I got this note from California Daily Daily. It sounds like good news!
My emphases and comments.
“The use of the Latin language is to be preserved” [Well.. after all, …. that’s … that’s… only Vatican II saying that!]Will Benedict XVI’s motu proprio result in more Tridentine Masses in California? [So… they didn’t see the WDTPRS poll.]
Will celebrations of the Tridentine Latin Mass multiply – even in California? Under John Paul II’s indult, the number of Latin Masses in the state was few and far between. But will things change under Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio liberalizing permission for celebrating the old Latin rite?
The Oct. 13 Riverside Press Enterprise reported that Fr. Steve Porter of St. Catherine of Siena church in Rialto (San Bernardino diocese) seems willing to offer the Mass on a regular basis. On Sept. 14 – the date the motu proprio went into effect — Porter offered a Tridentine Latin Mass at his parish, attended by 100 people.
After the Mass, Porter received e-mails asking that he say the Mass more often. He is consulting with St. Catherine’s liturgy committee about the possibility of celebrating the Mass on major feast days, beginning with All Saints, Nov. 1.
The Tridentine Mass continues at San Secondo D’Asti church in Guasti, every Sunday at 10.30 a.m. The celebration, begun under the indult, is the only weekly celebration of the traditional Latin Mass in the San Bernardino diocese.
San Bernardino diocesan spokesman Fr. Howard Lincoln told the Press Enterprise that there is little demand for the traditional Mass. [The Party Line.] Bishop Gerald Barnes, said Lincoln, will allow the Tridentine Mass as long as the priest can pronounce the Latin prayers and knows their meaning – something, said Lincoln, the Holy See requires. [The Holy See requires that the priest be minimally qualified. It doesn’t say that you have be be expert in Latin. Card. Egan, a distinguished canonist, explained that the priest must be able to pronounce the words properly.]
In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, St. Therese of Liseaux in Alhambra, staffed by Discalced Carmelite fathers, will offer the Tridentine Mass on the third and fourth Sundays of each month at 1 p.m. The offering of the Mass, says the parish’s web site, is “in response to the gracious invitation from His Holiness.”
The Diocese of Orange has two weekly Latin Mass locations – at Mission San Juan Capistrano and the Pope John Paul II Center in Yorba Linda. St. Mary’s by the Sea in Huntington Beach was to inaugurate a celebration of the Tridentine Mass in September – but it has been delayed.
But the Orange diocese might soon have a third Tridentine Mass – at St. John the Baptist in Costa Mesa, a parish staffed by the Norbertine fathers from St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado. In an Oct. 4 posting on his blog site, the parish’s pastor, Fr. Hildebrand Garceau, said he met with the Pastoral Council about interest shown by parishioners in the Tridentine Mass. The council “advised that I should have a meeting with all those interested to explain clearly what the traditional Mass is and how it compares with the newer form,” wrote Fr. Hildebrand. The “explanatory meeting” is set for Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.
“It will be necessary to have a large and stable group of parishioners [There’s that nad translation, "stable group". There is NO indication from the Holy See that the group has to be "large".] who are committed to attending this Mass weekly for us to dedicate a time on Sunday,” said Fr. Hildebrand. The Norbertines have said the Tridentine Mass at other locations in Southern California.
Fr. Hildebrand’s blog features “Latin Mass FAQs,” explaining the old rite in comparison with the new. Vatican II did not forbid the Latin Mass, writes Hildebrand. “The Council, in its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, said: ‘The use of the Latin language is to be preserved.’ The Council merely gave permission for the limited introduction of the vernacular (or local language) into certain parts of the Mass when celebrated in public.” [Right!]
Things seem to be looking up!
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He is consulting with St. Catherine’s liturgy committee …
Has anyone ever heard of a traditional Latin Mass community or parish that needed to even have a “liturgy committee”? If the liturgy is given to and offered for — rather than created by — the community, what might there be for a “liturgy committee” to do?
St. Peter Chanel in Hawaiian Gardens has a weekly Tridentine Mass on Sundays at1:30pm. Last Sunday was the first Mass and it was attended by over 250 people. St Peter & Paul in Wilmington also has a weekly Sunday Mass at 6:30am. Both of these parishes are in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
This “stabiliter”/”continenter” co-existance is starting to look for all the world like a de-facto “get-out clause” for containment-minded bishops. Now don’t get all defensive, I’m not saying that it is…although if it celebrates like a duck, functions liturgically like a duck, has the cause-and-effect relationship of a duck…well…it MIGHT be a duck, and a lame one at that. I’m just saying…we need clarity, not more ambiguity, the like of which has brought Christ’s church to its knees during the past forty years. Which is it to be? The delay in declaring the answer is making the Vatican look quite bad.
We still have no Mass in the older form of the Roman Rite here in the San Francisco archdiocese, though I am in the early stages of marshaling interest and making a request.
I’m originally from Orange County, CA and are familiar with St. John the Baptist Church in Costa Mesa. The young Norbertine priests are wonderful, and recently renovated the minimalist 70s style interior into something truely beautiful and more traditional. Also, Tony, it’s great to hear about St. Peter Chanel. I was married there 14 years ago, and there used to be a really great and solid pastor (Fr. Larry). I hope he is doing well.
I can confirm that Fr. Porter will be celebrating the TLM on Holy Days. My son is one of those training with him. The times are mostly 7 a.m., but regardless of the hour it will be joyous to have a high Mass on the Holy Days especially Christmas.
By the way, there are strange signs and wonders in this rather ordinary diocese. Rumor as it that incense, Latin, and even Gregorian chant have made an appearance in the diocesan formation house.
Here’s a post from “A Faithful Rebel” about daily Traditional Latin Masses at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California: http://faithfulrebel.blogspot.com/2007/09/thomas-aquinas-college-to-offer-daily.html.
The pope reminded them that “it is necessary that, beside the tomb of Peter, there be a stable community of prayer to guarantee continuity with tradition.”
Above quote from Magister’s article posted elsewhere on this blog.
The word “stable” shows up again.
Has anyone ever heard of a traditional Latin Mass community or parish that needed to even have a “liturgy committee”? If the liturgy is given to and offered for—rather than created by—the community, what might there be for a “liturgy committee” to do?
But to date it is not so given and offered. So, such a committee could:
1. Sign up the interested and form a data base with a coordinator to pass on information, and thus get numbers
2. Approach pastors as a group
3. set up a non-profit fund for expenses
4. line up servers
5. help get Missals or Missalettes with Propers inserted
6. etc. etc.
“The Liturgy Committee,” a California non-profit 501(c)3 entity. That would be hilarious, and quite appropriate. As there are some 15,000,000+ souls in southern California alone, 3 or 4 heroic parishes making the effort is great, but merely a drop of what’s needed in the bucket. Odd that the Diocese of Orange has as many or more traditional Masses than any other diocese in California. San Diego, San Bernardino, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, San Jose, & Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles pray for us, Santo Sacramento & El Rey, have mercy on us and Oakland, Stockton, Fresno, and Orange.
Sid,
I’m afraid all your suggestions for a liturgy would entail actual work. But existing parish liturgy members don’t do work. Instead, they plan new liturgical innovations and make the BIG decisions. Only their mouths work.
Seriously, though, it’s really quite surprising how much time-consuming work along the lines you suggest — and more, including acquisition of vestments and altar items, the whole sacred music business — laymen must do to adequately support a TLM. In the old days we never worried about any of this, thought it “just got done” without any noticeable effort (probably by the sisters).
Should be “liturgy committee” instead of “liturgy” in each of the first two sentences of the preceding post.
They need to be offering this Mass at 9:00am or 10:00 am not 1:00pm or 2:00pm. Most people prefer not to go to Mass in the afternoon.