What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Okay guys, "continuing education" should cover this.

Priest Training Latin Mass Workshops Announced

Bellevue, WA, Sept. 11, 2007 – The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, in collaboration with Una Voce America, in response to overwhelming popular demand is happy the announce two additional workshops for training priests in the "Extraordinary Form" of the Roman Rite, to be conducted at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary during the Fall Semester of 2007. The first workshop will take place from Friday, October 5^th through Tuesday, October 9^th. The second will take place from Friday, November 2^nd through Tuesday, November 6^th. Available placements are limited so priests are urged to contact the seminary at their earliest convenience. The cost for each of these five day workshops is $300.00. All the fundamentals involved in learning the Traditional Latin Mass will be covered. Priests will receive a complete explanation with hands-on practice of the rubrics of the 1962 Missale Romanum as well as an introduction to Latin, traditional liturgical principles, and Sung Mass. A comprehensive materials packet will be provided including translations of the rubrics, audio CD’s with the recited texts of Low Mass and Celebrant’s chant for Sung Mass, and a demonstration DVD with examples of both Low and Solemn Mass.

To receive more information or to make a reservation, interested priests should contact:

Fr. Goodwin at (402) 797-7700 or email: seminary@fsspolgs.org

or write to:  Attn: Mass Workshops, O.L.G. Seminary, P.O. Box 147, Denton, NE. 68339.

Una Voce Venezia in Italy is reporting that His Eminence Darío Card. Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will celebrated Holy Mass with the 1962 Missale Romanum followed by a solemn Te Deum on 14 September 2007 at 8 pm at the Basilica of Loreto.  It was organized by Una Voce and the Institute of Christ the King in thanksgiving for the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

Oh how quiet it is after the black night
When flames out of the clouds burned down your cariated teeth,
And when those lightnings,
Lancing the black boils of Harlem and the Bronx,
Spilled the remaining prisoners,
(The tens and twenties of the living)
Into the trees of Jersey,
To the green farms, to find their liberty.

How are they down, how have they fallen down
Those great strong towers of ice and steel,
And melted by what terror and what miracle?
What fires and lights tore down,
With the white anger of their sudden accusation,
Those towers of silver and of steel?

From Figures For An Apocalypse, VI – In the Ruins of New York (1947) by Thomas Merton

The Bishop of Springfield, IL, Most Reverend George Lucas, has issued a statement about the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.  There is an audio file too!

My emphases and comments.

 Two forms of Mass meant to enrich each other
Written by Bishop Lucas  
Friday, 07 September 2007

On July 7, Pope Benedict XVI published an apostolic letter by which he allows for the wider usage of liturgical or worship forms that were the norm in the Catholic Church in 1962. As middle-aged adults will remember, the form used for the celebration of Mass and the sacraments was changed around 1970, according to the broad outlines for reform of the sacred liturgy given in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. In the popular mind, the changes in the manner of our worship have come to be characterized by the position of the priest, who normally faces the congregation across the altar, and by the use of the vernacular, or common language of the people, in the liturgical prayers. In the years following the official reform of the sacred liturgy, it has been the hope of the pope and bishops that the new forms would encourage the full, conscious and active participation of everyone present at Mass and the celebration of the sacraments.  [But… the key is understand what full, conscious and active really mean.  Active participation must not be reduced either to outward physical action nor to merely intellectual comprehension.  At its core, participation starts with active receptivity.]

In recent years, the previous form of the Mass, often referred to as the "Tridentine Mass," could be used only with the permission of the diocesan bishop. Up to the time of the Second Vatican Council, this was the form of the Mass known to Catholics worldwide, and it has been a rich and long-standing part of our tradition. A number of Catholics who were familiar with this form of worship remained attached to it for good spiritual reasons. Others are drawn to it as a valid expression of their faith and desire for spiritual nourishment. The Holy Father now wishes to emphasize the value of this liturgical tradition and to make it more widely available to those Catholics for whom it is a genuine help to their growth in holiness.  [Good… it is not limited to those who couldn’t "make the change".]

