Skip to main content

An Open Letter To Confused Traditional Catholics

 +
JMJ

It seems that the Crisis of the Catholic Church has cast a veil of confusion over all Catholics, as the ones in authority, that they should have been able to trust, have one by one betrayed this trust. Naturally, over 50+ years, this confusion has spread over the world as various individuals and groups vie for the attention of the masses.

Anyone who looks at various 'social media' apps will find people electronically screaming through your computer / cell phone / tablet to grab your attention, get a rise out of you, crank up your emotions and then keep them there.  

In this age of instant information gratification, it is easy to get lost in the noise. Just like in the image below, you can't see the real signal and those high peaks are just larger bursts of noise that spike up from the 'crowd' once in a while.There's no hidden message in the noise, it's just noise.  There's no way to distinguish the signal from the noise, the important from the unimportant.


As Traditional Catholics we have decades of examples of people following the noise. 

The Sedevacantists have been saying the decades that the See of Peter is vacant. Except, that can't be since the First Vatican Council declared that there would be popes until the end of the world.  But we really want an excuse to chuck the hierarchy - especially with Pope Francis.  It would be nice, but to do so it is necessary to deny a few Dogma's of the Catholic Church. In other words, you have to become a protestant, picking and choosing what to believe and what to creatively re-imagine.

Then we have the "Resistance", new (2012+) and old (1982+) who have been  screaming from YouTube videos of a sell-out by the SSPX.  Only, here we are a decade or in some cases 5 decades later and the SSPX is still doing what it does - adhering to the Teachings of the Catholic Church. Yet, in the absence of a real sell-out the resistance desperately looks for anything that they can point to and scream, "There look at that, it's a sell-out." The "Resistors" I know have made incredibly bad decisions. One in particular, started by hosting the "resistance" in St. Mary's, became disillusioned, shifted to another branch of "Resistors", then to the Sedevacantists, then another, and another - until ending up as home aloners. The last I heard they believe that they are part of the last faithful remnant of the Church. How is that Father providing for the spiritual welfare of his children?

Then you have the whining about COVID-19, masks, and conspiracy theories. 'nuff said on that mole hill.

On top of this we have the noise about vaccines, whether you can morally be vaccinated, the dangers of vaccinations, the dangers of not being vaccinated, whether the world power created the vaccine etc, etc, etc.  

One recent 'open letter' calls on Traditional Catholics (link) to follow the modern Catholics by setting aside the principles of St.Thomas Aquinas. Seriously, how can a Traditional Catholic write something like that and still think they're on the right path?  

In addition, people have said to me, "You know that your position on the vaccines runs against the majority of the Traditional Catholics". That is a really bad argument since, I could easy say, well the Traditional Catholics are a microscopic percentage of the Catholic Church and following that logic, we should accept the Novus Ordo Missae and Vatican Duo.  

With all these shiny things, Traditional Catholics are just being led by the laser pointer to the next 'BIG' thing. Whatever that may be.


This letter is my call to Traditional Catholics EVERYWHERE to step back from the madness, take a breath and start to think about what is really important. 

We are here to "Know, Love and Serve God in this life, so we can be happy with Him in the next"! For those who have forgotten, to be happy with Our Lord in the next life, we have to 'save our souls' first, then those for whom we are responsible.  

That means we need to do our duty of state and in this crisis it is harder, but not impossible.

We need to take care of our own duties before we help someone else.  That is their business, only when our own 'house' is in order can we move outwards.  For some it seems that the various crises are an excuse to step away from their duties. That is a big mistake.  If you don't do your duty, then you are in a death spiral.

Our duty of state is a filter that helps us to hear the signal, it tells us what we must do to be saved. It is the razors edge we must use to cut out the noise from our lives and realize what is important.

So, to all Traditional Catholics, understand your duty, fulfill it and stop messing around in other people's business. That's their problem, don't make it yours. 

Unless you are a politician, then you have an even bigger duty and should ask for prayers because that road is treacherous even for those with the burden to walk it.

Profit from this Advent, to understand your duty to God, country and family.

P^3


P.S. The Advent Series started on December 1st.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Curious Case of Steve Skojec and the Dangers of Deep Diving into the Crisis Sub-Titled: The Failings of Others

 + JMJ It's been a while now since Steve Skojec sold 1P5 and abandoned the Catholic Faith. I've been a 'Trad' since 1982 and in those 40+ years I seen this death-spiral before with a similar end point. It seems that anyone who jumps into the fray unprepared for the enormous task of righting wrongs will, eventually, become discouraged by not the task but the people who surround them.   I remember when Skojec complained of the treatment his family received from a traditional priest.  This seems to have been the start of the end for him. So what can we learn from the likes of Steve Skojec, Michael Voris (maybe?), Louie Verrecchio, Gerry Matatix and other celebrity Catholics? Probably quite a lot about what not to do. First, don't burn out on the crisis?  When you burn out, on work or anything else, little things assume a more greater importance than they are due.   This is one of my 'canary in the coal mine' signals that I've been stretching myself too thin

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3

Comparision of the Tridentine, Cranmer and Novus Ordo Masses

+ JMJ I downloaded the comparison that was linked in the previous article on the mass (here) . ... a very good reference! P^3 From: Whispers of Restoration (available at this link) . CHARTING LITURGICAL CHANGE Comparing the 1962 Ordinary of the Roman Mass to changes made during the Anglican Schism; Compared in turn to changes adopted in the creation of Pope Paul VI’s Mass in 1969 The chart on the reverse is a concise comparison of certain ritual differences between three historical rites for the celebration of the Catholic Mass Vetus Ordo: “Old Order,” the Roman Rite of Mass as contained in the 1962 Missal, often referred to as the “Traditional Latin Mass.”The Ordinary of this Mass is that of Pope St. Pius V (1570) following the Council of Trent (1545-63), hence the occasional moniker “Tridentine Mass.” However, Trent only consolidated and codified the Roman Rite already in use at that time; its essential form dates to Pope St. Gregory the Great (+604), in whose time the R

What the heck is a congregation of "Pontifical Right"

+ JMJ In a discussion with a friend the question occurred to me that I didn't actually know was is involved in being a religious order of 'pontifical right'. I had a vague notion that this meant they reported to Rome as opposed to the local diocese. I'm also aware that, according to the accounts I have heard, the Archbishop received 'praise' and the written direction to incardinate priests directly into the SSPX.  This is interesting because it implies that the SSPX priests were no longer required to incardinate in the local diocese but in the SSPX. This is something that belongs to an order of 'pontifical right'. Anyway here's some definitions: Di diritto pontificio is the Italian term for “of pontifical right” . It is given to the ecclesiastical institutions (the religious and secular institutes, societies of apostolic life) either created by the Holy See or approved by it with the formal decree, known by its Latin name, Decretu