By Deacon Mike Manno
After a
three-week vacation from writing – more about that later – I’m having a hard
time getting my writing sea-legs under me. However, I have been aided by
several things that I took note of during that period.
The main one
was an outgrowth of the story about the Kansas City Chiefs’ kicker Harrison Butker,
a devout Catholic who gave the commencement address at the graduation ceremony for
Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He said a lot of things in that speech
and I’ll cut to the quick on that: I heartily agree with all he said. It is
nice to see someone who is not afraid to speak the truth when all around him
will not.
But the
message of his talk is not what concerns me, nor is the reaction of the general
public. Let’s face it, in today’s society you either agree with common sense
and the traditional values, both civic and religious, upon which our great
nation was founded, or you don’t. The truth of his message was laid out for all
to see, even if many are blind to it.
My concern
was a comment made by a host on ABC’s daytime television program The View.
While discussing the pros and cons of Butker’s message, they noted that he was
a traditional Catholic who worships at and participates in the Traditional
Latin Mass (TLM). Then one of the ladies opined that TLM participants were
members of a cult.
Members of a
cult? Apparently the geniuses at ABC are willing to use the network to classify
traditional Catholics as cultists. What an insult, but it is much more than
that, it is a gross ignorance that is being used today to undermine traditional
Catholic beliefs, and ABC ought to be condemned for allowing itself to be used
to spread such trash by bigoted simpletons who know no better.
As a deacon
who participates in both the Novus Ordo and the TLM Masses each week at my
parish, let me make it perfectly clear that the TLM folks are not members of a
cult. Our TLM parishioners are overwhelmingly decent honest people who wish to
worship our creator as our fathers and grandfathers for generations did.
Back in June
of 2022 I wrote of my admiration for the Latin Mass and those who took part in
it, especially the number of younger persons who attended, husband, wife, and
children, all attended as a family. No one was dressed down, that is no
baseball shirts and blue jeans; all were dressed as if they were going to be in
the presence of someone special, not as if they were taking in a Mass just
before a Little League practice.
And the
kids: boys were in good clothing, many wore ties and the girls were dressed
like young women aspiring to be ladies. Many of the younger girls were dressed
as if ready to receive their First Communion.
The
Communion ritual was more formal than used currently in most Novus Ordo Masses.
All knelt at the Communion Rail to accept the host on the tongue. No simple
“Body of Christ” announcement, the priest or deacon says “Corpus Domini
nostri Iesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen.” Translated,
“May the body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve your soul for life everlasting.
Amen.”
I asked back in that June 2022 column: So why was an
agnostic [a friend I was writing about] so attracted to the Latin Mass that his
deepest desire is to become Catholic? I think it is for the same reason men
showed up with ties, little girls in dresses, and little boys clamoring to
serve as acolytes, and young families making the Latin parish its parish of
choice.”
And I answered: “It is that for 2,000 years the Church has
brought people to God by using all their senses. Everything that is done is
clearly done for the glory of the Almighty, from the architecture to the music,
stained glass, Gregorian chant, and incense. It is not that a lot of folks
understand Latin, it is that the whole package combines to bring, as my friend
noted, the presence of God to any with an open heart.”
Of course in the intervening time from that column to this
one several prominent attacks on the Latin Mass have been initiated, as if the
view of the ABC executives is taking hold in high places. First is the ongoing
effort within the Church itself to curb, and apparently to eliminate, the TLM.
The second has been the attack on the TLM by the federal government, through
the FBI to characterize it as The View did, as a cult.
The initial report by the FBI suggested that TLM adherents
are prone to right-wing white-supremacist views which are easily coopted to the
advantage of domestic terrorists. Why? It’s because those traditional Catholic
faithful won’t be bought off by society’s progressive left-wing and insist on a
traditionally pure form of liturturgal worship as befits their religious views.
And that is a threat to those who have spent the better part of their lives and
careers trying to undermine the Word of God and their use of government
assistance in trying to achieve a more socialistic society.
But that won’t work. This may be a hard slog but we’ve read
the end of the book and we know who wins.
***
Now I did want to mention my unexpected three-week
vacation. Truthfully it wasn’t much of a vacation: no travel, no recreation,
and no relaxation. It was work.
Several months ago my wife and I decided to redo the
flooring in the first floor of our house. We chose a nice wood laminate flooring
to replace the old carpet which had seen better days. To our surprise the
materials we ordered came in rather quickly and we didn’t have the luxury to
gradually move our stuff.
So we spent the first week moving out all the small things
to other areas of the house. Then all the furniture had to be moved to the
garage, and we needed to purchase new items. Finally came the installation and
the process of reversing everything and putting all back which, at this
writing, is almost done.
Nice vacation, huh?
(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every weekend on Faith On Trial or podcast at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/)
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