![](https://sthughofcluny.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/pope-798x1024.jpg)
Direct from Orwell’s 1984.
30 Apr
2024
28 Apr
2024
From Christian Marquandt, President of the Coetus Internationalis Summorum Pontificum
THE APPEAL FOR THE TOTAL FREEDOM OF THE TRADITIONAL LITURGY: AN INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED BY JEAN-PIERRE MAUGENDRE GENERAL DIRECTOR OF RENAISSANCE CATHOLIQUE
Jean-Pierre Maugendre, General Director of Renaissance Catholique, has just launched an appeal, which follows hereafter, setting in motion a campaign throughout the world for the complete freedom of the traditional liturgy. The Coetus Internationalis Summorum Pontificum gratefully welcomes this initiative and joins it forthwith, putting all its resources and possibilities at the disposal of this campaign.
In the decisive moment in which the Church finds itself, anxiously questioning what the continuation of this pontificate will be, it is essential that the liturgical question be brought to the forefront. We have said it, and repeated, and hammered it, the traditional liturgy, directly, celebrated “live” so to speak, or while influencing, “enriching”, the ordinary liturgies of priests, communities, and soon, we hope, dioceses – as they once again turn themselves to traditional things – is the only living and beating heart capable of enacting a recovery of the Church in the midst of our extremely secularized world.
We fully adhere to what Jean-Pierre Maugendre says: “among all the things that can contribute to the internal revival of the Church and to the renewal of her missionary zeal, there is, above all, the worthy and reverent celebration of her liturgy, which can be greatly fostered thanks to the example and the presence of the traditional Roman liturgy.”
The purest lex orandi of the Roman Church is always followed, certainly at the cost of significant efforts, by the dissemination of the lex credendi of which it is a reflection. It is therefore natural for the mass to be accompanied by the Catholic catechism.
Time is getting short, as Saint Paul says (1 Corinthians 7, 29). There is no longer time to always beg for permissions and tolerances, granted and given one day, and cancelled and taken back the day after, which has been constantly happening again and again. Benedict XVI in Summorum Pontificum recalled the principle of the freedom of the traditional mass. What we demand now is simply that we be assured of the reality of this freedom, and that is actually the single thing we wish to hear, nothing else.
To all the considerations one may make about the current situation of the Church (the dramatic collapse of Western Catholicism, now also in Italy; the mortiferous scent of the end of the pontificate), which indicate that we must speak and act with force, we would wish to add yet another element, minor, but symptomatic nonetheless. It is no secret that the SSPX prepares its faithful for the consecration of new bishops. The event will not produce the same shock as in 1988. Today it will be an element which will increase the ferment of what remains of a weakened and divided Catholicism. In chaos, life can be found, if at least we know how to look for it and direct it. Let us not forget the following: the main point of Mgr Lefebvre’s “revolt” was the maintenance of the traditional liturgy. Now, the full restitution – and not to a third or a quarter as up to now – of the freedom of the Mass will be a means of allowing for the liturgical periphery, i.e. the SSPX, not to have to be back at the centre of things, but instead, to be able simply to be back in the centre, once the traditional liturgy will itself be finally reinstated there again.
Rome today buzzes with nothing but talk of a conclave. And as a result, with talk of the informal “programs” that cardinals are already setting out. Well, the appeal of Jean-Pierre Maugendre contributes to this. Or rather, it reminds us that the liturgical stone that the demolitionists of the Church rejected will once again become the cornerstone.
Christian Marquant
President of the CISP
International Campaign for the Total Freedom of the Traditional Liturgy
Being a Catholic in 2024 is no easy endeavor. The West is undergoing a massive de-Christianization, so much so that Catholicism appears to be vanishing from the public sphere. Elsewhere, the number of Christians being persecuted for their faith is on the rise. What’s more,the Church has been struck by an internal crisis that manifests itself in a decline in religiouspractice, a downswing in priestly and religious vocations, a decrease in sacramental practice, and even a growing dissension between priests, bishops and cardinals which, until very recently, was utterly unthinkable. Yet, among all the things that can contribute to the internalrevival of the Church and to the renewal of her missionary zeal, there is, above all, the worthy and reverent celebration of her liturgy, which can be greatly fostered thanks to the example and the presence of the traditional Roman liturgy.
