Fair-Weather Traditionalism Is Over

Last week, I visited with a friend from the U.S. who told me a story about something he witnessed at his parish as a child. At a parish on the Northeastern Shore in the late ’80s, he remembered that the priest had, for years, used pumpernickel bread and white zinfandel for Holy Communion. And, as the devil would have it, that same parish doubled as a synagogue for the Jewish Sabbath. This was a diocesan parish that is still in operation, although it seems as if the Masses may now be valid and the parish no longer doubles as a synagogue. 

After he told me the story, I remembered that Archbishop Lefebvre had written in Open Letter to Confused Catholics about receiving letters from Catholics in the U.S. decrying similar abuses, whether it was pumpernickel bread or honey oat cakes used instead of valid matter for the Eucharist. My friend and I both opined that, for all we know, Lefebvre had received letters from horrified parishioners from that very parish community.

I was born in 1988, so I have no memory of the 1980s; and my family did not practice the faith all that much during my youth, so I have few memories of anything to do with Catholicism—aside from Masses during my years in Catholic schools. However, it is my impression that after Pandora’s box was opened after the Council, things sort of stabilized as time marched on. Many of the things mentioned in Lefebvre’s book seem to have stopped during the ’90s and 2000s, and we would be shocked to see anything like my friend described happening today, even in liberal parishes. 

However, that does not mean that confusion is not still rampant in the Church. And with recent threats to the Latin Mass—again—a whole new crop of Catholics is confused and left wondering how things have gotten so bad. I am speaking about Traditionalists, which is to say Catholics who believe it is a good thing to do things the way their ancestors did.

Trads, as they are colloquially called, are confused. Quite frankly, to say they are merely confused might be the understatement of the century.

The trads who attend diocesan Latin Masses are confused because they have done everything “by the book;” they have simply followed the recommendations that Pope Benedict gave in Summorum Pontificum. Yet, the rumors that the Latin Mass will be nuked are only intensifying by the day, and the stalwart Diane Montagna—not one to publish things carelessly—just released a piece adding more credence to the impending Latin Mass Hiroshima. If true, this means that all those TLM communities, which are often the backbone of otherwise dying parishes, will be cast into the exterior darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In addition, it isn’t clear what the so-called Ecclesia Dei communities will be allowed to do, even if they won’t be directly affected. Sure, they may keep their Masses, but if bishops are forbidden from doing “trad” things, then what does this mean for the other sacraments, including ordination? Thus, the faithful who attend the Institute or the Fraternity are left scratching their heads, as, surely, they don’t deserve the fate that may befall them.

Furthermore, although the SSPX and the SSPX faithful will be largely untouched by any impending changes, it must be understood that this scenario causes those associated with the Society great sadness as they do their work not for themselves but so that Catholics may have their birthright. Also, it is to be expected that as the pressure heats up on Traditionalists, the pressure will heat up on all Traditionalists. 

It will not be the case that diocesan Latin Masses will be closed and parishioners will be left to flood SSPX chapels unmolested. I can tell you that, as someone who defends the SSPX and attends a chapel, I have been called a schismatic more times than James Martin has promoted the LGBTQ+ agenda. A move to the SSPX by a layperson is one of the most harrowing experiences a Catholic will go through. For many, it will mean excommunication from friend groups and families; and it will mean the loss of any job associated with the diocesan establishment.

I can also guarantee that as people flock to the Society, the usual malcontents of the New Springtime will only heighten their anti-SSPX rhetoric, and a whole new crop of theologasters and media blowhards will be yelling “schism” like a Modernist with Tourette’s. 

There is no easy “way out” of this situation, and the confusion will only intensify.

I do not have any infallible advice or solutions that will solve your problem, and I cannot tell anyone what to do. But, perhaps, I might offer some recommendations that will help you to make sense of the confusion.

One thing that I have noticed since I started to dabble in Traditional apologetics is that many Catholics have flocked to the Old Mass for very sensible reasons that have everything to do with instinct rather than deep study or scholarship. This is not an accusation or a bad thing; it’s only an observation. One thing that I have noticed since I started to dabble in Traditional apologetics is that many Catholics have flocked to the Old Mass for very sensible reasons that have everything to do with instinct rather than deep study or scholarship.Tweet This

I remember speaking with one man who found an SSPX chapel and told me that after years of sitting through watered-down Novus Ordo liturgies something inside him nudged him to check out a Latin Mass. He told me that the TLM was like “grandma’s lemonade” instead of the cheap imitation stuff from the grocery store. I imagine that many Catholics have similar stories; they ended up at a TLM because their Catholic sense told them to and not because they read Quo Primum or the collected works of Michael Davies.

Again, there is nothing wrong with the Catholic instinct that drives someone toward Tradition, any more than the aesthetic instinct that tells someone Gregorian Chant is better than Marty Haugen—there are objective aesthetic and liturgical principles that make the TLM and real sacred music better than the other. But instinct is not a strong enough argument for the troubles that lie ahead.

Well, now that Tradition is under attack by a carpet-bombing regime, I think it is time that all trads dust off those old—and often thick—volumes of Traditional apologetics. As the persecution ramps up, we will be forced to make hard decisions and have sound reasons for those decisions. We must go beyond the panoply of podcasters who fill our earbuds and go straight to the sources. Fair-weather Traditionalism had its decade in the sun, and that time is over. In order to survive and make sense of the confusion, we must make the great heroes of Traditional apologetics our best friends. 

First and foremost, we must understand Modernism, which is the root of the crisis. For this, we must look to Pope St. Pius X. It is not easy to read Pascendi Dominici Gregis, as it is a very dense document, but it should be required reading; and it should be read again and again. If you read Lamentabili Sane—the syllabus of errors of Pius X—it may be shocking to see that virtually every error Pius X warned against has become standard operating procedure. I might also suggest reading paragraph 38 of Pascendi and comparing it to the changes that have taken place since the Council; it is as if the Neo-Modernists memorized it in order to use it as a blueprint for the Conciliar Era.

Michael Davies’ trilogy on the Liturgy and the Council, especially Cranmer’s Godly Order, would be a good second step. From there, Woods and Ferrara’s The Great Facade, and de Mattei’s The Second Vatican Council: An Unwritten Story would help. Of course, the writings of Archbishop Lefebvre, especially They Have Uncrowned Him and Open Letter to Confused Catholics, will only add more clarity. And, at the risk of seeming like a fanboy of Dr. Kwasniewski—guilty as charged!—I would recommend virtually anything he has written on the subject of the liturgy in the last five to 10 years.

There are, of course, a plethora of other books and authors to be read, so this is not an exhaustive list. Regardless of which books you read to help you make sense of these times, I recommend you start now, because the war will only intensify.