Wars and rumors of wars on the TLM and Summorum Pontificum”?

https://www.crisismagazine.com/opinion/a-berlin-wall-again

A Berlin Wall—Again
It must seem to the decent Catholics attached to the Traditional Mass that a kind of Berlin Wall is closing in upon them.
Fr. John A. Perricone
Rising, piece by piece, are the bricks of a new Berlin Wall. It is not a physical barrier, like the original Wall, imprisoning captive peoples in a communist hell. This one is a spiritual Wall, separating devout Catholics from a means of adoring God that they love: the Traditional Mass.

It is an unprecedented reversal of the generous indulgences of both St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Both pontiffs were redressing the unjust suppression of the Traditional Mass by Pope Paul VI. In the now historic words of Pope Benedict XVI in the letter to the bishops of the world accompanying his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum,

What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.

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This document was the culmination of pontifical acts which finally ended the hegemony of a corrupt theological/liturgical nomenklatura that had foisted upon the Church an alien lex orandi that, if not deforming the lex credendi, most certainly attenuated it. With an intrepid determination, this liturgical bien pensant violated the millennial work of the Holy Spirit which fashioned the Traditional Mass whose roots traced back to the first centuries of the Church’s existence.

No such intrusion had ever been perpetrated in the history of the Church’s sacred liturgy. Ludwig Wittgenstein, eminent linguistic analyst, was correct when he wrote, “attempting to change the canons of a language is like trying to mend a spider’s web wearing boxing gloves.”

No description more aptly captures the damage done by these liturgical apparatchiks. Preceding Benedict XVI’s providential declaration had been the methodical accumulation of many decades of meticulous theological/philosophical scholarship collecting evidence of the Bugnini/Concilium vandalization of the sacred liturgy.

All of this germinated in the formidable intellect of Joseph Ratzinger. As he sifted the weight of the massive work of theologians, historians, and philosophers, he began a decades-long work of piecing together the proper understanding of the Mass, while producing devastating critiques of the liturgical junta responsible for the fabrication of the Novus Ordo.

With glacial progress, a growing number throughout the Church were convinced of the liturgical arguments of Pope Benedict. In a particularly striking passage, then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote in a Forward to a groundbreaking work of Dom Alcuin Reid, The Organic Development of the Liturgy,

Growth is not possible unless the Liturgy’s identity is preserved…. Proper development is possible only if careful attention is paid to the inner structural logic of this “organism”: just as a gardener cares for a living plant as it develops, with due attention to the power of growth and life within the plant and the rules it obeys, so the Church ought to give reverent care to the Liturgy through the ages, distinguishing actions that are helpful and healing from those that are violent and destructive…. With respect to the Liturgy, the Pope has the task of a gardener, not that of a technician who builds new machines and throws the old ones on the junk pile.

Like the appearance of a new land mass, Summorum Pontificum was promulgated by Pope Benedict on July 7, 2007. It released the Traditional Mass from its decades-long captivity. But not without howls from an unreconstructed hierarchy wedded to Old Ideas. Their groaning was joined by a chorus of theological mandarins whose revisionist theology depended upon the elasticity of a Novus Ordo regime.

On February 21st, the Holy See promulgated still another juridical document further restricting the Traditional Mass from its celebration. It comes two years after the initial restrictions of the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes. These two documents, both draconian and gratuitous, originated in the discredited thinking that Pope Benedict laid bare.

Both are oblivious to the conspicuous spiritual fruits the Traditional Mass has borne, with scores of single young people and families crowding it. Their attendance is not spawned by resentment of the Novus Ordo nor animus toward a sometimes-ungracious hierarchy. Thus proving that the suppression is one of ideological spite and vindictive reprisal.

Further demonstration lies in the Holy See’s indifference to the doctrinal enormities of places like Germany, to say nothing of the shocking remarks of the current Synodal relators.

One wonders where is the “accompaniment” so beloved by the present pontificate? Where is the “going out to the fringes”? Where is their “listening Church”?

