Open Letter to Confused Catholics: Chapter III - What They Are Doing to the Mass

- I have before me some photos published in Catholic newspapers representing the mass as it is now often said (see “Examples” at the end of this chapter)…One common feature emerges from these scandalous pictures: the Eucharist is reduced to an everyday act, in commonplace surroundings, with commonplace utensils, attitudes and clothing. Now the so-called Catholic magazines which are sold on church bookstalls do not show these photos in order to criticize such ways, but on the contrary to recommend them…It says, “the Liturgical reform must go further…the unnecessary repetitions, the same form of words ever repeated, all this regulation holds back creativeness.”

- Certainly people come away from the Mass which strives to bring itself down to the level of mankind instead of raising them up to God…the encouragement given to go even further demonstrates a deliberate intention to destroy what is sacred.

Looks like a snack...

- Why make the hosts that are grey or brown by leaving in part of the bran? Are they trying to make us forget that phrase omitted from the new Offertory: hanc immaculatam hostiam, this immaculate and spotless Host?

Preparing the cakes?

- We frequently hear of the consecration of ordinary bread, levened with yeast, instead of the pure wheat flour prescribed…there has even been an American bishop who recommends little cakes containing milk, eggs, baking-powder,

honey and margarine.

- The desacralization extends to the persons vowed to the service of God, with the disappearance of ecclesiastical habit for priests and religious, the use of Christian names, familiarity and a secularized way of living, all in the name of a new principle and not, as they have tried to make us believe, for practical needs.

- It is not my intention here to establish a catalogue of the abuses that are to be met with (that can be found at www.traditioninaction.com , especially under the pictures ), but to give a few examples showing why Catholics today have so much at which to be perplexed and even scandalized.

- Places of worship are made available for rock events…Some churches and cathedrals have been given over to debauchery, drugs and filth of all kinds…How can the bishops and priests who have encouraged these things not fear to bring down divine punishment upon themselves and their people? It is already apparent in the fruitlessness of their work. It is all wasted because the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, desecrated as it is, no longer confers grace and no longer transmits it.

Photo from The Remnant

- The Council of Trent explained without any possible doubt that Our Lord is present in the smallest particles of the consecrated bread. What are we to think then of the Communion in the hand?...If people come to mass to break the bread of friendship, of the community meal, of the common faith, then it is quite natural that no excessive precautions should be taken. If the Eucharist is a symbol expressing simply the memory of a past event and the spiritual presence of Our Lord, it is quite logical

not to worry about a few crumbs which may fall on the floor.

- The faithful are obliged to communicate standing…Is it fitting that when we go to receive Christ before whom, says St. Paul, every knee shall bow, in heaven, on earth and under the earth, we should do so without the least sign of respect or allegiance?

- Am I just getting up a case against the so-called Conciliar Church? No, I am not inventing anything. [Even the Dean of Faculty of Theology of Strasbourg that the Eucharist is only a symbol, and that Christ is present in the people and the music]

Examples:

- Photos:

Modern Band...or priests ready for mass?

  (1) Behind an ordinary wooden table, which does not appear very clean and which has no cloth covering it, two persons wearing suits and ties elevate or present, one a chalice, the other a ciborium. The text informs me that they are priests, one of them the federal chaplain of Catholic Action. On the same side of the table, close to the first celebrant, are two girls wearing trousers, and near the second celebrant two boys in sweaters. A guitar is placed against a stool.

Youth Club Mass

(2) In another photo, the scene is the corner of a room which might be the main room of a youth club. The priest is standing, wearing a Taizé-like alb, before a milking stool which serves as an altar; there is a large earthenware bowl and a small mug of the same sort, together with two lighted candle-ends. Five young people are sitting cross-legged on the floor, one of them strumming a guitar.

Hopefully NOT saying mass..

(3) The third photo shows an event which occurred a few years ago…a priest who celebrated Mass on the deck of the sailing ship, in the company of two other men. All three were wearing shorts, one is even stripped to the waist. The priest is raising the Host, no doubt for the elevation. He is neither standing nor kneeling, but sitting or rather slumped against the boat’s

superstructure.

Self-Serve Communion

- [There was a] Mass televised November 22, 1981, where the ciborium was replaced by baskets which the congregation passed from one to another to be finally placed on the floor with what remained of the Sacred Species!

