“¡Hagan lío!” in Arlington

This is what devout resistance looks like.

When the bishop thrown you out of your church, go to the gym.

I rarely look at Fakebook, but this rare time it was worth it.

The Bishop of Arlington tossed the folks at Gainesville, VA to the curb.  They had to go to a gym at a Montessori School in Nokesville.

NB: “absolutely packed”

Another post says that

  • there were 500 people at 2 Masses
  • there is only an ad orientem altar
  • there is no Communion in the hand, so there are no particles on the floor

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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

  1. Holy Mackerel says:

    This is not fair to the Bishop of Arlington, who didn’t “throw them out” any more than the manager of a Starbucks closed by the national chain refused to serve me coffee. Nor is it fair to the faithful, who, far from “resisting,” are heroically living obedience under very difficult circumstances, that neither they nor the Bishop sought.

    [Bishops are NOT like branch managers! That’s the trap and that’s what “Rome” at present is sliding towards: viewing bishops as branch managers. Moreover, there are provisions in the Church’s law that bishops can apply in the governance of their dioceses according to subsidiarity. You are out over your skis.]

  2. Unfinished says:

    If I am not mistaken, that altar was constructed in only a few weeks in order to have it for the gym renovation. Amazing what the faithful will accomplish for God.

    St Peter’s, also in the Diocese of Arlington, just finished a renovation of the church as well. Turned the church from a 1970s special into something beautiful.

    Unfortunately their Sunday TLM is now forbidden. Last Sunday I read that the 9:45 am Mass, previously the TLM, went from around 250 people to 40 people. So they lost about 200 souls in a VERY small parish because they now have to seek out the TLM elsewhere (In a different gym in Front Royal, as it turns out).

    I have attended Mass at St Peter’s when I am in that diocese and the priest is very faithful. I can only imagine he is heartbroken. He really turned that small country parish around with the TLM and now this is the reward. Rotten fruits of TC.

    It is all so very senseless. God save us.

  3. West of the Potomac says:

    This is my parish. The TLM had been celebrated in our church alongside the Ordinary Form of the Mass since the building was constructed in 2008. There have been more than 1,000 TLMs celebrated there, including two Solemn Pontifical Masses.

    It’s heartbreaking to be forced out, but we are making the best of it. Fr. Z has been admonishing us lay folks to take off the training wheels and “ride the damn bike.” And that’s what we are doing.

    Parishioners, including many who rarely if ever attend the TLM, gave more than 800 hours to make the gym into a suitable place for Holy Mass.

    For instance: an army of more than 60 descended on a Saturday to clean, sand walls, and do demolition; the sanctuary and altar were designed and constructed by a handful of parishioners in under a month; a group travelled two states away in a truck to buy pews on Labor Day, while another group spent every night for two weeks sanding, painting, and putting in a floor; and a lay-run website and email list are about to be launched to keep all of us connected since the parish is not allowed to do that anymore. These are just some of the things that just came together because we all love our parish, our priests, and the Traditional Mass.

    In general, I think that it’s fair to say that as a group we have decided to not remain bitter and angry at this injustice and instead to pick up this heavy cross and embrace the opportunity to grow in holiness. The credit for this attitude goes to our priests, who have been tremendous inspirations to us.

    In the end, God wins. And the TLM will endure.

    [What a terrific comment. Thank you. This is what we need to see. And thanks for the reminder about my strong admonition: “ride the damn bike”! That goes back to… sheesh… 2013? Wonder why.]

  4. Ipsitilla says:

    Arlington resident here, one of those whose parish was spared at least for now.

    I have to think that even if I regularly attended the Novus Ordo at one of those segregated parishes, I would encourage my fellow parishioners to request that all Masses be moved to the gym, as a gesture of solidarity. As in, what’s good enough for my brothers and sisters will suffice for me as well, until the lunacy ends.

    One day a future bishop of Arlington will have the odd task of explaining to newcomers why so many diocesan gyms are equipped with pipe organs and why there’s a sacrarium in the men’s locker room.

  5. Kenneth Wolfe says:

    Holy Mackerel wrote: “This is not fair to the Bishop of Arlington…”

    Nonsense. He chose to grovel to Cardinal Roche and other radicals, so now he has to own his decision to suppress most of the TLMs at 21 parishes in his diocese. He could have stood with his faithful at those 21 parishes, like many other bishops on the center-right; instead he chose to kowtow to leftist revolutionaries.

  6. ajf1984 says:

    Ipsitilla’s comment about solidarity reminded me of the story told of H.E. Adam Cardinal Sapieha serving potatoes and ersatz coffee to the Nazi Commander Hans Frank…if it was “good enough” for the thousands of Poles suffering under the yoke of the Nazi taskmaster, it was good enough both for this Prince of the Church and for the taskmaster himself!

    What a different world this would be with more Sapieha’s, Wyszynski’s, et al. in our time.

  7. Sportsfan says:

    St. John the Baptist in Front Royal had their TLM moved to the gym also I heard.

    I thought that when Christendom College opens their new chapel they could offer their old chapel for the TLM folks in Front Royal. Then it occurred to me that there would probably be more folks at the TLM in the smaller chapel than there would be at the NO in the new chapel.
    SO, I suggest just do away with the NO at Christendom altogether. There is one, or more, Christendom alumnus FSSP priest that would love to return to offer the TLM in Front Royal.

  8. Cafea Fruor says:

    “[What a terrific comment. Thank you. This is what we need to see. And thanks for the reminder about my strong admonition: “ride the damn bike”! That goes back to… sheesh… 2013? Wonder why.]”

    Meanwhile, in Italy, they celebrate Mass on the damn bike… ?

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  10. RBill says:

    Holy Mackerel, you are too kind. The Bishop’s move was calculated, just like the Bishop of Savannah’s. Rather than taking a stand one way or the other, or simply leading as a Bishop, he submitted to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (i.e. Card. Cupich) a ludicrous request for complete exemption for the diocese. The obvious (and desired) result allowed Card. Cupich to not only decide the matter for him, but to actually dictate the terms, denoting which parishes could keep the TLM, notably removing it from many with the highest attendance.

  11. Holy Mackerel says:

    I’ll deal with the charge of being too kind to my bishop at the Last Judgment — as I will those of being “over my skis” or prone to “nonsense.” Those epithets (and much worse) will surely lie against me on other matters; I don’t believe that they do here.

    For what it’s worth, I regularly attended the Extraordinary Form at one of the parishes in the Diocese of Arlington in which it was suppressed — just so there is no misunderstanding about my own preferences in the matter.

    I am humbled by and greatly admire the love for Our Lord crucified and Our Lady standing beside him that has been shown by the faithful in Gainesville, of which I can only hope I myself can one day prove myself capable in heart and through deeds. Their humility and obedience are saving souls and changing the world.

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