We Are Not the Revolutionaries or the Disobedient
The following excerpt from “True Obedience in the Church: A Guide to Discernment in Challenging Times” by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski (Sophia Institute Press, 2021) is shared here with the permission of the author.
Let us be absolutely clear about this: to attack the traditional Latin Mass (or any of the traditional liturgical rites) is to attack the Providence of God the Father; to reject the work of Christ, the King and Lord of history; to blaspheme the fruitfulness of the Holy Ghost in the Church’s life of prayer. It is contrary to the practice of every age of the Church, of every saint, council, and pope prior to the twentieth century. It contradicts several key virtues of the Christian life, most notably religion, gratitude, and humility. It implies the rejection of the dogmatic confession of faith contained in the traditional Latin lex orandi in its organic unfolding over at least 1,600 years, which is contrary to the theological virtue of faith; it implies the rejection of the communion of the saints in a common lineage and patrimony of ecclesiastical worship, which is contrary to the theological virtue of charity.
In all these ways and more, the postconciliar liturgical reform, it’s subsequent ruthless implementation, and Pope Francis’s renewed efforts to extinguish the preceding tradition are unreasonable, unjust, and unholy, and therefore cannot be accepted as legitimate or embraced as the will of God. As St. Thomas Aquinas famously says: unjust laws “are acts of violence rather than laws…Wherefore they do not bind in conscience.”
A repudiation of our Catholic liturgical patrimony is tantamount to disobedience to God; and we will be obedient to God through our “disobedience” to the revolutionaries…
If we are convinced that something essential, something decisive in the Faith is under attack from the pope or any other hierarch, we are not only permitted to refuse to do what is being asked or commanded, not only permitted to refuse to give up what is being unjustly taken away or forbidden; we are obliged to refuse, out of the love we bear to Our Lord Himself, our love for His Mystical Body, and our proper love for our own souls.
In support of this important and timely book, Dr. Kwasniewski has established a dedicated website with reviews, videos and other resources. Additionally, priests and seminarians can request a free copy of the book there.
Photo credit: Allison Girone
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Posted on April 19, 2022, in liturgy and tagged Catholic Church, extraordinary form, extraordinary form of the mass, holy mass, latin mass, liturgical reform, Peter Kwasniewski, pope francis, roman rite, sacred liturgy, sacrifice of the mass, tradition, traditional latin mass, traditionalists, true obedience in the church. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
liturgy guy 
The ancient liturgy of Mass belongs to the maker of heaven and earth, of all things “visible” and invisible.
“attacking” any approved rite of the Church, including the current rite, is probably not proper. Offering opinions can be. The postconciliar liturgical reform was not ruthless in its implementation. It was widely embraced by the lay faithful.
“Widely embraced?” The Novus Ordo lost 30% of our faithful from 1969-1975. We lost another 30% 1975-1985. In 1958, we had 80% of our Catholics in the USA going to weekly Sunday Mass. By 1990, it was around 50%. By 2000, it dropped to 40%. In 2019, we were at 22%. Today, we are at 8%.
Is it because of the societal woes? That is what I was always told before I was ordained a priest and even up until my two National Studies in 2019 and 2020. That rhetoric is patently untrue. The TLM faithful go to Sunday Mass at a 98% clip. They live in the same society as their Novus Ordo attending brethren. The fruit is obvious to anyone staying objective.
The Novus Ordo has never been widely embraced. In fact, many of the Bishops after Vatican II said the Novus Ordo would reduce congregations to women and children. They mostly got the children part wrong as is evidenced on average around the country. Just like in Northumberland England in 1569 and Queen Elizabeth’s Anglican disestablishment of the Latin Mass. The Novus Ordo English Mass was forced upon the people. If they had given people the choice, a huge minority would have chosen the Novus Ordo and a huge majority would have stayed with the TLM.