Ever Ancient, Ever New

Why Younger Generations are Embracing Traditional Catholicism

David Daishell

• Publisher: TAN Books
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781505118742
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Dénominations chrétiennes

The Church is enduring one of the worst crises in her history. There has been a collapse in the number of laity, clergy, and religious participating in the Catholic faith. According to the Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II, approximately 460 million Catholics have left the Faith since Vatican II. Not only is there a crisis in participation, there are a plethora of surveys which reveal the extent of heterodox teachings in the modern United States Church.

Despite this rapid decline in Catholic demographics, there is hope. A recent study conducted by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter found that while Novus Ordo (that is, the 1969 Mass of Pope Paul VI) parishes have been shrinking, parishes that offer the Latin Mass have been growing. Another study conducted by Dr. Joseph Shaw found that the average traditional parish has larger family sizes, younger attendees, and higher male attendance. What is the explanation for this?

In Ever Ancient, Ever New, millennials enthralled with the traditional devotions of our Faith which have been left largely abandoned since Vatican II explain this phenomenon. These authors include Alexander Tschugguel, Stephanie Nicholas, Timothy Flanders, as well as Timothy and Stephanie Gordon.

Ever Ancient, Ever New offers the path forward for the Church's future: her past.

CHAPTER 1

THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION

IN THE early morning of October 21, 2019, statues were removed from the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina and were thrown into the Tiber River. To any Catholic unaware of what I am referring to, this might sound like a terrible act of sacrilege and theft. However, these statues were not Catholic statues; instead, they depicted the topless and pregnant Peruvian fertility goddess known as Pachamama. Shortly after the incident, a video was released from an anonymous source of two young men destroying these idols in front of the Castle of Saint Michael the Archangel. Various high-ranking members of the Church came out and supported this action, including Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, and Cardinal Walter Brandmüller. They all argued that these idols never should have been allowed in a Catholic Church. The following interview is with one of the brave men behind this action, Alexander Tschugguel. Since this incident, Alexander has founded the Saint Boniface Institute. The institute is named for Saint Boniface who, according to tradition, cut down an oak tree being worshiped by pagans and used the wood to build a church.

* * *

Could you please describe your family and your upbringing?

I was born in 1993, and I am twenty-six years old. I was raised in Vienna, Austria. My father is a doctor of medicine and my mother is a psychologist. In total, I have three older sisters, but one died shortly after she was born. My Protestant father emergency baptized her before her death, so we can be sure that she is in heaven, which is a relief.

How did you come to the Catholic faith?

I came into the Catholic faith at fifteen years old on the fifteenth of June 2009. From the age of fourteen, I had plenty of questions about Protestantism that I was not receiving very good answers to. I was not very strong in my Protestant faith. My great grandfather converted to Protestantism, and he was the first one in my family. Protestantism was (thankfully) a short-lived experience for my family.

Catholicism came into my life through many false and strange teachings by my religion teacher. This teacher took my class to the local Catholic Church and showed us a sign which discussed an apparent indulgence available for the parishioners. The indulgence was being granted to the faithful for All-Saints day, but my teacher taught us, “It looks like the same thing has occurred since Luther’s time: they still expect you to pay for indulgences!” I looked at the sign, however, and I saw nothing about having to make any payments. This angered me, so I decided to call a priest and schedule a conversation with him.

Luckily for me, the priest was very logical and well versed in the Faith! I asked him questions about the papacy, indulgences, the Holy Mass, and for every one of my questions, he had an answer for me which made sense! I told my parents about this conversation and how I was planning on becoming Catholic. They were very disappointed to hear this, but they also told me they loved me and wanted to support me in this decision if it was what I thought was best. It was after this conversation that I entered the Church. It was only after converting to the Faith that I realized the magnitude of my decision. The Faith is immense and complex, and I was overwhelmed.

Once you became Catholic, did you have a transition from the Novus Ordo to the Traditional Latin Mass or have you always been traditional in your faith?

I had a transition. My conversion to the Church was very conservative but Novus Ordo. For instance, I have never received Communion in the hand, and I was always instructed to kneel to receive Communion. To further demonstrate how conservative these priests were, the first Mass I attended was a traditional Mass. I agreed to have my first Mass be a traditional Mass because I was raised in a very conservative household, so I figured traditional would be best. I must admit, however, I thought it was a little bit boring. (Laughs) No one explained it to me!

After this Mass, I discussed with the priest how the traditional liturgy worked, but I was still confused. It took me a few years to fully accept the traditional aspects of the Faith. I was very involved in the church community and was growing in my Faith. I began reading many different sources about the Catholic worldview. I eventually came across a book which allowed me to transition from the Novus Ordo to the traditional Mass. The book is called Revolution and Counter Revolution by Professor Plinio Correa de Oliveira. Oliveira was a Brazilian academic and politician who discussed the nature of liberal revolutions in society. It was by reading this book that I began to connect Church history with the writings of Oliveira.

