And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the chairs of them that sold doves: And he saith to them: It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves. (Matthew 21:12-13)
Dear Bishop Barron:
When those who hold religious authority rob from the faithful their rightful inheritance, sometimes a little righteous anger is warranted.
I read your March 2, 2021 article entitled The Evangelical Path of Word on Fire wherein you criticize both the “beige” Catholicism of liberal Catholics and “self-devouring” traditional Catholics. Because I am one of those self-devouring radically traditional Catholics you refer to, I thought I would publicly respond to your public letter, even though I know there is virtually no chance that you will read this. I speak only for myself in this response, but I believe my thoughts and feelings represent those of many other traditional Catholics.
I am in a good place to respond because I am in my mid-40s and I grew up in the post-Vatican II world of Pope John Paul II that you esteem—that world you claim is “evangelical” Catholicism at its finest represented by your work at Word on Fire. And you are quite right that I am angry, in a righteous way I hope, about where the Church finds Herself these days. You should be too.
Since I know you strongly oppose and probably never listen to those radical traditional Catholics on social media and Youtube, the only places where these issues are ever discussed since they have been effectively banned from polite “evangelical” professional Catholic society, I will do my best to explain my anger and why the meteoric rise in popularity and love for traditional Catholicism is threatening your post-Vatican II ideal Catholic kingdom.
Here is the thing Your Eminence may be missing: I haven’t always been a traditional Catholic, and many of those finding traditionalism now have not been either. In fact, it has only been in the last five years I have discovered this hidden treasure that several Popes, Bishops, clergy and theologians attempted to bury for good after the Council. Having attending the New Mass for my entire life, for about 40 years, I now only attend the Traditional Latin Mass. I previously explained my reasons for switching to the TLM before.
I am a traditional Catholic now, not because I oppose the arch-heretical, communistic, and sexually perverted criminals that hijacked Holy Mother Church and her institutions that you kindly refer to as “beige” Catholicism—no, I am a traditional Catholic because your generation of supposed evangelical Catholics seeking to engage the modern culture pushed me into it. And for that, I am truly grateful.
Yes, we are critical of liberalism within the Church and we are disgusted by the Church sex scandals that appear to go much deeper than we ever thought. But, it’s even more than that, and this is what you do not appear to understand.
The first problem is our shepherds’ failure to lead in these dark times where Catholics are being persecuted almost everywhere. As you can see, I cannot even use my real name when I write to you to protect my family and ability to support them. We can also see the plight of those poor Catholics in China being persecuted without help. Abortion just continues unabated and now the entire nation is told to take vaccines tested on cell lines derived from aborted babies. Various governments are actively banning free speech and social media organizations are targeting Catholic ideas and thinkers for suppression. Western Civilization is collapsing in front of our eyes and the Church hierarchy has done literally nothing about it. This is a massive failure in “pastoral” leadership as you might like to call it.
In fact, it’s worse than a failure to lead. We can observe since we have eyes, ears and the ability to process obvious information that a substantial majority of the Church’s hierarchy is not only failing in their duty to protect their flock as shepherds but actively working with our enemies to cut off our legs at the knees.
The Church hierarchy works hand in hand with the same governments oppressing faithful Catholics and is morally compromised by the massive amount of funding received from these governments. We see this locally with the USCCB working hand in hand with the federal government.
We also see this globally. The Vatican ignores the plight of the persecuted in China in order to make deals with the Chinese communistic regime that has no qualms with engaging in genocide and destroying the Church and her property. The Vatican has effectively taken the side of the Chinese government over the side of faithful Chinese Catholics.
Several Bishops now claim abortion is no longer a “preeminent issue” while priests tell their congregations that it is acceptable to vote for pro-abortion Biden and to take a vaccine developed using aborted baby cell lines.
At each and every turn, the Church’s leadership, pastors and the professional lay Catholics who make a lot of money in promoting “evangelical” Catholicism, routinely undercut and undermine those “radical” traditionalists who simply want the Church to adhere to its own teachings according to the apostolic Tradition.
