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.

Mr. Jerry Benitz has forgotten this truth

Mr. Jerry Benitz, an individual who leaves many comments at the Bryan Hehir Exposed Blog, and who has been critical of Pope Benedict XVI at that very same forum, has suggested that Professor Fakhri Maluf was some sort of dry martyr who was persecuted by the Church for defending the dogma "Outside the Church there is no salvation."  He writes, "Br. Francis was one of the four Boston College professors who brought the charge of heresy against the school for teaching salvation outside the Church, the famous 'Boston Heresy Case.'  Brother (Prof. Maluf) suffered for his courage." (See here).

This is, of course, sheer nonsense.  Professor Maluf ran into trouble with Boston College and with the Church for insisting that the Church's interpretation of "Outside the Church there is no salvation" - Extra ecclesiam nulla salus - is incorrect and that Father Leonard Feeney's interpretation of this dogma is the correct one.

In a letter of the Holy Office to Archbishop Cushing of Boston dated August 8, 1949, the Holy Office explained that the Catholic Church is necessary for salvation because of the command of Christ and also because the Church is a necessary means for salvation. However, it was explained that since the Church is such a means only by divine institution and not by intrinsic necessity, that formal membership in the Church is not required of all men under all circumstances: "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....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."

This is the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which tells us that: "God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments." (CCC, 1257).

Mr. Benitz has forgotten this truth: "..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." (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) No. 10.

More on Professor Maluf's legacy here.

More on the Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire and Holocaust denial here.