Oliveira discussed how liberal revolutions wanted to remove hierarchical order from society, in fact, to remove all order from society. Order comes from God, and so the liberals hate it. I cannot recommend this book enough; the English version is very good.

To be more specific, reckless alteration of the liturgy and the abandonment of the Church’s traditions are completely consistent with revolutionary strategies. If the Novus Ordo was instituted by revolutionaries, then it was my duty as a Catholic to support the Catholic counter-revolution. And it was very important for me to realize that the counter-revolution is not our revolution. The counter-revolution is not about what I want or what you want but ultimately about what God desires. The counter-revolution is devoted to what existed before the revolution, and this applies both politically and liturgically.

It was due to Oliveira that I began attending the traditional Mass again and appreciating its beauty! I consider myself a traditionalist now, but it took some time for me to transition from my Novus Ordo parish. This occurred in the year 2014. I eventually learned how to serve the traditional Mass, and ever since then, I have absolutely fallen in love with traditionalism and the way things have always been in the Church.

What are some of your favorite traditional devotions? What does your prayer life look like?

What I truly love about the traditional life is the Low Mass. (For readers who are unaware, the Low Mass is the form of the Latin Mass which is said without a choir or chant and is mostly said in a hushed tone). I love how this Mass is practically silent during the week. Silence is such a grace. Throughout the week, you are plagued with noise and distraction; when you go to Mass, you should be given silence, mystery, and sacrifice. There is such beauty in this Mass, and it was entirely removed by the Novus Ordo.

I was also truly blown away by comparing the traditional prayers of the liturgy with the Novus Ordo. I began attending pre-1955 liturgies during Holy Week, and every single prayer and motion had intelligibility behind them. Attending a Novus Ordo Mass and a pre-1955 liturgy is a completely different experience.¹ Then I began attending Mass with a 1962 missal, and even when I compared the 1962 liturgy with the one we had before 1955, I could find many differences. It is my opinion that the Church ought to return to the unaltered liturgy of pre-1955. What I saw at this liturgy changed my understanding of the Catholic faith. So many traditions, prayers, and devotions of our Faith come from the liturgy, and they all make sense and come together once you attend a traditional Mass.

Attending the traditional Mass has allowed me to increase my prayer life at home. I pray Morning Prayer when I get the chance, but every night, I pray Evening Prayer with my wife. The traditional liturgy matches beautifully with the Liturgy of the Hours. Included in the Evening Prayers is a Sacred Heart devotion, which in German nineteenth-century language uses words which rhyme with one another. It is truly a beautiful habit that we have developed. Another devotion which we have is the Saint Michael’s Prayer.² My wife is trying to learn it by heart in Latin, which I did a few years ago.

Another traditional devotion which we have gained from the traditional Mass is the Rosary. When I first entered the Faith, I thought the Rosary was a very feminine devotion, but I was mistaken. The traditional understanding of the Rosary is that it is a weapon given to us by God through our Lady to help us destroy the serpent. Now, everywhere I go, I have a Rosary in my pocket, which is something new in my life. I recommend this practice—always carry one with you wherever you go. Also be sure to pray it every day!

One devotion which I have enjoyed is finding local patron saints and asking for their intercession. For instance, I have sought the aid of Blessed Karl of Austria, Saint Leopold, and the long tradition of Austrian saints, emperors, and leaders. There are a host of wonderful Catholic military figures to pray to known as the Rosary generals. These military heroes always fought their battles with a rosary in their hands. One amazing example was a man named Andreas Hofer (1767–1810), who fought Napoleon’s troops and removed them from Austria. He was betrayed by the Bavarians, but he overcame their betrayal and fought valiantly. Another was known as Prince Eugen of Savoy (1663–1736). He was Italian, French, and a little bit German. He was considered too small to be helpful to the king of France, but the Holy Roman emperor found use for him in repelling the Turks from their siege of Vienna. Nowadays, modern historians have bought into propaganda that he was a homosexual, which I find extremely disappointing and a lie. A lot of military men in Europe would be later labelled as homosexuals because they practiced celibacy during their military duties.

Celibacy was a military discipline; leaders were expected to stay celibate during military service so that they could devote themselves entirely to the cause if they were in the active fight. This same reality occurs in the Church because the priests are in spiritual warfare against the devil and his demons. Priests must be totally devoted to the cause, far more than any soldier who fights in physical wars. Celibacy is an essential spiritual discipline of the Church, which must be safeguarded.

The traditional Faith teaches us that we must all connect our vocation with fighting the devil and his wicked ways; we must fight for the good, whatever it is that we do. God puts you in this life for a reason. There is a reason you exist here and now. And I think the saints and historical figures I described above are perfect examples of that mindset.

Why do you think traditional Catholicism is growing, especially among young people?