Indeed, it must seem to the decent Catholics attached to the Traditional Mass that a kind of Berlin Wall is closing in upon them. Yet, though bewildered and downtrodden, they are not petulant; confused, but not vitriolic; sorrowful, but not inflamed. Their reaction to The Suppression is serene, but not unintelligent. Terribly bright, they appreciate the theological/canonical dynamic at work, and they respond intelligently but never disobediently.

Their response is tempered by respect for rightful authority, but not blinded by it. They strive to be faithful sons and daughters of the Church no matter the persecution by the Church. As the great Thomistic scholar Fr. Antonin Sertillanges, O.P., once remarked, “Sometimes Catholics are called to suffer for the Church; but there is no greater suffering as to endure suffering by the Church.”

Even as the height of this new Berlin Wall grows higher, they will accept this suffering as willed by God, deepening their fidelity to Mother Church.

One thing they will not surrender is the Immemorial Mass. To that they are committed usque ad mortem. Their inspiration is the English martyrs, especially in the Pilgrimage of Grace of 1547-48, when thousands marched in protest against Henry VIII’s frightful abolition of the Roman Mass from every corner of England, a country so soaked in the Faith that for centuries it boasted the title of Our Lady’s Dowry. Even as the height of this new Berlin Wall grows higher, they will accept this suffering as willed by God, deepening their fidelity to Mother Church. One thing they will not surrender is the Immemorial Mass.Tweet This

They take courage from the Catholics behind the Iron Curtain who remained ever faithful to the True Faith in spite of the jackboot of barbaric Communism. They are steeled by the stories of Polish Catholics in the darkest days of Communist tyranny. Having no priest, they would secretly congregate in the forest and pray the Mass together with their missals. When they arrived at the Consecration, they would fall silent and weep.

Today’s heroic Catholics recognize that this cruel season will pass in God’s good time. Till then, they will let the fires of their suffering forge more strongly the supernatural virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. They will endure the lies patiently because they possess the truth.

If the Holy See forbids their participation at the millennial Traditional Mass, they will not be deterred. They will repair to auditoriums, to open fields, to street corners and alleyways. They will not cease praying the Mass of the Ages. For without this Ancient Mass, their hearts will no longer soar.

You see, love does such things.

• Fr. John A. Perricone, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of philosophy at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York. His articles have appeared in St. John’s Law Review, The Latin Mass, New Oxford Review and The Journal of Catholic Legal Studies.He can be reached at frjohn1765@icloud.com.
  

 

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/...is-replete-with-pagan-idolatry-and-symbolism/

The new Mayan rite of Mass encouraged by Pope Francis is replete with pagan idolatry and symbolism
LifeSiteFri Mar 17, 2023 - 5:20 pm EDT

(LifeSiteNews) — At the beginning of March, news came out of Mexico that a group of Mexican bishops had met in the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas with Bishop Aurelio García Macias, undersecretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in order to work on a new indigenous rite of Mass inspired by Mayan traditions. The Mexican bishops had met Pope Francisin February during their ad limina visit to Rome, and they announced that they wish to send a proposal of such a new rite in May to Rome for approval. Such a Mayan rite has already been practiced in the diocese of San Cristóbal, as it has been approved by the Mexican bishops’ conference. As with the Amazonian rite, it is clear that Pope Francis is in support of these new “inculturated” forms of the Roman rite of the Mass.

At the center of this new Mayan rite in Mexico are several elements that were already on the reform agenda of the 2019 Amazon Synod, namely a strengthening of the role of women in the liturgy (a step toward female “deacons”), a prominent role of married indigenous deacons (a step toward married priests), and a form of liturgical inculturation that has clear signs of idolatry, as we all were able to see in the worship of pachamama idols at the time of the Amazon Synod in Rome.

Now it is another form of paganism that is being promoted by Rome. The ancient Mayan religion is permeated by polytheism (the earth, the sun, the moon, and animals are all regarded as being gods), by animism (belief that objects and creatures have a soul), by the belief in communication with one’s ancestors (and even worshipping them), and by human sacrifice (to include women and children) as part of its worship. As we shall show, many of these idolatrous elements will be included in this new rite of Mass.

Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel – the former bishop of this particular Mexican diocese, San Cristóbal de las Casas in the southern Chiapas region – is a leading force of these adaptations of the Roman rite and has made it clear in multiple interviews and statements that Pope Francis has encouraged this work early on in his pontificate.

Arizmendi is also closely affiliated with 81-year-old liberation theologian Fr. Paolo Suess, the architect of the infamous Amazonian Synod.

Despite the current friendliness with Francis, the San Cristóbal diocese had been for decades a source of concern in Rome, due to its syncretism, community-based decision-making, leftist political activism, and the ordination of hundreds of indigenous permanent deacons whose wives are considered to be part of their ministry, all of which is part of the concept of an “autochthonous church.”

Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, who led this diocese from 1960 until 2000, was the major force behind these new concepts and actions. He is still being held in high esteem, even though he died in 2011. Bishop – now Cardinal Arizmendi – when taking over this diocese (2000-2017), continued this leftist agenda which caused much concern in Rome.

In 2000, the Vatican intervened and insisted that, during the ordination of permanent deacons the bishop does not lay his hands also on the head of the wife of the deacon, as had been the local practice. There were other numerous liturgical abuses taking place. The suggestion to suspend these ordinations altogether was ignored by Arizmendi at the time.

In October of 2005, the Vatican had told Ruiz’s successor, Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, to stop these ordinations to the permanent diaconate altogether as they seemed to establish a new form of ministry outside of the Church’s precepts. Then-Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arinze, informed the diocesethat a decision had been made “for a suspension of eventual ordinations of permanent deacons until the underlying ideological problem has been resolved,” and that the concept of priestly celibacy should be strengthened. Arinze added that “the formation of more candidates for the permanent diaconate be discontinued. It is indeed an injustice against these faithful Christians to encourage hope [for the married priesthood] without real prospects.”

With regard to the “female” part of the indigenous permanent diaconate, the official directory of the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas is very revealing. We shall quote here from the official directory of 1999, since we were not able to obtain from Cardinal Arizmendi the newest version of the directory that was approved by Rome in May of 2013.

In 2007, Cardinal Arinze had instructedthe diocese to remove the controversial passages in the directory that indicated that these permanent deacons could later become married priests.

The 1999 directory states: “The Indigenous Deacon and his wife, in order to receive the office of the Diaconate, should prepare themselves according to the tradition of their culture. For several days fast from food and companionship; seek time and places for prayer and contemplation; take into account the words of advice given to them by the wise people of the community who have long carried the life of the people, and who speak to them about what God is calling them to at this time; perform and participate in various rites and ceremonies of their own.”

It is clear here that the deacon’s wife is considered being close to “co-ordained,” as is also insinuated when she lays her own hand on the hand of her husband during his ordination.

At that point, when the Vatican forcefully intervened in 2005, the diocese had around 340 married permanent deacons (here are some of them with their wives) and only a fourth of that number priests, thereby creating a new ecclesial reality where parishes were mostly run by permanent deacons and their wives. This disordered situation was further encouraged when Pope Francis came into power.

Read the rest at the link

 

https://onepeterfive.com/easter-ok-corral/

Easter Triduum at the OK Corral
Raymond Kowalski March 27, 2023

Above: the OK Corral sign after the 1882 fire.

What is “schism?” The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines “schism” as:

The refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him (2089).

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We tend to think of schisms as involving disputes over points of dogma. One of the Greek schisms, for example, stemmed from disagreement over the word filioque in the Creed. But note that the definition of schism says nothing about disputes or dogma. The essence of schism is the refusal to submit to the Roman Pontiff. (A deeper examination of the aforementioned Greek schism shows that, indeed, the dispute was as much about the authority of the Roman Pontiff as it was about the filioque.) The showdown that has been building since the earliest days of the papacy of Francis may soon play out.

