Get
Ready for the Tridentine Mass
Richard Salbato
3-31-07
Inside information I
have from friends in the Vatican states that - Pope Benedict will finally issue
a Papal Motu Proprio (on
his own initiative) to make the 1960 Tridentine Mass an “extraordinary universal rite” and leave the Novus
Ordo a “ordinary universal rite.” In
fact, Catholic publishers are already preparing new editions of the Latin
Missal.
A Papal Motu Proprio enables Benedict to
ignore opposition from cardinals and bishops throughout the world. This opposition has been intense. In fact, most
of the French bishops sent an open letter to the Holy Father expressing their
fear that this action would harm unity among the faithful. Pope Benedict surprised the French bishops by
calling each of them by phone. We don’t
know what Benedict said to them but considering that
"In faithful
obedience to tradition, the sacred Council declares that holy
Benedict knows that
it didn’t work out that way. After
Vatican II he wrote in his memoirs, "I was stunned by the ban on the
ancient missal." Everyone who knew Ratzinger before he became Pope
expected that he would do something because of his writings about turning the
priest around, Latin Music, and the abuses in the Novus Ordo. The fact that he was elected during a bishop’s
conference on the Eucharist in
However, when Sacramentum Caritatis
came out last month we were very disappointed.
It’s a good document but there’s nothing new in it for anyone who
understands the Sacrament. For those who
do not understand the importance of the Sacrament of Sacraments I have posted
the document and highlighted what is important.
What Pope Benedict XVI will add and command on his own initiative is that
any priest in the
Ecclesia Dei (The Indult)
In 1988 Pope John Paul II threw the conservatives a lifeline,
granting permission for priests to say the traditional Latin rite of the
But there was a hitch: priests who wished to say the old Mass, and Catholics who
wished to attend it, had to apply to their local bishop for permission. In
response to such requests, few bishops could be described as "generous." In fact, in most cases only one Tridentine
Mass is offered only once a week in an entire diocese and this is not advertised
anywhere. No promotion is done at all.
Most people, who know that something is wrong with “worship and
reverence”, have never even attended a Tridentine Mass and don’t know the
difference. The failure of this Indult
prompted Pope John Paul II to try and clean up the abuse of the Novus Ordo and
so he wrote Redemptionis Sacramentum.
Redemptionis Sacramentum
In Redemptionis
Sacramentum the Holy Father spelled out the many
abuses of the Novus Ordo and commanded that they stop but no one paid any
attention to him. A good example of this
is item 93:
“The Communion-plate for the Communion of the faithful should be retained,
so as to avoid the danger of the sacred host or some fragment of it falling.” Also item 158: “Indeed, the
extraordinary minister of Holy Communion may administer Communion only
when the Priest and Deacon are lacking - when the Priest is prevented by
weakness or advanced age or some other genuine reason, or when the
number of faithful coming to Communion is so great that the very celebration of
Mass would be unduly prolonged. This, however, is to be understood
in such a way that a brief prolongation, considering the circumstances and
culture of the place, is not at all a sufficient reason.”
These are only two of many commandments made in this document but judge
for yourself, are these two things being obeyed – has anything changed. In my parish the pews are half empty but we
always have at least three extraordinary ministers (almost always women)
passing out communion. I calculate that
this saves about 6 minutes of time. Most recently Pope Benedict XVI issued a
decree that the English translation of the Sacramentary
from the Latin has errors, example “for many” instead of “for all” but I notice
that my priest has not changed the words, and maybe his bishop has not even
told him of the decree.
What
Is Wrong with the Novus Ordo?
Paul VI's Mass was no simple vernacular translation of the traditional text; this was a major edit-and-rewrite job that recast the role of the priest, the people, and even God's place in the liturgical life of the Catholic Church. It was, in short, a revolution. Once the new Mass was put in place, the progressives went on a rampage the likes of which the Church had not seen since the Reformation. Things that were never part of the Novus Ordo just happened:
1. The laity distributed Communion to congregations, 2. People were instructed to stand, not kneel, to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, 3. People were urged to take the Sacred Host, the consecrated bread, in their hands rather than receive it on their tongue, 4. Altars were smashed, communion rails ripped out, statues hauled away to the dumpster or banished to obscure corners of the church, and elaborately decorated interiors whitewashed.
The documents of Vatican II did not call for any of these innovations,
but when confronted, the progressives claimed that their actions were in
keeping with "the spirit of
The Catholic Church sank into chaos - in the United States 75
percent of Catholics went to Mass every Sunday; today the
number has dropped to 25 percent and as I said in France down to six percent. Today
53 percent of American Catholics believe that one can have an abortion and
still be a good Catholic. And 70 percent of American Catholics in the 18-44 age group say they do
not believe that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Christ, that it
is only a symbol of Jesus. Religious vocations of priests in
Today there are three types of Catholics:
1. Conservatives/Traditionalists, like me, who see Vatican II in light of the Church's doctrine and traditions (God centered and absolute truths).
2. Liberal/Progressives see Vatican II as an end to all tradition and a democratic, faithless church (man centered and only the conscience as truth).
3. Ultra-Traditionalists see Vatican II as a complete break
from tradition and heresy.
