Latin Mass at my parish

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rfournier103

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I am about to request permission from my pastor to ask around the parish to guage interest in having a Latin Mass once a month.

What I am hoping for is the eventual formation of a “Latin Mass Society” and a weekly Latin Mass on Sunday. But first things first…

Have any of you undertaken something like this at your parish (getting a weekly Latin Mass after there were none at all)? Did you establish an “interest group” (‘club’ isn’t the right word) or something similar? How did you go about it?

Thank you for your replies.
 
Before requesting permission from the pastor, ask him what his thoughts are. Some may not be open to it.
 
Some people at our parish inquired. But the pastor, stating that he did not know or understand enough Latin to feel comfortable, and that he had not experienced enough of a demand to change that on his part, declined to offer it, and put the address of the one Parish in the Archdiocese that has a weekly traditional TLM Mass in the bulletin. To my knowledge no one from our parish has gone there. It’s a pretty large distance from us.
I’m not sure the numbers who attend that parish. We have a huge Archdiocese, but the interest for Latin is minimal. 🤷
 
Feel free to contact unavoce.org or the Latin Mass Society directly. You may find others in your area able to work with you on this.
 
Thank you all for your replies!

I will be asking permission from the pastor of my parish because I would never go around asking about interest in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite behind his back. One of his Parochial Vicars IS qualified to celebrate the Extraordinary Form, so there is no excuse to not have it.

Unless I grossly misread Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio of 2007, if a pastor flat out refuses to allow for the Tridentine Mass, the matter can be brought to the bishop (see section 7).

I am confident that if I could get at least a dozen or so people interested, I think the idea of a regular Tridentine Mass at our parish could become a reality. I am just wondering what the best way to ‘recruit’ people would be (once I ‘get permission’, of course).

w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_ben-xvi_motu-proprio_20070707_summorum-pontificum.html

PS: Thanks for the link to www.unavoce.org!
 
rfournier103 said:
Thank you all for your replies!

I will be asking permission from the pastor of my parish because I would never go around asking about interest in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite behind his back. One of his Parochial Vicars IS qualified to celebrate the Extraordinary Form, so there is no excuse to not have it.

Unless I grossly misread Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio of 2007, if a pastor flat out refuses to allow for the Tridentine Mass, the matter can be brought to the bishop (see section 7).

I am confident that if I could get at least a dozen or so people interested, I think the idea of a regular Tridentine Mass at our parish could become a reality. I am just wondering what the best way to ‘recruit’ people would be (once I ‘get permission’, of course).

w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_ben-xvi_motu-proprio_20070707_summorum-pontificum.html

PS: Thanks for the link to www.unavoce.org!
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I hope you didn’t read my post as a refusal on our pastor’s part.
There was only interest from 3 people, and those were so elderly, likely they would not have come regularly. We only have one priest. The Archbishop has not suppressed the TLM. There just is not much interest here. If people seek it, they go to that certain parish.
 
Yes, we did this back in 2007, right after 7/7/2007. And we were eventually successful.

First step is to organize like minded people into a “society” and request recognition from your pastor. Prepare a petition and circulate it in all neighboring parishes. Hold an organizational meeting and pray the Rosary together. Identify ALL needs, such as altar items. vestments, altar boys, and a possible schola. Continue praying the Rosary at least monthly together. Involve as many folks as you can. If the priest refuses or says he doesn’t know Latin, don’t be discouraged. Politely petition the Bishop and ask for help finding a priest.

We had to send 3 separate petitions to our Bishop with still no response. Then we petitioned Rome. and wham permission was granted. Our first Mass was in August of 2008. It was just a monthly Mass but it was a start.

After 7 years and many twists and turns we now have a Traditional Latin Mass every Sunday. Many of us drive long distances to support other groups and to talk with them about our experiences.

Trust in God and always be polite. Its OK to be persistant along with that. Just never take “NO” for an answer.

God Bless 🙂 👍
 
I support a few groups in some way (links I posted earlier) as my diocese does not offer a TLM. Those who want it must travel at least 30 miles to another diocese for a diocesan TLM. After some of the Masses, I’ve learned at least 15-20 people or more are certainly interested in my diocese that come to the closest TLM. One priest that is from my diocese has learned the TLM, and will often go to the church in the neighboring diocese to celebrate it & does so very well. At least one college age server is from my diocese, he serves at both Mass forms and is discerning a vocation to the priesthood - he is leaning towards the FSSP or another TLM society.

