Dear TIA,

I would like to congratulate Margaret Galitzin on her excellent article on the Catholic Church in China recently posted on your site.

The silence of the traditionalist movement over the betrayal of the Church in China by the Vatican is indeed shocking and shameful beyond words. I believe that Margaret Galitzin has very rightly interpreted the cause of silence as being due to the exorbitantly giddy reaction of the majority of traditionalists to the Motu Proprio, and a fear of stirring muddy waters. A reaction due more to excessive optimism than to clear and logical thought.

I extend my thanks to the author of this very pithy article, and to TIA for courageously posting it.

     In Jesus and Mary,

     Patti Petersen

Dear TIA,

Wonderful website, and a beautiful article on St. Philomena. Here is a poem I have written about her.

Dr. T.J.W.

PHILOMENA

LUMENA PAX TE CUM FI

One misplaced tile
Sufficed to beguile
The modern mind

Blessed find
Your long forgotten home
Was St. Pricilla's catacomb

Graces held in relief
Now grace our age of unbelief
With the gift of sight

Emerging into light
From martyred ages loom
Symbols on your tomb

Arrows and lance
Tell the violence
Of your final earthly hours

Delicate flowers
Reveal the purity
Assuring your eternity

With tiles now aright
We bless the crimson light
Transpiercing your ampulla

PAX TECUM FILUMENA

Dear Sir/Madam,

With all due respect I must say, as a conservative Roman Catholic, that I find many articles posted on your website as offensive and disruptive to the faith. I have many things to say, but given that this is an e-mail I will keep it to a minimum.

First let me address your comments on World Youth Day. As a 17 year old Catholic, who has many friends that has attended the recent World Youth Day I must say with all my ability that World Youth Day is indeed a powerful tool in bringing people of my age to the faith. My Pastor, who I must say is a very orthadox man who follows the teachings of the Church very closely and who is now bringing Latin back into the mass, loves world youth day. My friends, who are indeed pious youth, love it to.

What is truly great about this event is the fact that it directly tells youth that: "You must serve the Church, NOW! Don't wait until you are an adult, Christ loves you and wants you to serve him always." We are, in a way, challenged at world youth day to stick to the faith and to be true soldiers of Christ by going against the culture of death. The idea that world youth day is immoral and unorthadox I find to be bogus. Certainly, many different cultures are given a say in the ceremony but that is not something that is contrary to the church.

You traditionalists always argue that if the Mass is not exactly as it was before Vatican II than something is wrong with it. I ask this question: Was the Mass in the year 300 A.D. performed in the exact same way as it was in the year 1500 A.D.? I doubt it. This is not to say that certain traditions of the Mass are to be ignored. Oh no. The Eucharist should and must remain the center of the Mass. What you guys forget is that certain traditions are not set in stone like something that is dogma and doctrine is.

A final thing is this: I find your website's disrespect for the Holy Fathers Popes John Paul II and Benedict the 16th as deplorable. One article which talked about the canonization process of John Paul II described him as a "moral-free pope" it also referred to him as, "Wojtyla". Don't call him Wojtyla in such a disrespectful way. Why not call him: Holy Father John Paul II. He is the Holy Father. Treat him that way! This article showed pictures which apparently "Proved" that John Paul II was immoral. Your the making a mistake! You are dividing the CATHOLIC Church with this stuff.

Another article attacked the fact that John Paul II had canonized too many saints. He did this in order to give our society, which has been deprived of heroes, examples to look up to. We need people to show us how to follow Christ.

Well, I'm done now with my rave. I appreciate you reading and I would appreciate any comments.

     G.K.



TIA responds:

Dear G.K.,

Thank you for taking the time and having the courage to write to us. We take your points into consideration.

Perhaps you can benefit from reading this article refuting similar objections on WYD. This initiative for youth is not as orthodox as it appears, even if it can be attractive.

The Mass in the Latin Rite was established forever by Pope St. Pius V. Therefore, it must remain the same. He condemned anyone – including Popes – who want to change it. It is not just a cultural thing that can progress according to History, as you surmise. It should remain the same for all times, like a dogma.

It is not from lack of respect that we sometimes call John Paul II, Pope Wojtyla, or Benedict XVI, Pope Ratzinger. This is the way Vatican press services themselves frequently refer to them. It became customary after the Council: Pope Roncalli, Pope Montini, Pope Wojtyla and Pope Ratzinger.

At first, we had the same reaction you did, we thought it was a lack of consideration for the Papacy. But since it was the Vatican itself that insisted on these names, we adapted ourselves to this new custom. You see, we traditionalists can also adapt ourselves to some new winds coming from the Vatican.

Write whenever you like. We will read your messages with due attention.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

TIA,

I just read an article online where a mother made the statement that her children liked the new Mass. My children are 43 and 40 in age. I am a cradle Catholic and I remember the first new Mass I was exposed to. We were not given a choice but rather told this is what is here. Well, I felt that if this is what the Holy Father says, then I was to follow the rules. The years came and went, and now I look back and think "Why didn't I speak up?"

I cried the first year over "the new Mass." I didn't feel Catholic anymore. I was told to get more involved and I would learn to understand it. The story goes on and on, but my children, who are now adults with children, are fallen-away Catholics. I used to blame myself, but as of late I am seeing that the Church left us more than us leaving the Church.

The GIRM is out and being put into place and I am now not going to accept these changes. I have the right to kneel and I have the right to receive Communion on my tongue. This is my desire and this is my right.

I have found my place in my faith and I will be there. I will stand up and speak out. Even the newly ordained have not had a choice about which Mass they would prefer, but rather they are told the people want this new one. No they don't. The cruxification of the Laity must end.

Please bring back the Roman Catholic Faith, and the churches will be filled, as will the seminaries and the convents.

     P.O.

Dear TIA,

I suspect you might well imagine the surprise I registered when, after having been away from the Church for 34 years, I attended Mass after heeding a much needed shot of grace from the Holy Spirit while vacationing in Sedona, AZ. At first I thought I had wandered into a Protestant church. This was in July of last year. I have, along with my wife, who is now on the road to becoming a convert, been attending Mass for this past year... even though what has happened liturgically and spiritually to the Church has left me in a state of confusion, distaste and frustration.

I thought, for a while, I was just reacting as one who found his traditional, comfortable ways of devotion replaced with "new and better" things, and simply had to get over my discomfort and get with the program. But, I soon began to see what I consider to be a blatant manifestation of disrespect and disorder in every parish church we have visited, save where the Latin rite is still celebrated.

I have to say that through the Internet and websites such as yours, I have found some solace and relief to know that I am not alone in thinking that instead of bringing a fresh breeze of renewal and an increase in spirituality, Vatican II has seemingly unleashed an apparent tornado of chaos that has torn apart the universality and catholicity of the Church.

I thank you for your writings and I hope that I can find some small way to work from within to bring about some reason and sanity to a Church that has seemed to have lost its zeal for sanctity and reverence for the house of Our Blessed Lord.

     P.M.

Follow us

  Benedict Delivers Chinese Underground Catholics to Communism

  Objection: Exaggerations in Your Pictures

  China Hardens Position against the Underground Church

  The Cheese in the Mousetrap

  What's Wrong with World Youth Day?

  Free Love under the Church's Umbrella

  Quo Primum vs. Novus Ordo

  A 'Saint Factory'