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At a Catholic funeral Mass for the father of a good friend, I watched as the priest in a white alb paced the sanctuary for at least an hour prior to the ceremonies, his half-detached Roman collar swinging like a broken door jam around his neck as he attended to the details of the service.
When the time came to put on his vestment, he pulled the polyester liturgical poncho over his head in front of the congregation as if he was putting on a sweat shirt in Planet Fitness.
The priest’s behavior was fairly typical of many Novus Ordo clergy: Low on ceremony, high on ultra casual. His attitude could be summed up this way: Let’s-get-this-ceremony-over-with-because-I’ve-got-things-to-do. In many ways it seems priests like this are weary of the priesthood. (Let me add that in my twelve plus years as an Orthodox Christian I’ve never seen an Orthodox priest vest this way; Orthodoxy proscribes a very formal and prayerful manner of vesting.)
This is a small example of what has happened in much of mainstream Catholicism, but when a million small examples crowd the amphitheater of liturgical practice, what you get in the end is a totally new script.
As Pope Benedict XVI once observed, “The Church stands or falls with the liturgy.” Truer words have never been spoken but far too many Catholic bishops and priests still don’t get it.
They wonder and agonize over Pew polls reporting that 69% of Catholics believe the bread and wine at Mass are only symbols while a mere 39% of Catholics believe the Church’s teaching on Transubstantiation.
They have no idea why only 20 to 25% of Catholics identify as practicing Catholics (this survey was taken in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia). Like clueless detectives, they form study groups to find out how to bring people back to Church while turning a blind eye to how the Church may have caused the problem.
When you have lay people distributing communion; when you have communion hosts being handed out like tokens in a casino (communion in hand); when you have Masses in which there’s no ringing of bells at the consecration or when the priest refuses to raise the host and chalice high in the air but keeps it low and casual in the manner of that funeral priest’s detached collar; when you have show-off cantors who raise their arms and perform all sorts of narcissistic theatrics as if performing on ‘America’s Got Talent’; and when you have a Church that has basically forgotten its rich tradition of Gregorian chant and replaced it with tacky sentimentalism of songs like ‘On Eagles Wings,’ what you get is a pedestrian service with no zero sacred appeal.
Recently the situation got even worse.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Bishop Michael T. Martin, OFM, appointed by Pope Francis in 2024, has declared that the traditional Mass in the Extraordinary Form will no longer be allowed in parish churches in the Diocese of Charlotte.
Now, Charlotte happens to have a large TLM community, one of the largest and most vibrant in the nation. Pope Francis – who hated the Latin Mass, the English language and the entire Anglophile world – must have known this when he appointed Martin to carry out his iconoclastic revolution.
Martin, in his pursuit of a more Protestant-style Catholicism, has decreed that as of October 2, 2025, the Latin Mass community of Charlotte be relegated to an obscure, out-of-the-way chapel, a former Protestant church called the “Freedom Christian Center,” located a good 45 minutes outside the city.
Martin’s selection of this Church is telling in other ways: it shows his hatred of traditional Catholic Church architecture, for not only is he punishing traditional Catholics in his diocese by isolating the Latin Mass to a tiny chapel in the sticks, in effect he doubled down when he chose this chapel for the TLM community because it will have no high altar but will in fact will be outfitted in an extreme minimalist way: IKEA table altar, bare walls with minimal to zero sacred decoration; in other words a Catholic Church that doesn’t look Catholic at all.
Reaction to Martin’s decree has been swift and explosive.
“This is a particularly painful enforcement because the diocese of Charlotte had several thriving communities built around the TLM, ‘the National Review observed. “Charlotte is a fast growing diocese as more and more Catholics move to the American South.”
Martin, who likes to make banal statements about “talking and listening to everyone like Jesus did,” went further in his liturgical war against tradition in the Charlotte Diocese.
Here are Martin’s new orders regarding the Novus Ordo Mass:
- Novus Ordo Masses must never use Latin.
- There shall be no kneeling for communion.
- Altar rails are banned in the construction of new churches.
- Communion on the tongue is outlawed.
