Keep the Faith

St. Athanasius was correct

The recent attacks on traditionalists in the Catholic Church inspired me to write. I have seen recent articles about how traditionalists dare to use the Baltimore Catechism or the Catechism of Trent and how they use older translations of the Bible instead of more modern translations. There is an uproar about how the traditionalists are creating a "reactionary" environment instead of progressing with the times. 

Our response to these attacks should be to cling even more firmly to tradition. The Catholic faith is necessarily reactionary because the faith is ancient, and God's truths are unchanging. The modern, progressive Church, in essence, loses the faith because it deviates from the faith of the past. The modern church openly admits that it is not of the same faith. If it were the same faith, it wouldn’t matter which catechism you use, they would all state the same doctrines.

"Rationalizing dogma, relaxing morality, simplifying the rite, do not make it easier for the unbeliever to approach [the Church], but rather [for the Church] to approach the unbeliever." ~ Nicolas Gomez Davila

The Church has seen a collapse of vocations, attendance, and belief in doctrine since the Second Vatican Council, yet the men who lived through that council stubbornly refuse to let go of their notion that it was a new springtime for the Church. In fact, it ushered in the dark winter of the Church--an apostasy from the faith of the previous 2000 years. The Catechism warns of the Great Apostasy when faith will grow cold for men even within the Church and rather than worshipping God, they will worship man. 

The Vatican speaks of dialogue with other religions and those of no religion at all. It speaks of accompanying everyone in their sin. However, dialogue and accompaniment do not apply to those who hold the faith of thousands of saints or believe in the old liturgy. 

While the traditional faith flourishes among the youth and young families, the Vatican sees this as toxic to the progression of the Church. In fact, there can be no abstract progress in Christianity. God's truth never changes. It is good for all people at all times. Rome seeks "progress", but at some point, Christianity ceases to be Christianity and merely becomes godless humanitarianism, the idol of our age. 

"Christianity can never be understood as a merely "humanitarian" project without betraying faith in the promises of God or a true understanding of Jesus's mission on earth." ~ Daniel Mahoney, The Idol of Our Age

The primary role of the Church is the salvation of souls. It is not the alleviation of material poverty or the advancement of social programs. It is the salvation of souls with the message of Christ's redemption for sinners. It is not the gospel of change but the gospel of the eternal, the unchanging love of God for his creation. 

The old rite codified hundreds of years ago and propagated by the ancient faith is part of the sacred birthright of the Catholic faith. If it was proper to nourish thousands of saints, then the Mass is proper for developing saints now. The Novus Ordo Mass has a 50-year track record, and the results speak for themselves. 

It appears that pride and malice are the actual reasons behind the attack on the Roman Rite. Only pride could motivate those who seek to throw the ancient faith to the side when it continues to grow. Only pride could presume that the modern Church is somehow more enlightened than several millennia of Catholic doctrine. Only pride could believe that a council fifty years ago was the beginning of the Church. Only pride could ignore the obvious collapse of the Church under the new rite.

Only those motivated by malice could continue to call for dialogue and accompaniment with everyone but those who attend the traditional Mass. Only malice could eliminate the vocation of priests who have given their lives to bringing the traditional Mass to the faithful who gather to worship. It is the modern church that has strayed from the faith, not the traditionalists.

"The new catechists profess that Progress is the modern incarnation of hope. But Progress is not hope emerging, but the dying echo of hope already vanished." ~Nicolas Gomez Davila

Keep the faith.

Viva Christo Rey!