@MadisonDiocese: 1st Masses in the Extraordinary Form

Here is some good news!

Six men were ordained for the Diocese of Madison this year. This relatively rural diocese has 35 men in formation! So much depends on the bishop.

Of the six men ordained this year, two of them celebrated their 1st Mass according to the Extraordinary Form!

On Saturday, I was in choro for the 1st Mass, a Solemn Mass, of one on the new priests.

  

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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9 Comments

  1. Elizabeth D says:

    This Mass was so beautiful. Really, really beautiful in a way that stayed with me and made me think. Before Mass Fr Gernetzke had made some comments about how Solemn Mass is like the movement of the planets, like the cosmic liturgy where everything has its place in obedience to the Creator. I experienced that during Mass, which was also something that I had found compelling in the Bishop’s solemn Masses which once or twice I got to attend, seeing an image of the rightly-ordered Church and also of the rightly-ordered universe, harmoniously worshiping God. It was ad orientem and the new priest did not preach himself but had one of his simpatico seminary classmates do so, so I also liked that the focus was not on the priest’s personality (a seminarian who was a server at that Mass told me the next day that he would like to have his first Mass ad orientem, but in the Novus Ordo in English, many of the other men are not as comfortable with Latin). Afterward there was a deeply-felt Te Deum by Aristotle Esguerra and the choir whose singing seemed especially lovely. Although clearly this beautiful offering of the Holy Sacrifice was a fruit of a lot of dedication, prayer and loving work and study by Fr Gernetzke, I had the strongest sense of this Mass as the work of an entire extended community, from the priest’s mother in the front row and the other ministers (Fr Tait Schroeder, deacon, Msgr Jim Bartylla subdeacon, Fr John Del Priore asst priest) who knew their roles well and sing really well, to many others not present whose prayers, labors and faithfulness had also contributed.

    By the way, I was able to attend this, which is way out in the countryside and I do not drive, because I posted on WDTPRS that I wanted to go to it but did not have a ride lined up. Quite soon a good person whom I knew only slightly from a past event emailed saying she had seen my comment and although she was not able to attend herself, she was going that way at the right time, and had to go back down town after that anyway–and it exactly worked out, in God’s providence. I am really thankful.

  2. Father Bartoloma says:

    The Tait!

  3. CradleRevert says:

    Fr. Gernetzke, while a transitional deacon, regularly assisted at the Solemn High Masses at the Fraternity parish here in Minneapolis. It’s great to see him ordained now. Hopefully he’ll come back to visit and say Mass here in the near future.

  4. acardnal says:

    Based upon the photo, it appears Fr. John Blewett acted as Asst Priest at the Mass. It’s nice to see various priests from throughout the diocese participate and help the TLM flourish in the diocese. I hope to see Fr. Steve Petrica, who was recently trained in the TLM at the FSSP seminary, participate and offer this Mass.

  5. DonL says:

    Rebuilding God’s Church, one ordination at a time. Good news–when we need it more than ever.

  6. St Donatus says:

    This is so wonderful. I lived in Wisconsin as a child and still consider it my home. I go back yearly to visit relatives and always go to Mass at the St Augustines parish at University of Platteville. Great things are happening in the Madison diocese. The number of seminarians is so very encouraging. I pray for the diocese. Where I live now, we have somewhere around three seminarians. Why so few, it has been a very liberal diocese for decades. God Bless Bishop Morlino.

    This is one of those things that I don’t understand, why good Bishops like Bishop Morlino are so successful. Yes, many liberal Catholics don’t like him, but in liberal diocese they will soon have no priests, no one to administer the sacraments. When I visit the Madison diocese, I see very full Churches and lots of young people. Where I live, the Churches are about 25% full for busy Masses and those are mostly seniors and many parishes have been closed down.

    We need more bishops like Bishop Morlino. Pray for this. We need them.

  7. Frank H says:

    What a joy it was to attend Fr. Gernetzke’s first Mass, and to finally visit St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff, about which I have read much the last few years.

  8. Elizabeth D says:

    acardnal said: “it appears Fr. John Blewett acted as Asst Priest at the Mass” Sorry for misidentifying him and thanks for the correction. The program said Fr Eric Sternberg as assistant priest and I knew it was not him.

    I was told by one of the other newly ordained priests that Bishop Morlino had all of them take the classes for the TLM. So all of the new priests know it at least somewhat.

  9. acardnal says:

    To quote Fr. Z, “brick by brick.”

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