What People are Commenting
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Just War & Novus Ordo Attendance
Novus Ordo Mass vs Latin Mass Attendance
First of all, God bless and Mary keep you and your work. It has helped me so much and I am sure that it saves souls. Second of all, I have a question that I don’t have a suitable person to ask, so I wondered if I could ask it here.
In the instance of not being able to reliably get to a Latin Mass, does one have an obligation to attend he Novus Ordo Missae for Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation? I am in a situation where I cannot drive and the persons who do drive me to Mass take me to a Latin Mass once a month and on certain other occasions, but refuse to do anything but the Novus Ordo more than that.
Am I obliged to go to the Novus Ordo to fulfill my Sunday obligation when I cannot attend the Latin Mass, or is the obligation lifted due to participating even as reverently as I can in sacrilege?
Ave Maria,
K.K.
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TIA responds:
Good evening K.K.,
We are very glad to know that our work has helped you. It is encouraging.
One point of which TIA is proud is that we have never advised anyone to attend a Novus Ordo Missae as a way to fulfill his/her Mass obligation.
Basically, it is a valid Mass but has flavor of the Protestant heresy and it was made as a transition mass to reach a fully ecumenical mass, which has been prepared for years (here, here, here and here).
So, to attend it is tantamount to contaminating yourself with those semi-Protestant innovations: a semi-denial of the Transubstantiation, the Real Presence, the sacrificial character of the Mass, the difference between the priest and the faithful, a semi-denial that the power in the Church comes from Heaven and not from the people, the adoption of the Lutheran theory of the Two Tables (the Eucharist and the Sermon where the "liturgy of the word" would be equal to the Sacrifice of the Mass), a semi-denial of the role of Our Lady and the Saints as mediators with Jesus Christ, and many others.
If you want to know more about our restrictions regarding it, you may peruse this page of answers to similar questions posed by readers.
So, it is our conviction that if you cannot go to a Traditional Latin Mass, you may stay at home and pray the Rosary or do another act of piety – the Way of the Cross, a pious reading, a meditation, reading the Missal, for example.
These are bad times predicted by many prophecies. We pray Divine Providence will abbreviate them, since it is becoming increasingly difficult to be saved.
We hope this responds to your question.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk
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From Venezuela with Affliction
First of all, thank you so much for your labor and ministry. I´ve learnt so much from this website and all its writings.
I am from Valencia, Venezuela, considered the third largest city in the country. It was an important center of catholic culture in the country but in the last decade or so, the lack of reverence in the majority of the masses and the lack of true faith among the people is terrifying.
The thing is that traditional Catholicism is severely persecuted and mocked by the catholic authorities, evangelical churches are growing like wildfire and even Islam, which was unheard of five years ago, is growing too. Last year women in hijab was something you would only see in movies, but now I´ve seen them at college, at work, everywhere, and there is not a single place in the country where the traditional mass can be held, except for a recent, somewhat hidden and temporal mission last month by the FSSPX in Caracas, the capital city.
I´ve written to the FSSPX and apparently they don´t have the means and they don´t see a large interest in Venezuela to set a perpetual mission in Caracas, let alone the rest of the country, that also, as I am sure you all know, is in deep need of spirituality after 30 years of dictatorship, the daily six hour energy blackouts and the terrible earthquakes that happened in last June.
I´ve heard my parish priest say that even thinking of going to the Latin Mass is a severe sin! but then in his mass there is an abuse of the Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist (always old idle women of course) the Eucharist is only given in the hand and standing up, the music is horrible with guitars and even African drums sometimes (in this part of the country we are, mainly, of Spanish and Italian descent, so it´s not a cultural thing like you would see in other parts of the world)
What can I do? it is true there are more reverent masses a bit far from where I live, but is still Novus Ordo, and frankly, every time I´ve promised myself I would just live through it and try to live as a Novus Ordo Catholic, after going to a mass I feel more empty, stupid and cheated on. It just doesn’t feel right!
Tradition in Action, I would love if you could counsel me, and please forgive mistakes in my English as it not my native language.
Sincerely,
J.A., Venezuela
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TIA responds:
J.A.,
Thank you for your message, your kind words on our work and the confidence you reveal by asking this important question.
You have our full solidarity and understanding regarding the dramatic situation of Venezuela – the religious crisis, political-economic crisis, and natural cataclysmic crisis.
We see your affliction and we pray for you and your country.
Regarding the specific question of attendance at the Novus Ordo Missae, our recommendation is to not attend, but instead to use that time normally reserved for Mass to pray the Rosary or make other act of piety.
Please, read the answer to the previous question.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk
Posted November 12, 2026
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The opinions expressed in this section - What People Are Commenting - do not necessarily express those of TIA
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Re: St. Robert Bellarmine defends the waging of just war
St. Robert Bellarmine also believed that the earth was the center of the universe and that the sun rotated around it (Geocentrism). Could his belief on just war be just as wrong?
R.S.
TIA responds:
R.S.,
In the case of St. Robert Bellarmine’s position on just war, he is not alone. There is an enormous list of Popes, Fathers of the Church, Doctors and Saints who defend the exact same position. It was the official doctrine of the Catholic Church.
When the right of self-defense of an individual – which is one of his basic rights according to Natural Law – is projected to the level of a nation, it becomes the right to wage a just war. Therefore, to deny this, as you do, is to deny the right of individual self-defense and the ensemble of Natural Law.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk