The 2nd Anniversary of "Prison-Guards of Treachery" (TC)

https://traditionsanity.substack.com/p/special-post-the-second-anniversary

Special Post: The Second Anniversary of "Prison-Guards of Treachery"
Divine Providence is telling us something, and it's good news.
Peter Kwasniewski

I wish all my readers a blessed Seventh Sunday after Pentecost and a blessed Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. May she wrap her protecting mantle around us all, and lead us through this valley of death to everlasting life in her Son.

I wouldn’t normally post on a Sunday, but, ever since 2021, this date is too notable to pass by, so here’s a short reflection.

Today, of course, is the second anniversary of “Prison-Guards of Treachery” (i.e., Traditionis Custodes, which can be perfectly accurately translated that way, since traditio means not only “handing down” but also “handing over, betrayal,” and a custos means not only a guardian but a jail-keeper).

Actually, I'm a lot less anxious and a lot more confident about this whole matter after two years than I was the day it dropped, when I compared it to an atom bomb. It definitely has its bomb-like qualities, but subsequent developments have been, shall we say, more diversified.

Firstly, the predicted and intended pogrom against traditionalists has largely failed to materialize. It is true that cancellations, restrictions, and unworthy expedients have happened—and I don't mean to downplay the suffering they have caused, for which you can be sure that the authorities responsible will suffer punishment, in this life or in the next. It is also true that Cardinal Roche in Rome is playing a game of granting a two-year extension while the recalcitrants are brought into line through Soviet-style reeducation. But does anyone really believe that the TLM will suddenly vanish in two years’ time? A lot can happen in two years, and, moreover, the Church is a huge global entity that cannot so easily be micromanaged. Many bishops (and this I know from personal conversations) are simply waiting it out, kicking the can down the road, using innocent ruses, or even dropping letters from Rome into the circular file. They do not expect this irrational campaign to last for very long.


Secondly, the resilient attitude of most traditional Catholics has been encouraging. So far from dumping their liturgical books in the dumpster and walking away shaking their heads, priests and laity have become more clever and creative about ensuring the Roman Rite will continue. Gyms have been turned into proper chapels. New uses have been found for basements and sheds. Vocations continue to pour into traditional communities. The usus antiquior isn’t going away, that’s for sure: there is no “back into the bottle.” In fact, there is no doubt whatsoever that Pope Francis gave the TLM its single greatest advertising campaign in the past half-century. All of us know many people who have started attending the TLM since TC, because they wanted to know what the fuss was all about. Some even reasoned: “If Pope Francis is so adamantly against it, there must be something really good about it.” That’s what’s called divine revenge on progressives, who are always their own worst enemies: the more honest they are, the more repugnant.

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Thirdly, and most importantly, in the past two years the gloves of the St. Gallen mafiosi, which were already pretty far off, have come off completely. By this I refer to the campaign of Pope Francis and his hand-picked court to promote a “Synodal church” that is headed for the jagged reefs of heresy and schism. No one knows exactly what will happen, but of this we can be sure: no true Catholic will want to have anything to do with that aborning monstrosity, except perhaps in the capacity of refutation and damage control. In short: the non-Catholic faction currently in power has openly shown its hand, and the rest of us can sigh in relief as we connect the dots:

• Attack on the immutable moral law. (Check.)
  
  
• Attack on perennial doctrines and dogmas. (Check.)
  
  
• Attack on the immemorial Roman rite. (Check.)
  
  
• Attack on the dignity of bishops. (Check.)
  
  
• Attack on the common good of the faithful. (Check.)
  

It all holds together. The sheep know their Shepherd’s voice. They do not recognize His voice in the barking, whimpering, growling, and howling of wolves.

Nothing could be better for the Church as a whole than the falling-away of dainty pretenses and elaborate facades. The clarity of truth is bracing, inspiring, indeed necessary; for unless you know exactly what the disease is, you cannot take concrete, targeted steps to combat it. And that is the first step toward healing and renewed health.

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God’s liturgical Providence is always beautiful to behold. As mentioned, this year the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel coincides with the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. The Epistle and Gospel of the day could not be more perfect as the Almighty’s response to the false shepherds who are lording it over His people and seeking (if they could) to wreck His handiwork.

