The church in the corner of this notice is definitely not Old St Patrick’s Basilica.

Very Good! But will the subject be raised of a prior significant interaction of the Basilica with one of the Byzantine rite churches? The Russian Catholic chapel of St. Michael had been present in a building of this parish – formerly the chancery of the (arch)diocese of New York – since the 1930’s. St. Michael’s congregation was tiny but its liturgical heritage and renown great – at least one Patriarch of a Byzantine Cathollic church celebrated the Divine Liturgy there. In 2019, the Archdiocese and the Basilica summarily evicted the congregation of St. Michael’s and repurposed their chapel as a gift shop.

Last evening, a Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in New York City. The Mass was celebrated for the repose of the soul of Alexander Klucik, tragically killed in an accident in 2010 at the age of 19. The Mass featured Mozart’s Requiem and chant, performed by the Higher Word orchestra, choir and soloists. Some 600 people filled one of the most beautiful churches in Manhattan. I applaud the organizers for making possible such a beautiful and spiritual evening!

Ash Wednesday is on February 18. The following churches will offer Traditional Masses. If you know of a church in the area that is not on our schedule, please contact us.

Connecticut

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, 8 am Low Mass; 7 pm Solemn Mass

Georgetown Oratory of the Sacred Heart, Redding, 6 pm

Sts. Cyril and Methodius Oratory,Bridgeport, Low Mass 7:45 am, Solemn Mass 6 pm

St. Patrick Oratory, Waterbury, Low Mass 12 noon, High Mass 6 pm

New York

Holy Innocents Church, New York, NY, 8 am, 6 pm

St. Josaphat Oratory, Bayside, Queens, Low Mass 7 am, High Mass 7 pm

St. Patrick Church, Glen Cove, Long Island, Low Mass 7 pm

St. Paul the Apostle, Yonkers, 12 noon

Immaculate Conception, Sleepy Hollow, 4 pm low Mass

St. Mary and St. Andrew, Ellenville, 7 pm

Sacred Heart Church, Esopus, NY, 11 am

New Jersey

Our Lady of Sorrows, Jersey City, 5 pm

Our Lady of Victories, Harrington Park, 6 pm

Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Pequannock, 7 am, 9 am, 12 noon, 7 pm

St. Anthony of Padua Oratory, West Orange, Low Masses at 9 am and 12 noon; High Mass at 11 am

Holy Trinity, Hackensack, sung Mass 3:30, Fr. John Perricone celebrant (every Sunday at 12:30 pm)

Corpus Christi Church, South River, 6:15 pm

Shrine Church of Blessed Sacrament, Raritan, 7 pm

St. John the Baptist Church, Allentown, 7 pm

New Jersey: You are invited to a documentary screening of Foreclosing on Faith with director/producer Viktoria Somogyi and attorney Brody Hale.

3pm Sunday Feb 22

Knights of Columbus Hall

130 Main Street

Woodbridge, NJ 07095

Registration is free but required.

Register at Eventbrite.

Released in 2017, Foreclosing on Faith documents dramatic struggles that were then taking place in Cleveland, Boston, and New York which pitted faithful Catholics against bishops over church closures.

The Newark Archdiocese is presently undertaking a program of downsizing known as “We Are His Witnesses.” It will likely result in a considerable decrease in the number of Catholic parishes and churches in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union counties. The aim of this presentation is to discuss the root causes of parish and church closures and to educate Catholics about the options and rights they have if they find their parish on the list when the Archdiocese of Newark releases it in the late spring or early summer of this year.

Speakers:

Co-producer and -director of Foreclosing on Faith, Viktoria Somogyi is a Hungarian journalist and economist based in Rome, Italy.

A native of Massachusetts, Brody Hale has a private law practice with a focus on nonprofit organizations, social entrepreneurship, and conservation. An expert in Canon Law, Brody has for over a decade provided assistance to groups of Catholics fighting to prevent their churches from being closed by dioceses.

Admission is free but registration is required. 

Please spread the word!

This retreat will begin with a sung Traditional Mass.

