Sixty-two (62) Reasons
Why, in conscience, we cannot attend the New Mass (also known as Mass of Pope Paul VI, Novus
Ordo, new liturgy) either in the vernacular or the Latin, whether facing the
people or facing the tabernacle. Thus, for the same reasons, we
adherefaithfully to the traditional Mass (also known as Tridentine Mass, old
Latin Mass, Roman Missal, Pian Missal, Missal of St. Pius V, Mass of All Time).
(Based on the Sixty Reasons set forth by 25
diocesan priests of the Diocese of Campos,
Brazil).
1. Because the New Mass is not an unequivocal Profession of the Catholic
Faith (which the traditional Mass is), it is ambiguous and with a Protestant
flavor. Therefore since we pray as we believe, it follows that we cannot pray
with the New Mass in Protestant fashion and still believe as Catholics!
2. Because the changes were not just slight
ones but actually “deal with a fundamental renovation… a total change… a new
creation.” (Msgr. A. Bugnini, co-author of the New Mass)
3. Because the New Mass leads us to think
“that truths… can be changed or ignored without infidelity to that sacred
deposit of doctrine to which the Catholic Faith is bound forever.” *
4. Because the New Mass represents “a striking departure from the Catholic
theology of the Mass as formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent” which, in fixing
the “canons,” provided an “insurmountable barrier to any heresy against the
integrity of the Mystery.” *
5. Because the difference between the two is not simply one of mere detail
or just modification of ceremony, but “all that is of perennial value finds
only a minor place (in the New Mass), if it subsists at all.” *
6. Because “Recent reforms have amply
demonstrated that fresh changes in the liturgy could lead to nothing but
complete bewilderment in the faithful who already show signs of uneasiness and
lessening of Faith.” *
7. Because in times of confusion such as now,
we are guided by the words of our Lord: “By their fruits you shall know them.”
Fruits of the New Mass are: 30% decrease in Sunday Mass attendance in U. S. (NY
Times, 5/24/75), 43% decrease in France (Cardinal Marty), 50% decrease in Holland (NY Times,
1/5/76).
8. Because “amongst the best of the clergy the practical result (of
the New Mass) is an agonizing crisis of conscience… “ *
9. Because in less than seven years after the
introduction of the New Mass, priests in the world decreased from 413,438 to
243,307 - almost 50%! (Holy See Statistics)
10. Because “The pastoral reasons adduced to
support such a grave break with tradition… do not seem to us sufficient.” *
11. Because the New Mass does not manifest Faith in the Real Presence of our
Lord - the Traditional Mass manifests it unmistakably.
12. Because the New Mass confuses the REAL
Presence of Christ in the Eucharist with His MYSTICAL Presence among us
(proximating Protestant doctrine).
13. Because the New Mass blurs what ought to be a sharp difference between
the HIERARCHIC Priesthood and the common priesthood of the people (as does
Protestantism).
14. Because the New Mass favors the heretical
theory that it is THE FAITH of the people and not THE WORDS OF THE PRIEST which
makes Christ present in the Eucharist.
15. Because the insertion of the Lutheran:
“Prayer of the Faithful” in the New Mass follows and puts forth the Protestant
error that all the people are priests.
16. Because the New Mass does away with the
Confiteor of the priest, makes it collective with the people, thus promoting
Luther's refusal to accept the Catholic teaching that the priest is judge,
witness and intercessor with God.
17. Because the New Mass gives us to understand
that the people concelebrate with the priest - which is against Catholic
theology!
18. Because six Protestant ministers collaborated in making up the New Mass:
George, Jasper, Shepherd, Kunneth, Smith and Thurian.
19. Because just as Luther did away with the
Offertory - since it very clearly expressed the sacrificial, propitiatory
character of the Mass - so also the inventors of the New Mass did away with it,
reducing it to a simple Preparation of the Gifts.
The six Protestant ministers who collaborated in
making up the New Mass: Drs. George, Jasper, Shepher, Kunneth, Smith, Thurian.
20. Because enough Catholic theology has been
removed that Protestants can, while keeping their antipathy for the True Roman
Catholic Church, use the text of the New Mass without difficulty. Protestant
Minister Thurian (co-consultor for the 'New Mass' project) said that a fruit of
the New mass “will perhaps be that the non-Catholic communities will be able to
celebrate the Lord's Supper using the same prayers as the Catholic Church.” (La
Croix, 4/30/69)
21. Because the narrative manner of the Consecration in the New Mass infers
that it is only a memorial and not a true sacrifice (Protestant thesis).