Despite all the attempts that have been made to suppress it, especially during the present pontificate, it lives on, continuing to spread and to sanctify the Christian people who are blessed to be able to benefit from it. It bears abundant fruits of piety, as well as an increase of vocations and of conversions. It attracts young people and is the fount of many flourishing works, especially in schools, and is accompanied by a solid catechesis. No one can deny that it is a vector for the preservation and transmission of the faith and religious practice in the midst of a waning of religious belief and a dwindling number of believers. This Mass, due to its venerable antiquity, can boast of having sanctified countless souls over the centuries. Among other vital forces still active in the Church, this form of liturgical life stands out because of the stability given to it by an uninterrupted lex orandi.
Certainly, some places of worship have been granted, or rather tolerated, where this liturgy can be celebrated, but too often what has been given by one hand is taken back by the other, without, however, ever managing to make it vanish.
Since the massive decline during the period immediately following the Second Vatican Council, every attempt has been made on numerous occasions to revive religious practice, to increase the number of priestly and religious vocations, and to preserve the faith of the Christian people. Everything, except letting the people experience the traditional liturgy, by giving the Tridentine liturgy a fair chance. Today, however, common sense urgently demands that all the vital forces in the Church be allowed to live and prosper, and in particular the one which enjoys a right dating back to over a millennium.
Let there be no mistake: the present appeal is not a petition to obtain a new tolerance as in 1984 and 1988, nor even a restoration of the status granted in 2007 by the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, which, recognizing in principle a right, has in fact been reduced to a regime of meagerly granted permissions.
As lay people, it is not for us to pass judgment on the Second Vatican Council, its continuity or discontinuity with the previous teaching of the Church, the merits, or not, of the reforms that resulted from it, and so on. On the other hand, it is necessary to defend and transmit the means that Providence has employed to enable a growing number of Catholics to preserve the faith, to grow in it, or to discover it. Thetraditional liturgy plays an essential role in this process, thanks to its transcendence, its beauty, its timelessness and its doctrinal certainty.
For this reason, we simply ask, for the sake of the true freedom of the children of God in the Church, that the full freedom of the traditional liturgy, with the free use of all its liturgical books, be granted, so that, without hindrance, in the Latin rite, all the faithful may benefit from it andall clerics may celebrate it.
Jean-Pierre Maugendre, Managing Director of Renaissance Catholique, Paris, France
(Ce texte a été traduit et diffusé en allemand, anglais, espagnol, français, italien, néerlandais et portugais.)
This appeal is not a petition to be signed, but a message to be disseminated, possibly to be taken up again in any form that may seem appropriate, and to be brought and explained to the cardinals, bishops and prelates of the universal Church.
Si Renaissance catholique a l’initiative de cette campagne, c’est uniquement pour se faire l’interprète d’un large désir en ce sens qui se manifeste dans l’ensemble du monde catholique. Cette campagne n’est pas la sienne, mais celle de tous ceux qui y participeront, la relayeront, l’amplifieront, chacun à leur manière.