- Classical vestments are banned.
- Altar crucifixes and altar candles are banned.
Martin’s heretical agenda generated outrage among conservative and even centrist-liberal Catholic podcasters.
Petitions were organized by Charlotte’s traditional priests and Catholics. Reaction intensified when Martin made it known that the reforms he was proposing were essential for the unity of the Church. This unity-a false equivalency since his actions in effect alienate a good portion of Catholics in his diocese-was so important he said he didn’t care if Catholics stopped attending church or stopped contributing funds to the Charlotte Diocese.
Let them go elsewhere, is his attitude; which, of course is what has been happening over the last several decades. Many sincere Catholics, fed up with the liturgical wars and the assault of modernism, have either stopped going to Mass altogether or have gone over to Eastern Orthodoxy, where it’s unlikely you’ll find a bishop like Martin who wants to rewrite the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom or declare war on the veneration of icons.
Everything Bishop Martin advocates was fairly typical of 1970s Catholicism, the worst decade for the celebration of the liturgy in the Church’s history, and the worst decade for Catholic Church architecture.
This was a time when sacred imagery in churches was replaced by felt and burlap banners, altars in the round and priests who encouraged guitar and jazz Masses.
As one parishioner from the Charlotte Diocese wrote:
“When giving communion, he stands in front of the altar rails, if the church has them, and refuses to let parishioners kneel inside their church that they are paying to participate in. He has placed his zuchetto (Bishop’s hat) on a female and several male students as if it is a party hat….. The Diocese of Charlotte was flourishing and this guy is running it into the ground… We don’t trust him.”
It’s no longer enough for conservative Catholics to be passive and silent and take out their frustrations in prayer and petitions, hoping that Bishop Martin will change. Bishops like Martin very often don’t respond to prayer and Hallmark card politeness.
Only a harsh and decisive censure from Rome will do the job.
If this doesn’t happen, one thing will be made clear: The Roman Church is really no longer Catholic.
What is worse? Passing around a party Hat? Or worshiping a false god?
It’s laughable to watch satanic worshiping C’lics get bent outta shape over stupid traditions and never care about how satanic catholicism actually is…
And let’s not forget… man made traditions that
The fact stands… catholicism is satanic !!!
I keep waiting for Satan to make his appearance. But of course he never does. And that’s lucky for you because that means you will have to fight him hand to hand if he shows up. Ya see, in the battle against evil it will take more than just a few comments about Satan, statements about fake homosexual churches, and your bizarre fantasies about your imagined enemies. And your belief that you accomplished something with your endless 3rd grade vitriol.
You haven’t done squat. And you never will.
You are the personification of the paper tiger that thinks he is Old Blood and Guts. And you definitely aren’t Old Blood and Guts.
You will forever be just a whiny little guttersnipe always ready to battle what is not there and then blame everyone else.
Have fun on your park bench “waitin’ fer Satan”, Homer.
You say… “I keep waiting for Satan to make his appearance.” <<< You don't believe satan exists ????
Not only is catholicism satanic… your homosexual approved ELCA Lutheran fake church is… since it also teaches how you worship the fake god allah…
Do you understand the consequences of worshiping false gods?
What is Satanic are the hatred and the false witness about Catholicism by people who neither know nor care to know what it believes nor what its respectful traditions really mean.
Only the real church can be such a relentless target for the devil and his minions.
vaclav51
I’ve never met a C’lic that could defend their satanic catholic fake church… you’re welcome to try…
Is the fake god allah your god? You satanic catechism says it is…
Your turn…
You just demonstrated that you’re a completely bigoted moron who knows absolutely nothing about the Christian faith or the 2,000 year history of it. No doubt you even support those ignorant Pentecostal Holiness characters who play with serpents in the course of their services. Which of the countless street-corner churches brainwashed you anyway?
Lloyd Hysab
Pure conjecture… all assumptions…
Q: How many “Good Deeds” have you performed today? Are you headed to Purgatory Prison? Will you pass the Purgatory Judgement Throne?
How many loved ones can you count that are in Purgatory Prison? Have you performed any good deeds for them lately?
