As long as all the armchair quarterbacks out there are weighing in on the SSPX and the upcoming episcopal consecrations coming up in July I figured I would voice my opinion. True, that and 5 bucks will get you a ride on the CTA these days. Oh wait, my governor fats pritzker has stolen money from down state road projects to prop up that failing enterprise so maybe its less than five. That is a story for another rant.
Up until 1975 I was truly an apostate Catholic. My journey back actually started in 1971 parents weekend at college. Mom was up so I had to go to mass with my parents despite I never saw the inside of a church for the previous 4 years. Hanging out with the guys on a Saturday night we would stop at a local parish and pick up a bulletin to try to convince mom we had actually gone to mass. Mass of anticipation, another bit of Vatican II fluff. We stopped in, picked up a bulletin, which took all of 1 minute and were were out like a shot to carouse about the town. Not sure if mom ever bought the canard.
Anyway, that parents weekend in college the abby (This was Benedictine college in Atchison Kansas) got permission from the local bishop to do a solemn high mass on the Sunday of parents weekend. To this day I still get goosebumps thinking about it. 3 priests, Latin chant, incense, an army of acolytes and the beautiful music of Schubert mass in C. That was my life line. I vowed if I could ever find that mass again I would return whole heatedly to the Catholic faith.
Coming back home I started to attend mass at the local NO parish. It was really a bland, veneer, nothing burger. I ushered with my dad and a couple of older men. We never really attended mass. We just mainly hung out in the ushers room in back talking about the most recent sports game only making an appearance to pass the collection basket. Not really attending mass but why on earth would anyone want to attend that and how could you call it a mass after what I saw in Atchison only a decade earlier?
I started to seek out the Latin mass. First it was an independent old priest by the name of Father John Quinn. It was the TLM and I loved it. Father Quinn used to comment that we were “just the pilot light keeping the real faith alive until Rome returned to her senses”. I went there about 5 years and remember reading that the SSPX just bought an old Episcopalian church in Oak Park Illinois. I wrote them a letter (this was a time before email) telling them that I was interested in mass there and that I was an altar boy back in the late 60s when the mass changed but not as radical as it is today. Fr. Scott wrote back “You must swallow the Catholic faith whole as it was for centurys”. So, it was a long commute from Morton Grove where I lived at the time to Oak Park but I gave it a try. Turns out every Sunday for another 10 years. Something about the TLM first it draws you, then it holds you tight, and you never look back. No wonder conversion was plentiful in the years before Vatican II. There definitely something spiritual there.
It was there that I relearned my faith from Fr. Scott. He was a feisty Australian about 5 feet tall but his sermons sounded like they came from a giant. All you could see were arms flailing from behind the podium but the message was loud and clear. Meat and Potato Catholicism, the faith of our parents and parents parents. The faith of the martyrs. What was funny was you could detect his Australian accent in his Latin, especially when he said Dominus Vobiscum. I remember they used to bless religious objects once a month at the communion rail. At that point I decide to buy a brown scapular. Like I say I was rediscovering the faith I learned as a kid. I took my brown scapular up to get it blessed and Fr. Scott whispered “are you enrolled in the brown scapular? If you are the blessings carry over to each new scapular”. I said I didn’t know and he said, “Ask your parents”and went ahead and gave the rosary a blessing anyway. At St. Issac’s, Fr. Spring knew my parents from when he was first ordained. In fact he married them back in 1941 just before the war started. Fr. Spring begrudgingly made the changes of Vatican II but slowly and in a cautious manner. I don’t think he ever liked the whole concept of Vatican II. Anyway I asked mom about the brown scapular and she said, “Yes, Fr Springs was a traditional priest, you were enrolled”.
In those days the priest would fly in since we only had mission status. We were lucky in that we had a priest Friday night thru Sunday night. The society had a policy it would only start a apostolate if they could staff it with 3 priests. That was a wise move, it seemed to be able to keep secularism at bay. Something not only prevalent but dominate at the Novus ordo. Our priest flew in from Kansas city where their U.S. headquarters was located. The Society grew by leaps and bounds as it still does today. Just like field of dreams. Build it and they will come.
I have always been a fan of the SSPX and my heart sank when Bishop Fillay started to cave into Rome. Ya it was Benedict but even he was a modernist. In those days there were rumors that Rome would put all the traditional priests in a group under one bishop in Rome. They would not have to cater to any other prelate. Fortunately that never happened. Rome is corrupt and lost the faith as we have seen more punctuated under Francis and now the sneak Leo. Aligning with Rome these days is a dangerous thing. The only prelate that realizes that these days is Archbishop Vigano and for that epiphany of aligning with the true Catholic faith he was excommunicated. Excommunicated by what? A heard of heretics?
So hear we go with 1988 all over again. I pray they go thru with this and I pray they don’t fall to any of Leo’s tricks to keep them from doing it. Rome has lost the faith and can not be trusted. Our only hope is a strong independant SSPX free from modernism. There were rumors years ago that layed out a possible plan for Rome. First shut down the diocesan and ecclesia Dei TLM. That is well underway. The TLM in the parishes are about gone. The next thing will probably be whittling the foundations of the ICKSP, FFSP and others. I go to a ICKSP in the Rockford diocese. I am sure the day will come when Bishop Malloy (not overly friendly to the TLM but not hostile either, kind of a live and let live philosophy) wil be replaced by a Martin or Weisenburger and the institute will be asked to leave the diocese. To my knowledge the ICKSP only owns St. Staneslaus in Milwaukee, a retreat house in Burlington Wisconsin, and the burned out shell of Christ the king in Chicago were the mass was shut down a few yars ago by the Cupich. Weisenburger has not tried that in Detroit yet with the ICKSP but the man is a hireling. If Leo says cut the ties, he will cut the ties no question asked.
That would leave us with phase 2 of the Vaticans plan. Force all TLM faithfull into the SSPX. Put all your bad eggs in one basket then excommunicate the lot. This sure does seem to be what is being played out. As for me, I really don’t care I am boarding on sedevantism as it is. When I can’t get to Rockford I usually attend via live stream from St. Gertrude the great. Sedevacantism but pure meat and potato Catholicism in all the sermons. Much like the SSPX.
Long live the True faith, not this “thing” Leo is pushing.