Charlotte’s Bishop is shunting all the Traditional Latin Mass communities to a single site, specifically chosen because it can only hold about a quarter of those who currently seek out the Extraordinary Form. I have a paywalled op-ed for The Pillar (they’re worth it!) with a prayer for what could happen next.
If he wants to reform the TLM community in Charlotte, I wish that Bishop Martin would offer the TLM once a month in the new chapel. I wish he would linger with the community at coffee hour (currently prohibited at the chapel). I wish he would commit to making his case that he is restricting the form out of pastoral love for people he knew by name. If the TLM is a source of division in the diocese, couldn’t the bishop be the one to cross over to the margins?
In his letter to the Charlotte diocese, Bishop Martin said: “God has been at work in your lives through this particular celebration… I have listened to your stories of faithfulness and the ways the TLM has enriched your spiritual journeys.”
But despite these words, it’s plain that his people do not feel like they have received pastoral care.
The bishop knows that his people have sought out this Mass, but can he articulate why in a way they would recognize? In other words, can he pass an Ideological Turing Test? If not, how can he live up to the injunction that the shepherd should smell of the sheep?
My children go to a thriving Catholic school that only exists because our parish priest and local principal put aside their pride to ask why local families weren’t sending their kids. I tell the story of what happened next, and what I wish would happen in North Carolina.