It appears that the Novus Ordo Mass (New Mass of Paul VI) may be heading on a fast track towards extinction, no thanks to the COVID pseudo-pandemic.
I attended the pre-1955 liturgies for all three days of the Easter Triduum this year. There were no masks, no social distancing and a lot of reverence and love for Christ and His sacrifice. The liturgies were packed. Everyone who attended, despite the long duration of the liturgies especially on Good Friday and Easter Vigil, stayed until the very end. It was glorious.
Compare this to what was happening at your typical New Mass parish in just about any diocese across America over the same period. I freely admit I am generalizing and not all New Mass pastors are buying into COVID restrictions, but I know what happened in many of these parishes because you can watch on video what was happening as so many of these parishes are still live-streaming (recording) their Masses.
As I was watching these New Mass liturgies, while reflecting on my experience at the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), it became pretty clear to me that the New Mass of Paul VI is probably not long for this world.
Due to self-imposed social distancing requirements, most of the New Mass Easter Triduum liturgies I observed were half-full. Everyone was wearing masks, in some places including the priests. Of course, everyone was receiving Holy Communion in their hands before moving their masks to the side to consume the host. I know of emails and notices sent beforehand telling parishioners they were not welcome to show up in person and were directed to watch Easter Triduum events online because they reached max capacity under social distancing limitations.
Are American Catholics who have authentic faith in Christ and His providence really accepting and going along with this nonsense, over one year since the first COVID shutdowns began? And how does this reluctance to celebrate Mass and the sacraments freely and openly relate to the form of the Mass itself?
The Modernist Response to COVID
One year ago, Catholics were willing to give their shepherds some slack and leeway when governmental agencies first began imposing restrictions on religious services. Although many recognized immediately what was happening was actually a socio-political revolt cloaked in the need “to be safe”, it was still reasonable to give the benefit of the doubt to Church leadership in the way they responded to COVID. Many traditional Catholics were swept up in the intentionally manufactured hysteria. It is understandable to some degree.
However, as time passed, and the evidence mounted showing that people were not dying in the streets, that hospitals were not being overwhelmed, and COVID was not nearly as deadly as the media so desperately wanted to portray, those is the leadership of the Church should have immediately opened the doors to the faithful and restored trust in their leadership and in Christ’s providence and social kingship. But what happened instead? A lot of canonical illegality and abuse of authority.
Here are a few examples:
After the Archdiocese of Milwaukee caved in to an illegal Wisconsin shut-down order, it proceeded to reopen Masses with extensive restrictions, including communion in the hand, 75% reduction in those allowed to attend, emptied holy water fonts, and removed missals ONLY AFTER the Wisconsin supreme court ruled the state mandated restrictions were illegal.
Bishop Sitka of Knoxville banned communion on the tongue and then threatens the Catholic faithful by prohibiting them from ever returning to Mass “until this passes” if they “make a scene”.
Bishop in Manchester England banned giving last rites (extreme unction, confession, viaticum) to those near death because even though “this runs counter to our instinct to provide personal end-of-life sacramental and pastoral care, in the current circumstances, minimizing the spread of the virus must be the priority of all.”
Archbishop Rodi of the Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama threatened priests with suspension if they dare distribute Holy Communion on the tongue.
The Vatican shut down Easter and Christmas Masses to the public.
Baptisms in the Archdiocese of Chicago were suspended despite one Catholic mother’s correct idea that “It’s been burned into me, you get your child baptized soon as possible.” Apparently, there is a COVID exception for the need to baptize to save souls.
A priest (while wearing a mask of course) in Tennessee finds the COVID restrictions on Baptism and sacraments apparently hilarious by posing for a photo that is intended to look like he is baptizing a couple’s baby with a squirt gun standing six feet away in the sanctuary.
U.S. Bishops relaxed restrictions on eating meat during lent because it’s difficult not to buy meat products during COVID.
Ongoing dispensation from having to attend Mass on Sundays continues without any end in sight. (apparently there was a 3rd commandment exception for fear of COVID).
You would think as various state governments across the nation are relaxing and ending restrictions in 2021, Bishops and pastors would be excited to open wide their doors to their parishioners and potential converts who feel lost, disillusioned and depressed for having to live the past year in isolation, suffering from financial hardships, and being treated as less than human beings behind a mask. After all, isn’t the post-Vatican II Church of Modernism all about accompaniment and compassion? Well, you would be wrong. The insults from the shepherds who should be providing spiritual support and guidance through these evil times just continued, if not ramped up:
In Dallas, Texas a pregnant mother was removed from Mass for not wearing a face mask. In this case, the pastor called the police on this mother to threaten her with criminal prosecution and remove her from the building.
In New Jersey, a parish required vaccination in order to attend Confession. After the story broke about this outrage on Catholic social media, the very next day the policy changed. Then, confessions were available for those who were not vaccinated but only because “Father Mike” received his RNA-injection first and those who chose not be vaccinated could still not make anonymous confessions in a confessional.
A bishop in northern Ireland suspended First Holy Communions for six months because he was “conscious that we must do everything we can to ensure that life is protected in the midst of this pandemic”. He was particularly worried about people having parties!
In Florida, a parish is separating its parishioners into the VAXXED and the NON-VAXXED. This is shown in the photo above the title page of this post.
What about the “Catholic” universities? Nope, they will require their students to inject themselves with the mRNA potion developed and/or tested on aborted babies.
