Practically everything is
allowed, everything except Tradition that is.
After the courageous
but at the same timid act by Benedict XVI when he constituted the Motu Proprio
in 2007, we have witnessed a continuous effort to “confine” Tradition from the
Church.
The Holy Father said that the Old Mass had never been abolished. In some way, he confirmed that it could not
be abolished, because Church Authority serves to guard Tradition as source of
Revelation, just as it serves to guard Holy Scripture, and may never lord over
them; if it lorded over them, the Authority [of the Church] would not be that
willed by Our Lord and would take the form of authoritarianism.
Well then, after the Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, the various
diocesan curia engaged themselves in an unwavering work of stopping, stemming
and confining any attempt at a return of the glorious Tradition of the Church,
whether it was liturgical or doctrinal.
This has been the complete boycotting of the will of the Pope which was a
simple act of justice: the Mass that the Church has celebrated for fifteen
centuries and which made Saints cannot be abolished.
Not even the awful lack of
priests, which we have seen these past years, not even this will be able to
liberate Tradition from its confinement. They would rather be without priests,
they would rather close the churches, but they will not allow a traditional
priest to celebrate the Mass of ages.
Many priests were ready to
pass to Tradition, many were seriously interested in regaining possession of
that which is the greatest patrimony in the Church, many of them asked to learn
the Old Mass.
Then, like an implacable
executioners’ axe, the hatchet fell on those who with joyful simplicity had
begun to celebrate it: canonical proceedings, removal from parishes, subtle
accusations of schism! (etc.,). You know the story. Thus, a chill has fallen on
priests, many of whom were young and who dreamt of being able to go up to the
altar “Introibo ad altare Dei…”
And what is to be said about
seminarians? “If you love Tradition you are dangerous and are unable to be
ordained in the Church,” this is the refrain from superiors of seminaries
obedient to their bishops.
A tremendous chill has thus
fallen on a potential springtime for souls, first on the priests and then on
the faithful. The Pope had hoped for a change of climate in the Church, but the
old guard, nowadays in the diocesan curia, made up of ex-‘68ers, has allowed
for nothing.
Priests who love Tradition are
closed up in a prudential silence and the seminarians in an “apnea” of
conscience, so that they will be able to arrive at their longed for ordination,
illusorily convinced that things will change once they are priests.
Is all of this normal?
Absolutely not, it is not normal in the Church!
Are all those gentlemen who are
hostile to Tradition and impede it with strange Byzantinism[s] still concerned
about the salvation of souls? Do they still want [to promote] Christianity? Or
do they aspire to something different? And if it so, why are they occupying the
Church of God?
They have been promoting a new
religion with timorous references to the Christianity of the past. They have
been working and spending a lot of money(!) in order to transform Catholicism
into a religion fit for literary salons; they waste time in trying to restore a
painting or commenting on a [literary] text, but they are absent in the
field…they are not going into the confessional and they are not going up to
altar every day, because they are [busily] engaged in some cultural project.
Are they still worried about
souls frequenting the Sacraments? Do they still deem the Sacraments necessary
for salvation, or are they only concerned about creating “community” substituting
the structure to the essential, that is, to God?
We hope with all our hearts
that the new year will bring two things:
1. A leap of courage from all
those priests and seminarians who are suffering on behalf of a Church
increasingly hostile to its past. We would like to say to them: “Why are you
waiting to fight back? Yes, fight back – so as to obey God!” Consider the
effects of this Church badly modernized, consider the great sadness that it has
produced and obey God joyfully. It is only in this way that you will serve the
Church with love, because the Church is - Tradition.
2. An amendment in those who
have had such hostility to the Traditional Mass and have imprisoned it. We
realize that not all of them operate in bad conscience. To them we would like
to say: “Let us have the experience of Tradition,” give us the churches, allow
us to look after souls and then come in all simplicity and judge the fruits.
You have given churches to the schismatic Orthodox, advertised even the times
of worship for the Protestant heretics, when will you release the Mass of all
ages from limbo? What would your old parish priests, your grandparents and the
saints of over two thousand years of Christianity say?
Forgive us if we have spoken
to you with such frankness, we do not want to offend anyone but to stir up an
awakening of conscience: in this dramatic situation, there is no time for
ceremony.
May the year 2014 remove the
torpor of many sincere souls, through the grace of God and the prayers of many.
Translated and adapted by Rorate Contributor Francesca Romana with emphasis added by Adfero.
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