[Catholic Caucus] Pro-LGBT Kentucky bishop suppresses Latin Mass religious order, citing Traditionis Custodes

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Posted on 01/17/2025 7:05:09 PM PST by ebb tide

Bishop John Iffert of Covington, Kentucky, who said Mass for a pro-LGBT 'support group' last August, has suppressed a religious order which exclusively celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass, citing Pope Francis’ motu proprio 'Traditionis Custodes.'

The bishop of Covington, Kentucky, who had previously celebrated an “LGBT Mass” for a dissident organization, has suppressed a religious order which exclusively celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), citing Pope Francis’ TLM-suppressing motu proprio Traditionis Custodes.

Bishop John Iffert announced to the faithful of his diocese on Tuesday that he had suppressed the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist (MSJB), a group which “hoped to establish a religious order in the Catholic Church,” consisting of two priests and several laymen based at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Park Hills, Kentucky.

While the official decree of suppression was issued in July of 2024, Iffert explained that he “delayed publishing the decree” because “the MSJB had the right to request” that he reconsider it, and to appeal the decision before it took effect.

It is unclear whether the MSJB appealed the decision. LifeSiteNews attempted to contact the MSJB, but has not heard back as of the time of publishing.

In December, LifeSiteNews reported that Bishop Iffert said Mass for a pro-LGBT “support group” named Catholics Embracing All God’s Children in August. The organization, which is overseen by the homosexual-affirming Fortunate Families ministries, participated in last year’s Cincinnati “Pride” Parade.

In his decree of suppression, shared with LifeSiteNews, Iffert said the decision was made “in light of the apostolic letter Traditionis Custodes and in response to constant disparagement of the current form of the Roman Rite by members of the association and a lack of suitable clerical leadership for the association.”

Iffert clarified in his letter to his diocese that the priests of MSJB remain incardinated in the Covington diocese and “retain all the rights and obligations associated with their vocational state.”

Christ is King Action Ministries (CKAM) has decried the suppression as a “sudden and unjust disruption of a ministry that has demonstrated unwavering Fidelity to the church.”

READ: Kentucky bishop cites Francis in letter defending Mass for pro-LGBT group

“The narrative that these priests have recently adopted a position of irreverence or contempt for the hierarchy falls apart under any serious scrutiny, particularly when examined in light of their relationship with Bishop Emeritus Roger Foys, who expressed profound appreciation for their work from their arrival in the diocese of Covington in 2011,” the lay Catholic group declared in a defense of MSJB.

The group posted on their website a video showing Bishop Emeritus Foys praising the MSJB for their “wonderful, wonderful ministry,” and for their “love of the Lord and joy in the Lord, and a wonderful reverence, which we don’t see a lot of sometimes.”

It was in 2015, under Bishop Foys, that the MSJB “formally organized as a community dedicated to the Traditional Latin Mass and sacraments,” explained CKAM. The lay group highlighted the Missionaries’ “successful reconciliation of an entire independent Catholic community with the Church” as one of their most “remarkable” accomplishments. 

CKAM also defended their “steadfast adherence” to the Traditional Latin Mass, which it described as a “core part of their episcopally approved charism.”

Traditionis Custodes, which has led to the suppression of dozens of Latin Masses around the world, has been denounced by clergy and scholars as a repudiation of the perennial practice of the Catholic Church and even of solemn Church teaching.

Liturgical scholar Dr. Peter Kwasniewski has implored priests to resist Traditionis Custodes and its accompanying Responsa ad dubia “regardless of threats or penalties,” since obedience to these documents would undermine the very mission of the holy Catholic Church.

‘The traditional Mass belongs to the most intimate part of the common good in the Church. Restricting it, pushing it into ghettos, and ultimately planning its demise can have no legitimacy. This law is not a law of the Church because, as St. Thomas [Aquinas] says, a law against the common good is no valid law,’” he said in a speech during the 2021 Catholic Identity Conference. 

He quoted the solemn words of St. Pius V’s bull Quo Primum, which authorized the traditional Mass in “perpetuity.” Quo Primum states (emphasis added):

[I]n virtue of Our Apostolic authority, We grant and concede in perpetuity that, for the chanting or reading of the Mass in any church whatsoever, this Missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment, or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used. Nor are superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us. We likewise declare and ordain … that this present document cannot be revoked or modified, but remains always valid and retains its full force …

Would anyone, however, presume to commit such an act [i.e., altering Quo Primum], he should know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

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1 posted on 01/17/2025 7:05:09 PM PST by ebb tide

To: Al Hitan; Fedora; irishjuggler; Jaded; kalee; markomalley; miele man; Mrs. Don-o; ...

2 posted on 01/17/2025 7:05:54 PM PST by ebb tide (The Synodal "church" is not the Catholic Church.)

To: ebb tide

3 posted on 01/17/2025 7:07:50 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)

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