First of all, a word of gratitude for the magnificent pilgrimage to Rome, led by H.E. Bishop Fellay and the bishops and priests of the Society from August 8-10. It was a great grace to be present. The basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul outside the walls, St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran were filled with 5,250 traditional Catholics (and their demeanor, prayerfulness and modesty left no doubt as to who was traditional and who was not), of whom 1,000 subsequently performed the 15 mile pilgrimage of the Seven Basilicas through the crowded streets of Rome. Over an hour to pass through the holy doors, and another hour in prayer in each basilica, it was a profession of our Faith in eternal Rome and a gauntlet laid at the feet of the modernists. Where else is the Faith truly prayed, as it is prayed by traditional Catholics? You can all be a part of this living of the Faith, by participating in the numerous retreats and pilgrimages organized throughout the District. In particular, I would like to take the opportunity of inviting those of you who live in the Midwest to participate in the Starkenburg pilgrimage.

Meanwhile, you have probably heard that the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship just released last month (August 1) some new rubrics for the Novus Ordo Missal. If you thought that this might have meant a return to Tradition, then you will be disappointed to hear that now the celebrant is obliged to face the people "whenever possible", that the priests and ministers should genuflect to the Eucharist, if reserved in the sanctuary, only at the beginning and end of Mass, "and never during the celebration", that the tabernacle may be in the sanctuary (how generous!) or another chapel, "but should not be on the altar where Mass is celebrated"…

However, it is no more of a surprise to read of Roman approval of such abusive practices than it was of Communion in the hand. They are, in fact, but the logical consequence of the original definition of the New Mass, upon which the whole New Mass is founded: "The Lord’s Supper or Mass is the sacred assembly or meeting of the people of God, met together with a priest presiding, to celebrate the memorial of the Lord…" (art. 7). For this definition indicates very clearly that the New Mass must be conceived as a meeting and a meal, centered around the people, and not a true sacrifice offered to God. The fact of turning towards the people is highly symbolic of this. The priest no longer stands in the person of Christ, different by the power of orders, fulfilling his mission to turn towards God as a mediator to obtain grace, but simply as a leader in an exercise of community awareness. The Mass is no longer constituted by the priest’s offering of the divine victim, but by the assembly of the people, in whom Christ is present and commemorated, so that without the people, there is no Mass. Christ’s spiritual presence in the people is consequently given priority over His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, as indicated by the exclusion of the Holy Eucharist from the altar and by the forbidding of genuflection to the Blessed Sacrament during Mass.

We all know how entirely and radically opposed this conception is to the theology underlying the traditional Mass. For the priest genuflects many times over to the Blessed Eucharist, whenever he approaches or leaves the altar, opens or closes the tabernacle, or touches the sacred species. For the divine Victim, through Whom alone the faithful are sanctified and united in charity, is the center of the sacrifice and the only means for honor, glory, thanksgiving and propitiation to offered to the Most Holy Trinity. Furthermore, it is entirely deliberately that the Blessed Sacrament, has been reserved on the altar for many centuries, at least since the 15th century. It is in fact for a theological reason, for the Holy Eucharist can be considered either as Sacrifice or as Sacrament, but they are but two aspects of the one reality. In the former Our Lord is considered as the divine victim, and in the latter as heavenly nourishment for our souls. But it is the same reality, and the Sacrament could not exist without the Sacrifice, nor would the sacrifice be complete without the Sacrament, for its reception is necessary to the integrity of the sacrifice (at least for the priest). How symbolic it is of this centrality of the Holy Eucharist in the Catholic life and in the sanctification of our souls, and of the unity of these two aspects, that the Blessed Sacrament should be reserved on the altar itself, and not anywhere else!

Let it not be denied that the New Mass destroys the Faith. It is based upon a humanist conception of the liturgy, just as much as the traditional Mass is based upon a God-centered theology. We may not be able to resolve the enigma of how it is that the highest authorities in the Church could make such rules that undermine the Faith, the enigma of how much of this mystery of iniquity is deception and how much the deliberate penetration of humanism; but let us not deny the facts. And so, let us take the resolution to never participate in the New Mass, to do all that we can to dissuade others, and when we cannot assist at the traditional Mass to simply say our prayers at home.

Let us remember that if we are persecuted and ostracized, it is not just because we like the traditional Mass, and not even just because we refuse to go to the New Mass, but rather because we profess loudly and publicly, bravely and honestly, with certitude and conviction, that the New Mass is but the tip of the iceberg, that it is but the exterior sign of the modern church’s gradual and almost imperceptible, but very real, substitution of the adoration of man for the adoration of God. Today’s doctrinal deviations are all a consequence of this promotion of the false and revolutionary rights of man, substituted for the rights of God —this is the reason why all religions have equal rights according to the false principle of religious liberty, why ecumenical exchanges must be done without polemics or evoking that one religion might be true, to the exclusion of the others, why capital punishment is considered just as evil as abortion or murder, why democracy and not responsibility and authority, must govern the Church and every other society.

It is truly a diabolical inversion and mockery of the truth, that the movement of adoration has been deviated from the Creator to the creature. Without changing any words, the content of the doctrines of Faith has been emptied out —whether it be the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, sin, grace, the Church, the sacraments —and prayer has become a vague kind of awareness or self-appreciation. For now God is present in man, or immanent, as the modernists would say.

We must have conviction. The awareness of these simple truths is obligatory for every traditional Catholic, if we are to ride high on the tidal wave of humanism, which is presently engulfing this self-satisfied world. Let ignorance be no excuse to remain intellectual dwarfs in the things of God. Read the encyclicals of the popes, many of which are available from Angelus Press, and consider it your duty to be as informed about your holy religion as you are about politics, sports or your profession.

May our holy patron saint, St. Pius X, be always our great heavenly protector in our personal struggle to restore all things in Christ,