27 Jan
2024
On Sunday, January 14, I attended what may well be the last traditional mass of the Saint Gregory Society in New Haven. A large congregation was present in the beautiful Saint Stanislaus church. I saw old timers active in traditionalism or music from all over the state and people I had not seen for many years. But I also noticed newcomers, many families with small children and students(presumably from Yale?). The mood, despite the festive liturgy, was of course somber. But the Society said farewell to the city literally on a high note: the music and the ceremony of this mass could rarely be equaled elsewhere. 1)
We are fortunate to have the short history of the St. Gregory Society written by William Riccio, the inimitable master of ceremonies who has been associated with the Society from the beginning. I myself had regularly attended the masses of the Society up to about 1999. I will not try to duplicate Bill Riccio’s work – but to supplement it with my own reminiscences and observations. 2)
Actually, the administration of St. Stanislaus had first announced that January 14th would be the final Latin mass minutes before the Traditional Mass on Sunday, December 31, began. The leaders of the St. Gregory Society state they had no advance notice. 3) Witnesses have reported that on that day there was talk of a “decree“ from the Archbishop Leonard Blair – later, the explanation was given that the “moderator” of the consolidated New Haven parish (“Blessed McGivney Parish”) and the priest in charge of St. Stanislaus had recommended the action themselves and the archbishop had only endorsed it. As far as I can determine, no document has ever been issued nor any official mention even been made of this action (in, for example, the bulletin of the consolidated parish, the websites for Blessed McGivney parish that of “New Haven Catholic” etc.) It seems that, other than their mass disappearing from the schedule, traditionalists are not to be accorded even the courtesy or the dignity of a public statement, let alone a coherent explanation, of the actions taken against them.
The recent history of the Hartford Archdiocese (which includes New Haven) is unfortunate. Since the 1950’s, the old manufacturing economy of the Connecticut mill towns has been in irreversible decline. Yet, on paper, the number of Catholics has not diminished all that much – from 766,000 in 1966 to 734,000 in 2021. I doubt, however, whether even 20% of these nominal Catholics practice their faith. Archbishop John Francis Whealon (1968-1991), a darling of the progressives in his day, left the archdiocese wrecked from end to end. His three successors only succeeded in managing decline. The fall in the number of priests, religious parishes and schools has been disastrous. 4) Vocations verge on the nonexistent: 2021:2; 2022: 0; 2023:2. 5) At no time has the Church analyzed whether the policies and culture established by the Archdiocese may have played a decisive role in these developments. On the contrary, the incoming archbishop, Christopher Coyne, has indicted the laity for the archdiocese’s problems and signaled more down-sizing as the appropriate response to a ( still largely unacknowledged) crisis.
Blessed McGivney parish is the result of a consolidation, decreed in 2021, of the seven remaining parishes in New Haven ( in 1994 there were still 17!). 6) Added to the seven is the chaplaincy of Yale University which, having its own endowment, cannot totally participate in the consolidation. However, the leader of the combined parish is the chaplain of Yale University. The chaplaincy’s website makes clear the ideological direction he (and the new combined parish)favors. 7) There is no friendship for Catholic traditionalists in these quarters.
Indeed, New Haven seems to be a test case of a “Franciscan” model of the Church: monolithic uniformity, bureaucratic leadership, top-down direction, openness to the theological left (America magazine has reported favorably on developments here), and rapidly declining numbers of faithful. The parish reports that in 2022 the average Sunday attendance at all the New Haven Catholic churches was approximately 3100 people – down from 3800 in 2016! 8) The combined parish has been named “Blessed McGivney parish” although there is no devotion or cult of Blessed McGivney. Needless to say, the transparency claimed for this operation has been lacking. The elaborate websites and a consolidated parish bulletin of 20-plus pages do not communicate anything of significance.
The Society of St. Gregory was founded after the first indult in favor of the traditional Mass in 1984. From the beginning it was led by laymen, specifically, musicians. Thus, its governance was unique. The Society was permitted to celebrate the traditional mass in the church of Sacred Heart, a moribund New Haven parish. The time, 2 on Sunday afternoons, was intended to discourage attendance. But the St. Gregory Society was able to turn this disadvantage into a positive factor. The 2 PM mass time allowed many church musicians who had commitments in the morning to participate in the schola.
