I keep reading reports of young priests who are stepping up to the mark and offering the Tridentine Latin Mass but, for the life of me, I can't find any of them....they're as rare as a humble bishop!
And, if you were to conduct a survey of the parishes of England and Wales, I suspect you would find that the number of Latin Masses being offered is now in decline.
Something is happening 'twixt ordination and actual pastoral priesthood; what could that be?
Well, I have little doubt (and quite a bundle of anecdotal evidence) that suggests that peer pressure plays a major role in disaffecting a young priest from celebrating the Mass of all Time.
Imagine walking into the monthly diocesan clergy meeting and having all heads turn in your direction while all conversation abruptly dries up.
The "gang" mentality hangs heavy when modernist priests are in their herd mode and a pretty merciless lot they can be.
And then, of course, there are the parishioners....bless 'em.
As soon as there is the hint of a Latin Mass they are going to be writing their poisonous letters to the Bish and forming little action groups to bring pressure to bear on the poor, unfortunate curate.
Finally, of course, there is the Bishop himself.
As he welcomes his newly ordained priest to the Diocese with a glass of rather dodgy brown sherry (he saves the La Ina for his mates) he places a paternal arm on the shoulder of the young priest and says:
"Now one thing I don't want to have to talk about is the introduction of the lacey cassocky type Masses that have become a bit of a fad in seminaries today...gottit?
It is going to take an incredibly brave young man to face up to that barrage of iniquity and to go ahead and proceed to offer the Latin Mass.
But we do need our priests to stand up and take that pressure and invective and, in the light of what the Martyrs of England and Wales have suffered, I do not think that it is too much to ask.
If a priest is afraid to offer part of his legitimate armoury of Masses, he cannot be much of a priest, surely?
If Christ suffered on our behalf then surely it is legitimate to offer the Mass that He created, rather than the milksop one that is available in most parishes today?
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| Edmund Campion stepped up to the mark for the sake of the Latin Tridentine Mass! |
And, if you were to conduct a survey of the parishes of England and Wales, I suspect you would find that the number of Latin Masses being offered is now in decline.
Something is happening 'twixt ordination and actual pastoral priesthood; what could that be?
Well, I have little doubt (and quite a bundle of anecdotal evidence) that suggests that peer pressure plays a major role in disaffecting a young priest from celebrating the Mass of all Time.
Imagine walking into the monthly diocesan clergy meeting and having all heads turn in your direction while all conversation abruptly dries up.
The "gang" mentality hangs heavy when modernist priests are in their herd mode and a pretty merciless lot they can be.
And then, of course, there are the parishioners....bless 'em.
As soon as there is the hint of a Latin Mass they are going to be writing their poisonous letters to the Bish and forming little action groups to bring pressure to bear on the poor, unfortunate curate.
Finally, of course, there is the Bishop himself.
As he welcomes his newly ordained priest to the Diocese with a glass of rather dodgy brown sherry (he saves the La Ina for his mates) he places a paternal arm on the shoulder of the young priest and says:
"Now one thing I don't want to have to talk about is the introduction of the lacey cassocky type Masses that have become a bit of a fad in seminaries today...gottit?
It is going to take an incredibly brave young man to face up to that barrage of iniquity and to go ahead and proceed to offer the Latin Mass.
But we do need our priests to stand up and take that pressure and invective and, in the light of what the Martyrs of England and Wales have suffered, I do not think that it is too much to ask.
If a priest is afraid to offer part of his legitimate armoury of Masses, he cannot be much of a priest, surely?
If Christ suffered on our behalf then surely it is legitimate to offer the Mass that He created, rather than the milksop one that is available in most parishes today?
St Edmund Campion - pray for our priests! Our Lady give them strength!
The seminaries do not teach the Mass of All Ages and the accompanying theology. The seminaries "teach" an adulterated "liturgy", the theology of which cannot be in accordance with the Catholic Faith.
