Here is a nice piece of news from the News Leader. I have written about the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau before.
My emphases and comments.
Two parishes to begin Latin form of Mass on Sunday
News-Leader staff
Two parishes within the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau will begin offering the Tridentine Mass, in Latin, beginning Sunday.
Monsignor Raymond Orf will preside at a 2 p.m. Tridentine Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Springfield. The Mass will be offered the second Sunday of each month.
[But wait… there’s more!!]
Father Joseph Orthel will celebrate the Tridentine Mass at St. Peter Catholic Church in Stockton each Sunday at noon.
Later this spring, the Tridentine Mass will be celebrated once a month, during the week, at St. Ann Church in Carthage and Sacred Heart in Willow Springs.
The [Re]introduction of the Latin Mass came as a response to an apostolic letter, Summorum Pontificum, by Pope Benedict XVI that spoke of allowing two forms for celebrating the Catholic Mass — the ordinary form and the extraordinary form. [I rather like the phrasing here: it sounds as if the Novus Ordo is being "allowed" as well!]
The “ordinary form” of Mass, using the vernacular language [Oh well… the vernacular is "allowed" in the Novus Ordo, while Latin remains the official language.] of those attending, was enacted by Pope Paul VI following Vatican Council II. Such Masses have been offered in the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese in such languages as English, Spanish and Vietnamese. [A manifestation of the division of peoples which we would love to see healed by having them all together, praying together, with a common liturgical language.]
The “extraordinary form” uses the Roman Missal, written in Latin, originally enacted by Pope St. Pius V in 1570. [Ironically, the lame-ICEL translation still in use for the Novus Ordo sure seems not even to have written in Latin.]
Other differences between the two forms include:
• The “ordinary form” of the Mass has a three-year selection of scripture readings on Sundays and a two-year cycle for weekdays; the “extraordinary form” has a one-year cycle of scripture readings.
• Holy Communion is received only under the form of bread when the extraordinary form of Eucharist is celebrated; people may receive both the host and from the cup in the ordinary form of Mass.
• The priest in the ordinary form of Mass faces the people while the priest celebrating the Tridentine Mass has his back to the congregation. [This is simply a common error. In practice this is how it works out, but according to the books and tradition of the Church, Mass in the Novus Ordo also should be ad orientem.]
• Servers at the extraordinary form of Mass are boys; at the ordinary form of Mass girls may serve and laity may serve as lectors and Eucharistic ministers. [I think according to the law they "may" serve also at the altar in the older form, but they life expectancy of the priest who would try to get away with that… well… better not to avail oneself of that option.]
This is good news for the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.
Didn’t they get a new bishop recently?
I’m just asking….
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This is spectacular news. There is a very solid Catholic community in and around Stockton which sometimes has only informal means of coming together from what I understand. They will benefit greatly from this.
They are about to get a new bishop. Fr. Vann Johnston, a native of the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, has been appointed Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. From all the accounts I have heard and read about, he seems extremely open to the celebration of the Extraordinary Form.
Wow. That was fast.
Bishop-elect Fr. Vann Johnston is pastor of my local parish, and here are some paragraphs I previously posted:
This appointment is wonderful news for everyone in Springfield-Cape Girardeau who loves properly and reverently celebrated liturgy, including those who seek the traditional Latin Mass. As chancellor of the Diocese of Knoxville, he has been a warm and encouraging chancery friend of the Knoxville Latin Mass community, and was largely responsible for our original indult.
It is a special loss for the parish where he was just appointed pastor about six months ago. In that short time, the daily Masses I attend have been completely “squared away” (Roman Canon on all feasts and solemnities, chapel veils and burses reintroduced, some Latin chants, etc.), new more traditional hymnals containing the Novus Ordo in Latin have been purchased, altar servers now wear cassocks and surplices, hold communion patens and receive on the tongue, and a decision has been announced to move the tabernacle back to a central position behind the altar.
It is gratifying to see such an exemplary priest and pastor as Fr. Johnston plucked out of a remote location like ours and appointed to the episcopacy, but his departure will be a personal loss to everyone here who knows him well. Not least in that — his so clearly being episcopal timber — so many of us were hoping and praying he would be staying here as our own new bishop.
As an incidental footnote, I might mention that a large congregation received ashes this morning without the use of a single lay minister, and that our associate pastor showed up for yesterday morning for Mass wearing the first fiddleback Roman chasuble our post-Vatican II parish church has ever seen. I can only hope our great leap forward can be completed before Fr. Johnston leaves for his installation there on March 31.
Actually, it isn’t really fast. A group of people from the Springfield area offered their services to Father Joseph Orthel for sewing altar linens, tabernacle veils, etc. Still others experienced in serving the Traditional Mass trained servers and helped Father to work with them. Other help was offered, including the building of gradines for his altar. It took three full months to get ready for what was, last Sunday, a heavenly experience for all of us. We are so grateful to Father Orthel for doing this and saying the Mass every week. It is an added Mass for his schedule.
Carthage is just starting to get ready, but the priest there committed to learn the Mass sometime last fall and has not yet had the time to do it, since he not only takes care of a parish but a school as well.
Springfield Mass at Holy Trinity parish is at 2:00 on the second Sunday every month for six months. (Except that the new bishop could change that when he gets here.) Springfield is benefitting from the altar boys trained at Stockton, which is one hour northwest of the city by car.
Willow Springs is being offered by a wonderful, holy older priest, as is Springfield. It is very good that things are on their way and we thank God for that. Only He knows the many years of prayer and suffering offered up for the restoration of this Mass in our diocese. Deo Gratias!!!
The priest we have at St Ann in Carthage also has a large Hispanic population which at times can be like having an additional parish under his care since many things are duplicated between the English and Spanish speaking parishioners. Please keep him and all of our priests in your prayers. I’m very excited at the good news in our diocese of late.
The priest we have at St Ann in Carthage also has a large Hispanic population which at times can be like having an additional parish under his care since many things are duplicated between the English and Spanish speaking parishioners. Please keep him and all of our priests in your prayers. I\’m very excited at the good news in our diocese of late.
**The [Re]introduction of the Latin Mass came as a response to an apostolic letter, Summorum Pontificum, by Pope Benedict XVI that spoke of allowing two forms for celebrating the Catholic Mass [in the Latin Church] — the ordinary form and the extraordinary form.**
What would prevent a Traditional Latin Mass priest from using intinction for distributing the Precious Body and Blood? Why should it not be an option, if it isn’t?