The Vianney Option

The day after his arrival he was almost alone as he made his way toward the altar to celebrate Mass. But a few days later, when some came to see what another priest could possibly have come to do at Ars and how he lived, the faithful found him on his knees in prayer before the Tabernacle, as though he truly saw Someone: they found him in the same position, morning, afternoon, evening and even at night.

The Life of St. Jean-Marie Vianney, L’Osservatore Romano by way of EWTN

Having reflected these last few weeks on the turmoil within the Church, being a friend of tradition and a lover of God, I wanted to share some thoughts I hope will change minds and offer consolation.

The State of Things

Since almost the first moments of his pontificate, our late Holy Father, Pope Francis, spoke with great solicitude and fondness for those on the margins, mission territories like that small town of Ars. This was no mere metaphor. Pope Francis’ own well-known love of a potent footnote was perhaps a subconscious nod to his preference for the margins. Our God might even be called a God of footnotes, after all. It is there, among the oft-forgot marginalia, that His most important teachings often lie. It was in the footnote town of Bethlehem where Our Lord, laid in a manger, vocalized His first newborn cries in the flesh of man. Mother Church goes to the margins in the path first tread by her Lord. Under Pope Francis, she championed this above all. Under Pope Leo, himself a missionary, we ought to expect and rejoice in the same.

One marginal community has not fared well these twelve long years since the retirement of Pope Benedict. The margin in this case, far from being some native land in which the Church sought out new souls, was a place of exile to which the Church sent them. For more than a decade, they have been vilified and demonized as “rigid.” Their families, for daring to live the teaching of Humanae Vitae, have been compared — if jokingly — to rabbits. Their clergy have been maligned for celebrating the liturgy with solemnity worthy of God. Their history denied, their patrimony plundered, traditional Catholics have been pushed to the margins again and again. Once favored for their rich faith by a beloved pope of recent and happy memory, they were relegated to a mere footnote by his successor.

Many are the lessons of this cross Our Lord has commanded us to take up after Him. One is humility. I will be the first to acknowledge that traditional Catholics have often not been humble. Some trads, with outsized voices and absurd social followings, have said and done harmful things. Some trads, at times, have displayed a sense of spiritual superiority over other Catholics so deeply flawed as to be matched only by all those hurling this very criticism at them. Yet, for each of these, there are many more who, in the quiet peace of Christian hearts, worship at high altars where they have grown deep roots.

The Lord commanded that the weeds not be torn from among the wheat, but it has been reasoned that Our Lord could not have foreseen such weeds as these.

Their roots ripped away from fertile soil, these innocents are pained to be ostracized, pushed to the margins by their spiritual fathers or sent away, the one sheep cast out by their shepherds from the ninety-nine. Their suffering is needless and confused. They do not know what they have done wrong.

Where Confusion Abounds…

Indeed, the sin of which they most often stand accused — denial of Vatican II — has been committed far more often and egregiously by the very bishops whose fingers point at them. How could it not lead to confusion when the very things most hated in the Latin Mass — ad orientem worship, use of the altar rail, communion on the tongue, incense, chant, the very use of the Latin itself — were carried forward into the Novus Ordo in the same conciliar documents the trads are accused of rejecting?

On that note, anyway, why are contemporary bishops like +Martin of Charlotte and +Weisenburger of Detroit working so hard to reject Vatican II? What is this overwhelming push by local bishops to reshape each diocese in his own image, after his own preferences, rather than — synodally — to steward a diocese and its parishes, with their own organic identities and cultures already in place, closer to Christ?

The bishop and his priests must give correction, it is true. Sometimes they must lead their flock to higher ground in a storm. Yet for an episcopate so loathe to strike with the butt of its staff in the case of pro-abortion politicians, these mitered heads seem eager to prod and stab the sheep who merely wish to worship the Lord in a way that resonates with their souls.

For a Catholic culture keen on the jargon of “faith communities” rather than “parish churches,” the bishops are equally eager to eliminate whole communities — thriving ones! — and concentrate their members into converted warehouses with minimal solemnity. The Latin Mass is then ordered to begin, as in the case of Detroit, with a formulaic reminder that the Catholics in attendance aren’t really welcome here, shouldn’t be here, and will continue to be sneered upon — but please make your checks out to your geographic parishes and remember to be generous! Ah, what times we live in, where Holy Mercy Catholic Community may begin the Mass of the Ages with Orwell’s Two Minutes Hate.

Nor is it only the communities which suffer these indignities. Often, it is the case these days that bishops, claiming to support Vatican II, give directives they have no lawful right to give, acting directly against the Church’s own instructions. Their priests, caught between what is best for their flocks and what is best for their careers, must make decisive choices they never imagined grappling with their chrismated hands.

When a priest chooses his stewardship over his career, his bishop may sometimes choose to send him from one marginalized community to another, from the Latin Mass to Our Lady of the Sticks. Whatever the motivation behind this move, it is a ringing endorsement of his exceptional skill in pastoring those most in need of his attention. (Consecrate these men bishops, and quickly!) After all, what reason could a bishop have for sending him away, if not mission? Certainly, beloved Fathers, you should consider that, having been found worthy serving a marginalized community in small matters, you are being entrusted with serving a marginalized community in greater matters.

If it is not the bishop who judges thusly, perhaps it is the Lord who does.

Let Grace Abound All the More!

God draws straight with crooked lines. Let His work be accomplished even through injustices.

Fathers, let this holy exile be your little Ars where you will witness to Christ first by your own devotion and draw in the souls God has purposed, from the dawn of the ages, to save by your little martyrdom. Perhaps you have been removed from your traditional parish, your flock scattered to wolves, and sent packing. Do as you can, then, for this new flock. Be patient with the bishop’s orders, following every lawful command for love of Christ. God is consistent over the vast centuries. The law of faithful exile we observe in the Old Testament we still observe today. You were thought dismissed, gotten rid of, tossed out far from places of influence in your diocese, but like seeds thrown out into the yard as rubbish, you have been scattered to sprout new growth. May God reward you. Live the gospel, cling in fidelity to the tradition in your exile, and be amazed as the faithful come wondering who this priest might be, what energizes him so, and what gifts of God he has to offer.

This, Fathers, is the Vianney Option.

Likewise, you parishioners who have lost everything you hold dear, who may no longer have access to the traditional, cling to the Lord, who through trial is purifying you. It is the divine will that you come to love the God of consolations more than the consolations of God. Is your parish Mass now banal? Are cringe lyrics playing around you? Is the Eucharistic sacrifice undermined by displays to be found nowhere in the rubrics? Has your pastor torn down the altar rail? Has your bishop forbidden ad orientem worship?

Remember that this shall pass, and that, in the meantime, Christ is there with you, suffering these indignities as if being crucified again. Stay there, like St. John by the cross. Hold onto the feet of Jesus and keep Him company. Unite your suffering to His own and be happy to share in His Passion. Take consolation that you, whether you stay in your parish or disperse among other fields, may also be seeds for God’s harvest. You, too, may share in the Vianney Option.

May Pope Leo, passionate devotee of the Church’s missionary dimension, soon empower you to celebrate the Latin Mass again and insist that all bishops renew their knowledge, understanding, and implementation of Vatican II’s actual liturgical vision.

St. John Vianney, pray for us!