One of the differences between a Traditional Latin Mass and a Novus Ordo one is that the former has a distinguished masculine atmosphere to it, while the latter is soft and feminine.
If you have always felt like Christianity is an effeminate religion, come and try out the Traditional Latin Mass. Look online for SSPX, FSSP (recommended) or even Sedevacantist. If none of these is around, look for an Eastern Orthodox Church.
The silence.
The piety of the laypeople, who kneel almost of all the time (unlike in a Novus Ordo where people sit through it).
The powerful homilies (Catholic sermon).
The masculine Latin tongue.
ZERO altar girls.
And if I am correct, even the average TLM priest seems more testosteronized than his NO brethren.
All of those things will make for a healthy, authentic experience of Catholic Christianity which is very male friendly (that is, for masculine men).
Compare it to a NO mass.
“Go and spread love”.
“Love one another”.
“Love your neighbour”.
And worst, “Let’s offer each other a sign of peace”, says the priest, after which people actually turn to each other, smile (!) and shake hands, and “peace to you”. I might have as well converted to Hinduism for some Namaste.
Let’s be honest, if you are a spiritual seeker today, you do not need to go to a Church to learn about all these “love” things. It’s all common sense. The clerics of NO just do not want to teach the truth, so they water it down and turn a powerful Catholic mass into a giant New Age meetup.
Avoid the NO mass as much as you could. It will do your soul a service.
And if you see something like the video below, avoid it like AIDS. It’s disgusting, and borderline heretical. What is this, a shamanic rite?
As one who attends the Mass according to the ’75 Missal regularly, your criticisms are unfounded with regard to an authentic and reverent celebration of that missal. I’m not sure how the Mass can be either in itself can be “masculine” or “feminine,” and I think your criticism falls apart, when you take issues with the Holy Pax, which is one of the oldest parts of the Mass, and which is sadly neglected in Low Masses of the Pius V Missal. It is however present in the Sung High Mass, which ought to be (and sadly is not in many communities) the normative Mass of the Tridentine form.
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Well, if you look at the NO mass:
– No kiss of peace
– The priest facing the people
– A large number of homilies are watered down truths, sometimes even heresies (abortion is OK because it’s the 21st century now)
My criticism of the NO mass as feminine can be felt if you go to a NO mass with all these “love” “love” stuff and then the next week go to a TLM.
At any rate, if you go to a Latin Mass, they will always preach the truth to you.
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Not always, some Tridentine communities have been infected with Schism and Jansenism, not many, but enough. Also, the “NO” Mass which I attend is celebrated Ad Orientem, while certain Tridentine Masses are celebrated Versus Populum (in certain Ancient Basilicas). But most importantly, is that “love love stuff” can be very important, if it is about true self-sacrificial love, which is sometimes more evident in women then in many men.
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Well, in my Latin Mass, people do learn about love. And the thing is that you do not really need a priest to be reminded of this “love” message today when it is so prevalent in our world : “There should be more love and kindness”. All of that reeks of leftism to me. Interestingly, those churches that cling to “love” the most will almost always turn out to be the most liberal churches.
And I do not get your critique of Jansenism here. Sure, some Trad Cat can come across as morally rigid or even haughty, but how does watering down the teachings work? Should we all now just accept a lesser version of Catholicism?
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Jansensim is a watering down of the teaching of Catholicism, only it is in the opposite direction of that which you rightly criticize. That does not make it any less wrong, and while most Tridentine communities are not infected with it (Thank God) it is still a very real danger in the Church.
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Plus, Schism might not be bad, if one half of the Church is fallen and the other half trying to upkeep the traditions.
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That is heresy, schism can never be good, as it involves denying the fundamental Tradition of the Catholic Faith, and is especially grievous if this denial comes for sake of preserving “traditions,” which in themselves are beneficial, but those benefits are negated by Schism.
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And your critique of women and self sacrifial love is flawed too. Do you know how much “self sacrifice” those women have done? Well, they often do it to the point of taking more Middle Eastern / African refugees in, and we have seen how it turns out.
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I know from very personal experience the self-sacrifice that women are capable of. And how has the refugee situation turned out? Many more are receiving the Grace of Baptism than would have been possible had they not entered the West. Yes there is terrorism, yes there is crime, and yes this must be prevented as far as possible, but how far can it be prevented before the forces preventing it become terroristic regimes themselves?
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What I mean by this comment that, without all these Leftism targeting women, such tragic terrorist attacks and sexual assaults would have never happened. And how is it a good thing that in order to convert a few refugees, Europe should be put at risk of an invasion, and then an even bigger risk of having its cultural traditions destroyed and replaced with something as grotesque as radical Islam?
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It isn’t a good thing, but the alternatives are almost all as bad, and therein lies the problem. In some respects, our hands are tied, because there are those who really need our help, and it is the plain fact that we (unless given a special Grace of God), know the hidden intentions, and the plain truth that not every evil can be avoided. It is therefore up to us that we do not commit any of the evils, and that we trust in God to bring greater good from the evil we must endure. To paraphrase his late Majesty Otto, to be a European is an Act of Faith.
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The best alternative is far from “bad” as you think, it simply requires Europe to give up its political correctness and start demanding these refugees to behave. But alas, the disease of Leftism has spread out too much, so there is a very slim chance that a peaceful solution can be reached.
