Detroit’s Structural Collapse Reveals Conciliar Sect’s Spiritual Bankruptcy
The Catholic News Agency reports (November 17, 2025) on the Archdiocese of Detroit’s planned “restructuring” involving church closures and parish mergers. Archbishop Edward Weisenburger attributes this to declining numbers: from 1.5 million Catholics during the Church’s zenith to 900,000 today, with fewer than half attending Sunday “Masses.” The conciliar sect projects a 40% priest reduction within a decade, with most clergy over age 50 and 67% of parishes having fewer than 600 weekly attendees. The “restructuring” proposes merging parishes into “pastorates” led by clerical teams, framed as an opportunity to become “mission ready.” This follows similar collapse patterns in 30 other US dioceses, including Dubuque where “Mass” attendance has plummeted 46% since 2006.
Naturalistic Management of Supernatural Bankruptcy
Weisenburger’s admission that “the struggle to care for buildings and parish structures where there are very few people” hinders their operations exposes the conciliar sect’s fundamental error: Ecclesia non est fabrica (the Church is not a building). The true crisis isn’t structural but spiritual – the abandonment of lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of prayer is the law of belief). Pius XI condemned this managerial mindset in Quas Primas: “When God and Jesus Christ are removed from laws and states… the entire human society had to be shaken.” The 82% decline in sacramental participation since 2000 directly correlates with the Novus Ordo’s implementation, which Ottaviani’s 1969 intervention warned “represents a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass.”
“I believe with all my heart that God is inviting us to reimagine parish life, priestly ministry, and our mission”
This blasphemous statement usurps Christ’s eternal priesthood. The Council of Trent (Session XXIII, Chapter IV) dogmatized that priestly ministry isn’t subject to human “reimagining”: “Sacrifice and priesthood are by the ordinance of God so united that both have existed in every law.” The proposed “pastorate” model institutionalizes the Protestantized “priesthood of all believers” condemned by Pius VI in Auctorem Fidei (1794).
Theological Omissions Reveal Apostasy
The article’s silence on core Catholic doctrines speaks volumes:
- No mention of sacramental validity: The exponential decline began with Paul VI’s invalid new rite of ordination (Sacramentum Ordinis, Pius XII, 1947). Detroit’s 224 “priests” likely lack valid orders.
- No reference to state of grace: The 53% weekly absence from “Mass” indicates apostasy from Dies Domini (John Paul II’s 1998 document, though post-1958, recognizes the pre-conciliar obligation).
- No warning against sacrilegious communions: Receiving counterfeit sacraments from invalid ministers compounds the sin (Canon 1325 §2, 1917 Code).
Pius X’s Lamentabili sane exitu (1907) anticipated this modernist reductionism by condemning the proposition that “the Church is incapable of effectively defending evangelical ethics because it steadfastly adheres to its views.” The Detroit plan’s pillars – “vibrant parishes,” “flourishing priests,” “mission ready” – constitute pure naturalism, abandoning the Church’s true marks: One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic.
Demographic Truths Conceal Doctrinal Crimes
While correctly noting the priest shortage, the article ignores its cause: Vatican II’s destruction of seminaries. Pius XI’s Ad Catholici Sacerdotii (1935) mandated that seminaries form priests “set apart from the world” with “theocentric” formation. Detroit’s seminary now promotes lay leadership training – the very “democratization of the Church” Pius XII condemned in his 1946 address to Lenten preachers.
The projected 40% clergy reduction fulfills Malachi Martin’s warning in The Jesuits (1987) about planned ecclesial demolition. When Weisenburger claims “three-quarters of parishes will shrink in five years,” he unwittingly confirms Christ’s prophecy: “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Structural Solution to Supernatural Crisis: A Diabolical Parody
The proposed “listening sessions” and “pastorate models” constitute pure modernism condemned by Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907): “Making experience the foundation of faith… leads straight to atheism.” True Catholic reform requires:
- Rejection of Vatican II’s religious liberty (contra Syllabus of Errors #77)
- Restoration of the Traditional Mass (Quo Primum, St. Pius V)
- Renewal of Thomistic formation (Aeterni Patris, Leo XIII)
As St. Pius X warned in Notre Charge Apostolique (1910): “The true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries nor innovators but traditionalists.” Detroit’s implosion proves that “structural changes” without doctrinal restoration accelerate ecclesial suicide. The conciliar sect’s administrative shuffling resembles rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic while the bark of Peter lies scuttled beneath modernist waves.
Source:
Archdiocese of Detroit announces restructure due to shrinking numbers (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 17.11.2025