The story of Theodore ‘Uncle Teddy’ McCarrick is the story of the modern Catholic Church.
An egomaniacal serial abuser, McCarrick destroyed the lives of seminarians, rubbed shoulders with the Democratic Party at the highest levels and played a significant role in the signing of the controversial Sino-Vatican deal.
Sycophantic towards every form of power, McCarrick highlights the clericalism of the past 50 years, where celebrity priests made themselves the center of the church, leading to a slew of high profile charlatans.
McCarrick is now laicised, his successor Donald Wuerl was forced to resign over his handling of the allegations.
One would imagine that the Archdiocese would be happy to have any Catholic communities that have stayed loyal in light of these scandals, yet that assumption would be wrong.
A new document from the Archdiocese has declared war on families who are attend the Traditional Latin Mass.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who has refused to deal with the pro abortion Democrats in his diocese, has banished the Latin Mass to a small select amount of churches.
On Twitter, liberal Catholic commentators were euphoric with spite as they mocked the families who were being punished for merely being faithful. The decision to celebrate less Latin Masses and in less locations is not about helping people’s faith, it is a continuation of the clericalist extremism of McCarrick and Wuerl, a mockery of the environment that was supposed to be created by the post Vatican II phrase ‘The People of God’.
Despite Vatican II, despite the Synod, it is still a top down church.
The Archbishop and Joe Biden can do as they please, while those at the bottom can love it or leave it.
It is fitting that Gregory also commands that the priest be denied the right to celebrate ‘Ad Orientem’, that is, facing the altar. The letter states that instead, he must celebrate ‘Versus Populum’, that is, getting the people to focus on him instead of the altar.
Ultimately, this is a heavy handed self destructive act that seems more typical of some obscure rural cult than of the Catholic faith, just as the story of McCarrick did.
You can read the document below.
22-Traditionis-Custodes-Letter-Decree-Liturgical-Norms.pdf (adw.org)