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Recently, Crisis Magazine Editor in Chief Eric Sammons published an article outlining the dire state of the Catholic Church in America. He showed that for every 100 new Catholics, more than 800 people leave the Church. In addition, he proved that it is even worse than the numbers suggest when we do a deep dive into sacramental participation and the like.
Simply put, the Church in America—and abroad because these trends are universal—is barely on life support and fading fast. To say that it is a crisis is an understatement; it is a super crisis, and Sammons is correct in saying that radical changes are needed. Now, my only criticism of his article is that he didn’t publish it while I was writing my forthcoming book on the crisis of Modernism, which would have made my research a little easier because he would have done much of it for me.
In any event, Sammons is correct that radical changes are needed. And he is correct to suggest a host of changes in practice, like reinstating Friday abstinence, returning to the Baltimore Catechism, and so forth. But I am going to go one step further than Sammons and say that if we want to avoid annihilation, we must return to Tradition.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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This means a full return to the old ways in everything from liturgy to catechesis to public morals and even modesty in dress. We are on the edge of a cliff looking at a perilous fall, so perhaps it is time we turn around and walk back to regroup.
C.S. Lewis wrote:
We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.
We are utterly lost at sea, yet our leaders keep telling us to paddle forward, which they apparently would rather do than simply turn around and go back to shore. It is like they prefer the idea of being caught in storms and being swallowed up by sharks over the security of the civilization we left on dry land.
Now, I foresee a few objections which I ought to deal with right away. Yes, I know, everything wasn’t perfect before Vatican II and the changes to the Mass. Yes, I also know that going back to old ways doesn’t mean that everyone becomes a saint. I am also fully aware that it would be extremely difficult to put a return to Tradition into practice, which would include a lot of construction and realignment, and so on.
However, this way of thinking misses the point: we are facing a 700 percent negative ratio between new Catholics and former Catholics, so whatever we have been doing isn’t working and must be stopped.
Granted, the time before Vatican II wasn’t a golden age; if it was, we wouldn’t have had the revolution and aftermath of Vatican II. But, you know, wasn’t that the case before Vatican II? A 700 percent difference in Church membership.
One of the most annoying platitudes is the statement, “correlation doesn’t equal causation.” Well, actually, it often effectively does. Think about it; if you surround your children with drug dealers and put them in a bad school, wouldn’t this be a cause of their becoming a drug addict? No one would say, “Well, sure, you put them in a school where everyone did drugs and they were around lots of drug dealers, but you can’t say this had anything to do with their new drug habit because correlation doesn’t equal causation.”
This way of thinking is stupid.
Whatever you may think about what has happened since Vatican II, and whatever your hopes may have been about New Springtimes and New Pentecosts, it is time to embrace reality, and the reality is that we are in a Nuclear Winter, and it is self-inflicted. We are in this mess because we rejected Tradition in all its forms and embraced novelty. The embrace of novelty has created an environment where we are told everything is new and everything is renewal and everything is restoration, yet in reality everything is decay, and rot, and destruction. The only parts of the Church that are truly healthy are the places where Traditional liturgy and catechesis thrive. Whatever you may think about what has happened since Vatican II, and whatever your hopes may have been about New Springtimes and New Pentecosts, it is time to embrace reality, which is that we are in a self-inflicted Nuclear Winter.Tweet This
Whenever I talk to Catholics who don’t attend an ancient liturgy but who say their parish is thriving, they invariably tell me that their parish either offers the Old Rite as well as the New Rite or that the New Rite is celebrated like it is the Old Rite in some way. In addition, their parish does processions, and they use old catechisms and perform other such traditional things. In other words, they do things the old way, and when they do certain new things, they do them like they do the old things.
Heck, even the most ardent defenders of Vatican II and opponents of “Traditionalists” almost never attend the Novus Ordo; they usually attend the Latin Mass or an Eastern Rite—this is the case for virtually all the anti-traditionalist podcasters and mainstream apologists. Even those who get paid to defend the New Springtime take a weekly sojourn in the Old Christendom because they know where Catholicism is to be found.
