TLM at Dunwoodie, St. Joseph’s Seminary

From a seminarian:

I am a seminarian for the Archdiocese of New York and an avid reader of your blog. I thought the following piece of information might be of interest to similar readers. On the feast of St. Cecilia (11/22), St. Joseph’s Seminary held its first Mass in the Extraordinary Form in the main chapel. Last year the Mass was offered in one of our auxiliary chapels as the main chapel was being "touched-up" in anticipation of the papal visit. Many are very happy to welcome the Mass that formed the spiritualities of countless priests who have gone through our seminary. The Low Mass was celebrated by our previous house spiritual director and served by two seminarians. We hope that provisions will be made soon to offer practicums and training to all who are eager to discover the riches of our sacred and venerable tradition.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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

  1. Riverside says:

    As a New York Priest who was recently ordained I remember only a few years ago that something like this would have been impossible.

    This was not because Dunwoodie was anti-Tradition or was liberal (usually not a problem in NY) but becuase they were “French Cuff Conservatives” as long as the N.O. was the norm, that was good enough.

    When a group of us heard about this event ahead of time we laughed about how in the college seminary we had to sneak down to NYC for the “Trid” at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1999 like we were buying drugs. The Mass was terrific and Raymond Arroyo asked where we were from (since we were in civilian cloths) we all lied and said we were “finance majors” so we were not “found out”. As if the Trid were the worst thing we could do in Manhattan. Ha!

    Pray for New York and pray for her priests.

  2. Oremus says:

    A CFR serving the TLM, now that has been really thought impossible – up ’til now!

  3. magdalene says:

    brick by brick

  4. Another NY Seminarian says:

    Im also an NY seminarian, one of the younger ones. I can tell you that Dunwoodie is moving in the right direction, and not only that, but it is moving there FAST!!

    It is already an excellent seminary, under superb leadership. It has such an exciting future. even though there is a relatively small number of seminarians overall, recent intakes have been big, and the atmosphere is vibrant.

    I’m part of the John Neumann residence part of St Joseph’s (for guys doing their philosophy or college studies before theology) and the chapel has just put in new kneelers to accomodate the new influx of students, and in January will most likely need to add new seating as the chapel is full, and we are due for more guys apparently. The place is packed full of orthodox young men who are really passionate for Christ, under a formation team who are just as vibrant.

    Its a great place to be studying! The fact that St Joseph’s has had a TLM is just a small piece of a much bigger, exciting picture!

  5. EDG says:

    Wonderful! I’m from New York (now living elsewhere, in a liturgically barren diocese), and I am truly excited to see this. I wish we could bring back the wonderful Catholic culture NYC had when I was a kid – it’s late, but maybe not too late. This is a step in the right direction.

  6. Lourdes says:

    A friend of mine, Father Kenneth Slattery, a wonderful elderly Vincentian priest, is teaching philosophy to the pre-theologate students at the Neumann Residence. Although in his early 80s, he keeps plugging away with his well-worn Latin edition of the Summa. He is a true treasure and I am so glad that the archdiocese is tapping into his wealth of knowledge. May God continue to bless all of the good work going on at Dunwoodie.

  7. ED says:

    Wow this all sounds great,hopefully you will get a great solid traditional minded Cardinal

  8. Alan says:

    I encourage all priests and seminarians seeking to learn the EF to goto the FSSP website and order the their new training video.

    I just viewed it and …. IT IS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! What a great tool.

    http://store.fraternitypublications.com/fsinvi.html

  9. Another NY Seminarian says:

    Lourdes

    Fr Ken Slattery has been teaching me Ancient Philosophy this year. He is truly excellent, and one real character. His catch phrase being to ask a question, then go up to the student, stand about a metre away and shout “DONT JUST SIT THERE WITH YER TEETH IN YER MOUTH!!” We all love him

    However, he has recently been admitted to hospital, we havent been told why, even though we have been told it isnt serious, but its enough to mean he wont teach for the rest of the semester. keep him in your prayers, he is one of the good guys!

  10. Lourdes says:

    Another NY Seminarian,

    Thank you for the news about Fr. Slattery. No wonder I haven’t received my monthly phone call from “the old professor” for our lunch. I will pray for his speedy recovery and am sure that he is quite upset at not being able to close out the semester. The last time I saw him he had finished up with mid-terms and was ready to push on to the finish line. Race track imagery always comes to mind with Fr. Slattery since, as I’m sure you know, he ministers to his small flock at Belmont racetrack on the weekends! God bless all of you at Dunwoodie.

  11. NY Priest says:

    When I was in Dunwoodie [within the past decade] it was hard enough to get a Novus Ordo Mass in Latin once a semester as was supposed to be the official policy. I think we had them about 3 times in my 4 years.

    I remember in practicum class one classmate was yelled at for the way he held his hands. The instructor – now in a parish – thought he was too traditional.

    The same instructor was annoyed when one of the deacons covered the chalice with a pall after the consecration. “Do they do that in the Tridentine Rite? You go to those, don’t you?” he asked me accusingly.

    Overall, Dunwoodie was orthodox. It’s Mass was Novus Ordo, although without the abuses. We even used antiphons rather than hymns. But, some faculty members were certainly unfriendly to the TLM. I’m glad it has changed.


    Fr. Slattery quotes:
    “Don’t give me that gobbledygook.”
    “Gentlemen, there’s nothing as inspiring as the sight of a priest in his cassock.”
    And Fr. Slattery not only taught philosophy but he taught us about how to bear ourselves as a priests.
    He is a real priest’s priest.

    We had some real greats at the philosophy house:
    Fr. Kenneth Slattery, CM
    Sr. Mary T. Clark, RSCJ
    Sr. Janet Fitzgerald, OP
    Sr. Dominic Twohill, OP – RIP
    Fr. Reid, SJ
    Fr. O’Donnel, CSP

  12. JPG says:

    It is good to hear that these changes are in the air. One only hopes it will restore in the OF a sense of the Sacred. However on a more sour note, I cannot help but think of the enormous waste of money created by the original deconstruction of the Catholic sanctuary in the 70’s, 80’s and 90″s. These sanctuaries will need to be reordered to accommodate a proper celebration of the OF or the EF. In one sense however I will be delighted to see the restoration on altar rails the abandonment of table altars, the restoration of proper altars as well as the removal of generally ugly cubist modern statuary seen in many Churches ( if there is any statuary at all). My frustration is did they not know ugly when they saw it in the last 40 years. The general artistic approach of the last 40 yrs being ugly in art and architecture. If priests are learning the EF, they will likewise learn the artistic expression of its spiritual sense. This will mandate a return to beauty. With the greater openess to the TLM I am hoping to see a restoration of ad orientem worship. This will I hope translate into pushing the altars back and raising them back up. The altar, as does the priest represents Christ in the traditional understanding. Something entirely lost in the current OF celebrations. It is too bad with the “touch ups” that they did not push that glorious altar back. I only hope I live long enough to see it.
    JPG

  13. Mitch says:

    Does anyone know if Dunwoodie has any formal preparation for programs to study and train future Priests suing the 1962 missal and its’ theology?? Also is Latin studied there??

  14. Wondering About Brooklyn says:

    Great news for Dunwoodie.

    Any word on what’s going on across the river in Brooklyn?

  15. RichR says:

    FrZ,

    You always say SP is a gift to priests. It appears these seminaries want to extend that gift to seminarians, too. Bless them.

  16. justbrowsing says:

    Please pray for Fr. Slattery as he is about to undergo serious surgery tomorrow

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