|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Above: photo by the author who went on this pilgrimage last year. Read his report here. Pilgrimage website.
An ominous sign indicating the credibility of the reports that discuss a further suppression of the Apostolic Roman Rite by the Roman Curia of “Mercy” was the recent announcement by the Vatican prohibiting the celebration of the Gregorian Rite at the Shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga on the final day of the Our Lady of Christendom pilgrimage in Asturias, Spain.
At the Archdiocese of Oviedo they have informed us that they have received instructions from the Dicastery for Divine Worship stating that the Traditional Holy Mass is not to be celebrated in Covadonga.
The pilgrimage this year will take place after the Feast of St James the Great on July 25, from 27-29 July. The organisers have decided that the final Mass on the third day of the pilgrimage will now take place in the camp on the morning of the final day, in the same manner as the Masses on the first two days.
This targeted attack by the Roman Curia portends a number of possibilities. Firstly, the enemies of Tradition have correctly identified the large summer pilgrimages like Chartres and Covadonga as hugely important catalysts of interest in, and devotion to, the Latin Church’s ancient liturgy. Cardinal Müller, who celebrated the equivalent final Mass of the Chartres pilgrimage in the Cathedral on Whit Monday this year, spoke of how Cardinal Roche is worried about the Chartres pilgrimage and the nearly 20,000 Catholics that it attracts. At a sermon for the ordination of priests for the Institute of the Good Shepherd in Courtalain, France on June 29, the former CDF prefect said:
I was still moved by the fidelity of the 20,000 young Catholics with whom I was able to celebrate Holy Mass in the marvellous Cathedral of Chartres on Whit Monday, when he objected that this was by no means a cause for joy, because Holy Mass was celebrated according to the old Extraordinary Latin rite. Indeed, some see the old rite of Holy Mass as a greater danger to the unity of the Church than the reinterpretation of the Creed, or even the absence of Holy Mass. They interpret the preference for the ancient rite as the expression of a sterile traditionalism, more interested in the theatricality of the liturgy than in the living communion with God that it conveys.
‘Francis’s War’ on Tradition began with those movements and religious congregations who had moved closer to Tradition, such as the Franciscans of the Immaculate, and were mercilessly punished. The next phase has targeted diocesan Gregorian Masses, seemingly in order to corral traditional Catholics into more manageable pockets around the traditional institutes and congregations.
Clearly, Cardinal Roche, and his coterie of neo-Modernists like Professor Grillo, will continue to target the large traditional summer pilgrimages in order to taper the youthful interest in them. This won’t work but it should occasion a more robust response from faithful Catholics (and particularly our leaders).
As my late friend Don Luis Infante said of the prohibition of the Gregorian Rite Mass in the Cathedral of Oviedo on the first day (already the case in previous editions of the pilgrimage), rather than concede to having campsite Masses, the organisers should try to force entry to the churches (like the occupation of St Nicolas du Chardonnet in Paris or the forced entry to the Eglise of Port Marly). The churches are not simply the private property of the bishop but belong to the entirety of the faithful for worthy worship of Almighty God – the Apostolic Roman Liturgy. Failing this, Catholics should resort to holding open-air Masses in front of the closed Oviedo Cathedral, and now Basilica at Covadonga, thus making it clear that our position – demanding to celebrate the Masses in churches – is not being renounced. This would clearly express protest at the unjust stipulations of the hierarchy, rather than prioritising adherence to ecclesiastical authorities who act in bad faith and against the Faith.
In my view it would also be welcome if tradition-friendly bishops like Cardinals Müller and Burke were to take more explicit canonical steps to fight the rampant Modernism among the hierarchy and in Rome. Rather than simply making Twitter statements, bishops should be using the formal procedures for correction as established by the Church.
Even if they want to avoid accusing the Pope of error, they might take the first step of formally declaring that they are no longer in communion with the heretical German bishops. A pronouncement such as – “By my apostolic episcopal authority, I declare Bishop Bätzing to be a heretic and an enemy of the faith” – would be of great help in clarifying the division between the Catholic Church and the Antichurch. It is an understandable desire to want to avoid schism. Church unity is of course an intrinsic good. But it is clear that the heretics have already manifestly put themselves in schism for decades (e.g. Winnipeg Statement). The ‘conservative’ bishops would simply be formalising (and thus clarifying) a state of affairs that already exists. Such a course of action would naturally entail a re-examination of Vatican II, the proximate cause of the Church’s infestation with Modernism.
To me, it seems far past the time to escalate significantly the fight against heresy in the Church by our leaders. Where is the modern-day St Nicholas to metaphorically slap the wicked heretic Arius in the face? Can you imagine something like that happening today? A large part of the problem seems to be that the modern world in general lacks any sort of manifestation of heroic will. There is a background ambient effeminate and bourgeois spirit. Another one of the rather timiy conservative bishops, Cardinal Sarah, famously wrote, “The day is now far spent.” This was a very grave thing to say. If that is the case – and that he really believes it to be so – do we not need more than just ‘strongly worded statements?’ I do not think history will look too kindly on conservative pusillanimity.
