A Good Sign
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
We place our Hope in Jesus. The TLM is a special incubator where the souls of young men are nurished and their hearts are open to hear and answer God’s call. Long live the Mass of the ages. Long Live the Holy Catholic Church.
May extensions be given to all parishes with the TLM and not only for 2 years but permanently! And may all bishops who have requested these extensions in the past but were refused, now be granted ‘permissions’ and the reverse the suppressions so that the Church and faith can continue to grow and flourish.
A good sign, indeed.
On that note, I am growing weary of hearing and reading lamentations from certain Trads who seem to think that unless Pope Leo completely and immediately reverses his predecessor’s actions, against the TLM and in other areas, he is just Francis II in disguise. It seems to me that Pope Leo seeks to move toward a less divisive and intolerant approach to pre-Conciliar Catholicism without openly rejecting the past twelve years. Maybe this isn’t the way it should be done, or maybe it is. I’m not the one sitting in that Chair, so I can’t possibly know all that Pope Leo is dealing with. Most of the signs are good, and the ones that may not be so good, such as a couple of appointments made recently, may or may not reflect a Bergoglian orientation. It’s still way too soon to start drawing conclusions, IMO.
Something that has flown completely under the radar: The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has continued the TLM and never closed one (that I know of). Archbishop Gomez is to be praised for this.
Frank is correct. YouTube is overflowing with sudden critics of Pope Leo….and Divine Mercy, for that matter. Radtrads cannot be satisfied. They revel in their anger and misery.
I agree with Frank and PF. Let him do his job. And everyone can look at themselves and judge if they are doing theirs as members of Christs body, the Church.
Father told us a Homily today on the Feast of Peter and Paul how his parents many years ago visited him at Mass in the city from his country hometown. Unexpectedly. He was approached by a parishioner after Mass who was “chewing his ear off about some matter”. He admitted he wasn’t paying much attention but was nodding politely. His parents approached him to say hello and he introduced them to the man. The man began gushing about how proud they must be to have a son as a Priest. Well, his mother would have none of this and replied, “I’m proud of ALL my children, Priests and non-Priests”. In other words, Fathers point that we all have our vocations and roles as members of the Church. It’s not just the Priest who makes the Church great. It’s everyone. We are all responsible.
So, the lesson learnt is don’t grumble with an entitlement before we have checked ourselves to make sure we are playing our part well. Starting by shelving entitlement and negative judgement for the sake of it.
There’s no point announcing Pope Leo’s failure before he has started and particularly since some of these TLM goers are not exactly exercising the humility, patience and prudence expected of someone who claims to love the Church.
When I first read this I thought it was either misdated from at least a year ago or a prank. A parish? In San Angelo? 2 years?
Just think what the CLT & DTW parishes must be thinking…
“In other words, Fathers point that we all have our vocations and roles as members of the Church. It’s not just the Priest who makes the Church great. It’s everyone. We are all responsible.” -Ezabelle
Agreed.
It’s our responsibility as the laity, to PRAY and make sacrifices for our priests and all religious. A weak knee laity leads to a fractured priesthood. They need our prayers to help strengthen them since the spiritual battle is intensified for the ordained.
Yes Philip indeed. A great reminder to pray for our Priests. They don’t have it easy.
Pray for families. Raising kids has become increasingly difficult. We live in times where the devil is rampant against the peace in families. I know many of us experience it, sometimes through tears. So many pressures and influences. Parents need prayers to ensure their children are on the track to Heaven. It is hard not to get weary and down.
God Bless you and all here.
Ten years ago, why did I start attending the TLM? Because I wanted to be part of a clique with a tendency to “revel in anger and misery”? I am sure you know the answer to that is, “No.”
I’m a (female) Millennial cradle Catholic, raised with felt banners and bongo drums and tambourines in the concrete Modernist buildings making parking garages look like the Taj Mahal.
