Beacons of Tradition: Bishop de Castro Mayer and the “62 Reasons”
More than just a list of complaints, the document functioned as a doctrinal manifesto that articulated the concerns of a community convinced that the new liturgy would lead to a crisis of faith.
God does have a sense of humour, and He does move in mysterious ways.
I was reminded of this again this past week when I found a little printed treasure in a most unlikely place. I was going through some second-hand books for sale in the repository of a Novus Ordo parish when I came across a bunch of traditionalist books, including “The Mouth of the Lion” (Angelus Press) by the recently deceased hero of traditionalism, Dr. David Allen White (1948-2025). Not only was it priced at a steal, but the fact that the parish was headed by a tradition-hating priest gave the deal a hint of justice!
The good Dr. White I was familiar with, but with the subject of his book, Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, less so.
A few days later, the “62 Reasons”-document “coincidentally” started popping up on a bunch of the social media platforms I frequent. I quickly made the connection between my recently acquired book and this little manifesto.
For the sake of others new to Tradition, especially the younger generation, I decided to compile this article to celebrate both Bishop de Castro Mayer as well as the “62 Reasons”.
In the wake of the Second Vatican Council’s transformative reforms, a powerful document emerged from an unlikely stronghold: the Diocese of Campos in Brazil. Titled "62 Reasons: Why in Conscience We Cannot Attend the New Mass," this list of objections was compiled by priests deeply committed to preserving the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM)—the liturgical form that had defined Catholic worship for centuries. The document not only captured the theological and pastoral concerns surrounding the Novus Ordo Missae, introduced by Pope Paul VI in 1969, but also became a rallying cry for traditionalists across the globe.
The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) sought to renew the Church by engaging more openly with the modern world. One of its most visible outcomes was the revision of the Roman Missal, culminating in the Novus Ordo Missae. This new liturgy, which embraced vernacular languages and reoriented the priest’s position from facing the altar to facing the people, was designed to foster a more participatory worship experience. Yet, for many traditionalists, these changes marked a profound departure from the sacred traditions of the past. They believed that by shifting focus from the sacrificial nature of the Mass to a more communal meal, essential doctrines—especially the belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist—were being compromised. And indeed, they were, as we can clearly see by the circus, the Church had become some 60-odd years later.
One of the earliest and most influential critiques of these reforms came in the form of the Ottaviani Intervention. In 1969, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani and Cardinal Antonio Bacci sent a letter to Pope Paul VI that included a detailed critique, known as "A Critical Study of the Novus Ordo Missae." This intervention argued that the new liturgy was not simply a matter of updated language or minor ritual adjustments but a radical break from the theological foundations established by the Council of Trent. Its ambiguous formulations, the critics warned, could pave the way for Protestant interpretations and modernist errors, thereby endangering the Church’s sacramental integrity.
Part of this resistance was the Diocese of Campos, under the steadfast leadership of Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer. Serving from 1949 until his retirement in 1981, Bishop de Castro Mayer earned the enduring nickname “The Lion of Campos” for his uncompromising defense of the TLM. From the early days of his ministry, he nurtured a deep love for the Church’s liturgical heritage and saw in the Mass not merely a ritual, but the very heartbeat of Catholic identity. When the Novus Ordo was introduced, he immediately recognized the potential dangers inherent in such dramatic changes. Under his guidance, the faithful in Campos continued to celebrate the Tridentine Mass with fervor and devotion, setting an example of resistance that resonated far beyond Brazil.
It was within this charged atmosphere that the "62 Reasons" were born. More than just a list of complaints, the document functioned as a doctrinal manifesto that articulated the concerns of a community convinced that the new liturgy would lead to a crisis of faith. Drawing on historical precedents, theological critiques, and even statistical evidence of declining Mass attendance, the reasons encapsulated the belief that the New Mass diluted the sacrificial mystery of the Eucharist and eroded essential Catholic teachings.
Parallel to the events in Campos, the broader traditionalist movement found a more organized expression in the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The SSPX, sharing the convictions of Campos’ defenders, vehemently rejected the liturgical reforms. The texts and arguments presented in the Ottaviani Intervention and later in the "62 Reasons" provided intellectual ammunition for the SSPX, whose members saw the new liturgy as emblematic of a dangerous modernist tide. The tension culminated dramatically in 1988, when Lefebvre, in an effort to safeguard traditional episcopal oversight, consecrated four bishops without papal approval—a move in which Bishop de Castro Mayer also participated. Although this act led to excommunication by Pope John Paul II, it underscored the depth of conviction among traditionalists who believed that the old liturgical forms were indispensable to the Church’s true identity.
Even after his retirement, Bishop de Castro Mayer’s influence continued to be felt. His resolute stand inspired a faction within the Diocese of Campos that refused to embrace the new liturgy. When his successor, Bishop Carlos Navarro, began to implement the Novus Ordo, about twenty-five priests broke away, eventually forming what became known as the Priestly Union of St. John Mary Vianney (SSJV).
