Thomas AddisThe Church stands and falls with Liturgy. When the adoration of the Divine Trinity declines, when the faith no longer appears in its fullness in the Liturgy of the Church, when man’s words, his thoughts, his intentions are suffocating him, then faith will have lost the place where it is expressed and where it dwells. For that reason, the true celebration of the Sacred Liturgy is the center of any renewal of the Church whatever.
These words of Pope Benedict XVI are particularly relevant given the recent rulings by three American bishops in cities that have long offered the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) using the 1962 Roman Missal. Soon the TLM will be banned in all parishes under the governance of these bishops, regardless of past approval. Under the new edict, no priest can decide on his own to celebrate the TLM. That decision belongs solely to the diocesan bishop. In addition, a small number of shrines, chapels, and other non-parish locations will be permitted to celebrate the TLM once a week and perhaps on Holy Days. Also, a priest must face the people at a “table altar” (my terminology) and end the ancient practice of facing east (ad orientem). The Novus Ordo will be the only rite acceptable. The three TLM-banning bishops have declared that they are simply obeying the conditions required in Pope Francis’s Traditionis Custodes.
This explanation might be partially true, but this begs the question: What pressing need requires this action?
After Vatican II, by 1969 the TLM was supposed to “disappear” and only be used on special occasions. But almost immediately there were exceptions. First, elderly priests were permitted to continue to celebrate the TLM. In 1971, after a petition signed by some influential people. England and Wales were allowed to celebrate the TLM. In 1988, a group of priests from the Society of Saint Pius X returned to the Church and became the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. Their founding charism was the TLM and, therefore, were permitted to celebrate it without restrictions.
In 2007, Pope Benedict removed the requirement that bishops had to give approval to a priest to celebrate the TLM. Two years later Benedict lifted the excommunication of four Pius X bishops. In 2020 Pope Francis permitted these bishops to use the TLM to honor newly canonized saints. (*)
But these exceptions and a few others have had a minimal effect, for the vast majority of practicing Catholics attend Novus Ordo Masses, while a very small number of Catholics attend the TLM, where possible. Years ago, Pope Benedict wrote, “These two expressions of the Church’s lex orandi (rule of prayer) will no way lead to a division in the Church’s lex credendi (rule of faith); for they are two usages of the one Roman rite.” Perhaps he was seeking a middle ground to make both sides happy. But if he was, it didn’t work.
Inexplicably, in 2021, Francis decided there was a unity problem in the Church. He said he came to this conclusion after conducting detailed conversations with bishops. As a result, Francis wrote Traditionis Custodes, declaring that he was impelled “to press on ever more in the constant search for ecclesial communion.” Thus, action had to be taken, and the solution was to virtually eliminate the TLM. Talk about gas-lighting!
Are Catholics to believe that the horrific homosexual/pedophile scandal and coverups, the billions of dollars paid out to victims, the closing of thousands of churches and schools, the precipitous decline in Mass attendance, numerous liturgical abuses, the dearth in vocations, a bankrupt Vatican, and a pope who seemed to care more about saving the planet than saving souls, are not problems affecting Church unity?
Instead, it’s that ancient Latin Mass and its pesky worshippers? What’s the goal, then? Suffocate the TLM, and, by doing so, usher in the Kingdom of God?
This attack on TLM is puzzling. Where is the harm? No one is forced to attend. The diocese in each location loses no money. In fact, in some parishes a Latin Mass often provides additional income.
In addition, TLM is drawing thousands of young people, particularly young men, because of the quiet reverence, the lack of distractions, the significance of each movement of the priest, and the beauty of the Latin language. How can this be detrimental to Church unity?
In 2007, Pope Benedict wrote to Catholic bishops why he was removing restrictions on TLM:
What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.
Latin expert Dr. Anthony Esolen writes, “The great majority of the people who attend the Traditional Latin Mass do so without the slightest intention to fight against the bishop or people who attend the Novus Ordo. They attend the Latin Mass because they feel they are deriving insufficient strength from the Novus Ordo. That is not to doubt the validity of the sacraments. It is to feel that the rest is thin fare.”
The bishops’ ham-handed crackdown on TLM seems to lack any rational explanation. Instead, it seems, at best, petty and, at worst, malicious.
(*) 2023—Joseph Shaw (Catholic Answers) Mr. Shaw has an excellent history of the Novus Ordo/TLM conflict over the last half-century. I have created a small summary of his work here, and I urge the reader to study his entire essay.