The pope’s motu proprio, Traditionis Custodes, issued July 16, 2021, proclaims that the new Mass is the “unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.” With the stroke of a pen, we no longer have two forms of the Roman Rite, both equally valid. With a papal executive order, one valid form of the Roman Rite has been unRomanitized or unRitified.

The two forms of the Roman lex orandiare, of course, proxies for their underlying lex credendi. Suppress the lex orandi of one form and you suppress its corresponding lex credendi. In other words, Traditionis Custodes is dressed up in the cloak of “unity,” but its intended effect is the suppression of a specific type of worship and a specific set of doctrines and beliefs. Those who adhere to those doctrines and beliefs, as well as their liturgical proxy, must be excluded from the Church. Their 18-month grace period is ending.

Traditionis Custodes permits the limited and temporary continuation of the Traditional Latin Mass in dioceses where it is still offered. Nothing in the pope’s document forbids the offering of the Traditional Latin Mass on Easter. But on October 7, 2021, the Pope’s Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, in implementing Traditionis Custodes, announced that the limited permission for the Traditional Latin Mass to continue to be offered in the Diocese of Rome, applied “every day, except the Easter Triduum.” (To be clear, the Easter Triduum includes Easter Sunday itself. The website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops states that the Easter Triduum runs “from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday.”) Thus, the Traditional Latin Mass may not be offered on Easter in Rome.

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Similarly, the Responsa ad Dubia, issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship on behalf of the Pope on December 4, 2021, elaborates that the Local Ordinary, in allowing for the continuation of the Traditional Latin Mass in his diocese, has the authority to lengthen or shorten such permission. Nothing in the Responsa, however, forbids the offering of the Traditional Latin Mass on Easter. The closest it comes is to require priests to concelebrate the Chrism Mass, which is offered the morning of Holy Thursday, just before the beginning of the Sacred Triduum. The Responsa makes no mention of the Vicar General’s implementation of Traditionis Custodes, which by then had been on the street for two months.

(Thankfully, the Catholics in the diocese of Rome went ahead and did the TLMfor the Easter Triduum, which may have been due to the Pope’s curious decreegiving the FSSP full rights to the TLM).

Later that summer meanwhile, on July 29, 2022, the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, issued its instructions for implementation of Traditionis Custodes. Following the lead of the Diocese of Rome, it permits the continuation of the Traditional Latin Mass at limited locations in the diocese, but generally not in parish churches and not during Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum. This is a temporary concession to the faithful who are “rooted in the previous form of celebration.”

Easter Sunday will fall on April 9 in 2023, in less than two weeks. On that day, it appears that the Traditional Latin Mass will be forbidden in the Diocese of Arlington and several other dioceses where it is otherwise permitted to be celebrated.

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Meanwhile, the faithful of Arlington and Washington DC last week on the Annunciation marched in pious pilgrimage to offer up, in the words of organizer Noah Peters, “penance, prayer and devotion” for the Latin Mass, beseeching Our Lady to preserve the rite of their forefathers in these dioceses.









Considering Arlington’s restrictions, let us make a few considerations. Why is the suppressed Mass allowed on most Sundays, but not on Easter or other significant holy days in places where Traditionis Custodes has been implemented? What does it mean when the faithful are told that they cannot fulfill their Easter Sunday obligation under pain of mortal sin, except by attending a Novus Ordo Mass?

Consider that, in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, had the effect of attracting Catholics who never accepted the so-called reforms set in motion by the Second Vatican Council, as well as Catholics who had come to question those “reforms.” They assembled and coalesced around the usus antiquiorthat became more widely available and, in so doing, they herded themselves into their own corrals.

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Now their corrals have been pushed outside the boundaries of Catholic parish life. With limited and temporary exceptions, their Mass cannot be offered in their parish church. Their Mass and other activities cannot be mentioned in their parish bulletin. Their liturgical activities cannot be financially supported by the parish. And then along comes the Pope’s Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome who declares that the Traditional Latin Mass cannot be celebrated on Easter. And several bishops join the conga line behind this guy and add a few moves of their own.