The pope now grants permission for a priest who is in good standing to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass, according to the missal promulgated in 1962. The priest may celebrate this "extraordinary" form of the Mass privately, and he may allow members of the faithful to join him. Further, in parishes where a group of faithful are attached to the extraordinary form of the Mass, they may approach the pastor for a public celebration of this form. The pope instructs pastors to support these requests willingly. So, while the post-Vatican II form of the Mass that is familiar to us will remain the "ordinary" experience, there is also wider provision now for the "extraordinary" form to be celebrated. The pope’s clear desire is that these two forms will enrich each other,  [Good… the "gravitational pull" theme is here.] and that this richness will draw us all more deeply into communion with the true sacrifice that Jesus offers to the Father.  [This was a good concise paragraph that related the facts with almost no spin.]

I anticipate our proper implementation of these liturgical norms in this diocese, as we always attempt to do. There are a couple of practical challenges [Such as?] that we have to face in doing so. It is important that [1] priests be able to celebrate the extraordinary form of the liturgy with understanding and reverence, and that will require [2] training on the part of the priest. A number of our priests have indicated their desire for this training and it will be provided as soon as it can be arranged. There will then be priests in various parts of the diocese who would be able to meet requests for the extraordinary form.

Any such requests that are made point to a second challenge. [3] Our priests are faced with trying to meet pastoral needs that can be almost overwhelming on ordinary days. [A good point.] The celebration of Mass in particular requires the presence and the action of a priest. [News you can use!   Tell that to the Dutch Dominicans.] For good reasons, [4] canon law limits the number of times that a priest can celebrate Mass on weekdays and Sundays. I stand in admiration of the generous and creative ways that our priests find to respond to your pastoral needs and to your desire to come to Jesus Christ. They are asked to serve large congregations and to cover great distances. We are straining to meet the pastoral needs of our Spanish speaking neighbors. Legitimate requests for the extraordinary form of Mass (which would often mean the addition of a Mass) [5] will be considered with many other requests for pastoral service.  [While I agree with the practical aspect of this, it seems to me that this need not be built up to such an overwhelming picture.]

In all circumstances, the Holy Spirit provides what we need. [I like this!   This bishop knows how to get a lot said in a small space.  Very good!]  We seek to worship in spirit and in truth, in the communion of the church, as we make our pilgrimage to our heavenly Father’s house. Like the wise steward of the Gospel, we value what is ancient and what is new in our Catholic life. 

Kudos! 

The Bishop of Sioux Falls, SD, His Excellency Most Reverend Pal J. Swain, has issued norms for the diocese entrusted to his care.  They are preceeded by a somewhat theological preface.

My emphases and comments.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MOTU PROPRIO SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM

Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls
September 10, 2007
s

I.     Introduction

Unity is the visible sign of charity.  Consequently, we speak of the “bond of charity”.  The greatest expression of this “bond of charity” is the Most Holy Eucharist.  Through it, God, who is love, draws Man to Himself in a holy communion which, at the same time, unites Man to Man.  Because of this truth, we can understand more profoundly the heartfelt prayer of Jesus for unity on the night when He loved His own to the end (cf. Jn. 13.1; 18.21).   [Okay… this is a theological starting point.]
   
Reflecting upon the nature of charity and its revelation in the Most Holy Eucharist in his Encyclical Letter, Deus Caritas Est, and his Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritas, Pope Benedict XVI provided a context for his recent Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, which concerns the present-day use of the Roman Ritual [better would be "Roman Rite".  The Rituale Romanum is a book.  While Summorum Pontificum also addresses the use of the Rituale Romanum, because it too is a book for the Roman Rite, the MP is mostly about the use of the Missale Romanum.  The other main books of the Roman Rite were the Pontificale Romanum and the Martyrologium Romanum.] as it existed prior to the reform of 1970.  Through this Motu Proprio, His Holiness offers a profound insight into the unity of expression in the Roman Rite of the Sacrament of Charity [This is where he makes the theological move from charity and unity to outward expression of unity and charity in a liturgical express] and invites the Church to greater unity and to a greater appreciation of the treasury of prayer in all its forms. 