A return to Tradition is really quite simple, and it is the easiest solution. We don’t have to make up anything new, and we don’t have to come up with some grand plan that takes a decade more of synodal stupidity. All we have to do is go into the archives and dust off some old books and take out some old vestments and dust those off as well. We simply have to read old stuff and teach that stuff to our kids; and professors have to teach that same stuff to the seminarians, who will then teach it to the faithful. The ironic thing is that the radical change we need is not really a change at all but an undoing of changes.
It wouldn’t be as hard to accomplish as people think. No one expects priests to all say the Old Rite in a week or two, and maybe they need a year or two to become acclimated. Also, I seem to recall reading about a time in the 1960s and ’70s when they radically changed everything and ransacked the churches like iconoclasts. Can’t we just do the opposite of that, or do we not have the same resolve as the modernists and iconoclasts?
And, we should expect that some lukewarm cafeteria Catholics will leave if we “go back,” but aren’t they leaving anyway? Also, isn’t it the case that many more will stay or be reinvigorated? Remember, we are dealing with a 700 percent deficit, so we are in no place to say that doing something that worked for centuries is too “risky” when we are facing annihilation.
It really is a choice between Tradition and annihilation at this point, and I don’t have it in me to listen to any more talk about types of “continuity” or “mutual enrichment” or “revival.” I live in reality, and in reality, those things don’t work—just like how, in reality, Communism doesn’t work. You can tell me until you are blue in the face that we just need to Vatican II harder or Novus Ordo harder, or that the true Vatican II was never implemented, or the true Novus Ordo was never celebrated, but I am not going to take you seriously. In my mind, you may as well be the sociology professor telling me why the true Marx has never been understood, blah blah blah.
What we are doing and have been doing doesn’t work, and it will never work, and what we used to do did work, and it will work again. Sure, going back to the old ways isn’t a panacea, but it also isn’t a continual ingestion of strychnine either. Let’s stop the bleeding, fix the wounds, and do what we know how to do best, and we can discuss reforms and how to tinker with this or that when we stop committing ecclesial suicide.
[Photo Credit: Shutterstock]
Mr. Hall makes a good assessment of state of the affairs of the Catholic Church. I don’t think we face annihilation because Jesus said so and that is good enough for me. We do face far, far worse days to come. I don’t think the Church got in the state it is by well meaning prelates making poor choices. I see nothing to indicate that that is true. The Church has endured a number of modernist Popes. John the XXIII failed to reveal the third secret of Fatima in 1960. Had he done so Vatican II may never had happened. Pope Paul VI said the smoke of Satan had entered the sanctuary because he let it in and held open the door. John Paul II held the first concelebration with pagan faiths in public at Assisi openly diminishing the Catholic faith. Benedict XVI abdicated the papacy when we needed him the most and Francis who said in one of his first interviews with a major German publication DER SPIEGEL in 2016, “I Might Go Down in History for Having Split the Catholic Church”, has squandered any credibility the Church had remaining. Bishops for the most part have sat idly by and in many cases either arranged these things or cheered them on. The few and I mean very few that oppose these things are squashed like a bug in complete silence from their fellow prelates. Poor decisions are made with discussion and maneuvering for no other reason than to shirk the blame. Other than Bishop Lefebre and a few others little discussion has taken place. Francis will dialog with any faith except the traditional part of his own Church. Articles such as this one have been posted since the end of Vatican II. The same recommendations have been made with the same results. The hierarchy of the Church knows what they need to do to regain the faithful but that is not their intent. Poll after poll tells them what the truly faithful seek but they don’t care. Just like they didn’t care when they locked the doors of our churches.
I am a technician by trade. There is only one thing the resolves a problem and that is the truth, the facts. It doesn’t matter what I think or anybody else thinks. It doesn’t matter what I feel. We can talk around it, we can talk about it but until we look at the facts, the truth, the problem will never be resolved, and the can is just kicked down the road a little further. Having said that I see no indication that the hierarchy of the Church cares the least bit about the state it is in. Even the densest of fools would have done something in the past 60 years if that were not the case. Nobody is that stupid, nobody is that incompetent. We might sum up the hierarchy’s action over the past 60+ years with one phrase, “no matter how many times we cut the board, it still comes up too short”. We are on our own my brothers and sisters. We are only revenue sources to pay off the debts of deviants and thieves. They laugh in our faces while asking for more. They spend their time plotting how to extinguish any pockets of true believers left. While the weak and the spineless sit quietly by.
