Diocesan Priest: Restore Traditional Mass & Theology To Avoid Church’s Total Collapse
Fr. Giacomo Capoverdi is a priest of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island with nearly 5,000 friends and followers on social media. To my knowledge Fr. Capoverdi does not publicly offer the Traditional Latin Mass, which makes the following guest post all the more impactful. It is shared here from his Facebook page with Father’s permission.
I know there are going to be some who disagree with me. That’s your right. But In my opinion and experience of 25 years of priesthood we are sinking fast as a Church and are in big trouble. Most of our problems are internal.
The only way out of this mess, I believe, is to go back to doing what the Church did when She was successful. We need to go back to the Mass of St. Pope John XXIII, the Extraordinary Form, in every parish and start running seminarians like we used to before the mid sixties.
Some say the church has to become more, “With the times,” and even more Liberal. That the church needs to change Her moral positions on Homosexuality and Abortion, then more people will come to Mass. This could not be furthered from the truth.
Protestants tried this, changing their moral theology and understanding of the Bible, and they have been failing miserably. Mainline Liberal Protestant churches are disappearing from the face of the earth. So are Liberal Religious Nuns and Brothers. Many of these Liberal groups have not had a vocation in decades.
The Catholic Church shifted our belief on Salvation and the way we celebrate Holy Mass. That’s when our problems began. Priests bad behavior since the sixties is a consequence of this, bad fruit from bad decisions. If we don’t make major changes soon, and go back to the way things were before the last 55 years, we will continue to hemorrhage and lose 75% of the population that is practicing today, over the next 50 years.
For example, there are 5 parishes in Westerly, Rhode Island right now. If we don’t go back to the TLM, my prediction is 50 years from now there will just be 1 parish in Westerly that only needs to celebrate 3 Masses on the weekend.
Trying to become more Protestant in our Liturgy and Theology over the past 55 years has had disastrous consequences. We can’t blame the mess we’re in on, “Cultural changes.” The sad changes we made helped shape the cultural changes that tragically happened.
We baptized bad moral behavior, by watering down our beliefs. I know I won’t be around to see the total collapse, but it’s coming if we don’t go back to our Traditional Mass and Traditional moral beliefs. Click here to read above report at source…
Editor writes…
Wurdesmythe (our sometime American blogger) emailed the above article this morning, which will, surely, come as a bit of a shock to those who continue to believe that the Vatican II “reforms” have brought about a “new springtime” in the Church. Is he right though – will there be a total collapse in the Church if the traditional Mass and Faith is not restored, immediately if not sooner?
Comments (20)
The problem is that the hierarchy doesn’t believe in anything that is recognizably Catholic. They can’t be persuaded and, indeed, it seems many of the most senior prelates have been specifically appointed as wreckers. The Church cannot ultimately fail but it will need to be rebuilt from the tiny remnant. Between now and then we’ve got worse to come – especially with all the synodal baloney (a.k.a. Vatican III).
Andrew Q,
I completely agree, but I’m cheered to see a priest from a diocese, not one publicly associated with the traditional Mass, speaking out like this. He said it all perfectly. I just hope his bishop doesn’t act against him.
A comment at the source site for the article caught my attention – one reader wrote, “Yes, the membership of mainline Protestant churches is declining as is the membership of fundamentalist Protestant churches that maintain the traditional ethics Fr. Giacomo Capoverdi champions. To attribute this decline to the older doctrine of…is a case of misdiagnosis.”
Except that Fr. Capoverdi said this:
“The Catholic Church shifted our belief on Salvation and the way we celebrate Holy Mass. That’s when our problems began.”
Thus, the problem began when the Mass was abandoned, not because the ethics changed. The change of ethics followed from giving up the emphasis on the spiritual and supernatural, and opting for a natural, humanistic focus. Put the spiritual front and center again, and the healing and restoration will follow.
The same commenter added, “The cited decline is due to growing disinterest of the world’s younger generations in belonging to institutions of any kind that their making a living does not require of them.”
I think this comment is fair – but I also more than suspect this sad phenomenon developed because young people were not challenged to deal with matters that demanded moral effort and spiritual sacrifice. The Traditional Faith and Mass does this. Invite young people to live on a higher level that obliges them to make meaningful sacrifice for a worthy cause, and then let them correspond to it.
Some bishops out there don’t believe in sacred. There was. Priest that I met once as he was involved in sacrilege of the altar. My ex Bishop refused to re consecrate the altar so far right up to now, that was spiritually and physically violated. It’s sickening but I suppose God will hold them responsible for things done by disrespecting him.
Plus double lives of some priests out there now, will reduce the church into quite smaller and authentic church.
Francis,
“smaller” yes, it will be: “authentic” – nope. Our Lord’s final words on this earth were an instruction to his apostles to go out into the whole world a spread the Faith, plant the Church. That they have failed to do so, is to have disobeyed Christ’s “authentic”, original instruction. If He’d wanted a small Church, He’d achieved that before His Ascension into Heaven.
