I may have the misfortune of being a member of the most liberal Church in our diocese, and certainly of all the rest I have ever been to. Pulling into the parking lot for Mass, cars are plastered with “Ordain Women Now” and “Equality” bumper stickers. A small number even have a “Catholic and Pro-Choice” bumper sticker. This just scratches the tip of the iceberg. As sad as this is, this accurately portrays many Parishes in this modernist era. The number of Catholics who attend Sunday Mass is less than half what it was forty years ago, according to a Catholic news statistic.
Much of the strength of the Faith of 70 years ago seems to have waned in America and Europe. While most nations in the regions are predominantly Christian or Catholic, the mainstream culture reflects values antithetical to Catholic values. The Second Vatican Council was called to “Open the windows of the Church” and make it more accessible to the common man. However, the issue is that these changes coincided with the sexual revolution and 70’s modernism. Churches lost the beautiful architecture, and along with it some of the beautiful traditions like kneeling for Communion, women wearing chapel veils, altar rails, the Latin Mass, and Mass ad orientem. Some like to take these losses too far and say “The loss of these is the loss of the true church”…..looking at you SSPX: this is simply untrue. Pope Benedict XVI said “ As long as the Society does not have canonical status in the Church, its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church”. However, we should consider whether the simplicity of the Vatican II reforms is preferable to tradition.
One of the most notable changes implemented in the wake of the Second Vatican Council was the allowance of the Mass to be said in the language of the people. To summarize Sarcosanctum Consilium(the document concerning revisions to the Roman Rite of mass), the liturgical language may be changed as long as it maintains the original form as closely as possible. On one hand, this reform allows the majority of the world, as non-fluent Latin speakers to understand and comprehend the Mass in its entirety to a greater degree.While this is a noble ordeal, the common-izing of the Mass, to some degree, lowers the stance it has over pedestrian language. In the days since Latin was spoken fluently as the language of the Church and its peoples, saying the mass in Latin as opposed to the common tongue has set it apart from the every-day occurrence of speaking in one’s own language, and helps call to mind the sanctity of the occasion. With the mass said in Latin by all Roman Rite Catholics, one could travel anywhere in the world and comprehend the Mass as well as he does in his home parish. To another point, a former Vatican Exorcist has said that demons are afraid of Latin because of the reverence of the language.
We also must not forget the beautiful traditions largely set aside with the reforms, such as the celebration of Mass Ad Orientem changing to the celebration of Mass Ad Populorum. It may seem like a small change; however, the priest no longer faces the Tabernacle at the Sacrifice of the Eucharist. Facing the Tabernacle is a sign of reverence for the real presence of Jesus Christ inside. Other visible signs of this are sole distribution of the Eucharist by the Priest, kneeling for reception, reception on the tongue, and women wearing chapel veils. Priestly vestments, that have for centuries remained unchanged, were also changed and simplified. Catholics of yesteryear were taught and understood the significance of every piece of the Priests' vestments; we have lost the common understanding today.
Today, modernist culture has eroded at traditional values in society that reflected the values of the Church. Abortion is legal across most of the Western world, capital punishment greatly over-used, usury is rampant, and heresies are thriving as in the days of Arius. Divorce is commonly accepted, and homosexuality is praised. Rarely do we hear priests speak against these issues because of the threat of tyrannical government and societal pressure. Now is not the time for the Church to soften its teachings or practices; now is the time for the Church to return to Orthodoxy in liturgy.
The Catholic Church is the one true Church, and has in its whole an immense beauty. Catholics are citizens of every country, and can be found all over the world. Mass is celebrated innumerable times a day, and Adoration of the Eucharist has been made only more accessible in recent times. Catholic education has grown and flourished. While the Catholic Church is thriving, it can be made much stronger by rejecting the modernism of the popular culture. Saint Pope Pius X said that the true friends of the people are not modernists or revolutionaries, but traditionalists. To leave you with the words of Archbishop Charles Chaput:“If men and women are truly made for heroism and glory, made to stand in the presence of the living God, they can never be satisfied with bourgeoisie, mediocre, feel-good religion. They’ll never be fed by ugly worship and shallow moralizing. But that’s what we too often give them. And the reason we do it is because we have welcomed the good news of Vatican II without carving its demand for conversion on the stone of our hearts”.
