A Charlotte-area Benedictine has weighed in with his reflections on the anonymous letter and leaked document used to attack Bishop Michael Martin following his decision to implement Traditionis Custodes (TC), the 2021 letter from the pope placing restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), in the diocese.

Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey in North Carolina, which is located in the Diocese of Charlotte, mentioned the controversy during the second half of his homily on Pentecost Sunday. Abbott Placid, who is a member of the bishop’s Presbyteral Council, said that the leaked document was confidential and contained Martin’s “proposals for the celebration of the liturgy” in the diocese.

Abbot Placid explained that the bishop distributed the draft document “only to priests of a subcommittee established by him and to the priests of the Presbyteral Council,” seeking these priests’ feedback and comments on the proposals. He added that this liturgy document was “to be held in strict confidence for the purpose of the discussion of the Presbyteral Council and was not to be shared.”

The abbot further testified that in addition to the bishop’s proposals, the document contained responses from the subcommittee arguing that some of Martin’s proposals “went beyond the Church’s provisions for the celebration of the liturgy and intended to limit the legitimate freedom of the priest and the faithful in some matters. Observations which I think were accurate.”[1] These responses, interestingly, were not leaked along with the draft document.

Abbot Placid described the discussion of the document between Bishop Martin and the Presbyteral Council as “frank and respectful,” noting, “Bishop Martin gave us, the priests, the respect of his careful listening.”

The anonymous leak of the document, therefore, “has gravely damaged trust” in the diocese. He also commented on the media backlash that followed, saying that it was “fed mostly by people away from the diocese — who do not know the issues of the diocese — has gravely injured the peace and unity of this local Church.”

Abbot Placid also commented on the anonymous open letter to Bishop Martin that has been circulating for the past few months and was recently posted online by the Pillar. In a Pillar article commenting on this letter, it was described as “unusually well-sourced and informed, respectful,” with the added claim “it resonated so much with priests across the theological spectrum.”

Whatever one makes of the letter’s tone, the abbot asserted that it made “unfounded assertions” and that it and the leaked document were “crude and clumsy plays for power and control, which obstruct the work of the Holy Spirit.”

Then, quoting from Chapter 3 of John’s Gospel (“everyone who does wicked things hates the light”), the abbot called on the faithful to “all together shun the works of darkness and anonymity.”

Finally, Abbot Placid narrowed down what he believes are the two central problems facing the diocese.

He described the first of these problems as “a lack of proper obedience and respect for legitimate authority, moved by the hyper-individualism and relativism of the surrounding culture, people feel free to pick and choose what teachings they choose to accept, what authority they regard as legitimate.”

He said the second problem “is the importation into the life of the Church, of the toxic, secular political model, which has caused such damage in our public life, namely the contest of competing factions and a zero-sum game for power and control in complete disregard for truth and charity.”

Abbot Placid concluded his homily with a call for unity and peace for all Christians. A transcription of this second half of his homily, as well as a link to a video of the entire Pentecost Mass, are posted at the end of this article.

Additional thoughts

Following up on my analysis of the controversy earlier this week, in which I discussed the coordinated traditionalist attacks on Bishop Martin, it was heartening to hear the strong voice of Abbot Placid confirming what was already apparent: much of the “controversy” in Charlotte has been generated largely by extreme and radical voices outside the diocese (in addition to the cowardly schemers within the diocese).

There are, admittedly, ordinary Catholics who will be hurt by this decision. Their pain should not be downplayed or ignored, even if TC was necessary due to the heterodox and extremist movement that saturates the TLM movement. Many are unfortunate victims of a propaganda campaign waged by radical traditionalists and vocal critics of Pope Francis. Among those impacted by TC are Catholics of good will who have been led to erroneous ideas, such as the notion that the reformed liturgy is inferior or less spiritually fruitful than the TLM. Unfortunately (as I wrote in my earlier article), the public face of the movement is made up entirely of dissident voices that oppose the living Magisterium and Church authority. In the 13 years since the election of Pope Francis, very few have attempted to promote a faithful vision of traditionalism, and these initiatives gained little traction and eventually fizzled.

I did read a moving plea in The Lamp by a Catholic in the diocese, Amy Jay, a wife and mother of five from Boone, NC, who was received into the Catholic Church with her family in 2020. In her article, she paints an idyllic portrait of her parish — although, interestingly, it is not of the four that will cease celebrating the TLM in October — but where she paints a portrait of a community where both forms of the Roman Rite coexist in harmony.