All three groups ground their theology in the Mass because all three know that
how we pray is how we believe. The first group, which I am in, work hard to get
the most reverence and devotion out of the Novus Ordo Mass that we can and
fight to save traditions, like altar rails, worship and reverence. At the same
time we fight for a return of the Tridentine.
The Ultra-Traditionalists simply look for every way they can to bad
mouth the Church and the Popes.
This is not hard for U-Ts to do because it is true that the
Novus Ordo was designed by Archbishop Bugnini with
help from Father Gelineau and Father Braga. Archbishop Bugnini was a
Mason and most likely a communist. Bugnini supported the heresies of Edward Schillebeeckx, Jacques Pohier, Hans Küng and the concept
of CHRIST AMONGST US by Anthony Wilham, a book poured
into the seminaries that denies Transubstantiation and promotes the Christ in
us instead of the Christ in the Eucharist. What Bugnini wanted
was a Church where the altar would be placed in the center of the people and have the priest and people together consecrate the
sacrament. He expected in time to eliminate the priest altogether.
Bugnini did not succeed in his designs and the
final Mass was not a heresy and remained a real Mass, but everyone has to admit
that it lacks the beauty, reverence and worship of God that the old Mass had. The liberal/progressives were not happy with
Vatican II and the new mass, so in the “spirit” of Vatican II, they started
doing things that were never allowed – the altar rails, the turning the priest
around, the altar girls, the removal of art and music, etc.
The
Ultra-Traditionalists cannot find any real heresy in Vatican II or the Latin
version of the Novus Ordo but they do have a great argument that the fruits of
these things have not been good.
What
will happen to the Traditionalists?
Will traditionalists like Saint Pius X Society and Pope bashers like Gerry
Matatics, Brother Michael Diamond, Father
Gruner and more be satisfied by this new order of the Holy Father to make the Tridentine universal
even over the will of bishops? No! When
they accepted that a Holy Father and a Council were in heresy, they left the
Church and a return of the Mass will not correct that. Calling the last four popes heretics will
take a lot of forgiveness from God before He will consider them Catholic
again. I do believe that in time many
will leave the ultra-traditionalists and re-enter the Church but I do not think
SSXP will reconcile because they will keep demanding things that the Church
cannot accept and never will.
What
will happen to the Liberals?
When Pope Benedict
XVI was elected, Anthony Padovano, the current
president of CORPUS,stated,
“American Catholics will not allow this
papacy to prevail. Some will openly resist; others clandestinely subvert; most
will simply not comply.”
Call to Action, Women’s Ordination Conference, Catholics for a Free
Choice, CORPUS (the National Association for a Married Priesthood), Dignity,
Future Church, New Ways Ministry and more are those who have
no intention of obedience to Rome and we will have to fight them. They have no intention of cleaning up the
Novus Ordo and will fight against any group, priest or bishop who promotes the
Tridentine. But if we do our job they will leave the Church and that will be a
great thing. Let me repeat myself, drive them out
of the Church and the Church will be better off for it.
What
Should We (Catholics) Do?
We (Catholics) are those who are old enough to
remember the Tridentine Mass and long for it, but never left the Church. We are those who never knew the Tridentine
Mass but know something is wrong with our worship and reverence of God, but
never left the Church. We are those who never compromised the faith like cafeteria
catholics with a small “C”. We are those who know that our Church is
first and foremost a Eucharistic Church.
We know the Church was founded to create the Eucharist and that the
Eucharist is the source of its grace and power.
We know that the Eucharist is actio Dei, an
act of God. We know that as we pray, so we believe – lex
orandi, lex credendi. As
Now that you know
who we are, know that we are going to be coming around each and every parish
throughout the world getting 30 signatures to show our desire for a more loving
and adoring
Know this and know
it well – in time, and we know it will take at least 10 years, when there is a
real and fair comparison, the people will chose the better Mass, the
Tridentine. Little by little more people
will come to the Tridentine and less and less will go to the Novus Ordo. Children will see how we love, worship and
adore Our Lord, and will come back to the faith with real faith in the true presence. Little by little the Novus Ordo will become a
better Mass in an attempt to compete but in time it will simply disappear. The Novus Ordo is a true Mass and it is the
Body of Christ crucified, but it is not the best we can do to worship and adore
Our Lord. The Novus Ordo is social
oriented making it hard to pray, whereas the Tridentine is pray oriented and socializing
is not done at all inside the Church.
In my next
Newsletter I will promote some new religious orders and seminaries whose
primary focus is on reverence and devotion to the Eucharist and its importance
to our very existence and salvation.
This will not include those who have left the Church but those who
remained in to fight the good fight. It will not include those who will use the
Tridentine to promote themselves instead of the Church like the Legionaries of
Christ and others who use conservatism to promote cults. It will not include other sects that use the
Tridentine Mass to draw people in to pedophilia. Before writing this next
Newsletter I will be asking my trusted friends for suggestions to this list of
orders and seminaries.
Public Emails - Tridentine Mass
This Newsletter will
prompt a great deal of pro and con emails and I will post all of them, so know
in advance that I will not keep them private but will post them. In fact, I will not give up this mission
until every parish in the world has a Tridentine Mass - daily. I
believe the Novus Ordo experiment has failed.
Rick Salbato
April 1, 2007