Tensions have emerged within the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte following recent decisions by Bishop Michael Martin, who just marked his first year as bishop.
Martin stirred controversy by moving to restrict the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass. After internal pushback, the bishop shelved plans to implement a much broader set of liturgical changes.
JD Flynn, editor-in-chief of Catholic publication The Pillar, has reported on the issues. According to Flynn, some Vatican officials, including Pope Leo XIV — who was not yet pope at the time — have encouraged the bishop to slow his pace of change.
In a statement, the Charlotte diocese said Bishop Martin has great empathy for — and is listening to — the concerns of those who celebrate the traditional Latin Mass, and his decision to phase it out goes back to the Vatican’s rules set in 2021.
The diocese also disputes The Pillar’s account of now-Pope Leo’s meeting with Bishop Martin and said it was incorrect, though it didn't specify how, and says the diocese is still evaluating a variety of options for a new cathedral. You can read the Diocese's full statement at the end of this article.
Flynn joined WFAE's Nick de la Canal to discuss what's behind the bishop's decisions — and what they mean for Catholics in the diocese.
The following are highlights from the interview, edited for clarity and brevity.
What was included in the draft liturgical policy leaked last month — and why did it spark such a strong response?
JD Flynn: The policy would have made significant changes to the way that Catholic Mass is celebrated in the Diocese of Charlotte, which is known — or has been known — to be somewhat conservative liturgically.
So in the Diocese of Charlotte, you would often see the use of Latin in Mass ... you might hear the priest chanting, you might see older-style liturgical vestments, and you might see people doing things like kneeling to receive Holy Communion in the Eucharist.
And the bishop's draft text was aimed at restricting a lot of those practices. He said that they're opposed to the Second Vatican Council ... but a lot of Catholics disagreed and said, no, Charlotte has faithfully implemented the Second Vatican Council — Charlotte has done that very well, balancing a newer approach to liturgy with the long-standing traditions of the church.
And so there's been a lot of pushback not only among lay people who worship, but among priests both in Charlotte and outside. You know, some of the restrictions on priests would have even prohibited certain prayers that many priests say before Mass as they don their vestments — certain prayers that congregations say as they conclude their vestments.
Again, Martin says this is all part of the modernizing trend of liturgy to focus on the community, but many Catholics say that it cuts the church off from its own traditions.
This comes just weeks after Bishop Martin announced a new policy prohibiting the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass — except at a soon-to-be-established chapel in Mooresville. How many churches were celebrating the traditional Latin Mass, and what has the reaction been?
Flynn: In 2021, in Charlotte, there were nine churches celebrating the traditional Latin Mass ... and that style of mass has really had a kind of resurgence just in the last five or six years among young people across the United States.
But in 2021, Pope Francis put some restrictions on the use of that Mass, which took the number of churches in Charlotte down from nine to four, and then Bishop Martin's policies would have closed all of the Latin Masses at those parishes and moved them to one location — like you say, in Mooresville.
So Catholics in the Charlotte area have said, you know, this — this will break up their communities. In some cases, it will have them driving in excess of an hour, an hour and a half, to get to Mass, and they won't be able to be a part of the parish life of their local parish because they'll be traveling so much for the way they worship.
What does this controversy reveal about Bishop Martin's leadership style and the challenges of taking over a diocese?
Flynn: There's kind of a maxim in church leadership that before you change anything, you should get to know the people — you should spend as much time listening and traveling as you can.
They often tell a new parish pastor that the only thing he should change in his first year is his socks — that is to say, he should be very, very slow to make big changes.
But in Charlotte, there has been a lot of criticism from Catholics who say that Bishop Martin, since he arrived, has been very clear about wanting to make liturgical changes, changes to practice in Catholic education, changes to practice at the Catholic seminary, and even the prospect of changing plans for the diocesan cathedral.
So this first year in Charlotte has been, by many accounts, very, very tumultuous — which is unusual and which I think the Catholics of Charlotte are saying sort of goes against both the conventional wisdom and the wisdom of Pope Francis and now Pope Leo on that kind of leadership.
You also report that Bishop Martin met in April with then-Cardinal Prevost of the Vatican, who is now Pope Leo XIV. Can you talk about that meeting and what message the Vatican was sending to Bishop Martin?
Flynn: What we learned from Vatican sources is that the purpose of that meeting was for Cardinal Prevost to urge Bishop Martin to slow down on his plans to relocate the diocesan cathedral from the city of Charlotte to outside the city.
There had been plans already in the diocese when Bishop Martin arrived to build a new cathedral in Charlotte, but it sounds like Bishop Martin had scrapped those plans and was considering converting a parish church into the cathedral. And Cardinal Prevost really told him, according to our sources, slow down on all of these changes — take a breath, get to know the people before moving forward on something as big and significant as this.
There was also an anonymous open letter from priests raising concerns about micromanagement and a lack of consultation. The letter called the bishop's style "autocratic." How is Bishop Martin responding to this criticism?
Flynn: Well, he really hasn't. He did send an email to his priests last week amid all of this controversy unfolding not only in the diocese but nationally — and I'll tell you, bishops and priests across the country are paying attention to this. I'm getting texts from bishops and priests who are asking about this, sending memes about it. It's getting a lot of attention.
Bishop Martin did send a letter to his priests last week — just an email advising them of some issues in the diocese and also that assignment changes were coming up.
And in that email, he told new pastors in the diocese: Don't make any changes in the first year. First, get to know people. And that has seemed, in Charlotte, to be very ironic advice from this bishop who has been very quick to change things — and so there is, I think, frustration.
When I talk with Catholics in the Diocese of Charlotte, they say they want to understand the desires of the bishop, they want to understand his leadership, and they want to be receptive to it — but thus far, it has been sort of hard to understand his modus operandi.
Looking ahead, do you expect more changes to be rolled out quietly? And what's at stake if tensions continue to simmer?
Flynn: It does seem that the bishop will probably make some liturgical changes in a more piecemeal fashion. He shelved this draft policy after receiving all this pushback, but it does seem like some of the things in the policy document — especially the practice of kneeling for Holy Communion — will be restricted in some new ways in the diocese.
But more at stake than that is the challenge in any diocese: the relationship of trust between a bishop and his priests, and a bishop and his people.
The word in Charlotte is that there will have to be some reconciliation here. The hope is that Bishop Martin will hear the frustration — the discouragement about these liturgical policies and the prospect of other changes — and that there will be some possibility of addressing those things in a head-on manner in order to sort of reestablish trust between the priest, the bishop, and the people of the Diocese of Charlotte.
Here is the full statement from the Diocese of Charlotte to WFAE:
"Bishop Martin has great empathy for — and is listening to — the concerns of those who prefer the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). His decision to remove the TLM from four parish churches in July simply completes the diocese’s implementation of rules issued by the Vatican in 2021. In 2023, the diocese was granted an extension on these limits until Oct. 2. The July 8 date was chosen to coincide with the date that our new priest assignments take effect, which could impact these churches. We estimate about 1,000 people regularly attend the TLM.
As to your other questions, the liturgical norms document you reference was an early draft that has gone through considerable change over several months, and discussion has just begun within our Presbyteral Council and Office for Divine Worship. In addition, your information on Bishop Martin’s meeting with Cardinal Prevost in April is incorrect. We’re still evaluating a variety of options for a new cathedral — including possible new construction and renovation of an existing church, as well as other construction and pastoral needs across the diocese particularly in the wake of Hurricane Helene. We are gathering input and studying growth patterns to determine where we need new churches to serve our growing population of 565,000 Catholics, and whether any of those locations would make sense to also serve as a cathedral."