What it means is that traditional Catholics have been set up for their final and absolute elimination from the Church. On Easter, perhaps no priest will come to their corral. For them, it will be the Novus Ordo Mass or nothing. Or perhaps on Easter the Mass of the Ages will be celebrated in secret or openly in defiance of the will of Rome. Those Catholics and their priests will be branded as no longer in communion with the Roman Pontiff, thus fulfilling the very definition of “schism.”

Either way, Pope Francis will have accomplished the mission that he announced in Der Spiegel in 2016, “to enter history as the one who split the Catholic Church.” The hard part is done. Formal replacement of the lex credendiwill be easy.



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https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/...-mass-and-must-resist-its-suppression-priest/

Catholics have a ‘strict right’ to the traditional Latin Mass and must resist its suppression: Priest
LifeSiteFri Mar 24, 2023 - 6:40 pm EDT

(LifeSiteNews) — A traditional priest serving a diocese in the United States is calling out the bishops who implement Pope Francis’ unjust commands to suppress the traditional Latin Mass and the traditional sacraments (see full statement below).

In addition to calling out his fellow clergyman, this priest is also calling out the fathers of families who are not resisting these unjust laws.

Speaking about one particular parish in Allentown, New Jersey, he asks: “Where are the men of St. John the Baptist, who are called to love their families and neighbors by protecting them from all assaults to their well-being, especially their spiritual well-being?”

LifeSite is pleased to publish here the statement from this priest who has to remain anonymous, as an additional voice in the choir of those clergymen who are insisting that Pope Francis’ recent moves against the traditional rite of the Church are unjust and thus are not to be obeyed.

In light of the anguish of many families who have brought up their children in the traditional rite, or of older Catholics who finally have found their home again in the Church’s old rite, and who find themselves now bereft of these gifts, LifeSite has been pleased to publish in the recent time some statements of clergymen proposing arguments on why one can, and should, disobey the latest suppression of the traditional rite of the Mass and its sacraments.

For example, LifeSite published Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s statement entitled The Correct Meaning of Obedience to the Pope, in which he speaks about the limits of obedience when it comes to the salvation of souls.

On 13 March, Bishop Athanasius Schneider repeated own stance with regard to the ongoing attack on the traditional Mass in the Church. “The Pope has not the power to abolish the traditional Mass,” he stated, adding that this is “because it is a property, a treasure of the entire Church, from all the saints, the Church of all ages.” “Because of the very venerable age and constant perennial use of this order of Mass by so many saints and generations of Catholics, and of almost all Catholic nations,” Schneider insisted, “the Pope has no power to simply abolish this.”

LifeSite also published a statement by Father Alexander Wiseman, a member of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, which bears the title We should obey God rather than man, also arguing that there are limits to obedience.

The layman and liturgy expert Dr. Peter Kwasniewski argues in a similar veinwhen he says that the attack on the traditional rite of the Church is an “attack on the common good” and thus has to be resisted.

Today, we are pleased to publish a new statement by another priest from another corner of the Catholic Church, a traditional priest serving a U.S. diocese who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal. His words are strong and encouraging to those who wish to remain loyal to the traditions of the Church.

In Father’s eyes, the decrees coming from Rome against the traditional rite are nothing but “tyrannical and unjust edicts,” and he calls out the bishops who implement these decrees in their dioceses. But he also calls on all of us traditional Catholics, inviting us to have just anger.

“Are we Catholics righteously angry at the offenses hurled at God by sinful men, especially the unjust and sinful conduct of our Catholic shepherds who cease not to dishonor God and steal from the glory they are bound to give Him as His sacred ministers?” Father asks, before he adds: “Is there no one burning with a zealous love of God to call these wayward shepherds to conversion and new-found fidelity to Jesus Christ and their sacred vocation?”

Here he especially challenges the fathers of families and their masculinity, whose duty it is to protect the souls of their loved ones.

