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Tuesday, February 21, 2023

“I Cannot Obey”: A Priest’s Letter to His Bishop

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“I Cannot Obey”: A Priest’s Letter to His Bishop

Editor’s Note: What follows could double as a form letter for those priests who will be forced to disobey an unjust order in the very near future. They will be ordered to stop offering the Traditional Latin Mass, and many of them will disobey. But this need not be an act of defiance against their bishops. The villain here is Pope Francis. He is the one who has issued orders that put the bishops in a difficult spot. And neither should this disobedience be seen as permanent. The situation under Francis is completely unsustainable, and, in God’s good time, the Latin Mass will be restored, just as it was after the 1970s when the Latin Mass was “abrogated,” “outlawed,” and “never coming back.” No force on earth can destroy the Latin Mass, not even a Jesuit bulldozer like Francis. Please share this letter with your priests so that together we can all prepare for the inevitable. And, remember, this has all happened before. God is in charge. MJM

 

Your Excellency:

Praise be to Jesus Christ now and forever.  As one of your most loyal priests – who has always tried to honor his Church, obey his bishop, and worship his God – I  never anticipated having to do what I’m about to do, and I am truly sorry for the disappointment it may cause.  

After much prayer, study, and consideration, I find myself bound in conscience to declare my  intention to disobey your order to stop offering the Traditional Latin Mass.

I realize that Your Excellency is in a difficult position, and that you too are following the dictates of your conscience where the Holy Father’s motu proprio Traditionis Custodes is concerned.  But I have weighed my duty before God against my promise to obey – and God won out.  As I see it, to comply with an order so unjust could well be an affront to Almighty God Himself. 

I cannot accept that God wishes for us to cooperate with such cruel persecution of such faithful Catholics.  And even if it means I am to lose my position and livelihood for a time, at least I will not have the souls of their children on my conscience.

But let me be clear, I do not intend to disrespect you, much less question your rightful authority over me as a simple priest. This is a matter of conscience for me, and the reason I cannot obey has everything to do with the crisis in the Church and nothing whatever to do with any personal disrespect for you.

Before God, I have no choice.  I see so many faithful Catholics losing heart due to sexual, financial, and doctrinal scandals that run up and down the entire chain of command. The few that remain are barely hanging on.  Many would have left already had it not been for the Extraordinary Form, which somehow by God’s grace speaks to their broken hearts and soothes their battered souls.

How can we take this away from them? Have they not suffered enough? This is the only Mass the young people in my parish have ever known. It unites them, not only with Catholics all over the world, but also with their forefathers. It sustains them. It lifts them up, inspires them, helps them grow closer to God. 

What will happen to them when we take away the Mass they attend certainly every Sunday but also most weekdays?  We both know that the vast majority of Catholics in our diocese no longer attend Sunday Mass at all. 

Our Church is based on Faith and Reason, but how is this not detrimental to Faith? And how is it not utterly unreasonable? I cannot accept that God wishes for us to cooperate with such cruel persecution of such faithful Catholics.  And even if it means I am to lose my position and livelihood for a time, at least I will not have the souls of their children on my conscience. I know them. I see how much they love God and the Church and the angels and the saints. I will not do this to them. I cannot betray them. 

Besides, what will happen to them when we take away the Mass they attend certainly every Sunday but also most weekdays?  We both know that the vast majority of Catholics in our diocese no longer attend Sunday Mass at all.  No, I can have no part in this scandal.

I pray that you will understand my crisis of conscience, even if you disagree with my decision to continue offering the Latin Mass. You are my bishop, Francis is my pope, and I will pray for you both at every Mass I offer, even as I pray that our merciful God will shorten this time of tribulation for us all.

With great sorrow and sincere affection,

Father X

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Last modified on Friday, February 24, 2023
Michael J. Matt | Editor

Michael J. Matt has been an editor of The Remnant since 1990. Since 1994, he has been the newspaper's editor. A graduate of Christendom College, Michael Matt has written hundreds of articles on the state of the Church and the modern world. He is the host of The Remnant Underground and Remnant TV's The Remnant Forum. He's been U.S. Coordinator for Notre Dame de Chrétienté in Paris--the organization responsible for the Pentecost Pilgrimage to Chartres, France--since 2000.  Mr. Matt has led the U.S. contingent on the Pilgrimage to Chartres for the last 24 years. He is a lecturer for the Roman Forum's Summer Symposium in Gardone Riviera, Italy. He is the author of Christian Fables, Legends of Christmas and Gods of Wasteland (Fifty Years of Rock ‘n’ Roll) and regularly delivers addresses and conferences to Catholic groups about the Mass, home-schooling, and the culture question. Together with his wife, Carol Lynn and their seven children, Mr. Matt currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.