteries of the universe to us.

Yes, Philothea, someday there will be a Traditional Latin Mass widely available. It will exist as certainly as faith, hope, and charity exist, and you know that they abound as theological virtues and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary life would be if there were no extraordinary form of the Mass! It would be as dreary as if there were no Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist! There would be no childlike faith then, no sacred polyphony, no Gregorian chant to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which God fills our souls would be extinguished.

No Traditional Latin Mass! You might as well not have any liturgy at all! You might get the Holy Father to hire men to watch in all the Dioceses in the United States to find a Mass in the Extraordinary Form, but even if they did not find one, what would that prove? Nobody sees the Spirit of the liturgy, but that is no sign that there is no Extraordinary Form. The most Real Presence in the world is One that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see the Holy Angels surrounding the altar at Mass? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, hope, and love can push aside that curtain, and view and actually participate in the supernal beauty and glory beyond it, at Holy Mass. Is it all real? Ah, Philothea, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No TLM! Thank God! it lives, and it lives forever. A thousand years from now, Philothea, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, it will continue to make glad the heart of the faithful who seek it.

Click “read more” to see the original article, or go here.


Related:

The Novus Ordo Should Be Outgrown

Over the Rainbow to the EF Mass

Nothing Compares with the TLM

The Battle for the TLM: Conspiracy or Coincidence?

Why I Promote the EF Mass

Paving the Way for the EF Mass

How to Undermine the TLM in Your Parish

 7 Reasons Why You Should NOT Go to the EF Mass

The Glass Ceiling over the Traditional Latin Mass

Mean-spirited, Bullying Bishops

A bishop’s general authority over his diocese is very evident in even a cursory reading of Lumen Gentium (Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church):

·         Bishops preside “in God’s stead over the flock of which they are the shepherds…” (LG, §21).

·         They are “teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the people assigned to them, the faith which is destined to inform their thinking and direct their conduct” (LG, §25).

·         They “have the obligation of fostering and safeguarding the unity of the faith and of upholding the discipline which is common to the whole Church…” (LG, §23).

The faithful are also reminded of their duty toward their bishops. Notice, though, the qualifier at the beginning of the paragraph (emphasis added):

Bishops who teach in communion with the Roman Pontiff are to be revered by all as witnesses of divine and Catholic truth; the faithful, for their part, are obliged to submit to their bishops’ decision, made in the name of Christ, in matters of faith and morals, and to adhere to it with a ready and respectful allegiance of mind. (LG, §25)

And what if they don’t teach in communion with the Roman Pontiff? What if the bishop is a mean-spirited bully with an ax to grind? What if the bishop takes advantage of his authority through actions that are detrimental to a targeted segment of the population?

I’m thinking of…hmm…just for instance…let's see…oh! how about the faithful who have expressed their legitimate desire to have access to the extraordinary form of the Mass. What do you do with a “shepherd” who takes steps to ensure that the EF Mass which has been available monthly to the faithful becomes suddenly unavailable? What if a mere lay person is aware of all the sneaky things said bishop can do (and does) to make it all look legit? You know, some of these bishops these days are pretty adept at not leaving a paper trail, of relying on the good-ol’-boy network, and of generally making mischief with impunity. It’s true. Sad, but true.

What do you do with this kind of perverse prelate?

Personally, I’m thinking along the lines of tar-and-feathers, and re-institution of the papal prison for wayward bishops.

Not that I know of a situation like this or anything…

But see that little "Reign of Terror" counter there in the side-bar? Please pray that that reign of terror ends soon!

Fr. Michael Rodriguez: A Priest with Fortitude

Fr. Michael Rodriguez gives me hope. (He’s the El Paso, Texas, priest who was banished to a far, desolate corner of his diocese for publicly defending the teaching of the Church on homosexuality.)

An interview with Fr. Rodriguez appeared in The Remnant on Oct. 12. He has some very interesting, edifying, and encouraging things to say. We should all be paying careful attention to his example of fidelity to the Church, obedience to his superior, and devotion to the Sacred Liturgy.

Fr. Rodriguez is not afraid to express his affinity for the older form of the Mass, and he is not afraid to say that he prefers it to the Novus Ordo. Asked if he is a “traditionalist”, he says (my emphasis):

Liturgically, I'm 100% behind the Traditional Latin Mass, which is without question the true Mass of the Roman Catholic Church. Theology, liturgy, Catholic spirituality and asceticism, and history itself all point to the obvious superiority of the Classical Roman Rite.