22. Because by grave omissions, the New Mass
leads us to believe that it is only a meal (Protestant doctrine) and not a
sacrifice for the remission of sins (Catholic Doctrine).
23. Because the changes such as: table instead
of altar; facing people instead of tabernacle; Communion in the hand, etc.,
emphasize Protestant doctrines (e. g., Mass is only a meal; priest only a
president of the assembly; Eucharist is NOT the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity
of Jesus Christ, but merely a piece of bread, etc.)
24. Because Protestants themselves have said
“the new Catholic Eucharistic prayers have abandoned the false (sic)
perspective of sacrifice offered to God.” (La Croix, 12/10/69)
25. Because we are faced with the dilemma:
either we become Protestantized by worshipping with the New Mass, or else we
preserve our Catholic Faith by adhering faithfully to the traditional Mass, the
“Mass of All Time.”
26. Because the New Mass was made in accordance with the Protestant
definition of the Mass: “The Lord's Supper or Mass is a sacred synaxis or
assembly of the people of God which gathers together under the presidency of
the priest to celebrate the memorial of the Lord.” (Par. 7, Intro. to the New
Missal, defining the New Mass, 4/6/69).
27. Because by means of ambiguity, the New Mass
pretends to please Catholics while pleasing Protestants; thus it is
“double-tongued” and offensive to God who abhors any kind of hypocrisy: “Cursed
be… the double-tongued for they destroy the peace of many.” (Ecclesiasticus
28:13)
28. Because beautiful, familiar Catholic hymns
which have inspired people for centuries, have been thrown out and replaced
with new hymns strongly Protestant in sentiment, further deepening the already
distinct impression that one is no longer attending a Catholic function.
29. Because the New Mass contains ambiguities subtly favoring heresy, which
is more dangerous than if it were clearly heretical since a half-heresy half
resembles the Truth!
30. Because Christ has only one Spouse, the
Catholic Church, and her worship service cannot also serve religions that are
at enmity with her.
31. Because the New Mass follows the format of
Cranmer's heretical Anglican Mass, and the methods used to promote it follow
precisely the methods of the English heretics.
32. Because Holy Mother Church
canonized numerous English Martyrs who were killed because they refused to
participate in a Mass such as the
New Mass!
33. Because Protestants who once converted to
Catholicism are scandalized to see that the New Mass is the same as the one
they attended as Protestants. One of them, Julien Green, asks: “Why did we
convert? “
34. Because statistics show a great decrease in conversions to Catholicism
following the use of the New Mass. Conversions, which were up to 100,000 a year
in the U.S., have decreased to less than 10,000! And the number of people
leaving the Church far exceeds those coming in.
35. Because the Traditional Mass has forged
many saints. “Innumerable saints have been fed abundantly with the proper piety
towards God by it… “ (Pope Paul VI, Const. Apost. Missale Romanum)
36. Because the nature of the New Mass is such as to facilitate profanations
of the Holy Eucharist, which occur with a frequency unheard of with the
Traditional Mass.
37. Because the New Mass, despite appearances,
conveys a New Faith, not the Catholic Faith. It conveys Modernism and follows
exactly the tactics of Modernism, using vague terminology in order to insinuate
and advance error.
38. Because by introducing optional variations,
the New Mass undermines the unity of the liturgy, with each priest liable to
deviate as he fancies under the guise of creativity. Disorder inevitably
results, accompanied by lack of respect and irreverence.
39. Because many good Catholic theologians,
canonists and priests do not accept the New Mass, and affirm that they are
unable to celebrate it in good conscience.
40. Because the New Mass has eliminated such
things as: genuflections (only three remain), purification of the priests
fingers in the chalice, preservation from all profane contact of priest's
fingers after Consecration, sacred altar stone and relics, three altar clothes
(reduced to one), all of which “only serve to emphasize how outrageously faith
in the dogma of the Real Presence is implicitly repudiated.” *
41. Because the traditional Mass, enriched and
matured by centuries of Sacred Tradition, was codified (not invented) by a Pope
who was a saint, Pius V; whereas the New Mass was artificially fabricated by
six Protestant ministers and Msgr. Annibale Bugnini suspect of being a
Freemason.
42. Because the errors of the New Mass which
are accentuated in the vernacular version are even present in the Latin text of
the New Mass.
