Missa Cantata at St Mary’s, Norwalk CT on Friday, March 25 7:30 pm.

Missa Cantata Friday, March 25th at 7:30 PM at St Gabriel’s, 914 Newfield Avenue, Stamford, CT 06905

Our Lady of Akita.

We join with the Japanese people in prayer at this tragic moment.

Andrea Tornielli, Messa in Latino and Rorate Caeli all report that the latest draft of the Instructions to Summorum Pontificum (“SP”) alleviates the concerns of the Traditional community. Only the two restrictive points previously mentioned (limiting the ordination of priests in the Traditional rite and clarifying that SP does not apply to the Ambrosian rite) remain. And as to the latter, Tornielli feels that the Milan diocese will in the course of time apply the principles of SP to the Ambrosian rite,  following past precedents and given the clear, reaffirmed  will of the Pope.

On the other hand, there is welcome clarification that seminarians should have available training in the Traditional liturgy. The instructions are said to restrain local bishops from restricting SP through restrictive regulations and interpretations. Finally,  the commission Ecclesia Dei seems to receive a firmer legal status. All this is welcome news.

Did the petition and other manifestations of Traditionalist concern have any role in this?  Was there once again a last minute change of course? We may never know. But believe me; the seemingly modest number of 12,000 signatures did attract attention. If the noted Vatican reporter Paolo Rodari felt compelled to mention it, you can be sure that others noticed it too.

The unfortunate fact is that these discussions regarding the Instructions have revealed the extent of the distrust the Traditional community currently feels for the Vatican. Over the last three and a half years they have seen SP implemented fully in a few places, restricted or rendered a dead letter in many more. And even in those locations where the Traditional liturgy has had access to the benefits of SP, it more often than not continues to encounter suspicion and hostility from bishops, pastors and university chaplains. To be a Traditionalist in the Church of today is still a highly political and sensitive thing. And, as a rule, during this period Pope Benedict and the Vatican have been silent regarding this situation. While the issuance of the instructions to SP, announced early on, dragged on interminably, Traditionalists were registering developments as diverse as the new Assisi conference,  further approbations of the Neocatechumenal Way, the rise of Ravasi and Fisichiella – and the continued role of Schönborn (to name just a few  concerns).  If the Instructions indeed resemble what has been reported today, one major source of anxiety and distrust will have been removed.

All these sources now predict publication of the Instructions before Easter.

See Rorate Caeli and Messa in Latino  which have now published specific details of the draft instructions to Summorum Pontificum.  See also noted Vatican reporters Paolo Rodari and Andrea Tornielli (scroll down to comment # 47) who have denied that these instructions  “water down” or restrict the application of Summorum Pontifcum – but  also confirm all  the facts reported in the two first mentioned sites. The New Liturgical Movement has consulted its own sources and found the fears of Rorate Caeli credible. We also have done our own independent research and can confirm that the fears of  the Instructions’ newly restrictive tendencies are well founded.

Already two problematic positions in the new Instructions have been reported. First, the draft specifies that SP applies only to the Roman rite. This seems to address primarily the Archdiocese of Milan where Cardinal Tettamanzi is reported not to welcome the restoration of the Traditional Ambrosian rite. This is bad enough for one of the largest Catholic dioceses in the world.  But if this would be taken to mean that SP does not apply to the derivatives of the Roman rite celebrated in various religious orders (especially the Dominicans) this would be a major reversal of policy. Tornielli, however, is of the view that under the language of the Instructions SP would still apply to these variants of the Roman rite.

The second and more significant restriction is a prohibition on the ordination of preists according to the Traditional rite, with two exceptions. First, those communities subject to Ecclesia Dei may use the Traditional ordination rite. Second, bishops wishing to ordain a priest in the Traditional rite would have to apply to Rome for specific permission to do so. The implications of this latter rule are particularly distressing. Instead of making the Traditional rite a matter of everyday availability (if not necessarily actual use) in the larger Roman rite this reservation to the Vatican associates the sacrament of Holy Orders in the “Extraordinary Form” with procedures for truly “extraordinary” situations like a change of rite or even penal proceedings! Moreover, the “spirit” of this rule will provide support for those forces that still wish to interpret SP in the manner of an indult or privilege.

The matter of greatest concern is whether these restrictions indicate a more general retreat from Pope Benedict’s previous support of traditional forms of liturgy (both “OF” and “EF”). Observers, to quote one more example, have noted a recent article critical of the Ecclesia Dei commission that appeared in the Osservatore Romano!

What can we do at this perhaps critical moment? Certainly prayer is always the best place to start. But an international petiton is now being organized in support of Summorum Pontificum:

Petition

I would encourage all of our readers to sign!

In the last day news reports have surfaced that the current draft of the long awaited instructions to Summorum Pontificum in fact greatly reduce its scope and reestablish the regime of the indult. See, for example, Rorate Caeli.  Or this report in Messa in Latino. This is what we had feared,  given the current political drift in the Vatican. We shall see what will actually happen. But for now we can only reiterate now what the editors of Rorate  Caeli request: unceasing prayer.

A last-minute reminder: The Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Purification and the talk by Martin Mosebach are going on as scheduled this evening at St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT. We had freezing rain last night and early this morning, but the temperature is rising and the ice is melting. The main roads are fine, and the parking lot is clear! We hope you can make it.

Solemn Mass and Procession: Candlemas (The Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
Reading: “‘Tear the Images out of Their Hearts’: Liturgy and the Campaign against Images”
Date: Wednesday, February 2
Time: Mass at 6:00 PM; Reading at 8:00 PM
Location: St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT (669 West Avenue)

For more information, please see here.

The Cathedral of Solothurn, Switzerland, is a late baroque/early Neoclassical structure. On January 4, a man, in a rage against the Church, set the interior ablaze. Extensive damage , especially from smoke, resulted.  But the specific target of the arsonist – and the location of most of the damage from flames – is the new “versus populum” altar, known in German as the “Volksaltar” (“people’s altar”). Now, where exactly was this arsonist coming from?

(Photo: 20 Minuten, Peter Marbach)

St. Mary’s, Norwalk, will be celebrating a Solemn High Mass on Thanksgiving day at 9:30 A.M., the feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria.

The  German website Kathnews reports HERE that the long awaited “clarifications” to the motu proprio  Summorum Pontificum “probably” will be issued before Christmas.

The Schola Cantorum of St. Mary’s Parish, Norwalk, CT (David J. Hughes, director) will give the third annual St. Cecilia’s day concert on Friday, November 19,  at St. Marys’ parish. The schola will sing vespers (in the extraordinary form) of the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary at 7:00 PM.  The concert will follow at 7:45 PM.  A festive wine and cheese reception will conclude the evening. Please see the link on this page to St. Mary’s church for directions.

The concert will feature sacred music of the Iberian and Latin American Renaissance from the Codice del Convento del Carmen, Mexico City. The suggested donation for the concert and reception is $25 ($15 students and seniors).  All proceeds will go to the St. Cecilia Society in support of the music program of St. Mary’s parish.