“When mothers meet up for coffee or lunch, we never stop to think whether so-and-so’s son serves at the T.L.M. or the Novus Ordo,” Jay writes. She adds, “We are all a part of Saint Elizabeth of the Hill Country Parish. We have the same beloved pastor. The same classrooms for our children. The same faith.”

In the article, she even includes positive mentions of Popes Francis and Leo: “We wept and prayed together with the passing of Pope Francis, and rejoiced at the installation of Pope Leo XIV. Whatever Mass we regularly attend, parishioners chat about following the example of the Holy Father Pope Leo and teaching our children the beautiful Latin prayers he has been singing.” That was encouraging.

In her article, Amy Jay seems to have inadvertently outed traditionalist priests in her diocese who have apparently violated the TC guidelines promulgated by Bishop Peter Jugis in 2023. These guidelines limited the celebration of the TLM to four locations in the diocese, and none in the mountains in Western North Carolina. In his Response to Concerns document, Bishop Martin wrote that “the TLM has not been celebrated in the mountain areas of our Diocese since 2023 when Bishop Jugis began to implement TC.”

but according to Jay (and contrary to a statement by Bishop Martin), priests continued to celebrate the TLM at mission churches in Western North Carolina. She writes, “to the contrary, as multiple sources will confirm, mission chapels have been publicly offering the TLM both in Blowing Rock (the mission chapel to our parish in Boone) and in Marion at Our Lady of the Angels mission, as well as the mission in Highlands dedicated to Our Lady of the Mountains.”

TC stipulates that the diocesan bishop is responsible for designating the sites where the TLM may be celebrated. Have the priests who celebrated these Masses done so without the knowledge or permission of Bishop Martin? If so, it seems these priests have apparently acted according to one of the problems Abbot Placid described in his homily, “a lack of proper obedience and respect for legitimate authority, moved by the hyper-individualism and relativism of the surrounding culture.”

The article didn’t mention any of the other problematic and ideological elements of the traditionalist movement, I admit I was curious to learn more about this parish where the priest happily celebrates both the TLM and the current Roman Rite, where the community is one big happy family. I am always (sincerely) happy to learn about Catholic spaces far from the liturgy wars and ideological polarization. Unfortunately, upon further review, not everyone believes Saint Elizabeth of the Hill Country Parish is one of those spaces.

A January 2021 article in the National Catholic Reporter entitled, “In came Latin, incense and burned books, out went half the parishioners,” tells the story of the changes the parish has undergone at the hands of the last two pastors. Fr. Matthew Codd, the first of the two, underwent a book-burning campaign, removing titles deemed heretical (including books by Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton) from the parish library with a group of seminarians four years before.

Following the arrival of the current pastor, Fr. Brendan Buckler, a group of parishioners began gathering in a garage on Sunday for private Masses celebrated by retired priests who drove from hours away. The article reported, “During his tenure as pastor, Buckler has preached that parishioners had the moral obligation to vote for former President Donald Trump, skirted North Carolina pandemic regulations, and attracted a new set of parishioners from other parts of the diocese.”

One parishioner estimated that about half of the 300-member community had left since the arrival of Fr. Buckler, but new parishioners had arrived, many driving long distances — attracted to the notion of a traditionalist parish.

The article was written at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and in it several parishioners noted that most St. Elizabeth’s parishioners disregarded public health guidelines. The article also mentions a now-archived page on the parish’s website called “Traditional Latin News and Announcements.” This page quotes and links to radical traditionalists like Fr. Chad Ripperger, the now-incarcerated Fr. James Jackson FSSP, the now-excommunicated Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, and Bishop Athanasius Schneider. This page also provides multiple “resources” strongly opposed to wearing masks during the pandemic, claiming, “there are legitimate spiritual concerns about forcing masking upon the entire population.”

I don’t know why this content was put on the parish’s website, but it seems to have disappeared after the NCR article was published. This is the sort of ideological and conspiratorial messaging that inevitably comes along with the TLM. And this lends credibility to Abbot Placid’s words, “The issues facing the diocese have not arisen in the past year. They have been developing over time and need to be faced with charity and truth.”

I believe that honest and frank discussion, ultimately, is the only solution to the traditionalist problem in the Church. When defending the continued use of the TLM, traditionalists rarely admit that any of these problems are serious, even when they are obvious and ubiquitous wherever traditionalism is found. They demonstrate no willingness to “police their own.” Instead, criticism and accusations are directed at those who, like Bishop Martin, attempt to address the problem.