Please read Father’s full statement below:

FATHER, WHERE ART THOU?

Saint Thomas Aquinas, the premier theologian of the Roman Catholic Church, teaches: “He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.”

The injustices currently plaguing our secular and ecclesiastical worlds are so numerous, grave and ubiquitous that virtue and goodness seem all but extinguished . These injustices are sinful and, as such, are firstly offensive to the all-good and all-just God. They are attacks against His infinite majesty and detract from the external honor and glory owed to Him by all creatures. Any man who possesses the virtue of justice is rightly provoked to virtuous, holy anger when he sees God gravely offended.

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That truth begs the question in our own day, especially in Catholic circles: Are we Catholics righteously angry at the offenses hurled at God by sinful men, especially the unjust and sinful conduct of our Catholic shepherds who cease not to dishonor God and steal from the glory they are bound to give Him as His sacred ministers. Is there no one burning with a zealous love of God to call these wayward shepherds to conversion and new-found fidelity to Jesus Christ and their sacred vocation?

Now, considering injustices, we can think of those presently inflicted on Catholics striving to be faithful to the apostolic Faith, tried and true Catholicism handed down from Christ and the Apostles through our forebears across the ages to us. Why are they the targets of injustice? They adhere to the tradition of the ancient Roman Rite liturgy, whose Mass symbolizes and expresses the integrity of the Catholic religion.

Since the publication of Pope Francis’ decree Traditionis custodes of July 16, 2021, the Roman authorities have striven to limit, marginalize and eliminate the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (1962 Missale Romanum), from the life of the Church and of her faithful. Recent moves on the part of Rome seek to coerce diocesan bishops to banish these same celebrations and their attendees from parish churches. Unfortunately, various bishops have seen fit to do Rome’s bidding. Is anyone burning with a righteous anger and rising up against this grave injustice?

A couple of weeks ago, the faithful attending a very successful and edifying celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Allentown, New Jersey (in the Diocese of Trenton), were informed by their pastor that as of the Second Sunday of Lent, the local ordinary, Bishop David M. O’Connell, was relegating the community’s Latin Mass to the basement of the church. The bishop’s rationale for such a demand was none other than the tyrannical and unjust edicts coming from Rome.

While Bishop O’Connell may be by his own estimation a good and conscientious man in the fulfillment of what he considers to be his duty, we are led to ask ourselves: What is this father of souls thinking?

A common disease among even good Catholics, cardinals, bishops and priests included, is that a command or law imposed by one’s superior is necessarily always good, just and, therefore, must be obeyed. This is sheer legal positivism at work. It is a practical manifestation of “might makes right,” that the lawgiver by merely enacting a law makes the object of his law a good and virtuous thing aligned with justice and the common good of his subjects.

Whoa! Not so fast! The law is an ordinance of reason imposed by authority for the common good and duly promulgated by that same authority. Thus, If a law though duly promulgated is unjust, unreasonable, or subversive of the common good, it cannot be a law in the true sense, and thus it cannot bind the consciences of the subjects.

So it is with the recent commands of Rome regarding the Traditional Latin Mass and the treatment of the faithful. Grave injustice and subversion of the common good mark these commands. The Catholic faithful are, in effect, endangered in their Catholic lives and stripped of their rightful claims as members of the Church. Their baptismal rite is that of the Latin Church, and so they have a strict right to their traditional Latin Rite heritage and spiritual patrimony that transcend the illicit innovations unjustly imposed on the Latin Church by Paul VI during the years following the disastrous Second Vatican Council. Rome’s coercion of the bishops is simply unjust, and the actions of bishops to execute Rome’s will in this matter is likewise unjust. What Rome and bishops such as Bishop O’Connell are doing to the Catholic faithful is unjust and immoral. Their deeds done under the false cloak of authority must be denounced and rejected. The faithful, bound by the First Commandment of God and their baptismal promises, must defend and maintain their Catholic life and refuse to be treated as pariahs in their own churches and parishes.