For the St. Gregory Society from its inception pursued the union of the traditional mass, celebrated in as complete a form as resources permitted, and the music which was created specifically for this mass. In other words, the spiritual and aesthetic forces were united. This contrasted starkly with the performance of polyphony as a concert or as an incongruous insertion in a Novus Ordo liturgy. But it also diverged from the practice of most of the other traditional masses springing up in the 1980s: low masses, sometimes accompanied by an attempted recreation of the dimly remembered musical performance style of 1962. Thus, the St. Gregory’s Society marked the departure of post 1980s traditionalism from pre-conciliar practices– a “return to the sources” of Catholic liturgy and music. The Society’s musical achievements were memorialized in a series of CDs that received critical acclaim.
The Society had to deal with the limitations forced upon it. The mass was usually a missa cantata. It was a challenge to find priests willing to celebrate the traditional mass and to train them to do so. The dilapidated church left much to be desired. – for example, during one mass I attended a stained-glass window collapsed and shattered. A volunteer guard had to be posted outside the church to watch over the parked cars.
Yet in spite of the disadvantageous time and place and the disdain of the official Church many people were willing to make the sacrifice to attend this mass. And the St. Gregory Society quickly attracted national attention. Bill Riccio has chronicled its “outreach” – to use a formerly popular ecclesiastical buzzword – to all kinds of other churches and organizations. Over the years, many bishops participated in the Society’s Masses. The St. Gregory Society became the new gold standard for the celebration of the traditional mass. Many of those involved in the traditional movement today, whether as celebrants, ministers, or musicians, received their training or inspiration at masses of the St. Gregory Society. Such was the Society’s reputation, that, in 1998 when the first traditional mass in decades was celebrated at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, Michael Davies wrote approvingly of the musical contribution of the Society – although I don’t believe they had much to do with that mass!
Then came the liberating effect of Summorum Pontificum. Perhaps the high point of the Society’s career was a Solemn High Mass celebrated in 2008 in the holy of holies of Catholic New Haven: the Dominican parish of St. Mary’s. 9) In the following year, after Sacred Heart parish was shut down, the Society had the opportunity to move to a much grander and more richly decorated church, the Polish Vincentian parish of Saint Stanislaus. The Society celebrated its new home with a splendid liturgy. 10) Both these festive masses were extremely well attended.
Yet as time went on a certain routine set in. In the wake of Summorum Pontificum other communities and other parishes sponsored liturgies that matched or even exceeded those of the Saint Gregory’s Society in the quality of music, the splendor of the vestments, the completeness of ritual and, above all, in the commitment to the fostering of a growing parish life. The 2 PM mass time had never been ideal for families. Indeed, at least in the now remote past, certain associates of the St. Gregory Society – not the leadership or the clergy! 11) – took a dim view of presence of children. That’s an attitude that contradicted the whole purpose of celebrating the Traditional mass in the first place. I noted, however, at the final mass of January 14 numerous families with young children in attendance.
Nor did the Society establish a firm bond with clerical institutions. For whatever reason, the most obvious next step in the development of New Haven traditionalism, to move the Society’s mass to St. Mary’s at an earlier time, never materialized. Attempts over the years to develop a relationship with the FSSP or the ICRSS eventually went nowhere. Bill Riccio tells us that overtures to the leadership of St. Stanislaus parish were firmly rebuffed. Obviously, the events of this year demonstrate that there was no communication channel with the archdiocese or Blessed McGivney parish.
So, the St. Gregory Society continued on its established course. I hear that the average Sunday attendance, although not insignificant, may not have differed that much from that of the 1990s. In recent years it undoubtedly became even harder to find celebrants.
The representative of the New Haven Catholic Church present on the day that the termination of the traditional mass was announced is reported to have attributed this determination to the difficulty of finding priests and the low attendance. But the same comments could have made in 1998! And, in all candor, would the result this year have been any different if the Society had been able to move their masses to, let’s say, 12 noon at Saint Mary’s and build a young and growing congregation? Has not Cardinal Gregory in Washington recently stated as the justification for terminating the celebration of the traditional mass the success and expansion it was enjoying in the Washington area? And would an association with one of the Ecclesia Dei communities have helped with an archdiocese comfortable with the departure from New Haven of the eminently establishment orders of the Vincentians and Preachers?
