The Worst Abuse in the Novus Ordo

Grooming and Gaslighting

With the recent news of two more Traditional Catholic priests being cancelled — yet again over their stance on the New Mass — I thought I would rant a bit about the worst abuse that comes from that abominable liturgy.

If you weren’t aware, Fathers Shannon Collins and Sean Kopczynski were unceremoniously removed from their posts in the Covington, Kentucky diocese due to their stance on the Novus Ordo. The letter from the bishop states that they were both removed from their posts due to their stance on the New Mass, which the bishop held as unacceptable.

Now, I don’t know if this is the exact sermon that got them cancelled, but I did find one that would fit the bill.

The priests used to have a website that published their sermons — which were excellent — but it has since been taken down, and I don’t know if that was because of the cancellation or for some other reason.

I benefitted greatly from their preaching over the years, especially when coming to Tradition, so it is a sad thing indeed. However, I did find the site on the Archive, so you can access that here if you want. Especially helpful in my spiritual journey was their series on Evolution and why it is antithetical to Catholic doctrine, so perhaps look that one up if you want.

That said, this debacle has inspired me to speak about what I consider the worst abuse(s) in the New Rite.

Gaslighting

If you listen to that sermon from Father Collins he makes it very clear that the New Rite is simply not the Roman Rite. He is correct, and his arguments are sound. Dr. Peter Kwasniewski’s book The Once and Future Roman Rite is in my mind the most comprehensive book on the subject and I recommend it to everyone, and he concludes the same thing. Frankly, the New Rite is not the Old Rite, even if it does have a few leftover pieces here and there that can be found in the old.

The argument from the New Rite defenders is that it is a development, but that is not so. Upwards of 85% of the content of the Old Rite was either taken out or changed, which is a clear indication that whatever it is, it cannot be the same thing.

There is more to be said, and this is not a comprehensive post about the history of the Roman Rite, but suffice it to say that if someone tells you that something that is 80+ percent different from another thing is in fact the same thing, they are gaslighting you. And that is at the heart of the issue.

Those of us who conscientiously and rightly reject the New Mass are told by the sycophants of novelty that we are crazy for thinking like we do. “The Roman Catholic Pope published the Mass,” they say, and therefore it must be the Roman Rite.

There are so many philosophical heresies at the heart of this statement, but the most egregious is an erroneous understanding of Tradition and Nominalism.

For Tradition to be Tradition, it is necessary that something be handed on for safekeeping, which is essentially what the word means. Thus, if we find that something is not handed on in the way that it was received, then we cannot say it is part of Tradition. That it may contain aspects of its former self will not do. For example, the Anglicans retained much of the Roman Rite in their liturgy, but of course it is not the Roman Rite, which is to say nothing of the schism and heresy.

Furthermore, if someone believes that because the Pope did or said something, this somehow gives the thing a nature or essence of another thing… this is the heresy of Nominalism.

We cannot be so feeble-minded to suggest that the Roman Rite is the Roman Rite no matter how it is presented merely because the Pope said so. The Pope did not create the Roman Rite, he received it, therefore he must guard and protect it. If he creates a new thing, that thing may be good or bad, but it is not good because he is the Pope any more than a hamburger is Italian food because an Italian made a hamburger.

Those who tell you that the New Rite is the Old Rite in any substantial way are gaslighting you and should be avoided as they are intellectually bankrupt.

Grooming

The term “grooming” is used to describe a process wherein an abuser wears you down over time to the point where you will do something you are uncomfortable with, something that is immoral. In the most egregious sense, this takes place in sexual settings but the psychological approach can manifest in other settings.

In essence, over time you are gaslighted and verbally abused to the point where you simply “give in” and do whatever you are told, believing that if you don’t, you will be a bad person even though you think you are a bad person for doing the thing you don’t want to do. It is the same way that cult leaders prepare their followers and is pretty much the way that governments got everyone to take a jab they didn’t want.

When someone is broken down by grooming, they will either get out — unlikely — or become a groomer or an accomplice to grooming themselves. How many people did you see “flip flop” on the jab after they initially took it even though they didn’t want to? I know it is not a mortal sin to take a vaccine for grave reason, so I am not applying this as a universal, but it is just an example.

After someone is groomed into doing what they wouldn’t do, it is most likely that they will adopt the psychology of the groomer as a coping mechanism. This is why, for example, gangs will have new members commit murder or some other heinous crime in order to enter. It works like a sort of ethical blackmail: You killed someone so you are like us, and if you want to leave we will turn you in or kill you.

Abusers work the same way, as they get their victims to admit they “wanted” whatever happened to them to have happened. It is sick, but it is a psychological trick that is used all over.

What does this have to do with the New Mass?

Well, if you are convinced that the New Rite is bad, then you will not want to participate in it. So, if you are beaten down to the point where you participate in it then you will be psychologically abused in the process. If you are abused in the process then you are either going to adopt the psychology of your abuser or you are going to get out. If you don’t get out, you will face a crisis of conscience wherein you will either “beat them or join them.” Meaning, you will begin to adopt the New Mass as your own and before you know it you will be screaming “schism” at those who won’t attend.

We see this all the time with Traditional Catholics who compromise for this or that reason. Think of the online idiots who once defended Tradition and now excoriate it. Notice how they operate, they will say they are the “true” Traditional Catholics, which is nothing more than gaslighting and insanity, but they are impervious to reason on the subject because they have numbed their conscience out of necessity to live with themselves.

In addition, those who are groomed into a lifestyle or liturgical life that they hate will become the most prolific offenders.

At any rate, all of this is to say that the worst abuse of the Novus Ordo is much deeper than the liturgical abuses you have seen. The worst abuse is the paradigm itself which is a combination of both gaslighting and grooming.

You will accept that it is the Roman Rite and you will like it, otherwise you are a bad person and something is wrong with you!

God help these evil fools who continue to propagate this abomination.