Tridentine Mass not a priority?

[popestpiusx]

Guest Commentary

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Tridentine Mass not a Priority
By Brian Mershon
MichNews.com
Oct 17, 2005




As the week wraps up, Catholics received a flurry of headlines from the Synod on the Eucharist in Rome. Also, toward the end of this week, Archbishop Chaput of Denver commented on the results of the Second Vatican Council being “mixed” to date. And finally, Cardinal Arinze mentioned in a news conference that the Traditional Latin Mass had not been mentioned by any of the Synod Fathers because it was “not a priority” for the Synod.



He then went on to add the following amazing statement: “The problem we have discussed is that many people don't go to Mass, and those that come don't understand -- they go to Communion but not to confession, as if they were immaculate.” I’m certain the Cardinal Prefect was not intentionally trying to be ironic in the positioning of those two statements.



So the Bishops at the Synod discussed many things, but a common topic discussed was that many bishops’ desired to “find a way” to have “intercommunion” with non-Catholics. The other major problems outlined above by Cardinal Arinze had to do with the lack of understanding or disbelief in the mysterium fidei of the Holy Eucharist. But amazingly, any discussion of the “Tridentine Mass,” so-called, was “not a priority.”



And Vatican II talked about reading “the signs of the times” accurately.



Pope John Paul II issued a document on the state of the Church in Europe and called it an “apostasy.” Archbishop Chaput stated that we must live our faith more boldly like St. Athanasius, who was exiled by many bishops, and actually excommunicated by the Pope in his day. Does this remind any traditional Catholics of any Archbishop they know? The Synod Fathers don’t seem to be able to accurately gauge the cause of “the signs of the times” of their empty churches and few priestly vocations, but the Tridentine Mass is “not a priority” for the synod.



Am I getting the facts right here? For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, let them hear.



For the two or three Sundays each month in which I am blessed to be able to attend the Traditional Latin Mass, I encounter very few who attend who lack belief in transubstantiation. I encounter very few who are receiving our Lord in a state of mortal sin or who consciously reject a dogma of the Faith, yet still receive Holy Communion.



And at nearly every Traditional Latin Mass location I have attended around the United States, the priest is usually available for a set time ON SUNDAY prior to Holy Mass, to hear the confessions of the faithful—not at some extremely inconvenient time like 3 or 4 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. In other words, most priests who offer the Traditional Latin Mass, and most especially those who offer it exclusively, hear many confessions prior to every Mass they offer. One Traditional Priest in Rockford, Illinois hears confessions for a set time EVERY DAY prior to Holy Mass, with one and one half hours of confession on Saturday afternoon, and another 45 minutes prior to his Sunday Mass.



But the “Tridentine Mass” so-called, is “not a priority for the Synod,” according to the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.



It is not well-publicized, but Kenneth Jones has written a book entitled: Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church since Vatican II. In it, Mr. Jones emotionlessly statistically documents the precipitous decline of numbers of vocations to the priesthood, numbers of priests, numbers of Catholic schools, numbers of conversions, numbers of Catholics attending Catholic schools, numbers of baptisms, numbers of marriages in the Church, numbers of religious vocations in the U.S. prior to, and after, the Second Vatican Council—an objective and sobering, and quite frankly, depressing overview of the “signs of the times” for the U.S. Church. The same decline can be seen across Western Europe as well, but at a more alarming rate.



But one of our leading U.S. Bishops calls these sobering results regarding the legacy of the Second Vatican Council as “mixed.” Pardon me for by brashness and boldness, but what would be considered a cataclysmal collapse?



The entire Synod of the Eucharist has bishops decrying the lack of Faith in the Eucharist, which quite frankly, if the news reports are accurate, some of them display in their cry for “intercommunion” by heretics and schismatics.



But the “Tridentine Mass” so-called, is “not a priority for the Synod” and 40 years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, one archbishop calls the nearly complete collapse of the Faith in the U.S. and Europe as “mixed.”



And the same cardinal prefect, not intending to be derogatory, but merely stating a fact, said: “The problem we have discussed is that many people don't go to Mass, and those that come don't understand -- they go to Communion but not to confession, as if they were immaculate."



Priests who offer the Traditional Latin Mass have long lines for confession, and they hear confessions when it is convenient for people to go—when they are already at Church prior to Mass. Sheer ingenious rocket science!



We have an apostasy in the Church among the vast majority of baptized Catholics, many priests, bishops and even cardinals. We have a Eucharistic Synod just completing where the major theme was about the collapse of belief in transubstantiation—the mysterium Fidei—the Holy Eucharist.



But the “Tridentine mass” so-called, is “not a priority for the Synod.”



For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, let them see and hear—and read the signs of the times.



Pray for an end to communion in the hand and under the species of wine, where it is spilled and trampled under feet daily. Pray for a return to the normal reception (currently, the universal NORM in the entire Catholic Church) of Holy Communion kneeling. Pray for an end to the non-ordained administering the Holy Eucharist to the laity.



Pray for reparation to be made against the sacrilege, outrage, indifference and irreverence shown to the Holy Eucharist and the Blessed Sacrament.