Please pray that someday my diocese which is the only one in my state will someday have the TLM available even if its a monthly basis for a start.
 
rfournier103 said:
Thank you all for your replies!

I will be asking permission from the pastor of my parish because I would never go around asking about interest in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite behind his back. One of his Parochial Vicars IS qualified to celebrate the Extraordinary Form, so there is no excuse to not have it.

Unless I grossly misread Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio of 2007, if a pastor flat out refuses to allow for the Tridentine Mass, the matter can be brought to the bishop (see section 7).

I am confident that if I could get at least a dozen or so people interested, I think the idea of a regular Tridentine Mass at our parish could become a reality. I am just wondering what the best way to ‘recruit’ people would be (once I ‘get permission’, of course).

w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_ben-xvi_motu-proprio_20070707_summorum-pontificum.html

PS: Thanks for the link to www.unavoce.org!
Click to expand...
You should note that it requires a “stable group” to request for the TLM to be introduced. Here you may encounter your first problem because “stable group” is not defined either in percentage of parishioners or parishioners in actual numbers.
Then for a TLM to be celebrated it requires a priest that is proficient in Latin, meaning the priest must have a working knowledge of Latin. It is not sufficient for a priest simply to memorise the prayers in Latin.

Finding a priest who can speak Latin could prove difficult. Many seminaries these days do not even teach Latin.
 
thistle said:
You should note that it requires a “stable group” to request for the TLM to be introduced. Here you may encounter your first problem because “stable group” is not defined either in percentage of parishioners or parishioners in actual numbers.
Then for a TLM to be celebrated it requires a priest that is proficient in Latin, meaning the priest must have a working knowledge of Latin. It is not sufficient for a priest simply to memorise the prayers in Latin.

Finding a priest who can speak Latin could prove difficult. Many seminaries these days do not even teach Latin.
Click to expand...
Yes, but Latin can be learned outside the seminary. Or Spanish or any other language, for that matter.
 
thistle said:
You should note that it requires a “stable group” to request for the TLM to be introduced. Here you may encounter your first problem because “stable group” is not defined either in percentage of parishioners or parishioners in actual numbers.
Then for a TLM to be celebrated it requires a priest that is proficient in Latin, meaning the priest must have a working knowledge of Latin. It is not sufficient for a priest simply to memorise the prayers in Latin.

Finding a priest who can speak Latin could prove difficult. Many seminaries these days do not even teach Latin.
Click to expand...
One of our parochial vicars is qualified to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. Told me so himself.

I’m thinking that if we can get about 25 or 30 signatures on a letter, we should be taken seriously.

The bad news for us is that our pastor is leaving next month to take on a new assignment in the Archdiocese; and I am certain that this will not even be remotely on his “to-do” list between now and then. On the other hand… it gives us time to garner more support and have this “stable group” somewhat organized in time to greet out new pastor with open arms! 😃
 
I was introduced to the E.F. of the Mass through Una Voce. This group invited Fr. Scott Haynes from St. John Cantius (Chicago) to facilitate an in-depth tutorial for both priests and servers interested in celebrating the E.F. I suggest you visit websites for Una Voce and Sancta Missa www.sanctamissa.org/ for information (you can find Fr. Haynes’ contact info. here). We now have the E.F. Mass (Low Mass) once a week in our diocese and, have even celebrated the Missa Cantata (Sung Mass/High Mass) on a few occasions. It takes a dedicated group, willing bishops and priests, and hard work to make it happen. However, the beauty of the E.F. of the Mass is well worth it to me.
 
ProVobis said:
Yes, but Latin can be learned outside the seminary. Or Spanish or any other language, for that matter.
Click to expand...
I agree but it is much harder to find a Latin teacher than a Spanish teacher.

The point I am making is that for the TLM to be celebrated the priest must be proficient in Latin, unlike the laity who can simply learn the prayers by heart.

The Bishop could simply tell any “stable group” that much as he might be agreeable to a TLM there are no priests in the diocese who are proficient in Latin. He is not obliged to get priests trained up in Latin.
 
thistle said:
The point I am making is that for the TLM to be celebrated the priest must be proficient in Latin, unlike the laity who can simply learn the prayers by heart.
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Doesn’t Canon 249 require all priests to be proficient in Latin, whether they asprire to say the EF or not?
 
thistle said:
I. He is not obliged to get priests trained up in Latin.
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That is true, but if priests are interested, there are opportunities.

My pastor spent a week with the Canons of St. John Cantus in Chicago to get trained in the Mass. In the process, they verified that his Latin was sufficient to meet the requirements of Summorum Pontificum.
 
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