Yesterday, at 4pm I went to Westminster Cathedral for the 4.30pm Tridentine Mass (this is exceptionally early for me, I am such a late person), a middle aged man walked up to me with lots of leaflets and wanted to prevent me going to Mass. His reason?
‘Those priests that say the Mass in there…and the Brompton Oratory priests…' he said, cue much shaking of his head and a sorrowful look in his eyes that made me feel very sorry for him, 'those priests have not been ordained in the Old Rite of Ordination.’
‘OK sir, so I shouldn’t attend the Tridentine Mass of a priest who has not been ordained in the Old Rite?’
‘You should only go to a Mass that’s being offered by a priest who was ordained in the Old Rite.’
I didn’t have a rebuttal ready; was he basically arguing that Catholics should not attend any Holy Mass, celebrated by a priest who was not ordained in the Old Rite?
‘I know’ he said with a weary sigh, ‘that there are many Traditional Catholics who go to Brompton Oratory. I hope to go down there and talk to them.’‘Sher…grand...’ I said in a guttural Irish accent and giving a nervous smile whispered, ‘maybe you’ll see me at the Oratory. I had better be going. God bless.’
‘No, wait…’ He tried to step in front of me.
‘I’m going to say my Rosary in the Cathedral, and will offer a decade for you. You don’t have anything against the Rosary do you?’
‘Oh no. No.’
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