Will January 14, 2024, be the end of the traditional mass in New Haven and of the achievements of the St. Gregory Society in establishing an exemplary celebration of the traditional Latin mass and serving as a role model for so many others? The Society’s bulletin recommends writing letters to express dismay at the “withdrawal of this pastoral solicitude to those devoted to the age-old liturgy.” But hasn’t Pope Francis himself clearly indicated that he not does not care about the impact of his decisions on those he has determined to “leave by the wayside?” I also hear that the spiritual leadership in Hartford and New Haven does not welcome dialogue on this subject. Aside from letter writing, an article from a shocked observer has appeared in the secular press and a timid demonstration was being organized. The turnout on January 14 demonstrates that a lay constituency in the Hartford archdiocese exists. I would hope that, after further reflection and with some imagination, more effective responses can be devised to continue a legacy of almost 40 years.
25 Jan
2024
A forceful article by Jim Zebora about the last Latin Mass in New Haven.
The news struck traditional Catholics in south central Connecticut like a dagger to the heart.
The Latin Mass said every Sunday, and many feast days and holidays, by the Saint Gregory Society of New Haven was being shut down. This Mass had been celebrated for 38 years, through the reigns of Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who had both encouraged its use where there were Catholics who wanted it as their form of Sunday worship.
I frequently attended this Mass when I lived in Meriden (about 20- 30 minutes driving – SC), seeking what I felt was a more reverent and prayerful observance than the new Mass. The Society’s Masses were indeed beautiful and purposeful, giving honor to God and engaging worshipers in the sacred and soul-comforting rituals that live on in the Traditional Latin Mass. These Masses touched me in a way that the new Mass did not, and I felt spiritually richer for attending and receiving Communion at them. I still attended Mass in the vernacular when that was the only thing available, but the sense of reverence was missing.
You would think a sacred Mass that draws devout worshippers would be encouraged by Catholic leaders, but it is instead being suppressed. The Society’s final approved TLM in New Haven was celebrated Jan. 14 after the priest administrator of St. Stanislaus Church and the pastor of the Blessed Michael McGivney mega-parish petitioned Hartford Archbishop Leonard P. Blair to let them shut it down. No matter how it was positioned as a bottom-up request, the forced cessation of the Latin Mass in New Haven was a direct result of the pope’s hostility.
The last celebration was a Solemn High Mass with three priests (actually two – SC), a full complement of altar servers, and the highly regarded Schola Cantorum offering Gregorian chants.
In 2021, when Pope Francis reversed Pope Benedict’s policy of allowing the Latin Mass whenever and wherever it was requested, eminent Catholic writer and apologist George Weigel called Francis out on marginalizing traditional Catholics and their preferred mode of worship.
Weigel said the pope’s decree suppressing the Latin Mass, ironically named Traditionis Custodes, meaning “guardians of tradition,” “was theologically incoherent, pastorally divisive, unnecessary, cruel.”
Today, the actions of the Archdiocese in suppressing the Latin Mass and Saint Gregory Society are indeed the same.
Zebora, Jim, “End of the Latin Mass in New Haven a Direct Result of the Pope’s Hostility,” Greenwich Time, 1/25/2024
14 Jan
2024
Just one week after its 38th anniversary, the St. Gregory Society offered its last Traditional Mass in New Haven today, permission having been withdrawn abruptly by the Archibishop of Hartford. The Solemn Votive Mass of St. Gregory the Great, patron of the Society, was assisted by a large choir which included the St. Gregory Society choir and the choirs of the Oratories of St. Patrick and Sts. Cyril and Methodius. The church was filled with friends and well-wishers. In his sermon, whose tone combined sadness with muted optimism, Fr. Cipolla expressed confidence that this last Mass only represented a hiatus.