Have you purchased any Indulgences lately? Kissed the feet of the Peter Statue in Rome?
Is your Poop the Antichrist or the False Prophet? <<< Can you tell us? Can you explain anything I've asked?
Is Mary your Intercessor? Do you pray to dead saints? Is the Poop the Vicar of Christ on earth?
How many satanic muslims have your Poops kissed?
Is the fake god allah your god? Your satanic catechism says it is…
Get this… catholicism is satanic !!!
And Satan rubs his hands with Glee
Ramping up One World Religion.
The 3 attributes of the Antichrist Beast System is…
1) Government… Sharia Law
2) Religion… satanic islam
3) Banking… Sharia Finance
satanic islam is the ONLY government that exists with all 3 attributes…
69% of Catholics understand the Bible better than their heretical leadership. Transubstantiation is not biblical and undermines the significance of Christ’s sacrifice once for all death on the cross for our salvation.
It teaches catholics to be cannibals…
Just like some satanic worshiping muslims that drink the blood and eat the organs from their victims… <<< True
The catholic/islamic connection exists
Jesus said “This is by body….”; he did not say “think of this as my body” or “this represents my body” or some such. Thus, Transubstantiation is very Biblical.
Which of the countless bible-thumping street preachers taught you that nonsense?
The Catholic Church has been in decline for two decades. The rot has now spread to the smaller and less consequential diocese .
The election of anti Christian popes has only accelerated this decline. The Catholic hierarchy has accomplished what Islam and Zionism has failed to do. The destruction of the largest Christian church in the world.
The satanic catholic fake church has never been Christian…
Zionism is out of place in your reasoning. It is Secular Humanism in its many forms (wokism is the latest) that is the enemy.
Not quite since at the present time there are over a billion Catholics residing in every country on the planet!
Did you read the comment above about 69% of Catholics know the Bible better than their own leadership does? That is a very telling statement. If Roman Catholic priests actually read and studied and understood the Bible itself, apart from all of the things that have been added to the Bible, they would probably end up leaving the Catholic Church and becoming protestants. Noticed that the fuss here is all about externals and has nothing to do with the actual content of the Bible. When people study what God has actually said as opposed to focusing on man’s traditions, The result will be a genuine spiritual transformation as opposed to purely outward ritual that has no value other than making people feel like they did something to contribute to their own salvation.
None of the stuff in this article will help anyone when they stand before God and he asks “why should I let you into my heaven?“ The answer to that question will have nothing to do with formats of ritual. Instead he is looking for people who have transferred their trust to Jesus who paid for their sin on the cross. When the message of salvation is presented in the Bible by Jesus himself, you do not find anything to do with all of this empty ritual stuff. Instead the question is, what is your relationship to Jesus?
The Roman Catholic Church lost its way by focusing on the very things that this article discusses. All of this has nothing to do with a personal relationship to God through Jesus.
The comment that 69% of Catholics know more of the Bible than their leadership does is actually very encouraging. I hope more Roman Catholic people open their Bible and find out what it really has to say instead of paying attention to all of the focus on hierarchy and rituals, all of which is empty stuff that has been added to make up a human religion.
I hope more Roman Catholic people open their Bible and find out what it really has to say
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Well tell us who was it that told you “what it really has to say”?
The really weird thing is that Bergoglio, Martin, and especially the German RC Bishops, rant on and on about wanting this to-called “synodal church” in which the clergy open their ears and hearts to their laity . . . except when their laity say that they love the Tridentine Mass and love the manner in which their sacraments were administered according to the pre-Vatican II missal. Bergoglio ranted and raved against “legalism” and “rigid” traditionalists but he and his ilk have proven themselves to be the most rigid of the rigid and have turned the “new [=now nearly 60 yo] Springtime” into their own sterile and bleak tradition. Martin may live to regret his wish for empty pews and even emptier collection plates!
Questions for the author:
Is Jesus Christ made present in the Novus Ordo liturgy upon pronouncement of the words, “… this is my Body … ” and ” … this is my Blood … “?
Does that not matter?
Is Jesus not able to attract souls on his own?