A sample letter to a bishop to for an E.F. Mass

[GloriousOrder]

Dear friends , I am frankly getting fed-up with the lack of mention when it comes to Summorum Pontificum in our area. The last few weeks, I’ve been meeting people who are ‘secretly’ in the “Tridentine Resistance” , but refuse to attend the illicit Masses offered by avowed sedevacantist priests who visit our archdiocese. These people are loyal to Rome and have great hope, but are disunited.

These things in mind, please read the content of my planned letter for later this year. I beg most lovingly that you give me criticism of it; whether it might be shortened, or made better:

Petition for a regular celebration of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form

November 20, 2011​

"Your Excellency,

It is the humble wish of all the undersigned that a regular, licit Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite be established in the Archdiocese of X, in accordance with the wishes of H.H. Pope Benedict XVI in his 2007 motu proprio entitled Summorum Pontificum.

We have established, in the name of God, a stable and committed group pining for the Mass as it was approved of in twenty-second session of the Council of Trent. In this petition we offer you no guile or bitterness; instead, our tone is that of hope, in faith and with charity. Our Holy Father, the gloriously-reigning pope, has initiated his own reform of the reform. In this spirit, the undersigned wholly believe that the reform can be informed by the institution of a regular Tridentine Mass in X. By its beautiful tradition, its invocation of the faith of our ancient fathers, and its link to so many of the blessed saints, we believe that celebration of the Mass according to the liturgical books of 1962 would encourage Roman Catholics in X to love Christ and His Church more perfectly.

The members of our petitionary committee have no wish that an illicit or schismatic Tridentine Mass be celebrated in this archdiocese. Our request is for the Extraordinary Form to be celebrated either by an diocesan priest in good standing with the archdiocese; or, alternatively, by a member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, or the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, or other priestly society in full communion with the Holy See. In the name of the holy faith established by our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask this with obedience to your office.

We, the undersigned, certainly do not have any wish to abrogate the Holy Mass of H.H. Pope Paul VI. Our most fervent wish is to be able to celebrate its rich liturgical possibilities, being informed by the Mass of the Council of Trent as it existed in 1962. All holy ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church being honoured, we think it our duty to happily petition your grace: that at least one parish in our archdiocese be allowed this honour in future, totally in accordance with the aforesaid motu proprio (effective Sept. 14, 2007).

This petition is offered, in faith, for your consideration on the feast of Christ the King, our sovereign Lord.

Kissing the Sacred Ring,

THE UNDERSIGNED​

 

[Timothy17]

Dear friends , I am frankly getting fed-up with the lack of mention when it comes to Summorum Pontificum in our area. The last few weeks, I’ve been meeting people who are ‘secretly’ in the “Tridentine Resistance” , but refuse to attend the illicit Masses offered by avowed sedevacantist priests who visit our archdiocese. These people are loyal to Rome and have great hope, but are disunited.

These things in mind, please read the content of my planned letter for later this year. I beg most lovingly that you give me criticism of it; whether it might be shortened, or made better:

Petition for a regular celebration of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form

November 20, 2011​

"Your Excellency,

It is the humble wish of all the undersigned that a regular, licit Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite be established in the Archdiocese of X, in accordance with the wishes of H.H. Pope Benedict XVI in his 2007 motu proprio entitled Summorum Pontificum.

We have established, in the name of God, a stable and committed group pining for the Mass as it was approved of in twenty-second session of the Council of Trent. In this petition we offer you no guile or bitterness; instead, our tone is that of hope, in faith and with charity. Our Holy Father, the gloriously-reigning pope, has initiated his own reform of the reform. In this spirit, the undersigned wholly believe that the reform can be informed by the institution of a regular Tridentine Mass in X. By its beautiful tradition, its invocation of the faith of our ancient fathers, and its link to so many of the blessed saints, we believe that celebration of the Mass according to the liturgical books of 1962 would encourage Roman Catholics in X to love Christ and His Church more perfectly.