II.   Terminology  [While I don’t think this next section is really all that necessary, sure… why not try to get everyone on the same page with terminology.  Keep in mind that his choice is not the only possible choice.  But it’s not bad at all!]

As we reflect upon this call to unity by the Holy Father, it is important that we share a common terminology in referring to the two expressions of the one Roman Rite.  Some, including myself, have used the term, “Latin Mass”, to describe the celebration of Holy Mass before 1970, while referring to the Mass in the vernacular, in our diocese mostly in English and Spanish, as it was celebrated after 1970, as the “New Mass”.  In fact, both terms are imprecise, because, even after 1970, the “New Mass” can be and has been celebrated in Latin, which is the normative language of the Roman Church.  What is more, the term “New Mass”, derived from the title Novus Ordo, is in complete continuity with the prayer of the Church prior to 1970.

The Holy Father, in referring to the so-called “Latin Mass”, refers to the “Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and reissued by Bl. John XXIII in 1962” and, in reference to the so-called “New Mass”, the “Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI and reissued by John Paul II” and more briefly, as the “Roman Missal promulgated by Bl. John XXIII” and the “Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI”.  For our ease, I suggest that we refer to them as the Mass of Bl. John XXIII and the Mass of Pope Paul VI.   [So… in shorthand could we have "Johannine" and a "Pauline" Missals?] In this way, we can move beyond the sometimes pejorative interpretations of the terms, “Latin Mass” and “New Mass”, precisely because both of these pontiffs are revered for their pastoral sensitivity and fidelity to the faith and remind us of the unity of the Church around the Successor of St. Peter.

III.  Sacrament of Charity and Unity

Pope Benedict XVI offers the significant insight that, while there are two usages or forms of Holy Mass, there is only one Roman Rite (cf. Summorum Pontificum, Art. 1).  This corrects the sometimes divisive dichotomy which has often placed the two usages in opposition to one another.  For the good of the Church and for our salvation, we must assure that the Mass, the Church’s highest form of prayer and the Sacrament of the Charity and Unity, is not misused intentionally or unintentionally as a vehicle for arguments unworthy of the gift of our Lord of Himself in the Most Holy Eucharist. [This is why he started this whole thing with charity and unity.  You can see what he is trying to do.  He is trying to elevate the discussion about the different forms of Mass beyond personal preferences or perhaps also sharp and less than charitable language in the past.] We are called in charity to avoid labels which divide and recognize that throughout history there has been a “plurality of rites and usages”.

In the days immediately following the publication of the Motu Proprio, I received communications from some who expressed sorrow even anger at the “retrenchment” from the teachings of Vatican Council II.  I also received communication from some who interpreted the use of the term “extraordinary” to refer to the Mass of Bl. John XXIII as an official declaration that it was better than or more holy than the Mass of Pope Paul VI.  Neither, in my judgment, is an accurate reflection of the Holy Father’s teaching.  [I would like to know if there were people who expressed joy at the Motu Proprio without polemics.   Folks, take this to heart.  Bishop often get bitchy letters but not many happy letters.  I guess that’s normal.  However, after a while you can see why a bishop or priest might start to associate "bitchy" with, for example, the frustrated traditionalists who write with complaints.  In this case the people in favor of the older Mass who wrote to him took the opportunity to violate Rule #2.  I warmly suggest, urge, implore you to write kind letters of thanksgiving to bishops for positive things they do, as when, for example, he comes for a celebration of the older Mass even just to sit in choir dress.  Shift the paradigm.  Over time you can bring it to pass that you are the group of people who make the bishop smile rather than draw back a step.  I am glad this bishop include this point in his statement.]

On the contrary, because there is unity in the Roman Rite’s expression of the Sacrament of Charity, there is continuity between the pre and post-Vatican II expression of the Roman Rite.  What is more, both expressions are equally valid, one no more so than the other.  Thus, evaluations in terms of winners and losers are totally off the mark. [Rule #2] While any person may for a variety of reasons prefer one form over the other, rejection of either form is a rejection of the Rite itself.  Consequently, the Holy Father notes that the two forms “can be mutually enriching”.  [Yes… this is the "gravitational pull" dimension of the Motu Proprio.]

