“The Carnage Has Begun”: British Priest Rebukes Pope, Calls on Bishops to Openly Resist Suppression of Latin Mass

From The Remnant:

BOMBSHELL NEW VIDEO — Priest Once Imprisoned in Burma Decries Francis’ Suppression of the Old Mass

“Sit back and consider it: the highest power on earth is attacking the greatest good on earth, precisely when it’s his job to defend and preserve tradition and to pass it on to the next generation.” – Fr. James Mawdsley

A British traditional Catholic priest who was once imprisoned and tortured in a Burmese jail is openly challenging Pope Francis’ efforts to suppress the Church’s ancient Roman liturgy.

In a 9-minute video titled “Why withstand Pope Francis publicly?” [watch it below] Father James Mawdsley, formerly a priest of the Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), asserts that in his letter accompanying Traditionis Custodes, Francis “declared his intention to eradicate the traditional liturgy” and “impossibly claimed that the Novus Ordo constitutes the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.”

“Caiaphas was High Priest of the Old Covenant when he arranged for Jesus’ execution. Now shall the Vicar of Christ try to have Christ’s memorial destroyed?” he asks.

“What is happening is evil beyond description,” Father Mawdsley says. “Sit back and consider it: the highest power on earth is attacking the greatest good on earth, precisely when it’s his job to defend and preserve tradition and to pass it on to the next generation.” 

Fr. Mawdsley is no stranger to challenging oppression. At the age of 27, he spent 14 months in solitary confinement in Burma’s infamous Kengtung prison and was brutally beaten for challenging the country’s regime for its human rights violations.

He also challenges Congregation for Divine Worship Prefect Archbishop Arthur Roche’s claim in a recent interview with Catholic News Service that “the negative reaction to Traditionis Custodes has been very little,” saying to the archbishop, “What do you expect when a reign of terror is unleashed?

“Of course, people are keeping their heads down,” he continues. “Many clerics do not say openly what they think because they are afraid of vicious reprisals” such as confirmations or baptisms being “banned” in the Old Rite, or being told they can no longer celebrate the traditional Mass.

“The carnage,” he says, “has begun.”

No Stranger to Oppression

Fr. Mawdsley is no stranger to challenging oppression. At the age of 27, he spent 14 months in solitary confinement in Burma’s infamous Kengtung prison and was brutally beaten for challenging the country’s regime for its human rights violations, particularly those committed against ethnic minorities. It was also in the solitude of his prison cell that he experienced a deep conversion to Christ that would eventually culminate in a vocation to the priesthood.

Years later, reflecting on his imprisonment, Fr. Mawdsley would say: “Primarily, it was to show solidarity with the Burmese people, and particularly with the prisoners. It’s very clear when you’re willing to be alongside people in prison for their political rights, they realize they’re not forgotten by the world.”

In the new video, published on Jan. 28, Father Mawdsley says: “Truth is needed for spiritual health … It’s not enough to know it in our hearts. We need to hear it said by men in authority, from bishops and cardinals, that nobody has the right to attack tradition.”

Prelates such as Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago are “willing for the war and the slaughter to continue,” Fr. Mawdsley observes.

Addressing himself to those shepherds who wish to suppress the traditional liturgy, he says: “You may personally hate the Old Mass, but you can see that Christians love it. They love to encounter Christ there. They pray there more deeply than anywhere. Why would you take this away?”

Prelates such as Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago are “willing for the war and the slaughter to continue,” Fr. Mawdsley observes, in a reference to the cardinal’s brutal new policy for implementing Traditionis Custodes in the archdiocese. “Of all the days of the year, he chose Christmas Day to drop the axe. Who does that? Is that not sick? … He’s like another Herod.”

The former FSSP priest, who left the fraternity with the intention of speaking out, also called Archbishop Roche’s claim that most of the episcopate support efforts to suppress the traditional liturgy “unbelievable” given the reactions of bishops to Traditionis Custodes and the Responsa. “But this is precisely, bishops, why we need to hear in public what the truth is. Otherwise, the propaganda from Archbishop Roche will stand. And it’s so depressing to think that the Shepherds can’t find it in them to defend Christ, to defend the flock, to defend the faithful and to defend tradition.”

The Remnant spoke with Fr. Mawdsley about his new video:

(Diane Montagna) Fr. Mawdsley, why did you make this video?

(Fr. Mawdsley) Because if we do not speak the obvious truth then truth will die in us. Pope Francis, Archbishop Roche, Cardinal Cupich, and many other bishops are acting illegally in attempting to suffocate tradition. They are betraying the mission which Jesus gave to the Church. It would be wonderful if they were so surprised by the strength of resistance that they reconsidered and repented. But their reaction is not the priority. More important is that priests speak the truth without fear, otherwise we have nothing left. The flock is starving. And as all generations before us have passed on the Deposit of Faith, so for the sake of future generations we must not drop the ball. Or we must recover it. Without Tradition there is no future. And most importantly, for God’s glory. Those who had Tradition robbed from them in the 1950-70s did not know where it was leading. We have seen the horror, the indignity, the weakness, and inappropriateness of the Novus Ordo. In essence it is still Christ’s awesome Holy Sacrifice of Calvary; but what man has done to His Memorial is a faithless insult to God.

Let us defend the flock, let us break the jaws of the wicked and rescue the prey from their teeth.

(DM) You were ordained a priest of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. What is your relationship to the FSSP now?

(Fr. M) The FSSP is, I think, one of the best bodies of priests in the world. They are a great treasure in the Church. But I informed the superiors that I would leave and did not seek permission. It followed that I have been suspended a divinis for illegitimate absence. Obviously, I do not hold this against the Fraternity. They are definitively not the problem. But I will keep a distance, for there are vicious men in the hierarchy who will want to meet out reprisals on the innocent, in order to paralyze resistance.

Traditionis Custodes is built on lies, its content is incoherent, and it is aimed at the destruction of the greatest good on earth. 

(DM) Did this video have anything to do with your leaving the FSSP?

(Fr. M) The videos were made after I left the Fraternity, after I was suspended. I left the Fraternity with the intention of speaking out. The reason I did not seek permission was precisely to get a distance from the Fraternity, to be suspended, so that they can in truth say they are not responsible or accountable for the things I am saying. For the same reason, after some thought, I have not approached any other order or sought to be incardinated in a diocese. It would only bring trouble to them under the current oppression. There really are vicious men in the hierarchy who will unleash reprisals if they can find a target.

The Responsa are its vomit. It is better to be suspended than to pretend this wickedness has legal value.

(DM) What message would you like to send to your brother priests in light of Pope Francis’ Traditionis Custodes and the Responsa ad dubia issued by CDW Prefect Archbishop Roche just days before Christmas?

(Fr. M) God is mighty. We only need to follow Him, no matter what cost. He does not want us to support the destruction of Judas and Caiaphas, I mean with those like Archbishop Roche and Pope Francis who are savaging the Church and casting the faithful out. We can recognize their authority without complying with abuses of it. It really does not matter what price we pay on earth, only let us live in truth, let us defend the flock, let us break the jaws of the wicked and rescue the prey from their teeth. Traditionis Custodes is built on lies, its content is incoherent, and it is aimed at the destruction of the greatest good on earth. The Responsa are its vomit. It is better to be suspended than to pretend this wickedness has legal value.

Note from Michael J. Matt

Please consider sharing this vital video message with your priest, bishop, friends, family, and social media contacts. This is no longer a question of Traditionalism vs. Modernism or Neo-Catholicism. This has become a matter of life vs. death, freedom vs. tyranny, patriotism vs. globalism, and Christianity vs. atheism.  

Every priest in the world, diocesan, FSSP, SSPX, ICK, etc: Please find a way to undermine the anti-Tradition agenda of this pontificate as Father Mawdsley has done so courageously. 

You bishops who have kept the Faith: For God’s sake and the sake our nation and our children, please find a way to circumvent the evil orders coming down from the Vatican. We beg you, Your Excellencies, resist this globalist pope of the New World Order. 

