Posted on 05/27/2025 5:52:59 PM PDT by ebb tide
Charlotte, N.C. - Following upon the retired Bishop Peter Jugis’ initial implementation in 2023 of Pope Francis’s motu proprio that back-tracked on all of the previous Pope’s declarations of the pre-Conciliar Mass (and sacraments) having never been abrogated, Bishop Michael T. Martin slammed the door on traditional Catholics eliminating the Sunday Traditional Mass at the four parishes currently offering it. These included parishes in Greensboro, two in Charlotte, and Tryon.
Coincidentally, The Remnant broke the initial story when the indult Latin Mass was first approved for Charlotte. (INSERT STORY LINK. I CANNOT FIND IT AND I WAS THE AUTHOR.)
At one time, the Charlotte diocese was a model for the Church of unity in diversity with more than 20 churches offering the Traditional Latin Mass on a regular basis.
Effective July 8, 2025, the Traditional Latin Mass will no longer be celebrated at parish churches in the Diocese of Charlotte. In accordance with Traditionis Custodes Art. 3 §2, I am designating a chapel in the diocese where faithful adherents may gather for the celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation using the Roman Missal of 1962. The chapel set aside for this purpose is located at 757 Oakridge Farm Hwy., Mooresville, North Carolina 28115. The name of the chapel is yet to be determined.
In a separate communique, the Bishop said that the diocese will use an existing Protestant ecclesial community building (owned by the diocese) in Mooresville, N.C., for two Sunday Traditional Latin Masses and Holy Day of obligation by a pastor to be named. A source provided information to this reporter that the priest offering the Mass would be a “surprise” to many.
The new location will require Catholics from Greensboro to drive 75 miles each from their current parish location. Charlotte-area Catholics from St. Ann will have a 34-mile drive each way, and for St. Thomas Aquinas parishioners, a 34-mile drive each way every Sunday.
Apparently, the 250 Catholics who attended this past Sunday’s Mass (including 20 altar boys) at St. John the Baptist in Tryon apparently rate very low on Bishop Martin’s scale, as they would have a 2-hour drive each way.
The hitherto flourishing diocese with numerous young priests who were previously offering the Traditional Latin Mass also had a relatively new seminary and college for prospective vocations that numbered more than 40 on last count.
By God’s grace, the Society of St. Pius X has been in Charlotte for Catholics who request and desire all of the pre-Conciliar rite sacraments since the 1970s. St. Anthony of Padua chapel has two Sunday Masses and confessions, including all of the sacraments and the Easter triduum, which included the largest Easter vigil fire this past Sunday any of us have ever seen. Those Catholics who would like to fulfill their Sunday obligations and receive any of the sacraments are free to do so as Pope Francis affirmed both the sacraments of Penance and requested local bishops in a 2017 letter by Cardinal Muller to work with the Society priests to witness the sacraments of Matrimony.
The hitherto flourishing diocese with numerous young priests who were previously offering the Traditional Latin Mass also had a relatively new seminary and college for prospective vocations that numbered more than 40 on last count. The seminary fund-raising and strategy of the diocese—previous to Pope Francis’s motu proprio claiming that he alone determined what was true Tradition—was predicated on seminarians having regular access to and formation in the fullness of Catholic tradition including at least one regular Traditional Latin Mass per week. This evidently put Charlotte in the crosshairs of the Modernist Roman curia—according to my sources.
Indeed, in follow-up leaked diocesan talking points to his priests, Bishop Martin offered the following:
The Charlotte Director of Vocations, the Charlotte Diocesan Admissions Board, and the formators of the multiple seminaries where our seminarians are trained have never accepted nor promoted young men for formation to the priesthood who have not been committed to the celebration of the Liturgy and Sacraments of the Church in the primary means by which they are celebrated in the Universal Church (the Novus Ordo). Any young man who is only or primarily interested in the celebration of the TLM is not nor has ever been a viable candidate for ordination to the transitional diaconate or priesthood in the Diocese of Charlotte.
There you have it. If you have any interest in Tradition in the diocese of Charlotte, you are not welcome. Perhaps you might consider rebuilding the Church through the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, the Institute of Christ the King or the Society of St. Pius X.
Chris Lauer, who was the primary facilitator for gaining the first indult for the Traditional Latin Mass at St. Ann in Charlotte, said that when Bishop Jugis began the crackdown in 2023, he saw the writing on the wall. He and his family made the decision to attend St. Anthony of Padua chapel in Mount Holly.
“Regarding St. Anthony’s in Mount Holly, the Society of St. Pius X chapel close to Charlotte, if you ask me whether families should attend there, I’d say it’s a decision each family must make for themselves. The Society speaks of a ‘state of necessity’ and prudence guiding their actions, and not every family will reach that point in the same way or at the same time.”