The Holy Father refers to this dichotomy in his explanatory letter to bishops where he notes that two concerns were raised prior to issuing this document.  The first concern was that the wider privilege of celebrating the Mass of Bl. John XXIII would detract from, even undercut, the reforms of Vatican Council II.  The second concern was that the wider privilege would lead to disarray, even division, in parish communities. 

Responding to these concerns, the Holy Father makes it clear that the Mass of Pope Paul VI, by reason of practicality, availability, and even preference, is the “ordinary”, or most common, form of the Roman Rite that will be prayed, while the Mass of Bl. John XXIII is the “extraordinary” form.  The two usages, therefore, need not be seen as being in competition with one another since they are mutual expressions of the one Rite, either prayed when appropriate.  This is a clear and instructive example of the principle of unity in diversity.

IV.  Proper Celebration 

The Holy Father and canon law charge bishops with the responsibility of assuring the proper celebration of the two forms of the Roman Rite.  Thus, bishops must ensure that priests are qualified to celebrate the Mass of Bl. John XXIII, i.e., they must be proficient in the Latin language and the rubrics of the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite.   Rev. Martin E. Lawrence, who has offered the Mass of Bl. John XXIII at St. Joseph Cathedral for the past several years, has graciously offered to teach priests of the Diocese how to offer this Mass with reverence and devotion.  It goes without saying that the Mass of Pope Paul VI is to be offered with similar reverence and devotion.   [Yes, Your Excellency, I really should go without saying.  However, I think these days we do need to say it over and over again.]


The implementation of the Motu Proprio provides each of us with the opportunity of “avoiding discord and favoring the unity of the Church.”  We must all “open our hearts” to the Sacrament of Charity which unites us in mind, in heart, and, sacramentally, in body with God and one another.  The Holy Father thus has encouraged all priests, including myself, to reflect upon Holy Mass and how well we pray it.  He has also invited the lay Faithful to consider their participation in and receptivity [YES YES YES!   Active participation is really active RECEPTIVITY!] to the love of God as it is received in the Most Holy Eucharist.  Both forms of the Roman Rite demand reverence and devotion by the priest and all the lay Faithful in a manner that is true to the approved norms and rubrics which are not ours to change.  [Excellent!]

V.   Decree  [Frankly,  I don’t think any of this following section is necessary…. but maybe I’m wrong.  He doesn’t really add much to the provisions of the MP.  With a couple exceptions….]

Therefore, effective September 14, 2007, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, in the Diocese of Sioux Falls:

1.    “It is, therefore permissible to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass following the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Bl. John XXIII in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the Church” (cf. Summorum Pontificum, Art. 1).

2.    “In Masses celebrated without the people, each Catholic priest of the Latin Rite, whether secular or regular, may use the Roman Missal published by Bl. John XXIII in 1962 or the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970, and may do so on any day with the exception of the Easter Triduum” (cf. Summorum Pontificum, Art. 2). No private Masses may be celebrated using either Form during the Easter Triduum.  Where there is a stable group of the Faithful (cf. No. 4 below) the liturgies of the Easter Triduum may be celebrated according to the Missal of Bl. John XXIII.

3.    “Celebrations of Mass as mentioned above may also be attended by faithful who, of their own free will, ask to be admitted” (cf. Summorum Pontificum, Art. 4).

4.    “In parishes where there is a stable group of the faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition, the pastor should willingly accept requests to celebrate the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962, and ensure that the welfare of these faithful harmonizes with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish, under the guidance of the bishops in accordance with canon 392 avoiding discord and favoring the unity of the whole church” (cf. Summorum Pontificum, Art. 5).  While we await further clarification on what is a “stable group of the faithful”, if a pastor or parochial vicar should be unqualified or disinclined to celebrate the extraordinary form, requests should be referred the Office of the Bishop where they will be reviewed individually.  [This is good.  It is, of course, a provision of the MP.  But the bishop is making it clear that if you contact his office, something will be done.  That is good!]

5.    “Celebration in accordance with the Missal of Bl. John XXIII may take place on working days; while on Sundays and feast days one such celebration may also be held” (cf. Summorum Pontificum, Art. 5).  Sufficient notice to the faithful should be provided.  [A good addition.]

