Well, I suppose to an extent, there has been a line drawn in the sand; the requirement is 125.
What was not said was what 125 represents - 5% of the parish? 15%? 25%? 2%? Less? More?
One a different thread, there was a comment from someone in a parish in California with something like 11,000 parishoners, 7 Masses on the weekend and one priest.
Assuming these numbers are correct, 125 does not seem necessarily unreasonable in terms of the overall needs of the parish and the ability of the priest to meet the needs of the parishoners, depending on the size of the parish. Without a context of how many attend Mass regularly in this parish, how many priests and how many Masses, we are only left to speculate and say “Oh my!” to the number given. The number needs to be in context. It has been discussed elsewhere that it may be that several parishes will need to draw together to have enough participants to sustain an EF Mass given the rest of the logisitics of the parishes.
The MP does not say what a “stable group of faithful” consists of, and I assume there was some wisdom in not defining it by a number, as that could vary in % of parishoners - that is, if it said “25” that could either be a very small percentage, or a large one depending on the total size of the parish.
Thus, while Fr. Z seems upset by the number required in this parish, he hasn’t said how that relates to the parish as a whole, or how many Masses they have currently.
Obviously, the MP provides a means of appealing if there is a feeling that the matter is not being handled correctly; but if anyone is to do so, they had best go into the matter with a list by name and address of who wants the EF. They will also need to supply the context of the size of the parish,etc. if they intend to get anywhere with an appeal. Their alternative will be to get others in surrounding parishes to join.
