The motto on the coat-of-arms of Most Rev. Glen John Provost, Bishop of Lake Charles (Louisiana), is Pro Futuris Serit… He sows for the sake of those to come. His CV is HERE. A quick scan suggests that he is a cultured man.
Bp. Provost issued a decree for the Diocese of Lake Charles about Francis’ Plessy v. Ferguson legacy document, the cruel Traditionis custodes.
Frankly, the best reaction from diocesan bishops would be to ignore it. But…
Bp. Provost put out an explanatory letter with a decree. The letter sets the context for the diocese: recovery from hurricanes, flooding, pandemic. And now, Traditionis custodes.
I am issuing this Decree for the implementation of Traditionis custodes in compliance with its prescriptions. As a pastor and a bishop, I am aware of the needs of the flock and address them. We do so liturgically for numerous groups that require special attention, such as our University students, the Hispanic community, and the hearing impaired. Our pastoral concern extends as well to those who worship in the usus antiquior, that is with the Roman Missal of 1962, and who have done so since the establishment of the Diocese. I am unaware of anyone in this community who has expressed opposition to the Second Vatican Council, much less denied its legitimacy. As well, those who have chosen to discuss with me their devotion to the usus antiquior have insisted upon the validity of the reformed liturgy. With this in mind, I would be grossly negligent, if not callous, to implement any restrictive law while at the same time ignoring these realities.
Bravo.
The whole thing breaks down into.
- We are up to our neck dealing with disasters.
- And now comes this document when we have real problems.
- I’ve not experienced the negative things that are claimed about Tradition oriented people.
- People are just trying to do there best here.
The decree.
- The bishop is invoking can. 87 to dispense from TC art.3 § 2 and Masses in the Vetus Ordo will continue at parishes, which are now designated at locations for the Vetus Ordo.
- There is no prohibition of the administration of the other sacraments.
- The bishop will grant the faculty to any priest who is idoneus. This is for private celebration (which I don’t think a priest needs) and publicly at approved times.
- Pastors should seek permission to begin new Masses.
- Priests can use the Breviarium Romanum and Ordo for confessions.
- New priests should ask for the faculty.
- He appointed a priest to be moderator for all of this.
- The Institute of Christ the King can continue as before.
This is minimally invasive and, all things considered, about the best application of the cruel and unnecessary Traditionis custodes we have seen.
Fr. Z kudos to Bp. Provost.
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God bless this man. He has his No Nonsense socks on. He is right in calling out Francis for introducing this amid the multiple disasters going on. It’s like when your entire country is on fire and you have someone pipe up and insist that you use paper plates instead of your fine China for meals. Excuse me? I can’t hear you amid all the chaos being unleashed! Until the government lies of covid and climate change are gone, and until the American people get their real president back, there’s simply no time for nonsense of this sort.
Thank you, Bp Provost.
This is a real answer to prayer. Blessed be the Lord God of Hosts!
May God bless him, prosper him and deliver him from the Enemy and his henchmen.
I am hoping that this, combined with Bishop Paprocki and Bishop Caggiano’s similar decrees, is the start of a snowball effect.
Those in the Diocese of Lake Charles should write a brief, polite note of appreciation.
Center-right bishops, such as Cardinal Di Nardo in Houston and Bishop David Zubik in Pittsburgh — must realize they look like total jackasses right now for issuing unnecessary draconian restrictions way too early in this game.
Thank the Lord for this wonderful news. It’s good news like this that reminds me that there is still good left in the Church despite the current hijacking happening at the highest levels of the hierarchy.
Three Ave Marias for Bishop Provost!
Also, it really is a pleasure to read a statement as concisely and clearly written as that excerpt from his letter. It is simple and short yet clearly explains his thinking. I wish more Vatican documents could be like that.
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What a good man Bishop Provost is. More power to his elbow!
Regarding supposed controversy over the validity of the reformed liturgy:
I have been attending the TLM for 9 years now – mostly at SSPX, but also at Diocesan locations.
I have never met a single person who says the new rite of Mass is invalid. Not one.
That would be an absurd suggestion: of course its valid, as is any work promulgated by the Church of Authorities.
To deny this, would be to deny the authority of the Church and so be a schismatic position.
No, no one says its invalid – rather, people say it is of low quality and unedifying. And in my almost-44 years of experience, this is true.
The new Mass *could* be delivered in a much better way – but, in my experience, it never is.
In my experience, the delivery of the new Mass always reflects the personality of the parish priest (who often seem to be frustrated stand-up comedians) and the preferences of the dominant clique in the parish.
It is almost always slop, (why else do so few people attend it?), occasionally rising to the heady heights of mediocrity – and usually only then because it borrows something from tradition, like gregorian chant.
Some in the Church hierarchy retreat into a fantasy that the endurance of tradition is down to embittered old people who wont give up on the mass of their youth. Confused elderly people who “find change difficult”.
But this is absolute nonsense, from men who cant face the fact the project they have invested their lives in has failed and has greatly damaged the Church.
Most people who grew up with the traditional mass are now long dead. The last generation who grew up with it are now in their 70s. These people (like my own mother) experienced it briefly as children/youths and only have a vague memory of it.
Yet often they have strong negative opinions of it, (again like my mother and her friends), because they bore the brunt of the propaganda and brain washing which accompanied the arrival of the novus ordo.
Yes, there are some elderly people at the TLM, but in my experience most people there are people like me: parents in their 30s and 40s who want to give their young families the very best the Church has to offer.
People who want their own kids to have better than the rubbish they grew up with in the 80s and 90s. People who are invested in the Catholic faith and who take their responsibility to pass it on seriously. People who want their kids to keep going to Mass as adults.
This ultra-clerical “old guard” of the novus ordo – guys like Thomas Reese etc – will never change. Its only when new generations replace them that a fairer analysis will be given and the Church will flourish once more.
Question: would it do more good than harm, or the reverse, if people took the bishop’s decree (and letter) and simply sent it to their own bishop?
Maybe with a short, pithy comment like: “Yeah, like that.”
For my money, if I had a bishop’s ear, I would suggest that he “implement” TC by making all of his priests learn Latin, (it’s their duty, anyhow), and to request that they all learn the TLM sufficiently to say it privately, and to do so at least once a week. Of course, telling them that Summorum didn’t give them the right to say it, but observed that the right had never been taken away…and still hasn’t.