Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
History and Religion
Skojec Loathes Traditionis; Illustrates Why it is Necessary

Skojec Loathes Traditionis; Illustrates Why it is Necessary

Last updated on: June 6, 2026 at 12:45 am by Dave Armstrong

Skojec Loathes Traditionis; Illustrates Why it is Necessary 2026-06-06T00:45:01-04:00 Dave Armstrong

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

[see book and purchase information]

I just wrote about the new papal document: Pope Francis’ Traditionis Custodes is for the Sake of Unity (7-16-21). I predicted what the reaction to it would be:

The only dispute is whether the problem was bad enough to justify a “clamping down” on the relatively free availability of the extraordinary form Mass. Pope Francis thought it was serious enough of a problem; so did the bishops. His critics won’t accept their judgment no matter what (and that will be obvious in the days to come). And this is part and parcel of the problem: the reactionaries have an intrinsically flawed, Protestant-like and theologically liberal Catholic-like notion of Catholic authority. This mentality is not good for the Church or for Church unity.

Sure enough . . . So we see the utterly predictable reaction precisely from those quarters where one would most expect it: a venue like One Peter Five that is anti-Vatican II, anti-Pauline (“New”) Mass, and anti-Pope Francis. Thus, head honcho over there: Steve Skojec, wrote Crippled Religion Strikes Again – And Summorum Pontificum Gets the Axe (7-16-21), which absolutely opposes Traditionis Custodes. There is much irony in this for those who are aware of Skojec’s recent history: whereby he came out against the attitudes of his own “traditionalists” with a rage and fury rarely seen anywhere.

Traditionis Custodes was sadly brought about as a result of unsavory, undesirable viewpoints and attitudes among too many adherents of the Old / Tridentine Mass. Skojec proved there was an attitude problem within his own ranks in his two jeremiads in late May. I documented it at the time. Here is a sampling:

I’m angry because I’ve spent my life trapped within various ideological subsets of Catholicism that subvert autonomy, critical thinking, and reason itself. . . .

[I]t’s incredibly frustrating to watch as people turn to this increasingly uncritical tribalism to feel safe, or conspiracy theories to “explain” things, or even in some cases an explicit desire for the end of the world . . .

I’ve spent the past 17 years of my life as an apologist for traditionalist Catholicism — the most recent seven of which have been devoted to founding and running 1P5, which was, for a couple of years at least, the most-read traditionalist Catholic website in the world.

I thought I had, at long last, found my place. . . .

[T]raditionalism isn’t [Catholicism] . . . Instead, it is an ideological mask more identifiably in the shape of true Catholicism. . . . traditionalism, as a “movement,” as an ideological oxbow lake, is a novelty. It’s not a historical reality, . . .

[T]raditionalism, though it retains real treasures from the past that enliven the faithful today, becomes predominately ideological. A version of Catholicism that remains in constant tension with and sometimes open rebellion against the only institution that can give it life: the very Catholic Church that discarded it.

It’s paradigmatic crippled religion. And that is a problem.

It’s easy enough to see if you look at it objectively. Traditionalism, in my experience, is often attracts an unrelentingly toxic and negative sort of person — particularly online, but this filters down into the real world, too. Everything that is seen as non-traditional is perceived as hostile, even malicious. Since it has no authority structure of its own, no governance, no recourse to anything but old documents interpreted however the reader wishes to read them, it gives rise to an autonomous collection of mini-popes, all of them reveling in their “duty” to speak truth to power, analyzing anyone who ostensibly professes the same creed to death, searching for every “gotcha” moment with which they can be browbeaten for being insufficiently pure. . . . The same mantra is repeated countless times a day in trad comboxes and social media, “Ha! And you call yourself a trad!?” . . .

[T]here’s nobody trads would rather eat alive than other trads who have fallen short in some way. I’ve never endured more calumny, more vitriol, more outright enmity in my life from any group of people as I have from certain members of my own in-group. And all of it is in response to imagined deviations from this or that dogmatic opinion held by whichever mini-pope was standing in judgment that day. . . .

17 years after thinking that traditionalist Catholicism was the bold answer to what ails the Church, it became startlingly clear to me that it was, perhaps, quite the contrary. . . . now as a group, I think they’ve lost their way.

Now from his second article:

We can read yet another Remnant screed, or listen to Michael Voris fantasize about vanquishing “Nazi Pedophile Cults,” or watch the umpteen-millionth hour of Taylor Marshall’s Fun-Time Masonic Scandal Hour, but none of it is making any of us a better Catholic. I don’t give a damn about “uniting the clans” — for that you need a strong leader who can quell their divisions by the might of his sword and lead them to victory. Not a single Catholic media figure is holding Excalibur, however, and the lot of them need to start taking themselves a hell of a lot less seriously. . . .

