The
Catholic Church at the present time has many types of members. Some are Charismatics, some are Marian types,
some are very liberal, some are traditionalists, etc. The emphasis on this website is on the
traditionalist variety of Catholicism, the longing for a return to values and
attitudes that were prominent in the Church prior to the Second Vatican
Council. Traditionalists are well aware
of some of the undesirable effects of the Council: the decrease in church
attendance, fewer vocations to the priesthood and religious orders of nuns,
less frequent going to confession, declining Church revenues, etc. They are disturbed by of the increases in
teenage pregnancies, abortion, broken marriages, etc., that have afflicted our
society in recent decades, and they long for a return to an ethos in which
Christian moral values are universally accepted as dominant in our
culture. They have happy memories of the
Catholic atmosphere in which they were brought up, and they worry about the antireligious
environment to which their grand children are now being exposed during their
formative years.
From
the viewpoint of many Traditionalists the changes brought about during the
years following the Second Vatican Council were much too fast in coming, and
rather overwhelming in scope. A more
moderate program at a slower pace of
implementation would have been much easier to cope with. By now most changes are fairly well
entrenched; none the less there still remains room in our Church for the special
needs and desires of members of diverse
groups such as those who are Charismatics,
those who foster Marian devotions,
devotees of contemporary music during Mass, etc. Sometimes it seems like
there is too little space in the scheme of things to satisfy the aspirations of
Traditionalists. Perhaps we unfairly
overstate this case, but there is indeed some substance here.
The
focal point of much of the discontent has been the lack of availability of the
Tridentine Mass, the venerable Latin Mass that members of the older generation
remember so well as the embodiment of our worshiping and devotional life as
Catholics. This is called the Tridentine
Mass since it was an implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent
(1545 - 1563). It is sometimes called the Indult Mass since after the second
Vatican Council (1962-65) special permission or an indult was required for a
priest to say it. Celebrating this Mass was curtailed in the aftermath of
Vatican II because taking this step seemed necessary at that time to insure
that the new liturgy in the vernacular would gain acceptance among the
people. Many of us have been anxious to
attend it regularly, and others occasionally, but virtually all Traditionalists
have been disturbed by lack of availability of these Masses during the past few
decades. The situation has changed
recently as some diocesan priests are now celebrating Tridentine Masses on a
regular basis in many communities, and priests of the Fraternity of St. Peter
are traveling to various parts of the country to celebrate these Masses for the
laity who are anxious for them. The priests of this fraternity or religious
order have the special charisma of always celebrating Mass in the Tridentine
rite so that this tradition will be preserved in the post Vatican II
Church. For more details on the
Fraternity click on FSSP.
It is
unfortunate that at the present time there are some schismatic priests, not in
union with the Roman Catholic Church, who are operating unauthorized chapels
where they celebrate illicit Tridentine Masses on a regular basis. It is our earnest hope that these priests
will soon return to the fold and work alongside the priests of the Fraternity
of St. Peter in helping to restore the Tridentine Mass to its rightful place of
respect in the Church. We need their
ministry, and they need our embrace as fellow Catholics. We echo the sentiments expressed on May 25,
1995 by our recently deceased Pope John Paul II: AUt
unum sint@!