I must agree. There is something eminently superior about the extraordinary form compared to the ordinary form. Even when the most devout and reverent priest I know says the novus ordo Mass in Latin and ad orientem, there is something missing. It makes me sad that so many people want to keep themselves cut off from the extraordinary form – or worse yet, to keep others from experiencing it (actually, the latter makes me downright angry!). In my little corner of the Catholic world, I see a dismaying lack of vitality in the faith. And I think it’s largely due to the watering down of the prayers and rubrics of the Mass.

Fr. Rodriguez didn’t start out to be a “traditionalist”; he was “raised” with the novus ordo, both in his pre-adult years and in his priestly formation. It was only six years ago, he says, that he began to learn the EF.

As the weeks passed, I began to study the prayers and theology of the Traditional Latin Mass. The more I studied, the more my awe and amazement grew. I was "discovering" not only the true Catholic theology of the Mass, but also the true Catholic theology of the priesthood, and so much more!

Yes, again, I agree. One of the first things I saw about the extraordinary form of the Mass was that it lets a priest be a priest. In the novus ordo, the priest has become a talk-show host – at least in the parishes where I have attended Mass, and especially when the Mass is said in English, and the priest faces the people.  The priest faces the temptation to adlib prayers, to insert a little commentary, to make sure to try to make the people chuckle at his introductory comments. After all, you have to make the people feel good about giving up their time on a Sunday morning to come to the Fr. Friendly Show…er…Holy Mass…right?

Fr. Rodriguez continues:

Throughout my first nine years of priesthood, I had struggled to make sense of the very serious problems which exist in the Church. At this point, it was obvious that an extreme crisis pervaded the Church and her hierarchy, but why? I just couldn't quite understand how all of this "diabolical disorientation" had come to pass . . . until the brilliant light of the true Catholic Mass ("Emitte lucem tuam et veritatem tuam . . .") began to penetrate my priestly soul. This "discovery" of the Traditional Latin Mass has been, by far, the greatest gift of God to my poor priesthood.

And the greatest gift of God to my poor spiritual development. It is a great gift to anyone who will accept it.

But going back to the point about just how the current crisis we face in the Church came to exist in the first place, Fr. Rodriguez is drawing a connection between the liturgy and the issues of the day. In fact, I made the same connection in my article “Abortion, Contraception, and the Liturgy” (Homiletic and Pastoral Review, October 2009):

The main thesis of this article is that the current tragedy of abortion has its roots in the widespread acceptance of artificial birth control, and that Catholics’ current attitude toward and use of contraception are related to the abuses and problems that have plagued the sacred liturgy since Vatican II. 

Towards the conclusion of the paper, I wrote:

Now let’s connect the dots: all of a sudden, right around the time of Humanae Vitae and Roe v. Wade, Catholics were being shown that it was acceptable to tamper with the liturgy, to make it “more relevant”, to not follow the rubrics. What would this tell them about the Church? If we may interpret the “source and summit” the way we want to, then surely we may interpret other Church teaching that way, too. And surely we should be living contemporary lives; maybe the Church is just behind the times on this contraception thing. We’ve got to help her along and make the change ourselves so that the Church will be more relevant to others.

Fr. Rodriguez, I think, would agree. He notes:

The dismal response of both civil and ecclesiastical authorities to the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church in regard to homosexuality demonstrates how extreme the current crisis of faith actually is. It really can't get much worse. There's hardly any faith left to lose! Even a pagan, bereft of the light of faith, can arrive at the conclusion that homosexual acts are intrinsically evil. Reason, natural law, and consideration of the male and female anatomy more than suffice to confirm this moral truth.

It may seem simplistic to insist that the answer to the issues of the day lies in the Mass. But really, at the heart of the issues of the day is our faith. And what is at the heart of our faith? The Mass, the Eucharist. A proper understanding of the Mass underlies Catholic teaching. If the extraordinary form of the Mass leads to greater reverence, greater appreciation, greater spiritual advancement among the faithful, it should be promoted. Fr. Rodriguez sees the truth in that, sees the value of the “traditional Latin Mass”, and is not afraid to discuss it (emphases in original):

In the accompanying letter to the world's bishops (July 7, 2007), Pope Benedict XVI writes, "What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church's faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place." These remarkable words of our Holy Father are also being disrespected and disobeyed almost universally, especially by many bishops. Finally, Universæ Ecclesiæ, No. 8, states very clearly that the Ancient Rite is a "precious treasure to be preserved" and is to be "offered to all the faithful." Where in the entire world of Catholicism is this directive actually being obeyed? The same number from Universæ Ecclesiæ emphasizes that the use of the 1962 Roman Liturgy "is a faculty generously granted for the good of the faithful and therefore is to be interpreted in a sense favourable to the faithful who are its principal addressees." This is an astounding statement. This statement from Rome means that the use of the 1962 Missal doesn't depend on a particular bishop's liturgical views, preferences, or theology. It's not about the bishops! On the contrary, it's about the faithful! Where in the entire world of Catholicism is this directive actually being obeyed?

