PCED’s Card. Castrillon Hoyos: celebrate TLM in parishes even when it isn’t requested

An alert WDTPRSer, our friend Henry, caught an interesting comment in an article from CNA on the new DVD being made by the FSSP – which I haven’t seen yet and therefore reserve comment about.

Let’s take a look the comments of Card. Castrillon Hoyos.  The issue of the DVD, while interesting, is just a side item compared to the meat of the Cardinal’s comments:

FSSP to distribute free copies of new Latin Mass DVD

.- The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), in cooperation with EWTN, will soon release an instructional video on the 1962 Latin Mass.   A free copy will be available to any priest or seminarian who reserves the video on its web site.

The video includes over three hours of footage on two DVD discs, giving a step-by-step explanation and demonstration of the Low Mass in the Extraordinary Form.  The production includes multiple appendices with instructions on the general principles of gesture and movement, as well as commonly encountered variations in the elements of the Mass.

Also featured is a real-time demonstration of the Mass, which is viewable from multiple camera angles on demand.  A spiritual commentary on the Mass, as well as an explanation from an FSSP priest on the liturgical principles of the Extraordinary Form are also included.

Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Ecclesia Dei Commission, provides an introduction for the DVD. The Ecclesia Dei Commission is tasked with the implementation of Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio on the 1962 Latin Mass.

In the cardinal’s introduction, he explains that Pope Benedict XVI hoped to foster a “spiritual and theological richness” by promoting wider use [NB: This says "promoting", not just permitting.] of the Mass of St. Pius V through the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. 

The cardinal also emphasized that this Mass was a universal gift.

“All this liturgical richness, all this spiritual richness, and all the prayers so well-preserved during the centuries, all of this is offered by the Rome of today for all.   As a gift for all, it is not a gift merely for the so-called traditionalists.  No, it is a gift for the whole Catholic Church,” Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos said. 

The “sacred silence” and contemplation of the ancient rite, the cardinal said, “makes present the Lord Jesus in an expression of rich liturgical beauty, as the conqueror of death and sin… this rite brought unity to the faith and became the single expression through which the Church adores God.”

The cardinal said that parishes and priests should make available the Extraordinary Form so that “everyone may have access to this treasure of the ancient liturgy of the Church.” He also stressed that, “even if it is not specifically asked for, or requested” it should be provided. [!  Did you get that?  Even if it is not requested?] Interestingly, he added that the Pope wants this Mass to become normal in parishes, so that “young communities can also become familiar with this rite.”  [So… CNA says that Card. Castrillion, Pres. of the PCED says that the POPE wants the TLM as a normal part of parish life.]

The DVD has also been reviewed by Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli, Chairman of the Committee for Divine Worship of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

So, according to Card. Castrillion Hoyos, the Holy Father desires that the TLM be a normal part of parish life.  He also says that priests should offer it in their parishes even if there is no specific request for it. 

This is really huge.

Some people have contended that priests may not celebrate a public TLM in their parish unless they have first received a petition from a "stable group" (though that not a good translation of what Summorum Pontificum has in the Latin).   Then some bishops, contra legem, have treid to limit the public celebrations of TLM’s even more by trying to impose a minimum number of people in such a "stable group".

Now we are getting the sense that priests should simply start using the 1962 Missale Romanum in their parishes so that people can get to know it and benefit from this gift.

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29 Comments

  1. Patrick says:

    It is very clear that the Holy Father wants parishes like St. John Cantius in Chicago (and others) to be the model. I hope the next step is to require that all seminarians (and maybe even priests) be able to say both forms and not restrict themselves exclusively to one only.

  2. Zach says:

    I wonder if this might be a preview of the clarification letter that is supposed to come out??!!

  3. Father Bartoloma says:

    Magnificent!

  4. Ben says:

    Dear Father Z,

    I was wondering how this might apply to Sacraments other than the Mass. For example, if the parochial vicar is asked by a couple to celebrate a “private” (i.e., not during Mass) Baptism in the EF, would this require the Pastor’s permission (cf. SP, art. 9)? What about Holy Matrimony, Penance, etc.?

    Thanks for your well-formed commentary.