**The members of our petitionary committee **have no wish that an illicit or schismatic Tridentine Mass be celebrated in this archdiocese. Our request is for the Extraordinary Form to be celebrated either by an diocesan priest in good standing with the archdiocese; or, alternatively, by a member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, or the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, or other priestly society in full communion with the Holy See. In the name of the holy faith established by our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask this with obedience to your office.

We, the undersigned, certainly do not have any wish to abrogate the Holy Mass of H.H. Pope Paul VI. Our most fervent wish is to be able to celebrate its rich liturgical possibilities, being informed by the Mass of the Council of Trent as it existed in 1962. All holy ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church being honoured, we think it our duty to happily petition your grace: that at least one parish in our archdiocese be allowed this honour in future, totally in accordance with the aforesaid motu proprio (effective Sept. 14, 2007).

This petition is offered, in faith, for your consideration on the feast of Christ the King, our sovereign Lord.

Kissing the Sacred Ring,

THE UNDERSIGNED​

You cite a body outside the providence of his grace. It would follow first that you seek permission for such an organizational body and, being thus established under his Excellency’s shepherding staff, you would have an episcopal pincipal of unity (namely, him), and could thus better enjoy the blessings of Christian unity and peace promised by Christ through His One True Church.

As you must well know, outside of the Church division and discord are a haunt. As you also well know, the Apostolic Fathers were insistent that whatsoever is done outside the purview of the Bishop is done outside of Christ. I strongly recommend you first unite yourself to the Bishop for the purpose of establishing a body for the purpose of petitioning for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, then proceed from there. This will make all things go well for you, from beginning to ultimate end ; in fact, you may find it quite a boon. It would also give you an early indication of your Bishop’s feelings and concerns about the whole subject matter that may be valuable for informing all other decisions and moves towards the regular celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.

Otherwise, this letter is not only well written and beautiful but also full of Christian love.

P.S - I am not a fan of committees I wouldn’t recommend a committee-style formulation but rather something more heirarchical where responsibility and accountability are clearly defined and outlined. Committees have a horridly bad habit of hiding behing the group name, as it were, and being overly political in their thinking and operations. But this is my personal opinion from historical (name removed by moderator)ut : it may well be possible to redeem the name of committee.

Pax Christi,
Tim

 

[GloriousOrder]

Tim , your honesty is appreciated!

I agree entirely with your suggestion about extra-diocesan societies. This part will be excised or changed, depending on my progress. So far it’s just me…

For the second issue, I’m not sure I’m clear on what you mean. How can a petition be united to the archbishop’s office if it is being addressed to his office? Isn’t a signed petition necessarily outside the one being petitioned, at least during the process of gathering signatures? Do you mean that we should ask the archbishop for his blessings and permission to gather signatures, rather than coming to him with the finished petition? This is fascinating!

The use of “committee” is a preliminary term on my part. Take no heed of it!

 

[Timothy17]

Tim , your honesty is appreciated!

I agree entirely with your suggestion about extra-diocesan societies. This part will be excised or changed, depending on my progress. So far it’s just me…

People in positions of authority and leadership are naturally inclined to be sympathetic to the personal and private ambitions of persons (if they be good), because such persons (leaders) are, by nature of their positions, often very isolated. They may appear to be constantly surrounded by people, but you would be surprised how lonely a job it is ; furthermore, a beginning, individual petition of your hopes and desires ought to be welcome by him. It shows your intentions.

Consider : From his position, if suddenly a letter appears full of names, signatures and bodies he is unaware of asking him for something, then it is immediately evident that all of this happened beyond and outside of his purview. Human nature makes us feel left out, ignored : suddenly here is all this activity being summarized, and seemingly quite spontaneously presented to him. Why did no one consult me ? Did they assume I would not help ? Who are these persons, anyways ? Can I trust they are sincere ?

