Those damned Traditionalists!

(Above)The sanctuary of the Church of St Martha, Enfield. The Hartford Courant explains : “An altar rail is a hallmark of St. Martha church and is used by parishioners to receive communion during Latin Mass.” Photo by John Woike | jwoike@courant.com (John Woike / Hartford Courant)

We have rejoiced in the continued vitality of the Catholic Traditionalist movement, particularly in this corner of the world. That should not blind us, however, to the depth of the opposition that remains extremely active within the Church establishment. We have heard of recent incidents and indeed have experienced others ourselves – emanating primarily from the clergy but also from the “churchy” element of the laity who have absorbed the progressive clergy’s view of the world over the decades. A noteworthy recent published example comes to us from the Archdiocese of Hartford.

St. Martha is a parish in Enfield ( a town the northern part of the state of Connecticut), which,  as you know if you have been following our listings of announced Holy Day masses, regularly offers the traditional liturgy. Not too long ago it was merged with two other parishes in the course of the Archdiocese of Hartford’s current course of drastic downsizing. Now that merger has been undone. The cause? Although there seem to be other issues for the split, including control of the school, the discussion focuses on the fact that St. Martha’s celebrates the traditional mass. This was unacceptable to the congregations of the other two merged parishes .

“Clash of culture leads to failed Parish Merger in Enfield” Article in the Hartford Courant (November 19, 2017)by Jordan Otero Sisson.

“Parishioners and archdiocesan leaders agreed that a difference in culture was a major point of contention when the parishes were merged. St. Martha is a more traditional church, while St. Patrick and St. Adalbert, considered more contemporary, with strong social justice ministries and outreach efforts, and that clash caused some tensions, they said.”

Walter Wojciehowski, the former parish council president at St. Adalbert, and Tim Fiore, the former St. Patrick parish council president, said … many parishioners felt as though the culture of St. Martha was transplanted to the new parish without consultation of the other communities, creating what Wojciehowski described as a “toxic atmosphere.”

The Courant adds: “One of the main points of contention was where the new parish would offer a traditional Latin Mass, which had been celebrated at St. Martha.” For the traditional mass was now proposed to be celebrated in St Adalbert – the more “traditional” venue among the three churches of the merged parish, at least in terms of architecture.

The Hartford Courant reporter then helpfully explains some differences between the Traditional Mass and the “Norvus Ordo” (sic) (His explanation is actually quite fair.)

The opposition of the leaders of the two other parishes to the traditional mass was militant:

“This was a case of the church having moved beyond this in the ’60s, so why are we going back and why are you dragging us back?” Fiore asked. “We have no interest in going back. We were afraid the whole Latin Mass culture would seep its way into the modern Mass church.”

The solution of the Archdiocese? Aside from the usual response (blaming the laity), it has undone the merger, at least for the time being. Not a word is uttered against the outrageous statements against Catholic traditionalism set forth in the above article. And why should there be? The Archdiocese of Hartford emerged early on as a progressive leader; it is now reaping the fruits of decades of progressive dysfunction.

As the parish leader of St Adalbert puts it, employing media buzzwords:

“I think there is enough room for all, but the main issue here has to be to be inclusive and to respect the feelings and the culture of the other parties involved,” he said. “If that doesn’t happen … I don’t see how that could be successful.” (After he himself has showed no respect for the “culture of St Martha.”)