From a reader:
Dear Father Z:
Some people in Glasgow are considering asking Archbishop Conti for a personal parish.
They are going to get some names of people who want one – a petition – and present them to His Excellency.
Then, since they expect a refusal, they intend to appeal to Rome, as the Archbishop is obligated to provide them with a full-time, all-Traditional parish in a convenient location.
I don’t believe that is the case, but they insist there is documentation to that effect.
I wouldn’t mind petitioning the Archbishop, but I am afraid that they may just be spoiling for a fight or something.
Do you know of anything written that indicates an Archbishop must provide people with a full-time personal parish if they request it?
No, I don’t think the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum obliges a bishop to establish a "personal parish".
The Motu Proprio obliges parish priests, pastors, to give some sort of positive response to members of the faithful who make a request. But that is at the level of the parish.
If the priest at the parish cannot (or will not) do what he can so that reasonable requests are met, then the diocesan bishop is obliged to do something. What that "something" is is not spelled out. My reading of the relevant paragraphs leads me to think that he is strenuously urged to provide Masses at the least, somewhere in someway. He really should provide for the people’s needs. One war of responding could be the establishment of a "personal parish".
If we consider that there may be only a handful of people in various parishes requesting unwilling or unable pastors for the older Mass, it makes sense, in a way, to set up a "personal parish" so that those people can have their legitimate needs fulfilled. As a beginning, that can be a good solution.
However, I am cautiously supportive of "personal parishes". The caution comes from the need to avoid creating an isolated community, a ghetto as it were, thus diminishing the possibility that the older Mass will also be established in other parishes of the area.
Summorum Pontificum is really aimed at the parish level, more than the diocesan level. However, the "personal parish" is, probably, a necessary step in some places. It can be a good solution in the beginning.
If I were in any way involved with that group of people, whom you suggest might be trying to pick a fight… or at the least going into this process with a chip on their shoulders… I would warmly recommend that they adopt a warm and cordial tone. They can urge and insist, but they would be well advised to keep it friendly and respectful, leaving aside what the bishop will probably just take as threats and challenges to his authority.
That usually doesn’t work very well with bishops, by the way.
You are practically guaranteeing long delays and frustration by going into this with an attitude.
Come preannunciato lo scorso agosto, inizia ad essere celebrata stabilmente una nuova messa in rito ambrosiano antico nell’arcidiocesi di Milano. Domani, sabato 18 Ottobre, alle ore 17.30, nella chiesa di S. Ambrogio, in via S. Ambrogio a Legnano (zona pastorale IV), si celebrerà la messa cantata in rito ambrosiano antico. Il cardinale Dionigi Tettamanzi, capo rito, ha accolto la richiesta di un gruppo di fedeli animati dal Movimento Liturgico Benedettiano, che si propone di portare avanti la “via ambrosiana” al motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. A partire dalla settimana successiva, la messa antica sarà celebrata a Legnano, ogni domenica e festa di precetto sempre alle ore 17.30 (secondo l’edizione del Missale Ambrosianum del 1954 edito dal beato Schuster). Il celebrante sarà monsignor Attilio Cavalli Penitenziere emerito della chiesa cattedrale. La messa di Legnano si affianca a quella già da molti anni esistente in Milano, alla chiesa del Gentilino. Sappiamo che ci sono state resistenze verso il motu proprio. Questa notizia sta però a significare che se il documento papale non viene brandito come una rivincita-rivendicazione, e i fedeli attaccati all’antico rito si muovono nell’ottica della comunione ecclesiale, è possibile ottenere ciò che si chiede.
luciavento on ASK FATHER: Is it a sin to take a 15 minute leave during a terrible homily?: “Yes, I have done this. I am avoiding the near occasion of sin.”