To those who are trying to finagle a change in the Church's perennial moral teaching on sexuality, St Paul thunders in the Epistle (Rom 6:19-23):

Brethren: I speak a human thing, because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members to serve justice unto sanctification. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from justice. What fruit therefore had you then in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting. For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God is life everlasting; in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And the Gospel (Mt 7:15-21) appropriately calls out the bad trees bearing bad fruit, contrasting them with the abundant trees of faith, devotion, and tradition bearing good fruit:

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not every one that saith to Me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

I often have occasion to remind people that evil devours itself: it is not a stable thing, it is a privation that consumes the subject in which it exists, weakening it and scattering it. This has been brilliantly displayed (albeit mostly in slow-motion) over the past sixty years or so: the evil of the “spirit of Vatican II,” of modernism, of liberalism, of progressivism, is in fact destroying itself. Where it exists, the faithful leave the churches, the churches close down, get merged or sold off, the vocations dry up, the evangelical witness falters and fails. Where tradition remains in any form (catechetical, homiletic, liturgical, cultural)—best of all, where it remains in all forms working together—we see the fruits God intended the tree of His Church to produce.

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Indeed, the noble Collect for today’s Mass tells us to trust in Providence:

O God, Whose providence in the ordering of all things never fails; we humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all harmful things, and to give us those which are profitable for us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Before closing off this short post, I’d like to remind readers of a few key resources that analyze the claims, the logic, the legality, and the goals of Traditionis Custodes and what our response(s) should be. These resources remain important for rooting ourselves in the truth of our position and innoculating ourselves against the errors, stratagems, and lies of our enemies:

• Peter Kwasniewski (ed.), From Benedict’s Peace to Francis’s War: Catholics Respond to the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes on the Latin Mass (here)
  
  
• Peter Kwasniewski, True Obedience in the Church: A Guide to Discernment in Challenging Times (here) (also available in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, and Polish)
  
  
• Fr. Reginald-Marie Rivoire, FSVF, Does “Traditionis Custodes” Pass the Juridical Rationality Test? (here) (see also this package)
  
  
• Illusions of Reform: Responses to Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy in Defense of the Traditional Mass (here)
  

God bless you, and may Our Lady of Mount Carmel obtain for you the precious grace of lifelong fidelity and final perseverance.



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Honestly, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no, nor was there ever, a reasonable “middle ground.”

“Conservative Catholicism” was always doomed to failure, because of its attempt at creating a middle ground between the orthodoxy and orthopaxis of historical Catholicism and the catholicism that emerged after VII beside the Novus Ordo, mainly in the name of (a mostly false) ecumenism.

The Novus Ordo CAN be offered in a reverent sacred manner devoid of liturgical abuse. I’ve found a handful of examples, probably a half dozen done this way on a regular basis.

Unfortunately the Novus Ordo as it exists in America (and what I saw in Haiti, the only other country I’ve personally witnessed the Mass) is that 98% of Novus Ordo masses in America contain some element of either liturgical abuse, heterodoxy, banal insipid music, etc. Some of them are not only illicit but also invalid.

Traditional Catholics are almost 100% onboard with the traditional theology regarding marriage only between man and women, all sexual activity outside marriage is mortally sinful as well as contraception and abortion, and every other hot button issue. Belief in the Real Presence is universal among Traditional Catholics.

“Conservative Novus Ordo Catholicism” is not orthodox in its beliefs according to polls, and it’s rates of belief in the essentials Traditional Catholics hold dear is approaching that of both Protestants and the culture at large. And it’s belief in the True Presence isn’t even a given.

PBXVI’s “reform of the reform” has proven untenable. No amount of bluster on the part of the Vatican or local bishops can put the mess of the reality of 98% of Novus Ordo masses back in the bottle. The Novus Ordo is irreformable and thus will be eliminated.

Am I saying Christ is not Truly Present at a valid Novus Ordo Mass? Of course not! But the vast majority of Novus Ordo Masses are a clear and present danger to our Faith and that of our children. A truly bad Novus Ordo Mass should be avoided as a danger to one’s’ eternal salvation. Literally.

That said, I attend a valid licit orthodox and reverent Novus Ordo Mass 95% of the time now, as I have access to two parishes local to me where it’s offered correctly, and the option to kneel to receive on the tongue is available at both locations.

Unfortunately this is such a rare occurrence that it’s almost unprecedented in America.

If this were not available to me, I would only be attending a TLM, even if that meant going to a chapel in “irregular canonical status” with Rome.

The “conservative Catholic Novus Ordo” option is dying. Orthodox Catholics want and are seeking out the TLM. In another generation the Novus Ordo will be gone, fortunately.

After the minor chastisement and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart the Mass WILL be restored and all this acrimony and middle ground will be gladly forgotten.