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Thursday, August 16, 2018

Did the TLM Cause the Sex Scandals?

I have heard "traditionalist" Catholics, lovers of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), assert the following:
Has any Bishop’s statement included the word “sin”? Seems that word has been scrubbed out of the Church’s lexicon. 
Homilies keep affirming us in our okayness. I hear no mention of sin. 
Our hymns are full of what we are doing for God. How lucky God is to have us.
I came into the Church to get rid of my sins, not have them affirmed or ignored. I want to be challenged, because I need to be challenged continuously. 
One thing I love about the Latin Mass is I have to say the “Domine, non sum dignus” three times. Seems at least the minimum number of times I should remind myself of my unworthiness. That there is something wrong with me that only Christ can heal.
This statement, while centered around a laudable remark on sin and self, demonstrates a completely oblivious attitude towards recent liturgical history. After all, we know men trained and formed in the TLM were actively recruiting homosexuals into the sacred ministry all over the world, which is why the Vatican had to promulgate a world-wide directive to all TLM-trained priests to STOP ordaining homosexuals.

That directive came out in 1961.
That is TWO YEARS prior to VC II.

So, if we want to claim that the liturgy is at the basis of the modern sex abuse problem, then we must admit the Traditional Latin Mass, at least as it was undertaken in the 20th century, is at the basis of the sexual abuse problem. Given the premise ("the liturgy is at the basis"), there is no way to avoid the conclusion ("the TLM is the problem"). This conclusion is supported by the fact that it was the pre-VC II trained priests who committed the bulk of the sexual abuse in the last 70 years.

Which is why, perhaps, VC II recommended an overhaul of the liturgy.

1 comment:

Confitebor said...

"After all, we know men trained and formed in the TLM were actively recruiting homosexuals into the sacred ministry all over the world"

Trained, yes -- but "formed"? Obviously not.

"if we want to claim that the liturgy is at the basis of the modern sex abuse problem,"

The liturgy is indisputably at the basis -- but it's just part of the basis. An important part, but not the whole. Doctrine is also a very important part.

"Which is why, perhaps, VC II recommended an overhaul of the liturgy."

So what you're saying is that for at least 1,500 years the Roman Church celebrated a liturgy so defective that it turns priests into sodomites.

How does that fit with the Creed's affirmation that the Church is holy?