Evangelization through Imagery

My first camera was a gift I received when I was about 9 years old. It was a tiny point-and-shoot camera using 110 film. For many years, I continued using point-and-shoot film cameras. They were all I needed. I shot just to capture moments, spontaneous images of life, nothing fancy. When the digital camera was introduced and social media gained traction in our world, I thought about buying one. Instead, I settled for an iPhone. Why spend hundreds of dollars on a camera when I can spend less on a phone that can also take photos?

In 2010, I had a huge reversion, an unlikely return to the Catholic Church. Two years later, I met my future wife, and she saw my love for photography and pushed me to buy a proper camera instead of using a phone. I say all this because even though I had a small love for photography, I really had no direction on what to photograph. That brings me to 2014, May 10th... I was finally received fully into the Church. And I realized I knew what I wanted to photograph... the beauty of what I experienced. The beautiful liturgies, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Ordinations, Chrism masses, etc. I realized my iPhone captures weren't really doing the job. So I caved in and bought my first DSLR. Now my question to myself was how to capture the faith life that I so desperately want to share? Taking photos of a church building is quite boring. I wanted to capture the faith in action. The emotions. The people I met. I researched Catholic images, Catholic photographers, and that is where I found Jeffrey Bruno. I realized that his way of capturing the faith is what I was looking for. It was a sure motivator. I wanted to capture the faith of Jesus' bride, the Church, and it seemed the Holy Spirit guided me to this New York photographer. So, all that to bring me to this photo my wife captured of Jeffrey and me. I finally got to meet him. And all I want to do now is pick up a camera and go out to where the Holy Spirit takes me to share the faith.

First and the Last

On March 17th, the last Sunday Mass in the Extraordinary Form was held. I am not a writer, nor do I pretend to be. I am just a photographer who, for the most part, documents moments in time. However, as I arrived to photograph this final Sunday Mass, I felt overwhelmed by a sense of obligation to explain what was occurring. The sadness was visible on the faces of the parishioners. Many of these Mass-goers were children and teens, who only knew Mass in this particular form. I wondered, "Where will they go?" There are other locations where the TLM is being offered, but the drives will be long, and the environment will be unfamiliar. No longer will chants echo in the Church, nor will these people see the colors illuminating from the stained-glass windows as they pray the Mass. If they choose to continue attending the TLM, Mass will now be held in parish halls or community centers. This marks a stark contrast to the beauty experienced in the Cathedral.

But amidst all this sadness, I found Sebastian. A young boy making his first Holy Communion. There was no sadness in him; his smile lit up the room. He didn’t seem to let this "Last Sunday" bother him, nor did I witness any sense of sadness from his family. Today was a big day. If the most important day of one’s life is baptism, then the close second is First Holy Communion. And that joy radiated on this day—a day of joy during the gloomy Lenten season, and on top of it being the last Sunday of the TLM at St. Mary's. So how did we get here? A juxtaposition of witnessed sadness from others with this moment of joy for Sebastian?

This is not an exhaustive history of the EF/TLM at St. Marys, but in 2007, Cathedral Rector Fr. Bud Roland and Bishop Gregory Aymond came to an arrangement for the Latin Mass to be celebrated at the Cathedral on Sundays at 3:30 p.m. This move followed only a few months after Pope Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio known as Summorum Pontificum, declaring that the Old Mass had never been abrogated and any priest could now celebrate the Mass without his bishop’s permission.

So it remained for 17 years, and its following grew. One Mass at 3:30 p.m. on Sundays, it could no longer contain the new faces and families that attended, so another EF mass was added at 7:30 a.m. Families such as Sebastians received their sacraments here. I also photographed many Weddings in the EF (Extraordinary Form) But then came July 2021. The Traditional Latin Mass communities woke up to confusion and sadness when news reached them that Pope Francis issued a motu proprio, Traditionis Custodes, restricting Masses celebrated in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. The pope made sweeping changes to his predecessor Benedict XVI's 2007 apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, which acknowledged the right of all priests to say Mass using the Roman Missal of 1962, which is in Latin. Traditionis Custodes (“Guardians of the tradition”) is dedicated to “the use of the Roman Liturgy prior to the reform of 1970” and contains eight articles that go into immediate effect.

The question lingered in my mind: what will happen now? What did happen is all continued normally from 2021 to early 2024 in the Diocese. That is what brings me to this week, this last Sunday, and today March 19th, the Feast of Saint Joseph. In a letter to the parishioners of St. Mary Cathedral, Bishop Joe S. Vásquez noted that he had “granted a dispensation” for the cathedral to continue Masses according to the Missal of 1962 when Pope Francis’ Latin Mass-restricting motu proprio Traditionis Custodes was issued. Meanwhile, he “discerned the best way to implement [its] guidance.”

“As required by the rescript of the Holy Father issued in February of last year, I submitted the case of the celebrations according to the 1962 missal at the Cathedral parish to the Vatican Dicastery for Divine Worship to receive the guidance and direction of the Holy See,” wrote Vásquez.

“Following the guidance of the Holy See, the dispensation for celebrations according to the 1962 missal at the Cathedral will come to an end on March 19, the feast of St. Joseph,” the bishop announced. So here we find ourselves. But I see Joy and Hope. Not only in Christ and His Church but because of moments like I witnessed with Sebastian. His smile. His young child like happiness in finally receiving Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. May God bless his family and him as he is the future of the Church. And pray for those affected by the restrictions of the Traditional Latin Mass. Ave Maria!