Whether you are one or one hundred does not effect the merit of the goal. Demographics are independent of this. First, you must know what your Bishop’s feelings are on this subject ; otherwise, it may well all have been in vain (hopefully not), and nothing but sore feelings can result from that. If, however, you discovered his present policy on the topic, you are already in a better position to know how to proceed ; furthermore, your activity and conduct are not mysterious to him anymore, as you have already informed him of it. He knows immediately that you are by no means trying to get around him or force his hand to anything.

Again, I encourage you in this enterprise. Remember again our Lord’s prayer for unity and the teachings of the Apostolic Fathers on that subject. Just as our Lord is saying “Come to me [in the Eucharist],” so is He saying, “Go to the Bishop.”

With Christian love,
Pax Christi,
Tim

 

[GloriousOrder]

You have honoured my sincere intentions with sincere answers. Would you suggest that I recast this letter into the form of a personal, private request to open a petition? Should I journey to meet him in person before sending a letter? I’m only worried about that because God made me better at writing letters than at speaking and convincing by mouth.

 

[Timothy17]

You have honoured my sincere intentions with sincere answers. Would you suggest that I recast this letter into the form of a personal, private request to open a petition? Should I journey to meet him in person before sending a letter? I’m only worried about that because God made me better at writing letters than at speaking and convincing by mouth.

So with Moses. Do you remember God’s feelings on that ?

“Go to the Bishop!”

And God bless you on your way,
Tim

 

[laszlo]

The use of “committee” is a preliminary term on my part. Take no heed of it!

The usual term is: ‘we undersigned’

I believe before petitioning the bishops it is easier to ask the advise of a local pastor

If you like committee the easiest way is to gather 3-4 people and ask the local pastor that you want to pray regularly in the Church together, e.g the Compline or Vespers.

In Hungary a group did that They started to pray part of the 12th Century office from historical documents) and after about a year a Norbertian priest found them and he says TLM for them every Sunday in a diocesan parish. Fast growing group.

scribd.com/doc/39812010/Clsma-Flyer-2-6-An

(recently the masses are are at 12 noon every Sunday, they gather 50-100 people)

 

[ConstantineTG]

Petition for a regular celebration of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form

November 20, 2011​

"Your Excellency,

It is the humble wish of all the undersigned that a regular, **licit** Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite be established in the Archdiocese of X, in accordance with the wishes of H.H. Pope Benedict XVI in his 2007 motu proprio entitled Summorum Pontificum.

We have established, in the name of God, a stable and committed group pining for the Mass as it was approved of in twenty-second session of the Council of Trent. In this petition we offer you no guile or bitterness; instead, our tone is that of hope, in faith and with charity. Our Holy Father, the gloriously-reigning pope, has initiated his own reform of the reform. In this spirit, the undersigned wholly believe that the reform can be informed by the institution of a regular Tridentine Mass in X. By its beautiful tradition, its invocation of the faith of our ancient fathers, and its link to so many of the blessed saints, we believe that celebration of the Mass according to the liturgical books of 1962 would encourage Roman Catholics in X to love Christ and His Church more perfectly.

**The members of our petitionary committee have no wish that an illicit or schismatic Tridentine Mass be celebrated in this archdiocese.** Our request is for the Extraordinary Form to be celebrated either by an diocesan priest in good standing with the archdiocese; or, alternatively, by a member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, or the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, or other priestly society in full communion with the Holy See. In the name of the holy faith established by our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask this with obedience to your office.

We, the undersigned, certainly do not have any wish to abrogate the Holy Mass of H.H. Pope Paul VI. Our most fervent wish is to be able to celebrate its rich liturgical possibilities, being informed by the Mass of the Council of Trent as it existed in 1962. All holy ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church being honoured, we think it our duty to happily petition your grace: that at least one parish in our archdiocese be allowed this honour in future, totally in accordance with the aforesaid motu proprio (effective Sept. 14, 2007).

This petition is offered, in faith, for your consideration on the feast of Christ the King, our sovereign Lord.

