Topics: The Latin Mass movement
Bishop Mutsaerts said “go where the liturgy is in order”, Novus Ordo included, not only the Latin Mass
Return to Tradition says Bishop Rob Mutsaerts told Catholics to abandon bad parishes for the traditional Latin Mass, and that “all the data” show Novus Ordo parishes about 20 years older. He did advise leaving, but named the Novus Ordo too, and the survey data are less precise.
By TradWatch™ staff
3 min read
Verdicts at a glance
- Needs context
Bishop Mutsaerts told Catholics to abandon their parishes and find a traditional Latin Mass. · Return to Tradition
- Needs context
All the data show Novus Ordo parishes average about 20 years older than Latin Mass parishes. · Anthony Stine, Return to Tradition
In this brief · 7 sections
On 10 October 2026 Return to Tradition released “Bishop Tells Catholics To Abandon Parishes And Find A TLM”, in which Anthony Stine discusses Bishop Rob Mutsaerts’s interview with LifeSiteNews at the Catholic Identity Conference. Two claims in the episode can be checked: what the bishop advised, and how the ages of the two congregations compare.
What was said
Statement 1: Return to Tradition
Return to Tradition (podcast) · October 10, 2026
Bishop Tells Catholics To Abandon Parishes And Find A TLM
In brief: Bishop Mutsaerts told Catholics to abandon their parishes and find a traditional Latin Mass.
Our verdict: Needs contextThe words are accurate, but missing context changes how they read.
See the recordThis content is embedded for purposes of commentary, criticism, and news reporting. TradWatch is not affiliated with Return to Tradition (podcast). Views quoted are those of the speaker.
Statement 2: Anthony Stine, Return to Tradition
Return to Tradition (podcast) · October 10, 2026
We know, this is unequivocal, all the data bears us out. The average age at your typical neighborhood parish, typical Novus Ordo parish, is something like 20 years higher than the typical age, the average age, at your typical traditional Latin Mass parish
In brief: All the data show Novus Ordo parishes average about 20 years older than Latin Mass parishes.
Our verdict: Needs contextThe words are accurate, but missing context changes how they read.
See the recordThis content is embedded for purposes of commentary, criticism, and news reporting. TradWatch is not affiliated with Return to Tradition (podcast). Views quoted are those of the speaker.
Context
On statement 1 · Return to Tradition
This is the episode’s title. Stine reads the LifeSiteNews interview on air.
On statement 2 · Anthony Stine, Return to Tradition
Stine says this after Mutsaerts’s remark that young people find no encouragement in a parish where “all the rest are 80”.
The record
What the sources show, statement by statement.
Verifiable factcan be checked against the sources cited.TradWatch analysisis our interpretation, clearly labelled.Statement 1 · Return to Tradition
Bishop Mutsaerts told Catholics to abandon their parishes and find a traditional Latin Mass.
Verifiable fact What the bishop said
Mutsaerts told LifeSiteNews: “If there’s a bad Novus Ordo Mass, you can’t improve those priests, I’m afraid. So just go anywhere else.” He added: “young people, they meet one another in the Vetus Ordo, the Novus Ordo, but (at) places where they find the sacred, where the liturgy is in order” (LifeSiteNews).
Source
- 2
Journalism
Bishop Mutsaerts: Go to Latin Mass instead of trying to fix your own parish
LifeSiteNews · October 6, 2026
- 2
Verifiable fact Catholics may worship beyond their parish
The Sunday obligation is met by assisting “at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite” (CIC can. 1248 §1), so the advice asks nothing the law forbids.
Source
- 3
Official Church source
CIC can. 1248 §1
Code of Canon Law, Book IV
Holy See (vatican.va)
- 3
TradWatch analysis Leave, yes; Latin Mass only, no
The title is right that the bishop advised leaving parishes with bad liturgy. But he named reverent Novus Ordo Masses alongside the traditional Mass, and his test was whether “the liturgy is in order”. Presenting the advice as “find a TLM” narrows what he said.
Source
- 2
Journalism
Bishop Mutsaerts: Go to Latin Mass instead of trying to fix your own parish
LifeSiteNews · October 6, 2026
- 2
Statement 2 · Anthony Stine, Return to Tradition
All the data show Novus Ordo parishes average about 20 years older than Latin Mass parishes.
Verifiable fact Researchers say the data are thin
Sociologists Stephen Cranney and Stephen Bullivant, whose survey of 446 Catholics at licit Latin Masses is the best-known study (CatholicVote), have pointed to a “clear lack of objective, systematically collected data” about these congregations. Another researcher, Richard Rymarz, notes that young adult Latin Mass Catholics have “not been the subject of much empirical research” (Angelus News / OSV News).
TradWatch analysis A common impression, not a measured gap
Many observers report that Latin Mass congregations skew younger, and Stine may well be right about the direction. But no published study measures a 20-year difference in average age, and the researchers themselves stress how little systematic data exist. “All the data” and “unequivocal” claim more than the evidence shows.
Source
Bottom line
Bishop Mutsaerts did advise Catholics to leave parishes where the liturgy is irreverent, which the law allows. But he named the Novus Ordo as well as the Latin Mass. And while many observe that Latin Mass congregations skew younger, no published data show a 20-year age gap.
The original
This content is embedded for purposes of commentary, criticism, and news reporting. TradWatch is not affiliated with Return to Tradition. Views quoted are those of the speaker.
Open on YouTubeSources
- 1.Primary sourceCited in statement 1
Bishop Tells Catholics To Abandon Parishes And Find A TLM
Return to Tradition (podcast) · October 10, 2026
podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anthony-stine/episodes/Bishop-Tells-Catholics-T…
- 3.Official Church sourceCited in statement 1
CIC can. 1248 §1 — Code of Canon Law, Book IV
Holy See (vatican.va)
vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann1244-1253_en.h…
- 5.
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