ReplyDeleteI spoke to a forty-year-old priest (based in a parish in Ireland) recently and he said he "admired" those priests that offered the ancient form of the Mass, but conveyed to me that it was completely separate from his training and everyday life in the Church, something that had never touched on his priesthood. He conveyed that the traditional Mass was something strange and other, something unrelated to his life as a priest in the Church. This priest is admiring of those who offer the ancient Mass. However, it is clear it played no part in his life either before or after entering seminary. It is something completely new, and strange to him. If this priest had been taught the ancient form of the Mass in seminary, I'm sure he would be offering it as a priest. But he and almost all priests have been, and continue to be, denied their proper education and formation in the Faith. If the bishop heading the diocese of this priest wasn't against the traditional liturgy (and SP and UE), in fact, against much of the Faith, and morals, I'm sure this priest, and many others would be offering the traditional Mass in their various churches.
In my city we have two priests that celebrate the Latin Mass: the Navy Chaplain and a very young priest ordained last December (he wears the cassock too)
ReplyDeleteThe Navy priest have his independence, the young one he is a 6 footer, rugby player looking chap, so the others remain very silent in his pressence. Anyway, he was sent to the poorest side of the city. He is happy about that and he is teaching people to sing in Latin. And people is proud of their new priest!
Interesting! Is your city in the U.S. or in the U.K. (if I may ask)?
DeleteI don't know. Maybe there isn't that much of a desire for the TLM if the parishioners are writing the bishop negatively about it. I know we asked people in our parish if they wanted the TLM and didn't have a single bite.
ReplyDeletePeople can't want that which they have been kept ignorant of. People need to, not only know the theology of the traditional Mass, which is an inextricable part of the Faith, but have been taught the Faith as a whole. Most have been denied the knowledge of, and instruction in the full, true Faith. Therefore, they do not know or understand that they are being deprived of the treasure of the Holy Mass (and the Faith as a whole).
DeletePP in my NO parish does not even know what a burse is, Richard.
ReplyDeleteGod bless
Sonia
It is what the corporal goes in, Sergeant!
DeleteThat's what I told him, Patricius. He actually wanted to bin all of them because they looked so "old". Poor man doesn't even know what the sacrarium is for. Frightfully, a Parish volunteer washes altar linen in her house...together with her whites!!! But, then again...this is a Parish where the PP baptises a child abroad and instructs the registration of that baptism in our Parish. There you go.
DeleteGod bless
Sonia
There are a few priests (including two young men) in my diocese willing to say the TLM, but when they do so, over and above their usual parish work, they are often saying Mass for a congregation of 10 or 12 pensioners. It hardly seems worth their while. It's not that there isn't a notional desire for the TLM, but that while people like to think it's available they don't actually bother to attend often. A regular monthly Sunday Mass was tried last year in one parish, after people had expressed an interest; it's now been quietly dropped because of poor attendance.
ReplyDeleteI’m sure that the Vetus Ordo is currently declining, so is the Novus Ordo. Given the continuing fall in Mass attendance and priests as the old generation retire/die off, that is inevitable. Yes there are the Polish priests, but that can’t last. I believe there are problems now in Poland now as that country starts to “Westernise”. My own
ReplyDeleteparish grouping/diocese is now seeing this decline.
The traditional Orders will ensure a slow but steady underlying growth in the Vetus Ordo. This will be assisted by the increasing number of young priests who will wish to be part of the Church’s Continuity, in spite of the old guard of bishops. They must be advised and encouraged more.
Above all, parish priests inclined to say the Vetus Ordo, must do so on Sunday, late morning, or early afternoon. Every third Thursday at 3 o’clock in the afternoon is no use.
They, young people, are not taught how to avoid the false premise in interpreting magisterial documents.
ReplyDeleteVatican Council II (premise-free) agrees with the SSPX position on an ecumenism of return and non Christians needing to convert for salvation
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/2015/03/vatican-council-ii-premise-free-agrees.html
Fr.Robert Barron in Catholicism uses an irrational proposition to reach an irrational conclusion
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/2015/03/frrobert-barron-in-catholicism-uses.html