LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Appeal of the Mass of the Saints to many younger faithful should not be denied

Posted

TO THE EDITOR:

I take up my pen and ink in response to the remarks of Father Ronald Brassard, formerly our director of Liturgy.
I am concerned with his condescension toward young people devoted to the Mass of Trent and John XXIII. The all-purpose plaint of “Just get them into the Church” of the Vatican II establishment (which brought up puppets, dancing nuns, priests, laity and bears, jazz and folk Masses with very little folk and lousy jazz) allows for all but the Extraordinary Form even if it fills the churches.
Father Brassard is indeed concerned about the falling away of teenagers before Confirmation age but refuses to admit the possibility that the Mass of the Saints could be of use to a portion of the faithful.
We hear so often that the fruits of the Council and forget that many “nuts” were mixed into the basket, and often ignoring the verifiable statistics since then:
1. Disaster in vocations
2. Disaster in Mass attendance
3. Closing of parishes, convents, and rectories
4. Secularization of Catholic universities, colleges, high schools, and grammar schools
5. The collapse of Judeo-Christian value in our societies
6. Ongoing dissolution of family, marriage, and respect for the lives of the pre-born and aged.
There are many other possibilities and I know of the “post hoc ergo propter hoc” fallacy. BUT the Church survived the Roman Empire, Attila, the Protestant Revolt, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Maoism, etc. Will it now crumble before ignorance and bad taste? I hope and pray NOT.

Rev. Richard A. Bucci, Pastor of Sacred Heart Church