Traditional Latin Mass in Maryland

Father Zuhlsdorf of WDTPRS carries this story from Zenit on His Eminence Justin Cardinal Rigali and the TLM at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia . Here is the opening sentence of the story : Since Benedict XVI has said that the Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal promulgated by Blessed John XXIII should be available to those who prefer it, seminarians should be taught to say it, says Cardinal Justin Rigali. Father Z. has more as well as his customary commentary !

I saw this story on the New Liturgical Movement and Jeffrey Tucker, in turn, noted it on Amy Wellborn's blog . The press release is from Wake Forest University : March 13, 2008 Samuel Weber, associate professor of early Christianity and spiritual formation at the Wake Forest University Divinity School, was invited to compose original chant settings that will be performed during the Pope’s visit to Washington, D.C., April 15 – 20. The chants will be sung during Evening Prayer at 5:30 p.m. April 16 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception with Pope Benedict XVI presiding, and during a private mass with the Holy Father at the Apostolic Nunciature (Papal Embassy) the following morning. "I am deeply honored to have a small part to play in the preparation of this vesper service,” says Weber. He composed original chant melodies for the antiphons, which are scriptural verses sung before and after the Psalms and Canticles of Vespers. Peter Latona, Ba

Thomas Peters of AmericanPapist reports that Archbishop Burke has pronounced "two more" excommunications meaning "five" in two days. Go to his site for details! Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement has a thoughtful post on the attitude and the sociological details of those of us who watched the virtual disappearance of the "Latin Mass" in the 60's . He entitles his post, "Were the Catholic People Happy About the Abandonment of the Old Mass?" Yes, I was there and lived through it if you wondered about that...

Father John gives us a full explanation in WDTPRS in an at length post . He summarizes the story as follows: In a way, the change to stabiliter and non vult strengthen the rights of lay people in this regard. I don’t really understand the ramifications of the juridical sounding habitualiter (a dreadful Latin word). Yes, you have that right. On one portion, at least, the Canon lawyers may be involved ... Update: This portion of his interpretation is very meaningful and comes near the end: In article 7, non potest ("cannot") is not non vult ("does not want"). There is a big difference between not wanting to do something and not being able to do something. We are all able to do things we would prefer not to do. So, if a priest is capable, if a bishop is capable, but does not want to do something for the requests of lay people, the matter goes to Rome. In other words, if the cleric is capable, and the means are there, there is even less excuse not to rec

New Catholic of RORATE CAELI points out that Gianni Cardinale in " Avvenire " publishes the story today that the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum has been finally published in the official gazette of the Holy See, the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (dated September 7, 2007). Here are some pointed changes: A subtitle was given to the motu proprio: « De uso extraordinario antiquae formae Ritus Romani » ("On the extraordinary use of the ancient form of the Roman Rite"); In article 1, the word «conditiones» was replaced with the more correct form «condiciones» , with no change in meaning ("conditions"); In article 3, the word «plerumque» was replaced with «habitualiter» (our translation remains "habitually"); In article 5, § 1, «continenter» was replaced with «stabiliter» , avoiding the notion that the group of faithful would have to be continuous in a certain parish - it only has to exist in a stable, but not necessarily in a permanent and continuo

I am extremely happy to see the many visitors who end up on this site. As I am using Site Meter, I also get to see which search terms you have used in "Google" that lands you here. It is a bit disconcerting, however, when visitors put in search terms (which I can see) which lead them here but do not find the correct story they are looking for immediately on screen. Worse yet, I know that story is here because I posted it. Google has "cached" these terms you have entered and knows the story is somewhere on this blog (but may appear more than once). By the way, this explains the numerous labels I've entered after each story; this is to help you define a search string. Please note that in the upper left hand corner, there is a Blogger icon with a field to search this blog. If your story does not pop into view immediately, you can enter the search terms to check the archives. I was able to find several recent stories instantly using the search string the u

Father John in WDTPRS has issued a retraction in light of a letter he received from a friend by email. The letter is a response from the PCED to several questions from the correspondent. The issue pertains to Universities apparently and involves the use of the Latin word " stabiliter " and not " continenter " as Fr. John first thought. In his defense, there is great confusion on this since the Vatican website still lists " continenter " in the specific section of Summorum Pontificum in question ( 5, §1) . We will have to wait until the Holy Father clarifies this definitively.

The Passion of Saint Matthew for Palm Sunday, the Passionale , is available here from Fr. John Zuhlsdorf in MP3 format as a Podcast on WDTPRS. There is no complete Latin for this Mass online unless Fr. John posts one of his older articles from the Wanderer later this week.

Carl Olson in Insight Scoop is reporting that Archbishop Raymond Burke has declared the excommunications of would-be priestesses Rose Hudson and Elsie McGrath, and also of pretend-bishop Patricia Fresen. This decree...declares as follows : 1) that McGrath, Hudson and Fresen have incurred the censure of excommunication latae sententiae for the crime of schism (cann. 1331, 1364 s. 1); 2) that upon McGrath, Hudson and Fresen is imposed the ferendae sententiae censure of interdict for the crime of pertinacious rejection of a truth of the faith after admonition by the Ordinary (can. 1371, para. 1); and, 3) that upon Fresen is imposed the ferendae sententiae censure of excommunication for the crime of simulation of the sacrament of Holy Orders (can. 1379). Read the entire story here .

Fr. Zuhlsdorf reports in WDTPRS that in the Diocese of Novara, Italy , several priests (3), in accordance with the seeming freedoms given in the Motu Proprio , " Summorum Pontificum ," began to celebrate the older form of Mass . This lead them into conflict with the wishes of the local bishop. The newest developments are here from " La Stampa ."

Shawn Tribe of the New Liturgical Movement carries part of a fascinating interview from Petrus . The interview is with Chilean Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 1998 to 2002. Here are two small snippets: Eminence, some inside of the Church continue to oppose the Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum'… "Unfortunately it is true, but it is also necessary to remember that the Mass according to the rite of St. Pius V has never been abolished and though it is currently considered 'extraordinary', it has the same right to citizenship in the Church and the same dignity as the 'Novus Ordo' of Paul VI. It should be remembered that the bishops who were opposed to Motu Proprio of Benedict XVI are perfectly free to express their opinions civilly, but, ultimately, are required to be obedient and respect for the Pope, who is the only universal pastor of the Holy Roman Church...&q

Numerous blogs are carrying this, but here is the report from Amy Wellborn of Charlotte Was Both : Chaldean Archbishop Rahho of Mosul, Iraq has been found dead WDTPRS : Changes to the structure of the Pont. Comm. “Ecclesia Dei” - what this means WDTPRS : Card. Castrillon Hoyos to pontificate at Westminster Cathedral Rorate Caeli : "Caritas in veritate", the title of the new encyclical