I happened to be assured by His Grace, when I had the pleasure of meeting him, that it was his job and role in the Church to do the will of the Holy Father, and to apply this to his local church. Well, it looks like he has come up trumps with his implementation of Summorum Pontificum. I would love to know what the Holy Father thinks of this impressive interpretation of a very straightforward Motu Proprio (with accompanying clarifying letter by the Holy Father, of course)!
As you can see from the above picture, taken at the Linacre Conference on 7th July 2007, he must have been plotting this move from the first day the MP was released!!
Hat tip to Fr Zuhlsdorf (who provides a fuller commentary). Sorry I have been delayed in getting this news to my readers, who I'm sure will be eager to know of these developments. From reading WDTPRS, more and more Bishops are being openly hostile towards this move by the Holy Father. I suppose it is to be expected. The rest of the world must be scratching their heads in bemusement, especially when this kind of stuff reaches the general secular media.
"Notice that there is to be a "stable group", a single request does not establish such a group. Moreover the group is to be identified as adhering to the earlier liturgical rite. A vague hankering for the old days is not an adherence to the earlier rite; this document has been issued to attempt to address serious divisions, not a generalised longing for days past. The word "adhere" is fundamental to the use of the extraordinary form. I find it difficult to envisage that there are any "stable groups" in our diocese who "adhere" to the 1962 Missal. There are clearly individuals who do so, but when offered a weekly celebration of Mass in the 1962 Missal less than 30 people regularly attend. Furthermore it is difficult to say that people who do not regularly attend the 1962 Missal when it is actually available "adhere" to this Rite.
"I would not envisage a situation where the celebration of the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite meant that the ordinary form was not celebrated that day. It is to be noted that the canonical limits on bination remain intact.
"Art 5.3 also permits the extraordinary form for marriages, funerals, or occasional celebrations. The reference is to the Missal and not to the Tridentine Ritual.
"Priests ordained after 1970 are unlikely to be qualified to celebrate the Mass according to the 1962 ritual. It is certainly clear that a one week course would be insufficient to so qualify a priest. The discernment is mine... As the chief liturgist of our diocesan community I expect to be consulted so that I may confirm that any particular priest, before he begins to do so, is "qualified" to celebrate the extraordinary form in parishes. In that way I may exercise my responsibility in collaboration with you and help prepare in my mind the required report to the Holy Father which he requests within the next three years.
"Article 9 refers to the permission granted to parish priests to use the earlier Ritual for four of the sacraments…it is to be noted that this article falls under the same requirements that there be a stable group with an attachment to the prior rite, that the ordinary form is not displaced and that the priest be suitable qualified....I require that you consult me before making use of these rites so that I may verify the circumstances for the use of the earlier Ritual and your suitability for its use.
"...no-one may be forced to take part in the 1962 rituals when they would wish to celebrate according to the ordinary Rite.
"I look to you, the priests of the diocese to cooperate with me in this matter so that all may be done in the spirit of unity that the Holy Father so urgently seeks."
As you can see from the above picture, taken at the Linacre Conference on 7th July 2007, he must have been plotting this move from the first day the MP was released!!
Hat tip to Fr Zuhlsdorf (who provides a fuller commentary). Sorry I have been delayed in getting this news to my readers, who I'm sure will be eager to know of these developments. From reading WDTPRS, more and more Bishops are being openly hostile towards this move by the Holy Father. I suppose it is to be expected. The rest of the world must be scratching their heads in bemusement, especially when this kind of stuff reaches the general secular media.
Is this the bishop that poked Joee Blogs in the chest?
ReplyDeleteAt least the good bishop mentioned it and took notice of its existence.
ReplyDeleteOur bishops have decided to kill it by ignoring it altogether.
Damien Thompson has a large number of comments on this ridiculous outburst by an otherwise and hitherto loyal archbishop (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ukcorrespondents/holysmoke/august2007/glasgowarchbishoprebels.htm)
ReplyDeleteBTW, it has now been posted on the Glasgow Diocesan website. Presumably if he had got the red hat, all would be well. As it is, Cardinal O'Brien has presided at a celebration of the Extraordinary Rite on the Feast of the Assumption, without rancour.
i love the 'stable' bit..that kinda rules me out! lol
ReplyDeleteDisappointing though Archbishop Conti's statement will be to many who desire the general use of the extraordinary rite, he does illuminate the hard reality of implementing Summorum Pontificum. Scottish Catholicism is different from Catholicism generally in these islands and he points to the practical difficulties. It has always been simpler and the huge Irish influx in the Lowlands also prefer plain worship, as it does in Ireland itself. If you read what he says carefully it is hard not to agree that, in the majority of cases, there will be no strong demand for it and few priests who will be qualified to celebrate it. Remember, too, that the FSSP has a parish in Edinburgh and a relatively few number of people attend their church - photographs show how small the congregation is. And in Glasgow the SSPX church is tiny and also has small congregations. In Britain as a whole easily 98 per cent of the Catholic population are content with the ordinary rite and would not understand the need for change. After all, Matthew, the attendance at the extraordinary rite in the Birmingham Oratory is, as you know well, fairly thin in comparison with the size of congregations at other Masses, and it has been available there for some years. Not long ago a friend attended the Solemn Mass in the ordinary rite and she was shocked how scattered the congregation was in comparison with the London Oratory. It is good that the extraordinary rite has been freed but its availability will long be a minority option and hard to find outside cities.
ReplyDeleteGretel: Actually, on the occasions when the Birmingham Oratory has offered the Extraordinary Rite in the main church, at the High Altar, it has been extremely well attended (especially when considering they were weekdays and no longer holy days of obligation). It is unfair to compare the congregation size of a side chapel Mass with main Parish Masses (which are advertised in the Catholic Directory and outside on the main notice board, contrary to the Tridentine Mass).
ReplyDeleteI think its simply a good thing priests are affirmed that they can say the Old Mass if they desire. Likewise that the faithful who benefit more from the older use of Mass aren't crazy or necessary old-fashioned (with the Holy Father also affirming the attraction of young people). I don't believe the true fruits about Summorum Pontificum will be reduced to a popularity contest: it has more to do with how the Holy Father has expressed them as two forms of the same Rite, without any supposed rupture or contradiction.
I don't expect the number of Extraordinary Masses to increase exponentially either, and agree that it will remain a minority option. But at least there is now the option for this to grow and bear fruit if that is the will of God. In any case, I don't expect any sort of religious group to grow if it is suppressed under the condition that they must present themselves as an already 'stable group' to receive sanction. It is like expecting a fortress to build itself without a team of workers or a plan to get them started. If that makes any sense at all!!
Generally speaking, the Latin Mass is well attended at the Oratory - and this says a lot for the use of Latin in the liturgy, and the way the Oratory Fathers craft finely organised reverent worship. This is regardless of the fact it is "Novus Ordo" and goes to show that what we have come to accept as 'ordinary' in our parishes is more the result of fashions, rather than the will of the Church and the text of the (original Latin) Missal itself.
True Protestants who love the Bible as their sole authority for faith and practice reject
ReplyDeleteany welcome to the Pope in Scotland !
Psalm 118 v 8