43. Because the New Mass, with its ambiguity and permissiveness, exposes us
to the wrath of God by facilitating the risk of invalid consecrations: “Will
priests of the near future who have not received the traditional formation, and
who rely on the Novus Ordo Missae with the intention of 'doing what the Church
does, ' consecrate validly? One may be allowed to doubt it!” *
44. Because the abolition of the Traditional
Mass recalls the prophecy of Daniel 8: 12: “And he was given power against the
perpetual sacrifice because of the sins of the people” and the observation of
St. Alphonsus de Liguori that because the Mass is the best and most beautiful
thing which exists in the Church here below, the devil has always tried by
means of heretics to deprive us of it.
45. Because in places where the Traditional
Mass is preserved, the Faith and fervor of the people are greater. Whereas the
opposite is true where the New Mass reigns (Report on the Mass, Diocese of
Campos, Roma, Buenos Aires
#69, 8/81)
46. Because along with the New Mass goes also a new catechism, a new
morality, new prayers, new Code of Canon law, new calendar, -- in a word, a NEW
CHURCH, a complete revolution from the old. “The liturgical reform… do not be
deceived, this is where the revolution begins.” (Msgr. Dwyer, Archbishop of
Birmingham, spokesman of Episcopal Synod)
47. Because the intrinsic beauty of the
Traditional Mass attracts souls by itself; whereas the New Mass, lacking any
attractiveness of its own, has to invent novelties and entertainment in order
to appeal to the people.
48. Because the New mass embodies numerous
errors condemned by Pope St. Pius V at the Council of Trent (Mass totally in
vernacular, words of Consecration spoken aloud, etc. See Condemnation of
Jansenist Synod of Pistoia), and errors condemned by Pope Pius XII (e.g., altar
in form of table. See Mediator
Dei).
49. Because the New Mass attempts to transform
the Catholic Church into a new, ecumenical church embracing all ideologies and
all religions - right and wrong, truth and error - a goal long dreamt of by the
enemies of the Catholic Church.
50. Because the New Mass, in removing the
salutations and final blessing when the priest celebrates alone, shows a denial
of, and disbelief in the dogma of the Communion of Saints.
51. Because the altar and tabernacle are now separated, thus marking a
division between Christ in His priest-and-Sacrifice-on-the-altar, from Christ
in His Real Presence in the tabernacle, “two things which of their very nature,
must remain together.” (Pius XII)
52. Because the New Mass no longer constitutes
a vertical worship between God and man, but rather a horizontal worship between
man and man.
53. Because the New Mass, although appearing to
conform to the dispositions of Vatican Council II, in reality opposes its
instructions, since the Council itself declared its desire to conserve and
promote the Traditional Rite.
54. Because the Traditional Latin Mass of Pope St. Pius V has never been
legally abrogated and therefore remains a true rite of the Roman Catholic
Church by which the faithful may fulfill their Sunday obligation.
55. Because Pope St. Pius V granted a perpetual indult, valid “for always,”
to celebrate the Traditional Mass freely, licitly, without scruple of
conscience, punishment, sentence or censure (Papal Bull Quo Primum)
56. Because Pope Paul VI, when promulgating the
New Mass, himself declared. “The rite… by itself is NOT a dogmatic definition…”
(11/19/69)
57. Because Pope Paul VI, when asked by
Cardinal Heenan of England,
if he was abrogating or prohibiting the Tridentine Mass, answered: “It is not
our intention to prohibit absolutely the Tridentine Mass.”
58. Because “In the Libera nos of the New Mass, the Blessed Virgin,
the Apostles and all the Saints are no longer mentioned; her and their
intercession thus no longer asked, even in time of peril.” *
59. Because in none of the three new
Eucharistic Prayers (of the New Mass) is there any reference… to the state of
suffering of those who have died, in none the possibility of a particular
Memento, thus undermining faith in the redemptive nature of the Sacrifice. *
60. Because we recognize the Holy Father's supreme authority in his
universal government of Holy Mother Church, but we know that even this
authority cannot impose upon us a practice which is so CLEARLY against the
Faith: a Mass that is equivocal and favoring heresy and therefore disagreeable
to God.
61. Because, as stated in Vatican Council I,
the “Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter, that by His
revelation they might make new doctrine, but that by His assistance they might
inviolably keep and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of Faith
delivered through the Apostles.” (Dnz 3070)
62. Because heresy, or whatever clearly favors heresy, cannot be a matter
for obedience. Obedience is at the service of Faith and not Faith at the service
of obedience! In this foregoing case then, “One must obey God before men.”
(Acts 5: 29)
____________________________
* Letter
of Cardinals A. Ottaviani and A. Bacci to Pope Paul VI, dated September 25,
1969 enclosing A Critical Study of the Novus Ordo Missae.
Anthony Nguyen
P.O. Box 262482
Houston, TX 77207, USA
(July 25,
2012)