Traditional Mass bigger than the ‘Fraternity’

The following is an edited version of the opening address delivered by Ecclesia Dei Society Chairman, Mr Jack Snelling MP, at the 10^th Annual Conference of the Society held in Brisbane,  8-10 September.

The recent troubles in the Fraternity of St Peter and the actions of the Holy See in regard to this Institute have been the subject of much comment by Catholics who attend the traditional Mass.

It is important for traditional Catholics to view these events in perspective rather than to be carried away by conspiracy theories or by the temptation to a sectarian spirit.    Perhaps it is even time for an examination of conscience. How Catholic are we?  Are we sons of the Church, or are we busy making up the discipline of our religion?

Whatever we think about the liturgical deficiencies of the New Mass and its pastoral effectiveness, we must still acknowledge that every priest of the Roman Rite has the inalienable right to celebrate this form of the liturgy without penalty - even members of the Fraternity of St Peter. It is a valid form of the liturgy guaranteed by Papal authority to be free of error - priests cannot be constrained to avoid it. The Holy See as the supreme authority in the Church also has the right to intervene in the affairs of religious orders and priestly societies to ensure the observance of the common law of the Church. It is not unusual for this to happen. 

It would seem to be a mistake on our part to be down-hearted about an issue that has been decided according to principles that we already understood.  The current circumstance is rather an occasion to take stock of the situation and to seize the new opportunities that present themselves. Religious orders and priestly societies rarely exist without internal conflict. That is a healthy thing since a religious community is not some Orwellian sect in which every member has to have the same opinion - a condition, it must be said, more frequently encountered in post-conciliar religious life. It is only through thoughtful and charitable debate about matters of dispute that any group can come to grips with its identity and purpose. In the Catholic Church that process also includes the judgement of the Vicar of Christ. The problems currently encountered by the Fraternity of St Peter are a normal occurrence. They will need our prayers and support. The recent arrival of the Fraternity in Australia, moreover, is a sign of great hope that the Traditional Mass is here to stay. 

It must also be said that the traditional Mass is bigger than the Fraternity. There are many priests in Australia who have celebrated the Traditional Mass for us - often at great personal cost - who are not a part of the Fraternity. It would be a grave injustice on our part now to trade them in for the latest model. It is not up to the laity to pick and choose among our priests as if we were just some sort of High Church Presbyterians - hiring and firing clergy at the whim of the laity. All our priests need continued prayers and support, just as we need their priestly ministry. 

There are also many monasteries and religious congregations founded under the auspices of the Ecclesia Dei decree. We must fervently pray that the spiritual richness of traditional monastic and religious life may soon find a home among us in Australia. It was after all Benedictine missionaries who brought us the Faith and built our first churches. In the effort to secure priests to say the Mass for us we must never lose sight of the pre-eminence of the contemplative life and the great fruit it brings to the Church. A priest praying in his monastery, even though we may never see him say Mass or hear him preach, is performing an indispensable work without which all our hopes for the traditional movement will come to nothing. 

These recent events should also remind us that not all was well before Vatican II - especially in seminaries. Not every blight on the Church can be ascribed to the modernists. Original sin, and indeed actual personal sin, existed well before 1962. Traditionalism has its besetting temptations: toward anti-intellectualism, vanity and self-interest disguised as Orthodoxy, self-righteousness, provincialism and, most significantly, rigorism. We should face the possibility that the concerns of the Holy See about seminary formation in the Fraternity were justified. We should also face the possibility that the concerns of bishops about traditional parishes developing into fortress enclaves of the self-proclaimed righteous remnant might be justified in some cases. 

The traditional movement has much to offer the Church - things that no other groups in the Church are able to do. We have youth, enthusiasm and a lively vision of what the Church can be in these times. We have both a sense of the sacred in worship and a sense of engagement with the world. Most of all we have the hope we place in our Saviour. Let us go forward rather than dwell on the disappointments of the past.

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