Can the Vatican ban the Traditional Mass? The Catechism says no

 From Crisis Magazine: Can the Vatican ban the Traditional Latin Mass? No. See here. A pope's authority is not magical.  See here.

Father Linus Clovis makes the point that,“Obedience is owed to the pope, but the pope owes obedience to the word and the apostolic tradition. We have to obey the pope, but the pope himself must obey the written word. He must obey the tradition. He must respond to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Obedience is owed to the pope, but it is the duty of the pope to give the character of possibility to this obedience. The pope has to facilitate our obeying him, by himself being obedient to the Word of God. Pope Felix III told us, ‘an error that is not resisted is approved. A truth that is not defended is suppressed.’ So we have an obligation to resist error, and we must do everything that we can to promote the truth.”  Father Clovis made this remark in response to the crisis in the Church and the role of Pope Francis in this crisis.  

This post,  like my previous post on the subject,  has been banned the Fascist Facebook organization. 

Archbishop Vigano's battle cry

 Archbishop Vigano issues the battle cry here

The Archbishop says that, Catholics have "sacred and urgent duty" to resist Cardinal Cupich’s Latin Mass crackdown

The Antichrist wants Latin abolished in preparation for the rise of his dark Church, that counterfeit Church seen by Venerable Emmerich in her visions and which Fulton John Sheen warned was soon to arrive - the Mystical Body of Antichrist. 

See here.

The Latin Mass in Fitchburg and the wisdom of Gamaliel

Those of you who are regular readers of this Blog know full well that I prefer the Latin Mass and have done much to make the case for it.  A few years ago, I wrote a couple of posts promoting what I thought would be an exciting development for Fitchburg, Massachusetts.  See here for example.  Now Todd Tabbaa, who writes for the Latin Mass Fitchburg Blog (as well as Ecce Agnus Dei), has announced that, "It is with sadness but not without hope for the future that it is announced that Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St. Joseph parish in Fitchburg will terminate on June 5th. The reasons are of simple practicality and a realistic evaluation of the fact that after almost one year of having the Traditional Latin Mass at this parish, the number of attendees has not increased and is not sufficient to maintain basic expenditures. The various considerations which affect growth, including Mass time, location, and proximity to other Traditional Latin Masses in the diocese may all be considered in our decisions for future directions. We will thus meet after our last Mass on June 5th downstairs in the parish hall (at our community potluck) for discussion and planning..."  (See here).

Now the Latin Mass continues to attract young people from every region.  I have said that the Latin Mass movement is largely a youth movement.  One has only to attend the traditional Mass to see this.  What is the problem then?  Why did the Latin Mass fail to take off at Immaculate Conception and later Saint Joseph's Parish in Fitchburg.

I believe there are probably several reasons for this.  But one reason which will probably not be acknowledged by those who were coordinating the effort in Fitchburg is that they had made the decision to associate themselves with the Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire, an organization which has engaged in anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.  See here and here for example.

I attended the Latin Mass at Immaculate Conception until the subject of Father Leonard Feeney came up.  After explaining my position regarding Father Leonard Feeney and the Saint Benedict Center (again, the one located in Richmond, New Hampshire) to Mr.Todd Tabbaa and his wife, I was shunned from that point on. 

Two thousand years ago, Gamaliel, a Pharisee and celebrated doctor of the Law, exhorted his fellow Israelites to leave the Apostles alone (they were planning to scourge them).  In doing so (read Acts 5: 38, 39), he explained that if an endeavor or activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.  Another way of saying that "unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it." (Proverbs 14: 34).

How sad that there are some who insist that the Latin Mass movement has to be associated with the name and ideology of Father Leonard Feeney.  See here.

"Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all."

In his Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, Pope John Paul II explained that, "The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all. But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the gospel revelation or to enter the Church. The social and cultural conditions in which they live do not permit this, and frequently they have been brought up in other religious traditions. For such people salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his Sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation.

For this reason the Council, after affirming the centrality of the Paschal Mystery, went on to declare that 'this applies not only to Christians but to all people of good will in whose hearts grace is secretly at work. Since Christ died for everyone, and since the ultimate calling of each of us comes from God and is therefore a universal one, we are obliged to hold that the Holy Spirit offers everyone the possibility of sharing in this Paschal Mystery in a manner known to God.'"

Those who insist that only baptized Roman Catholics may be saved are simply in error. Such people forget that the Church is necessary for salvation only by divine institution and not by intrinsic necessity. Therefore, membership in the Church is not required of all men under all circumstances. This is the authoritative teaching of the Magisterium as found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1257: "The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are 'reborn of water and the Spirit.' God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments."

And 1260 teaches us that, "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery. Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity."

Those who insist that it is their role to "correct" the Church are merely puffed up with pride. As the Holy Office explained to Archbishop Cushing in a letter dated August 8, 1949, "The infallible dictum which teaches us that outside the Church there is no salvation, is among the truths that the Church has always taught and will always teach. But this dogma is to be understood as the Church itself understands it. For Our Savior did not leave it to private judgment to explain what is contained in the deposit of faith, but to the doctrinal authority of the Church."

The doctrinal authority of the Church. Not followers of a priest who was excommunicated for disobedience or a priest in Fitchburg who offers the Traditional Latin Mass.

The Holy Office explained to Archbishop Cushing that, "Of those helps to salvation that are ordered to the last end only by divine decree, not by intrinsic necessity, God, in his infinite mercy, willed that such effects of those helps as are necessary to salvation can, in certain circumstances, be obtained when the helps are used only in desire or longing. We see this clearly stated in the Council of Trent about the sacrament of regeneration and about the sacrament of penance.."

We have a Deposit of Faith which has been revealed by God and entrusted to a Custodian established by God Himself and endowed with infallible protection against change or error. As Dei Verbum, No. 10 of Vatican II states:


"..the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed.

It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls."

If we believe it is our role to "correct" the Lord Jesus Who teaches us through His Church, through the Custodian of the Deposit of Faith - the Magisterium of the Church - then we have succumbed to a level of pride which can only be described as satanic.


"In the late 1940s Leonard Feeney, S. J. began to teach that there is no salvation outside the Church. He was correct in saying that there were official teachings, even definitions, on that score. But his tragic error came when he adopted Protestant method, thinking that in that way he would be one of the only true Catholics! We spoke of his protestant method with good reason. First, he was excommunicated for disobedience, refusing to go to Rome to explain his position. Then the Holy Office, under Pius XII, sent a letter to the Archbishop of Boston, condemning Feeney's error. (It is known that Pius XII personally checked the English text of that letter). In the very first paragraph pointed out what is obvious: we must avoid private interpretation of Scripture - for that is strictly Protestant. But then the letter said we must also avoid private interpretation of the official texts of the Church. To insist on our own private interpretation, especially when the Church contradicts that, is pure Protestant attitude. What the disobedient Feeney said amounted to this: he insisted that all who did not formally enter the Church would go to hell. Hence he had to say, and he did say, that unbaptized babies go to hell. Further, all adults who did not formally enter the Church - get their names on a parish register - would also go to hell, even if they never had a chance to hear there was a Church, e.g., those in the western hemisphere during the long centuries before Columbus. Therefore Feeney consigned literally millions upon millions to hell, even though He gave them no chance.


Not just the documents of the Church as interpreted by the Church should have kept him from this: merely common sense, and the realization that God is not only not a monster, but is infinitely good - that alone should have stopped him. We have, then, most ample reason for calling his error tragic. Even the sexually immoral do not deny that God is good. Feeney does worse than they." (Fr. William Most, The Tragic Errors of Leonard Feeney, full article at the EWTN website - here).

Related reading here and here.

First Traditional Latin Mass at Immaculate Conception in Fitchburg, Massachusetts

Some background on the first Traditional Latin Mass at Immaculate Conception parish in Fitchburg, Massachusetts courtesy of Todd and Diana Tabbaa:

The first weekly Mass in the Extraordinary Form (Traditional Latin Mass) at Immaculate Conception Church in Fitchburg was held on Sunday, June 28^th. The Missa Cantata was very well attended by people of all ages. The superb acoustics in the large Romanesque Church accentuated the Latin prayers intoned by the celebrant, Reverend Father David Phillipson, as well as the traditional Gregorian chants and motets sung by the choir directed by Sam Schmitt, an organist, singer, conductor and composer who holds a Doctorate in musicology and other graduate degrees in liturgical music and music history. The seven altar boys in attendance added much to the reverent and transcendent atmosphere of the Solemn Liturgy: the incense from the thurible, the candlelight from the torches carried by the boys, and the sound of the bells rung at key points.

The following impressions from one of the attendees are typical of the responses expressed:

"I think it's fair to call this the beginning of the restoration of the immemorial Holy Mass codified by St. Pius V to the church of the Immaculate Conception. I'm glad to say that our (my family's) hopes were high, but we were entirely unprepared for the palpably sacred ambience that persisted in the church throughout the sacred liturgy and which accompanied us right out the door and into the church hall (where I spent most of my time talking about the Mass, I think). It brought back a flood of memories of the best days I'd seen when I was a boy and the blessed years we had the privilege of going to Mass at Holy Trinity in Boston (where our two girls were baptized). I had the distinct impression that Father, the altar servers, and the choir were actually praying (not acting out roles) as they solemnly carried out their offices with unaffected reverence. I trust that everyone could plainly see how beautiful the church is with its French blue and gold, especially in the magnificent statue of Our Lady, and the organ filling every corner, at times with sounds of reflection, at others with those of majesty; but even now when I recall the ensemble of those impressions, I'm overwhelmed. I think one cannot really overestimate the beguiling power of the truly sacred."