Lauer debunks the notion that the Society intentionally pulls Catholics away from the parishes. Nothing could be further from the truth, according to Lauer.
“The Society is not in the recruitment business. They care for spiritual refugees and orphans, retaining a missionary zeal reminiscent of Archbishop Lefebvre’s time in Africa. One striking difference at St. Anthony’s is that no one talks much about the Latin Mass or the liturgy wars—it’s simply ‘Mass.’ Gone are the anxious days of praying with one eye open, wary of novelties or modern translations. At St. Anthony’s, all of that dark anxiety is gone and people are more free just to worship in peace and solitude.”
From Sunday’s sermon at St. John the Baptist in Tryon, the pastor stated that “This decision will affect our parish, and you the most,” due to the 2-hour distance to the new chapel. Father Buettner also said that the 8:30 Traditional Mass is “the most well-attended Mass” at the parish.
Lauer added that families will need to remain registered at their other (Novus Ordo) parishes—which means families will have to travel back and forth between locations. “Families trying to pass down the faith to their children shouldn't be jerked around like this. The sanctuary should be a place of peace and refuge, where we leave worldly struggles behind and offer them at the altar, not a source of division and hardship.”
From Sunday’s sermon at St. John the Baptist in Tryon, the pastor stated that “This decision will affect our parish, and you the most,” due to the 2-hour distance to the new chapel. Father Buettner also said that the 8:30 Traditional Mass is “the most well-attended Mass” at the parish. He said that Bishop Jugis invited the diocesan priests to workshop when the indult was approved and that he and 10 other priests attended.
“This Mass brings comfort to souls throughout the ages,” Father said. “I have found it to be a source of unity and a powerful instrument to worship God.”
So with the chapel more than two hours away, what will the Catholics in and near Tryon, N.C., do to fulfill their Sunday obligation and receive the sacraments?
Liza Cocciolillo is a parishioner of St. John the Baptist, and offered her thoughts and perspective.
“I have been attending the Latin Mass off and on spanning 35 years,” she said. “The Traditional Latin Mass keeps my spiritual soul in check and has a profound atmosphere of reverence and focus on Our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist.”
Cocciolillo said that she plans to attend a Traditional Latin Mass, about 45 minutes away, in Taylors, S.C. Indeed, Prince of Peace parish has an every-Sunday Traditional Mass, and this past Sunday (Fifth Sunday after Easter) had 550 attendees including 21 altar boys. Compare those numbers to the ridiculously sad number of two priestly ordinations in the Archdiocese of Chicago just recently. Apparently, the enforcers of the unlawful Traditionis Custodes would prefer to lead the entire Church into financial bankruptcy and spiritual suicide due to a dearth of vocations, rather than accurately reading “the signs of the times” of 2025, not 1965.
Cocilillo added that “The chapel is not nearly ready and to spend $700,000 is absurd! This is not uniting the faithful.”
Fellow St. John the Baptist parishioner Roxanna Grimaldo said that she and her husband J.R. were married in Miami with the traditional rite in 2005 and later found their home in the Carolinas.
“We attend the Traditional Latin Mass because it is graced in sacred history, faithful Catholic tradition and transformative beauty that brings our hearts close to God’s presence,” she said. “It is and was the Mass loved by our forefathers, saints and martyrs.”
“Although Pope Francis and some bishops expressed and encouraged some Bishops that the Traditional Latin Mass is divisive,” she said, “however the fruits have truly shown how edifying and unifying it is.
“It encourages parishioners in reverence for the Holiness of God in the liturgy and especially the Eucharist.”
This heartfelt plea by St. John the Baptist parishioner Joel Raines, summarize eloquently what many Catholic Fathers and Mothers are attempting to do in forming their children and themselves in the Faith and liturgy of all times, not “a banal, on-the-spot product,” as Pope Benedict called the ever-changing liturgy of the post-Council”
My choice to attend the Traditional Mass is not a rejection of the Church’s authority or unity but rather an embrace of a legitimate liturgical option that has been reaffirmed by popes, including Pope Benedict XVI in his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. The Traditional Mass remains a treasure of the Church’s heritage, fostering a profound encounter with the divine through its beauty, solemnity, and theological richness. I respectfully ask that my decision be understood as an expression of love for the Catholic faith and a sincere desire to worship in a manner that most fully aligns with the Church’s timeless teachings. As the father of five, I humbly ask to keep the Traditional Mass in place for the ongoing formation and protection of my children’s immortal soul.
I remain open to dialogue and committed to the unity of the Church, trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead us all to the Truth. I remain open to dialogue and committed to the unity of the Church, trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead us all to the truth.
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Ping
One can hope that Pope Leo will return things to normal and stamp out all the evil that the devil/Francis has infected the church with...
So, unless Archbishop Hebda wants his diocese as broke as the Vatican, he should choose to leave the Latin Mass alone. (I choose not to attend).
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