Do you recall that just a while back I posted about a parish initiative launched by Fr. Paul Parkerson in Dunn, North Carolin in the Diocese of Raleigh? HERE
In his parish he implemented two TLMs on Sundays. One will have English re-readings and sermon, the other SPANISH.
This last weekend was the maiden voyage of this project. I was curious as to how it turned out.
No sooner thought, than received.
One of Fr. Parkerson’s parishioners sent me a copy of a letter she sent to Fr. P. My emphases:
I wanted to thank you for making the bold, revolutionary, but most of all, pastoral step of offering the Holy Mass in the extraordinary Form twice this past Sunday, one Holy Mass with repeated readings and homily in English and another with repeated readings and homily in Spanish. My initial assessment of the changes to the schedule and the “form” of the Masses this past weekend was that it was a great success.
When the upcoming transitions in the Mass schedule were first announced, there was a great deal of enthusiasm among the parishioners. Many offered to donate Spanish-Latin Missals and more English-Latin Missals, as well. Several new people have joined the choir/schola and have offered to sing at both Masses. For the first time, though, there is actually a choir made up of primarily Latinos, who were grateful and visibly moved to be part of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form on Sunday. Some of our more seasoned young men who serve at the Altar have offered to help train new boys so that there would be enough altar servers to serve both Masses on Sundays. Some of the fathers in the parish have generously volunteered to found a chapter of the Knights of the Altar and there is a real eagerness amongst not only English speaking boys, but also Spanish speaking boys who anticipate learning how to serve the Mass in the Extraordinary Form on a regular basis.
My biggest surprise on Sunday, the first Sunday of our new Mass schedule, was that both Masses were well attended by both English and Spanish speaking parishioners. We gave out 100 Spanish-Latin Mass Missals and also used all of our English-Latin Missals at both Masses. Both Masses were beautiful and reverent but there was a unity that we had not experienced here prior to Sunday. It was the Latin language and the ancient Form of the Mass that provided us all with the opportunity to worship together. Kneeling together, I caught a glimpse of the Church, the One Holy Church, what it was in the past and what it can be now (thanks be to God) and what it needs to continue to be in the future!
There was a true communion, not only with the people of our own parish, but also with the whole Church here on earth, with those in purgatory and with the Communion of Saints.
May God continue to bless you and the flock you serve here at Sacred Heart.
Fr. Z kudos to Fr. Parkerson. In the Extraordinary Form we have a common patrimony.
I have written occasionally about the need to reach out through the traditional forms of our Catholic Faith to the Latino communities with whom we share our places of worship. We have to bring communities together. A while back I posted a question about Extraordinary Form resources in Spanish HERE. There were good responses. And recently I posted about a beautiful new Latin and Spanish hand missal from Angelus Press HERE.
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My parish does a low Mass twice a week. At one of them, the pastor uses the option to read the epistle and gospel in the (English) vernacular. I just emailed him asking if he ever considered instead doing so in the Spanish vernacular. We have a large Latino population which kind of does their own thing, and he is very fluent in Spanish. It would be a very pastoral, bridge building kind of exercise. The Anglo liturgy nuts and the Latinos generally are never together, but this might create that.
This IS the answer . Plan to share this with our new pastor (also in the Raleigh diocese) who is working hard to form One Parish of English and Spanish speaking people. Long past time to end the segregation. Thank you Fr. Parkerson !
First Fridays at St. Francis de Sales, East Palo Alto, California: Votive Mass (High Mass) of the Sacred Heart. This mostly Spanish-speaking parish has both Epistle and Gospel in both English and Spanish, and then Father preaches in both. I don’t speak much Spanish, but what I understand is that Father preaches the same sermon, but in two languages.
Chris–I think it’s St Francis of Assisi, not de Sales.
Been meaning to get to Mass there myself!
Now wouldn’t it be something if churches everywhere in the US could follow this example. We are always hearing about how now that the cows are out of the barn (the average RC attends the NO and couldn’t possibly be interested …) that it will be difficult, if not impossible to get them back in (…in learning the EF and worshipping in it regularly).
This is wonderful news. Thank you for making my day.
This is great news. I am also in the Diocese of Raleigh. Our parish has a large Spanish speaking population, and they have their own Mass on Sunday. So we all technically belong to the same parish, but we really don’t. Segregation is a bad thing. I hope this idea spreads, thank you Father Parkerson.
Unlike Yankeeland, the tribal diversity of Dixie hasn’t changed much since 1770: Virginia Cavaliers, the misnamed “Scots-Irish” in the Backcountry, and pre-1808 Blacks. The coming of Hispanics among us here resembles the coming of the Irish to the northeast after 1842, the coming of the Germans to the midwest after 1848, and the coming of southern Italians and eastern Europeans to the North before 1922.
So in addition to the spiritual value of Fr. Parkerson’s efforts, there is also social value.
Certainly this is laudable.
At my southern parish pre-Vatican II, during the era of Mexican migrant farm workers, we often had Spanish-speaking attendees, especially at Sunday Masses. Sadly, we had even a few funerals for those who passed away…they were usually buried in local cemeteries.
The beauty and genius of the traditional Latin Mass was its unchanging and universal form, regardless of the nationalities of the congregation.
So…yes…this report is encouraging, yet it left me trying to understand exactly how a Spanish-language TLM differs from an English-language TLM, except for the trivial.
Majuscule,
Yes, of course it is. I’m sorry. I’ve got St. Francis de Sales on the brain because I’m beginning a study of Introduction a la Vie Devote.
Thanks for catching that.
God bless,
Chris