"My family thanks you and all those who worked so long, so hard, and with such loving devotion to bring the truly extraordinary Holy Mass back to Immaculate Conception Church. May Our Lord and His holy Mother and ours bless you abundantly with their most excellent graces here on Earth and forever in Heaven. With gratitude in Jesus and Mary,

John and Connie Mick and family."

All are invited to experience worship in this Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite which will be offered every Sunday at 8AM as a Sung High Mass when possible (or else as a Low Mass). The Sacrament of Confession takes place before the Mass from 7:15 to 7:50AM, and the Rosary is recited at 7:30AM. For more information, visit the website which is under construction at www.immaculateconceptionfitchburg.com.

Father David Phillipson was trained to offer the Ancient Roman Rite by the Fraternity of St. Peter and has worked in traditional parishes for several years. Father will also hold spiritual conferences and traditional devotions, and administer the Sacraments according to the Extraordinary Form. “Together with the Latin Mass Community, I wish to thank Bishop McManus and Father Thien for making available the celebration of Mass in the Ancient Rite in this beautiful Church. I look forward to serving the community and invite all to attend and experience Mass in the Ancient Usage. I am happy to help anyone to learn to follow the missal or to answer any questions they may have. Any priests who would like assistance in learning this rite are welcome to contact me: frdavidphil4@gmail.com.

Contributions to help with the start up costs for this endeavor are very welcome and may be sent to the Church at 59 Walnut Street in Fitchburg 01420. Please make your tax deductible donation to Immaculate Conception Church EF (EF designating the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite).

Paul M.

Catholics of Fitchburg, Massachusetts: Support Father Thien Nguyen's efforts

As I mentioned in a previous post, The Most Reverend Robert J. McManus, Bishop of the Worcester Diocese, has issued the following statement:

"In response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, Reverend Father Thien Nguyen, pastor at Immaculate Conception Church in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, has generously invited Reverend Father David Phillipson to offer the Extraordinary Form Mass (the Traditional Latin Mass) every Sunday at 8am, beginning on June 28th and also on Holy Days according to the Traditional Calendar.

Father will hear confessions at 7:30am before Mass, and the Rosary will be prayed aloud at that time. Father will also hold spiritual conferences and traditional devotions, and administer the Sacraments according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. For more information, visit the parish website at www.immaculateconceptionfitchburg.com. Immaculate Conception Church is located at 59 Walnut Street in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The parish will also continue to keep its regular schedule of Masses in the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo Masses)."

Although still under construction, the website for Immaculate Conception parish is now up and running. Let's all support Father Nguyen, who is a real gift to the Church. And let us pray:

Immaculate Mother of God,
Queen of the Apostles,
we know that God's commandment of love
and our vocation to follow Jesus Christ
impels us to cooperate in the mission of the Church.

Realizing our own weakness,
we entrust the renewal of our personal lives
and our apostolate to your intercession.

We are confident that through God's mercy
and the infinite merits of Jesus Christ,
you, who are our Mother,
will obtain the strength of the Holy Spirit,
as you obtained it for the community of the Apostles
gathered in the upper room.

Therefore, relying on your maternal intercession,
we resolve from this moment to devote
our talents, learning, material resources,
our health, sickness and trials,
and every gift of nature and grace,
for the greater glory of God and the salvation of all.
We wish to carry on those activities which especially
promote the Catholic apostolate for the revival
of faith and love of the People of God
and so bring all men and women
into the Faith of Jesus Christ.

And if a time should come
when we have nothing more
to offer serviceable to this end,
we will never cease to pray that there will be
one fold and one shepherd, Jesus Christ.

In this way, we hope to enjoy
the results of the apostolate
of Jesus Christ for all eternity. Amen.

St. Vincent Pallotti (1795-1850), pioneer of organized Catholic action and founder of the Society of Catholic Apostolate, also known as the Pallottini, or Pallottine Fathers.

Praise God!

S. Introibo ad altare Dei
M. Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem


Press release from The Most Reverend Robert J. McManus, Bishop of the Worcester Diocese:


"In response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, Reverend Father Thien Nguyen, pastor at Immaculate Conception Church in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, has generously invited Reverend Father David Phillipson to offer the Extraordinary Form Mass (the Traditional Latin Mass) every Sunday at 8am, beginning on June 28th and also on Holy Days according to the Traditional Calendar. Father will hear confessions at 7:30am before Mass, and the Rosary will be prayed aloud at that time.

Father will also hold spiritual conferences and traditional devotions, and administer the Sacraments according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. For more information, visit the parish website at www.immaculateconceptionfitchburg.com. Immaculate Conception Church is located at 59 Walnut Street in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The parish will also continue to keep its regular schedule of Masses in the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo Masses)."

I just spoke with Father Nguyen five minutes ago and he told me the website is currently under construction.

Praise be Jesus Christ!