I got this note via e-mail:
Una Voce Quad Cities takes great pleasure in making the following announcement:
Beginning August 3, 2008, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered in the extraordinary form (Missa Cantata) every Sunday at 4pm at St. Anthony’s Church in Davenport, Iowa. Frs. Scott Lemaster, David Brownfield, and Tim Regan will alternate in offering the Mass. For parish information see this.
Our heartfelt gratitude goes to Bishop Martin Amos and his director of liturgy, Deacon Frank Agnoli, who administered a diocese-wide survey of interest in the Traditional Latin Mass and then encouraged six diocesan priests to seek training in the extraordinary form. We are also deeply grateful to these priests (three of whom will be offering the Traditional Mass at St. Wenceslaus in Iowa City, also beginning August 3rd, at 1:30pm) for sacrificing their time and energy to offer us the ancient form of Mass, and to the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius in Chicago who offered the (by all accounts superb) training program they attended in May.
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Great news for Iowa. If I have one complaint it is the time. Many traditional catholics fast from midnight. Ideally mass anywhere from 7am- noon would be perfect. That’s a long time to fast for elderly people.
At this point, I don’t know that the tradition of fasting from midnight is a big priority, given that (unless I’m mistaken) it was reduced to three hours by the 1950s. Concessions were already being made in the early 20th century for the needs of “the working classes,” who might attend Masses later in the day, at the time a new concept.
What is good about this news is that, to the extent that the bishop is involved, it is a proactive stance. He made an honest effort to see where the need was, and enacted a plan to meet that need. This as opposed to letting each parish fend for themselves. While it is unfortunate that it is so late in the day, it’s not as if the time is carved in stone.
As a reminder, Catholics are bound by the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which prescribes only a one-hour fast. Those wanting to observe the P12 3-hour fast or the 1917 Code’s midnight fast are free to do so.
Given the lateness of this Mass, it would seem prudent to find some other way to sanctify the day instead (maybe pray the Divine Office in the Extraordinary Form)?
A good middle ground would seem to be to use the P12 3-hour fast after lunch.
In the rock-paper-scissors game, Canon Law beats tradition any day.
Just wondering if and when something like this will happen in the Archdiocese if Dubuque. There is one Mass on Sunday at Noon in Dyersville weekly, but non in the larger cities of the Archdiocese (Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo)
Please remember Iowa as it recovers from the floods and storms.
=] Great news…it’d be nice to have a non-sedevacantist Missa Cantata in Seattle *yet another plug*.
I agree with Paul.
The news of this Mass is wonderful but why oh why do Catholics who prefer the Mass in the Extraordinary Form have to put up with the ‘refugee’ status and feel grateful for a Mass relegated to such unsuitable times ?? Not fair to those wanting to fast, not fair to families with young children, not fair to those who have to travel long distances to and from Mass, not fair to families wanting to get together on a Sunday. It’s just not fair and should not be accepted with groveling gratitude.
I don’t know many traditionalists who still follow the strict fast from midnight. That said, 4 pm is an inconvenient time especially for young families. It’s a good deal better than nothing, though.
Hey, no bolding for Iowa City? :)
1:30 is doable for me. I haven’t seen the interior of St. Wenceslaus since they worked on it. Hopefully it will be suitable for the Mass.
This is great of Davenport. I live next door along the Mississippi River in the Illinois part of the Quad Cities. I think they willbe getting a lot of people from Illinois too. Don’t complain about the time, it’s only the beginning of a bright future, I think.
Sometimes I feel compelled to wonder, does ANYTHING make traditionalists just…happy? Or at least contently serene? I mean, if I were a cleric or parish staff member arranging something, I’d live in terror: will 4:00 p.m. offend some people, will I get complaints Monday morning about a Second Confiteor, will I hear about how Father used Gothic and not Roman vestments, will I hear how Father omitted the commemoration of Saint Lawrence on a given Sunday after Pentecost, or how…you get the idea. I am reminded of Father Fortescue’s hilarious note about how his cat had spent his time more profitably than he while he ponderedexactly where various thurifers stood during Solemn Masses.
Let’s try an experiment shall we ?
Let’s move all the NO masses to mid afternoon on a Sunday and see how ‘…happy’ the liberals are ?
Actually, I am very happy that Davenport’s getting a Latin mass. That way we
don’t have to drive like 3 hours. I’d rather go at 4p.m. because I can’t wake
up until noon anyway : )
Please pray for Bishop Amos and the Diocese of Davenport and vocations in that
diocese.
4 p.m. What a traditional time for Mass. Don’t make any plans to do anything that day, but just wait around all day so you can go to Mass.
Yes. We shouldn’t complain. Perhaps we could move all Masses to 4 or 4 or 5 p.m. and see how many Catholics show up?
Dr. Lee: Sometimes I feel compelled to wonder, does ANYTHING make traditionalists just…happy?
I am often compelled to ask the same question. Alas, the traditional thing seems to attract, along with all the normal folks, people who are happy only when they are unhappy.
This is why I wrote Rule 3:
This is very good news for me personally. I am a musician who often performs in the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival in Davenport in July. I am an out-of-towner. But I always go through much effort to find if the EF Mass is available in the many places I travel to when performing. Most of the time, I can’t find one. I have had to attend many very strange Masses. For this particular gig, in the past, I had to go over the river to Rock Island, IL, to St. Mary’s for a lovely trad Mass. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the wonderful pastor there. (anybody know?) Then, sadly, he was gone and so was the trad Mass. I would then go to St. Anthony’s out of convenience because it is right in the middle of the action in Davenport, and they still had statues. At least it looked trad. I’m not sure how easy making the 4 p.m. time will be. It will probably be okay because the festival is pretty much over by then. I could hit that Mass before returning home to Chicago. Somehow I think God made this Mass available just for me!
Whoops, I see it begins August 3. It looks like I will miss out on it at the fest this July, missing it by just one week. Oh, well. Congratulations, people of Davenport.
Lee,
It was Fr. Driscoll. He was reassigned to Peoria to work as a chaplain of a hospital. He still says the EF exclusively and when I lived in the Peoria area, I served Mass for him occasionally.
“will I hear about how Father used Gothic and not Roman vestments…”
Only if they are ugly Gothic vestments. ;-) I’ve seen some rather beautiful Gothic vestments throughout the years, there is no need for the banal at mass.
Such circumstances are an opportunity for a wonderful act of charity. If possible, offer to purchase some very beautiful gothic vestments for Father. Perhaps pick out some options and present them, or let Father select the vestments himself. In my experience, ugly vestments are used because they are what hasn’t been purged from the sacristy. Just last week I found a rainbow surplice in a sacristy, because there used to be clown masses. Things COULD be worse. Father COULD–quod avertat Deus– be wearing the stole and chausible that go with the surplice!
It’s a similar situation with the Sacred Vessels. Some churches had all their nice vessels purged many moons ago. I was at a very wealthy Church that only owned glass vessels (from target, or so it seemed). A wealthier family finally approached Father about this, and purchased a set of Sacred Vessels. They insisted on total anonymity for their charity, and surely their reward will not be lost.
The “Quad Cities” have been the largest US metro area without the TLM… which unfortunate city gets to claim that title after August 3?
Thanks, Bryan, for reminding me of Fr. Driscoll’s name. Now I can pray for him by name and hope others will also.