Motu Sport

Fr. Gerald E. Murray

The pope’s decision (to clamp down on EF Masses) is based, in short, upon his evaluation of the motives and actions of “many” people who choose to attend (or celebrate) the EF Mass. They are somehow “exploiting” and “instrumentalizing” that Mass to reinforce divergences in the Church, encouraging disagreements that risk dividing the Church. They reject the liturgical reform, Vatican II, the Church and her institutions.

Even granting that this is an accurate description – which I do not think is true – is the proper response to the abuse of something good in and of itself the suppression of that good? Isn’t the proper response to address those supposed attitudes by engaging in a serene and respectful dialogue that seeks mutual understanding and common commitment to striving for what is good for the Church?

Now, because some people who like the EF Mass do not share an enthusiasm for the new liturgical forms and raise questions about the proper interpretation of Vatican II, TC mandates that no one will be allowed to attend this Mass in their parish church from now on. Isn’t that overkill? We do not shut down a university when some students cheat on exams or skip lectures, hanging around for four years to get a diploma. Better to identify and correct the cheaters and slackers and let everyone else carry on.

Byron Smith | NCRegister

Byron Smith, secretary/director of the lay group Una Voce America, which works to preserve the 1962 Mass, said he has been astonished that, in the midst of the crisis of sexual abuse, abortion, disbelief in the Real Presence and vocations, Pope Francis saw as necessary knocking a rung out of the ladder to salvation for many millions of faithful Catholics. “The bishops exist to lead us to heaven, not block access to a means of grace that saints used for centuries.”

Raymond J. de Souza | First Things

The Holy Father is not concerned with precision about rites at all. He decrees that “the liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.”

That is not true, given that the EF continues to be valid and permitted. It would be odd in the extreme to claim that the EF is not an expression of the Roman Rite. There are other rites within the Latin Church, such as those belonging to various religious orders, that are forms of the Roman Rite. In 2015, Pope Francis himself approved Divine Worship: The Missal, which is used by parishes of former Anglicans who are now Catholic. It’s not a distinct “rite” but a different “form” of the Roman Rite, not unlike the EF and OF.

Rorate Caeli Editorial

We plead with all prelates of good will, all shepherds who love and care for their flock, for the spiritual good of all the faithful – clergy and laity – who have benefited now for years from the immense spiritual, euchological, and theological treasury of the 1962 Missale Romanum,  to dispense us from the draconian provisions found in Traditionis Custodes.

The canonical institution of dispensation has always had a robust usage in the history of canon law, and is currently expressed in the words of canon 87, §1 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law[1]. The law predicates itself on the judgment of the diocesan bishop for the spiritual good of his territory or his subjects. In connection with the notion of dispensation, Hans-Jurgen Guth has, in recent years, written in canonical literature about the bishop’s right in law to protest against decisions of the Pontiff, also known as the ius remonstrandi.[2]

1. Can. 87 §1. A diocesan bishop, whenever he judges that it contributes to their spiritual good, is able to dispense the faithful from universal and particular disciplinary laws issued for his territory or his subjects by the supreme authority of the Church. He is not able to dispense, however, from procedural or penal laws nor from those whose dispensation is specially reserved to the Apostolic See or some other authority.
2. Guth, Hans-Jurgen. "Ius Remonstrandi: A Bishop's Right in Law to Protest". Revue de droit canonique 2002, Volume 52, Number 1, pp. 153-65.

Gerhard Cardinal Mueller | NCRegister

“The image of the misguided fire brigade comes to mind, which — instead of saving the blazing house — instead first saves the small barn next to it,” Cardinal Müller writes.

“Without the slightest empathy,” he continues, “one ignores the religious feelings of the (often young) participants in the Masses according to the Missal John XXIII (1962). Instead of appreciating the smell of the sheep, the shepherd here hits them hard with his crook. It also seems simply unjust to abolish celebrations of the ‘old’ rite just because it attracts some problematic people: abusus non tollit usum [misuse of something is no argument against its proper use].”

Clement Harrold | Crisis Magazine

The arrival of Traditionis Custodes is nothing less than a declaration of total war against traditionalist Catholics everywhere. Much more than that, however, it is a direct attack against all faithful Catholics of good will, regardless of our liturgical preferences. This is not just another “trad issue”—this is a Catholic issue, and one which concerns all of us. Agitated and alarmed by the explosive growth in traditionalist circles, the Holy Father has deemed it necessary to intervene in a manner notably absent of the “mercy,” “accompaniment,” and “synodality” which he loves to preach. (For a pontiff who criticizes traditionalists as rigid, Traditionis Custodes is a remarkably asperous document.) I say all this, moreover, not as a regular attendee of the Traditional Latin Mass but simply as a young, orthodox Catholic, one who currently chooses to attend a reverently-celebrated Novus Ordo.

A Priest For Life

“Honor your Father”: Do not berate or attack the Pope in front of his other children

When you fail to cover your Father in his nakedness or to honor him, confusing and conflating his person and failings with the office he holds in the Church, you place a stumbling block in the path of his children who witness the attack.

Many people are struggling in their faith at this time. Turning the Pope, or any Bishop or priest, into a scapegoat with an angry public rant only makes it more difficult for the “little ones” whom Christ loves to gain access through Him to the graces of salvation which come from the Heavenly Father of all.

Those who are struggling to swim in stormy waters do not need additional excuses to drown. Children do not want to reject their parents or the Faith of their fathers. Turning a father in Faith, however, whom all God’s children must approach for the sacramental life, into a scapegoat or object of hate and derision, only makes it easier for them to do so.

See also: http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2021/07/20/red-card-for-the-ancient-rite-and-the-game-is-getting-nasty/