Catholic Traditionalism 2020

In the first half of 2020, life in the “ developed world” world came to a shuddering standstill. The pleasant cocoon surrounding the populations of Western Europe and the United States seemed to disintegrate and apocalyptic hysteria seized the upper hand. The media and forces of the establishment, for their own reasons and based on murky data, seized the opportunity to whip collective fears into a fever heat. Suddenly a culture devoted exclusively to money, sex, pleasure and bodily health had hit a road mine. The denizens of the global society without limits had to confront limitations – even, at least in their own minds,  the possibility of imminent death. Overnight a quasi-totalitarian regime was imposed, in which the state was empowered to regulate, in the greatest possible detail, public, business, religious and even personal life. (Here in Connecticut, for example, the governor devoted considerable efforts to deciding whether beauty salons can use blow dryers ). We are slowly re-emerging “from under the rubble” of the pandemic. Yet within days a new crisis has been ignited. 

As we have done almost every year since 2013, we will reflect upon the current status of the Catholic Traditionalist movement; its successes, failures and outlook. What are the next steps for Traditionalists seven years into the pontificate of Francis? Although we confine our efforts to the United States, of necessity these reflections will stray from the narrow confines of the “American Catholic Church” as appropriate.

Regarding the Church, we can only record the abysmal failure of the hierarchy, of the Catholic institutions and of the Pope. In the greatest domestic crisis in decades, the clergy have been silent, the state discontinuing  their “services” as “non-essential” – with their own concurrence. Nor did we see a wave of discontent about that among the laity, as, depending on the location, churches were locked, masses were suspended and some or all of the sacraments were withheld. Catholics died in hospitals and nursing homes alone without the presence of their family or clergy and bereft of prayers or the sacraments. The hierarchy took its direction from the media, the government bureaucrats, the scientists and, to the extent avoidance of liability was involved, the lawyers. Right now the dioceses of the New York area are issuing page after page of regulations on the resumption of masses and the sacraments, which are obviously more concerned with avoiding legal exposure that the good of souls.

The permanent damage of these days will be enormous. For in all honesty, is not sheer inertia the greatest force propping up the post-Vatican II Church among the laity ? How many of the minority which still regularly attends Mass will return after this interruption of months? And how many others will remember with resentment the passivity of their shepherds? At a minimum, an institutional decline that has assumed record levels under Pope Francis will only accelerate.

But where does Catholic Traditionalism itself stand? Before the grand shutdown, celebrations of the Traditional Mass had been growing by leaps and bounds both in quantity and quality. The movement had been successfully passed on to a new generation of priests and laity. Monasteries such as Silverstream or Norcia – situated outside the US but closely linked to US Traditionalism – were flourishing, overcoming incredible  obstacles of all kinds. At home, the celebration of the Traditional Mass had moved into cathedrals and basilicas. It seemed that each year brought new accomplishments. In the New York area, early 2020 saw not just one but two solemn pontifical masses celebrated by cardinals. Just recently even the New York Times had to acknowledge -viewed from their perspective of course – the new popularity of Catholic Tradition among younger “weird” Catholics. Meanwhile, Traditionalists assumed more and more the role of leaders of the overall Catholic right as their conservative allies (and erstwhile adversaries) fell into ever greater confusion and intellectual chaos in the face of the unshakably radical course of Pope Francis & Co. indeed, a sign of the maturity of the Traditionalist movement today is its independence  from the need of Vatican favor. If 15 or 20 years ago Traditionalist events such as the annual Chartres pilgrimage felt compelled to insinuate – falsely – in words and images that Pope John Paul II supported their endeavors I doubt anyone would make the same claim today for Francis!

Yet the great coronavirus panic largely brought the celebration of the Traditional Mass to a halt. We have seen the vitality of the movement, however, in the high number of Traditional Masses that have been streamed in these dark days. And Traditional priests- at least some of them- have been more willing than the others to bend the rules to keep at least some semblance of the sacraments available. Let’s also not forget that – even if it happened outside the United States – it was the  French Traditionalists, not the indifferent French hierarchy, which obtained in court the reversal of state measures restricting the celebration of the Mass in that country.  Nevertheless, Traditionalists too will face fallout arising from their conduct during the pandemic.

More regrettably,  the last year has seen an outbreak of bitter infighting among Traditionalists themselves on a national, regional and local level. Once more the FSSPX has become a target. A well-known Traditionalist parish in the Northeast has been torn apart by intramural conflict among clergy and laity. Conflicts have erupted routinely on all kinds of occasions. Some of this is a natural consequence of growth, as Traditionalists deepen their interaction with each other,  the rest of the Church and the world and encounter new and unanticipated points of friction. But much of the current agitation arises from sheer stupidity and inability to subordinate individual wishes and grievances to the common good of Catholic Traditionalism. 

The institutional adversaries of the Old Mass have hardly been inactive either. As the Traditional Mass gains greater visibility in the “Catholic public square,” the machinations and maneuvers of the Catholic establishment  against Traditionalism continue and even intensify. In some cases, perhaps unsurprisingly, the instigators of anti-Traditionalist vendettas were not the clergy but the aging laity of the Vatican II generation. Here a Traditionalist professor is forced out of a “Catholic” college; there a Traditionalist priest is dismissed from his parish and made chaplain of a nursing home.  Diocesan clergy committed  to celebrating the Traditional Mass are subject to all kinds of harassment and chicanery,  while certain priests who only occasionally celebrate the Tradional Mass continue to demand that they not be identified or photographed.  There were still instances where the Traditional Mass, even a Nuptial Mass, could only be celebrated on a semi-clandestine basis. (N.B. This was before the imposition of the current restrictions!). 

