Skip to main content

Stories: Early Days of Tradition Part 5 - Persecution of Fr. Normandin

Image
By

 +

JMJ

Following the thread of the internal persecution of Catholics (Bishops, Priests, Monks, Nuns, Brothers) who were repulsed by the 'new way' that swallowed the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council, I have one story that I witnessed the end stages when my family started to attend the Tridentine Mass in the early 80's.

As I've mentioned before, I didn't want to be there as we walking into the little chapel. It was small, maybe it could hold 80 people.  It smelled, small building imbued with incense - a new experience.  It was strange, very strange.

It was a small chapel, a hall purchased by a group of pioneering Traditional Catholics to be their anchor in a Catholic World gone mad.

They had started as a rosary group in a layman's basement. Then when Fr. Normandin started travelling across Canada, they rented a room at the convention centre.

Those were heady days of First Fervour. When news that Fr. would unexpectedly be in town, the call went out: Father has a layover and will say Mass at 2 a.m.

The thirst for Mass was such that many came. I heard of a story of one Veteran who had already taken her sleeping pills, fought all the way through Mass to stay awake.



I had the grace to meet Fr. Normandin a few years before his death. He still had the light in his eye and recounted how he once blessed a forest fire.  According to the story, the flames stopped at the spot when he'd stood. On the wall in his room was a newspaper clipping with a photo of him blessing the flames.

In those early days the chapel was a picture of ethnic diversity.  I still remember everyone saying the Rosary before Mass, in their own language.  It was a little bit of cacophony, but a symbol that even if we prayed in different languages, we were all Catholic.

Someone objected once when a vacationing seminarian gave a sermon in French because they couldn't understand it. His response stuck with me, "It is one of the few sermons that Mme. Zed could understand." That ended the objection right there.

At that time, the chapel was like a small, someone cantankerous family with a blend of languages, ages and experiences.  Having been born near the end of the sixties, I had been baptised in the 'Old Rite' but grew up in the fog, ignorant of what Catholic Life had been like before V2.

In a way, I miss those days. Not because I like chaos, nothing could be further from the Truth.  I miss them because it was a simpler time where the focus was on the Mass and the Truths of the Faith. Anything that deviated, like Bayside or Sede-Vacantism was quickly addressed by the Vets and Father.

At the same time, there was a camaraderie between all those because we were all hanging on to the same rope with a knot tied at the end.

The Angelus Press has re-printed Pastor Out In The Cold and I heartily recommend it (link).

P^3

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is Tradition?

By
 + JMJ What Is Tradition? The basic premise, from my perspective, is that what was taught before cannot be contradicted by the 'present' magisterium, only deepened and expanded upon. I recall the Roman theologians called the SSPX protestants while the SSPX called them modernists.  I believe this was all surrounding the concept of Traditon. SSPX's Understanding of Tradition One accusation made against the SSPX is that they don't have a correct understanding of 'Tradition'.  This is how the SSPX understands Tradition: I finally profess that Tradition is not a dead memory, but the living transmission of the doctrine received from the Apostles. It remains living, in distinction to Revelation, which is closed. It is so both in the activity of the Magisterium of the Teaching Church and in the profession of Faith of the Church Taught, of which the sentire cum Ecclesia is the result of the teaching of the Magisterium. Tradition may be called ‘living’, not in the sense t...
Post a Comment
Read more

SSPX.ca: What is the position of the SSPX on Vatican II???

By
 + JMJ With all the mis-information about the SSPX rejecting the Second Vatican Council, I thought it would be useful to publish an article that focuses on the real issues that the SSPX has identified. Update: Why Did the SSPX Consecrate Bishops? ( Neither Schismatic, Nor Disobedient link ) In the linked document the SSPX outlined the key motivation and core issues with Vatican II and the post-conciliar magisterium (see above link for full document): 4. The Society Acted Precisely Because of the State of Necessity in Which the Faith Finds Itself  In the present situation of the Church, if the Society of Saint Pius X had not carried out the consecrations of July 1st, it would have found itself facing an inevitable alternative: either to disappear gradually, or to accept, at least in fact, the new liturgy as well as the false doctrines of Vatican II and the post-council. Without the consecrations of July 1st, the Fraternity would have found itself, in a few years, without bishop...
1 comment
Read more

Stories: Early Days of Tradition Part 10 - The Struggle Within

By
 + JMJ Immediately after the council (i.e. Second Vatican Council) things changed in Catholic Church around the world. Some of the Veteran Trads gave a good fight in those early years. In this story, three friends in Quebec agreed that what they were hearing from the pulpit reeked of heresy. After a while, they decided that it was time to take some action.  The following Sunday all three of them took up their position in the front pew, directly in front of the pulpit.  It wasn't difficult as the front pew was rarely occupied even in this era. They had a plan! As the sermon began the men sat there staring at the priest, waiting.   Then it happened. A statement that deviated from pre-conciliar teaching leapt from the priests lips. The reaction wasn't explosive ... it was passive-aggressive ... in a way. As if on cue, the three men shook their heads, left to right. The priest paused, studdered a little and continued. All was good for a few minutes before some other...
Post a Comment
Read more

The News is an Addiction ...

By
 + JMJ People seem to be mesmerised by train wrecks.   They just can't turn away as the disaster creeps forward along train tracks towards the crossing where a car, truck, bus, trailer awaits its destruction. Trads have been watching the train wreck that is this crisis of the Catholic Church for decades. The trade war between the Canada and the US has reminded me that the news is addictive.   The first time I was addicted what from 2009 to  2014 when I was closely following the Rome / SSPX discussions.  I was at work watching a live-stream as Bishop Fellay disappeared into the Vatican. The lead-up to this moment had been intense as the 'resistance' got freaked out and the cultural cracks between doctrine and conspiracy theory widened. In the decade since then other things have emerged, wars, rumours of wars, conspiracies, celebrity Catholics etc. Now we have a new addiction and its name is Trump. Lately, no matter how much I try, I find myself wonderin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thoughts on: Finding Common Ground Between Rome and the SSPX

By
 + JMJ In the ramp up to the consecrations the noise floor in the intergnat grew to a constant din.  This was one of the few the peeped its signal over the noise. https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/finding-common-ground-between-rome-and-the-sspx The key issue is contained in this paragraph: In the lead-up to the planned July 1, 2026, episcopal consecrations,  the SSPX rejected Rome’s offer  of doctrinal dialogue on the grounds that “we both know in advance that we cannot agree doctrinally, particularly regarding the fundamental orientations adopted since the Second Vatican Council.” Fr. Pagliarani also said that his previous attempt at dialogue in 2019 was shut down by Rome because of an assumed irreconcilability. It seems that, from the Society’s perspective, and perhaps from Rome’s too, their positions are incompatible. If memory serves, Rome killed any opportunity for an open discussion by stating that Vatican II was not up for debate. So it was a still-birth and ...
Post a Comment
Read more