- In Poiters on Holy Thursday the same year, a big spectacular celebration consisted of the indiscriminate consecration of loaves and jugs of wine upon the tables from which everyone came and helped himself.

More Troubling Images:

Disco Mass w/Bishop

Gaucho Mass 

Lake Mass

Youth Mass

?????

Open Letter to Confused Catholics: Chapter II - "They are Changing Our Religion!"

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

- First I must dispel a misunderstanding…I am not the head of a movement, even less the head of a particular church. I am not, as they never stop writing, “the leader of the traditionalists.” They have come to describe certain persons as “Lefebvrists.” I have no personal doctrine in the matter of religion. All my life I have held to what I was taught at the French Seminary in Rome, namely Catholic doctrine according to the interpretation given it by the teaching authority of the Church from century to century, since the death of the last Apostle which marked the end of Revelation.

- [The bishops are no longer saying the same things]; how often, for example, have you heard them speak of the social reign [Kingship] of Our Lord Jesus Christ? My personal experience never ceases to amaze me. These bishops for the most part were fellow students with me in Rome, trained in the same manner. And then, all of the sudden, I found myself alone. But I have invented nothing new; I was carrying on.

Flood Gates Opened

- Vatican II only opened the gates which were holding back the devastating flood…it was catastrophic. Everything, almost, was to be swept away; prayer first. Learning prayers by heart, as we did, is now denigrated as “parrot-fashion.” Children are no longer taught the words…except the Our Father. And even that is in a new version…which makes the child address God as “tu.” (This is the informal version of “you” rather than the formal “vous” commonly used for authority figures and, above all, for God) The familiar style of speech has also invaded the whole body of  vernacular liturgy: the new Sunday missal makes it exclusive and obligatory, though one can see no reason for a change so contrary to French style and custom.

-Prayer must be “spontaneous,” we must speak to God out of the abundance of our hearts, so they tell us now; and they scorn the marvelous educational system of the Church which has produced and perfected all these prayers, which have been the support of the greatest saints (Not to mention that the Our Father and Hail Mary are directly from Our Lord and Sacred Scripture respectively)

- In many Catholic schools they no longer want the prayer at the start of the lesson, on the pretext that some of the pupils are unbelievers or belong to other religions…young Catholics, meanwhile, must conceal their faith: this on the pretext of respecting the opinions of their schoolmates.

Must now respect consciences...religious liberty

-The genuflection is now practiced by only a small number of the faithful; the furniture has been changed and the prie-dieus (kneelers) have been broken up for firewood….what we see here is a desire to modify the relationship of man to God in the direction of familiarity and casualness, as if we were dealing with Him as equals.
- Everything that contributed  to the beauty of the buildings and the splendor of the ceremonies is decried as “triumphalism.” The décor must now be nearer to that of everyday life. But in the ages of faith, they offered to God the most precious things they had…Christians made financial sacrifices to honor Almighty God in the best way they could…when the three Magi came to visit the poor crib at Bethlehem, they brought with them gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

- Those readers who remember the years before the war will recall the fervor of the Corpus Christi processions with their numerous stations, the chants, the thuribles, the monstrance gleaming in the sun, carried by the priest under the gold-embroidered canopy; the banners, the flowers, the bells. The sense of adoration was born into the children’s souls and ingrained there for life. This primordial aspect of prayer seems greatly neglected. Do I hear somebody still taking about the necessary evolution and new habits of life?

Corpus Christi Procession

- The almost total disappearance in France of processions is not caused by a lack of interest on the part of the faithful. It is proscribed by the new pastoral theory which, however, is ceaselessly urging the “active participation of the People of God.”

- Priests no longer offer the Holy Sacrifice each day; and when they do, they concelebrate, and the number of Masses has diminished accordingly. In country districts, it is practically impossible to attend Mass during the week; on Sundays, a car is needed to travel out the locality whose turn it is to receive the “sector priest.”…It is impossible to receive Communion on First Fridays and First Saturdays of the month…Sunday is split up between different language groups; a Portuguese Mass, a French Mass, a Spanish Mass…It is commonplace for Catholics to find themselves attending Masses where they do not understand a single word.