Please contact Regina Pacis Academy to register: office@reginapacisacademy.org

The next New York Purgatorial Society Sung Requiem Mass (Dominican Rite)will be offered on Thursday, February 12, 2026 at 7 p.m. at St. Vincent Ferrer Church, New York, NY
Fr. Leo Camurati, O.P., celebrant

Spring 2026 Schedule

• March 23rd (Monday)

• April 27th (Monday)

• May 21st (Thursday)

• June 22nd (Monday)

• July and August Masses said privately by our chaplain.

1. Traditionalist Life today

What are the traditionalists doing in this environment? Above all, they continue to celebrate and attend the TLM. For the “recruiting tactic” of the traditionalists has never been any program, publicity campaign or large-scale event but simply to make available as widely as possible the TLM. The overwhelming majority of traditionalists today consist of those who, coming from the Novus Ordo, other religions or even outright unbelief have encountered the TLM and have remained committed to it. Where unimpeded by Church authority, the TLM continues to flourish and even expand.

Yet, in many other dioceses, the TLM is drastically restricted or outright prohibited. Unfortunately, this includes some of the dioceses most grievously affected were ones that had the largest TLM presence  – in some cases until very recently: Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, Chicago, and Arlington. In these locations more cooperation with the FSSPX undoubtedly will be necessary.

The activity of the traditionalists is not limited to the TLM;  to the extent they can, all the other sacraments are provided. Traditionalists have also revitalized many forgotten customs in their parishes: processions, special foods and blessings associated with feast days and other sacramentals. The result is a much more varied church year than one finds the typical Novus Ordo parish  – or even what existed in most parishes in the U.S. prior to the Council. I now dimly recall that in those days only a few  practices outside of the Mass itself had survived in parish usage: Forty Hours devotion, Benediction, the blessing of the throat on St. Blaise’s day and May crownings. Traditionalists, along with the conservative Catholics and even non-Catholic allies,  have been active in restoring and preserving Catholic churches – or even, where necessary,  in creating new art and architecture in traditional styles.

A developing manifestation of traditionalist life both in the United States and elsewhere is the pilgrimage. These have always existed, but the recent renewed extraordinary successes of the Chartres pilgrimage have given them a new boost of popularity.  Traditionalists feel the need to make their public presence known. And perhaps also because, as in pre-Summorum Pontificum days, a pilgrimage offers to those living under restrictions on the TLM the opportunity to experience comradeship and often splendid liturgies. In the United States we have now not just the pilgrimages to the shrine of the North American martyrs in Auriesville, New York,  but also the Clear Creek, Oklahoma pilgrimage to the monastery there. Then, on a smaller and sadder note, we have the pilgrimages “of protest” such as that  between the Arlington  and Washington, D.C. cathedrals – among the dioceses where the TLM has been most harshly restricted  Outside the U.S, more and more pilgrimages are being founded. The American representation at the Chartres pilgrimage is long standing and growing. And American Catholics are among the vastly increased number of participants in the annual Summorum Pontificum conference in Rome. 

Increasingly visible in traditionalism are the contemplative monasteries of men and women like the Benedictines and Carmelites, and Trappists. Previously, the main traditionalist  (ex-Ecclesia Dei)religious communities had been modeled on the mainstream active religious orders. Outside the US, traditional monasteries in Ireland, Italy, and now we understand, in England have been founded by Americans. This is of the greatest long-term significance for the entire Church, because the reawakening of the contemplative life in Catholicism  is a necessity for  restoring the faith.

 Another traditionalist front is education. For a critical factor in the growth of traditionalism has been the need of the parents of young families to preserve the faith for themselves and their children. Traditionalist families know very well that the risk is great that their children will leave the church. Therefore, many are involved in home schooling and in the establishment of independent classical schools. For the restoration of the traditional liturgy seems to also require the recovery of the classical culture with which it was associated for so many centuries. Conservative Catholics are also extremely active in the development of these educational apostolates

Compared to the Catholic scene of fifty years ago,  the literature available to traditionalists is astonishing both in quantity and quality.  A vast number of books can be ordered – as opposed to those early days when the usual method  to obtain decent books was to acquire cast-off literature from closing Catholic institutions.   Recent books deal with the liturgy, theology, history, art and education from the traditionalist or just conservative Catholic perspective – from publishing houses such as Os Justi, Angelico or Arouca. In addition, of course,  are the online resources so richly abundant now. There is no excuse anymore for failing to develop one’s faith through reading. And doesn’t that itself illustrate the traditionalist dissent from today’s culture, which in large part has abandoned reading! I should mention at this point the large number of conferences and lectures sponsored by traditionalists.