As a sensitive nine year old, I wondered why Catholic worship had to be so ugly? As a teen, I wondered why the statistics were saying no one believed in the Real Presence or the Church’s teachings on marriage and family anymore, and vocations had tanked, since the 1960s, and American parishes have been shuttered in the hundreds since then?
In my 30s, those questions got answered. I began to attend and learn the TLM. The Traditional rites of the Church are substantially and substantively different than the Novus Ordo ones that I was raised in. I experienced no more spiritual-cognitive dissonance between my worship and my observance of the Faith, which–no exaggeration–had been painful to me, my whole life.
The differences between the rites are massive. And I cannot believe that the 1960s’ changes to the Church were made by men who were trying to save our souls. Clerics’ ONLY mission is to save our souls. Faced with this juxtaposition–I will forever be suspicious of anyone denying (or even downplaying!) Catholics’ right to Traditional worship.
I will plead guilty to having a mixed reaction to this announcement. For all that Frank, Penguin Fan, and Ezabelle have legitimate points, …I am rather more of the bent presented by RR.
For one thing, I have no doubt that some “rad-trad” voices need to calm down. …So too do “modern” voices. This seems aimed for a Texas parish. ..Sooo, North Carolina …still only grudgingly has the TLM. For now.
True, we don’t sit in the Chair of Peter. ..We still aren’t dumb or blind.
Incidentally, I get it about pride in each of one’s children. Still, …I cannot absolve mortal sins or confect the Eucharist. Such blessing and burden remains unique.
I get it how trads can be a pain. Summorum accidentally gave laity license to be pests. Bishops who lead dioceses with few (and overburdened) priests would not eagerly thank Pope Benedict for hassles from a small TLM crowd. Still, if it didn’t explicitly solve this, Summorum certainly gave option. It didn’t need to be trouble if modern and trad both didn’t dig in for a fight.
I’m very much in agreement that we need to see what Pope Leo does.
I sought throughout Pope Francis reign to consider how best to remain faithful, avoid temptation toward cursing his existence. I struggled to consider how trads might refrain from seeking to act in rebellion. I will appreciate if Pope Leo will act… so I don’t feel need for an intellectual bomb shelter.
For the record I don’t think that Trads are a pain. Nor do I deny that the TLM is the most reverent form of the celebration of the Eucharist. I only think “people” can get ugly when their expectations are not met on THEIR schedule (I’m as guilty of this). I understand their frustration after years of gaslighting and emotional abuse from the Church hierarchy. I hope they keep their dignity with this Pontificate. He is a good one. And we are Blessed. Holiness should recognise holiness when they see it.
Pope Benedict XVI said that the Latin Mass was never prohibited by Vatican II.
Why did Pope Francis ban the Latin Mass?
[…] Leo XIV Sweet Order’s Reign Embrace:A Good Sign – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at The American CatholicSolemnity Not Seen in About 12 Years. . . […]
All believing Catholics have been living through very difficult, very challenging, even heartbreaking times. We have been in uncharted waters, especially during the last 12 years, never experienced in the Church to this extent. We know what the solution is–Christ in his fullness! (always passed to us through Our Lady). During these truly horrible times, it is often very hard to know how to respond and act in relation to the magnitude of the crisis in practical details. I think we have to be firm in our adherence to the faith and morals of the Church always, but I also think we need to be understanding of those in the Church who may come to different practical judgments about what to do in individual cases than we do. The late, great Ronald Reagan once said: “Never treat someone who disagrees with us in such a way that he can never be our friend.” I think that applies in a special way to hierarchs. We need to oppose evil–absolutely–and not be naïve about it. But we also need to model the Sacred Heart, and not through a Puritan streak create personal obstacles for people starting to approach us. Mother Teresa, St. Philip Neri, and Saint Maximilian Kolbe could be good role models here.
Re: Archbishop Gomez has continued the TLM in LA: Is that why he is still archbishop and not a cardinal? I wonder if Archbishop Cordileone in SF will get a red hat sometime soon. Hopefully.