[Catholic Caucus] 42 New Priests for the Traditional Movement

Remnant ^ | June 30, 2018 | Michael Matt

[ebb tide]

GuildofBlessedTitus crunched the numbers and discovered the trad movement is gaining at least 42 new priests this summer:

The break down is as follows:

Society of Saint Pius X:   16

Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter:   16

Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest:   6

Institute of the Good Shepherd:  4

 

REMNANT COMMENT: At this moment, when so many of us are disheartened and even fearful for the future of the Church and of our children and even our own final perseverance, it is understandable that we might be tempted to find reason to lash out at this report because not all of these new young priests hail from the society, fraternity or institute ofwhich we personally approve or support.

But I wonder if it might not still be possible for all of us to take a moment to reconsider this and to instead offer a word of thanks to Almighty God that, regardless of the affiliation of these young men, they nevertheless have managed to hear and answer His call to the holy priesthood and to the celebration and promotion of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Let's try to not lose sight of the fact that it is because of the solid prayer life of these new priests as well as their careful attention to their vocations in life--it is because of this that tens of thousands of young people and thousands of families over the next fifty years will have access to the traditional Sacraments of the Church, to orthodox catechetical formation, to weekly confession, to daily Mass--the Mass of the Saints and Martyrs, the 'most beautiful thing this side of heaven'--and to the authentic Catholic parish life. 

In cooperation with God's grace, think of what that means to so many thousands of would-be lost souls who will now have access to the spiritual means that help us all to fulfill the reason God gave us life in the first place--to know, love and serve Him in this life so that we can be happy with Him forever in the next.  Nothing is of greater import to souls than this. Nothing will do more for the common good of our society than this.

God in His mercy and in His good time will help us all to overcome the divisions that exist between us--divisions that admittedly are not insignificant.  But regardless of the post-Vatican II turmoil in the world today and the accompanying doubt and loss of faith, it was nevertheless His voice that each and every one of these young men heard at some point over the past decade--even despite the unrest, the apostasy, the rebellion, the weeping and gnashing of teeth in the Christophobic modern world.

 In this year of Our Lord 2018, somehow in God's providence, 42 young men decided to shut out the noise of war, revolution and temptation all around them, in order to make quiet commitment to give the rest of their lives to God's service and to the service of the Church-- which is to say the service of us all.  No wives. No children. No glamorous careers. No piles of money.  Just service to souls.

If we cannot find it in our hearts to celebrate this happy reality--that somehow these young men made it through the storms of doubt and uncertainty and temptation...that somehow their mothers raised them with enough faith, hope and love to shut it all out and to answer the call to the Holy Priesthood--if we cannot celebrate this, then perhaps we're losing focus on the point and purpose of our movement and indeed the point and purpose of why God put us on this earth in the first place.

May God bless and keep these young men; may He help us all to take comfort from their young example of commitment to His service; may He show us how to understand what He wants of us and even where He wants us to be.  And may He never abandon us by leaving us spiritual orphans in a world without Catholic priests, without the alter Christus, the knights of Our Lady, the servants of the altar of sacrifice. 

We thank God for these young priests, we congratulate them, and we ask them to pray for us all that our faith will not fail us just as theirs has obviously not failed them.  Tu es Sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thanks. These are encouraging thoughts.

[Ciexyz]

May the Lord bless and keep them firm in faith. Amen.