Diocese of Orange: older Mass but with newer Lectionary

In The California Catholic there is a fascinating piece.

My emphases and comments.

Published: July 20, 2007
“I wholeheartedly accede”

Tridentine Mass returning to St. Mary’s By the Sea in Huntington Beach, but Sunday readings will remain in the vernacular and from the “Novus Ordo”

The Tridentine Latin Mass will return to St. Mary’s by the Sea in Huntington Beach in accordance with Pope Benedict XVI’s July 7 Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum.

The parish’s former pastor, the deceased Father Daniel Johnson, said Mass according to the Missal of Pius V (the “Tridentine Mass”) from 1984 until his retirement in 2004. After Johnson’s retirement, Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod Brown ended the celebration of the old rite at St. Mary’s, though another priest had offered to say it.  [So, knowing there was an existing community, knowing a priest was willing, the Bishop terminated the use of the older Mass.]

Things have not been peaceful at St. Mary’s since Johnson’s retirement. His successor, Father Martin Tran, clashed with traditionalist parishioners over their custom of kneeling at parts of the Mass during which Bishop Brown had ordered the congregation to stand. [In apparent conflict with Redemptionis Sacramentum [90.] “The faithful should receive Communion kneeling or standing, as the Conference of Bishops will have determined”, with its acts having received the recognitio of the Apostolic See. “However, if they receive Communion standing, it is recommended that they give due reverence before the reception of the Sacrament, as set forth in the same norms”.]  In February 2006, Tran asked recalcitrant parishioners to leave the parish and the diocese.

But in the July 15 Sunday bulletin for St. Mary’s, Father Tran reported that Bishop Brown, in a July 10 memorandum he sent to the priests of the Diocese of Orange, welcomed “wholeheartedly” [Indeed.] the pope’s Motu Proprio. “I welcome the Holy Father’s call for unity within the Church and especially toward those who are attached to celebrating the Mass according to the Missal of 1962,” wrote Brown. “My abiding desire is for unity among all our Catholic faithful in our Diocese. That is why, in anticipation of the promulgation of this Motu Proprio, I took the initiative to inaugurate an additional Latin so-called ‘Tridentine’ Mass at the Pope John Paul II Center.”

The Tridentine Mass at the Pope John Paul II Polish Center in Yorba Linda, which began on the First Sunday of Lent, is said every Sunday at 7 a.m. One may hear the Tridentine Mass in the Orange diocese as well at the Serra Chapel of Mission San Juan Capistrano at 8 a.m. on Sundays.

In his letter to priests., Brown noted that it is “their prerogative to ‘willingly accede’” to the request of parishioners for the Tridentine Mass. In his bulletin announcement, Father Tran said, “as your Administrator/Pastor I wholeheartedly ‘accede.’” The Mass, he said, will be celebrated at noon on Sundays and will have readings from the “current Lectionary” – that is, the readings used in Sunday Masses according to the Missal of Paul VI, the so-called “Novus Ordo.”

By having readings according to the current lectionary, said Tran, quoting Brown’s memorandum, “‘the entire parish community, whether utilizing the forma ordinaria [the Missal of Paul VI] or the public forma extraordinaria [the Missal of Pius V] may be united in heart and mind around a single proclamation of God’s word.”  [I wonder, I just wonder, if the people desiring the older form of Mass will welcome this "in heart and mind"?  I suspect they won’t.   The guidelines issued by the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" stated that while thenew Lectinoary could be used, the sensibilities of the people should be taken into consideration.  It ought not be imposed on those who would find it troubling.  Given the history with Bp. Brown and Fr. Tran, I must wonder if this move isn’t a not so subtle punch to the eye of those who want the older Mass.]