[Question:]{.underline} How can one say that the New Mass is “evil,” since sometimes the priest celebrates it reverently and the faithful assist piously?
[Answer:]{.underline} All traditional-minded Catholics agree that the New Mass is not what it ought to be, namely that it is less perfect than the traditional Mass. All also agree that not all celebrants of the New Mass make a mockery of it, as do evil celebrants who use the Mass for sacrilegious or blasphemous purposes.
However, I believe that the principal difference of opinion with respect to the application of the term “evil” to the New Mass concerns the meaning of this word “evil.” Generally, we speak of evil as a moral characteristic of a person. In this sense it most certainly does not apply to those who strive to celebrate the New Mass with respect and reverence, who still believe in the Real Presence, and who try to make it a prayer as best they can. They are well intentioned, but misled.
However, when we apply the term “evil” to the New Mass, we are speaking of evil as descriptive of a human action, not of the person who does it. Here it has the philosophical meaning of “evil,” namely the absence of the good that is due. An example in the physical order is the prescribing of a medication that is harmful, and does not restore health as it ought to do. An example in the moral order is Robin Hood style charity---stealing from some persons in order to give to others. There is no justice in such behavior, and it lacks the good that is necessary for the practice of virtue; for we cannot practice charity with other people’s goods.
The same applies to the liturgy. Communion in the hand is an evil, in the circumstances of the present time, for the action of distributing Holy Communion in this fashion lacks the respect and reverence that is due to Our Lord really present in the Blessed Sacrament, regardless of the faith or good intentions of those who might administer it.
This can also be said of all the novelties and omissions in the ceremonies of the New Mass, and of the New Mass as a whole. It corrupts and undermines the Faith, for it does not adequately express the Church’s Faith in the fact that the Holy Mass is a true and propitiatory sacrifice. Furthermore, this complete expression of the Faith is essential to the Mass as a liturgical act. For it is a symbolic act, the very nature of which is to express completely the Church’s Faith on this question. The elimination of this profession of Faith in the new rite, given the protestant revolt of the 16^th^ century, is a very grave absence, for at the very least it makes the faithful believe that this aspect of the Mass is no longer important. It is the absence of a good that is due to the Mass.
The gravity of these omissions can be understood only when all the aspects of the true Mass that are eliminated in the New Mass are put together side by side: e.g., doing away with genuflections and kneeling, with altar stones and altar cloths, with Latin and the silent Canon, with the holding together and purification of the priest’s fingers, with the limitation of touching the sacred vessels and hosts to the priest only, with the double Confiteor, with the Offertory prayers, with prayers mentioning such things as sin, judgment, hell, purgatory, the purification of the soul, and detachment from this earth. One could go on and on. It is when the whole picture is put together that the New Mass can be clearly seen to be radically defective in those things that are essential to the Mass. It is consequently evil, regardless of the good intentions of the celebrants and assistants.
This is the reason why no Catholic who is aware of all these defects in the New Mass has a right to assist at it, even to satisfy his Sunday obligation. To do so would be to participate in an evil act, one that is destroying the Church and the Faith. Since the end does not justify the means, this is never permissible. Furthermore, a person cannot be bound to do something evil in virtue of a precept of the Church. Catholics ought not to assist at Sunday Mass in their parishes on the justification that it is a reverently celebrated New Mass. It is still lacking the profession of Faith essential to the Mass. It is still evil, harmful, and destructive to the Church. The presence of a few traditionally minded Catholics is not going to make any difference to this, since the changes were never wanted by the faithful in the first place but were imposed from above. Attending the New Mass cannot possibly make something that is bad become good.
Some people ask why Sister Lucia attended the New Mass until her death. She had the problem of conscience of so many religious, bound by the vow of obedience to do what their superiors tell them. Although, objectively speaking, a person in such circumstances should refuse to assist at the New Mass, we certainly understand Sister Lucia’s predicament, especially given the special revelations that she had received. She understood that, for one who receives such special graces, obedience is the only means to sanctification, and to avoiding illusion and diabolical deception. Hence her preference for obedience above everything else. After all, she was not a theologian, the Masses celebrated in her convent were very respectful, and the question of the Mass was not her concern but rather living the message of Our Lady of Fatima---namely prayer and penance.
It is certainly true that the evil that has come upon the Church since Vatican II is a chastisement for the absence of the supernatural spirit and for the failure to respond to the message of Fatima. However, this is not a reason for us to cooperate with this evil in any way, as does a person who goes to the New Mass, albeit unwillingly. Our duty is to stand up against the evil and refuse to compromise with it.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.