Purchase Here

- No more Masses, or very few; no more processions, no more Benedictions of the Blessed Sacrament, no more Vespers….There is the intrusion of secular rhythms with all kinds of percussion instruments, guitars and saxophones. A musician [in France] wrote: “The music of these songs is not modern; this musical style is not new, but has been played in the most profane places and surroundings (cabarets, music halls, often for more or less lascivious dances with foreign names). The people are led on to rock or swing. They all feel an urge to dance about.” The more elaborate pieces, executed by choirs, show a secular influence, and excite the feelings rather than penetrate the soul as plainchant does.

"Gregorian Chant has always been regarded as the supreme model for sacred music...Special efforts are to be made to restore the use of the Gregorian Chant by the people, so that the faithful may again take a more active part in the ecclesiastical offices." - Tra le Sollecitudini

- A novelty appeared little while ago: posters placed in church porches reading “to praise God, clap your hands.” So during the celebration, at the sign of the leader, the congregation raised their hands above their heads and clapped rhythmically and loudly, producing an unfamiliar din within the sanctuary.

- The liturgy in French deafens the congregation with a flooding of words so that many complain that they can no longer pray during Mass. When, then, will they pray?

- [Finally], Yoga and Zen are the strangest, a disastrous orientalism which, claiming to lead to a “hygiene of the soul,”directs devotion in false ways. [This is leading many to say], “They are changing our religion.”

Trappist priest as instructor of Zen in Massachusetts

Examples:

- I have been told of the case of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in a big parish in Paris, which used to be visited by a number of people working nearby during their lunch hour. One day it was closed for work to be carried out. When the doors were opened again, the prie-dieus had disappeared. On a comfortable pile carpet were deep upholstered seats, evidently expensive and of the sort found in the reception foyers of big companies or airlines. The comportment of the faithful changed at once: some knelt on the carpet, but most made themselves comfortable and meditated before the tabernacle cross-legged.

No Kneelers...Common to see people cross-legged on floor

- They organize “domestic eucharists” in dining rooms or even in kitchens. I have been told of one of these, celebrated in the home of a deceased person in the presence of his family and friends. After the ceremony, the chalice was removed and then, on the same table covered with the same table cloth, they setup a buffet meal. At the same time, only a few hundred yards away, only the birds were singing to the Lord around the thirteenth-century church decorated with magnificent stained glass windows.

Mass Apperitif in Dining or Living Room

- In 1969, a parish priest in the Oise section of France was expelled by his bishop who had forbidden the organization of the traditional procession of Corpus Christi. The procession took place nevertheless and drew ten times more people than the village had inhabitants. Can anyone say that the new pastoral style is in accordance with the deep longings of those Christians who remain attached to such forms of piety?

- [A group called the pastorale d’ensemble was assembled in France to encourage échanges (exchanges) or sharing- of speech, of views, on the Gospel, and of handshakes too…but the results in Paris were as follows]:  From time to time during the last two years, the 9:30 mass has been in a rather special style, inasmuch as the proclaiming of the Gospel was followed by an échange for which those present formed groups of about ten persons. The first time the celebration was tried, only 69 people joined and 138 remained outside. One would have thought that with the help of time there would have been an improvement. This has not been the case. The parish team then organized a meeting to see whether or not to continue with the “Masses with Sharing.”



More Disturbing Images:

Mass in Buddhist Temple

Cardinal Dias burns incense to Hindu deity

Archbishop Anointed by Hindu Priest

Jesuit Priest performs Hindu dance

Continue to Chapter III...

Open Letter to Confused Catholics by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press 1986)

This book can be purchased here.
As with other books I post summaries of, I take no credit for them nor do I intend to make any p
rofit off of this. It is strictly for the spiritual nourishment of any readers and in fact encourage them to purchase the books for themselves.




I will be breaking down this book as I do with many others. This book is a combination of general assessments of "things gone wrong" since the Second Vatican Council coupled with actual examples of those things. I think it is more effective to keep the general together and to type out the examples at the end. Once I post the first chapter, it should be more clear what I am saying.

I will start with Chapter II because Chapter I has already been put into a beautiful video on YouTube which I have embedded below:

It is just the entire first chapter narrated verbatim.
I may decide later to narrate and record the other chapters, but for now the cliffnotes version will be what I post.

~ Pax Domini sit semper Vobiscum


Continue to Chapter II...