By Fr. KEVIN M. CUSICK
The Church is in a deplorable state, we all agree. At least those with eyes to see. Attendance is plummeting through the floor after the devastation of COVID in what were once the largest parishes.
The elderly are being told by their doctors to not return to Mass. In many parishes the retired individuals were keeping the church doors open through their financial and active support as volunteers. They peopled the daily worship in addition to Sunday Masses.
Financial woes continue to plague what were our largest parishes, burdened sometimes with aging physical plants and closed school buildings. Schools are increasingly closing after the financial collapse that overwhelmed the Church in the wake of the Chinese plague shutdown.
Most devastating, however, is the spiritual malaise.
How we treat the Holy Mass and the Eucharist is of the utmost importance. How we celebrate the Holy Mass with unrestrained reverence for and adoration of Christ present in the Eucharist indicates our spiritual health. Or not.
It was reported to me that the Blessed Sacrament was left neglected in a church during the COVID crisis, left abandoned and growing stale during the over three months when public worship ceased.
In how many other places did the same kind of abuse occur? We may never know. The way in which we treat our Lord truly present in the Eucharist makes clear to the Lord if not to others whether or not we have faith.
The Lord Himself asked, “When the Son of Man returns will be there be faith on the earth?” We all must make every effort to keep our faith and that of others alive. Without faith we cannot be saved. The Church exists first and foremost for the salvation of souls.
Faith is a gift of the Lord but must be tended and cared for so that it may grow.
Catholic witness is at a historic low point with bureaucracies, schools, and agencies like certain charity groups mere outposts for LGBT and leftist domination.
I’m hearing a lot of complaints from Catholics after Communion on the tongue was illegally denied to them in numerous locations, as well as reports of abuses like the one already mentioned above.
We must believe in the Eucharist or we can’t claim to believe in Christ who taught that the sacrament was His Body and Blood. We must act on those beliefs in order to be credible in claiming to be Catholic. The Blessed Sacrament should never be neglected, growing stale over a period of months forgotten in the tabernacle with the lamp allowed to burn out.
Reparation is necessary after such abuse and neglect.
But so often acting on faith is seen least in the places of faith. I remember seeing a lay sacristan at a very large parish in another state repeatedly passing in front of the tabernacle in the course of performing her tasks and never genuflecting once. Her evident agility made it clear she was not disabled. Think of the very many affected deleteriously by her negative witness.
Those who work closely with the priest, and in particular those who do so in the Church and in connection with the liturgy, must be believers in action as well as in word to avoid any scandal, or at least bad example.
Believers are often complaining of the toxic environment inimical to true Catholic faith in many parish environments. How did we get to this deplorable state? The Vatican II Mass as an excuse for jettisoning more and more elements of Tradition must be held responsible.
The Latin Mass is the tried and true seed for the authentic renewal of the faith through the Church.
So, when I hear the complaining my answer is: Stop complaining and start the Traditional Latin Mass. Find a priest who has vision beyond next Sunday’s collection and is willing to do what is best for the Church of future generations. We must start planning now for our children’s children. They will insist on the Latin Mass of tradition and will follow in the footsteps of those twenty-something young adults who revert to tradition when they decide to return to regular attendance at Mass following a conversion.
Pastors know what is trending as they sign baptismal certificates for those who used to be their parishioners but who are now choosing to be confirmed as adults in Traditional Latin Mass parishes. The downside of this development is that it can create resentment. Schools once artificially inflated attendance among those of younger age groups in many parishes. As schools close watch those numbers plummet.
Pastors are not happy at all when they see home-schooling families with large numbers of children migrating to the Traditional Latin Mass parishes and leaving empty pews behind at St. Everyone’s on Main Street.
The wise ones with a little courage can see the signs of the times and will act accordingly. Or they will close their doors.
Stop complaining and start TLM-ing. That is, find a priest with vision and courage, have a meeting to come up with a plan of action, and get the Traditional Latin Mass underway.
The Mass must be on a Sunday. A weekday TLM sends the wrong message that it is a second-class citizen among liturgical options. Also, you have to make the jump with the attendant growing pains that come with adjusting the Sunday schedule anyway. Putting off is only just that: putting it off. You can’t claim it’s important as the seed of renewal so long as you are making excuses to let you put off the inevitable.
If you can’t start a TLM outright for whatever reason, offer the new Mass in Latin so as to “traditionalize” as much as possible what you already have going.
Educate the people on the practice of ad orientem and begin to introduce it with the goal of transitioning to it full time.
Build up to it by introducing chant responses and other Latin prayers.
The financial and physical renewal will follow the spiritual and worship renewal. Our tradition of reverence and love for the Lord in the Holy Mass and the Eucharist must be the core of the renaissance needed by the Church today. The rich traditions surrounding the Most Blessed Sacrament must be recovered and restored to use once again so that the Body of Christ may be nourished by the Lord, regain strength and grow once again.
Just start.
You’ll never have to deal with the travesty of Communion in the hand again. And you might even stop complaining and spend more time praying.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
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