We have previously spoken of the hostility of the current pontiff to the Traditional Mass  – I don’t think anyone doubts that. Recently, however, speculation has revived once again that Bergoglio might be considering imposing restrictions of some kind on its celebration. This fear has been prompted by the circulation by the Vatican to the worlds’ bishops of a tendentious questionnaire on the status of the celebration of the Old Mass. Also, certain bureaucratic moves and restructurings (e.g., the abolition of the Ecclesiae Dei commission) in the Vatican lead some to think that a clique adverse to Traditionalism is consolidating its power. Curiously, some of the more recent developments took place after the release by the Vatican of optional new prefaces and saints’ commemorations for the Old Mass – a move seen at least by outraged progressives as an unacceptable acknowledgment of that Mass’s continued vitality. 

One might puzzle over the timing of such a hypothetical papal intervention. For the state of the Church and of the Vatican under Pope Francis is anything but good. As we have set forth above, regardless of what anyone is publicly saying, the Church will not emerge unscathed from Coronavirus.  Numerous Vatican scandals continue to seethe. All objective statistics regarding mass attendance, reception of the sacraments, vocations etc. show a Church in catastrophic retreat across the world. Concerns are mounting over the German “synodal path,” an initiative, after all, originally instigated by Francis, with worldwide ramifications. And the tensions over Francis’s “Amazonian” synod triggered not very well disguised opposition in the form of essays written by Cardinal Sarah and more importantly, the “pope emeritus.” I would be very surprised if those essays hadn’t played a role in temporarily putting the brakes on the seemingly triumphal progress toward married priests and women clergy.

It would not seem a propitious moment to set off an ecclesiastical civil war. But, as I wrote in 2014,  a moment like today, where Francis is confronting setbacks on other fronts,  would likely be the perfect occasion to launch an attack on Traditionalists. For, in addition to distracting from his other difficulties, such a move would certainly win the applause of most hierarchies and ecclesiastical bureaucracies – especially those of  Europe – as well as  of the secular media. But will it happen? Possibly, but the Traditionalist movement has had to live over the years with various threats from the Vatican, both known and not so well known, and by the grace of God has thus far survived them.

Yet what will be the outcome of all this? Will Traditionalism survive only as a Roman Catholic version of Anglo-Catholicism? Does not Pope Francis increasingly give the Church an “Anglican” face: a bureaucratic superstructure entirely focused on the secular, devoid of any specific spiritual and moral content, but to some extent tolerating the existence of “minorities”- the African churches, the Traditionalists – still loyal to a different and older morality, liturgy and theology? If so it would be a tragic and futile conclusion of a sixty – year struggle.

At times the temptation has indeed been great for Traditionalists to play the role of “High Church Catholicism”: preserving the Traditional Mass, often presented as a special event, but otherwise quietly accepting the present state of the Roman Catholic Church and of that of the society to which the Church in turn has conformed. Such Traditionalists, going beyond requisite and commendable prudence, have restrained their commentary on the pressing issues of the day. They have at times practiced self-censorship as the price of admission to the churches and institutions owned by the establishment.

But, by its very nature, the Traditional Mass rejects confinement within such a straitjacket. This liturgy can never be a private option or merely a psychologically beneficial ritual. By constantly recalling and representing the presence and active role of God, by making visible and vital once more the riches of art and history and by insisting on the role of reason, the Traditional Mass can never be a pliant servant of modernity. This Mass leads souls to contemplation yet paradoxically – or not?- inspires them to external works, setting off shock waves in art, politics and ecclesiastical life. Do we not see this in the “direct action” of Alexander Tschugguel (tossing Pachamama in the Tiber) in response to the highly symbolic adoration of fake idols in the Vatican? Or in the continuing active participation of Latin Mass congregations in the US pro-life movement? Or in the apostolic voyages of men such as Cardinal Burke, Cardinal Zen or Bishop Schneider, who take uncompromising public stands on the crucial issues of Church and society, regardless of the popularity of these opinions? Or even in one prominent Traditionalist blog’s transition from the futility of covering the day-to-day nonsense of today’s Church to a more immediately relevant, unapologetic advocacy for Donald Trump? 

It is now the time to advocate openly for Catholic truth in liturgy, morality and theology. As we have said, this may well lead in the short term to conflict – even a dramatic showdown – with the forces controlling the Catholic institutions. But to shirk this confrontation will mean only to involve Traditionalism in the overall collapse of the Catholic establishment. After this crisis, Traditional Catholics will need to work ever more diligently and learn to cooperate closely among themselves – despite the recent difficulties!. They will need to continue supporting the prayer of contemplative monasticism and the intellectual life of scholarship. They must maintain the commitment to liturgical excellence and completeness which happily has been so widely achieved today. And they will continue to foster vocations as priests and religious. 

They cannot shy away from the conflicts that will inevitably arise with a disintegrating hierarchy and secular society . They must take in stride being called mentally ill (Pope Francis) repressed homosexuals (Frederic Martel) “enemies of the Pope” (the establishment Catholic news media) and, of course,  “fascists” (everywhere in Europe), and know that it cannot be otherwise. As Pope Benedict so bitterly experienced, the old order will not go down without a savage fight. It will be a struggle in which the opponents of Catholic Tradition will continue to enjoy the full support of the secular world. Yet when they look at the numbers, Traditionalists are increasingly confident that the future is on their side, regardless of whatever drastic challenges the immediate future may bring. And for the vital majority of Traditionalists, the scope of their mission is no longer, as in 1970,  “saving the Mass” for a few,  but restoring integral Catholic Tradition in all its glory to the whole Church.