If bishops want to have any credibility at all when they ponder how to implement Traditionis custodes (the best way is simply to apply can. 87 and ignore it entirely), they have to say the Traditional Latin Mass for people themselves. Otherwise, bishops are merely “experts of the law” who, as Jesus describes, “bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them.” (Matthew 23:4)
Therefore, I was please to see that His Excellency, Most Rev. John Doerfler (whom I knew many years tangentially in St. Paul when he was in minor seminary) of the Diocese of Marquette, celebrated a Pontifical Low Mass. If I am not mistaken, his predecessor, then Bp. Alex Sample regularly did the same at the cathedral.
I have limited photos, but here is one.
Fr. Z kudos to Bp. Doerfler for doing this.
For you readers… I urge you to ACTION!
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The Diocese of Marquette also transformed their schools into classical schools.
Tiny Marquette’s good example could lead many other dioceses back to sanity (and Catholicity!).
Father, are there any other times in the history of the Church when ignoring a Moto Proprio entirely would have been a good idea? Have saints ever done it or advised the faithful to do so?
I’m struggling to understand how a Catholic can, in good conscience, just ignore the clear mind and will of the Holy Father in regards to something that is clearly within his jurisdiction.
Paul, I think the issue is your assumption at the end. Is this within his jurisdiction?
Hypothetically, could the pope make the TLM the unique expressions for Mondays and Thursdays, the Byzantine for Tuesdays and Fridays and Sundays, the syro-malabar for Saturdays and Wednesdays? If not, why?
Could the pope ban the rosary? If not, why?
Could the pope ban the breviary or ban Marian feast days? If not, why?
In my mind, I would react violently and horribly if the rosary were banned, and the liturgy is more important.
So, I disagree with your premise that the pope can just ban liturgies when he wants.
In reply to PaulK, Francisco Suarez is widely quoted as having said:
‘If the pope gives an order contrary to right customs, he should not be obeyed; if he attempts to do something manifestly opposed to justice and the common good, it will be lawful to resist him; if he attacks by force, by force he can be repelled, with a moderation appropriate to a just defence’. According to Klaus Gamber, Suarez also went so far as to say the pope would be a schismatic were he to change all the liturgical rites which had been upheld by apostolic tradition. The quotes, with references, of Suarez and other great theologians of the Latin tradition can easily be found online should you wish to find more answers to your question. Correct obedience is clearly an important part of the spiritual life, stressed as it has been by many saints, but surely we mustn’t allow a repeat of the destruction that was wrought in the 1960s and ’70s on the back of what we must all now see were misguided scruples in the application of that particular virtue.
Thanks Fr. Z for this, along with other recent news from Bp. Olmsted of Phoenix, Bp. Conley of Lincoln, and commenters chiming in with news from Genoa and Abp. Tasca, and Bp. Lucia of Syracuse NY. A commenter added “Support these bishops if you can.” An excellent point.
Meanwhile in Ireland the Rosary Rallies and handing out of Miraculous Medals continue to chip away at the Disorders of the Age. On Christmas just west of Paris at St. Germain-en-Laye priest and faithful gathered for Holy Mass in the rain outside a locked church (incidentally, SG-e-L was the Headquarters of the Nazi “OB West” during 1940-44, it is known for its specially designed bunkers), and in Montreal there is Holy Mass outside the Cathedral of Marie-Reine-du-Monde.
Last I heard Clear Creek Abbey has High Mass every day at 10 am, certainly there are other monasteries.
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
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Best of all, after Archbishop Sample left Marquette, Bishop Doerfler fully respected and implemented Sample’s previous letters on Sacred Music. Doerfler’s diocese carefully implemented their own hymnals over a five year period. No more OCP hootenannies at Mass! Ironically, Sample now has to sit on the Board of OCP and opposition to him continues as a satanic river in the diocese of Portland. We have to attend our local parish on a few holy days (and not our regular TLM). The choir and bad guitar music still reeking there is an insult to him and our liturgical traditions. Don’t these fossilized people in the pews even care to understand why this non-sacred music is so disrupting our worship? Do they not even read any Catholic media to know what is going on at the Vatican? I mean, is it really all about feeling good about yourself at the Sign of Peace? Or that Faux Eucharistic Minister toddling over to altar in pants and tee shirt to receive the Body of Our Lord in the hand, and immediately sanitizing said hands in front of the congregation? It makes me want to scream with fingers in ears. . . and that’s not usually a good Responsorial. Fortunately, Archbishop Sample’s formal response to TC is a brilliant model others could emulate. We just pray he stays here for a while.
In these days of vaccines and boosters 1,2,3, can we take some blood out of this good Holy Bishop and inject all the others?
Just as in the US where we are evolving into 2 countries – the red states where our traditions of individual freedoms are still respected i.e. no “vaxport” needed to go to a restaurant, and blue states not do much, we now are evolving into 2 churches, the “red” dioceses where being able to worship traditionally are respected, and “blue” dioceses not so much.