Does anyone honestly think any of those in charge who put in place the policies listed above attend the Traditional Latin Mass or want to receive Holy Communion on the tongue in a reverent way? Do they believe in the Real Presence or are they more concerned with how their large donors who fear death will view them? I will get back this in a minute.
What Christ Actually Asks of Us
The abject fear of government retaliation and perhaps fear of death that prompted so many of these bishops and pastors, including the Vatican, to shut down access to sacraments, and in many cases openly attack the Catholic faithful for daring to want to be a Catholic, is a symptom of the much larger problem of Modernism, which I wrote about in a previous post.
Contrary to the human-centered lukewarmness that Modernism represents, let’s look at two examples of saints in history that demonstrates the attitude Catholics should have when the government seeks to control the Church and how saintly Catholics respond to unjust persecution.
St. Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury, was a friend of King Henry II and was quite loyal. Henry, in open violation of the Church’s rights to adjudicate the crimes of clergy under Church law recognized at the time, attempted to try criminally accused members of the clergy in his royal courts. Beckett, despite his relatively good relationship with Henry in the past, refused to allow this obvious usurpation of the Church’s rights. Beckett stood up to the king’s heavy-handed abuse and ended up getting killed because of it as he was beat down and slain in his own cathedral by Henry’s henchmen. He became a revered saint in England and the torch-bearer for those standing up to unjust secular authorities.
St. Thomas More, Henry VIII’s chancellor, also suffered the same fate at the hands of the king’s executioner’s blade because he refused to swear the oath of supremacy that recognized Henry as head of the Church in England and refused to uphold Henry’s divorce from Catherine, which the Pope in Rome had previously refused to acknowledge. In other words, More upheld the authority of the Pope and the Church’s teachings on marriage despite the inevitable outcome of losing his head. Like his namesake, Thomas Beckett, More demonstrated what it means to serve Christ the King in the face of persecution and even death.
While Beckett and More both defended the authority and importance of the Church in the face of government pressure, now Francis and so many of the bishops reject their own responsibility and authority to protect the Church and offer sacraments. Could any failure to act be more lukewarm or effeminate than denying one’s own authority to appease secular overlords and cave into popular culture?
Effect on the Future of the New Mass
Generally speaking, TLM parishes have responded quite differently than the post-Vatican II establishment in the face of government persecution and cultural pressure to conform to the dictates of the diabolically fueled Great Reset.
In the TLM, there is no forced communion in the hand because the rite simply does not allow for it. I am also unaware of any TLM pastor who refused confession or Holy Communion to someone because they were not wearing a mask or failed to get the mRNA gene injection. Those who attend the TLM, and from my experience especially the pre-1955 Easter triduum liturgies, are all about the worship of God and respectfully receiving the sacraments without compromising for fear of repercussions from government officials or popular opinion. When you recognize that the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass is Christ on the Cross at Calvary and not just a social gathering and fundraising event, all those concerns seem to dissipate.
When bishops and pastors concede to the secular authorities that the sacraments and need to gather for liturgy are not essential, at least compared to shopping at Walmart or buying liquor, this affects the attitude of the laity. This is no different than when bishops and pastors tell those same parishioners it is perfectly acceptable for lay men and women dressed in football jerseys and backless dresses to pass out Holy Communion in the hand like Halloween candy. Both the actions and leadership demonstrated by these bishops and pastors send the signal that what happens at the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass is not really THAT important.
When church buildings are closed and parishioners are locked out for weeks, or when those seeking to save their eternal soul through Baptism are told they have to wait until the government tells them it is okay, this is no different than the effect of dropping particles of the consecrated host on the ground and watching others step on them. Both actions send the message that God really doesn’t care what happens in that church building and neither do those who are in attendance. Whether it is true or not—that is the message being sent.
At the end of the day, those who insist on celebrating the New Mass with half-filled churches behind the masks from hell will see the fruit of their lukewarmness and effeminacy. Those who have faith and a strong zeal for serving Christ the King will recognize with increasing numbers the connection between the New Mass and the response to the COVID fake-crisis.
I truly believe the response of so many pastors and bishops to the COVID persecutions will serve as a wake-up call to Catholics who want nothing more than to reverently serve God and do His will. Catholics by nature seek Truth and strong leadership. They want to be obedient to those pastors who will guide them in the faith (not destroy it) and offer protection from evil (not cooperate with it). This can be found in traditional Latin Mass parishes. Not exclusively to be sure, but mostly.
The Catholic laity that agree with imposing severe COVID restrictions will soon realize (or already have) that there is no point in ever returning to Mass or the sacraments. The bishops are giving what appears to be a perpetual dispensation from Mass attendance for the foreseeable future and clearly such people were not craving Holy Eucharist or sacramental confession enough to make their way back for over a year. If fear of COVID, as opposed to fear of the Lord, guided their decisions before, what about the New Mass is going to entice them to come back now? The sign of peace handshake or maybe 1970s guitar/drum set Masses? I think not.
It is clear to me that if cooperation with COVID-scam continues and the refusal to respect Christ’s kingship in the face of evil is allowed to go on, there will be no need for the New Mass in a few short years. Those who desire authentic worship and the sacraments will seek out parishes that align with their beliefs and consciences. Those who fear COVID will avoid the Mass entirely. We shall see.