Yes, this is a very easy question! Nothing is fixed in the modern world—this strange world—not even your sexual and biological identity! People naturally know this is wrong. Once they recognize how unnatural the leftist revolutionary lies about biology, sexuality, and order are, they are well on their way to discovering the Faith. They are now looking to reality, which is where you will find the God of reality. The natural order is hierarchical, intelligently ordered, and it is fixed. The Traditional Latin Mass matches reality, truth, order, and it is fixed.³

The younger generation needs to understand and discover the difference between freedom and license. The freedom we have as human beings is huge; we can freely choose our actions and whether we want to follow God or not. This freedom does not excuse our actions; however, we do not have the right to freely ignore the truth—that would be license. When we act according to license, we suffer immensely. It is impossible to willingly act against the truth and not suffer greatly. There are two choices: order and disorder.

This same choice happens in the liturgy. Now, Novus Ordo Masses aren’t necessarily chaotic. I have met many people who attend reverent Novus Ordo Masses. But the ones which are reverent are the ones which try to match the traditional Mass as much as possible. They are not reverent because of the Novus Ordo; they are reverent because they include tradition in their liturgies. But as soon as there is a part in the Mass where priests can be revolutionary, then they will tend towards the revolution. This is because they have the freedom to do so. I will give an example: the priest at my conversion parish was very conservative. But during the Christmas Mass, he brought in a table altar to face versus populum rather than ad orientem for the Catholics who only attend Mass once a year. He would do this because he could, he had the option. It was very strange, but it allowed me to come to the conclusion that you can never receive the full tradition from attending the Novus Ordo Mass; it is inherently lacking.

You can celebrate the Novus Ordo reverently, but this just proves the point that reverent Novus Ordo Masses are just Masses that approach the traditional Mass and reflect its truth, beauty, and goodness. But they can never match the traditional Mass and its prayers. I will give you an analogy: Imagine what it is like when you have guests coming to your house for dinner. You clean your house thoroughly: You scrub your floors, you clean nooks you have not cleaned since the last time you had guests, and you do everything you possibly can to make your house presentable. And when your guests are there, you do everything in your power to ensure that the guests have a good time and enjoy their stay.

Now, imagine God is coming to your house. You would try to do everything the absolute best way possible when he came to visit. The effort and dedication you took to cleaning your home would be amplified tenfold. You would serve him and anticipate anything he might need or require for him to enjoy his stay. You would never accept a 90 percent devotion to him as your guest, you would never deliberately leave out gestures or reverence to him as your guest. If you would not accept a 90 percent devotion, would you accept a 30 percent devotion? Of course not! So why would we do this when we are worshiping God and his sacrifice on the altar? Archbishop Bugnini removed most of the prayers from the traditional Roman Missal.⁴ The Mass is about serving God, not yourself, yet we are choosing to deliberately give him less than he deserves for the sake of our own comfort. This does not make any sense.

The youth want to place religion before and above emotionalism. Secularism presents our youth with the option of emotionalism. If the younger generations wanted this, then they would merely be secular. Yet, despite this, the Novus Ordo tends to flip this order on its head. It gives into and surrenders to the Zeitgeist, to the spirit of the age. Saint Paul warned us about this in his letter to the Romans, I believe it was in chapter 12 that he stated, “And be not conformed to this world: but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God.”⁵ We have largely abandoned the advice of Saint Paul and surrendered the Church to the spirit of the age, and I believe the Novus Ordo reflects this abandonment.

Tell us about the Saint Boniface Institute. What was your inspiration for making this institute and what are your goals for this project?

I created the Saint Boniface Institute to release the videos of the removal of the Pachamamas. My friend and I knew that we had support for what we did with the Pachamama statues, but we did not want to take credit for this action. We wanted the act to speak for itself, without people behind the actions. Since then, I have decided to step out and reveal myself as having done this. On May 13, 2020, Saint Boniface Institute will be hosting a conference in Vienna. This conference will reveal the next steps of the Saint Boniface Institute after saying a Rosary, a Eucharistic procession, and of course the traditional Mass. While I will not go into too much detail now, I will let you know that our goals are aimed at academic research, uniting Catholics, and restoring Christendom.

If you could have a conversation with a Catholic who disagreed with your actions during the Amazon Synod, what would you say to them? Can’t we just baptize the Pachamama statues into the Catholic Faith?

It’s okay for people to disagree with what I did. It is especially okay if they themselves would not have spiritually felt called to do what I did. The reason they are Catholic is through their prayer life. If people reject what I did, then that’s okay. Please follow Christ and do not follow me. Every fight has divisions and groups; the military is divided into different battalions. In the Church, it is the same way: some have talents of being in the background, saying prayers silently and behind closed doors, while others have talents to do the kind of actions that I did. The people who disagree with what I did typically do not care for the politics of the Church and jus...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Publisher’s Note
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Counter-Revolution
• Chapter 2: The Liturgy of the Ages
• Chapter 3: A Retrograde’s Faith
• Chapter 4: A Good Worth Fighting For
• Chapter 5: From Secular to Trad
• Chapter 6: The Architecture of Belief
• Chapter 7: Taking the Pill
• Conclusion