I just had to post this video of the recent Pentecost pilgrimage to Chartre, at which Cardinal Burke officiated with the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass. The point which should make an impression on your conscience is that the future of the Church lies in her return to tradition!
The N.O. is dying out. In Kankakee, there are no longer any Catholic schools left, and the churches themselves are rapidly dwindling. St. Stanislaus was closed within the last 40 years. St. Mary’s was sold long ago. The then bishop Imesch chose to sell St. Mary’s rather than make it a parish for the celebration of the TLM. I know this for a fact because I wrote to him with the request, to which he replied in the negative.
Currently, plans are to merge the three parishes of St. Teresa, St. Rose, and St. Martin. The most beautiful one – and the oldest – is to be shut-down, and most likely put up for sale, or demolished. That would be a crime. There is no need for that to happen.
The building itself is structurally sound; and as for the claim that there is a priest shortage, the diocese could remedy that by turning it over to a traditional community of priests. But will bishop Conlon be agreeable to that suggestion? Or is he going to repeat the actions of Imesch and further the destruction of the faith in the already devastated vineyard of the Lord in the Joliet diocese? Will church authorities proceed to serve Christ with an eviction notice?
Here is the video. Take note of the abundance of reverent, pious youth – the future of Catholicism:
