The auxiliary bishop of Astana (Kazakhstan), Athanasius Schneider, defended the traditional liturgy as a privileged expression of the transmission of the faith during a homily delivered on August 2 at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Limerick (Ireland), on the occasion of his visit to the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.
Throughout his preaching, the prelate maintained that since its origins the Church has remained “firmly committed” to fidelity to Sacred Tradition, both in the doctrinal and liturgical spheres. In that context, he recalled the well-known expression attributed to Pope Saint Stephen I :
“Let nothing be innovated that has not been handed down.”
The liturgy, expression of the Church’s Tradition
Schneider affirmed that the Church’s public worship possesses an essentially traditional character, since it must be celebrated “according to the norms established by divine authority and handed down by our ancestors.”
Drawing on Saint Vincent of Lérins, he recalled that “true piety admits no other rule than faithfully transmitting to our children what we have faithfully received from our fathers” and added that it is the duty of Christians “to preserve and keep what we have received from those who preceded us.”
The bishop insisted that this principle has guided the life of the Church throughout the centuries. “Antiquity was preserved; novelty was rejected. This is the apostolic rule,” he stated.
Citing the Benedictine Dom Prosper Guéranger, Schneider emphasized that “the liturgy is Tradition in its most powerful and solemn form,” an idea he linked to the Church’s mission of safeguarding and transmitting the deposit of faith in its entirety.
“Preserving the traditional liturgy is preserving the deposit of the faith”
During his homily, the bishop also recalled a teaching of Pius XI, who stated that the faithful receive the Church’s doctrine more effectively through the celebration of the liturgical mysteries than solely through the documents of the Magisterium, since the liturgy speaks not only to the intellect but also to the heart.
In this line, he defended that the beauty of the liturgy forms part of the transmission of the faith and rejected the idea that it constitutes a secondary or merely aesthetic element.
“Those who maintain that the Church is not a museum and that the truly pious man must be indifferent to these aspects only show their blindness to the important role played by an appropriate and beautiful expression,” he affirmed.
Schneider added that “history has shown a thousand times that there is nothing more dangerous for a religion, nothing more capable of provoking discontent, uncertainty, division, and apostasy than interfering in the liturgy and, therefore, in religious sensibility.”
For this reason, he maintained that “preserving the precious treasure of the traditional liturgy forms part of preserving the depositum fidei,” evoking Saint Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to guard faithfully the deposit of the faith.
Amid the debate on the traditional Mass
In recent months, Schneider has publicly defended the desirability of finding a stable solution for the faithful attached to the traditional Mass. After his private audience with Leo XIV last December, he explained that he had proposed to the Pontiff the publication of a document that would regularize the situation of the liturgy prior to the post-conciliar reform, with the aim of promoting “justice and peace in the Church.”
Recently, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arthur Roche, stated that Leo XIV would not repeal or modify Traditionis Custodes, however, the Holy See has not announced any modifications—through an official communiqué—to the motu proprio promulgated by Francis in 2021.
Below we reproduce the homily delivered by Bishop Athanasius Schneider at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Limerick, Ireland.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters:
From its beginnings, the Catholic Church has remained firmly committed to preserving and transmitting, in all its life, both doctrinally and liturgically, its fidelity to Sacred Tradition. The phrase of Pope Saint Stephen I, who governed the Church between the years 254 and 257, became famous: “Let nothing be innovated that has not been handed down.”
Public worship is, by its very nature, traditional. That is to say, it must be celebrated according to the norms established by divine authority and handed down by our ancestors.
The Church of the first centuries considered its liturgy as a continuation of the divinely ordered liturgy of the Old Testament.
It shared with it its essential features: the profound sense of reverence, silence, the veil that guards the mystery of divine reality, the separation of the sanctuary and the Holy of Holies from the people, a hierarchically ordered liturgy, and the appreciation of the symbolic meaning of gestures and sacred objects.
Saint Vincent of Lérins, a Father of the Church of the fifth century, formulated a principle that he applied to a controversy related to rebaptism and that also affects the laws of divine worship. He said:
“True piety admits no other rule than faithfully transmitting to our children what we have faithfully received from our fathers. Our duty is not to lead religion where we wish, but to follow it where it leads us. Christian modesty consists not in transmitting our own opinions or practices to those who will come after us, but in preserving and keeping what we have received from those who preceded us.”
Antiquity was preserved; novelty was rejected. That has been the rule of all centuries. Antiquity was preserved; novelty was rejected. This is the apostolic rule.
Dom Prosper Guéranger stated: “The liturgy is Tradition in its most powerful and solemn form.”
Pope Pius XI left this memorable teaching:
“The faithful are instructed in the truths of the faith and come to appreciate the interior joys of religion much more effectively through the annual celebration of the sacred mysteries than solely through the official declarations of the Magisterium. These usually reach few and the more learned; the feasts reach all. The former speak once; the latter speak every year, in fact, forever. The teaching of the Church affects primarily the intellect; the feasts affect the intellect and the heart and exercise a wholesome influence on the whole person. Man is composed of body and soul, and needs these external celebrations so that the sacred rites, with all their beauty and variety, may impel him to drink more deeply from the source of God’s doctrine and to incorporate it into his own spiritual life.”
Dom Prosper Guéranger also said:
“Every heretic or sectarian who wishes to introduce a new doctrine inevitably finds himself confronted by the traditional liturgy, because the liturgy is tradition, and the strongest and best tradition.”
How mistaken is he who considers the beauty of the Church and of the liturgy as something that might distract us from the true content of the liturgical mysteries and lead us toward something superficial. Those who proclaim that the Church is not a museum and that the truly pious man is indifferent to these accidental aspects only show their blindness to the great role played by a beautiful and fitting expression. They forget that authentic beauty contains a specific message from God that elevates our souls. As Plato said: “Before beauty, our souls sprout wings.”
History has shown a thousand times that there is nothing more dangerous for a religion, nothing more capable of provoking discontent, uncertainty, division, and apostasy than interfering in the liturgy and, therefore, in religious sensibility.
Preserving the precious treasure of the traditional liturgy forms part of preserving the depositum fidei.
The Apostle Saint Paul exhorted Timothy: “Guard the deposit entrusted to you.” Saint Vincent of Lérins interpreted this exhortation also in a liturgical dimension when he asked: “Who is this Timothy today, if not the whole Church and, in a special way, those who govern it, called to preserve intact the knowledge of the worship of God and to transmit it to others?”
Yes, the liturgy is Tradition in its most powerful and solemn form.
Only the Catholic Church can say: “I handed on to you what I myself received from the Lord.”
Every true Catholic should be able to say:
“I love the beauty of the house of the Lord. I love the beauty and integrity of the immutable Catholic faith. I love the beauty of holy Tradition, the beauty of the liturgical tradition of the Church. I love the beauty and truth of the faith, of the Holy Mass, and of the holy life of all the centuries and of all the saints.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.