For your Brick By Brick file.
A reader alerted me to the following from The TLM in Michiana:
Personal Parish Granted to the FSSP in Fort Wayne
Father Gabet announced at Mass this morning that Bishop Kevin Rhoades in a letter to the parishioners of Sacred Heart and St. Henry Churches in Fort Wayne that Sacred Heart parish is to become a personal (non-territorial) parish for those attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in Fort Wayne, Indiana, under the administration of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. The territory of St. Henry parish has been expanded to include the territory of Sacred Heart parish since it will no longer be a territorial parish.
Fr. George Gabet, FSSP, chaplain of the St. Mother Theodore Guérin Traditional Latin Mass Community of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend will become the first pastor of this new personal parish in November of this year.
[…]
WDTPRS kudos to Bp. Rhoades!
Let no one forget that just because there is now a parish for people who desire the older forms, that does not mean that other pastors of parishes don’t have to implement Summorum Pontificum. If there is a stable group across town or even at the neighboring parish, and if they ask for the TLM from their pastor, the pastor cannot simply blow them off, saying “Go over there if you want that.” If people want the older Mass in their own parish, they can ask for it … and then provide whatever is necessary to make it work.
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Fortunately we have a Traditional Latin parish about about 40 minutes away. Unfortunately, my Pastor and the Bishop of Venice, FL feel this is sufficient. I have sent letters to both. Now the Bishop is “studying” my request to implement Summorum Pontificum. While the Bishop has been a welcome breath of fresh air for the diocese, in this case, he is not listening particularly when we have priests who are saying Latin Masses privately. Should I give Him a couple of months to study and then appeal to Rome?
As a member of the South Bend side of the St. Mother Theodore Guérin Community, I can say we are all very thankful for Bp. Rhoades’ decision. Since his instillation as our Bishop three years ago, he has continued the path of support for the Extraordinary From begun by his predecessor Bp. D’Arcy.
South Bend is about 120mi from Fort Wayne, and so we here make use of the beautiful St Patrick Parish. The next “brick” we pray for is a similar establishment “up here”; we long for a daily Mass.
That said, it would help if we had access to a solid traditional priest… Fr Z? Any interest in coming to South Bend? Sure the winters are cold, but that just gives one an excuse to sit inside by a fire, reading all the great books of the Notre Dame libraries, while drinking a cup of Mystic Monk!
I’m just sayin’….
Provide whatever is necessary to make it work – that most likely includes finding a priest to say the Mass on a Sunday. Or, as Mrs Beeton (supposedly) put it, “First, catch your rabbit”.
“If there is a stable group across town or even at the neighboring parish, and if they ask for the TLM from their pastor, the pastor cannot simply blow them off, saying “Go over there if you want that.”
Unfortunately, priests and bishops can and do simply blow us off. In our large metro area we have only one EF Mass, at an FSSP parish 50 minutes away. Our bishop’s written response to our request for the EF at our parish was the exact response you stated above. The message of his letter was: See what a good bishop I am for allowing the FSSP’s to stay in our diocese to serve you people at this one location. It’s difficult not to become discouraged, knowing I probably won’t see the fruits of Summorum Pontificum in my lifetime. I choose to drive the distance and continue to pray for more vocations to the FSSPs.
The FSSP priests used to come twice a month (and sometimes more) to Upstate NY to celebrate the TLM. They haven’t been around since 2008, and they’re missed up here.
Father Gabet was one of the priests who came pretty frequently when he was the North American District Superior in PA. We loved him very much! He always had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes! And he was great in confession, too!
Congratulations to the new FSSP personal parish in Texas! Sure wish it could happen here in the ‘spiritual wilderness’ that is Upstate NY!
Whoops–I should have ‘read before posting’!
I should have said, ‘Congratulations to the FSSP personal parish in INDIANA’, not Texas!
Kudos to Bishop Rhoades!
And Indiana is the home state of Father Gabet!
[I think I’m losing my mind…..meh]
Thanks to Bishop Rhoades we have in Lancaster Pa. a stable and growing TLM at St. Anthony of Padua Church. God Bless and keep you.
Irishgirl- Fr Gabet is the BEST!! He drives the 120mi every week to say our Mass at St Pat’s. His line for confession before Mass always has to be cut off – he really knows how to be a “divine doctor” in there. We are praying he is given an associate pastor soon, so we can have him more often.
On a side note, all this reminds me how being a part of a traditional community makes one feel like they are in the early Church. Having such little access to the Mass and other sacraments (esp confession), really makes you appreciate them in a unique way – much like how I imagine Christians long ago did.
Back in August, when my car’s alternator died on a Saturday afternoon as I was taking another cross-country trip, I became stranded in Fort Wayne while my car was repaired on Sunday morning. The repairs were completed just in time for me to make the 11:30 AM Mass at Sacred Heart within reason, and it was a most pleasant and reverent experience. It wasn’t packed to the gills, but it was a decent-sized congregation for the extraordinary form. Since it is now a non-territorial parish, I suppose I could enroll there, but it took me until 2:30 AM to get home the next morning, so it would be a bit of a hike each week. My original plan was to be in Pennsylvania by Sunday morning, but I guess God’s plan was better.
With fondness I recall Fr. Gabet occasionally offering the “indult” TL Mass at the Trinity High School chapel in the young days of the Harrisburg Latin Mass community after our beloved Monsignor Fregapane moved to Florida. As others have noted, Fr. Gabet’s homilies are invigorating (as is his overall execution of the priestly ministry) – a real “divine doctor”! Then we were further blessed when the newly installed Bishop Kevin Rhoades approved the establishment of the Mater Dei community at St. Lawrence chapel with the permanent assignment of an FSSP priest…all pre-Summorum Pontificum! Alas, now that I’ve moved from Harrisburg to the Philadelphia area I greatly miss having such convenient access to the EF. We do drive to Lancaster from Downingtown at times to St. Anthony of Padua (thank you again Bishop Rhoades and Fr. Tcheou), but am praying Archbishop Chaput will also support a broader implementation of SP!
As a former parishioner ( we moved) of Sacred Heart, we had been working for this since Fr Gabets arrival. The community has grown and thanks to the good bishop for making this happen. It could never have been accomplished without the many many prayers of the community and the support of the Bishop. Aside from Fr Gabet- This is his HOME parish- we have had 3 priestly vocations. And the BEST of the BEST servers around!!
One young man went to Clear Creek, another ordained last year FSSP and God-willing another fine fine young man to be ordained with FSSP in the spring. We will be driving out for that one all 10 of us in tow..
Keep praying for these young men and for continued vocations and for the community to continue to grow!
PS- Hey Fort Wayners… you can guess who this is ;/ Miss you all!!!