There are those who right now are running down the Traditional Roman Rite, the intentions of Pope Benedict, and, worst of all, the people who desire them. These poor negative complainers are stuck in their own ideology. They seem genuinely afraid of the fact that young people are embracing the traditional forms.
They are afraid, so they are lashing out. It’s all very sad and a great waste of time and energy.
It would be wonderful if some of these people could experience also the fruits of what Pope St. John Paul II called “legitimate aspirations”.
Here is a new video from the FSSP chapel in Los Angeles, where good things are happening. I would love to visit there sometime!
5672 views
How encouraging was that?
Don’t let the angry, frightened naysayers get you down. They need our compassion and the accompaniment of our prayers.
Also, you should reach out to them and be inviting! Cheerfully help them in concrete ways to shake those scales from their eyes and stop being so angry.
Never underestimate the power of an invitation.
Loading ...
Nice video. I like the average age! One of the hesitancies with the Fraternity is they are at the whim of the bishop, come or go. But I guess that is like anything else. And let us be honest, they are children of Archbishop Lefebvre, and would not exist but for his fortitude in the years after Vatican II. Once the Church comes around to finally recognize such, it will only be stronger.
As someone who has attended Masses said by both priests (shown in that video), let me declare that both are on fire with love for Christ and offer Mass with incredible reverence. They are such a blessing for LA.
Pingback: TVESDAY CATHOLICA EDITION | Big Pulpit
The FSSP pastor of this parish says in the video that he could explain the whole of the Faith using the traditional texts of the Mass, a claim that I don’t doubt for a moment. I do have a question, though, which arose when I then watched a beautiful rehearsal video made for choirs learning the LAUDA SION. (The maker of the video is a choirmaster at an FSSP church in LA, hence the relevance to this post.) I had never studied this sequence before and was, needless to say, swept away by the beauty of the melody as I read the words. “How nice,” I thought when I reached verse 17 (“sumunt boni, sumunt mali”), “everyone is invited to the meal.” But that isn’t quite what St. Thomas meant. He goes on to call Holy Communion ”interitus” (destruction) and “mors” (death) for the wicked. So which expresses the real teaching of the Church, LAUDA SION or AMORIS LAETITIA? How are we to reconcile the Thomism of St. Thomas with the Thomism of Pope Bergoglio?
[It depends on if you have an interpretive lens that ruptures or that harmonizes.]
The interviews with the lay folk, who are apparently not battle-hardened liturgy warriors with axes to grind, really “ground” this splendid presentation. But I have an ax to grind and that is with the penchant to speak of the “Latin Mass” as if one had a monopoly on such a thing. Every single so-called novus ordo Mass is a Latin Mass inasmuch as it is Mass celebrated according to the ordinary form of the Roman Rite in the Latin Church. Even the term “Traditional Latin Mass” as applied to Mass celebrated according to the traditional form of the Roman Rite is a misnomer. That’s because there are antique Rites in the Latin Church, still in use, which predate Trent, such as the Dominican and Ambrosian Rites. So if “Mass celebrated according to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite” is too long to say or write (I empathize), or if usus antiquior is too foreign and esoteric (hmmmm…), then may I suggest the following: Traditional Roman Mass?
Of all groups, FSSP should be leading the way when it comes to speaking of sacred things. Words matter.
Ditto Bressani56’s comment. The FSSP parish here in Los Angeles is a great consolation in these trying times. It is deeply, beautifully and wonderfully Catholic.
How wonderful! Those parishoners expressed what many people feel when joining a parish where the TLM is prayed. May their number increase!
Fr. Z. – have you attended Mass at any ICK parish?
At 3:30 in the video, I believe the woman summed it up beautifully. Her words and the truth of what she said brought me to tears:
“Every time we are at the Latin Mass, it is like the first time…it brings us to so much higher heights…even the way we treat one another as a family has changed…it’s as though we have to live the Mass….
I have introduced many “Novus Ordo” Catholics to the Traditional Mass. Almost all of them say the same thing: “That Mass changes us, sanctifies us…”
I think we have all experienced the singularly transformative effects of TLM, and the clearly deleterious effects of the New Mass.
This a wonderful video. Thanks for sharing this with us, Father. I continue to pray for the Mass of All Ages to one day be restored as the Ordinary Form of the Latin Rite. The FSSP are a true gift to us in Los Angeles. May their efforts be blessed by God and produce great fruit. +JMJ+
Eric says
… One of the hesitancies with the Fraternity is they are at the whim of the bishop, come or go. …
This actually is not so. The FSSP was given Pontifical status early on precisely to protect them from such whims. They depend on the bishop to invite them in, but if he does, he is not free thereafter to expel them without a canonical process. Their superior General, while not a bishop, is their Ordinary. This Pontifical status has been the cause of some of the hesitations that some bishops have had in inviting the FSSP into their diocese. [I think you underestimate what a bishop can do, even though they are of Pontifical Rite. The bishop still has great control. Normally, when a religious group comes to a diocese, they and the bishop make a contract which stipulates the terms of their presence there. If a bishop wants a group gone, he can get rid of it. They might have some recourse, but they won’t win in the long run.]
In re Eric/Fr. Kelly exchange: I don’t know anything about the canonical power of a bishop to expel, but the old adage that “possession is 9/10 of the law” has a lot of truth to it. Once a group like the FSSP is in, it as a practical matter is mighty difficult to kick it out. [Nooooo…. quite wrong.] This is especially so if the group has strong support among the laity with which it interacts.
I think the most important group that will have to rediscover/promote Tradition and the Gregorian Mass is the ordinary parish priests. [Amen.] Yes the FSSP carries some of the water, but I think it is a preaching to the choir thing. Only bishops who think and believe like they do, or have leanings in that regard, welcome them, and they then spread and create a bigger circle. But that doesn’t affect the areas where bishops are hostile to it, and the stagnancy in those areas continues or gets even worse. What’s the solution? I have no idea. I am sure it takes a lot of courage for your ordinary parish priest to be alone or near alone out there. Maybe someone [hint Father] could create a priestly society for parish priests akin to what St. Philip Neri did while they remain parish priests where they could find encouragement and brotherhood.
I love that so many FSSP parishes bring the Eucharist right to the belly of the beast. They just wade right into the middle of the fray and bring the peace of Christ. It is nothing shy of heroic.
My little guys have altered a famous line from perhaps ‘THE’ quintessential guy film of all time, to capture their sentiments about these certain heroic priests:
“YOU TELL ‘EM I’M COMING, AND ALL HEAVEN’S COMIN’ WITH ME!!!!”
And it seems to me, when you can capture the imagination and admiration of those little fellas, that is where vocations come from.