6.    “For faithful and priests who request it, the pastor should also allow celebrations in this extraordinary form for special circumstances such as marriages, funerals or occasional celebrations, e.g. pilgrimages” (cf. Summorum Pontificum, Art. 5).

7.    “Priests who use the Missal of Bl. John XXIII must be qualified to do so and not juridically impeded” (cf. Summorum Pontificum, Art. 5).  No priest is obligated to become so qualified.  [Right, that is true.  On the other hand, he started with "bond of unity and charity".   Would not this suggest that a priest has a certain charge to respond to the requests made to him and actually learn the other way of saying Mass, the other expression of the Roman Rite for which he was ordained?  In the rite of ordination, the candidate is asked if it is his intention to say Mass for the people of God.  I think priests ought to know their rite for the sake of unity and charity.]

8.    The remaining provisions of the Motu Proprio are hereby included by reference.


[Back to his theological points.] The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the highest and most perfect prayer of the Church, because, as the Sacrament of Charity, it is the source and summit of our unity with God and with one another.  It should lead us, therefore, in humility to unity in Christ (cf. Gal. 3.28).  It is my sincere hope and desire that, through our implementation of this Motu Proprio of Pope Benedict XVI, we, in the Diocese of Sioux Falls, will witness a spirit of charity and thereby be an example of true unity in diversity for those in our midst.  We can rejoice in the richness of the tapestry of prayer which those who have gone before us have bequeathed to us under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

May Mary, the Mother of the Church and Our Mother, intercede for us that we all may be more fully one in Christ.

Give Praise to the Lord.

Given at the Catholic Pastoral Center, Sioux Falls, on September 10, 2007 by

 
The Most Reverend Paul J. Swain
Bishop of Sioux Falls

Witnessed by
 
Mr. Jerome Klein
Chancellor

Pretty good, wouldn’t you say?
 

The magazine Catholic World Report has an editorial by George Neumayr its editor on the older form of Mass.

My emphases and comments.

Summorum Pontificum

It marks a new era of liturgical seriousness.

The forces in the Church most responsible for dividing Catholics from magisterial teaching are the quickest to use the word “divisive” in any controversy. A “divisive moment” is the Catholic left’s euphemism for any papal action that seeks to unite Catholics to the actual teachings and traditions of the faith.  [Well said!]

So it goes with Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, which authorizes wider use of the traditional Latin Mass. “Any liberalization of the use of the Tridentine rite may prove seriously divisive,” British prelate Kieran Conry, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, said to the Telegraph shortly before the Motu Proprio’s release. “It might send out an unfortunate signal that Rome is no longer fully committed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council…”

No, what it signals is a welcome new era of liturgical seriousness [as in… it’s time for the adults to have their say…] and the beginning of the end to the demoralizing liturgical chaos and distortions of the last four decades. In Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict has not only revived a venerable liturgical tradition but supplied a catalyst to reform the new liturgy.  [Yes.  I think this is precisely what Pope Benedict wanted.  The older form of Mass will exert, has already started to exert, a gravitational pull on the way the newer form of Mass is celebrated.  similarly, the newer form, both our negative and positive experience of it, has exercised an influence on the way the older Mass is celebrated… for the better as well, in my opinion.]

By making the traditional Latin Mass and the new Mass two uses (extraordinary and ordinary) of “one and the same rite,” Pope Benedict is fostering a climate of healthy coexistence, perhaps one could even say healthy competition, in which false innovations may fall away and a sense of the sacred can be recovered.

In his letter to the bishops explaining Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict writes:

the two forms of the usage of the Roman Rite can be mutually enriching: new Saints and some of the new Prefaces can and should be inserted in the old Missal.  The Ecclesia Dei Commission, in contact with various bodies devoted to the usus antiquior, will study the practical possibilities in this regard. The celebration of the Mass according to the Missal of Paul VI will be able to demonstrate, more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality, which attracts many people to the former usage.

Far from ignoring the “needs of our time,” as he is often accused, Pope Benedict is responding to the most crucial one: the hunger for holiness, the simple desire for a transcendent, God-centered liturgy. Ordinary Catholics have asked for bread and been given stones, and the Holy Father is correcting the injustice:

Many people who clearly accepted the binding character of the Second Vatican Council, and were faithful to the Pope and the Bishops, nonetheless also desired to recover the form of the sacred liturgy that was dear to them. This occurred above all because in many places celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but the latter actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring creativity, which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear. I am speaking from experience, since I too lived through that period with all its hopes and its confusion. And I have seen how arbitrary deformations of the liturgy caused deep pain to individuals totally rooted in the faith of the Church.

Never too concerned about the trauma these arbitrary deformations caused in the faithful, the liturgical innovators now give voice to their own. “I can’t fight back the tears. This is the saddest moment in my life as a man, priest and bishop,” Luca Brandolini, a member of the liturgy commission of the Italian bishops’ conference, said to La Repubblica, reported Reuters. “It’s a day of mourning, not just for me but for the many people who worked for the Second Vatican Council. A reform for which many people worked, with great sacrifice and only inspired by the desire to renew the Church has now been cancelled.”

This reaction would only make sense if the Second Vatican Council had decreed a hostility to tradition. But it didn’t. All Summorum Pontificum cancels is the misapplication of Vatican II and mindless contempt for tradition, which resulted in a “fabricated liturgy,” as Pope Benedict has said previously. The Catholic left’s game of driving a wedge between Vatican II and previous councils—of treating Vatican II as in effect a mandate to start a new religion from scratch—now appears over. 

By shaking up a failing status quo, Pope Benedict has performed a great service for the Church. It is abundantly clear that postconciliar attempts to make the Mass “relevant”—which were often nothing more than a pretext to smuggle secularism into it—has rendered the liturgy increasingly irrelevant and catechetically destructive, as declining Mass attendance and gross ignorance of the faith confirm.

And he deserves great praise for having the courage to address an act of self-mutilation which treated a long and fruitful liturgical tradition as something “forbidden” or “harmful”—an act that appears all the more perverse in light of the fact that many of those who endorsed it were simultaneously using the new liturgy to advance bewildering innovations alien to the traditions of the Church.

Summorum Pontificum represents a central piece in the overall project of this pontificate: [Okay… I think this is one of the first people I have seen who have echoed clearly what I have been writting about for a long time: the MP is about more than liturgy.  It is part (a big one) of a much larger project, a kind of "Marchall Plan" for the Church in our age.] to arrest a culture of self-worship and restore God to the center of life. Many years hence, historians will likely see it as a critical turning point in the life of the Church—the moment the liturgy moved away from functioning like the invention of men and regained its splendor as the work of God.

George Neumayr is editor of Catholic World Report.

Well done! 

The Bishop of Stockholm, Sweden, Most Reverend Anders Arborelius O.C.D., is weighing in about the provisions of Summorum Pontificum.  The statement is very brief.

My emphases.

Translation

The Tridentine Mass

Following Summorum pontificum, the “motu proprio” that Pope Benedict XVI issued 7 July 2007 regarding the celebration of the Tridentine Mass in the form approved by Blessed John XXIII, I have been looking into ways of organizing the celebration of this form of Mass in our Diocese. With this “motu proprio”, the Holy Father wishes to strengthen unity in the Church and to confirm a rich liturgical and spiritual tradition which has to be preserved. In our Diocese, with all its different rites and languages used for celebrating Mass, there is already liturgical diversity, and there should therefore be no surprise at the Mass of Blessed John XXIII being celebrated more frequently in the future. I am very grateful that priests from the Institute of Christ the King have visited our Diocese regularly in order to celebrate this Mass. They have expressed their commitment to continuing doing so and also showed themselves willing to assist and instruct those diocesean priests interested in learning to say Mass in this form. My intention is thus to extend the celebration of this Mass in the three cities where it currently takes place: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö/Lund. As soon as schedules have been established, the details will be announced publically.

I would also like to thank the Association to the Memory of Cardinal Dante, for taking great care in fostering this liturgical tradition and Father Wilhelm Feussner, SJ, who for some time has been serving as contact person for the Diocese in this regard.

