The EWTN News portal reports on the death of Alex Lynch, a Benedictine College senior who died of cancer on May 8, 2026. The article details how college president Stephen Minnis, chaplain Father Ryan Richardson, and 30 students traveled to Lynch’s home for a personal graduation ceremony the day before his death. Lynch is described as “faith-filled,” having “radiated the Holy Spirit,” and dying while reciting his baptismal promises. Students shaved their heads in solidarity, gathered spontaneously in the chapel to pray for him, and wore yellow pins at the official graduation. The article presents Lynch as a model of Christian living and dying, emphasizing his joy, generosity, and prayer life—including attending Mass and Eucharistic adoration. Yet beneath this veneer of Catholic sentimentality lies a profound spiritual bankruptcy: the complete absence of any mention of the sacraments that actually confer grace, the state of soul, or the supernatural destiny that alone gives meaning to death. This is not Catholic piety; it is naturalistic humanitarianism dressed in liturgical vestments.
The Cult of Personality Over the Worship of God
The article’s framing is immediately revealing. Alex Lynch is presented as the central object of veneration—his life, his death, his impact on others. President Minnis states: “I want to make that moment special for every student… I have prayed especially for Alex.” Father Richardson declares: “He radiated the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ.” Friend Finnegan Ritchie recalls: “He taught me that I have a lot to be grateful for.” The entire narrative revolves around Lynch as a model, an inspiration, a source of emotional edification for the community.
But where is God? Where is the recognition that every soul stands alone before its Creator, that the particular judgment is the most terrifying and consequential moment of human existence? The article never once mentions Confession, Anointing of the Sick (Extreme Unction), or Viaticum—the sacraments specifically ordained by Christ for the dying. Lynch is said to have “died reciting his baptismal promises,” but there is no indication he received the Last Rites. This is not a minor omission; it is a catastrophic failure that reveals the spiritual desolation of the conciliar sect.
Our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament of Extreme Unction precisely for the dying: “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:14-15). The Council of Trent anathematizes anyone who denies this sacrament to be a true sacrament instituted by Christ (Session XIV, Canon 1-4). The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that Extreme Unction “blots out sins, and the remnants of sins” and “alleviates and uplifts the soul of the sick person” (Part II, Chapter IV). To present a Catholic’s death without any reference to this sacrament is either to admit it was never received—a damning indictment of the spiritual care provided by Benedictine College—or to consider it irrelevant, which is itself a form of practical apostasy.
The “Holy Hour” and Adoration Without the Sacrifice
The article mentions that Lynch “visited his parish to pray a Holy Hour” and was “active with FOCUS” and “sang in the choir at Mass.” Father Richardson notes he “lived a life of prayer, often going to Mass and adoration.” These are presented as evidence of Lynch’s piety.
But what “Mass” is being referenced? Benedictine College, like virtually all institutions operating under the conciliar umbrella, offers the Novus Ordo Missae—the fabricated rite of Paul VI that, as Cardinal Ottaviani and Cardinal Bacci stated in their 1969 Critical Study, “represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent.” The Novus Ordo is not the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the unbloody renewal of Calvary; it is a “supper” (as the 1969 Institutio Generalis explicitly calls it), a communal meal that obscures or denies the propitiatory nature of the sacrifice. To “sing in the choir” at such a rite is not to worship God but to participate in a liturgical fraud.
Similarly, Eucharistic “adoration” in the conciliar context is built upon a corrupted foundation. If the consecration in the Novus Ordo is doubtful—and theologians of the stature of Fr. Guérard des Lauriers have demonstrated that the new formula is at least ambiguous—then the “Blessed Sacrament” exposed for adoration may not be Our Lord at all. To kneel before a doubtful species in an “adoration chapel” is not piety; it is at best superstition, at worst idolatry. Pius XII, in Mediator Dei (1947), taught that the Eucharistic cult derives its entirety from the Sacrifice: “The most Blessed Eucharist must be worshiped… because it contains truly, really, and substantially the Body and Blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ.” Remove the true Sacrifice, and the “adoration” becomes a hollow shell—precisely the kind of sentimentality on display at Benedictine College.
Sacramental Absence as Systemic Apostasy
The silence about sacraments is not accidental; it is symptomatic of the entire conciliar revolution. The neo-church has systematically emptied the faith of its supernatural content, replacing the sacramental economy with humanistic psychology, community solidarity, and emotional experience. Lynch’s “faith” is described entirely in natural terms: his joy, his generosity, his friendships, his “grit.” Father Richardson says: “He made every moment count whether he was with friends or whoever.” Friend Jack Figge recalls: “Even in the midst of being close to death, he remained joyful, laughing, and cracking jokes.”
Where is the supernatural virtue of hope? Where is the recognition that suffering, united to the Cross of Christ, has redemptive value—not merely as an example to others but as satisfaction for sin and merit for eternity? St. Paul writes: “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church” (Colossians 1:24). The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that “the sufferings of the saints are not without great fruit and advantage” and that “by their patience in adversity, they become partakers of the sufferings of Christ” (Part I, Article V). But Lynch’s suffering is presented purely as a human drama—something to be admired, grieved, and commemorated with yellow pins. There is no mention of purgatory, no prayer for the repose of his soul, no indulgences sought on his behalf. The final destination of his soul—heaven, hell, or purgatory—is simply not discussed. This is the logic of the conciliar sect: death is a natural event, not a supernatural crisis.
The “Baptismal Promises” Delusion
The article’s most theologically revealing detail is that Lynch “died reciting his baptismal promises.” This is presented as the crowning moment of his Catholic life—a return to the promises of baptism, a reaffirmation of faith at the moment of death.
But the baptismal promises are not a magical incantation. They are a profession of faith by an infant (through sponsors) or a convert, and their efficacy depends on the state of grace of the person dying. If Lynch died in mortal sin—without having received sacramental Confession or at least perfect contrition with the intention of confessing—then reciting baptismal promises would avail him nothing. The Church has always taught that “unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5), but she has also taught that mortal sin destroys sanctifying grace and that only the sacrament of Penance (or perfect contrition with the desire for it) can restore it.
The article’s emphasis on baptismal promises while ignoring Confession reveals the conciarist theology of baptismal regenerationism—the heresy that baptism alone, without the ongoing sacramental life, suffices for salvation. This is the error of the Protestants, condemned by the Council of Trent (Session VII, Canon 12: “If anyone says that by faith alone the sinner is justified, let him be anathema”). The neo-church, having lost the sense of the sacraments, clings to baptism as a permanent marker of Catholic identity while neglecting the means of grace that sustain it.
The “Community” as Substitute for the Church
The article is saturated with the language of community: students “gathered spontaneously,” “came together,” “grieved as a community.” President Minnis speaks of “the impact that Alex had on each of us and the legacy he has left at Benedictine College.” The 30 students who shaved their heads, the friends who attended the funeral, the yellow pins at graduation—all of this is presented as the essence of Catholic life.
But the Catholic Church is not a community; it is a societas perfecta, a divinely instituted hierarchy with the power to teach, govern, and sanctify. The Church exists not to provide emotional support or communal belonging but to lead souls to eternal salvation through the preaching of truth, the administration of sacraments, and the enforcement of discipline. Pius XI, in Quas Primas (1925), taught: “The Church, established by Christ as a perfect society, demands for itself by a right belonging to it, which it cannot renounce, full freedom and independence from secular authority.” The conciliar sect has replaced this supernatural society with a human community organized around shared feelings, mutual affirmation, and social activism. Benedictine College’s response to Lynch’s death is a perfect example: no mention of the Church’s authority, no reference to the bishops or the hierarchy, no discussion of the Church’s teaching on death and judgment. Just students, friends, yellow pins, and applause.
The “Fruits of the Spirit” Without the Spirit
Father Richardson claims Lynch “lived out the fruits of the Holy Spirit” and had “a friendship with the Holy Spirit that was alive and active.” But the fruits of the Holy Spirit—charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)—are supernatural virtues infused by God through grace, not natural qualities that can be admired in isolation from the sacramental life. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that the theological virtues (faith, hope, charity) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are infused at baptism and increased by the sacraments, especially Confession and the Holy Eucharist (Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 62-68).
To attribute “fruits of the Spirit” to a person who may never have received a valid Confession or the true Eucharist in years—and who died without the Last Rites—is to reduce the supernatural order to natural sentimentality. It is to claim the effects without the cause, the fruits without the root. This is the hallmark of Modernism, condemned by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907): “The whole of Christianity… is reduced to a certain sentiment” (Proposition 58 of Lamentabili). The conciliar sect has accomplished exactly this reduction: faith is sentiment, piety is community feeling, and the Holy Spirit is a “friendship” rather than the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity who sanctifies through the sacraments.
The Yellow Pins: Memento Mori or Memento Vivere?
The yellow pins worn at graduation are described as a way “to remember Alex.” But the Church’s tradition of remembrance is not sentimental commemoration; it is prayer for the dead, the offering of Masses, the gaining of indulgences. The Council of Trent taught: “Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has, from the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, taught that there is a purgatory, and that the souls there detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar” (Session XXV).
Where are the Masses for Alex Lynch? Where are the prayers for his soul? The article mentions a “Mass on campus in his memory”—but if this is a Novus Ordo “memorial,” it is not a true propitiatory sacrifice and therefore cannot help his soul. The yellow pins are a natural substitute for supernatural charity: they make the living feel good without doing anything for the dead. They are the conciarist equivalent of the old Catholic practice of having Masses said for the souls in purgatory—except they accomplish nothing except emotional catharsis.
Conclusion: A Death Unprepared
Alex Lynch died as he lived in the conciliar sect: surrounded by friends, celebrated by his community, commemorated with pins and applause—but without the sacraments that alone can save his soul. The article presents his death as beautiful, inspiring, and faith-filled. But from the perspective of the Catholic faith, it is a tragedy: a young man who may have died without the Last Rites, without Viaticum, without the certainty of the state of grace, and without the prayers that could have shortened his time in purgatory.
The Church has always taught: “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins” (2 Machabees 12:46). The conciliar sect has replaced this with yellow pins and spontaneous gatherings in adoration chapels. The difference is the difference between the Catholic faith and its counterfeit—between the Church of Christ and the neo-church of the Antichrist. Alex Lynch deserved better. He deserved the true Mass, the true sacraments, the true prayers of the Church. Instead, he got Benedictine College.
Source:
Remembering Alex: Benedictine College grieves a ‘faith-filled’ student (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 30.05.2026