The Liturgical Earthquake That Will Affect Us All!

Something deeply troubling is unfolding in the Diocese of Charlotte, and it is not just a local dispute about liturgical taste. It is a test of authority, continuity and justice in the Catholic Church itself.

Charlotte was widely recognised as a thriving diocese. Vocations were healthy. Parishes were full. Families were moving there because the Church was confident, reverent and clearly Catholic. That did not happen by accident. It was the fruit of years of patient pastoral leadership and a conscious fidelity to the direction set by Pope Benedict XVI in Summorum Pontificum. Tradition was not treated as a problem to be managed but as a source of life.

That is why the sudden reversal now taking place has been so devastating. Within a short period of his arrival, the new bishop has imposed sweeping liturgical restrictions: the removal of altar rails and kneelers, the discouragement of ad orientem worship, and further pressure on communities attached to the Traditional Latin Mass. These measures go well beyond what is explicitly required by Traditiones Custodes and have caused genuine upheaval among clergy and laity alike.

What makes this moment especially serious is that more than thirty priests of the diocese have formally appealed to Rome by submitting a dubia to the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. This is not rebellion. It is the Church’s own legal process being used to ask a basic question: does a bishop truly have the authority to prohibit what universal law permits, especially when the rights of the faithful are at stake?

Rome now faces a dilemma with consequences far beyond North Carolina. To side uncritically with the bishop is to risk confirming the belief that episcopal power can be exercised without restraint, reasonableness or accountability, even when it harms flourishing communities. To side with the priests is to admit that Traditiones Custodes has been applied in ways that exceed its own legal and pastoral limits. Either outcome will shape how Catholics everywhere understand authority, obedience and trust.

In my latest Substack essay, I examine what is really happening in Charlotte and why it matters for the whole Church. I write not as a distant commentator, but as someone who has been there, who knows families and priests affected by these decisions, and who has seen the human cost of abrupt liturgical reversals. I also include an interview with Brian, whose testimony gives voice to the pain, confusion and sense of betrayal many Catholics are experiencing.

This is not about nostalgia or preference. It is about whether the Church can ask the faithful to give their lives to her when what was encouraged yesterday is punished today. It is about whether continuity still means anything, and whether authority remains ordered to the salvation of souls rather than to ecclesial politics.

Charlotte is not an isolated skirmish. It is a test case. And the outcome will tell Catholics everywhere what kind of Church we are now living in.

Read the full essay HERE NOW!