DUP MP defends the Latin Mass…

More signs of the end times as a DUP MP defends the Latin Mass. Traditionally, the DUP have been no fans of the Catholic Church, with Ian Paisley famously branding the Pope the Antichrist and some DUP members even questioning if Catholics are even Christians.  From the BelTel:

A veteran DUP MP and Orangeman is being hailed by right-wing Catholic traditionalists after he pressed the Westminster Government about its attitude to the Latin Mass.
Strangford MP Jim Shannon — whose party founder mocked transubstantiation during a ferocious Oxford Union debate in 1967 — asked the Foreign Office if it would raise with the Vatican the future of the Tridentine Mass pilgrimage to the French city of Chartres amid fears that it would be stopped.

In an illustration of how dramatically Northern Ireland has changed, Mr Shannon said he had raised the issue on behalf of Catholic constituents, some of whom vote for him, and he didn’t think people should be shocked by his interest in the Catholic theological debate.

In a written Parliamentary question tabled last month, the Strangford MP asked Foreign Secretary David Lammy “whether he has had discussions with the Holy See on the future of the Tridentine Mass at the Chartres pilgrimage in France”.

Last summer saw 18,000 pilgrims walk from Paris to Chartres Cathedral — a 20-hour journey — to demonstrate their devotion to what had once been a declining aspect of Catholicism.

A revival in the popularity of the historic ceremony — which is said in a language few now understand — has not been universally welcomed within a church which since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s has been attempting to modernise its services.

In 2023, the liberally-minded Pope Francis restricted use of the ancient liturgy because he said it was “being used in an ideological way” and involved “a nostalgic disease”.

The Vatican is reportedly considering a sweeping ban on the Latin Mass, prompting dismay from traditionalists.

Last March, the Tory peer Lord Moylan, a traditionalist Catholic, said after attending “a wonderful Tridentine Maundy Mass” that he wouldn’t say where it was lest the church authorities have it stopped.

He said: “I’ll just say that English Catholicism has a centuries-old tradition of underground Masses. All that has changed is who’s persecuting us.”

There was a bit of hubbub a few years ago when Catholic priest Father Paddy McCafferty said he’d ‘vote for pro-life DUP over Sinn Féin.

This was due to the SDLP and Sinn Féin positions on abortion, but how many conservative Catholics follow through and vote DUP is hard to quantify. Back to the BelTel:

Mr Shannon, who described himself as “a fair-minded unionist”, said that he believed the issue of abortion — on which the SDLP and Sinn Féin have shifted radically in recent years — has significantly increased his support from traditional Catholics who otherwise would not be supporting him.

He said that in last year’s General Election he was surprised to see the number of votes which he was getting from several areas where he did not expect to poll well.

He said that over the last 10 years he had increasingly been told by some Catholics that on “moral issues where they and I would share the same commitment and belief, they feel that I probably better represent them on those things”.

Mr Shannon’s intervention has made him an unlikely hero to those keen to retain the Latin Mass.

The US-based conservative Catholic website LifeSiteNews reported that a “Protestant politician from Northern Ireland asked the British Government in the House of Commons if they would intervene with the Holy See about the future of the Latin Mass”.

I have never been to a Latin Mass, I must go some time for the experience. For those curious, there is one on the Antrim Road.

Latin mass advocates do have a reputation for being ultra-conservative, but it is such a niche interest I don’t see the harm in letting them work away.

Oscar Wilde loved a good mass and went daily. He liked the theatre of it all and once said “Catholicism is the only religion to die in.”

On a related note I read a comment recently that made me think. “The Roman Empire never died, it just morphed into the Catholic Church”. That is something to muse over while you eat your Rice Crispies.

Brian O'Neill

I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.