Kissing the Sacred Ring,

THE UNDERSIGNED​

I’d take out or rephrase those I bolded. Be always positive in your letter. Making references that may be misinterpreted as a threat of going to the SSPX or sedevacantist chapels may go against your group. Also the first mention of licit isn’t clear, it may be construed as you’re implying that the OF is illicit instead of talking about TLMs from groups not under him, and again would go against your petition. Better to be concise and clear and elaborate and confusing.

Also you mentioned SP twice. To share with you at work, when I write an email to someone and I cite company policies and procedures, the intention is to put that person in his/her place. You don’t want to make the bishop feel that way. You don’t want him to think, “why does this guy keep bringing up SP? Does he think he can compell me one way or another?” Unless you really know the bishop’s personality and temperament, its best to try to avoid all possible situations where he might get offended. Sound more like someone who’s asking for a huge favor from someone who wouldn’t just give in, rather than someone who’s trying to compell him to do something based on what a higher authority is saying.

 

[GloriousOrder]

You confirmed two of my biggest worries, Constantine. Thank you! All traditionalists must strive to be in a state of good will toward all men. Even one tiny sentence or word that smacks of ill-will should be excised post-haste. I’ve removed the bolded areas, and deleted one reference to S.P., transferring it to the third paragraph (switching paragraphs 3 and 4 around). My biggest worry is coming across as pushy, especially since he is the ordained bishop and I am of the laity:

" It is the humble wish of all the undersigned that a regular Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite be established in the Archdiocese of X.

We have established, in the name of God, a stable and committed group pining for the Mass as it was approved of in twenty-second session of the Council of Trent. In this petition we offer you no guile or bitterness; rather, our tone is that of hope, in faith and with charity. Our Holy Father, the gloriously-reigning pope, has initiated his own "reform of the reform". In this spirit, the undersigned wholly believe that the renewal can be informed by the institution of a regular Tridentine Mass in X. By its beautiful tradition, its invocation of the faith of our ancient fathers, and its link to so many of the blessed saints, we believe that celebration of the Mass according to the liturgical books of 1962 would encourage Roman Catholics in X to love Christ and His Church more perfectly.

The undersigned do not have any wish to abrogate the Holy Mass of H.H. Pope Paul VI. Our most fervent wish is to be able to celebrate its rich liturgical possibilities alongside the Mass of the Council of Trent as it existed in 1962. All holy ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church being honoured, we think it our duty to happily petition your grace: that at least one parish in our archdiocese be allowed this honour in future, in accordance with the motu proprio *Summorum Pontificum* of 2007.

Our request is for the Extraordinary Form to be celebrated by a diocesan priest in good standing with the archdiocese. In the name of the holy faith established by our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask this entirely in obedience to your office, submitting ourselves to your decision in the matter. This petition is offered, in good faith, for your consideration on the feast of Christ the King, our sovereign Lord."

 

[malphono]

I have to ask a question: has your request for the EF been rebuffed by the local pastor? If not, I’d suggest that he be the starting point. Personally I wouldn’t go to the bishop unless there was a problem with the pastor. Going directly to the bishop is giving at least the appearance of asking for an “indult” Mass.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Just to share, I’m also trying to get a program going in the Archdiocese that will expose people to Eastern Catholicism and make them at least aware of Eastern Churches. Its a much more difficult thing to do because I have to work with 2 bishops (although I have the blessings already of our UGCC Eparch). But I’m careful that I don’t want the RC bishop to think I’m targetting on fleecing his flock. Sure, I want converts to fill in the Ukrainian Churches, but I want to target those who already fallen away from the Catholic faith. But I told myself, how can we attract coverts if our brother Catholics themselves aren’t aware of us?