    In Christ,
    Ben

  5. EDG says:

    This is definitely huge. I am assuming that Castrillon Hoyos basically speaks with the Pope’s approval, so this may indicate that the BXVI is moving to phase 2. The Pope has always struck me as the type of “boss” who first offers people a chance to cooperate and do what he wants graciously and, if not with enthusiasm, at least obediently; and then moves to the next stage, which is that of taking away any excuse for not cooperating (if true, this approach gets around the entire “request from a stable group” thing altogether; and finally to phase 3, which is mandating.

    He’s given phase 1 exactly the time it needs. Bishops have declared themselves, many of them negatively, but there has been time for those who were initially negative to think it over and come around, and actually, a lot of them have come around and some of the initially grudging ones are now getting ready to offer the TLM themselves, at least as a one-time event. Others – including some who are not necessarily bad bishops and genuinely don’t wish to be rebellious – have refused to open the process to the priests, to whom it was entrusted, with the result that the bishops themselves are now being addressed directly. But as always, they are being given the chance to do the right thing, graciously and without any blame or recrimination.

  6. I wonder…do (arch)bishops who have put out “guidelines” for priests wishing to use the extraordinary form also have guidelines about pro-abortion politicians receiving Holy Communion?

  7. Ben: Summorum Pontificum says that pastors can choose to use the older Rituale Romanum.  It doesn’t explicitly say all priests.  I think the prudent path right now is for an assistant to obtain explicit permisison of the pastor to use the older Rituale, if he cannot reasonably presume to have it.  I am hoping that the clarficiations coming from the Holy Father will help  in this matter. 

  8. Quietus says:

    Since the publication of Summorum Pontificum, I have kept Card. Castrillon in mind while praying the Rosary. I think it is time for all of us to do the same, since he certainly needs all support we can give him against, well, you know… Just great news after what I heard about the First Communion Masses at my parish this morning!

  9. Viator: Very good question. Very good.

  10. prof. basto says:

    His Eminence Cardinal Eusébio Oscar Scheid, SCI, Metropolitan Arcbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro does not want TLMs in this city, even if people like myself ask for it, and many priests are afraid of offering it, even after Summorum Pontificum, for they don’t want to incurr the wrath of the famously ill-tempered Ordinary.

    J’accuse!

    The result is that, in the seventh most populous metropolitan area in the whole wide world, you have just one TLM, offered in a very dangerous place, miles away from the neighbourhoods where the middle class lives. It’s easier to travel to the neighbouring city of Niteroi and attend TLM at the city’s cathedral than to attend a TLM in Rio, the second largest particular Church in the country. So I hope that Cardinal Castrillón’s message effect some miraculous change in the mind of my most eminent Ordinary, Cardinal Scheid.

  11. Rose in NE says:

    You can view the cardinal’s introduction at http://www.fsspdvd.com/

  12. William Radovich says:

    Dear Father Z:

    This is great news from Cardinal Hoyos !
    It seems that PCED wants to give everyone
    a chance to participate in the TLM. The
    Holy Father didn’t call this form of the
    Latin Rite “extraordinary” for nothing. With
    a little catechesis and instruction most
    Catholics will continue to be enhanced by
    ‘lex orandi, lex credendi” SAVE THE LITURGY,
    SAVE THE WORLD.

  13. Andrew says:

    Great news indeed.

    This is how I perceived SP when I first read it. It only makes sense when understood in this way. And this is the fastest, simplest, most effective way to neutralize all opposition to it. I envision the future of Catholicism as having the extraordinary form celebrated regularly at least in large metropolitan areas everywhere. This thing about letting a given group of devotees have it if they ask for it has to do with a minimum requirement, not with a maximum (mea quidem sententia).

  14. Peter Karl T. Perkins says:

    Now come on, Fr. Zuhsdorf, it’s time to admit that I was right about my interpretation of Section 1 of Article 5. It should not be hard to admit this, since, from what I have seen, you have been arguing the same thing on this blog, although much less stridently and repeatedly.

    I say again what I have been saying consistently: Section 1 of Article 5 is NOT restrictive. It never says that a priest may celebrate the old Mass publicly ONLY if a group requests this. It merely says that, if a group does request it, the parish priest should receive their petition willingly.

