Last week I wrote a post about the state of the Traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Metuchen, NJ. Friends, I never imagined such a topic would ever cross my radar, let alone that I would write about it, yet here we are. The gyst of my piece was that Bishop Checcio (to call him a buffoon would be an injustice to buffoons) is essentially terminating the TLM in his diocese. In my piece I wrote that anyone interested in finding either a TLM or a traditional priest willing to offer a TLM in that area could write to me privately and I would assist as best I could.
And you wrote to me. In greater numbers than I would have imagined. The Bishop of Arlington recently wrote to his flock a friendly letter that my father would say should have actually been a telegram, as in, “FU. STOP. STRONG LETTER TO FOLLOW. END.” He wrote to tell them that he had to move the locations of the TLM’s in his diocese because Fwanciss told him to. In his letter, in an apparent attempt to justify the situation, the good bishop noted the “only 2% of the faithful in his see regularly attend the ancient Mass.” I’ve spoken with high-ranking priests in Arlington and even they don’t know exactly where that figure came from. One of them even admitted to me that using the number, even if completely verifiable, was not a good look for the bishop. It makes it sound as though, “Well, hey, there really aren’t that many of you going to this ‘thing’ over here so it’s OK that we totally shove you into a broom closet.”
Instead, what was reinforced for me over the weekend is that there are more of us out there than we may realize. More to the point, those of us who are out there are strong in our convictions and eager to help each other. Look, I get that I am relatively new to this community. I only started attending Latin Mass a little over four years ago. Granted I go every day and I have completely immersed myself in this world. But I definitely recognize that I am a no-body on this scene. I try to be careful when I criticize giants within the movement, always pointing out the great good they have done in the past before zeroing in on whatever issue I may take umbrage with at the moment. Unite the clans and all that, right? But I 100% feel a great sense of humility when I receive emails from fellow trad Catholics seeking help from me on where to find the ancient Mass in their area. And I say a prayer of thanksgiving every time I receive such a note. I am truly grateful and, as those of you who’ve written to me know, I respond to every email that isn’t clearly spam.
I wanted to take the time tonight to publicly say thank you to everyone who has been reading this blog over the past six months since I re-tooled what was a blog about raising my kids. Thank you for following my rants. Thank you for your questions. Thank you for your prayers. Someone had a Mass offered for me tomorrow morning (Thursday)! I will not know until the dreadful day of my judgment why God loves me so much but I am happy that He does. He has given me an abiding love for His Church and the Catholic faith and a passion for writing down my silly thoughts and I, a faithless sinner, occasionally churn out something halfway decent by His grace. But it is because you read the things I write and interact with me about them that I feel like I’m not alone in this dreadful fight against the world, the flesh, the devil, and now the antichurch masquerading as the Bride of Christ.
My friends, let us continue to offer prayer and sacrifice for each other. To those of you who have been in regular correspondence with me, thank you for the spark of true Christian friendship. To those who simply stop by once in a while, thank you for checking in. To all who read this, say a prayer for me, for the Church, and for all of our priests and know that I am praying for you.
St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!
*The head of Mother Cabrini was removed from her incorrupt body after its exhumation and is in Rome. The actual body, shown here, reposes with a wax head.
Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad 