The Catholic Church, in almost every corner of the globe, is enduring an identity crisis. Struggling to attract young people, struggling to adapt to Modernity, struggling to bridge the gap between generations in countries where it has deep roots.
You would imagine that there would be efforts to maintain those areas where it has had quiet, sustainable and substantial successes. Yet, to imagine that would be to be presumptuous.
Beginning in September, the Diocese of Arlington will punish Latin Mass communities for their successes, reducing the numbers of parishes from 21 to 8, in a Diocese of 70 parishes.
The Diocese actually taunted their own people (The People of God, no less) by writing:
In total, eight of the 21 current locations throughout the Diocese of Arlington will have the Traditional Latin Mass available for the approximately 2.5% of local, Mass-attending Catholics who prefer this liturgical form.
To add insult to injury, a number of the buildings that have been assigned are so inappropriate as to be termed a form of ‘constructive dismissal’ from the church towards its own members.
In Chicago, Cardinal Cupich has suppressed the booming Institute of Christ the King.
Despite (or in spite of) their successes, Cupich has cruelly shut down their public Masses. This story has an extra nasty element to it, namely the Institute’s efforts to rebuild the church after a fire in 2015. The Institute of Christ the King raised $4,000,000 for the building to be fixed. This page lists the extensive work that they did.
An Incredible Story (institute-christ-king.org)
To kick them out after all of that, independent of anything else, is a scandal in and of itself.
A note posted to the door of the church informs people that from tomorrow, public Mass will no longer take place there.
What is being done to people who attend the Latin Mass is nasty, tacky and destructive.
The cheerleading and taunting from a cohort of Anglo-American journalists has been particularly ruthless. These are families attending these Masses, these are people who raise their children in the faith while most in the world go the other direction.
The behaviours of those who impose and support these suppressions are the behaviours of cult members, seeking to alienate people who make them uncomfortable, seeking to consolidate power and seeking to punish those who they choose not to understand. It is unChristian, it is manipulative and it is the opposite of the much touted Synodal Way.
On one prominent anti Latin Mass website’s social media this week, a person responded that those who attend the Traditional Latin Mass are ‘a cancer in The Body of Christ’.
What can you say to that level of hatred? A hatred, not necessarily for those who attend the Latin Mass, but also for its beauty and success.
You cannot say much, merely pray for them and do not allow the bitterness that consumes the enemies of the Latin Mass to consume you in response.
The Catholic Church is not a cult, you do not have to remain quiet when people behave unjustly, but you should keep your inner peace and remember that you have the Holy Spirit and Sacred Tradition on your side. The Latin Mass will still be around in decades to come, long after its milquetoast detractors of today are long forgotten.