Burn of the Day

Novus Ordo strips everything sacred away from the liturgy. At Mass yesteday there was the usual abominable elevator music, the hand clapping at the end of the homily and at the end of the last song, the legions of female Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (or whatever title those feminists are given), the typical short skirts on young women up to their buttocks, female lectors, etc. ad nauseam. And the homily was full of personal anecdotes, nothing about what the Scripture readings said. And then comes the problematic Eucharistic Paryer 2. It’s all liberal progressive Democrat 💩. I really hate it. It’s all about “we are the Church” and nothing about “Christ is King.”

Orthodox Anglicans (not those associated with Canterbury) give Mass in Elizabethan English according to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, not Latin, but frankly, it’s more holy and respectful than most Novus Ordo Masses. And I have been to a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Divine Liturgy once or twice, and yes, it is absolutely divine. I hae also seen on YouTube Russian Orthodox Divine Liturgy – wow! So why is Rome gutting Traditional Latin Mass from her accepted liturgies? We used to have Latin Mass at St. Ann’s here in Charlotte; what a treat into divinity that was! But our Bishop killed it. And there is little to nothing holy about Novus Ordo that he insists on.

I am sorry, Folks. I hate Vatican II, and I despise Pope Leo’s predecessor and Pope Leo himself. Benedict tried to fix this, but he cowardly ran out on us.

My own bishop was chosen by Francis to administer the demolition of thriving Latin Masses in a neighboring diocese after Francis had sacked its own bishop for being insufficiently on board with Traditiones Custodes. Once that purge had been completed to Rome’s satisfaction, our bishop turned upon his own flock his Baleful Eye of Sauron…

My own parish had hosted my city’s Latin Mass community for decades, since St. John Paul II’s Indult, even before Summorum Pontificum. The TLM had become so well-attended that another had to be added to the schedule— out of six Sunday Masses (and the Saturday Vigil Mass), two of the seven were TLMs, and they were packed. Those two TLMs consistently accounted for 2/3 of the parish’s total Sunday donations (!!!).

Back from his job dismantling our neighbor’s TLMs, our bishop had a letter read out at Sunday Masses announcing the suppression of TLMs in our parish. We were given six weeks— Easter was eight weeks away, so we were thrown out before we could have a final Easter Triduum at our parish. Our local Latin Mass Society, which for decades had always been there to help our bishops with their fundraising, etc. tried to meet with our bishop in an effort to set up an alternate Mass venue outside the church itself (our diocese has substantial real estate holdings)— but as I understand it, our bishop declined to meet with them. Our parish school—which we had supported for decades—has a gym, but its use was denied us. Our (former) parish priests were apparently ordered not to assist us.

The nearest TLM is now in a small town parish about 45 miles from my house. That parish is permitted one Sunday TLM, held in the gym of its parish hall. As my home city has over a million inhabitants, that gym is as packed as you can imagine. Sadly, it is generally acknowledged that even that scrap of mercy is on the chopping block, and another decree of suppression will be read out at that Mass eventually.

The SSPX has a Sunday Mass twice a month in a hotel conference room, conducted by a mission priest who drives three hours to be there.

Those are currently the sum of our options to make our Sunday Obligation. Our descent from parish to ghetto is complete.

As for our (now former) bishop, in the final months of his reign Francis appointed him Archbishop of a diocese that was previously
held by a Cardinal, so it is fair to assume he is in line for an eventual red hat. Evidently Rome likes what it sees in him. His successor to our diocese is a bishop who, in a parting gift to his old flock, only four days before he left his old position issued a letter suppressing the TLM in his soon-to-be-former diocese. So it’s safe to expect there will be no accompaniment from this bishop for us undesirables.

From the looks of things, the willingness to drive out part of one’s flock, and to make it clear in the bluntest way possible that their presence is neither needed nor wanted has become a prerequisite for episcopal preferment these days. And, sadly, there does not seem to be a shortage of ambitious bishops who are willing to take an axe to their own flocks to get ahead in Church politics. Those deeply unfortunate men have mistaken ‘middle management’ in Rome for their actual Boss, and one day their Ultimate Boss will call them in to give an account of how they shepherded the souls in their care— and I suspect those meetings will be bloodcurdling.

We are witnessing the death throws of the liberal boomer clergy who are desparate to preserve their revolution by every means necessary. They will die off and, eventually sanity will return. It won’t be like the pre-Vat II mass, but it will turn. The felt-banner class isn’t keeping the pews full. They’re ilk has maybe a kid or two, while the traditionally oriented have 7-10, one of whom will be a priest.