Bishop O’Connell, only one example of too many ecclesiastics over the past fifty-plus years, is objectively an abusive spiritual father to his people. He may shout to the high heavens with his brother bishops about their stellar concern for those physically and sexually abused by clergy, But does he give a hoot about the spiritual abuse heaped upon the faithful for the past many decades in the Church? Does he care that he is now spiritually abusing the faithful who attend St. John the Baptist by undermining their Catholic life and relegating them to the basement as second-class Catholics at best?

By all appearances, Bishop O’Connell would have told Rosa Parks to sit down at the back of the bus and shut up in the Jim Crow South. After all, that’s what the authorities and their laws demanded. Is he too obtuse to see his foolishness? It’s hard to believe that would be the case, but, then again, this is a man of the much-vaunted Vatican II establishment still gloriously reigning in the age of Francis’ cruel mercy.

Let’s move on. Where are the faithful of St. John the Baptist? They caved in to their pastor and bishop and now have Mass in the church basement? Did not one of them see the grave injustice perpetrated against the faithful and their families and resist it? Apparently not. The Traditional Latin Mass at any price has been revealed as their seductive idol. As long as they have that, they will accept any injustice against them, their spouses, their innocent children, and their fellow Catholics thirsting for the fullness of Catholic life. Hard to believe, but there you have it.

The hallmark of masculinity is this: a man protects the perimeters, guarding those within; whether it be the borders of his own soul, his family, his community, his parish, his country, or his Church. Where are the men of St. John the Baptist, who are called to love their families and neighbors by protecting them from all assaults to their well-being, especially their spiritual well-being?

Men with responsibility for others do not have the luxury of suffering privately, disengaged from the fight against evil, and quietly “taking it on the chin” when they are attacked. The eternal welfare of souls is at stake, as is, most importantly, the honor of the Divine Majesty, so grievously wounded by the injustice of ecclesiastics who abuse their authority to steal bread from the mouths of their starving children.

And when such evil is perpetrated, where are the men not only to fight it but to make public reparation to Almighty God for the attacks against His honor and glory? Where are the men taking the lead to make reparation for the harm done to souls and to the places they are called to protect?

The Catholic faithful desperately need leadership, but their spiritual fathers have turned against them, not just abandoning them, but actively working to destroy them. That is the sad reality presently before our eyes today. We cry out in the darkness to our spiritual fathers,: “O father, where art thou?” . . . and we are met with the relentless stinging lash of soul-crushing tyranny or, even worse, the cruel indifference of men and fathers who could not care less for the honor of God and the true good of those whom they are called to cherish and protect.

The few who muster the courage to fight with the help of God must confront the darkness if God and His goodness are to regain their place in the Church and the world. They must expect loneliness and pain, as did Our Lord in this world. Such is the price to be paid without flinching. May they be privileged to utter with their dying breath the words of the great Hildebrand, otherwise known as Pope St. Gregory VII, who faithfully endured all for God’s glory and paid the price: “I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore, I die in exile.”

Dr. Maike Hickson was born and raised in Germany. She holds a PhD from the University of Hannover, Germany, after having written in Switzerland her doctoral dissertation on the history of Swiss intellectuals before and during World War II. She now lives in the U.S. and is married to Dr. Robert Hickson, and they have been blessed with two beautiful children. She is a happy housewife who likes to write articles when time permits.

Dr. Hickson published in 2014 a Festschrift, a collection of some thirty essays written by thoughtful authors in honor of her husband upon his 70th birthday, which is entitled A Catholic Witness in Our Time.

Hickson has closely followed the papacy of Pope Francis and the developments in the Catholic Church in Germany, and she has been writing articles on religion and politics for U.S. and European publications and websites such as LifeSiteNews, OnePeterFive, The Wanderer, Rorate Caeli, Catholicism.org, Catholic Family News, Christian Order, Notizie Pro-Vita, Corrispondenza Romana, Katholisches.info, Der Dreizehnte, Zeit-Fragen, and Westfalen-Blatt.

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