In a sense, I think it has already largely collapsed in the West. Most novus ordo bishops/priests offer a travesty of the Faith. Not just because they are novus ordo, but because they have abandoned or watered down Catholic doctrine, become worldly and sadly too often become embroiled in all sorts of scandals as a result. I think the title of Christopher Ferrara’s book sums it up neatly in three words: ‘The Great Facade’. It is a facade. Scratch it and you will find precious little underneath. The covid saga merely served to expose the extent of the underlying disorder.
Westminster fly,
I agree with you, and especially that Covid has just exposed the lack of faith of the clergy. I think it has come to a shock to a lot of Catholics who had no idea, never would have believed their priests would have abandoned them, left them without the sacraments – over a virus! It would be funny if not so shocking.
Some bishops out there rather see it as careerist rather than a vocation. Don’t think it’s the problem of NO cos damage was just starting before 2nd vat council as it was all there along before just inching slowly in term of glacial pace, then all of a sudden after vat 2, this, accelerating the damage more and more. Look at abuser priests who were ordained before 2nd vat such as Smyth, Marciel, mc Carrick (ordained in 1958) as I could go on. 2nd vat council just watered it down re faith and sacred things. Despite lack of proper Catholic education, God allowed me to see things in supernatural way at odd times when my faith was floundering at times. Also despite my previous involvement in new age therapies, I’m seeing the emergence of evil getting a foothold inside the Catholic Church. One thing I learned was, don’t put your faith in bishops or cardinals or Pope that would work out at the end, thus put your faith in God. Cos the Catholic Church operates in OMERTA fashion and too much secrecy, asymmetrical information (info that they have that we don’t know, for instance mc Carrick and Marciel as they knew it since 1940’s.) I’m surprised at Pope cos he’s gaslighting us which I haven’t seen before in previous papacies
Francis de sales,
I think you are confusing two different things, priests who get involved in scandalous living, priests who are sinful even causing public scandal, and what has happened since Vatican II which is a wholesale disbelief even in the existence of God. There can be no doubt that the new Mass has led to this.
Margaret Mary, what I’m saying is that Catholic Church problems were there all along before Vatican 2. Marciel (legionnaire of Christ) was leading his double life in 1940’s as the Vatican was alerted to this in 1946 but did nothing to stop this. Fr B Smyth was ordained in 1951 in old rite. His order and the Vatican were warned re him in 1965 when Fr Bruno Mulvihill who reported him to his superiors and later the Vatican themselves, which fell on deaf ears. Now McCarrick who was ordinated in 1958 in the old rite as his debauchery actions were reported in 1969 or 1970 but bishops did nothing and kept their OMERTA (trademark of Catholic Church). There were some American homosexual cardinals such as Spellman and Berndain around at that time as mcCarrick. Hoover of fbi kept a watch on them per book on life of Hoover. Funny enough, Hoover was a homosexual as he didn’t go after them. The Vatican kept it all under a very tight wraps in pre vat 2 until NO mass/vat 2 came along and boom re their exposure and consequence of all their actions or decisions not followed up on display. I noticed that prior to vat 2, exposure to church problems was very minimal cos they kept it under very tight wraps. Now its full blown, one exposure after vat 2 as it took some time to unravel the whole thing. However it doesn’t mean that vat 2 is the source of all the problems cos [the] problems did exist before no mass started. Just a little reminder to you all, padre pio’s bishop was a homosexual as it was well documented. That Bishop was totally against Padre Pio as he even brought it up directly to the Vatican and the Pope. That was 1920 or 1930s I think. Homosexuality in the Church existed all along before vat 2 as that problem wasn’t new except that there was no exposure per se cos no Internet, no freedom of speech blah blah etc. it was very tightly controlled by the Church and their pals in the media during 1920s to 1950s. Cracks began to appear around mid or late 1950s. Pope Pius was aware of the cracks.
What I have noticed the difference between vat 2 and the old rite was in the area of supernatural. I was baptised in the old rite just barely before NO liturgy took over that year. That saved me in my estimation re new age therapies, being initiation etc cos it sort of speeded up as I was able to get out of it but it was quite long battle due to my lack of Catholic education and ignorance. It might take ages to get it out of demonic traps if baptised in the new rite as that’s my view. Its supernatural things from my point of view as I see it.
Francis de sales,
What you seem to be saying is that the drop in Mass attendance (at the new Mass – the TLM is expanding) is due to the fact that there are priests who behave immorally and have been prior to Vatican II. That doesn’t match up.
People are not falling away from Mass due to the scandals, because there have always been scandals (as you are pointing out, in fact) and people persevered in the faith.
People are falling away from the new Mass because it is not from God. That is the long and the short of it, it does not nourish souls.
People who attend the TLM know about the same scandals but it doesn’t stop them from attending Mass and the sacraments.
Can you see that?
RE: “total collapse,” I do not know to what extent the Passion of the Church (the Mystical Body) will parallel Our Lord’s Passion, but it may well be that at some point the Church will appear to be dead and buried. However, I think it is important to remember that “dead and buried” was actually victory (not to mention “foolishness to the Gentiles.”).
