A Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus will be celebrated on Friday, June 28 at 7:30 pm at St. Mary Church, Greenwich, CT.

The Latin Mass of Sleepy Hollow, NY, is pleased to announce that Dr. Jennifer Donelson, Director of Sacred Music at St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie), will be starting a schola for children ages 5-14 beginning in September 2019.

Weekly classes will take place after school on Wednesday afternoons in the church hall of St. John Paul II Maronite Catholic Church at Immaculate Conception in Sleepy Hollow. Exact starting date and time to be determined.

  Children will be instructed in the Ward Method, learning both Gregorian chant and music from the Church’s tradition of sacred polyphony. In addition, the children’s schola will perform several times a year alongside the adult schola at Sung Masses in the Traditional Roman Rite, which is celebrated every Sunday at 3 PM at Immaculate Conception.  

For more information, etc. contact:                                            kevincollins1@mac.com 

Here is a list of Traditional Masses for this Feast in the CT/NY/NJ area. If there are others of which we are currently aware, please let us know and we’ll update the post. Note that a rare traditional Mass in the Carmelite Rite will be offered in Troy, NY!

St. Mary Church, Greenwich, CT. Tuesday, July 16th at 7:30 pm

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Pontifical Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 448 E. 116th St., New York City. Various events: see flyer below

Holy Innocents, New York City. Tuesday, July 16th, 6:00 pm

St. Rocco Church, Glen Cove, NY (Long Island) Tuesday, July 16th at 7pm

St. Joseph Church, 416 Third St., Troy, NY. Tuesday, July 16th at 5:30 pm, Low Mass in the Carmelite Rite (traditional).

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Poughkeepsie, NY, 7:30 pm, Solemn Mass

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Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Newark, NJ. Various events: see flyer below

Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Pequannock, NJ. Missa Cantata on July 16th, 7:00 pm

St. Dominic Church, Brick, NJ, July 16, 7:00 pm

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A little further afield, there will be a Solemn Pontifical Mass on the Feast day at 5:00 pm at the Carmelite Monastery in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. Bishop Waltersheid is the celebrant.

Thursday, June 20

Oratory of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Bridgeport, CT, 6 pm. Solemn Mass and Eucharistic procession.

Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Waterbury, Connecticut , 6 pm, Missa Cantata, Fr. Greg Markey celebrant.

Church of the Holy Innocents, New York, 6 pm, Mass, outdoor procession and benediction.

Pontifical Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New York, 7 pm, Solemn Mass. Following the Mass, there will be an Outdoor Procession with the Most Blessed Sacrament and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament at the High Altar.

Convent Chapel of St. Paul the Apostle, Jersey City, 7 pm. You may park in the church parking lot across the street from the church/chapel.

St. Josaphat Church, Bayside, Queens, 7 pm; Eucharistic procession, triple Benediction. Fr. Sean Connolly, celebrant. Reception to follow in church hall.

Sunday, June 23, External Solemnity

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, 9:30 am, Solemn Mass followed by an outdoor procession and benediction. A festive reception follows in the church hall.

Immaculate Conception, Sleepy Hollow, NY, 3 pm, Missa Cantata followed by a procession and benediction.

This letter abolishing the use of Traditional Mass among the Knights of Malta does raise some interesting questions regarding its timing. Just last evening, for example, I first heard rumors of potential restrictions from a gentleman with whom I was discussing at that very time the organization of a Traditional Mass in which a number of local knights would hopefully participate. And, as someone else has pointed out, this decree is issued on the same day as the publication of the doctrinal statement signed by Cardinal Burke, who is still (nominally at least) the Cardinal Patron of the Order.

On this Pentecost Monday the final joyous Mass of the Chartres pilgrimage has taken place. The weary pilgrims are resting. Depending on what convention you use, we now are at or nearing the end of Paschal tide. In our own New York area this holy season could be called, with some justification, a triumph of Catholic traditionalism. We counted 19 Traditional masses celebrated on the feast day of the Ascension alone; there were more for Holy Week. And the perfection and completeness of these ceremonies continues to increase. You may judge for yourselves by looking at our posts on the Holy Week services at St. Mary’s parish in Norwalk, CT. And this parish now just one of several just in the tri-state area which offer full Holy Week liturgies. More and more parishes and priests join the movement.

Examples abounded in these recent weeks of the spiritual treasures for which we Traditionalists have sacrificed so much over the years.  The Holy Week services at St Mary’s, Norwalk and their music and ceremony were indeed magnificent. But shortly thereafter, on the feast of St Hugh of Cluny (the patron of this society), I had the privilege of being part of a congregation of six at a Low Mass in a private oratory. Yet the aura of the sacred was in no way inferior to that created by St. Mary’s services of many hours. Similarly, the massive Russian Orthodox Easter Vigil services at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow were of the greatest splendor. My mind went back to the 1980’s, though; hadn’t the tiny Russian Catholic chapel of St Michael in New York, with a total of only 50-70 in attendance, achieved the same impression? For it is not the vestments, the church building, the music or the number of ministers and servers that are the essence of the Traditional Mass, but the form of the liturgy itself.

Yet, as we often remarked in recent years, there is bitterness amid the feelings of rejoicing. We are reminded again and again that Traditionalism remains very much under official suspicion – and is subject to the availability and good graces of individual priests. For example, in our region alone one long-term flourishing Traditionalist community, which had maintained a noteworthy musical program and had advertised actively for members, seems to have gotten into a dispute with its host parish on non-liturgical matters. The local ordinary got involved, and the Traditionist community was soon “banished” to an unused convent chapel, totally inadequate for their numbers. which could only be used on Sundays and which had to locked during the services. It was a return to the “catacombs” of the 1980’s! (There are indications recently that this community may be recovering from this low point).

On a more enigmatic note, a developing Traditionalist surge on Long island faced a crisis with the departure for other assignments of a couple of priests who celebrated these liturgies. The bishop of the diocese of Rockville center provided a rather un-Summorum Pontificum – like “parish solution” in which the faithful have to go to designated parishes for the Traditionalist liturgy, as opposed to priests being delegated to serve specific communities. But was this not the clearest official recognition yet of Traditionalism in this diocese? And didn’t Bishop Barres accompany his action with the most ringing public endorsement yet of Traditionalism by one of our local bishops?

“Bishop Barres wants all those who are devoted to the Tridentine Mass in our diocese to know that he is very grateful for the seriousness with which these families, often with young children, practice their Catholic Faith. He is also aware of how many young people from these families participate in events like Quo Vadis, vocation retreats, and other diocesan and parish events across Long Island. Bishop Barres is hopeful that these families can become evangelizers, promoting dramatic missionary growth for the Faith by their witness, and especially by helping to bring back to the fold those who have been separated from it. He also hopes for future vocations from them!”

Beyond the local scene, we have received word today from two sources that the members of the Order of Malta are now prohibited from using the Traditional mass in their functions – putting an end to what had been a nascent movement within the order.  Meanwhile, the disastrous trajectory of the Vatican and the hierarchy continues to unfold day by day. And Pope Francis has recently launched another of his inimitably coarse tirades against (obviously) Traditionalists.

So here we have it: the promise and the peril of 2019. But really hasn’t that always been the situation, to a greater or lesser extent, of Catholics devoted to Tradition since the 1960’s? Let’s “keep our eye on the ball” and always remember that by staying faithful to celebrating the liturgy we have come far in 30 years. In that spirit we surely will accomplish very much more whatever the future may bring!

(For photos of Holy Week see St Mary’s, Holy Week – 2019)

St. Mary’s Church, Greenwich, Ct, will offer a traditional Mass on June 28 at 7:30 pm in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.