The Mass of the Saints deserves better than this!
Today is the first Sunday when Traditional Catholics in the geographically large Diocese of Charlotte find themselves evicted from the four Diocesan Churches where the Traditional Latin Mass was allowed up until now. If you’re not familiar with the area, look at a map of the state. Find Charlotte in the center of the state, near the border with South Carolina. Then find Greensboro to the northeast, approaching the Virginia border. Then go westward all the way over to the borders of Tennessee and Georgia. Once upon a time there were about nine or ten parish churches that held The Mass on Sunday. These locations were spread out so that people living in the mountains, foothills or the piedmont all had an option within an hour or two at the most. Now, they have what you see above. A 364-seat, former protestant place of worship, in the town of Mooresville, which is about 45 minutes due north of Charlotte. This for what were estimated to be 1,200 faithful across the entire Diocese.
Enter in the back door!
It’s very fitting that the entrance to this, the “Chapel of the Little Flower” is in the back of the building. Get to the back of the bus. Colored entrance in the back. Yep, those disgraceful directives from the Jim Crow days are back, this time directed against Traditional Catholics from their “synodal church” masters in occupied Rome and in this case, their shepherd in the chancery.
If it doesn’t look like a Catholic Church…
You can complete that sentence yourself but here are my observations after visiting this new ghetto – oops, I meant to say chapel – for the segregated Traditional Catholics in the Diocese of Charlotte. In his September 26th letter to the affected parishes that formerly said the Traditional Latin Mass, Bishop Michael Martin OFM Conv. said “This chapel is not a parish, nor is it a parish-like community being formed for those who desire to celebrate the TLM.” He wasn’t kidding because the chapel DOES NOT include the following:
- Stations of the Cross. Seriously? They couldn’t go to FedEx/Kinkos and at least print out some Stations to mount on foam board and tack on the sparse walls?
- Confessionals. Traditional Latin Mass Catholics by and large take the Sacrament of Reconciliation seriously – especially before assisting at Mass and receiving Communion. At minimum, an accordion-fold screen confessional in the back would suffice. But, back to his letter, Martin made it clear that this is not a place to get attached to. Nope, you must partake in the Sacraments at your (novus ordo) parish church.
- Devotionals. Even the poorest of Catholic Churches have either a side altar or a devotional statue somewhere of the Blessed Mother, the Sacred Heart, or another. Not here. Lay Catholics in possession of statues would happily donate one or more if requested.
To all the priests in the Charlotte Diocese who know how to say the Traditional Latin Mass…
…Say it. Publically. In your parish church.
Bishop Martin’s authority only goes so far. He does not have the right to allow or deny the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. None. If you’re not comfortable with re-establishing the public TLM you had, have private, unannounced TLMs – in your parish church – when there just happen to be people in the church, enjoying personal prayer or adoration.
Souls are at risk and if you think that Trads in the Charlotte Diocese are strong enough to wait this out, I invite you to ponder on what happened world-wide in 1969 when the novus ordo was thrust upon Catholicism. How many people have you run across – especially now – who say “I was raised Catholic but am now non-practicing”?
Trust in the Divine Providence! I can’t say that enough. God WILL PROVIDE and even if ignoring this increasingly obvious antichurch leads to your martyrdom, what’s more important? Dying a martyr for the Faith or having to (unsuccessfully) explain away effeminacy at your personal judgement because you were worried about earthly, monetary possessions or your good standing?
Why priests should continue to say the Traditional Latin Mass without apology:
Session 3 of the Council of Trent, Canon 13: If anyone says that the received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, accustomed to be used in the sacraments, may be despised or omitted by the ministers without sin and at their pleasure, or may be changed by any pastor of the churches to other new ones, let him be anathema.
That’s appalling. Defiance is in order. Summorum is sufficient justification.
They should re-renovate the chapel on the down-low without asking for permission or the un-bishop even noticing.