6.15. My parish is conservative and friendly, and I just want to grow spiritually. Why should I care about Vatican II or Church politics?

It’s easy to feel disconnected from what happens in Rome — but Catholicism is not a private spirituality. It is a visible, hierarchical religion, built on truth, unity, and sacramental grace. What happens at the top absolutely affects the entire Church, even if we don't see it immediately.

Here’s why it matters:

1. Your priest must name the pope in the Canon of the Mass. If the man he names (e.g., Leo XIV) is a public heretic, then the Mass is offered in communion with error, making it objectively invalid.

2. Most modern priests were ordained using the 1968 rite of ordination, which removed essential elements required for valid priesthood. If the ordination is invalid, then:

   • There is no valid consecration at Mass,

   • No forgiveness of sins in confession,

   • And no grace conferred in any sacrament.

3. Your “conservative” parish still accepts Vatican II, even if it doesn’t talk about it. That council introduced heresies condemned by previous popes, including religious liberty, false ecumenism, and collegiality. These errors are baked into the modern structure.

So even if your local experience feels “Catholic,” it is tied into a false church, with invalid sacraments and a rejection of Tradition. That’s not a safe place to grow in faith. Fidelity to Christ means not just being sincere — but being in the Church He founded, not its counterfeit.