To the “clans” the world over: Share this urgent video message, which is also available at The Remnant’s YouTube and Rumble channels, as well as Fr. Mawdsley’s YouTube channel. Holy Mother Church needs all of her sons and daughters to stand with her as she undergoes this horrific persecution at the hands of human hirelings who have abandoned the Cross in pursuit of human respect. 

UPDATE with Fr Z’s reaction to this post:

I saw quite a piece at The Remnant about a priest – Father James Mawdsley – who, in unmistakable terms, called out Francis and Roche and those others who have been trying to oppress the faithful who desire traditional Catholic liturgical worship.

The intro at The Remnant, says that he once belonged to the FSSP. He left them so they would not be blamed for what he said! And do any of us believe that there would NOT be reprisals against the FSSP? It also says that, as a layman, he was imprisoned and tortured in Burma for protesting human rights abuses. In solitary, he had a conversion that lead to priesthood.

As I read through the piece and saw the video, something dawned on me. I’ve had contact with him before.

There is going to be a lot of suffering in the time to come. However, at the end of the Holy TLM, the priest recites the Prologue of the Gospel of John (check out Esolen’s incredible new book HERE). At the end of that “Last Gospel” for Mass, the priest repeats – day in and day out – “we saw His glory, the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father”, which is a reference to Christ’s Passion and death on the Cross, which will come many chapters later in John. In the Roman Canon, after the consecration at the Supplices te rogamus, the priest bows before the altar. Speaking of participation in that altar, when he rises the priest makes the sign of the Cross over the Host, the Precious Blood and then crosses himself. The priest is the one offering the Sacrifice. That’s what priests do. But in these case the priest is also the one being sacrificed. This series of small gestures link to form an icon of such enormity that it will take a priest decades truly to get his mind around it. There is nothing like it in the Novus Ordo.

So, there is going to be a lot of suffering in the time to come.

Please pray for priests.

Here is a guest post by James Mawdsley when he was a seminarian, posted on 7 January 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf on his blog:

GUEST POST: “Do blogs change lives?”

Here is some feedback and comments that will keep me going for a while.

“Do blogs change lives? They do when they pay honour to Holy Mother Church and draw us into her treasures. Back in 2006 I did not even know the TLM existed. But thanks to WDTPRS I became intrigued: what is this Traditional Mass about which Fr Z keeps posting?

Enthusiasm was not immediate because there was such a steep learning curve. But what captured me was reading time and time again posts or comments which affirmed that the TLM by its very form offers greater glory to God. If this were so, then I wanted to be there, especially while my country scorns God.

Furthermore, your posts explained that the TLM’s rites and prayers dare to address us as sinners in need of redemption. This kind of communication is what my soul responds to, for I know it is true. Novus Ordo spirituality seems frightened to go there. And what sealed the deal for me on the TLM is that these two realities which are so infinitely far apart—God’s glory and our sinfulness—are bridged by that very reality which is the essence of Holy Mass: the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary. And the TLM is full of references to the Cross and to sacrifice, in too many ways to count. As there is nothing on earth more adorable than Christ on the Cross, then there is nowhere better to be every day than at a TLM.

Now I am a seminarian for an Ecclesia Dei community, and cannot thank God enough. Thanks too to you Fr Z for your blog, especially for those posts around the time of Summorum Pontificum, which insisted that if we hunger for God’s glory, if we hunger for Redemption, if we adore the Cross, then we simply must go and be present at Traditional Masses, again and again and again, and pray and work to understand the sacrifice and to consent to the sacrifice. And God does not disappoint.

For anyone out there who has the beginning of an interest, please please do go to the TLM, and don’t stop going. It will fulfil you.”

It is great that this young man found some inspiration and courage to check out the TLM.  I love this devout enthusiasm and zeal.  Zelus domus tuae!

My path into the Catholic Church was through the Novus Ordo celebrated in close continuity with our Roman liturgical tradition, and with great reverence and splendor.  It was the binding, blending, building experience of both my intellectual and affective conversion.

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