The big news in “trad” circles, in the U.S. at any rate, is that on May 23, 2025, Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte, NC, issued a letter announcing the suppression of the traditional (and only) Roman Rite in his diocese beginning July 8th.
The letter is titled, “Completing the Implementation of Traditionis Custodes in the Diocese of Charlotte.”
Right out of the gate, Martin is being dishonest.
How so?
As the letter goes on to state, Martin is “designating a chapel in the diocese where faithful adherents may gather for the celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation using the Roman Missal of 1962.”
So, who is Michael Martin?
Well, he’s a Franciscan, who also happens to be what we might call – with affection, of course – a no good Son-of-a-Bergoglio. He was handpicked in 2024 (with the help of Cardinal Robert Prevost, current stage name, Leo) to succeed Bishop Peter Jugis – who celebrated, and was very supportive of, the TLM – as Ordinary of the Diocese of Charlotte.
This being so, it seems to me that anyone who imagines that Leo will move to soften the liturgical blow in Charlotte (or elsewhere for that matter) is smoking some medical grade hopium.
But, but… Leo called for “a united Church, a sign of unity and communion!”
Yes, he did. As for the kind of unity he has in mind, I’d say that the current dust up in Charlotte illustrates it perfectly.
There can be no doubt that Martin’s decision making in this matter is being guided by the letter Bergoglio sent to the bishops explaining the purpose and the goal of Traditionis Cojones. It states:
It is up to you to proceed in such a way as to return to a unitary form of celebration…
NB: Returning to a “unitary form” means hastening the day when the Novus Ordo will be the only “Roman Rite” [sic] celebrated in conciliar parishes. Jorge makes this even clearer in the next paragraph:
Indications about how to proceed in your dioceses are chiefly dictated by two principles: on the one hand, to provide for the good of those who are rooted in the previous form of celebration and need to return in due time to the Roman Rite promulgated by Saints Paul VI and John Paul II… [Emphasis added]
With this mind, Martin’s move to relegate the TLM to a single chapel is not about “completing the implementation of Traditionis Custodes” as the title to his letter states. That’s a lie. This latest move to limit the TLM is merely a step along the way toward its total and complete elimination.
In recent days, it was revealed that Martin sent an internal memo to his priests outlining “Responses to Concerns” regarding his decision to limit the TLM, providing them with stock answers to the sorts of objections they may anticipate receiving.
So-called “traditionalists” on social media are reacting to the memo like hornets taking a hickory stick to the hive. Even so, a sober assessment of its commentary is that the responses are cogent and entirely reasonable, provided… (We’ll get to that in a moment.)
Among the highlights:
- “Bishop Martin’s agreement or disagreement with the norms established by the Church does not come into play when carrying out the directives of the Church as he is called to do as the local ordinary.”
Those who believe that Francis was a true pope, and that the conciliar church presently in occupation of the Vatican is the Catholic Church, have no leg to stand on in opposition to Martin’s action. None. At. All.
As Pope Pius XII plainly taught, “the sacred liturgy, as We have said, is entirely subject to the discretion and approval of the Holy See” (cf Mediator Dei 60).
It does not matter one iota how often, or how confidently, Peter Kwasniewski declares “Traditionis Custodes is absolutely null and utterly void.”
Until such time as he is elected pope, or a true pope decides likewise, that applause line is nothing more than meaningless red meat for the misinformed masses to consume. Sadly for them, Kwasniewski’s offerings – despite any good intentions – are laced with poison, which is why his followers now find themselves helplessly caught up in Charlotte’s web, whining and complaining about the injustice of it all.
Don’t blame Martin for this sticky situation, rather it’s one of the Pope Resisters’ own making. This is what happens when one either considers himself, or follows, an “expert” who preaches about the need to “rethink” the bimillennial teaching of the Church on the papacy, and who brazenly and publicly indicts genuinely saintly popes for “liturgical modernism.”
The internal memo continues:
- “Traditionis Custodes requires the limitations that we are implementing for the purpose of preserving unity in the Church.”
There’s that pesky call for unity again! Once more, Martin’s reasoning is sound. Provided Francis was a true pope, and the conciliar church presently in occupation of the Vatican is the Catholic Church.
- “If Pope Leo decides to abrogate the norms of TC, Bishop Martin will certainly then abide by those new norms and implement them as directed.”
Another rock solid response, provided Francis was a true pope, Leo XIV is the current pope, and the conciliar church presently in occupation of the Vatican is the Catholic Church.
- “The Charlotte Director of Vocations, the Charlotte Diocesan Admissions Board, and the formators of the multiple seminaries where our seminarians are trained have never accepted nor promoted young men for formation to the priesthood who have not been committed to the celebration of the Liturgy and Sacraments of the Church in the primary means by which they are celebrated in the Universal Church (the Novus Ordo).”
Even though members of the Resist-the-Pope cult are up in arms over this statement, it isn’t controversial in the least. There isn’t a diocesan seminary anywhere in the world (of which I am aware, at any rate) that accepts men who demonstrate apathy toward the Novus Ordo rites, much less are there any forming men exclusively in the traditional Roman Rites.
- Should implementation of Traditionis Custodes “cause people to withhold their giving to the Church” … “a local Bishop cannot be swayed by these considerations.”
Sorry Resisters, that’s what leadership with conviction looks like, it’s not going to be intimidated by boycotts, or picket signs, or adolescents in tears, or any such thing. So…
If you claim to be in communion with Occupied Rome, and you insist that the conciliar church presently in occupation of the Vatican is the Catholic Church, shut your pie hole and quit your complaining about the actions of your ersatz shepherds.
Better still, open your cryin’ eyes to the undeniable reality that the Vatican II religion simply isn’t Catholic, then stand up and shout like a Crusader for Christ: To Hell with Charlotte’s web!
The truth will set you free.