So, the problem is not with us, the problem, in all honesty, is with you and your colleagues in the “evangelical” Catholic movement. And yes, I call YOUR brand of Catholicism a “movement” because that’s what it is. It is not the traditional Catholic who risks stepping outside the confines of the Church—it is modernists and the post-Vatican II mentality that hijacked the power structure of the Church that risks schism.
One of the best parts of discovering traditional Catholicism is that it opens the door to so many resources and thinkers that those in your movement have attempted to keep from us and bury forever. We also learned about what has been stolen from us—namely, our Catholic heritage that organically developed over the course of centuries.
We also now know about the changes in the rites of the sacraments imposed in the 1960s and 70s that deprived us of graces and protections previously afforded our ancestors. We know about the shenanigans that occurred within the Vatican II Council itself, wherein protestants and communists influenced the Council as the original schemas (document drafts) were trashed in favor of those that opened the door for modernist ideas to spread within the Church. We know about the intentional time bombs planted in the Vatican II documents that (even if not heretical in themselves) empowered modernism within the Church, despite being previously condemned by Pope St. Pius X. We know about the rot and financial corruption in the Vatican itself, much of which was overlooked and ignored under John Paul II and flourishes under the control of Francis to this day. I could go on and on.
Your clerical colleagues can continue to “gaslight” the faithful and act like we are conspiracy kooks and insinuate we are schismatics all you want. While that may have worked for several decades since the Council, it doesn’t work anymore because now the faithful can see for themselves the corruption, evil and heresy that pervades the Church. God is stripping the veil off these things and it is not pretty.
We are learning from the great saints of the past (that you claim to speak so highly of) what the Mass truly means and the power it holds. Because of this, our eyes are now open to the reality of what has happened to the liturgy since Vatican II.
We can see for ourselves that the novus ordo Mass is obviously an inferior Protestant influenced, artificially constructed invention that fundamentally impacts the faith of Catholics, for the worse. We understand now that the Mass is about Christ’s Sacrifice not a big ol’ communion meal where the family gets together and listens to Father Bill crack jokes to loud applause sessions each week in between the choir singing John Denver songs. Nope, those days are over for traditional Catholics.
We can see the disrespect of the Lord’s Body and Blood that occurs routinely at novus ordo Masses every single day as the Lord is dropped on the floor and trampled upon after unconsecrated hands of lay men and women hand out Holy Eucharist to those openly in a state of mortal sin with the approval of their pastors. We can clearly see all this liturgical abuse in real time, and you had the audacity to wonder why so many Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence?
And then to top things off, just when we didn’t think it could get worse, shortly after Jorge Bergolgio (A.K.A. Pope Francis) openly worships demonic Pachamama idols at the Vatican, and after your “evangelical” Catholic movement actually attempted to defend these abhorrent actions, the doors of the church buildings, along with access to the sacraments, were closed to the faithful by the Bishops because of a cold virus. Your fellow Bishops may control the Church’s property, but they do not own the faith.
In conclusion, yes, I guess I am angry and so are tens of thousands of other “self-devouring” Catholics who discovered the infinite beauty of the Truth preserved by the Catholic Church and her teachings. I really only touched the surface of the outrage and abandonment we experience as a result of the actions of those charged with leading and protecting the Church. But unlike the modernist clergy who refuse to preach the Truth to save souls, I am hoping this sharp response to your article drives home an essential point:
Traditional Catholics discovered a lost treasure in Holy Mother Church and the Traditional Latin Mass that many tried to hide and steal from us over the past 50 years. Unlike the Protestant schismatics who abandoned the Church, traditionalists are going to stay and fight for Her. We are obedient to God and the Apostolic Magisterium of the Church as handed down to us over the course of 2000 years. We are well within the confines of Holy Mother Church—the real question is whether YOU are willing to hop on board? Trust me Your Eminence, you will love it.