“So now after this barrage of words that always fade into nothing, we proceed to the heart of the matter, where words do not merely change water into wine, but words effect an infinitely greater miracle, but not merely words or mere words or random words but the words of Him through whom the universe was created: Hoc est corpus meum.And there is nothing else to say. But much more to sing. And we will sing again.”
Father Cipolla’s full sermon here.
11 Jan
2024
By William Riccio
“A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.”
Mark 6: 4-6
This quotation struck this writer immediately on December 31. On New Year’s Eve, just two minutes before Mass was to begin for the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, the parish priest of St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven, CT, announced the Traditional Mass that had been celebrated since 1986, and weekly since 1990, was to be ended. The final date for celebrations was set for this weekend, January 14, 2024.
For 38 years, the St. Gregory Society of New Haven had sponsored the Masses, first at Sacred Heart Church, closed in 2009, and then at St. Stanislaus. The reason the above quotation struck me was the fact that while the work of the St. Gregory Society was known throughout the Northeastern United States, and, indeed, throughout the world through recordings and blog posts, the Archdiocese of Hartford forgot who we were, never acknowledged several attempts to invite its dignitaries to celebrations, and decided to consign our people to St. Patrick’s Church or some other place where the Traditional Mass was central.
While this writer might be seen as biased in his analysis, it is without a doubt a true statement that much of the growth of the Traditional Mass in New England, the Mid-Atlantic States and elsewhere began with SGS.
Founded in 1984 by Nicholas Renouf and Britt Wheeler (both choir directors) to petition for the Mass under St. John Paul II’s indult, Quattuor Abhinc Annos, the St. Gregory Society had its first Mass at Sacred Heart Church in New Haven, a Missa Cantata for the Feast of the Holy Family. At that time, Archbishop John F. Whealon allowed three Masses in the archdiocese, one in Hartford’s Our Lady of Sorrows Church, then the LaSallette Mother Church (turned over to the archdiocese only three weeks ago), New Haven, and Waterbury, each on the first, second and third Sundays of the month.
Preparing for our Mass, which was the second to begin after Our Lady of Sorrows, servers were trained, a choir was assembled, using professional singers from the many churches in New Haven. By the second anniversary, Auxiliary Bishop John Hackett presided at the Mass, and thanked the society for bringing back this rite of worship.
Two years later, Archbishop Whealon himself presided at a solemn Mass and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. This brought out more than 1000 people to Sacred Heart, and was a catalyst in the archbishop allowing weekly celebrations later that year.
Whealon became a friend of the Society, and gifted it his own Canon Pontificalis before he died. It has been used several times, all over the country.
That Mass was the springboard for many, who hoped to bring the Traditional Rite to their dioceses. Over the next two years the St. Gregory Society aided several groups asking for the Mass, including New York City and Boston, both of which had permission within a year.
The St. Gregory Society became known for its choir as the Schola Cantorum sang the major Renaissance masters, and its interpretation of chant was considered top notch. Over the next several years six CDs of various Masses were issued, and given critical acclaim in the secular press.
Michael Davies, author and future head of Una Voce became a friend of the Society, andtraveled to New Haven three times to speak at its anniversary celebrations, and to encourage the faithful in the goodness of the work. He was instrumental in having the Society’s recording of the Missa O Magnum Mysterium by Palestrina used as the Christmas meditation music on BBC broadcasts.
The Society aided in the training of priests and servers in New York City and Boston and alumni of the schola were instrumental in getting choirs assembled there. This writer did an all-day tutorial for priests at St. Agnes, NYC, teaching the clergy the finer points of the liturgy.
On February 22, 1992, the Society aided the visit of Alfons Maria Cardinal Stickler to St. Agnes in New York City for what was a watershed moment in the traditional movement. Cardinal Stickler celebrated the first pontifical Mass in New York since 1969.
That same year the schola and servers were asked to assist the inauguration of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter’s parish in St. Peter’s Cathedral, Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the presence of Bishop James Timlin.