Pray to Pope St. Pius X for the freeing of the Traditional Latin Mass to all Latin-rite priests on all the altars of the world on a daily basis. Pray for an end to the apostasy in the Church and for more courageous bishops to follow the leads of Archbishop Burke in St. Louis, Bishop Doran in Rockford, Illiniois, and Bishop Bruskewitz in Lincoln, Nebraska, to give a “wide and generous” application of the Traditional Latin rite of Mass to their priests and laity.



And most of all, pray for a truly heartfelt and humble reading of “the signs of the times” as the bishops close this year of the Holy Eucharist.



Copyright October 2005 by Brian Mershon


Copyright© MichNews.com. All Rights Reserved.

[FutureSoror]

When I was reading this, I got the impression that he was talking about Mass in general, that Catholics are not confessing as they should, and [i]that[/i] took priority over the discussion of the Tridentine Mass.

[Brother Adam]

"Tridentine Mass not a priority?, ???????????????????????????????????"




I would certianly hope not.

[Aloysius]

I think I understood what he was saying better... because I basically agree with it.

basically, they're tryin to come up with some newfangled way of stopping all this.

but at the tridentine mass, it isn't there.

so maybe the priority should be looking at the tridentine mass and what is different there so that we can take a lesson from the Traditional Latin Mass. people believe more in the real presence and sacrifice if the posture of the priest is a sacrificial posture. people believe less when the posture of the priest is the same as the protestant minister down the street. people go to confession more when it is offered half an hour before every mass and encouraged.

the Tridentine Mass should be a priority, if for no other reason than to learn our lessons from what the people offering the tridentine mass are doing right.

[Extra ecclesiam nulla salus]

gays can be priests and no universal indult.

looks like B16 will be another Jp2.

[Socrates]

[quote name='Extra ecclesiam nulla salus' date='Oct 17 2005, 09:23 PM']gays can be priests and no universal indult.

looks like B16 will be another Jp2.
[right][snapback]761888[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
Yes, let's play more of that good 'ol time protestant favorite game, "Kick the Pope."

[Extra ecclesiam nulla salus]

did saint paul not publically rebuke saint peter the first pope???

[Aloysius]

that statement was simplistic, stupid, and implicitly derogatory towards our current and previous holy fathers.

"gays" cannot be priests, you cannot be a priest if you publically define yourself as gay. if you have proven you can live chastely for at least 3 years, you can be a priest even if you have some disordered attractions.

it is not yet certain what Benedict XVI will do in regards to the Tridentine Mass. this is talking about the synod of bishops giving the Tridentine Mass no priority. Benedict XVI may very well loosen the restrictions, or at least demand that they be followed more widespreadly as Ecclesia Dei laid out, and he may even as yet grant a universal indult. God only knows.

and don't get defensive about me calling your statement stupid. it was. it wasn't an insult it was a fact.

[Extra ecclesiam nulla salus]

[Socrates]

[quote name='Extra ecclesiam nulla salus' date='Oct 17 2005, 09:28 PM']did saint paul not publically rebuke saint peter the first pope???
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[/quote]

I know St. Paul. St. Paul was a good friend of mine. And Sam, you're no St. Paul!

[Extra ecclesiam nulla salus]

lol

yes i am no saint paul.


but what my point is that in some cases the pope may be corected.

[photosynthesis]

I do agree about the time for Confession being inconvenient. Parishes really have to do better than 3-4pm on a Saturday. Some parishes only have confession for 1/2 hour! Parishes should have confession on a daily basis.

[Extra ecclesiam nulla salus]

i know a parish that has it every day

[Sinner]

There can be no "wrong" Mass regarding Tridentine vs Novus Ordo.
The baby should definitely not be thrown out with the bath water. There is much that was good, and much that is now bad. Confession before Mass..... yup a no-brainer. And a lot of other points made are duly noted.

[popestpiusx]

[quote name='Extra ecclesiam nulla salus' date='Oct 17 2005, 10:23 PM']gays can be priests and no universal indult.

looks like B16 will be another Jp2.
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[/quote]
While I understand the frustration, I would incourage you to post something that requires no less than three or four brain cells to compose.

[photosynthesis]

[quote name='Extra ecclesiam nulla salus' date='Oct 17 2005, 11:31 PM']i know a parish that has it every day
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[/quote]
in Baltimore? where? is it in communion with Rome?

[popestpiusx]

[quote name='Brother Adam' date='Oct 17 2005, 09:48 PM']"Tridentine Mass not a priority?, ???????????????????????????????????"
I would certianly hope not.
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[/quote]
Of course not....

[popestpiusx]

[quote name='Aloysius' date='Oct 17 2005, 10:30 PM']
"gays" cannot be priests, you cannot be a priest if you publically define yourself as gay.  if you have proven you can live chastely for at least 3 years, you can be a priest even if you have some disordered attractions.

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[/quote]
Gays "can" be priests regardless. But they may not be unless certain requirements are met and even those must be enforced ( a weakness in most post conciliar documents).

[Aloysius]

if you are going to be a modernist and define any man as "gay" or "strait"

anyone that defines themself publically as gay is not allowed to enter seminary.

[popestpiusx]

We are not disagreeing. I am simply making the distinction between "can" (in the sense of 'able to') as opposed to may (in the sense of 'allowed to').