Chicago: Card. George gives his positive support of the St. John Cantius TLM workshops for seminarians

Francis Card. George, Archbishop of Chicago, has set a letter to priests and seminarians of that Archdiocese concerning a TLM training conference to be held at St. John Cantius parish.

For information click here.

I was sent only an image, not a transcription.  (Folks, if you are asking for help or sending information, transcriptions really make a difference.)

Here are the highlights.

• Card. George thanks the people at St. John Cantius for offered services.
• He states that to serve the needs of those who want the TLM, "ample and ongoing catechesis in this form of the Mass must be available."
• The only way to provide that catechesis is if priests are prepared to give it.
• Thus, he has asked the Canons at St. John Cantinus to help prepare priests and seminarians.
• At the end he expresses good wishes and prayers for the St. John workshops.

If you recall, lately the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei respsonded to a dubium about whether seminarians had the right to be trained for the TLM.  The Commission that seminarians do have that right and that seminaries have the obligation to provide for the training.

UPDATE: 4 March 08 – 15:48 GMT

The good guys as Sancta Missa sent me a transcription:

Dear Priests and Seminarians:

I am happy to greet you as you gather at the Cardinal Stritch Retreat House in Mundelein to participate in the Training Conference in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass that is being offered by the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. I am grateful to you for taking the time from your busy schedules to attend this workshop, and to the priests and brothers of the Society of St. John Cantius whose love for and familiarity with this form of the Mass makes this program possible here in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

In the letter he wrote to the Bishops prior to the promulgation of the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum," Pope Benedict XVI stated that "what earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too." Charged with proclaiming Christ’s universal call to holiness, the Church wishes to foster a love for the sacred whenever her people gather to worship God as he wants to be worshiped. In order to better serve Catholics who wish to worship according to the Forma extraordinaria, ample and ongoing catechesis in the form of the Mass must be available. This can only be achieved if, first of all, priests and seminarians are prepared to serve this need. I have therefore asked the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, whose charism is the "Restoration of the Sacred," to assist the Archdiocese by providing training fro priests and seminarians in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite according to the liturgical books of 1962, and by offering catechesis to the faithful in this form of the sacred liturgy. The celebration of the Roman Rite according to the Extraordinary Form is a rich treasury of grace for the Church, and it is of great importance to form our clergy and seminarians in the proper celebration of this venerable rite so that they might serve the pastoral needs of the Church today.

You will be in my prayers throughout this workshop as you spend time in the prayer, study and practice that are necessary to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass with reverence and beauty. I entrust this sacred work to the protection of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, who exhorts us, in perfect Christian trust and love, to "do whatever he tells you."

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Francis Cardinal George, OMI

Archbishop of Chicago

For information click here.