In a historic turn of events, these priests eventually capitulated and reconciled with modernist Rome in 2002, emerging as the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney. This ecclesiastical jurisdiction continues to celebrate the TLM while remaining in full communion with the Holy See. (Unlike the SSPX, the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney recognises the Second Vatican Council)
The story of the "62 Reasons" and the legacy of Bishop de Castro Mayer continue to reverberate in debates over liturgical identity and ecclesiastical authority. On one hand, documents like Summorum Pontificum in 2007 reaffirmed the legitimacy of the TLM by acknowledging that it had never been abrogated. On the other hand, measures such as Traditionis Custodes in 2021, issued by Pope Francis, imposed new restrictions that reignited controversies among traditionalists and reaffirmed the tensions between modern reforms and longstanding tradition.
For many faithful, the liturgy is not merely a sequence of rituals but a living expression of their spiritual heritage—a tangible connection to the Church’s storied past. The enduring legacy of the "62 Reasons" is a reminder that debates over the form and function of worship are deeply intertwined with questions of identity, tradition, and faith. Bishop de Castro Mayer’s life, marked by his fearless defense of the old liturgical order, remains a beacon for those who believe that the beauty and mystery of the TLM are essential to the Church’s eternal witness.
I herewith reproduce "62 Reasons: Why in Conscience We Cannot Attend the New Mass” verbatim:
“1. Because the New Mass is not an unequivocal Profession of the Catholic Faith (which the traditional Mass is), it is ambiguous and Protestant. Therefore since we pray as we believe, it follows that we cannot pray with the New Mass in Protestant fashion and still believe as Catholics!
2. Because the changes were not just slight ones but actually “deal with a fundamental renovation … a total change … a new creation.” (Msgr. A. Bugnini, co-author of the New Mass)
3. Because the New Mass leads us to think “that truths … can be changed or ignored without infidelity to that sacred deposit of doctrine to which the Catholic Faith is bound forever.” *
4. Because the New Mass represents “a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent” which, in fixing the “canons,” provided an “insurmountable barrier to any heresy against the integrity of the Mystery.” *
5. Because the difference between the two is not simply one of mere detail or just modification of ceremony, but “all that is of perennial value finds only a minor place (in the New Mass), if it subsists at all.” *
6. Because “Recent reforms have amply demonstrated that fresh changes in the liturgy could lead to nothing but complete bewilderment in the faithful who already show signs of uneasiness and lessening of Faith.” *
7. Because in times of confusion such as now, we are guided by the words of our Lord: “By their fruits you shall know them.” Fruits of the New Mass are: 30% decrease in Sunday Mass attendance in U.S. (NY Times 5/24/75), 43% decrease in France (Cardinal Marty), 50% decrease in Holland (NY Times 1/5/76).
8. Because “amongst the best of the clergy the practical result (of the New Mass) is an agonizing crisis of conscience…” *
9. Because in less than seven years after the introduction of the New Mass, priests in the world decreased from 413,438 to 243,307 — almost 50%! (Holy See Statistics)
10. Because “The pastoral reasons adduced to support such a grave break with tradition … do not seem to us sufficient.” *
11. Because the New Mass does not manifest Faith in the Real Presence of our Lord — the Traditional Mass manifests it unmistakably.
12. Because the New Mass confuses the REAL Presence of Christ in the Eucharist with His MYSTICAL Presence among us (proximating Protestant doctrine).
13. Because the New Mass blurs what ought to be a sharp difference between the HIERARCHIC Priesthood and the common priesthood of the people (as does Protestantism).
14. Because the New Mass favors the heretical theory that it is THE FAITH of the people and not THE WORDS OF THE PRIEST which makes Christ present in the Eucharist.
15. Because the insertion of the Lutheran “Prayer of the Faithful” in the New Mass follows and puts forth the Protestant error that all the people are priests.
16. Because the New Mass does away with the Confiteor of the priest, makes it collective with the people, thus promoting Luther’s refusal to accept the Catholic teaching that the priest is judge, witness and intercessor with God.
17. Because the New Mass gives us to understand that the people concelebrate with the priest — which is against Catholic theology!
18. Because six Protestant ministers collaborated in making up the New Mass: George, Jasper, Shepherd, Kunneth, Smith and Thurian.
19. Because just as Luther did away with the Offertory — since it very clearly expressed the sacrificial, propitiatory character of the Mass — so also the inventors of the New Mass did away with it, reducing it to a simple Preparation of the Gifts.
