Still Running Off at the Keyboard

ROMAN CATHOLIC FAITHFUL

Today's mail brought the saddest letter from Stephen Brady. He has given up on the Church and plans to turn to a Traditional chapel in the future.

Despite the warnings from these three priests [Fr. John Hardon, S.J.; Fr. Alfred Kunz; and Fr. Malachi Martin], RCF set out to expose the corruption with the hope that some member of the hierarchy would help lead us out of these dark times. I realize now that our efforts were in vain. Despite these many setbacks, and even though we will be following a new direction we will continue to expose the corruption because - even if we are ultimately unsuccessful - our actions may at least enlighten more lay Catholics to become aware of how their spiritual and financial support of these men only enables them to further harm the Church and Her faithful. We cannot allow these bishops to get a pass from RCF.

One of the disturbing aspects of my work has been to learn that most "Catholics," because of corrupt bishops and clergy, have no sense of sin, of scandal, or of the Sacred. They speak of abortion and homosexual activity as though it harmed no one.

For these reasons and others I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer, in good conscience, recommend to Catholics in distress that they in any way return to their Novus Ordo parishes with essentially band-aid solutions to what is a much deeper problem. In short, I now believe that the so-called Traditionalist Catholics are right: the present post-Conciliar ecclesial establishment has, in large part, lost the Catholic Faith. That being said, where do we turn?

Fortunately, that Faith is now being valiantly preserved in numerous Traditional chapels, Oratories and Mass centers throughout the world. As Christ promised, the Gates of Hell would never prevail against the Church even though the light of faith may be dimmed in many (or even most) places, as occurred in the Arian heresy during the fourth century. While my family still attends a diocesan parish to fulfill our Sunday obligation, we are in search of a new home.

I now realize that sending Catholics back to their parish to stop a clown Mass or to protest the horrible treatment of Our Lord's Body and Blood or to ask for a correction of some other liturgical abuse is a waste of time. No, it is more than that - it is bad advice....

Therefore, for reasons of doctrinal orthodoxy, liturgical integrity and to lead a moral life, we urge all Catholics to abandon the corrupt, destructive, heterodox and limp-wristed Novus Ordo establishment and to seek out the Catholic Faith in Traditional Mass centers.

He lists as places to which we could turn the SSPX, Independent Traditional Mass Centers, and "Approved" Indult Masses, but issues a caution:

It is unfortunately the case that, in order to obtain "official" permission to celebrate the Traditional Mass, many priests are pressured to compromise in their homilies concerning the contemporary errors infesting the Church. ..Discretion must be used in attending such Masses, especially when the Holy Communion distributed at Masses includes Hosts from a prior Novus Ordo Mass which may or may not have been a valid Mass, depending upon the additional tampering with the liturgy that might have been committed by the "presider" at that Mass.

It's bad for me when I think it. It's bad for the Church when someone with the presence and knowledge of Stephen Brady says it openly in a letter mailed to all of his donors. We have come to the point that the very heart of the Church, the Body and Blood of Christ, is no longer reliable. The Church can't sink any lower than this.

Viva Cristo Rey!