[NCRcafe] Though a Vatican official said Pope Benedict XVI wants all parishes to have a Tridentine Mass, QuebecBy the way, The Diocese of Quebec has 1,076,180 Catholics over 13,588 square miles.Cardinal Marc Ouellet expressed satisfaction with one parish in his archdiocese offering the rite.
"I think the intention of the Holy Father is to allow the practice of the extraordinary rite where there is a need and a request," the cardinal said at a June 18 press conference at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress.
"In our diocese we have one parish. At the moment there is no need for other places. I think this is responding to the need of the population," he said.
Ouellet said it is up to each bishop to determine how to handle the demand for Masses according to the extraordinary form of the Mass.
We still have a long way to go. I hope to see the clarifying letter with some specific instruction soon so that we can overcome this Episcopal minimalism.
7 comments:
"I think the intention of the Holy Father is to allow the practice of the extraordinary rite where there is a need and a request," the cardinal said at a June 18 press conference at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress.
Never mind that the Holy Father has made it known that his intention is to have it in every parish...until they are smacked down, some Bishops will continue to make things up no matter how much the facts say the opposite.
Once again, this reaction demonstrates a need for a universal diocese for tradition, as I've mentioned so many times before. Such a structure would very little limit local bishops' authority in the short term, since it would start with very little of its own sacred places at which to offer Mass, and its priests would, at first, be mostly members of groups which are presently separated from us. However, in the longer term, this would ensure an entrenchment of the Gregorian Rite of Mass.
There are indications that such a structure is in the works. In 2000, Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, representing the Pope, essentiallly offered to incorporate the S.S.P.X into an exempt international and 'personal' apostolic adminstration (which is really a 'provisional diocese'). Incredibly, Bishop Fellay turned it down!
But we now hear that, since publication of "Summorum Pontificum", a "non-Catholic bishop", representing priests and faithful and even "other bishops" has applied to Rome to reconcile with her in order to use the Gregorian Mass exclusively. This has all been reported by Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos himself. I'm not making this up, however incredible it may sound. People are speculating that the group in question may be Anglicans, Lutherans, or members of the Old Catholic or Polish National Catholic ecclesial communities.
Obviously, such a group will not want to be subjected to the local Mahonys. I suggest that this mystery group could be erected as a society of apostolic life which could then, in turn, be incorporated into such an international structure. The Transalpine Redemptorists and the Institutum Boni Pastoralis, among others, may accept incorporation as well.
The Pope could do all of this more easily as merely a way to ensure a better allocation of resources to offer the Gregorian Mass in light of the permission already recognised for priests in S.P.
The new structure would have its own bishop, a man trusted and appointed by the Pope. It would have its own cathedral (perhaps at Trent, Italy!) and its subjects would include those laics who were registered in one of its parishes or missions. It would be able to found new parishes, train priests in its own seminaries, and reconcile various independent chapels as parishes. It might be excluded from some countries as a result of the terms of concordats, and from others for political or symbolic reasons.
Just a thought.
By the way, Cardinal Ouellet is not just the Archbishop of Québec but also a close friend of Benedict XVI and considered papabile. As for S.P., it is true that nowhere does it suggest a Traditional Latin Mass for every parish, or where not requested (although it *allows* for Masses where not requested, if the parish priest wants to celebrate them). I rather think that Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos was annoyed that no English bishops showed up for his Pontifical High Mass in London, and also that he is annoyed at the continuing resistance to S.P. among bishops. That may have coloured his remarks. Lastly, Castrillón Hoyos never said that a T.L.M. would be imposed on anyone. He only said that there 'should' be one per parish. 'Should' is that ambiguous English term. In its weak sense, it only means 'it is better that'. That is all we can assume here.
Peter Karl T. Perkins
Victoria, B.C., Canada
Pope Benedict needs to offer the extraordinary form in St. Peter's. Soon. The following Monday, he need to release the S.P. clarifying document, and it needs to have some teeth. Those who oppose it need to be called on the carpet and handed their retirement papers. I can guarantee that three or four high profile examples would do a lot to straighten the rest out, at least on the surface. Let the firings begin.
The Cardinal thinks that ONE parish for over a million Catholics (how many practice the faith?) and for so miles is sufficitent?
Does anyone wonder why so many glorious churches in Quebec are museum pieces only then? Save the Liturgy, Save the World! The novus ordo liturgy has only brought the defection of millions.
On Jim's comments"
I agree entirely with Jim in principle, but the actions and policies of this Pope show that he will not proceed as suggested.
For example, he has been letting the old liberal archprelates stay on and on and on after their 75th birthdays, while he appoints more and more auxiliary bishops in dioceses which never had them before, and he even creates many new dioceses with new bishops to head them. He has also been busy filling episcopal seats in dioceses which have been long vacant (mostly in underpopulated places).
Since his policy is clearly to be diplomatic to these reprobates, the only way to implement S.P. is by various juridical means. A document on what must be taught in seminaries will likely be ignored.
He certainly can clarify S.P. in ways which erode the present fatuous claims of some bishops. But this will not solve our problems. I have contested from the outset that Section 1 of Article 5is not restrictive, since it does not include the word "only"; in other words, while a parish priest must seriously consider, at least, a petition for the old Mass made by three or more faithful, he may also proceed to offer the old Mass, even publicly, entirely on his own authority, even if there does not exist any group in the parish which wants this.
But even that, if clarified (as I know it will be), will not solve our problem. The problem is that most parish priests dare not cross their bishops, for the bishops have seemingly endless powers. Every diocese has its gulags, and a stubborn priest may find himself defiantly celebrating the Gregorian Mass at his new apostolate, as chaplain of a hospice or a prison.
The only way forward, really, is the international structure--and I think that it is coming. Rome has the diplomatic excuse it needs: a plea from outsiders to enter corporately, bishops and priests and laics. Since the salvation of souls is the highest law, and since matters between the Church and non-Catholics are the exclusive preserve of the Holy See, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos can proceed without even consulting these bishops.
I sense that His Eminence is rather annoyed at this episcopal resistance, and that we are about to see a reaction. Pray, brethren, . . .
Peter Karl T. Perkins
Victoria, B.C., Canada
"His intention to have it in every parish" -- not so, that is Castrillon's line, and it represents in any case a wish not a command. It is all the difference between WISHING that all priests were proficient in Latin and COMMANDING that it be so -- a command that would reduce the ranks of the clergy to near zero.
Anonymous,
Man up. If you want to throw bombs, at least display enough nerve to do it under your own name.
Anonymous dissenters and fight pickers of all kinds are subject to deletion at my discretion.
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