Bishop Martin says the quiet part out loud

Damian Thompson, First Things

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Charlotte, NC’s bishop, Michael Martin, a Birkenstock-wearing Franciscan who took office last year, announced in May that the Traditional Latin Mass would be restricted from the four diocesan parishes that celebrated it and, henceforth, offered in a single chapel north of Charlotte, adding hours to the journeys of many faithful who had the temerity to favor the usus antiquior. Martin and other liberal priests of the 1960s and 70s who are now bishops are in a state of heightened anxiety because they do not know how much influence they will wield in the Church under Pope Leo XIV.