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Yes, you are correct, but as you say, this solution is not very probable. If the West had continued the ancient practice of ξενία (Xenia, the customs governing the protection foreigners and potential friendship with them, and vice-versa), which ironically in the modern world only exists in the Middle East, then there might be a chance. The problem facing us currently is that we are bound to the laws of war, even if our opponent completely disregards them. And hence we cannot go to war with potential “combatants” or potential “terrorists”.
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I agree with everything you said here, however, I really dislike the way you frame this. You said the solution to the refugee problem can be even more frightening than the problem itself. I think that things are not as terrible as you (and Leftists) think. How many white nationalist gangs have made headlines for terrorist attacks against Muslims so far? None. It’s simple. Europeans, though de-christianized, still retain a vague moral sense. I have not seen them going out of their way to attack anyone physically yet, so I will not be afraid of that threat.
Also, the nonviolent strategy can only go so far. When your enemy start to intimidate you and demand you protection money, you know the time of war is up. And judging by how silent or hostile the entire Muslim community in the West has been to us so far, I can only predict that, save for a small number of friendly Muslims, we are going to have to deal with the rest by violence. That’s a highly to be inevitable outcome. I do not wish for war, however, war wishes to visit me nevertheless, and I have no choice but to fight back. That is how I view this situation.
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Great article! What I disagree with most strongly is your comment that:
“Plus, Schism might not be bad, if one half of the Church is fallen and the other half trying to upkeep the traditions.”
Schism can never “not be bad.” The kernel of truth in this is that the Church is infiltrated with silent apostates, fully believing in the heresy of modernism– and this is arguably (arguably! not certainly) worse than visible schism. In some cases these people are mere material (not fully aware, not bearing full guilt) heretics, and in others 100% culpable, full on heretics– it’s often hard to tell the difference.
Nonetheless, schism is always very, very, bad. The wheat will be with the chaff until the harvest. It would be a mistake to think that visible schism is “not that bad,” just because there’s the continuing evil of covert apostasy and heresy.
Anyhow, regarding the masculine and feminine aspects, you might find this article interesting:
http://www.barnhardt.biz/the-one-about/the-one-about-why-priests-can-only-ever-be-men/
I would not say that the TLM is more masculine, but that the aspects of masculinity and femininity are more properly ordered.
We all take a female role towards God. Except the priest at mass– this is the only time God allows a man to take a masculine role in regards to Him.
I also think you’re a bit too pessimistic about the Novus Ordo– perhaps they are all very irreverent in your area, but in mine they are often reverent. Some more liberal dioceses do have absolutely horrible (not according to rubrics) NO. But perhaps I’m quibbling, the TLM is definitely vastly superior.
I go to Novus Ordo mass on weekdays because it’s the only option in my area, and TLM on Sundays. I just think it’s a huge mistake not to go to mass as often as you can because of preference for the TLM; which some people fall into. Frequent confession and communion is very beneficial, even if Novus Ordo.
One more thing to add is that if people want to explore the Eastern rite, it is better to find an Eastern rite parish in communion with Rome. I used to go to a Greek Melkite (full communion with Rome) parish on occasion, and found it very good, though at the end of the day I wish to stay Latin rite.
Lastly, you might well enjoy this video:
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Hi Drustan, thanks for your comment!
Perhaps I did not articulate my desire very well in that earlier comment very well. I have always worried that one day Vatican might declare traditional and conservative Catholics to be heretics, and if we do not stand up and resist, our Faith will be lost. That’s why I wrote schism might not be bad.
I am not very sure about going to mass more frequently. Due to distance, I usually only go to the Sunday Mass at a TLM parish far from where I live, and not go to Mass during weekend. Frankly I will tell you, I am suspicious of receiving communion and making confessions to NO priests. Will they be spiritually qualified enough to give me good advices? And I always feel like I’m wasting my time going to a Mass in which all they preach is “love love”.
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The way I look at it is: Novus Ordo Missae=good; TLM=much, much, better.
The Novus Ordo is a step down, but because Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, it is still a very good thing. (I exclude cases of extreme irreverence or sacrilege of course)
I do sympathize with wanting to avoid Novus Ordo completely. In some cases that may be better, depending on the priest. But there are good, pious, orthodox priests who celebrate the Novus Ordo.
As far as confessors, finding a good confessor should be more valued than finding tons of gold– but the sacrament is valid no matter the priest, as long as he uses the correct formula.
Something you might find interesting about this is Tale XII from the Gesta Romanorum (Deeds of the Romans), which you can read here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=7lwKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA22&dq=gesta+romanorum+tale+xii&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjX4ZLtgMrRAhWFTCYKHQuIBmMQ6AEIIjAC#v=onepage&q&f=false
I don’t think the Vatican will ever declare traditional Catholics heretical. We have Pope Francis’ offhand, sometimes insulting comments, but I don’t think any kind of solemn declaration will occur. I don’t think schism is something that true Catholics could ever be forced into by the Church, because of the nature of what schism is: a voluntary choice to separate from the Church.
If it were the case that members of the hierarchy excommunicated Catholics for holding to the Catholic faith, or refusing to obey an intrinsically evil command, it would be an invalid excommunication and they would not truly be in schism.
Put more simply, schism is not something that can “just happen,” a Catholic has to make the conscious choice by his free will to separate himself from the body of Christ in order to become schismatic.
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