‘Bread Not Stones’

Bishop Michael Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, issued a decree on Friday, May 23, 2025, ending the Traditional Latin Masses at all four parish churches of the diocese where it is currently offered.

I've given some thought to how I would comment on this story. Perhaps 'All change is not necessarily progress' comes to mind. Then there is, 'The SPLC and the FBI congratulate Bishop Michael Martin on his efforts to curb domestic terrorism.'

Rather than rant about the loss of the Traditional Latin Mass in four North Carolina parishes, a deeper look at the question of unity that Bishop Michael Martin seeks will not be the result of his decree. I have no problem with the Mass being said in English.

In fact, the Mass across the United States is offered in Vietnamese, Spanish, and English. There are parishes that are made up of different ethnic groups across the United States. There are Catholic parishes that are made up of Byzantine Rite Catholics, and Mass is said in Aramaic and the Ukrainian language. As far as I know there are no plans to demand that they must now offer the Mass in English.

In what many consider hurtful, the Bishop announced that as a ‘replacement’ for the four traditional communities located at four thriving parishes, he will erect a single chapel 1 to 2 hours away from (roughly in the geographic center of) these four existing communities. Bishop Martin declared that families will be required to maintain a registration at a diocesan parish and that no other sacraments (Baptism, Confession, First Holy Communion, Confirmation, Marriages, & Extreme Unction) will be allowed at this new chapel. This means that families will have to travel back and forth for everything. Additionally, diocesan parishes typically require mandatory attendance at catechesis preparation classes for months before sacraments. These formation classes are usually held on Sunday mornings creating a undue hardship for families.

The four parishes:

The four diocesan parishes currently offering the soon-to-be-canceled Sunday Latin Masses are: 1. St. Ann Catholic Church in Charlotte, NC (Sunday, 12:30pm Latin Mass) 2. St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Charlotte, NC (Sunday, 11:30am Latin Mass) 3. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Tryon, NC (Sunday, 8:30am Latin Mass) 4. Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Greensboro, NC (Sunday, 1:30pm Latin Mass)

Erasing history, whether by destroying statues or renaming locations, does not build unity. Doing away with the Latin Mass in the United States or anywhere else in the world will not build unity. Doing away with hundreds upon hundreds of years of the Latin Mass, a Mass that attracts Catholics, and especially younger Catholics, is not going to unify Catholics.