BRICK BY BRICK: A young priest writes, “I have never felt more priestly or masculine than when I have offered the Extraordinary Form Mass.”

From a priest… anonymized…

BRICK BY BRICK:

I just wanted to share some building, inspired partially by your encouragement and partially by my students. We began to offer 2 times a week Low Mass. We have also begun to offer a missa cantata monthly. We are still training servers and cantors, with the hope of expanding.

I have never felt more priestly or masculine than when I have offered the extraordinary form Mass. I have become much more confident in my sacred duties. I love offering Mass in this form! There is a growing group of students who prefer it.

I freely share this with you, but do ask politely, that my name, diocese, and state be kept anonymous. I do fear my presbyterate and what would come from this being public. Please pray for us here, for more openness to what God desires of our Sacred Worship.

I think in these days it is good for us who are slowly turning to the Lord share these great movements, especially what God is doing through the youth of Holy Church.

There are several great points in this.

First, note that the young people are – in part – responsible for getting this going.  Tradition is, indeed, for the young.

Next, note that the priest was open.

Also, see the effect that learning the Traditional Latin Mass has had, especially regarding “priestly or masculine”.   There IS a contrast with the Novus Ordo.  There really is.  And with the incessant war on men and boys, also in the Church, this is an important aspect of why the TLM is critical for the renewal of our Catholic identity.

Then, note his “fear” of the other priests.   That’s real, friends.  And, in that regard, see my note, above and figure it out.

Finally, note the tenor of “these days”.   Yes, in these days we need MORE than what we have been doing.  What we have been doing HASN’T WORKED.  It’s time to start thinking outside the box by thinking inside the box again.

Fr. Z kudos to this young priest and those students.

¡Hagan lío!

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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5 Comments

  1. Padre Pio Devotee says:

    Prayers for the priest and the group.
    God bless them all and their efforts through the Blessed Mother and all the angels and saints!
    Thank you Father who wrote this message, for truly caring for your flock and your efforts (I’m sure which weren’t easy at times).
    Tradition or Bust!

  2. Gaetano says:

    I’m constantly amazed that priests & seminarians live in fear because they wish to celebrate one of the two valid & licit forms of their Rite.

    But my personal experience is that they have every reason to do so. That’s modernist charity in action.

  3. tho says:

    This post is very encouraging. Living in these chaotic times the Traditional Mass reminds us that there is a better and more fulfilling way to praise our Lord. What has been handed down for centuries gives us hope for our future. Fifty years of modernism has given us empty seminaries, closed churches, and confused lay people, and it should tell our prelates that there is a proven alternative.

  4. Besides the effect celebrating the traditional Mass has on the priest, there is a whole different atmosphere to a parish where the traditional Mass prevails versus one where the Novus Ordo prevails. The more you attend the traditional Mass, the more obvious it is, and the more of an ordeal it becomes to attend the Novus Ordo.

  5. Liz says:

    I think it’s so true. It’s funny to me that a cassock seems more masculine than other attire for priests and seminarians but it does.

    I will add this young priest to our prayers. I try to say many prayers for priests right now like the Litany of Prayers for Priests, and the Chaplet of Reparation for Priest (from the back of In Sinu Jesu) every day. It does seem to be a time when we really need to pray for and make sacrifices for priests.

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