And speaking of victory, it is also important to remember this: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
RCA Victor,
The Church in Scotland (and across the western world) has been in meltdown for many years now – all but extinct. I think we must always remember that while Our Lord promised to be with His Church until the end of time, and that the gates of Hell will never prevail against it, he gave no such guarantee about the Church in particular places.
What is happening right now is not in the same category as the kind of “victory” to which (I think) you refer, when the Church is under active persecution and the faithful remain faithful. Right now, the Church is under diabolical attack from within – quite a different kettle of “dead and buried” altogether, it seems to me.
Thank you, though, for the reminder of the promise of Our Lady – for which we say a very loud Deo gratias!
Editor,
Actually, the Church being under diabolical attack from within also parallels Our Lord’s Passion, since He was betrayed by one of His own.
RCA Victor,
Yes, but that was one bad apple, be fair. Now it’s almost the entire hierarchy – and then the rest. C’mon, be fair…
Speaking about playing fair, this story came to mind – kinda on topic… a bit…
The Pope met with his Cardinals to discuss a proposal from Ariel Sharon, the leader of Israel.
“Your Holiness,” said one of his Cardinals, “Mr. Sharon wants to challenge you to a game of golf to show the friendship and ecumenical spirit shared by the Jewish and Catholic faiths.”
The Pope thought this was a good idea, but he had never held a golf club in his hand. “Don’t we have a Cardinal to represent me?” he asked.
“None that plays very well,” a Cardinal replied. “But,” he added, “there is a man named Jack Nicklaus, an American golfer who is a devout Catholic. We can offer to make him a Cardinal, then ask him to play Mr. Sharon as your personal representative. In addition, to showing our spirit of cooperation, we’ll also win the match.”
Everyone agreed it was a good idea. The call was made. Of course, Nicklaus was honoured and agreed to play.
The day after the match, Nicklaus reported to the Vatican. “I have some good news and some bad news, your Holiness,” said the golfer.
“Tell me the good news first, Cardinal Nicklaus,” said the Pope.
“Well, your Holiness, I don’t like to brag, but even though I’ve played some pretty terrific rounds of golf in my life, this was by far the best I have ever played. I must’ve been inspired from above. My drives were long and true, my irons were accurate and purposeful, and my putting was perfect. With all due respect, my play was truly miraculous.
“There’s bad news?” the Pope asked.
“Yes,” Nicklaus sighed. “I lost to Rabbi Tiger Woods by three strokes.” :gin:
Lily, yes I see that from what you are saying there. Here in Ireland, TLM hasn’t expanded that much in my area as attendence numbers remained the same, more or less with more of little uptick after Covid restrictions were removed. However in NO mass, numbers were down more than it was pre Covid from my observations, more significant than numbers in TLM.
People saw some light in irish bishops actions re closure of masses for many many months. Bishops were quite content with their decisions but not with the mass goers, who were rightly peeved and angry. From what I heard in my area, TLM were open but they were bit secretive and selective as whom to admit few people in cos they were under police watch for some time. Ex prime minister son attended it from what I have heard. No wonder they were v cautious re police watch. TLM wasn’t that popular in Ireland as most of goers went to NO mass, voted with their feet as decades went by.
People falling away from new mass due to myraid of reasons such as huge explosion of various scandals as opposed in the past where minimisation of scandals was the norm via their friends in the media back then , poor catechism, abuses in their family, corruption, double lives et al, [hierarchy] not tackling the problem head on etc.
Also watering down their faith via vat 2 contributed it in the long run cos it wasn’t quite noticeable at the start but quite more prevalent now.
In new mass, something was missing in terms of supernatural re difference between new and old mass. But in fairness, I had experienced some healings in new mass but not in old mass. I simply don’t know why was that, ,maybe its down to my lack of Catholic education, ignorance etc. But in old rite or TLM, it packed some spiritual power as I could sense it at times but not in new mass. That was where it falls in the realm of supernatural element re spiritual power.
What is plain to see for all who have Eyes and Ears is that the Catholic Church as regards the so called Higherachy is now no Longer Catholic. Except for a few Good Priests and Bishops and 1 Cardinal to my Mind follow Christ ,the rest follow Bergoglio.
So we know where we stand on Bergoglios ridiculous statements last week about The Communion of Saints. Not once did Bergoglio mention The Sacrament of Confession to bring all back into the Communion of Saints. Whether though Bergoglio is a Heretic I Know not, as surely one first has to be a Catholic to announce Heretical Views in The Catholic Church. On that count Bergoglio doesn’t qualify.
I would like others views on that .
BTW R.C.A. Victor I hope your keeping a lot better. God Bless. J.D.
Faith of our Fathers,
“Not once did Bergoglio mention The Sacrament of Confession to bring all back into the Communion of Saints.”
That’s it ! LOL !
That’s a very good sign, when even one novus ordo priest speaks out to argue for a return to Catholic Tradition. I hope others follow.
What an excellent and unequivocal message from Fr Capoverdi.
He is obviously very clear sighted, even if he does not personally – as yet – offer the TLM.
I did worry what his Bishop might say, but of course its Bishop Thomas Tobin in Rhode Island, who is a good Bishop (certainly much better than his namesake Cardinal).
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