Many are horrified when I say these things. My answer to them, prove me wrong.
I suggest this for your review.
Catholic Catechism 907 “In accord with the knowledge, competence, and preeminence which they possess, [lay people] have the right and even at times a duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and they have a right to make their opinion known to the other Christian faithful, with due regard to the integrity of faith and morals and reverence toward their pastors, and with consideration for the common good and the dignity of persons.”
Read Catechism 871-945 Christ’s Faithful, Hierarchy, Laity Consecrated Life.
I would also direct you to the Code of Canon Law (1917 Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law)
Read Title 7 on the Supreme Power of those who by ecclesiastical law are participants therein
This includes obligations and responsibilities of the Pope, the Cardinals, the Curia, Vicars and Prefects
Then read Title 8 in the same book.
This includes obligations and responsibilities bishops’, auxiliary bishops, pastors and rectors.
Then read Ubi Prium by Pope Benedict XIV encyclical on the Duties of Bishops.
Once you have done that come back and tell me that there is anything remotely like that going on in our Church. We have a Deposit of Faith. Few know it and it is rarely used.
We got here because of our blind trust in those that we should be able to trust. We should be able to believe. That we have any trust or hope in them after their repeated and ongoing behavior stands as indisputable proof that we are all fools.
I can sleep at night because I know that God allows all this to happen for a reason. I know the deep sorrow I feel in my heart for the ways things are also has a purpose in His plan for me. I embrace that and I pray for His guidance. Most of those leaving the Church were not much of a Catholic anyway. While I mourn their loss and pray for their conversion I understand and accept that God has given them free will. As adults it is OUR responsibility to seek the Truth and know our faith. God will guide me if I seek Him out at let Him. The buildings may be gone and all the “leaders” moved on to other things, but they will never take my faith because I will not let them. Never. Christ is King forever!!
This article packs a punch but I suspect it is true. I am a “roamin’ Catholic” wondering why I can’t pick a parish and stay committed. I keep with Eucharist and praise God for that nourishment. At ’68’ I’ve weathered all the changes but watched my daughter and most of my friends’ children just walk away. My brothers didn’t all practice the Faith and most of their children will not go near it. Sad. Catholics are trained in obedience. We need good leadership or the listing ship will sink. There will be us few die-hards but it will be lonely and we will feel the attacks. So much for changing the culture from the Church outward. We need an intervention; nay, a miracle.
I enjoyed reading Kennedy Hall’s article and the one by Eric Sammons which preceded it. I agree that some drastic things are necessary to get us back on track. But I don’t think we need to go totally back to the Latin Mass. I am very lucky that in my area there are a number of very reverent Novus Ordo masses and even the opportunity to attend the Latin mass. I prefer hearing the mass in my language. I have attended the Traditional mass (I grew up with it), but I never liked that the readings were in Latin and only on Sundays did we get a homily. I do think that a return to Communion on the tongue, kneeling at an altar rail, and a paten under our chins to protect the Eucharist would be great “returns to Tradition”. In addition more Eucharistic Adoration, promotion of the Rosary, more First Friday and First Saturday devotions, much more emphasis on the need to use Confession regularly, no meat on Friday and a return to real reverence in church would go a long way to keeping and bringing Catholics back. We have become too casual about Worshiping God. That’s what it is all about: Worshiping God!
Just because people go to the Latin Mass does not fix everything, and often I think there is a bit of the sin of pride in those who attend the TLM and almost worship it. God wants us to worship Him and if truly reverent, both the TLM and the Novus Ordo can provide God with true Worship!
One of the things that neither Sammons nor Hall mentioned was the increase in truly orthodox young priests. We have some really outstanding priests whose main mission is saving souls.
Matthew 3:15
Respondens autem Iesus, dixit ei: Sine modo: sic enim decet nos implere omnem iustitiam. Tunc dimisit eum.
Especially because, were it not so:
Matthew 3:12
Cuius ventilabrum in manu sua: et permundabit aream suam: et congregabit triticum suum in horreum, paleas autem comburet igni inextinguibili.
EXCELLENT
AWESOME
OUTSTANDING
Worthy of 100 on-🎯s
Don Young
Columbus OH
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