Soon after I hit publish on my post of last evening (“Fr. Z. Action Item…“), requesting my readers to join in with Fr.’s “Intention I”, news broke out of Chicago.
I speculated that the “I” stood for indult but that it might possibly be much worse than simply a return to indult days of the 1980’s where priests had to receive special permission to say the old Mass. No, the I stood for “Institute”, as in Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP, the Institute). The Institute is one of the Ecclesia Dei groups who, along with the FSSP and others, were founded in the early 1990’s and currently have a presence in 14 US cities including Chicago where their US province is headquartered.
Cardinal Cupich has decided to give the Institute the boot starting on August 1 of this year, some two weeks hence. Blase Cupich, the man who never met a liturgical abuse he didn’t love as evidenced by the many “abnormalities” not only tolerated but tacitly encouraged in his adchdiocese. Blase Cupich, the man who, years ago when he was just a tiny little baby bishop in Rapid City, locked TLM mass-goers out of their own church during Holy Week. Blase Cupich, the McCarrick boy who is essentially the E. F. Hutton of the Catholic Church in America. When Blase Cupich speaks, beta bishops listen.
That is why this news is so devastating. First of all, ICKSP has done nothing except to serve the Catholic population of any location where they have established a presence. Second, what Cupich does today, you can expect a number of bishops to do tomorrow. We can rapidly go from praying for “Intention I” to praying for “Intention F” and you all know what I mean by that (and they serve in more parishes than “I”). Wilton Gregory is rumored to be doing something similar to the Latin Mass in his see. The bishop of Savanah just announced severe restrictions on the TLM in his see – and his restrictions are weird because they come from answers to questions he posed to Rome. Savanah’s Latin Masses will be coming to an end on the oddly specific date of May 20, 2023.
Friends, don’t ever stop praying or fighting.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!
St. Simon Stock, pray for us!
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