On December 20, the website Catholic Culture published an article by Phil Lawler entitled, “Who denies the Novus Ordo is valid? Prepare for a surprise.”
SPOILER ALERT: According to Lawler’s reasoning, it is the devotees of the Novus Ordo themselves who deny the validity of the bastard rite!
Just how did he arrive at that conclusion? He writes:
Poll after poll shows that more than 70% of Catholics do not believe that Jesus Christ becomes truly present—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—at the Mass. But if Jesus is not present—if the Eucharist is not confected—then the Mass is not valid. Therefore most worshippers at an ordinary Catholic parish believe that the Mass is invalid. QED.
Lawler argues that even though “very few of those ‘ordinary’ Catholics would say that the Mass is invalid” (since they aren’t well-formed enough in the faith to connect the dots), they are guilty of rejecting the validity of the rite, nonetheless. Touché!
His purpose in pointing this out is to highlight the unfounded nature of the Bergoglian regime’s “charge that many traditionalist Catholics do not recognize the validity of the Novus Ordo liturgy.”
“The CDW offers no evidence to support this indictment against traditionalists,” he writes. In Lawler’s estimation, only a tiny fraction of so-called “traditionalists” are guilty as charged.
Catholics who attend the traditional liturgy (TLM) regularly constitute only about 1% of the world’s overall Catholic population. If 1% among those traditionalists reject the Novus Ordo (and I think that estimate would be far too high), then the problem is confined to a barely visible minority.
Ironically, Lawler offers no evidence to support his own claim, namely, that only 1% of “traditionalists reject the Novus Ordo.”
So, what is the real story?
I firmly believe that Lawler is grossly underestimating the number of traditionalists who vehemently reject the Mass of Paul the Pathetic.
Now, I can no more offer evidence in this matter than he can, but what I can do is speak for myself. From there, readers can consider whether or not my view reflects their own mindset and that of other Latin Mass goers with whom they’re familiar.
I wholeheartedly reject the Novus Ordo and any claim it might make as a lex orandi (never mind the lex orandi) of the Church, not due to canonical technicalities concerning validity, nor due to doubts surrounding the confection of the Blessed Sacrament, but for the simple reason that it’s not a Catholic rite.
To be perfectly clear, I do not feel compelled to take a firm position, one way or the other, whether or not the Blessed Sacrament is truly confected at the Novus Ordo. It is enough for me that the rite isn’t Catholic, no more than the liturgy offered in the Orthodox Churches is Catholic despite our belief that the Blessed Sacrament as confected therein is valid albeit illicit.
Furthermore, I consider the Novus Ordo – with its ecumenical aims, deliberately watered down theology, and doctrinal errors – to be an offense against Almighty God regardless of how “reverently” it is celebrated. No amount of lipstick on that pig will suffice to make it a worthy act of Divine Worship. The very thought of being present at that rite makes my skin crawl.
But enough about me… What can be said about Jorge Bergoglio and his ilk who clearly despise the Traditional Roman Rites, the Mass of Ages, and the Sacraments?
Fortunately, we need not say even a word of our own, rather let us allow Holy Mother Church to speak on our behalf:
If any one saith, that the received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, wont to be used in the solemn administration of the sacraments, may be contemned, or without sin be omitted at pleasure by the ministers, or be changed, by whomsoever of the pastors of the churches, into other new ones; let him be anathema. (Council of Trent, Session VII, On the Sacraments in General, Canon XIII)
Is not treating the traditional rites of the Church with contempt, seeking their omission, changing them into new ones… precisely what Bergoglio & Co. are doing?
Returning now to the question posed in the title to this post: Dost thou renounce the Novus Ordo, its works, its pomps?
Even if you, dear reader, do not share my deep level of disgust for the conciliar rite, consider: If the Traditional Latin Mass was unavailable to you on a Holy Day of obligation, would you hold your nose and attend a Novus Ordo, joining your heart and soul to the prayers being offered, answering the cattle call to Communion?
I suspect that the answer is “no” for most readers of this space, but for the sake of clarity, consider something less hypothetical: Do you cringe at the mere thought of enduring what the conciliar church considers the perfectly valid Mass of Paul VI offered at the parish nearest your home?
If so, congratulations, Jorge is correct, you do reject the Novus Ordo.
I for one am sick and tired of Catholic commentators who, like a team of slimy defense lawyers, debase themselves and the “traditionalists” they claim to represent, groveling before Jorge’s kangaroo court pleading “not guilty.”
It’s time for us to look the Bergoglian prosecutors square in the eye, in emulation of our first pope, St. Peter, declaring without any apology whatsoever:
You’re damned right we reject that humanistic dog and pony show you call the Mass! We will obey God, rather than men!
