By Fr. Raphael, OSB (Prior, San José Monastery, Colombia)
We can see on the level of principle that the new mass is always evil since it is a fruit implementing the modernist heresy, and which ultimately ends in heresy.
But suppose someone were to say that the new mass is evil but he should attend it because he obtains some good fruits from it. This person would be claiming that there is a good and a bad effect and he attends the new mass despite the bad effect, in order to obtain the good effect. Such a person would be trying to justify his attendance at the new mass by invoking the Principle of Double Effect (also known as the Principle of the Indirect Voluntary).
Under this Principle of Double Effect, an action is permissible despite some bad effect if—and only if—the action fulfills each of four conditions. Otherwise the action must not be performed. These four conditions are:
- There must be an immediate necessity to perform such an act;
- The intention (of the person doing the act) must be to obtain the good effect and never to obtain the bad effect;
- The good effect of the act must occur first or at least simultaneously with the bad effect; and
- The good fruit of the act must be proportionally greater than the bad fruit.
Note. These four conditions must all be fulfilled for the act to be morally good. The lack of fulfillment of even one of these conditions makes the act evil and the act is therefore forbidden.
Applying these four conditions to assisting at the new mass, we can easily see that conditions one, three and four are not fulfilled.
The first condition is not fulfilled since a person could fulfill in his home the obligation to sanctify the Sunday, when there is no Tridentine Mass available. Moreover, mass and communion are never immediately necessary (or necessary at all) when they offend God—as does the new mass.
The third condition is not fulfilled since the (purported) good effect directly flows from a cause which itself is evil, viz., the heterodox “celebration” of the new mass. This is not a situation where two effects—one good and the other bad—both flow from one neutral cause. Instead, the new mass is itself the evil cause of the (purported) good effect and this evil occurs first and vitiates all which flows from it.
The fourth condition is also not fulfilled since the new rite is not Catholic and therefore endangers the Faith. It is objectively a sin against the First and Second Commandments (and other Commandments). Further, the end does not justify the means. One must choose death rather than commit a sin. Therefore there is no proportion between the evil of assisting at a new mass and the (supposed) good effect. This means no one should ever attend the new mass.
Lastly, a person might wrongly suppose that “there is some good part of the new mass” because the new mass contains the Our Father (etc.). But the new mass is evil in all cases and participating in any of its parts is evil as they exist as parts of this evil whole.
God is offended by mixing things that belong to Him, e.g., the Our Father, with other things that belong to the devil, e.g., the new mass. Thus, although reciting the Our Father is good when this is done separated from everything conciliar, God is offended by reciting the Our Father as part of the sacrilegious new mass. This is like the fact that He is offended by reciting the Our Father as part of a (heretical) Lutheran service. (This is why Catholics are forbidden to participate in even this part of a Lutheran service.) We must stay away from the new mass and its parts.
I am obliged to speak out about this subject due to the gravity of the error now being publicly spread, which is scandalizing Catholics. This error betrays the truth in our battle for the defense of our Faith and the glory and honor of Christ the King.
—Fr. Raphael, OSB (Prior, Colombia)