“. . . Is my belief in the superiority of one liturgy over another becoming a fetish? Do I treat others with disdain because they do not live up to my standards of what being a ‘real Catholic’ entails? Have I made an idol of the Church, or my attachment to her laws?”

He was arguably even more polemical and graphic in his withering tweets at the time and even many months prior:

. . . the cult-like mentalities of many Catholics, the sewer that is the traditionalist “movement,”. . . (5-28-21)

TraditionalISM features some of the most toxic people I’ve ever met. (5-27-21)

There is a virulent strain of anti-Semitism in Traditional Catholicism, . . . (tweet on 12-30-20)

Traditionalism as an ideological movement is pretty toxic in general. (3-24-21)

We are our own worst enemies, . . . (3-23-21)

I’m sick of tribalism uber alles, . . . (3-23-21)

We see, then, how Skojec — a key participant in the movement — makes all of the scathing criticisms above, highlighting the deficient attitude and mentality rampant within the movement. Indeed, he goes so far as to say that it is “something that is quite different than what being Catholic ever was” (Twitter, 3-24-21). Yet on the other hand, despite these obviously sincere and heartfelt criticisms, he himself is blind to the fact that he rejects the New Mass and Vatican II and (with absolute detestation) Pope Francis: exactly why the pope thought this new proclamation was necessary to make. On just one day (12-14-20) he wrote the following on Twitter about Pope Francis:

God allowed His own Church to fall into the hands of an evil pope. [link]

I’m a fallible man, just like anyone. But I don’t have Francis wrong. He’s not only a tool of the globalist left, he’s a freaking heretic. I’ve never seen a more obvious case. [link]

I didn’t ask for a sucky pope. I just managed to be effective at demonstrating that he was one. [link]

Oh, it’s been my job to document him for the past 6-7 years. There’s no question: he’s a bad guy. [link]

Not only do the above attitudes that he correctly denounces cause division; so do the beliefs that he himself continues to hold and refuses to denounce. And we see those come out in his latest article:

There is a saying that goes around in some traditionalist circles, which I believe was coined by my friend and colleague, Hilary White: “Novusordoism is not Catholicism.” It’s very much a different, and largely incompatible version of the same religion. And though people like to argue the point, Rome just proved it. (Roma locuta est; causa finita est?) If the Catholicism of our grandparents and the Catholicism of our generation were really sympatico, they’d have no trouble co-existing.

But they can’t. . . .

Nobody has opposed him [Pope Francis] more fiercely than traditionalists who are seeking to stay within the Church and under his legitimate authority while fighting his agenda where it goes astray. . . . malignant pontificate . . . abusive shepherd . . .

You get the idea. But he dished out more of the same in his article from 7-13-21 (originally from 7-30-18): “Why Do People Have A Problem With the Novus Ordo?” You think many adherents of the Tridentine Mass don’t have a serious problem with the Pauline Mass? Read on. Skojec makes the pope’s case for him, with flying colors (and this is standard fare at One Peter Five):

[W]e have reached a critical moment in Church history, namely, the widespread recognition that simply because a pope says or does something does not necessarily mean it is in the best interest of the Church or the faithful. It is therefore an opportune time for us to consider again whether the changes in the Mass that were forced upon the Church in 1969 were in fact good simply because the pope gave them to us.

The misleading terms of “Ordinary” and “Extraordinary” form — which came from Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum — provide euphemistic cover to an unprecedented liturgical dissonance within the Roman Rite; two liturgies, one sacred and time-tested as the fruit of organic development, another created by a committee with a clear rhetorical purpose at odds with the historical understanding of liturgy throughout the Church’s two thousand years.

He cites one of his previous articles:

The attack on the liturgy that we have witnessed over the past half-century can be understood as nothing less than a diabolical attempt to strike at the heart of our most important and intimate connection with Our Creator — and also to confuse and disorient us through this loss of perspective. We have been given over to idolatry – the idolatry of self, such that we see the world only through the lens of our own desires. Christ’s sacrifice has been replaced with food and fellowship, His altar of oblation turned into a table, . . . nearly every act of reverence for the sacred has been stripped away. Christ remains present in this reinvented, banalized, man-centered liturgy, but He is ignored, forgotten, abused, and upstaged. . . .

The architects of the Church’s “new and improved” liturgy knew exactly what they were doing. And they have been successful. They have, with a single stroke, moved the entire liturgical edifice of the Church to a foundation of sand. . . .

By destroying our understanding of our relationship with God through the central act of prayer of the Church, they have undermined all else besides. Now, after half a century of demolition, they are dismantling what’s left of the faith almost unopposed.

Then back to the present, he continues his wholesale attack:

The Novus Ordo, by design, strips away the ethos of sacrifice from the liturgy, and turns its attention inwards, towards man. Towards community and meal sharing. Towards turning an altar of sacrifice into a supper table. Towards the placation of theological differences between religions. . . .