    Nowhere does this section say that the priest may proceed ONLY if a group lodges a request for this. As Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos has said publicly in the recent past, given Article 1 (not Article 5) and the parish priest’s celebret from his Bishop to say Mass publicly in the parish, he can publicly say the old Mass publicly in his parish ENTIRELY ON HIS OWN INITIATIVE. This is exactly what happened in my Diocese: a parish priest proceeded to celebrate public parish Masses of 1962 on his own authority, without seeking any permission from anyone and without having been requested to do so by anyone.

    Section 1 establishes a general right of all priests to celebrate the old Mass. Thanks to Canon 837.1, all Masses are really public Masses by definition. The right to celebrate a scheduled parish Mass comes from the general celebret from the Bishop. It is the parish priest who has the right to schedule Masses and other liturgical events in his parish. This means that parish priests can celebrate scheduled parish Masses in the 1962 Rite, and that they can invite other available priests to do so on their behalf. They needn’t seek the permission of the bishop OR EVEN INFORM him that they are doing so.

    The Bishop can intervene if the celebrant is not qualified to celebrate such Masses, or their celebration unduly impedes access of the faithful to the normative Mass, which is the New Mass. We still don’t know exactly what it means to be ‘qualified’ but we do know that Canon 928 accords Latin priests the right to celebrate either Rite of Mass in the lingua sacra of his individual church, and that’s not English, chaps.

    P.K.T.P.

  15. Peter Karl T. Perkins says:

    On Ben’s question:

    A Baptism would normally have to be conferred in a sacred place which has a font, regardless of whether the N.O. or the T.L.M. Rite is used. Most sacred places are under the immediate jurisdiction of a parish priest. Sometimes, the rector of a non-parochial church may have permission to confer Baptisms. I once examined a MS from Mediæval England which was a report of a riot in which a parish priest, accompanied by a mob, tried to prevent a rector from installing a Baptism. Two mobs clashed and there were a good number of broken noses over it. Imagine how fun it would be if we could attack liberals like that!

    S.P. recognises (not confers) a right of ALL priests to celebrate the old Mass privately (not regularly scheduled). If they are to be regularly scheduled, the jurisdiction is that of the parish priest.

    In the American version of the 1983 Code, parish priests are referred to as ‘pastors’. The rest of us have the better term ‘parish priest’ in our official translation of the Code. Thank God we in Canada are not stuck with the U.S. version and its ugly spellings and silly terms. The term ‘pastor’ is really not correct. There is a sense in which a parish priest is a pastor, but, traditionally, ‘pastor’ is a broader category of priests, one which includes chaplains, for example. I would like to see us return to the best term, used in Chaucer, ‘parson’. For historical reasons, that’s no longer possible.

    P.K.T.P.

  16. This is good news indeed!

    Over the last couple years, I’ve been surprised how big of a trend-setter that popes are. When the Holy Father starts doing something, the Parish fathers don’t seem far behind. So when will His Holiness start publicly offering the Extraordinary Form for all of EWTN and the world to see?

    Soon, I pray. That will really get the ball moving.

  17. Great News, I’m going to bring this message to a priest at my old Church and see what I can do.

  18. michigancatholic says:

    This man has worked for the mass behind the scenes for years, under much duress. May God bless Cdl Castrillon Hoyos.

  19. Louis E. says:

    Cardinal Scheid of Rio passed age 75 last year.What is the attitude of younger Brazilian archbishops (Tosi Marques of Fortaleza.Oliveira de Azevedo of Belo Horizonte,etc?)

  20. Limbo says:

    Yahoo !!! But how long will this message take to filter it’s way down to my mouldy modern diocese with not one priest desiring to say the Extraordinary form.

  21. Chironomo says:

    EDG…

    I have thought this about B16 for a while now… it seems to be his “management style” to put ideas out there first, allow the Bishops to come around to them on their own, then later address those who have not come around. It is a perfect tactic for him

  22. Limbo says:

    This is so good I could weep.
    BRING IT ON BENEDICT !

