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

I tip my biretta to His Hermeuticalness  o{]:¬/   for the following: 

The following announcement has appeared on the website of the Latin Mass Society:

URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT: The Pontifical High Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite due to be offered in Cardiff Cathedral on Sunday 18 May at 11.00 am has been cancelled at the last moment. The LMS withdrew its involvement with this Mass after the Cathedral Dean insisted that a lady server be present in the Sanctuary during Mass. The LMS apologises to members and supporters for the disappointment and inconvenience caused. For those who might wish to register a polite protest the telephone number for the Cathedral Dean is 029 2023 1407. Email: cardiff.met.cath@btinternet.com

This all seems a pity. I should have thought it was fairly obvious that the Latin Mass Society would not be willing to accept the participation of women altar servers in the sanctuary. That could have been diplomatically explained to any women who usually serve at the Cathedral. After all, nobody is obliged to attend the extraordinary form and I am sure there were other Masses that people could have participated in today at the Cathedral.

Perhaps it was meant to be a "test case"; if so, I suppose it is one of those things that needs to be clarified by the Ecclesia Dei Commission.

 

It seems to me that this was a needless provocation on the part of the Dean …. so pointless.

UPDATE: 19 May 14:27 GMT

It seems that the terrier-like Damian Thompson at Holy Smoke as picked this up.  See his stuff here and here.

You definitely want to go visit, but here is the second of the two, with my emphases and comments.

More on Cardiff’s cancelled Latin Mass

Posted by Damian Thompson on 19 May 2008  at 13:52 

I’ve received a fascinating insider’s report (see below) on the cancellation of yesterday’s Latin Mass at Cardiff Cathedral following the Dean’s insistence on including a woman altar server in the sanctuary.

Archbishop Peter Smith declined to intervene

What an utter fiasco. The Latin Mass Society is so angry with the Dean, Canon Peter Collins, that it is invoicing him for the cost of its services. Note, too, that Archbishop Peter Smith failed to intervene. Here is the report:

In late 2007, [Okay… so they were working on this for months.] the Dean, Canon Peter Collins, agreed to a request from Kingsley Lewis, LMS Cardiff Representative, for a Traditional Mass to be celebrated in the cathedral. The Dean himself proposed that it take the place of the usual main Sunday Mass. The LMS therefore arranged for a Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form to be offered by Abbot Paul Stonham OSB of Belmont Abbey.  [So far so good!  Sounds like a great event!]

The LMS handled most of the arrangements for the Mass, arranging for its senior liturgical expert, Mr Gordon Dimon, to travel from London to MC the Mass, for vestments to be transported to Cardiff and for Sacred Ministers trained in the Rite to be available. The LMS committed much time and expenditure to make the Mass as fitting an occasion as possible. It is understood the LMS now proposes to send an invoice to the Dean for its services.  [That seems fair.]

On the evening of Thursday 15 May [Just a couple days before the Mass was to be celebrated.] Mr Lewis attended a training session in the Traditional Rite for the cathedral servers and the Dean who was to be Assistant Priest at the Mass. It was only then that he discovered that Canon Peter Collins proposed to have a lady server present in the sanctuary during the Mass.  [Proposed?  Or insisted?  Sine qua non condition?  This part is unclear to me.]

Mr Lewis explained that this was not possible under the rubrics and law governing the 1962 Rite of Blessed John XXIII, but to no avail. [And I believe Mr. Lewis would have been wrong to invoke the law in force at the time of the promulgation of the 1962 Missale.  A far better position to take is that, under the present juridical situation, a) no priest can be forced to have female altar servers and b) the sensibility of the people must be taken into account.  It sounds like the Dean was merely imposing his own personal idea on people whom he knew would be completely against it.]  Afterwards he consulted with the LMS’s Senior MC and the cleric who was to be Deacon at the Mass, and all were of the same opinion that the 1962 Rite should not be offered if ladies are present in the Sanctuary. The Chairman of the LMS, Mr Julian Chadwick, confirmed that this was the firm policy of the LMS.

Certainly, if the Mass had gone ahead with LMS involvement, the ordinary faithful with an attachment to the Extraordinary Form would have been scandalised and there would have been uproar afterwards.  [Heck!  There is an uproar now!]

Mr Lewis telephoned Canon Collins the following morning (Friday) to inform him that in conscience the LMS would not be able to take part in the Mass. The LMS’s position and that of the faithful attached to the Extraordinary Form is clear: that when the 1962 Rite of Blessed John XXIII is used, the rubrics and law integral to that rite must be respected and this does not allow the use of lady servers.  [There is that arguement again.  I don’t think this is their best position.  We will have to wait to see what the clarifying document for Summorum Pontificum says about this issue, but I think they are not on very solid ground with this approach.] Canon Collins refused to change his mind or take account of the consciences and clear wishes of those attached to the Traditional Rite.  [Okay… he didn’t merely "propose" this, he insisted.  I think what he did was extraordinarily rude.]

 Therefore, Mr Lewis emailed Archbishop Peter Smith asking him to intervene to ensure that the Mass proceeded on a basis compatible with the rubrics of the Rite so that scandal would not be given to the consciences of those attached to this form. However no response was received.  [Qui tacet consentire videtur?]

The LMS posted an announcement on its website on Friday evening but at such a late date it was not possible to contact those many faithful who were planning to travel long distances to assist at the Mass. On the Sunday some arrived by coach. The LMS had representatives outside the cathedral to explain to the faithful what had happened. Inside, a new rite Mass was concelebrated. The cathedral was almost full with about 300 worshippers instead of its usual 35-40 but they were expecting a Traditional Rite Mass. [Very interesting, the numbers, no?] It is understood that the LMS office on Monday received heavy traffic by email and telephone from faithful who were deeply upset at what had happened and felt they had been deliberately let down by the cathedral authorities.

What leaves a bad taste is the great discourtesy shown by Canon Collins to the Sacred Ministers who were due to travel and offer the Traditional Mass and the discrimination against the many faithful who gathered to assist at the celebration of the 1962 rite expecting the rubrics and law to be followed only to find that the Canon had planned to violate their consciences.  [And one must ask … Cui bono?]

It is clear that Pope Benedict in his Motu Proprio intended that the Extraordinary Form of the Rite be widely available and celebrated in accordance with its own rubrics and law; what Canon Collins proposed was in effect an act of defiance to the Pope’s wishes.  [More immediately, he was dreadfully rude to so many people.  And to what end?]

It has been suggested that the LMS prepare a report on this matter for HE Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, who in June comes to Westminster Cathedral to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.

I don’t think they should wait until then.

Meanwhile, in one of the comments at Damian’s place, the email address of the man who made the decision to insist on this lady serving. It’s

cardiff.met.cath@btinternet.com