Expert: Fr. Michael - 5/4/2010

Question
A group of us travel 277 miles to a Traditional Latin Mass X1 per month. The Norvus Ordo makes us nervous. Some say the Mass is not Valid. A priest from the FSSP has said that as long as The priest say " For This is My Body,  For this is My Blood its valid.  That is of course the main issue, but I feel like we are being entertained now instead of worshiping God.  Please talk to me.  In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,     shannon

Answer
I agree that the Novus Ordo is not valid.  The Pro-prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ottaviani, told Paul VI so and wrote a tract in 1969 with other Roman theologians, demonstrating that the Novus Ordo service is not Catholic, but rather Protestant.

The FSSP priest (presbyter), who, you must remember, is associated with the Novus Ordo structure and would be expelled if he said that the Novus Ordo service is invalid, is speaking to you out of fear, not out of Catholic doctrine.  It is certainly not a question of certain words, which were never spoken in a vulgar tongue like English anyway.  It is a question of the entirety of the service, involving form, matter, and intention.  This is the doctrinal teaching of Pope Leo XIII in his definitive Papal Bull of 1896, Apostolic Curae, in declaring the High Anglican service invalid.  That High Anglican service is much closer to the Traditional Latin Mass than the Novus Ordo.

For further information, there is excellent information at the TRADITIO Traditional Roman Catholic Network, www.traditio.com, in its Novus Ordo Service Photo Gallery department.  The introductory material there answers your question.

God bless you for making that extreme sacrifice to worship at the True Mass, however often you can get there.  There is NEVER any excuse for attending the invalid Novus Ordo, which has destroyed the Catholic Faith for its adherents and turned them into Protestants, or even pagans.  There is not "obligation" ever to attend a phony, Protestantized worship service.  To the contrary, you are forbidden to do so -- ever.  You are doing the right thing -- 100 per cent.