  23. Chironomo says:

    Seriously, if this is true, are we (the Church) prepared to handle the reaction when it becomes apparent that the Pope’s intention in issuing SP was not to placate the Lefebvrists, but rather was to make the TLM “normal in parishes”? In the week after July 7th, 2007, I had the opprtunity to speak with one of our Priests who is also the Diocesan Vocations Director. I sked him about Summorum, and he brushed it off: “O yeah, well that’s really about the Lefebvrists and wasn’t addressed to parishes.” This is really what was being said out here! Imagine the reaction when they discover it was a Papal “bait-n-switch”….that it’s really about making the TLM available everywhere as a regular part of parish life. There wil be much moaning and gnashing of teeth….

  24. Joy says:

    Deo Gratias! Viva Papa! May he live to be 120!

  25. Malta says:

    This is great news; re: the Novus Ordo, I have been to horrific clown masses, throughout the country, to sublime masses at the grotto in Detroit in the ordinary form, but I have never been to a mass in the extraordinary form that wasn’t wonderful. It will take some time to rebuild tradition and beauty in our Church, but it can be done–it must be done; because beauty lifts the soul closer to God, as God is a God of beauty and love. We experience things on the physical level now, and so we need–nay, require–physical beauty now to remind us of the eternal beauty of God. That is why Cathedrals sometimes took 200 year or more to build: our forebears knew that to create a lasting monument extolling God’s grandeur, that it would inspire many generations, as, indeed, it has.

    So, we need to infuse beauty back into the Church, as beauty (which is a brach of love) has been one of the main catalysts to draw souls to our magnificent Church throughout the centuries

  26. Tom says:

    This is great news! Really! But would it sound ungrateful to ask when His Eminence will stop confining himself to really excellent pronouncements in interviews and start sharing them directly with the Bishops and Pastors who stand four-square against the Extraordinary Form in any form in any place in their Dioceses and Parishes?

  27. Gene Tullio says:

    Our dear Holy Father remains an enigma to me. If Pope Benedict VI wanted to promote the Tridentine Mass, he could have easily brought it to center stage while in America. He can also begin to use it exclusively on a daily basis. Actions speak louder than words. I cannot help but think that these little teasers are simply meant to pacify Catholics like myself, extend more time to the Revolution in the Church and done so w/ calculated cynicism that is the hallmark of Modernism. I hasten to add that this is not about the Holy Father but rather his disobedient and sinister ‘handlers’.

    Lastly, if true Peace is to come upon the world, our present group of Churchmen will have to abandon Pride and their human solution to the sickness of the world and employs Heaven’s remedy. This is nothing more and nothing less than the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Those Bishops who refuse will reveal their true colors. They will excommunicate themselves and God’s Will will be done. That is the courage that Pope Benedict VI must wield and disregard those who will object. Let the chips fall where they will. Remember, God has demanded the consecration and we know from our Act of Faith that He can neither deceive nor be deceived. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

  28. Gene Tullio says:

    I continue to find this pope an enigma. If Benedict VI wanted to promote the Mass of all time, he missed his chance in America and continues to miss it everyday that he intones the Novus Ordo ‘whatever it is’ each day. Actions speak louder than words and today more than any other time in Church history, Catholics need a strong and decisive leader who not only speaks the Truth but demands that his subordinates ‘tow the line’ or leave.

    One cannot help thinking that all this talk, talk, talk and study, study study is little more than ‘two steps forward and one step back’ to pacify people like me, coax us into abandoning our little enclaves of Latin Masses, open our wallets and fund the enemies of Christ and their Modernist mission. So far, the ‘motu proprio’ has simply teased us think ‘finally etc’ while the Revolution is extended.

    It is time for the Pope to abandon human solutions which is nothing more than the sin of Pride. Heaven has provided us w/ a remedy…the only remedy and that s the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I’ll take Heaven’s solution anyday over the human solutions offered by this sorry group of misguided men currently leading the Church.

    Let the Holy Father speak and those who refuse obedience should simply be excommunicated and then he should proceed w/ the consecration. After all, billions of souls are in the balance. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

  29. Cindy says:

    The Latin Mass is the one true Roman Rite and this Pope knows it! After the Consecration to Russia is done correctly then the Catholic Church will be restored in all its glory without the Novus Ordo which was designed by the Freemason Annibale Bugnini. Meanwhile we are still awaiting the full 3rd Secret of Fatima – http://www.secretstillhidden.com

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