Some dark clouds hang over us this Advent.
Bishop Strickland. Cardinal Burke. Church Militant. The news has been anything but jolly.
We’re hearing news of a bishop in South America who not only shut down all of the TLMs in his diocese, but has even threatened his people with excommunications if they attend a Latin Mass!
And on top of it all, one of the charities we have supported financially, The Coalition for Canceled Priests (CFCP), is now swamped in confusion and controversy as well. Accusations, denials and counter-accusations. Quite frankly, we’re not sure what to believe on this one.
TLM-Friends has an ad running this month in Catholic Family News which (among other things) offers some of our merchandise (T-shirts, bumper stickers, that sort of thing) for sale with the promise that all profits will go to the CFCP. It’s too late to pull the ad, but we have suspended providing any additional monies to that organization. Any profits which would have been donated to the Coalition are being held in abeyance until such time as the TLM-Friends Board of Directors meets early this month. If the situation isn’t crystal clear by then (quite frankly, we’re doubtful that it will be), the suspension will remain in place.
Our mission is to support those who say, pray, and chant the Traditional Latin Mass. That Mass remains under attack from many directions. We are keenly aware of our responsibility to shepherd the funds you have so generously provided us with. We will continue to scrutinize and vet any potential recipients of our gifts, but honestly, we sure didn’t see this particular controversy coming.