Stockholm 07.09.07                            + Anders Arborelius O.C.D.

 Nota Bene: The Institute of Christ the King is in Sweden helping out. 

I have this wry image of a race on the part of the FSSP and the ICK to the doors of different chanceries and episcopal residences, along the lines of, say, that old movie, Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, or, The Great Race.

You remember the dust up over the simply dreadful letter of Fr.  Peter J. Daly about the older form of Mass at first circulated by Catholic News Service and printed in many diocesan newspapers.   The paper of the Diocese of Youngstown, OH, The Catholic Exponent, is running some reponses.  Here is something rather interesting.

My emphases.

Friday, September 07, 2007

September 7 Letters

Tridentine Mass To the editor: I do not understand why the Exponent had to go to Frederick, Md. for an opinion on the Tridentine Mass. We have one of the largest parishes in the United States in the Youngstown area. I believe the opinion expressed was misleading and at best speculative. Our Sunday Masses are always nearly full with both young and old. The real reason people attend is reverence not shown in post-1962 liturgy services. William J. Merkel Queen of the Holy Rosary Vienna Father Daly’s column To the editor: I am writing in regard to the recent article in the Exponent [Aug. 24, 2007] by Father Peter J. Daly which expressed a very negative (and, I believe, completely uninformed) opinion of the Tridentine Latin Mass offered in his area. This article has upset a number of people in my parish who are devoted to the Latin Mass and are faithful supporters of the works of the Youngstown Diocese. Father Daly’s sour view of the Latin Mass certainly does not reflect my experience as a priest who has celebrated this Liturgy daily for the past 10 years, nor does the scene he describes bear any resemblance to any of the Latin Mass communities that I have had the privilege to serve. The article contains too many misrepresentations to correct in one letter, but let me address a few. Father Daly states that the Sunday Latin Mass only attracts about 30 “elderly” people who only like it because it is “short.” At our parish, Queen of the Holy Rosary in Vienna (where the traditional Latin Liturgy is used exclusively), we get about 30 people at our daily Mass; the three Sunday Masses total almost 300 in attendance. The Latin Mass takes at least as long as the new Mass, often longer. Many of our people drive an hour or more to attend; “convenience” is hardly an issue for them. As far as age is concerned, we do have many elderly people (have you ever seen a parish that didn’t have old folks?), but also many young people and large families. Last year we had five funerals and 19 baptisms, so clearly we are in no immediate danger of “dying off.” According to Internet sources, the loudest outcry against Father Daly’s article is coming from the very parish that he describes in such negative terms, St. Francis de Sales Church in Washington, D.C. The pastor of that church, Father Vitturino, says that the article completely misrepresents his parish and his own attitude toward the Tridentine Mass and he is demanding that Father Daly print a full retraction. I also understand that the Catholic News Service (CNS) wire service has withdrawn the article from publication, although I can’t confirm this. In light of this, I would hope that the Exponent could find a way to address the negative impression this article gives. The Youngstown Diocese has led the way in facilitating access to the Tridentine Liturgy for those who are devoted to it, and the people of Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish have reciprocated by being an active part of the diocese (including the Bishops’ Appeals and Capital Campaign). You don’t have to go to the wire services to get second-hand information about Tridentine Mass parishes; you have a very fine one in your own backyard. If I can be of any assistance in presenting a more accurate picture of the matter, please let me know. Father Joseph R. Valentine, FSSP Pastor Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish Vienna EDITOR’S NOTE: We thank Father Valentine and Mr. Merkel for their letters. The purpose of running the column was to present one pastor’s view of the Tridentine Mass, on a page clearly labeled “Commentary,” so that others in favor of that Mass could express opinions about and respond to it. We know from the letters and comments we have received through the years that many Catholics like the Tridentine Mass and many others do not. The Exponent is well aware that Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish has a strong faith community and supports diocesan activities. We apologize to anyone there or in the diocese at large who may have thought we ran Father Daly’s column as a deliberate slam against the Tridentine Mass. We should also note that we discovered, after publication, that Father Daly and CNS had asked that the column not be run.