20. Because enough Catholic theology has been removed that Protestants can, while keeping their antipathy for the True Roman Catholic Church, use the text of the New Mass without difficulty. Protestant Minister Thurian (co-consulter for the ’New Mass’ project) said that a fruit of the New mass “will perhaps be that the non-Catholic communities will be able to celebrate the Lord’s Supper using the same prayers as the Catholic Church.” (La Croix 4/30/69)
21. Because the narrative manner of the Consecration in the New Mass infers that it is only a memorial and not a true sacrifice (Protestant Thesis)
22. Because by grave omissions, the New Mass leads us to believe that it is only a meal (Protestant doctrine) and not a sacrifice for the remission of sins (Catholic Doctrine).
23. Because the changes such as: table instead of altar; facing people instead of tabernacle; Communion in the hand, etc., emphasize Protestant doctrines (e.g., Mass is only a meal; priest only a president of the assembly; Eucharist is NOT the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, but merely a piece of bread, etc.)
24. Because Protestants themselves have said “the new Catholic Eucharistic prayers have abandoned the false (sic) perspective of sacrifice offered to God.” (La Croix 12/10/69)
25. Because we are faced with the dilemma: either we become Protestantized by worshipping with the New Mass, or else we preserve our Catholic Faith by adhering faithfully to the traditional Mass, the “Mass of All Time.”
26. Because the New Mass was made in accordance with the Protestant definition of the Mass: “The Lord’s Supper or Mass is a sacred synaxis or assembly of the people of God which gathers together under the presidence of the priest to celebrate the memorial of the Lord.” (Par. 7 Intro. to the New Missal, defining the New Mass, 4/6/69)
27. Because by means of ambiguity, the New Mass pretends to please Catholics while pleasing Protestants; thus it is “double-tongued” and offensive to God who abhors any kind of hypocrisy: “Cursed be … the double-tongued for they destroy the peace of many.” (Sirach 28:13)
28. Because beautiful, familiar Catholic hymns which have inspired people for centuries, have been thrown out and replaced with new hymns strongly Protestant in sentiment, further deepening the already distinct impression that one is no longer attending a Catholic function.
29. Because the New Mass contains ambiguities subtly favoring heresy, which is more dangerous than if it were clearly heretical since a half-heresy half resembles the Truth!
30. Because Christ has only one Spouse, the Catholic Church, and her worship service cannot also serve religions that are at enmity with her.
31. Because the New Mass follows the format of Cranmer’s heretical Anglican Mass, and the methods used to promote it follow precisely the methods of the English heretics.
32. Because Holy Mother Church canonized numerous English Martyrs who were killed because they refused to participate in a Mass such as the New Mass!
33. Because Protestants who once converted to Catholicism are scandalized t to see that the New Mass is the same as the one they attended as Protestants. One of them, Julien Green, asks: “Why did we convert?”
34. Because statistics show a great decrease in conversions to Catholicism following the use of the New Mass. Conversions, which were up to 100,000 a year in the U.S., have decreased to less than 10,000! And the number of people leaving the Church far exceeds those coming in.
35. Because the Traditional Mass has forged many saints. “Innumerable saints have been fed abundantly with the proper piety towards God by it …” (Pope Paul VI, Const. Apost. Missale Romanum)
36. Because the nature of the New Mass is such as to facilitate profanations of the Holy Eucharist, which occur with a frequency unheard of with the Traditional Mass.
37. Because the New Mass, despite appearances, conveys a New Faith, not the Catholic Faith. It conveys Modernism and follows exactly the tactics of Modernism, using vague terminology in order to insinuate and advance error.
38. Because by introducing optional variations, the New Mass undermines the unity of the liturgy, with each priest liable to deviate as he fancies under the guise of creativity. Disorder inevitably results, accompanied by lack of respect and irreverence.
39. Because many good Catholic theologians, canonists and priests do not accept the New Mass, and affirm that they are unable to celebrate it in good conscience.
40. Because the New Mass has eliminated such things as: genuflections (only three remain), purification of the priests fingers in the chalice, preservation from all profane contact of priest’s fingers after Consecration, sacred altar stone and relics, three altar clothes (reduced to one), all of which “only serve to emphasize how outrageously faith in the dogma of the Real Presence is implicitly repudiated.” *
41. Because the traditional Mass, enriched and matured by centuries of Sacred Tradition, was codified (not invented) by a Pope who was a saint, Pius V; whereas the New Mass was artificially fabricated by six Protestant ministers and a 33rd degree Freemason, i.e., Msgr. A Bugnini who was later exiled from the Vatican because of his ties with Freemasonry.
42. Because the errors of the New Mass which are accentuated in the vernacular version are even present in the Latin text of the New Mass.