What’s still, however, lacking is a central publication or source for U.S. traditionalists. As for current events in the life of the Church from a traditionalist perspective,  the traditionalist is even today much better served if he can read several foreign languages: Spanish, Italian, French…

Many traditionalists are privately politically engaged. Yet politics, except for pro-life activity plays little or no role in most of the traditionalist surroundings I have known. What I have seen is individual traditionalists becoming involved in apostolates both political and, more often, charitable,  based on their commitment to Catholic truth. For many traditionalists – those who have thought about the matter – do not accept liberal doctrines of the separation of Church and state. I fully endorse this position. But most traditionalists’ interest in movements such as integralism is, in my experience, more theoretical than practical. These facts may come as news for the Catholic progressives and the Catholic educational establishment, who seek to depict traditionalism as merely a manifestation of right-wing politics. In this utterly erroneous view,  traditionalism as the mirror-image of what they themselves in fact are: a secular political movement operating behind a religious facade.

Finally, traditionalists are active in charitable work, both in the United States and abroad. This activity tends to be on an individual level. For example, at a gathering of a traditionalist-friendly chivalric order, and in discussions at a traditionalist parish, I was struck by the number and scale of charitable apostolates conducted by individual traditionalists,

I have laid out the aspects of traditionalist life as if they existed in isolation.  In fact, in flourishing traditionalist parishes they are all intertwined. Here can be found splendid liturgies, processions, pilgrimages, devotions along with fellowship and festive meals.

One example of traditionalist activity that shows the integration of all these facets, and also the ability of traditionalists today to work together with those outside traditionalism (“ordinary form” Catholics, non-Catholics and even non-believers) is the ongoing story of Most Holy Redeemer church on East 3rd Street in New York City (covered extensively on this blog). This grand, historical Redemptorist parish, despite preserving an active parish life for a poor congregation, had otherwise fallen into decay. The Conciliar gimmicks of the Redemptorists, such as building a baptismal pool in the sanctuary, had achieved nothing. Finally, the order vanished, leaving the church in archdiocesan hands. But meanwhile traditionalists had already focussed on this church, first with special festive masses, then with a more regular schedule of TLM celebrations (the parish continued the Novus Ordo as well). A new pastor, a young archdiocesan priest, was able to reorganize the parish, and despite archdiocesan restrictions, continue the celebration of the TLM. The success of the parish’s evangelization efforts – extending well beyond the parish bounds – attracted the attention of the secular press. And even the archbishop visited to bless work on the church’s tower. Then the priest was transferred out, and Most Holy Redeemer church closed because of lack of clergy and alleged structural problems. In many similar situations, this was only the prelude to disposition and sale. But a coalition of Catholics and non-Catholics has assembled to obtain landmark status for the building and thus prevent its demolition.

Is this merely a summons to “stay the course”? In a sense, yes. I cannot think of any initiative, event or program I could recommend that would advance the progress of the traditionalist movement. Traditionalism has no central organization, leader, or publication to bring the traditionalist message to the world. No single religious community is dominant. In the U.S., traditionalism is made up of a myriad of apostolates, each with its own objective. But that is the strength of traditionalism. It exists and it flourishes as people discover the fullness of the Catholic faith, and what that means for them and their families. This is what the focus of traditionalism should be! I would say to traditionalists: continue to do what you have been doing, be prudent, try to help those being persecuted for traditionalism, and continue to trust in God. I look forward to what the future may bring!

1. The Church and the Traditionalists

With the advent of the papacy of Leo, a perceptible feeling of relief was noted in the traditionalist world. An obvious sign was the Mass celebrated by Cardinal Burke in St. Peter’s last year  on the occasion of the Summorum Pontificumpilgrimage. Everywhere we see new masses starting and new apostolates of the (ex-)Ecclesia Dei institutes being founded. I detect a new clarity and forcefulness in statements by known sympathizers with traditionalism: Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Cardinal Mueller, Cardinal Zen,  to name but a few. These bold declarations are not at all restricted to the Traditional Mass but also deal forcefully with topics such as last year’s LGBT pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Basilica, the synodal path, the management  of the pope’s first consistory. etc.   The new Pope has received in audience all kinds of traditionalist personalities previously persona non grata in the Vatican. Some of these have spoken of their hope of relaxation of the Vatican’s war against traditionalism.

Yet Traditionis Custodes (“TC”) remains in place and that policy’s creators and enforcers are still ensconced in their positions at the Vatican. One of these, Cardinal Roche, with the concurrence of Pope Leo, was scheduled to present a paper at the pope’s first consistory, crudely reconfirming the policy of TC. In the United States,  bishops of dioceses as Chicago, Washington, Detroit, Charlotte, who have adopted radical anti-traditionalist measures, remain unchallenged, their cruel persecution continues unabated.  Indeed, the more extreme bishops have expanded the campaign to attack elements of Catholic liturgical tradition still present in the Novus Ordo: kneeling to receive communion, celebration of the Mass ad orientem, eucharistic veneration, etc.  This is regardless of the liturgical texts,  official policies and developments of the last 50 years – for them nothing less than a return to the situation of 1970 will suffice. 

The state of traditionalism at this moment has been well described as being  a holding pattern or  limbo. It remains unclear what action, if any, Pope Leo will take to alleviate the disabilities imposed on the traditionalists.  It’s a cruel disappointment for those who had expected a new pontiff to take a fresh look at their situation. To me, however, it seemed unlikely that a new pope would suddenly reverse any major policy of  Francis. And that pope had worked hard over the years to fill the College of Cardinals only with those aligned with his policies. The progressive forces also hold an overwhelming preponderance in the other levels of the Catholic Church establishment. 

There are other disappointments for the traditionalists. Over the last year there has been a recrudescence of attacks on traditionalism, not just from progressives, the establishment and conservative Catholics but even from within traditionalism itself.  In my history of American traditionalism, I noted that invective and infighting also proliferated in previous periods of uncertainty and distress within the conservative and traditionalist movements – for example, in the years 1997-2005.

Another unhappy consequence of the events of the last year has been a renewed, unhealthy focus, in extreme detail,  on the Vatican and the pope. Commentators speculate on subtle turns of phrase in the discourses of the Pope Leo, or on the background of his curial or episcopal appointments. I read of an Indian priest visiting Germany who was amazed at the attention paid there to the goings-on in the Vatican. Germany is the Church of the ”synodal path,” but the same is true of U.S. traditionalists!

2. The FSSPX Consecrations

Indeed, we now have a concrete example of Pope Leo’s attitude to the traditionalist world. The FSSPX on 2/2/2026 stated declared that they will consecrate new bishops for their fraternity, after having received from Rome unsatisfactory responses to their previous requests to discuss the matter. According to them, Pope Leo and the Vatican essentially refused to “dialogue” at all. Moreover, after the disclosure of Cardinal Roche’s scheduled address at the consistory, they do not see forthcoming any change to the treatment of the Traditional Mass. Accordingly, the “state of emergency” which justifies their current situation (and the new consecrations ) continues.

Of course, immediately after this announcement, the Vatican  stated that the “dialogue” would continue. This reaction resembles very much the way Pope Leo handled previous potential confrontations as described in Part 1 of this article (like the Senator Durbin incident).  Now Pope Leo has delegated Cardinal “Tucho” Fernandez to lead these negotiations.  I can’t think of anyone in the Vatican (except perhaps Cardinals Roche and Viola) ideologically more alien to his dialogue partner.  Beyond that issue, Cardinal Fernandez had at the time of his appointment to his present position fully disclosed to Francis (and the public) his reluctance  to assume it because of his admitted lack of administrative ability (as evidenced by his prior failures dealing with sexual abusers). And this is the man assigned to lead such sensitive negotiations? In my mind, this raises again the question whether Pope Leo  (a) understands what is going in the Church and the world; and (b) has the good judgment and character to govern the Church successfully. 