This began a long relationship with the FSSP while it was headquartered in Scranton, with several FSSP clergy celebrating Mass in New Haven.
The schola was invited to Paterson, New Jersey to sing the Confirmation Mass of the FSSP parish there in the cathedral church, with Bishop Frank J. Rodimer celebrating.
Closer to home, priests of various dioceses, including Bridgeport, were trained by the Society and celebrated in New Haven. Twice, Auxiliary Bishop Peter Rosazza celebrated Mass at the Faldstool, bringing large crowds to Sacred Heart.
Alumni choristers were hired in various churches and brought there the music and style of the Society.
The Society continued its aid of other locales, helping in Springfield, Massachusetts, when it began a weekly celebration.
Just prior to the publication of Summorum Pontificum, the Society aided a Mass in Holy Rosary Church, Portland, Oregon, with Auxiliary Bishop Kenneth Steiner celebrating.
With the publication of Summorum Pontificum, the society helped train servers at St. Mary’s, Norwalk, Connecticut, while an alumni chorister, David Hughes, was the choir director.
Over the next several years, the traditional rites spread, more and more priests were trained by society members, both in singing and the rites.
Sacred Heart parish was closed in 2009, and the Society was invited by the Vincentian Fathers of St. Stanislaus Church to headquarter there.
In 2011 the 25th anniversary of the first Mass, Bishop Timlin celebrated Pontifical Mass. It was the last time a prelate visited the Society.
Attempts were made to have the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest come into New Haven, but the archdiocese rebuffed the attempt, only to do it years later in Waterbury.
With the change of archbishops, chancery personnel and time, the work of the Society was forgotten until Traditiones Custodes was promulgated. Then the paperwork that had to be done brought the forgotten group back into focus. Unaware of the group’s history, and at the request of the two pastors, the letter suppressing the Mass at St. Stanislaus came about.
What the future holds for the St. Gregory Society is unknown, but with Sunday’s Mass, a Votive of St. Gregory the Great, members alumni, and faithful aided by the work of the last 38 years will celebrate the contributions made to mainstream the Traditional Mass to the Universal Church. In that regard, the Society can consider itself a success.
8 Jan
2024
That’s the title of a fiery new essay by John Zmirak in Chronicles magazine. Obviously, in a secular magazine the opportunity for frank, even provocative, speech is far greater than in a Catholic publication, e.g.,
An atheist pope is destroying the Church.
Mr. Zmirak explicitly compares the current post-Vatican II regime with twentieth century totalitarianism (“papal Stalinism”):
Vatican II itself, in the document Lumen Gentium, demanded that every Catholic on earth offer “religious submission” to papal opinions, even those offered with no infallible guarantee. There’s no other way to describe such a demand but as papal Stalinism, with each Catholic bound, like the poor Communist Party members in Arthur Koestler’s Darkness At Noon, to conform their consciences to every new adjustment of the party line, since the party alone was the “voice of History.” Only a firm papal Stalinist like that would in 2023 still regard Pope Francis as a worthy pope, and his teachings as reliable. Sadly, countless bishops, priests, and public Catholics still affirm that stance, either explicitly or by their silence and acquiescence.
What follows is a very full – but still not exhaustive – catalogue of the papal iniquities of the last eleven years. My reservation regarding this excellent essay would be that Mr. Zmirak seems attracted to the “infiltration” explanation of the Church’s problems. I respectfully disagree – the anti-Christian forces both within and outside the Church are very public in their affiliations, ideology and tactics.
As for a solution, in the past that was easier to bring about:
[I}n centuries past, a Catholic emperor or council on rare occasions deposed an unworthy pope, that option was foreclosed by the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806—not to mention the hyper-papalist rulings of the First Vatican Council in 1870. That Council made the papacy absolutely supreme, but also impossible to correct. No one on earth may now judge or remove a pope. Historians of the Romanovs might have something to say about whether such an elevation was really a great advantage.
