We Need a Network of Underground TLM Priests (If It Doesn’t Already Exist)

On this trip, as previously mentioned, I had prayed for a Latin mass every day I am traveling. Again, this is a rather large request – trying to find a Catholic mass in the United States. Stop and re-read that.

So far, the Blessed Mother has not disappointed me. Late last night I knelt down to say my prayers and asked again, “Blessed Mother and Guardian Angel, please wake me at 5:30. The mass nearby is at 6:15 and if I miss it, I’m out of options.” Well, they did. And guess what I did.

Truthfully, I really needed sleep. I had been deprived of slumber for a while, what with sitting behind the wheel for hours on end the past week. But I thought to myself when I woke up again some two hours later, “She made it available to me. I just didn’t respond in kind.” And I feel awful about it.

But let’s come back to that headline because I know some of you have thought it. And it’s not just for guys like me taking my family on a road trip. Remember, I will always be at a Sunday mass. I will never again let the bishops shut me out of that. And I will always be at a daily mass provided I truly cannot make it.

But you know it’s coming. You know it will be harder to find TLM’s. Every other week I read a headline that this or that bishop has decided to “follow the Responsa ad dubia” that we all know weren’t ever asked. By anyone. Ever. It might just become near impossible to find the mass of the ages.

This is just a thought, but what if someone were to start a network of underground TLM priests? What if the retired priests who say the old mass privately in their homes were to leave their side doors unlocked and some of us just happened to wander in?

I could be overthinking this. Perhaps it’s not that dire. Look, it’s not like our bishops placed us under interdict for a year because of a seasonal cold, right?