I say this not to offend, but because I believe it to be unequivocally true: The so-called “Ordinary Form” is an inferior liturgy, . . .

There is no easy way to say it: the new Mass is an artifice; it is a modern construct created out of whole cloth, not the fruit of some organic theological development across the span of centuries.

People think that the traditionalist and reactionary movements are not shot through with error and quasi-schismatic garbage? I could give 200 examples (just from my own past documentation), but I’ll offer just one. Eric Sammons is the editor of Crisis Magazine: which used to be a pretty good orthodox Catholic magazine, but is now too often polluted with reactionary nonsense. Eric tweeted the following on 16 July 2021:

Pope Francis understands something that traditional Catholics also understand, but many “conservative” Catholics refuse to see: Post-Vatican II Catholicism is in practice a different religion than pre-Vatican II Catholicism. They are not compatible.

I don’t know of any better way to absolutely justify Pope Francis’ action today. Steve Skojec and Eric Sammons are doing my work for me, and the pope’s work also. Skojec classifies Pope Francis as a heretic (which no one has remotely proven), while at the same time he commits himself to two heretical and dangerous beliefs: the defectibility of the Church and of the pope; the Church holds that the indefectibility of the Church and the pope are de fide and infallible doctrines: the highest level of the magisterium.

He calls his “traditionalism” a “crippled religion” and then he turns around and calls the one true Church, established by our Lord Jesus Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit and protected by Him from error, also a “crippled religion.” He leaves his readers nothing (except maybe becoming Eastern Orthodox, a la Rod Dreher), . . .

Related Reading

Traditionis Custodes: The Council and the Roman Rite (Adam Rasmussen, Where Peter Is, 7-16-21)

Traditionis Custodes: In the Hope of Liturgical Reform (Daniel Amiri, Where Peter Is, 7-17-21)

Et Cum Spiritu NoNo–The Demise of the Traditional Latin Mass Experiment (Monsignor Eric Barr, Thin Places, 7-17-21)

Pope Francis’ Traditionis Custodes is for the Sake of Unity [7-16-21]

Catholics (?) Trash, Judge, & Mind-Read the Pope (In 1968, “all” the liberal Catholics rejected Humanae Vitae. Now in 2021, “all” the self-described “conservative” Catholics reject Traditionis Custodes — and none see the outright absurdity and irony of this) [7-20-21]

Traditionalist Fr. Chad Ripperger Critiques Traditionalism [7-21-21]

***

Summary: Steve Skojec admits how terrible & abominable conditions within traditionalism are. Yet he rejects Traditionis Custodes, which was made necessary by those same manifest serious errors.

***

Tags: Catholic Mass, Extraordinary Form, Latin Mass, liturgical reform, Mass of Pope Paul VI, Motu Proprio, New Mass, Novus Ordo Mass, Old Mass, One Peter Five, Ordinary Form, Pauline Mass, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, reform of the reform, Second Vatican Council, Steve Skojec, Summorum Pontificum, TLM, Traditionis Custodes, Tridentine Mass, Vatican II

Eucharist & Liturgy

Papacy & Infallibility

Traditionalism vs. Radical Catholic Reactionaries

Second Vatican Council

Previous Post

July 16, 2021

Pope Francis' Traditionis Custodes is for the Sake of Unity

Next Post

July 19, 2021 Pearce’s Potshots #42: 12th c. BC Moabite & Ammonite Kings

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category & Last Things About Me Anti-Catholicism Atheism & Agnosticism Baptism and Sacramentalism Bible and Tradition Blessed Virgin Mary Books by Dave Armstrong C. S. Lewis Calvinism & General Protestantism Catholic Apologetics Catholic Apologists Catholic conversion Catholic converts Christmas Church (Ecclesiology) Church History Conversion and Converts Development of Doctrine Eastern Orthodoxy Ecumenism & Christian Unity Eucharist & Liturgy Fathers of the Church French Translations G. K. Chesterton Hell Hell & Satan Hell & Satan & Last Things Heresies & Comparative Religion Holistic Health Inquisition & Crusades & Scandals James White Jews & Judaism & Old Testament John Calvin John Henry Newman Liberal / Modernist Theology Life Issues Literary Resume Lutheranism Mariology Martin Luther Music Orthodoxy Papacy & Infallibility Personal Page Philosophy & Science Political & Ethical & Moral Issues Protestant Persecution & Intolerance Protestantism Purgatory Purgatory & Penance Romantic & Imaginative Theology Saints & Purgatory & Penance Salvation Salvation & Justification Satan & Last Things Sexuality and Gender Issues Spanish Translations Traditionalism vs. Radical Catholic Reactionaries Traducciones al español / tradução para português Trinitarianism & Christology Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 April 2010 March 2010 December 2009 October 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 March 2009 February 2009 October 2008 September 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 October 2005 June 2005 April 2005 February 2005 July 2004 May 2004 April 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz