It seems to me that the Catholic Church is losing its holy traditions fast with the obvious choice of cardinals and bishops for the Novos Ordo Mass and their preference to the practice of communion in the hand.
Escribe:
Pharisee:
As far as I see it, the Catholic Church is losing its holy traditions fast because the College of Cardinals and the Conferences of Bishops throughout the world the persist and insist upon the suppression of the Latin Mass and the systemic elimination of the Communion on the tongue as the method of receiving the Eucharist. Priests who are loyal to their practice are placed in difficult situations by their respective superiors and are gradually eased out of the sacerdotal service by different strategies.
Traditional priests are removed from their respective posts where they can have traditional practice and are instead transferred to difficult assignments like hospitals, counseling clinics and communities where dignity of such practice are almost impossible. The result is that some of them, especially the elderly, are forced to resign only to find the cruel punishment that they no longer have the former retirement plans they used to enjoy such that they do not have financial security and even a place to live in their old age.
Some of them have even younger Vatican II-indoctrinated priests ganging up on them and gaslight them into believing that they no longer have the relevant faith or the ardent fire of spirituality but instead have petrified into sedentary lives because of disobedience. The Pope instead of defending these faithful stalwarts of faith have abandoned them into this new kind of martyrdom where materialism is used to force them into submission.
Yet, despite all these oppressions and suppressions the Catholic Church finds itself losing a great number of vocations which is needed to keep its universal presence. The ecumenical strategy of being more lenient to Protestantism is backfiring as Protestants no longer see the need to convert because what used to be the Catholic Church is now very protestant in its liturgy and approach to the holy life. Even the number of baptisms, matrimonies, confessions and other essential Catholic sacraments have plummeted down statistically. And so, this was Angelo Roncalli’s dream of bringing the Church into the world and now, the world has infiltrated well into the Church. In fact, Giovanni Montini had affirmed that “by some crack, the smoke of Satan has entered the Church”.
Saducee:
It is sad to say that the Pharisee had seen only negative things in the changes he saw in the Church. Although, these changes had been long in coming, so many workers in the Church have died anticipating the Church to become more relevant to the so many social issues and concerns that would make the Institution respond to the needs of the times. For the Church to be really living it must adapt to the needs of the changing world adopting the new discoveries in science and allowing improvements in the world of arts and technology, otherwise, it will simply petrify and lose relevance to the people that it has purported to serve.
It was for this purpose that Vatican II Council was conceived and realized through a lot of painstaking efforts which the so-called traditionalists opposed in the name of loyalty and adherence to the Magisterium. It was even so appalling that some of these so-called traditionalists do not see the efforts of some to bring back the ancient practices of the Church such as the communion in the hand which had been given witness by no less than St. Cyril who is among the earliest Church fathers. Moreover, did it not occur to these traditionalists that the native tongue of the faithful would produce a sanctifying element which is why some of the native-speaking churches like those in Syria, and other eastern rite churches in communion with Rome are precisely that; they are still in communion with the Universal Church.
As Pope Francis said, Vatican II is now the new Magisterium and the manner by which the Church is responding is based upon this new Magisterium. Traditionalists should therefore accept the many changes that are happening. The new gains in ecumenism for instance, should not be underestimated as there is now a better rapport between other churches and the Catholic Church. Conspiracy theories that seem to undermine the Church serve as obstructions to more spiritual progress to which the Mother Church aspire.
Imperial Roman:
Traditionalists are simply provocateurs who challenge the authority of the Roman curia. If we continue to tolerate the traditionalist stance, then all progress made the historic Council of Vatican II will suffer a big setback. It is imperative that a headway towards progress is achieved by addressing all sectors of society so that real peace and order can be made. For instance, the reality of the LBTQ+ community in our midst can not be ignored. These are also people who are part of the flock and their spirituality shouldn’t be neglected. The Roman Curia is right, if marriage can not be granted unto them then why can’t a simple blessing for a same sex couple be denied them when in fact even dogs and other pets are blessed by the Church on the day of St. Francis?
Pope Francis has observed that the Church has become so masculine when in fact, we refer to it as the Mother Church and would like its maternal instinct to really care for all of her children. This must be the reason why we should reconsider having the divorced to still be in communion with us and even those who are unmarried. And in this age where we can have female generals, pilots and welders why can’t we have priestesses? I as an Imperial Roman citizen can give witness for all of you that having the feminine sacerdotal figures in our society had made Roman civilization more exciting! These traditionalists are so intolerant when I as a Roman citizen has already recognized Latin as a dead language even just after the fall of the Roman empire and the new diseases like COVID-19 give us enough reason to do away with communion on the tongue as a necessary precaution explained by the World Health Organization.
The Gentile had spoken but let me tell you this, it is the culture currents which flowed within the Jewish nation which made life exhilarating. Have we not constructed the incomparable edifices in Caesaria Philippi and Caesaria Maritima to please Caesar himself? And so, behold what they have allowed us to do, the more magnificent palace and tomb for Herod aside from the Temple in Jerusalem which exemplify imperial tolerance to religion during the Pax Romana. I would definitely consider the Vatican’s practice of Ecumenism today as outstanding. Pope Francis’ initiative of the Amazon Synod and the Abu Dhabi declaration for the people of the book exemplify this.
Pope Francis is still alive but the building in Abu Dhabi named after him and reciprocally his Muslim counterpart, and another building for the Jews is truly a memorial to his greatness in building relationships between the great world religions. Had there been an expression of ecumenical brotherhood greater than this?