43. Because the New Mass, with its ambiguity and permissiveness, exposes us to the wrath of God by facilitating the risk of invalid consecrations: “Will priests of the near future who have not received the traditional formation, and who rely on the Novus Ordo Missae with the intention of “doing what the Church does,” consecrate validly? One may be allowed to doubt it!” *
44. Because the abolition of the Traditional Mass recalls the prophecy of Daniel 8:12: “And he was given power against the perpetual sacrifice because of the sins of the people” and the observation of St. Alphonsus de Liguori that because the Mass is the best and most beautiful thing which exists in the Church here below, the devil has always tried by means of heretics to deprive us of it.
45. Because in places where the Traditional Mass is preserved, the Faith and fervor of the people are greater. Whereas the opposite is true where the New Mass reigns (Report on the Mass, Diocese of Campos, ROMA, Buenos Aires #69, 8/81)
46. Because along with the New Mass goes also a new catechism, a new morality, new prayers, new Code of Canon law, new calendar, — in a word, a NEW CHURCH, a complete revolution from the old. “The liturgical reform … do not be deceived, this is where the revolution begins.” (Msgr. Dwyer, Archbishop of Birmingham, spokesman of Episcopal Synod)
47. Because the intrinsic beauty of the Traditional Mass attracts souls by itself; whereas the New Mass, lacking any attractiveness of its own, has to invent novelties and entertainments in order to appeal to the people.
48. Because the New mass embodies numerous errors condemned by Pope St. Pius V at the Council of Trent (Mass totally in vernacular, words of Consecration spoken aloud, etc. See Condemnation of Jansenist Synod of Pistia), and errors condemned by Pope Pius XII (e.g., altar in form of table. See Mediator Dei).
49. Because the New Mass attempts to transform the Catholic Church into a new, ecumenical church embracing all ideologies and all religions — right and wrong, truth and error — a goal long dreamt of by the enemies of the Catholic Church.
50. Because the New Mass, in removing the salutations and final blessing when the priest celebrates alone, shows a denial of, and disbelief in the dogma of the Communion of Saints.
51. Because the altar and tabernacle are now separated, thus marking a division between Christ in His priest-and-Sacrifice-on-the-altar, from Christ in His Real Presence in the tabernacle, “two things which of their very nature, must remain together.” (Pius XII)
52. Because the New Mass no longer constitutes a vertical worship between God and man, but rather a horizontal worship between man and man.
53. Because the New Mass, although appearing to conform to the dispositions of Vatican Council II, in reality opposes its instructions, since the Council itself declared its desire to conserve and promote the Traditional Rite.
54. Because the Traditional Latin Mass of Pope St. Pius V has never been legally abrogated and therefore remains a true rite of the Roman Catholic Church by which the faithful may fulfill their Sunday obligation.
55. Because Pope St. Pius V granted a perpetual indult, valid “for always,” to celebrate the Traditional Mass freely, licitly, without scruple of conscience, punishment, sentence or censure (Papal Bull “Quo Primum“)
56. Because Pope Paul VI, when promulgating the New Mass, himself declared. “The rite … by itself is NOT a dogmatic definition …” (11/19/69)
57. Because Pope Paul VI, when asked by Cardinal Heenan of England, if he was abrogating or prohibiting the Tridentine Mass, answered: “It is not our intention to prohibit absolutely the Tridentine Mass.”
58. Because “In the Libera Nos of the New Mass, the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles and all the Saints are no longer mentioned; her and their intercession thus no longer asked, even in time of peril.” *
59. Because in none of the three new Eucharistic Prayers (of the New Mass) is there any reference … to the state of suffering of those who have died, in none the possibility of a particular Memento, thus undermining faith in the redemptive nature of the Sacrifice.*
60. Because we recognize the Holy Father’s supreme authority in his universal government of Holy Mother Church, but we know that even this authority cannot impose upon us a practice which is so CLEARLY against the Faith: a Mass that is equivocal and favoring heresy and therefore disagreeable to God.
61. Because, as stated in Vatican Council I, the “Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter, that by His revelation they might make new doctrine, but that by His assistance they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of Faith delivered through the Apostles.” (Dnz 3070)
62. Because heresy, or whatever clearly favors heresy, cannot be a matter for obedience. Obedience is at the service of Faith and not Faith at the service of obedience! In this foregoing case then, “One must obey God before men.” (Acts 5:29)”
In the end, the legacy of the "62 Reasons" and the passion of figures like Bishop de Castro Mayer continue to fuel an ongoing dialogue about the nature of Catholic worship—a dialogue that is as much about the preservation of a sacred heritage as it is about navigating the challenges of a modern world.
Ave Christus Rex!
Recognise & Resist!
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The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia explains that the doctrine of "indefectibility" includes the idea that the Catholic Church cannot produce a liturgy that is open to heresy, or leads to a loss of faith. The "62 Reasons" illustrate something that the Catholic Church is not able to do, lest it have defected (which is impossible): produce a defective liturgy.
Thank you for posting this! I can’t believe it’s the first time I’ve seen it.