The loss of the Holy Roman Empire (as well as that of the other Christian kingdoms) still leaves a painful void.
Zmirak, John, “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Francis?” in Chronicles: a Magazine of American Culture (1/2024)
31 Dec
2023
We are reliably informed that two minutes before today’s Traditional Mass a decree of Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford was read suppressing the Latin Mass in New Haven as of January 14. There had been no previous communication with the congregation. They have been referred to St. Patrick’s, the church of the Institute of Christ the King, in Waterbury!
This is the tentative end of the apostolate of the St. Gregory Society which will mark its 37th anniversary soon. The St. Gregory Society has played a historic role in the rediscovery of the celebration of the Traditional Mass with complete music and ceremony. The Society’s influence has been felt all over the East Coast of the United States and beyond. You can find many references to their work over the years by searching this blog.
This action is entirely consistent with the pattern of contemptuous treatment of the faithful (and of priests) by Archbishop Blair displayed, for example, in his recent drastic restructuring of the Catholic parishes of New Haven. And the incoming coadjutor archbishop has been frank in his disdain for the laity. It is one facet of the tragic decline of an Archdiocese once so glorious.
7 Aug
2023
At least one location is operating subject to a restriction which I believe to be unique in the Catholic Church:
Only foreigners can attend. (외국인 교우 분들을 위해 허락된 미사로 한국 교우 분들은 참례할 수 없습니다.) |
Source: Latin Mass Directory
(Thanks to Le Forum Catholique)
23 Jul
2023
Peter Seewald has given a remarkable Interview published in Kath.net. The original is to be found here; an English translation here. What is remarkable, first of all, is the man who is speaking. We have reviewed several books by Peter Seewald, written in collaboration with Benedict XIV ( posted here and here). Those of you who have read them know that I have had serious reservations regarding Peter Seewald’s books. He and Benedict tried to continue the party line of the Church establishment: within the Church all is peace, unity and continuity of policy. Here and there in his most recent biography of Pope Benedict, however, Seewald could no longer follow this course. And in this new interview he definitively breaks with it.
Seewald declares that the floodgates have opened! He describes the radical break the policies of Francis represent with those of his predecessors Benedict and John Paul. He details the insults and contemptuous treatment meted it out by Francis to Benedict, Mueller, Gänswein – the list is a long one. He frankly describes the incompetence and worse of Francis’s associates: McCarrick, Danneels and most recently Victor Fernandez. And he frankly faces the potentially apocalyptic consequences of the pope’s current course of action.
I would single out the emphasis Seewald gives to Pope Francis’s attack on the traditional liturgy – he rightly considers Summorum Pontificum a key achievement of the Benedictine papacy. This passage of the interview is even more remarkable because as recently as 2020 Seewald himself seemed completely unaware of the significance of that motu proprio. 1)
All this is a remarkable change in direction – from a would-be member of the establishment, if a conservative one, to an outspoken critic of it. We have seen over the years numerous other examples, however: Daniel Mahoney, Aldo Maria Valli and even George Weigel. The confrontational radicalism of Francis’s course is driving an ever-greater number of potential allies into the opposition. A major role in Seewald’s “conversion” is the death of his long-term interview partner, Pope Benedict, which obviously frees him from the constraints imposed by Benedict’s reverence for the Council and the Church establishment.
Of course, it is equally remarkable that this interview appears on Kath.net, a “conservative” Austrian site that has desperately striven to maintain relations of some kind with the German Church and the papacy of Francis – and to distinguish themselves from the traditionalists. They too may have reached the end of the rope.
Of course, some observers had seen the dam breaking 10 years ago. Seewald rightly says that Francis “from the first day of his pontificate sought to distance himself from his predecessor” – an insight that Pope Benedict and Seewald repeatedly denied for ten years in their jointly published works. Nevertheless, “better late than never!” I will welcome more contributions from the now unleashed Peter Seewald based on his extensive contact with Ratzinger over the decades.