It’s 2026, and while rumors persist that the Vatican may loosen restrictions on the Latin Mass, bishops continue to crack down on the remaining enclaves of Tradition within their dioceses. But some Catholics under the jurisdiction of Bishop Melvin in Charlotte, North Carolina think they have found a solution.
Now, clergy like Melvin are known to be supportive of mass migration. They also strenuously oppose the construction of President Trump’s border wall and their denouncing of I.C.E. officials. No one is illegal, they say, only “undocumented.”
The Dispatch
Mr. Pius Tentherson is a father of twenty-one and a professional cribbage player who lives in Charlotte. He thinks that this line of argumentation actually gives Traditionalists like him an opening.
“If Traditiones Custodes is going to be used to restrict the availability of Latin Masses, why don’t we just ask priests to keep offering them but call them ‘undocumented Masses’? And while we’re at it, why don’t we refer to our parishes as ‘marginalized undocumented communities’? Surely Bishop Melvin will stand up for those of us on the margins of the Church?”
Fr. Matthias VonSchaffer is Tentherson’s pastor at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church. His Latin Mass is set to be shut down in a few months. VonSchaffer isn’t fully convinced that Tentherson’s idea will work but he thinks it’s worth looking into.
“We would have to somehow equate Bugnini and the liturgical revolutionaries with I.C.E. and start violently protesting in the streets to get enough attention so Martin will support us. But if Mr. Pelican can get enough of his friends to do this, I’d support him. I just can’t be seen as the one launching the movement, or I’ll be banished to the hinterlands.”
Tentherson is rumored to be starting a blog entitled “No Mass Is Illegal” to spearhead the effort. Officials from the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) have caught wind of it and are actually looking to adopt his idea for themselves.
“I love this idea,” SSPX Bishop Bernard Fellay reportedly said to Society Superior General Fr. Davide Pagliarani, per Vatican insider Edoardo Pentini. “We’re undocumented as a ‘society.’ We’re also immigrants in every diocese we start a church in. We’re marginalized, too!”
Liberal YouTubers have not been unaware of Tentherson’s efforts. The newly-launched PopesplainersTV channel announced today that the Novus Ordo Missae has just as much of a claim to being recognized as “undocumented.” The outlet cited Pope St. Pius V’s 16th-century papal bull Quo Primum to argue that the Novus Ordo, from a certain canonical perspective, is the real undocumented Rite of the Mass.
Also in the news this week at The Synodal Sentinel:
- US War Secretary Hegseth says Straight of Hormuz needs several more booster shots before it returns to normal
- Sources: Trump close to placing tariffs on Avoiding Babylon podcast
- Researchers discover 2,654 previously unknown Thuc-line bishops
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