And yet, it is quite embarrassing that the traditionalists hold a grudge against him for allowing Pachemama to grace the Vatican grounds when it is just a symbol of an ecumenical stance to save the environment and take what happened in Abu Dhabi as disloyalty to Catholicism when it is for universal peace and brotherhood.
Zealot:
There is no reason, I believe, for Pope Francis and his curia to be proud of its practice of ecumenism manifesting its support for other religious leaders outside of the Catholic Church when in fact, it is neglecting and even oppressing traditional priests. If they are, in fact, showing a universal act of tolerant brotherhood by exemplifying religious toleration then they should have not forgotten the adage that “Charity begins at home.” How is it possible that they are charitable towards imams, pastors, ministers, and even shamans of other religions but are uncharitable towards their very own priests whose only fault is to strive to live their faith following Catholic traditions that were never proven to be abrogated nor unlawfully practiced?
Which is why we admire the heroic stance of these traditionalists who follow their conscience and stick to the Magisterium which has never been altered and shouldn’t be altered for the simple reason that God being the Source of all depository of knowledge, Himself, is immutable. May we state here categorically, with our ardent and faithful zeal that those who adhere to the traditional Latin Mass have never violated the rule of the Catholic Church in their disobedience to their superiors who have in fact proven themselves tyrannical and unworthy as bishops and princes of the true church. Latin is the language of the Church and since it is a living church, then how can one consider her language to be dead. May we remind that even science for all its grand achievements of even exploring the universe still make use of Latin in its reference to any new species of life because of its progressive purity which can not be replicated by other languages. And this is precisely the reason why the Latin Mass has maintained its solemnity. Moreover, what had communion on the tongue violated in the church law? Isn’t it true that communion in the hand was the one given just an indult and was rather violative of so many proprieties reverential to the Eucharist?
But we in the brotherhood rather say that the Church hierarchy in the imposition of the Novos Ordo mass to do away with the Traditional Mass is really tyrannical and oppressive. The Vatican II Council which is neither dogmatic and authoritative as the Magisterium is admittedly pastoral as Giovanni Montini admits. This, plus the fact that Anibale Bugnini, the Freemason cardinal had deceptively manipulated those in the actual sessions that what he was urging was the will of the Pope, and at the same time telling the pope that this was the consensus of the majority of the Council participants practically hoodwinking both sides into committing error. Even the pronouncement of Jorge Bergoglio that the Vatican II declarations comprise the new Magisterium is erroneous. The Zealot’s remark that the Magisterium can not be altered is correct because God is immutable. The traditional priests that who are easy to label as disobedient are only disobeying the whims of men but are constant in their obedience to God.
We are dismayed over the logic of the Sadducee which equates the Church’s relevance to modernism. It does not follow that because something is new, it is already correct not- withstanding the many proofs it offers. Or has he forgotten that in the future, the Anti-Christ will offer something new, a new world order in fact, but the same will be contrary to the Will of God. What is more appalling to us is the fact that False Antiquarianism is being made a good argument for communion in the hand. The case in point is the artistic manner by which St. Cyril is said to have described how one should prepare a throne for the Eucharist as he received it using the hands. The brothers find this spurious claim since the same saint warns against any crumb which might be lost for that which is “more precious than gold”. And so, we find it strange for the saint to go through such pains in endangering the precious Eucharist. We find the culprit to be the Nestorian bishop, John who succeeded him and added this so-called instruction as belonging to the former. Nestorians do not believe in Christ’s Divine nature to be inhering in flesh and therefore, would not allow any instance of having the Divine presence being in flesh, including of course, what happens in transubstantiation.
The Roman is right, we can not ignore the LGBTQ+. However, even if we have the kindness to tolerate them, we are not in the position to make a blunder right. Same sex unions continue to be regarded by God as sinful and no matter how many blessings we give to them, they are not made right by any one of the blessings. In fact, a sinful act which is envisaged to be blessed is actually accursed because how can one combine holy and evil without making a destructive combination. It is just like having someone receive the Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin. You call us traditionalists as provocateurs but you are the ones provoking God to give you a curse even as you ask for a blessing. And please, let us be more reasonable in our choice of arguments. Dogs and pets do not have souls that need salvation. The real reason that they are blessed is because they should continue to be home blessings and never the accursed qarinah which may inhere in them like familiar spirits of witches which may careen an unknowing person into a disastrous situation or as an instrument to sorcery. And do not brag to us the “blessed divorce” of Roman law because for St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, it was divorce which weakened the fabric of the solid Roman society because it did away family unity which enlarged itself into a social strife and even civil wars which became the enemy’s window of opportunity to cause the fall of the Roman Empire.
We are sorry for the Herodian because he lives to please man or has the modernistic tendency to deify man. One should not be amazed at the Herodian achievements but rather look into how the Herods lived and died. They are as fleeting and pitiful as the Caesars they have tried to please and serve, as usurping sovereigns. If this is an attempt at a new Pax Romana then we can see a similar end result, too.
Jorge Bergoglio should take note of what happened to Solomon’s empire after he took part in the unholy rites of those who are not of God’s faith. We are aware of the pitfalls of this so-called ecumenical movement. As a high priest consecrated only to God, we wonder at his tendency to cavort with these parodies of worship unless of course he had already desecrated himself.
Ricardo de los Santos