Homily

Text of the second half of Abbot Placid’s homily (You can watch the entire homily here):

I wish to address the events which in this past week — of which you may or may not be aware — have disturbed the peace and unity of the Church in the diocese of Charlotte.

I wish to address them precisely because these events far from giving the evident signs of the work of the Holy Spirit appear to me to be works of death — fomenting disunity, perverting truth, and utterly lacking in charity. The disturbance has arisen because of two documents both made public anonymously.

One document was an anonymous letter last fall, presuming to give Bishop Martin instructions as to how to exercise his office as bishop. It was selectively distributed with what seems to be the purpose of becoming public, which did happen. The other was an anonymous leak of a confidential document containing the bishop’s proposals for the celebration of the liturgy, which was distributed by the bishop only to priests of a subcommittee established by him and to the priests of the Presbyteral Council, so that these priests only could offer the bishop their advice and counsel, as is our responsibility.

Bishop Martin made it clear that the document was to be held in strict confidence for the purpose of the discussion of the Presbyteral Council and was not to be shared. The document contained both the bishop’s proposals as well as the objections of the subcommittee that some of the proposals went beyond the Church’s provisions for the celebration of the liturgy and intended to limit the legitimate freedom of the priest and the faithful in some matters.

Observations, which I think were accurate.

As an elected member of the Presbyteral Council, I can testify that the discussion of that document among the priests of the Presbyteral Council was frank and respectful, and that Bishop Martin gave us — the priests — the respect of his careful listening.

Unfortunately, this respectful process of frank conversation between the bishop and his priests has been subverted by the leak of the confidential document. This has gravely damaged trust and the resulting media frenzy, fed mostly by people away from the diocese — who do not know the issues of the diocese — has gravely injured the peace and unity of this local Church.

As a result of the unfounded assertions of this past fall’s anonymous letter and the anonymous leak of this document to one of the Church-related political action committees, which infest the internet, Bishop Martin has been unfairly accused of not listening to the priests and being authoritarian in his actions.

I do not find this to be true. The bishop, shortly after his arrival, invited all the priests if they wished to have individual visits with him. He has repeatedly reminded us, the priests, of the need to attend gatherings of the presbyterate to gather. He has held open question sessions with the priests, and as I can testify, as an elected member of the Presbyteral Council, he has consistently consulted us and has established a freedom of speaking, which allows sometimes quite pointed, but always respectful, disagreement with the bishop.

Brothers and sisters, I propose that anonymous letter made public and anonymous leaks of confidential documents, which were never published to the faithful, are crude and clumsy plays for power and control, which obstruct the work of the Holy Spirit.

They are a confirmation of the Lord’s own teaching, “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God” (Jn 3:20-21). Let us then all together shun the works of darkness and anonymity.

The issues facing the diocese have not arisen in the past year. They have been developing over time and need to be faced with charity and truth. The real problems facing the Church and not just the Church of Charlotte are, I propose, twofold: They are a lack of proper obedience and respect for legitimate authority, moved by the hyper-individualism and relativism of the surrounding culture, people feel free to pick and choose what teachings they choose to accept, what authority they regard as legitimate.

The other problem is the importation into the life of the Church, of the toxic, secular political model, which has caused such damage in our public life, namely the contest of competing factions and a zero-sum game for power and control in complete disregard for truth and charity.

We must be careful, therefore, with the various internet sites or media which presume to identify themselves as Catholic, yet by their jargon, hyperbole, and nearly apocalyptic urgency reveal themselves, in fact, to be political action committees seeking to energize their base by appealing to the passions, often with little regard for charity. This is not a path that leads to either truth or to unity or to peace.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, as we celebrate this beautiful feast of Pentecost in which the wondrous plan of the Father’s love in sending his Son as our Savior is brought to its perfection and the sending of the Spirit of the living God to enliven and to guide his Church.

Let us together pray for the peace and unity of all the members of Christ and let us seek ever to discern rightly and to follow those signs of the work of the Holy Spirit, namely the works of life, the works of truth, the works of unity, and the works of charity.

[Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that St. Elizabeth’s was one of the four parishes where the TLM was permitted to be celebrated. It is not.]

Note

[1] As I wrote earlier this week, I found some of the proposals problematic as well.

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Image: Abbot Placid Solari, YouTube Screenshot.