Rem acu tetigisti, Fr. Rodriguez! You have hit the nail on the head!

Fr. Rodriguez is already paying for his political incorrectness regarding his outspoken stance on homosexual marriage, and I suspect he will pay the price for defending and promoting the extraordinary form of the Mass.

But I also suspect that Fr. Rodriguez will endure. He will be an example to all of us. He is an example and an inspiration to me.

Sitting in the Back of the Bus: the Extraordinary Form in the Diocse of Baker

The Society of St. Gregory the Great  is a membership association of Catholic laity formed in 2008 to promote divine worship in accordance with the Supreme Magisterium of the Church; the Society has sponsored a monthly Mass in the extraordinary form at the historic St. Francis Church in Bend, Oregon, since 2008. The past six months, the Society has had a very difficult time making that Mass happen.

Why? The primary reason is lack of a priest willing, able, and available to say the Mass. There are only a handful of willing and able priests in the Diocese of Baker, and they are spread far and wide. In July, Fr. Christopher Agoha traveled all the way from La Grande, OR (a 5-hour drive) to say the EF Mass in Bend on a Saturday evening, even though he was scheduled to say the same Mass in La Grande the very next day. His travel expenses were met only in part by the Society. It was a labor of love for Fr. Christopher.

There are other important reasons for lack of a priest, however. The main reason has to do with administrative decisions made by Bishop William Skylstad, currently (and temporarily) the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese. These administrative decisions were: a) on March 22 to restrict the exercise of the sacerdotal faculties of the priest who had been regularly offering this Mass in Bend; and b) on September 17 to transfer to a remote corner of the Diocese the only other local priest (Fr. Joseph Levine) willing and able to assume the responsibilities of offering these Masses for the Society. 

In short, Bishop Skylstad's actions have served to prevent these Masses and frustrate the legitimate spiritual aspirations of the faithful who desire the Mass in the extraordinary form.

The Society is attempting to follow the guidelines laid out in Summorum Pontificum and the Instruction on that document in order to reverse the trend we are now seeing toward fewer EF Mass. The Society has repeatedly asked the pastor of Saint Francis of Assisi Church in Bend to provide Holy Mass in the extraordinary form at that church on a regular and frequent basis on Sundays and holy days of obligation. It has now referred the matter to the bishop.

In related news, the EF Mass in La Grande, Oregon, has also been curtailed. The EF Mass had been offered there on a weekly basis for almost a year. Administrative decisions (due to a priest being removed from priestly ministry in this diocese) again cut into the [willing-and-able] priest's available time, and the EF Mass was the first (and only) Mass to be "cut".

At this point, there are no easily accessible EF Masses for the faithful to attend in this Diocese. This situation is directly the result of the actions taken by our Apostolic Administrators.

--------------------------------

The Apostolic Administrator says that he doesn't have anything against the extraordinary form. Why, "we have one of those in Spokane," he told two members of the SSGG Board of Directors. Wow. Now that's saying something...

And he has nothing against Latin or Gregorian chant. Of course, he told us, it's obvious that the participation of the laity cannot possibly be as complete in Latin as it would be in the vernacular. Hmmm. I objected, and pointed out that the Society always provide a booklet with the English translation of the Latin prayers. "People won't read it," he said. He also said that, well, some people think the extraordinary form is...you know... "just a show". Yes. He said those things. Really.

Actions do speak louder than words. No matter what "positive" things he says about the "Latin Mass" (a term he used, but he meant the extraordinary form), his actions say that: a) it is not a priority for him to provide it for the people; b) he doesn't believe it is a worthy celebration of the liturgy; and c) he has no intention of making the extraordinary form easily accessible, regularly celebrated, or a part of the liturgical life of the diocese.

Why, yes, Your Excellency...yes...I guess I am feeling a little bitter about this.