You confirmed two of my biggest worries, Constantine. Thank you! All traditionalists must strive to be in a state of good will toward all men. Even one tiny sentence or word that smacks of ill-will should be excised post-haste. I’ve removed the bolded areas, and deleted one reference to S.P., transferring it to the third paragraph (switching paragraphs 3 and 4 around). My biggest worry is coming across as pushy, especially since he is the ordained bishop and I am of the laity:

" It is the humble wish of all the undersigned that a regular Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite be established in the Archdiocese of X.

We have established, in the name of God, a stable and committed group pining for the Mass as it was approved of in twenty-second session of the Council of Trent. In this petition **we offer you no guile or bitterness**; rather, our tone is that of hope, in faith and with charity. Our Holy Father, the gloriously-reigning pope, has initiated his own "reform of the reform". In this spirit, the undersigned wholly believe that the renewal can be informed by the institution of a regular Tridentine Mass in X. By its beautiful tradition, its invocation of the faith of our ancient fathers, and its link to so many of the blessed saints, we believe that celebration of the Mass according to the liturgical books of 1962 would encourage Roman Catholics in X to love Christ and His Church more perfectly.

The undersigned do not have any wish to abrogate the Holy Mass of H.H. Pope Paul VI. Our most fervent wish is to be able to celebrate its rich liturgical possibilities alongside the Mass of the Council of Trent as it existed in 1962. All holy ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church being honoured, we think it our duty to happily petition your grace: that at least one parish in our archdiocese be allowed this honour in future, in accordance with the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of 2007.

I’d take out the bolded again. Don’t assume there’s any negative emotions. I learned that in call center training when I worked for one in the past. For example, some would say, “I understand your frustration,” when the customer hasn’t even said or expressed any frustration. Empathy should be out of feeling what the other is feeling and not anticipating what the other is feeling. Always be positive in the letter, don’t think he has any negative or ill emotions, and don’t mention any contentious topics especially in the first letter, unless you are directly addressing it. Like the second bolded sentence. Think of it this way, he may not be thinking of sedevacantists or SSPX sympathizers at the moment, but now you put that thought into his mind. You have given him reason to doubt.

I’d really like to come up with a sample letter myself, but its saturday and its still morning, my brain is half-speed. Maybe later today I can offer more help.

Our request is for the Extraordinary Form to be celebrated by a diocesan priest in good standing with the archdiocese. In the name of the holy faith established by our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask this entirely in obedience to your office, submitting ourselves to your decision in the matter. This petition is offered, in good faith, for your consideration on the feast of Christ the King, our sovereign Lord."

 

[GloriousOrder]

ConstantineTG, your aid is most gracious and helpful, especially for such an innocent person as myself. Your logic on negative subjects is clear and precise. - Sigh, by the time I’m finished this’ll only be one or two sentences in length! Good luck with your own endeavor!

I’ve changed the negative bits to:

1. “By this petition, we come to you for help filled with hope, in faith, and with charity.”
2. “Our most fervent wish is to be able to celebrate the rich liturgical possibilities of the Mass of H.H. Pope Paul VI alongside the Mass of the Council of Trent as it existed in 1962.”

I have to ask a question: has your request for the EF been rebuffed by the local pastor? If not, I’d suggest that he be the starting point. Personally I wouldn’t go to the bishop unless there was a problem with the pastor. Going directly to the bishop is giving at least the appearance of asking for an “indult” Mass.

Your concern makes sense; however, I think Summorum Pontificum only takes away a priest’s requirement to seek his bishop’s permission. My impression is that lay-people must petition the bishop to even start such a movement. I’m here for practical answers, not rhetoric or anything about valid or invalid Masses. Hmm…

 

[runningdude]

I don’t mean to be a late comer to this thread, but I wish to share some thoughts on this effort that may help you make your request to your bishop in greater charity and humility.

For starters, the Muto Propio you cite is my no means an absolute right to the celebration of the old rite in Latin. It is more a permission for properly trained priests to offer such a ministry if they were already inclined to offer such a mass and and had the appropriate resources. This builds upon Ecclesia Dei, which gave explicit permission to implement such a ministry to the bishops (who technically already had the authority, but rarely used it).

