gpmj12
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Bishops in the United States continue to issue new restrictions on the celebration of the ordinary form of the Mass ad orientem alongside implementation of Pope Francis’ restrictions on the extraordinary form of the liturgy.
The policies, now in place in dioceses across the country, require priests to seek permission to offer Mass facing East, even while many liturgical scholars regard the practice as a legitimate option in canon law and liturgical texts.
The legality of these new restrictions is unclear and, as yet, untested, while bishops in different places have offered different rationales for their policies.
Bishop Edward Rice of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri, issued Aug. 7 a text on the diocesan implementation of the pope’s own legislation Traditionis custodes* , regulating the celebration of Mass according to the extraordinary form.*
“So what does Traditionis custodes ask of the bishop?” Rice wrote in the letter, which was termed on the diocesan website a motu proprio.
“Referring to Bishops as ‘Guardians of tradition,’ we are called ‘to facilitate the ecclesial communion of those Catholics who feel attached to some earlier liturgical forms and not to others.’”
Noting that Pope Francis defines the ordinary form of the Mass to be the “unique expression of the ‘lex orandi’ of the Roman Rite,” Rice wrote that it is his responsibility to ensure that “groups who attend Mass according to the Missal prior to the reform of 1970 do not deny the validity and legitimacy of the liturgical reform dictated by Vatican II.”
The bishop’s text went on to explain that, after he wrote to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the diocese has been granted by the Vatican a two-year period to identify a suitable venue for the celebration of the prior form of the liturgy, and that he had determined that it will be held stably in a student center in Springfield, in line with the norms of Traditionis custodes.
Departing from the provisions of Traditionis, however, Rice ended his text by saying, “I request at this time that all priests celebrate Mass facing the people.”
“As of the writing of this column, I have had no priest request permission to celebrate Holy Mass in any other way. And with the documents cited in this column, I have tried to highlight my rightful authority in making this request.”
Rice’s request, apparently referring to the celebration of the ordinary form of the Mass versus populum, raises a number of canonical issues.
The legal status of the bishop’s request is not clear.
Rice’s letter does seem to suggest, however, that he intends that priests of the diocese obtain his permission before celebrating Mass according to the ordinary form while facing ad orientem.
Similar policies have been issued by other American diocesan bishops in recent weeks, months, and years, though their legal authority is unclear.
Those policies have also raised a number of questions about the scope and intent of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, as well the limits of bishops’ authority to regulate otherwise approved forms of the liturgy.
Read on here…
I feel like a mother hen, but if only, if only those who want access to the TLM or the OF ad orientum, would focus on the virtues of obedience and humility… fruits which would demonstrate the spiritual efficacy of the forms they desire.
The policies, now in place in dioceses across the country, require priests to seek permission to offer Mass facing East, even while many liturgical scholars regard the practice as a legitimate option in canon law and liturgical texts.
The legality of these new restrictions is unclear and, as yet, untested, while bishops in different places have offered different rationales for their policies.
Bishop Edward Rice of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri, issued Aug. 7 a text on the diocesan implementation of the pope’s own legislation Traditionis custodes* , regulating the celebration of Mass according to the extraordinary form.*
“So what does Traditionis custodes ask of the bishop?” Rice wrote in the letter, which was termed on the diocesan website a motu proprio.
“Referring to Bishops as ‘Guardians of tradition,’ we are called ‘to facilitate the ecclesial communion of those Catholics who feel attached to some earlier liturgical forms and not to others.’”
Noting that Pope Francis defines the ordinary form of the Mass to be the “unique expression of the ‘lex orandi’ of the Roman Rite,” Rice wrote that it is his responsibility to ensure that “groups who attend Mass according to the Missal prior to the reform of 1970 do not deny the validity and legitimacy of the liturgical reform dictated by Vatican II.”
The bishop’s text went on to explain that, after he wrote to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the diocese has been granted by the Vatican a two-year period to identify a suitable venue for the celebration of the prior form of the liturgy, and that he had determined that it will be held stably in a student center in Springfield, in line with the norms of Traditionis custodes.
Departing from the provisions of Traditionis, however, Rice ended his text by saying, “I request at this time that all priests celebrate Mass facing the people.”
“As of the writing of this column, I have had no priest request permission to celebrate Holy Mass in any other way. And with the documents cited in this column, I have tried to highlight my rightful authority in making this request.”
Rice’s request, apparently referring to the celebration of the ordinary form of the Mass versus populum, raises a number of canonical issues.
The legal status of the bishop’s request is not clear.
Rice’s letter does seem to suggest, however, that he intends that priests of the diocese obtain his permission before celebrating Mass according to the ordinary form while facing ad orientem.
Similar policies have been issued by other American diocesan bishops in recent weeks, months, and years, though their legal authority is unclear.
Those policies have also raised a number of questions about the scope and intent of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, as well the limits of bishops’ authority to regulate otherwise approved forms of the liturgy.
Read on here…
I feel like a mother hen, but if only, if only those who want access to the TLM or the OF ad orientum, would focus on the virtues of obedience and humility… fruits which would demonstrate the spiritual efficacy of the forms they desire.
