“Salus animarum supemus lex esto” — ”the salvation of souls must be the supreme law in the Church.” Canon Law 1752
 

Sacred Heart Traditional Catholic Church Lawrence, MA

321 South Broadway Lawrence MA 01843 (Dominican Fathers, Brothers, and Sisters, O.P. — Ordo Praedicatorum)
978-686-7921

www.SacredHeart-OP.org 

The Traditional Holy Sacrifice of the Mass —  in Latin only—  is offered at Sacred Heart Traditional Catholic Church daily, weekends and Sunday (High Mass) 10 AM, and at 9AM  on weekdays and Saturdays. 

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“We promote separation from the world, simply because if we live by the world we will lose our souls to the world.”

I was struck by this statement. There was no guile in it, no equivocation — It was another way of saying, “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Saint Mark 8.36)

Just twenty minutes north of the junction of I-93 and I-95 (128) you will encounter at Sacred Heart what you have found to be painfully absent virtually throughout the archdiocese of Boston since Vatican II: SANCTITY.

The distinctive white tunic, or habit, and black scapular of the Dominicans are the first intimation that things at Sacred Heart are different from most parishes — and distinctly different from Novus Ordo parishes — the more one enters into the Church. Holy statuary, beautifully crafted, abounds. There is a Communion Rail! An Altar of marble (an Altar of Sacrifice!) majestically ascends to the Sanctuary — in place of the dreary wooden “table of the Lord” that became the pseudo-Catholic equivalent of Protestant disdain for the Sacraments ... and most especially “the Holy Eucharist as really and truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”   Only at an Altar does a real Sacrifice occur — at a “table of the Lord” things are shared and eaten as becoming any meal: the bread is simply bread ... no more. The wine is just that: wine ... nothing more. A commemoration takes place — but not a sacrifice! Christ is no more in the bread and wine than He is in the table and the pews. The Real Presence becomes a blasphemous Absence. The alchemy of Ecumenism can only change so much ... Stained glass —  the art-work of centuries that made them inimitable and emblematic of our holy Catholic Faith. Real stained glass! Not the cheap imposter that became prevalent with lines and angles of pale, incongruous colors that came to fill newly minted Bauhaus church buildings — and which made them even more strikingly Protestant in appearance. It was Modern Art — and every bit as trite and ugly. It was essentially matter without distinguishable form — anything and nothing.

The most striking surprise — is the people. They are meticulously attired. They have dressed to meet the King of Kings. Children to less than adults, the young no less than the old. Mantillas (elegant lacey head coverings) adorn little girls and matrons alike; the young women are modest — beautifully so. Men and women must observe a very strict dress code. Remember “Sunday Best”?  Men and young boys suit up. Women are encouraged to holy modesty: no hemlines above knee, no bare shoulders, no plunging necklines, no dresses with slits beyond the knee, head-covering required (mantillas are provided if needed).

And it is quiet! No discussions are taking place. People are praying, and other people are respectful of the silence that seems to waft to Heaven itself on pale incense borne by unseen Angels — to the Throne of God.

Would you really meet the President of the United States or the Queen of England in your gym clothes or a hoodie if you knew that you were going to meet them?  Absolutely not! But alas, for sorrow, we accord Jesus Christ Himself less respect than we lavish upon petty political functionaries and figures who only covet our votes and otherwise care nothing for us. We have become accustomed to such an absence of respect for our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar that we have utterly forgotten where we are and in Whose Presence we stand. Indeed, to Whom we come!

You go to meet the King of Kings — Christ Himself!

Sacred Heart Church has kept the Faith, the Tradition, the infallible Teachings, and the Sacred Magisterium that the Second Vatican Council repudiated. Sacred Heart  does not recognize Vatican II and has kept the Mass as it had been prayed by Holy Mother Church for over 2000 years.

From the junction of I-93 and 95 (Rt. 128) it is a twenty minute drive north.

Go! You will be welcomed — and you will be humbled by the majesty of the Sacred — long forgotten and deeply disdained.
 

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