Preparing for such a ministry will take an enormous amount of effort and personal sacrifice on the bishop’s part and the clergy of the diocese. He will have to pull one of his Priest’s from day to day ministry for special instruction in liturgical Latin. The Priest to make a major life decision to take on the additional responsibilities of a Latin mass ministry in addition to the challenges and sacrifices he faces in his current ministry. The priest and the bishop must also study the rubrix of the old mass, as well as learn an entirely separate liturgical calendar and Reading Lectionary.

I have heard that there is the potential to commit hundreds of “mortal sins” by improperly following the rubrix, so this no simple matter, though I’m sure the church’s mercy is great in this regard.

As if the personal sacrifices were not substantial enough, there is still the cost of instruction for the priest (which may compare to tuition at major universities), as well as the cost of renovations to the host parish’s building to make it suitable for celebration of the liturgy. These renovations could be an ongoing expense, as the bishop would likely wish to rotate the priest as he already does with much of his clergy. The bishop’s job is one that requires careful allocations of human and material resources to meet the spiritual needs of his flock. No man is perfect for the job, and no man (save the one who died and rose for our sins) has all the skills and creativity to meet every single request that comes his way.

The letter you send is no simple request. Your asking the bishop to consider setting up a ministry that will likely take years of preparation. It can’t be rushed. The “stable and committed” group you’ve set up would have to remain dedicated for quite a while to see the fruits of its labors. You’ll have to be prepared to sacrifice and fill thousands of flap jacks to help fund the education and renovation costs. In your letter, you’ll have to express your commitment to helping with this effort and seeing it through. The last thing the bishop wants to see is all this investment in priestly development fail should the Latin mass community dissolve.

You personally as the author of this letter must be willing attend and contribute to dozens or hundreds of planning meetings with the bishop, future pastor and chancery staff. This is a huge commitment, and you have to be willing to see it through and fight for it for the Bishop to begin the steps to implement it. I don’t mean to discourage your efforts. I valued my visit to my diocese’s Latin ministry. I just hope to give you an appreciation for why your bishop might be reluctant to help, and why you need to approach this will humility and obedience.

God Speed,

R.D.

 

[malphono]

Your concern makes sense; however, I think Summorum Pontificum only takes away a priest’s requirement to seek his bishop’s permission. My impression is that lay-people must petition the bishop to even start such a movement. I’m here for practical answers, not rhetoric or anything about valid or invalid Masses. Hmm…

Actually, no. It is, in the first place, up to the priest. If he willing and able, that’s quite sufficient. Now, if the priest has a problem accommodating the request, he will say so, and at that point, the matter could be taken to the bishop. Just my :twocents:

 

[ProVobis]

I’ve changed the negative bits to:
…
2. “Our most fervent wish is to be able to celebrate the rich liturgical possibilities of the Mass of H.H. Pope Paul VI alongside the Mass of the Council of Trent as it existed in 1962.”

This is good. It stresses the synergical potential of the two forms together.

 

[InquisitorMax]

TLDR

Just keep it formal, friendly, succinct and polite. I bet bishops get a lot of letters from cranks, written in green ink. Make yours a nice surprise for the man.

Back it up with a good-size congregation, if he can find a priest to say it.

 

[MarkThompson]

With all due respect – and I know whereof I speak, since it is a tendency I constantly have to fight – I would tone down some of the unnecessarily florid language. When it happens in a Church document, it sounds magisterial and ancient. When it happens in a private letter, it tends to sound phony and insincere. In a couple of places it actually gets you into trouble, such as when you write “we offer you no guile or bitterness.” Gee, thanks, you’re too kind. And let’s also look at how many different ways you can find to refer to what your asking for, just in a letter this short:

• Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite
• the Mass as it was approved of in twenty-second session of the Council of Trent
• Tridentine Mass
• the Mass according to the liturgical books of 1962
• the Mass of the Council of Trent as it existed in 1962

Huh? Are these even the same thing? Consider that the 22nd Session of the Council of Trent was held in 1562, eight full years before the Missale of Pius V was issued. Is that what you want? If I were you, I’d just call it on the first occasion “the Traditional Latin Mass, according to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII, which Pope Benedict XVI has called the Extraordinary Form of our Roman Rite,” and thereafter “the Extraordinary Form.”

