Latin Mass held in town for one day

Wilmington resident Charles Connell makes the 200-mile round trip to Goldsboro every other Sunday to attend Old Saint Mary's Catholic Church and celebrate its Latin Mass because no local church offers one.

A sung Latin high Mass will be held at noon Sunday at St. Thomas Preservation Hall at 208 Dock St. Private confessions will begin at 10:30 a.m., and a procession with the blessed sacrament will follow the Mass. A catered lunch will be held at the hall after the service.

The Society of Saint Pius X, which has three Latin Mass chapels in the state, is sponsoring the worship service.

The Rev. Frank Novak, who presides at all three of those chapels, will lead the service.

"Last December, Father Novak visited Wilmington, and he wanted to see St. Thomas the Apostle Church," and wanted to have a Mass here, Mr. Connell said. He and other Wilmington Catholics who attend Rev. Novak's services in Goldsboro invited the priest to see St. Thomas Preservation Hall, which is a de-consecrated Catholic Church.

"This church is a holy site and sure to become a place of pilgrimage," Rev. Novak said. "It's a venerable building and deserves to have more than just wedding receptions there."

Latin Masses haven't been regularly celebrated in Wilmington since 1997. The Rev. Ernest Beck, who was not associated with the Society of St. Pius X, resigned as priest at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and held traditional Latin Mass each week at a chapel on Front Street from 1993 until 1997, when he died. Mr. Connell came to those Masses, then traveled to Goldsboro when they ended.

The Latin or Tridentine Mass is a centuries old Catholic tradition that was gradually phased out after the church's second Vatican Council in the 1960s. The changes Catholic leaders made in Vatican II – including removing Latin from services – brought the church up to date to today's society, said the Rev. John Gillespie, a priest at St. Mary Catholic Church in Wilmington, who is not affiliated with the Latin Mass celebration or Pius X.

In an effort to preserve the Latin Mass, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the society in 1970 after Vatican II rulings determined Mass should be held in the people's vernacular. By 1976, the Pope suspended him from his priestly duties, but he continued working and also ordained priests to serve in Catholic traditionalist churches. Rome excommunicated him in 1988.

"These people are going off on their own and not following the lead from Bishop Joseph Gossman in Raleigh who gets his directions from the Pope," Rev. Gillespie said. "That's why it's so controversial. They're fighting authority on this."

"The truth is always controversial," he said, adding that he had invited Bishop Gossman to the service.

Hearing the Latin Mass makes the service seem more holy for people who grew up with it, Mr. Connell said. He was dissatisfied with Masses after Vatican II that allowed such services as clown Masses (where clowns officiate), Masses that include liturgical dance, balloon Masses, rock music in Mass and a movement to dress more casually at Catholic services.

"The new Mass is man-focused and there's too much activity and no time to pray," Mr. Connell said. "In the Latin Mass, the emphasis is on the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ. It's fulfilling and beautiful for me."

"Up until the time I was 20 years old, that's all I new. The Novus Ordo (New Order) Mass never did it for me. The Latin Mass is more a worship of God," he said, adding that he will be attending the Sunday Latin Mass.

While Rev. Gillespie said he agrees the Latin Mass is beautiful, he said, "We all have to move forward and follow the teaching of the church. But it's important to note that this Mass is not a sanctioned Mass, and these people are not in league with the Catholic Church."

The Latin Mass will be accessible to people who don't understand Latin. The Catholic book of prayers and readings, or the missal, is printed in Latin and English.

"The way I see it, there's a certain moral relativism in the church today, and something needs to be done about that," Mr. Connell said. "Catholicism is Catholicism, and don't deny it."

From Traditio.com:
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July 5, 2003 - St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria (Double)
Eyewitness at a Traditional Revolution
From: Frazier
On the Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul, June 29, Fr. Z., a presbyter in a southwest diocese and pastor of a church there, announced to his Novus Ordo congregations that there would only be the Traditional Latin Mass, and then he proceeded to offer the Traditional Latin Mass at all the Sunday Masses. Many in the congregation wept for joy at seeing the true Mass after so many years of deprivation. The first Mass of the day was a Missa Cantata with Gregorian Chant.

It is amazing what happened. At each Mass a few in the congregation got angry and left immediately. They had now been steeped in forty years of the heroin of the New Order and couldn't get the devil off their backs. But others wept for joy. At each Mass there was silence! When they were made to form one line at the edge of the sanctuary and kneel and receive Holy Communion on the tongue, there was something incredible. They were filled with awe -- some confusion, of course -- but reverential awe! You could see it in their eyes. I know. I held the Communion plate at two Masses.

I had conflicting emotions Sunday, and still do. Our Lord warns against casting pearls before swine and told the Gentile woman that he could not give what was holy to dogs. Sometimes I almost think (God forgive me) that those statements of Our Lord apply to the Novus Ordo folks with regard to exposing them to the true faith when they are there in party attire, without veils and having had a one-hour token fast. But if you could have seen their eyes. It is such a pity. They have been so deceived. For one fleeting day, they had the Roman Catholic Mass. Next weekend, you can be sure, the Novus Ordo bishop will have a presider from his false religion to reel them back.

And how did it all end for the presbyter? The Novus Ordo bishop called at 9:00 the next morning to order him to vacate his rectory by no later than the next day, and he was suspended for his "crime." But Fr. Z. wasn't there. It was his day off -- which he spends visiting the sick. If an abortionist had given a sermon or a priestess had "performed" mess, the bishop wouldn't have bothered, but for celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass -- get out the instruments of torture!

Fr. Z. is a canon lawyer, a former seminary instructor, and a former member of the marriage tribunal, who was kicked off the tribunal for being too strict on annulments. His character is said to be beyond reproach, and his journey to the Traditional Roman Catholic Faith has continued steadily as he sought after the truth. He has been a presbyter of that diocese for 25 years, and is said to be a very devout, holy and religious one. Months ago he asked the bishop for a traditional parish and received no response.
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Had he celebrated a "gay" Mass or invited nuns to tap dance around the altar, the good pastor would have met with the bishop's approval no doubt. This indicates the animus of many Novus Ordo bishops towards traditionalism. No papal universal indult will change this. It's all-out war they want.

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