The Good, the Bad, and the Effeminate, by Charles Coulombe

By Charles Coulombe, Crisis Magazine, Sept. 12, 2023

Charles A. Coulombe is a contributing editor at Crisis and the magazine’s European correspondent. He previously served as a columnist for the Catholic Herald of London and a film critic for the National Catholic Register. A celebrated historian, his books include Puritan’s Empire and Star-Spangled Crown. He resides in Vienna, Austria and Los Angeles, California.

 

Ever since the publication of Traditionis Custodes (affectionately called “Traschcan Custodians” by its fans), orthodox Catholics—and not just of the Latin Mass-going variety—have been aware of a certain chill in the room. While not precisely of the life-threatening nature of the betrayal of the Underground Church in China, it is far from pleasant for those forced to function under it.

The latest development in the ongoing saga is the result of the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose Gomez, and the Bishop of Orange, Kevin Vann, being taken in for questioning by the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Christophe Pierre, as to their alleged non-compliance with TC. The result of that particular trip to Berchtesgaden was that, in Orange County, the venerable Tridentine Mass at St. Mary’s by the Sea, which quite literally saved the parish’s life when it was brought in, is to be suppressed. In Los Angeles, the torture is a bit more exquisite. There, wherever parishes have integrated the TLM into their regular lives, said Masses are to be moved to the gyms. …

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