Letter to Francis Cardinal Leo from a young male Catholic in Toronto. Name and parish withheld upon request.
His Eminence, Frank Cardinal Leo, Archbishop of Toronto
Office of the Archbishop, Archdiocese of Toronto
Catholic Pastoral Centre
1155 Yonge St.
Toronto, ON M4T 1W2
Mississauga, ON A1A 1A1
September 17, 2026
Dear Eminence,
Greetings, Your Eminence, from this poor sheep. I come to you with great love and respect, as a child approaching his father to discuss important matters.
It has recently come to my attention, as a resident of the Archdiocese who is attached to the usus antiquor, that You will be implementing Traditionis Custodes as of September 20th, 2026. Over nine years, I have happily attended Mass following the usus antiquor at Carmel Heights, Holy Family, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. Lawrence the Martyr. Thus, it was with deep dismay and concern that I received the news, and it is with the same dismay and concern I write this letter.
Much of this concern and dismay stems from how cruel this action is, and how it contradicts Your presentation as a kind, compassionate, and receptive shepherd. Upon Your installation in March 2023, I reflected with happiness on Your devotion to the Blessed Virgin. You seemed to embody those traits common to Her and Our Lord Jesus Christ: generosity, magnanimity, and an encompassing concern for Your flock. Such qualities are embodied particularly well in your pastoral messages. One example I regularly ponder is found in Your Message for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. There, you write, “Can money, comfortable lifestyle, convenience, material wealth, power, expedient use of resources truly constitutes the “be all and end all” of human existence, the summum bonum for which we must strive? […] Redemptive suffering is regrettably not being preached or taught as it should.” You go on to highlight how requesting MAiD in this mindset is a “sin against God’s love.” Reading this, I was pleased to consider You my bishop. As commissioned by Our Lord Jesus, You were making disciples of all nations and spreading the Gospel. Your words were at once generous, challenged me to offer the pains of life with great love, and displayed an awareness of what we in the pews face on a regular basis. It was gratifying to see, and I noted with pleasure Your demonstrated commitment to visit those smaller, less well-regarded parishes in the Archdiocese. Simply, Your Eminence, Your actions gave further weight to Your words.
Compounding my happiness at Your commitment to the Gospel was how it has trickled down to my local parish. Before Your installation, Your Eminence, (NAME WITHELD) parish in Mississauga was rather reserved in its practice of the Faith. Today, the Holy Ghost is easily discerned there. An Adoration chapel has been installed which sees regular use. The sanctuary has been enriched with a sobering crucifix, flanked by wonderful statues of St. Joseph and Mary. In the rotunda, proper alcoves have been furnished for Our Lady of Mount Carmel and our patronal saint. Last week, our nave doors were replaced and now depict several Carmelite saints. Every Sunday, the priests offer Mass without fuss, and remind us in their sermons of sin, mercy, justice, the importance of living out of the Gospel, and much more. As a consequence, mindful of their – and Your Eminence’s – practice of generosity, I have begun putting money in the collection plate. As you have noted, money is not the “be all and end all” of my life. The parish is livelier, with more community events than in decades prior. It gives me hope for the future.
Given such evidence, Your Eminence, I am confused by Your decision to implement Traditionis Custodes to the letter. It goes against everything I have noticed in You. It was enacted without warning. No announcement has been made on the Archdiocesan website. I am unaware of any lay consultation. I had to find out through friends, to my great distress. Where was the kindness? Where was the compassion? Where was the awareness of the trials of life? Since Traditionis Custodes was introduced in 2021, I have witnessed a gradual witling down of the usus antiquor’s offerings here in the Archdiocese. The effects of this have been incalculable. To give just one example, people have been going to other dioceses to hear the Mass of the Ages on Sundays. This is not how it should be. As residents of the Archdiocese of Toronto, we should be able to remain close to home to hear Mass. Pushing us to travel long distances on a Sunday to hear the Mass of my grandparents, at the expense of building the domestic church, is an aberration. It defies history, sense, and charity. To his credit, Your predecessor, His Eminence Emeritus Thomas Cardinal Collins, recognized this, and allowed yours truly to attend the usus antiquor any Sunday I wish. Contrariwise, Your decision to severely restrict the offering of the usus antiquor to certain Sundays, instead of every Sunday, is regrettable.
My confusion is multiplied by the fact Your Eminence has not deemed it necessary to ensure the novus ordo Missae is offered well, with decorum, reverence, and precision. While St. PARISH WITHELD offers acceptable Masses, it could be better. Music is often lacking finesse; I have heard guitars on more than one occasion. When laypeople handle the sacred vessels before and after Mass, they do not wear gloves. Against the late Pope Benedict XVI’s injunction, applause is heard during Mass. These and other actions cause me distress. I have left Mass with tears in my eyes at how Our Lord is treated with such ingratitude and disrespect, heaping, of course, the heaviest charge on myself. That You have not issued a pastoral notice addressing such disregard for His Majesty and His Mother at the Mass most people know, but instead focus on the one attended by a mere one thousand souls, is bewildering. Loathe as I am to say so, conscious of addressing Your Eminence, Your decision to implement Traditionis Custodes is cruel. It betrays the Gospel. I pray and hope it was a hastily considered one, and that it will be swiftly revoked, if not for my sake, but for those of my fellow Christians.
Until then, I will be withholding my donations. This is done without malice. I still consider myself Your sheep until such time as I am not. In addition to revoking Your implementation of Traditionis Custodes, following Canon 212, I respectfully ask Your Eminence to: (a) allow the usus antiquor to be freely offered throughout the whole Archdiocese, every Sunday; (b) permit the other six sacraments to be freely offered in the usus antiquor; and (c) enforce the novus ordo Missae to be consistently offered with decorum, reverence, and precision, as mandated by the Second Vatican Council. Doing so will shower the Archdiocese with untold graces and restore Your reputation as a kind and compassionate bishop.
In closing, Your Eminence, it pains me to write this letter in such a direct manner, but I have a duty to You as my father to approach you with my worries, my troubles, and my concerns about Your management of the Archdiocese. Again, it is my hope and prayer that Your decision to implement Traditionis Custodes was hastily considered, and that it will be swiftly retracted. May the Blessed Virgin, whom we dearly love, spread Her Mantle over You and shower You with the many graces You need as Cardinal.
Kissing the Purple,
I remain,
In the Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
Your sheep,
