FAQs

The custodians of Traditional Catholics of Houston, Inc., the nonprofit organization that sponsors Saint Jude Shrine, have provided pertinent answers to questions frequently asked at the Shrine below.

Keep in mind these are just brief answers useful for guidance and do not purport to be definitive for the Universal Church.

Q: Is Saint Jude Shrine a Roman Catholic Church?

Saint Jude Shrine offers what is known as the Tridentine Latin Liturgy, also known as the Ancient Roman Rite of the Mass according to Pope Saint Pius V.

Q: Are face masks required at Saint Jude Shrine?

No.

Q: Are there Spanish Masses offered at the shrine?

No.

Q: What are the steps to becoming a Traditional Catholic?

See the webpage How to Join the Church.

Q: Is Saint Jude Shrine open during the week (Monday through Friday)?

Currently, the church is only open on First Fridays, Sundays,* and Holy Days of Obligation.*

We hope to be open during the week in the future!

*(Masses offered on these days only)

Q: Does Father Campbell accept Mass stipends?

Stipends for special Masses may be accepted contingent upon the demand for Mass intentions at any given time.  For inquiries about Mass intentions and Mass stipends, direct your questions to saintjudetexas@gmail.com.

Q: Does Saint Jude Shrine recognize Francis as pope?

No, and nor does it recognize the last six antipopes as being true popes. The last irrefutably visible functioning pope was Pius XII. Read more on the Papacy page.

Q: Is Saint Jude Shrine Sedevacantist?*

Father Campbell does not pray in union with the notoriously heretical antipope Jorge Bergoglio but in union with the true pope, wherever he may be.  The Chair of Peter has been usurped since 1958 and the status of the true pope is currently unknown.  For more information, please visit the Papacy page and/or review the note on the bottom of this webpage.

Q: What do I do if I am not living near a Mass center or am unable to attend Mass due to some other reason?

A reasonable driving distance is up to the laity's discretion but is generally, at most, an hour or an hour and a half. Any distance beyond that, if it imposes a serious inconvenience and provided that all other options have been exhausted, one may presume a dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass. However, due to the rise of the internet, one may view a Mass livestream or read the Missal at home as well as make a good spiritual communion.**

Q: Can I receive Sacraments from Novus Ordo priests when no other priest is available?

Due to the changes made to the Rites of Episcopal Consecration and Priestly Ordination in 1968 by Antipope Paul VI, many "bishops" and "priests," are not actually validly consecrated or ordained.  However, there still remain some true priests who are valid, even if they say the Novus Ordo "Mass."  Usually these priests are in their 80s and 90s, and hence very difficult to find. In these instances where a validly-ordained priest is nearby, you may approach him for Confession and Extreme Unction in danger of death.  However, do not accept what is commonly called “anointing of the sick” by the Novus Ordo.  Instead, insist upon Sacraments whose formulas are found in the old ritual books used prior to Vatican II.  Additionally, if you have access to the traditional Latin Mass, make certain that it is offered by an undoubtedly valid priest who is in his 80s or 90s.   

Q: Do I have to make a renunciation of errors (abjuration) and/or Profession of Faith if I am coming from the Novus Ordo into the true Catholic Faith?

Because no two people who are escaping the Novus Ordo sect are alike in their faith, there is no way to enforce a litmus test of a person’s belief system before admittance to Holy Communion at Saint Jude’s. As long as someone is validly Baptized, intends to learn and grow in the true Catholic Faith, and follows the Laws of the Church, that individual should feel consoled knowing their ignorance to the crisis facing the Church today was likely not willful and should be viewed as having been the result of a massive deception, rather than an intentional participation in error--rendering a person’s moral culpability as having been diminished to the extent of the individual’s ignorance of the crisis impacting the Church.

However, if one wishes to make a renunciation of errors in the Confessional, they may do so, as this is not prohibited by any means.

Once the errors of the Vatican II sect are made known to a person, he or she should not presume that God will be merciful if they persist in knowingly following the erroneous teachings of the last six antipopes, given the notoriously heretical beliefs espoused by those papal pretenders.

For more information on how to receive a Conditional Baptism and make an abjuration of heresy and profession of Faith, visit the Baptism page of our website.

Q: What is Saint Jude's position on groups that recognize the postconciliar claimants to the Papacy as true popes?

It is a church dogma that one may not pray in common with heretics. A true pope cannot err when speaking to the whole Church on matters of faith and morals. Several of the Vatican II documents, but most notably Nostra Aetate, Dignitatis Humanae, and Gaudium et spes contain explicit heresies.

That being the case, members of the Body of Christ who wish to save their souls should refrain from attending Masses held by “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” who irrationally hold to the absurd position that the last six (notoriously heretical) antipopes have all been true popes.

Q: Under the current circumstances, how can a true pope be provided to the Church?

This question has been addressed on the Papacy page.

Q: What happens if Saint Jude's cannot get a priest, as the number of true priests are rapidly diminishing?

The faithful must practice the Faith in their own homes, praying and following the practices of the Church prior to the Apostasy in the Church, and trusting in Our Lord and Lady to provide Saint Jude’s with a new priest, as They have so generously done many times in the history of Saint Jude Shrine.

Q: I am unable to follow the Church's laws for fasting due to a health reason. How may I receive a dispensation?

