The Last Word
FR. DAVID SHERRY
District Superior of Canada
“That’s it! I’m finished! I’m never going there again. That priest! He started Mass twenty-five minutes late—again—and then, he preached for forty-five minutes! And those children—the noise! I’m back to the Indult/Sedevacantists/Novus Ordo—anything but that!”
Whoa! Hold your horses, friend! Don’t rush off so quickly. Think first. What are the reasons that you’re going to Mass here in the first place? Is it for the bells and smells? Is it the short sermons or delightful singing? No. I agree that the priest shouldn’t start Mass late when he can avoid it—it does give a haphazard feel to the Sacred Mysteries and it tests people’s patience unnecessarily. As for the sermon, I once heard a man say that his parish priest’s sermons were like a Rolls Royce. “Lucky man,” I said. “When I say that they were like a Rolls Royce,” he replied, “I meant that you couldn’t hear a thing and they went on forever!”
The thing is, the reason that you’re coming to Mass here is for the true Faith and the Mass of all time, not because the priest is a nice guy. If you go to the Indult Masses, certainly, you might have beautiful singing but the priest very likely won’t say a word about any problem in the Church—if he does, he’ll be out on his ear, they’ll say he’s got a schismatic attitude. Chances are he thinks that everything’s fundamentally all right anyway. He certainly won’t be able to tell you to avoid the New Mass. And anyway, your indult Mass will be sandwiched between two New Masses, and they’ll wheel in the drumkit as he’s saying the Last Gospel…
As for going to the sedevacantists, well, some things just aren’t black and white, but don’t tell them that. They judge that the pope isn’t pope but St. Paul says: “Judge not before the time.” Archbishop Lefebvre said that we’re not qualified to judge that the pope is not pope. We need to possess our souls in patience, the Church will make sense of the crisis when the calm returns. All we have to do for the moment is to use our Catholic antennae—hold fast to the Faith that was passed down from Christ.
As for going to the Novus Ordo, don’t get me started! While you’re waiting twenty-five minutes for the priest to start next Sunday, think about all the things you’re missing—guitars, altar girls, lay-ministers, sickly sermons… you’ll feel much better.
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