I would also dump things you do not need to inform your Archbishop of, such as “Our Holy Father, the gloriously-reigning pope [is there some other Holy Father?], has initiated his own reform of the reform.” Read SP and the accompanying letter to bishops again. The Pope did not say, “I am doing this so that I can ‘reform the reform’”; he said “I am doing this for people who ‘continue to adhere with great love and affection to the earlier liturgical forms’ which ‘deeply marked their culture and their spirit.’” Write your letter from that standpoint: this is our deep spiritual desire.

Those are my suggestions. Getting rid of the phony-sounding language will go a long way toward making the letter clear and direct. That includes changing “Kissing the Sacred Ring” (which you cannot do in a letter anyway) to “Yours in Christ.”

 

[GloriousOrder]

Well then… Draft 4:

"It is the humble wish of all the undersigned that a regular Latin Mass, according to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII (which H.H. Pope Benedict XVI has called the “Extraordinary Form of our Roman Rite”), be established in the Archdiocese of X.

We have established, in the name of God, a stable and committed group pining for the Extraordinary Form. By this petition, we come to you for help with hope: in faith, and always with charity. Our Holy Father has initiated a program for those who 'continue to adhere, with great love and affection, to the earlier liturgical forms', which 'deeply marked [our] culture and spirit'. In this spirit, the undersigned submit to your grace the idea that the archdiocese can be enriched by the institution of a regular Extraordinary Form Mass in X. By its beautiful tradition, its invocation of the faith of our ancient fathers, and its link to so many of the blessed saints, we believe that celebration of the Extraordinary Form would encourage Roman Catholics in X to love Christ and His Church more perfectly.

Our most fervent wish is to be able to celebrate the rich liturgy of the Mass of H.H. Pope Paul VI alongside the Extraordinary Form of 1962. All holy ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church being honoured, we think it our duty to happily petition your grace: that at least one parish in our archdiocese be allowed this honour in future, informed by the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of 2007.

This request is for the Extraordinary Form to be celebrated by a diocesan priest in good standing with the archdiocese. In the name of the holy faith established by our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask this entirely in obedience to your office, and to any decision you make on the matter. 

This petition is offered in good faith, for your consideration on the feast of Christ the King, our sovereign Lord.

Yours in Christ​

"

 

[ProVobis]

I don’t mean to be a late comer to this thread, but I wish to share some thoughts on this effort that may help you make your request to your bishop in greater charity and humility.

For starters, the Muto Propio you cite is my no means an absolute right to the celebration of the old rite in Latin. It is more a permission for properly trained priests to offer such a ministry if they were already inclined to offer such a mass and and had the appropriate resources. This builds upon Ecclesia Dei, which gave explicit permission to implement such a ministry to the bishops (who technically already had the authority, but rarely used it).

Preparing for such a ministry will take an enormous amount of effort and personal sacrifice on the bishop’s part and the clergy of the diocese. He will have to pull one of his Priest’s from day to day ministry for special instruction in liturgical Latin. The Priest to make a major life decision to take on the additional responsibilities of a Latin mass ministry in addition to the challenges and sacrifices he faces in his current ministry. The priest and the bishop must also study the rubrix of the old mass, as well as learn an entirely separate liturgical calendar and Reading Lectionary.

I have heard that there is the potential to commit hundreds of “mortal sins” by improperly following the rubrix, so this no simple matter, though I’m sure the church’s mercy is great in this regard.

As if the personal sacrifices were not substantial enough, there is still the cost of instruction for the priest (which may compare to tuition at major universities), as well as the cost of renovations to the host parish’s building to make it suitable for celebration of the liturgy. These renovations could be an ongoing expense, as the bishop would likely wish to rotate the priest as he already does with much of his clergy. The bishop’s job is one that requires careful allocations of human and material resources to meet the spiritual needs of his flock. No man is perfect for the job, and no man (save the one who died and rose for our sins) has all the skills and creativity to meet every single request that comes his way.

The letter you send is no simple request. Your asking the bishop to consider setting up a ministry that will likely take years of preparation. It can’t be rushed. The “stable and committed” group you’ve set up would have to remain dedicated for quite a while to see the fruits of its labors. You’ll have to be prepared to sacrifice and fill thousands of flap jacks to help fund the education and renovation costs. In your letter, you’ll have to express your commitment to helping with this effort and seeing it through. The last thing the bishop wants to see is all this investment in priestly development fail should the Latin mass community dissolve.

You personally as the author of this letter must be willing attend and contribute to dozens or hundreds of planning meetings with the bishop, future pastor and chancery staff. This is a huge commitment, and you have to be willing to see it through and fight for it for the Bishop to begin the steps to implement it. I don’t mean to discourage your efforts. I valued my visit to my diocese’s Latin ministry. I just hope to give you an appreciation for why your bishop might be reluctant to help, and why you need to approach this will humility and obedience.

God Speed,

R.D.

You make some excellent points. The first letter to a bishop (if we know that there haven’t been other requests) will probably only be sowing seeds, if you will, so it should be written with that in mind. But better to let him know of even one person interested, even one sentence should suffice, because unless someone tells him otherwise, he’ll probably assume NOBODY in his diocese cares enough to ask for the EF.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Let me take a stab at it:

*To: His Eminence, xxx, (Arch)Bishop of xxx

Dear (Arch)Bishop xxx,

Greetings of peace and love from your humble flock.

We are a group of lay members of your (arch)diocese whom have come together because of our interest and love in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Mass. Some of us grew up with the Traditional Latin Mass and have sorely missed it and some of us are of the younger generation are in awe and captivated by its beauty through experiences in attending it or through watching it through video. We have come to humbly ask Your Excellency if it would be possible to grant us a regular Mass said in the Extraordinary Form in our (arch)diocese as it is our desire to worship God in this form for its beauty and elegance, as well as our desire to be the continued bearers of our Church’s long tradition of the Mass in this form.

Our group is composed of a number of people who have signed this letter of petition. We are willing to give our time and effort to you, your office, and the parish of XXX* in organizing, promoting and supporting the Mass in the Extraordinary Form, as well as any other work that may be needed to make this petition come to fruition and ensure its continued success. Below we have provided the contact persons and their details for your office to get in touch with.

Lastly, we would like to thank you for taking time out to hear our petition. We eagerly await your response and we always have faith that the outcome will always be what God has willed for us all.

Yours in Jesus Christ,

XXXXXXXXX

Okay. The reason I wrote it this way as opposed to how you wrote it are the following:

a. I don’t want to mention the SP or the Pope. The last thing you’d want the Bishop to feel is you flashing a piece of paper at him and saying, “your boss said you should do this for us. So do this for us.” You may bring this up at a later discussion or correspondence, but not the first.
b. I tried to keep it short and direct, who you are, what you want, a simply why, an offer to do something to make it successful, then thanks. If this goes beyond the initial petition, there’ll be plenty of time to talk with him or his office about why the EF is so great and why you love it. At this point you just want to capture his attention first.
c. I omitted the specifics you tried to add. At this point you want to know if he’ll agree to having the EF first. Overloading him with details like which priest from which society you want will distract the conversation. He may also feel that you’re making a lot of the decisions for him. Ask him first if he’ll agree to an EF Mass.

ALSO, add some more details like if you already spoke to a parish pastor and he’s willing to have his space or also if he himself is in support of this and is willing to say the Mass. Don’t add too much, you want to capture his attention and interest. Details can and will come later.