One who genuinely cannot fast due to a grave risk to health may request a dispensation from a priest, who may suggest that individual substitute another act of penance instead, although this is at the discretion of the priest. However, if no priest is available, the faithful are not required to observe any fasting or abstinence laws that they know would be injurious to their health. For, after all, each of the faithful are duty-bound to safeguard the safety of the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is his own physical body.

Q: What does Saint Jude Shrine believe about Baptism of Desire and Baptism of Blood?***

Saint Jude Shrine is not the Magisterium and does not purport itself to be. Anyone who is interested in this topic would do well to view both sides of the debate but also to realize that there are numerous theologians who have commented on Baptism of Blood and Baptism of Desire as being legitimate means of providing the grace of a true Baptism under dire circumstances. 

This does not mean one should presume God's Mercy, only that one MAY consider the possibility that those who died under unexpected circumstances BUT with the intention of being received by God as martyrs, or explicitly desiring Baptism, MAY not be excluded from the beatific vision. Because various papal teachings in this regard seem to be contradictory, there will not likely be a definitive resolution to this question that will be satisfactory to the faithful as a whole until a future Pontiff settles the issue once and for all. 

Some theologians have hypothesized that those desiring Baptism but who have not received the Sacrament, through no fault of their own, prior to their death, nevertheless receive Baptism by water administered to them by a saint or angel in a miraculous or unseen manner.

In the meantime, the faithful should vigorously pursue whatever measures may be necessary to provide sacramental Baptism by water to their unbaptized friends and relatives while they still have time. Failing at that, they should implore Almighty God, in His mercy and justice, to provide whatever was lacking in the Baptism of those persons as far as could be observed by their Catholic friends and loved ones. For, in the final analysis, the faithful are unable to put limits on God's mercy or justice. 

Q: Does the Easter duty still apply if I live far from valid and lawful Sacraments? (Receiving Communion during the Easter season).

An in-depth reply to this question has been posted here.

Q: How do I fulfill my First Friday and Saturday devotions, if both days fall during Holy Week?

Quite often, First Friday will also land on Good Friday.  Since no one except the priest receives Communion on Good Friday, the faithful cannot fulfill their First Friday devotion on this day, as First Friday and First Saturday devotions require one to receive Holy Communion on those given days.  

However, since it is impossible for the faithful to receive Holy Communion on Good Friday, and in keeping in line with the tradition, the faithful may “skip” Good Friday as one of the Fridays and resume the following month.

For example, if Good Friday would have been your THIRD “First Friday,” you may simply skip that month, and the following month's first Friday would be your ACTUAL third “First Friday.”

The same would apply when a First Saturday lands on Holy Saturday, but only if the Paschal Vigil observances are started later than sundown  (which is the custom at some parish churches) so that Communion is not administered until after Midnight.

Notes

*The preferred term for the beliefs held by many at Saint Jude Shrine is sede impedita, (“The See being obstructed, the bishop is unable to carry out the duties of his diocese.” Attwater’s Catholic Dictionary).  The reason many believe the See to be obstructed rather than vacant pertains to the likely overthrow of the pope by nefarious forces in 1958, and the subsequent coercion enacted against the rightfully elected pope thereafter, leading to a seemingly vacant chair. Regardless, Saint Jude Shrine believes that heretics cannot be popes, and its pastor rejects the false teachings of the currently reigning false Church.

**Viewing the Mass via livestream is not the same as attending Mass in person. However, watching a true Mass via livestream, at least, places the viewer in moral unity with the faithful attending the Mass, albeit at a distance, and is a useful aid in assisting the faithful in making a good spiritual communion.

***[Concerning Baptism of Blood and Desire]:

(Excerpted from the Original and True Rheims New Testament of Anno Domini 1582 (Transliterated with modern type by Dr. William G. von Peters))


"From The Gospel of Saint John, Chapter 3, Verse 5:

5. JESUS answered, Amen, Amen I say to thee, Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.


"ANNOTATIONS

On The Gospel of Saint John, Chapter 3, Verse 5

5. Born again of Water.] As no man can enter into this world nor have his life and being in the same, except he be born of his carnal parents: no more can a man enter into the life and state of grace which is in Christ, or attain to life everlasting, unless he be born and baptized of water and the Holy Ghost. Whereby we see first, this Sacrament to be called our regeneration or second birth, in respect of our natural and carnal which was before. Secondly, that this Sacrament consisteth of an external element of water, and internal virtue of the Holy Spirit: Wherein it excelleth John's baptism, which had the external element, but not the spiritual grace. Thirdly, that no man can enter into the Kingdom of God, nor into the fellowship of Holy Church, without it.

Whereby the *Pelagians (*Aug. hares. 38), and Calvinists be condemned, that promise life everlasting to young children that die without baptism, and all other that think only their faith to serve, or the external element of water superfluous or not necessary: our Savior's words being plain and general. Though in this case, God which hath not bound His grace, in respect of His own freedom, to any Sacrament, may and doth accept them as baptized, which either are martyred before they could be baptized, or else depart this life with vow and desire to have that Sacrament, but by some remediless necessity could not obtain it (Emphasis added). Lastly, it is proved that this Sacrament giveth grace ex opere operator, that is, of the work itself (which all Protestants deny) because it so breedeth our spiritual life in God, as our carnal birth giveth the life of the world."