Whether anything will come of these negotiations I do not know. The FSSPX always has had to fight against the temptation of becoming a separatist cult. I did not appreciate the sallies in their latest letter against non-FSSPX traditionalists. Nor did I feel that, after TC, the FSSPX showed the leadership that their founder would have displayed in such a situation. Perhaps they were reluctant to jeopardize their semi-recognition by Francis? In any case it is extremely important for the whole of Traditionalism that the FSSPX remain intact. In many locations the FSSPX will remain the only resource for the TLM. And the very existence of the FSSPX has been a restraining influence on the powers within the Church seeking to eliminate traditionalism.

3. A Traditionalist “Ordinariate”?

In this time of uncertainty, it is not surprising that voices in the traditionalist camp have proposed (to themselves?) an “ordinariate” for traditionalists. This would involve the assignment of one or more bishops to exercise authority over a segregated community of traditionalists. I find this initiative utterly misguided. First, the proposal is unsound tactically. It would be worth addressing if the Vatican were offering it as a compromise. For traditionalists to suggest it themselves appears like begging for a favor. Second, any commitment to such a structure on the part of the Vatican would be worthless. A review of past Vatican negotiations with Una Voce and the FSSPX shows how utterly untrustworthy and underhanded the Vatican can be.  Third, the FSSPX have been requesting the ordination and recognition of bishops – in a sense, constituting themselves as an “ordinariate,” for many years. As of today, they have achieved nothing since the lifting of excommunications on bishops under Pope Benedict. Fourth, the experiences of the currently existing “ordinariate” of the ex-Anglicans or of the personal prelature of Opus Dei are not at all favorable precedents for the success of  traditionalist ordinariate. I would anticipate that, if such a structure were ever adopted,  endless discussions would ensue regarding the form of the liturgy,  the status of individual priests and parishes,  the relationships with the local bishops, the ownership of property etc. I very much doubt, for example, any traditionalist ordinariate would be permitted to function in Chicago, Detroit or Charlotte! All this would distract the Traditionalists from their main task: restoring and promoting the fulness of Catholic faith 

I think, however, the main problem with the ordinariate proposal lies not in defective tactics or a lack of understanding of ecclesiastical politics but in the fundamental nature of the traditionalist cause. For traditionalism is not – or not only – simply a desire for the traditional form of  Catholic worship. It is indeed that – but it’s also a movement to restore the fulness of the Catholic faith – in liturgy, morality, philosophy, theology, education, and even in art, music and manners. I of course applaud those who wish to give back to Catholic worship the beauty and reverence it should have – but that is just one aspect of traditionalism. And think that for the young people today who are living the rediscovered faith, founding new families  and raising children it may not even be the main reason for their engagement. 

For traditionalism is above all a spiritual movement of reform like the Gregorian reform of the 11^th century,  the rise of the mendicant orders in the 13th,  the Counter Reformation and the 19^th century Oxford/Tractarian movement. Traditionalists are not practicing and sacrificing for a “preference” but for a faith they believe to be true and a liturgy and associated practices that clearly and correctly express and preserve that faith. These principles are universal in their nature – they require traditionalists to strive to evangelize the whole Church and even the whole world. Such a movement can never willingly return to a “ghetto,” to use the favorite word of 1950-1965 vintage Catholic progressives. 

To try and negotiate limitations in order to curry favor with ecclesiastical authority undercuts the entire rationale for being a traditionalist in the first place. Bishop Athanasius Schneider has accordingly called not for an ordinariate, but for a return to universal recognition and availability of the TLM just as what  existed under Summorum Pontificum. We know given the current state of the papacy and hierarchy this goal may seem irrational, even quixotic – but has the situation of living as a traditionalist ever been any different?