Options for Traditional Catholics

[Bob_Aliano]

Well, I would personally love that as well, though I don’t know how economical for the Church that would be. I don’t think the EF is very popular here in SF. Then again, it hasn’t really had much of a chance.

I fear more for the spiritual lives of Catholics here than which form of the Mass they attend. Relativism is a plague here, and there’s seemingly no sense of the sacred whatsoever. Maybe it’s ill founded, but I think our loss of Friday abstinence, reverence for the Sacred Name of Jesus, keeping of Rogation Days, among other hallmarks of “traditional” Catholicism far outweigh the need for the EF over the OF.

San Fran has been doing its best to be the Sodom an Gomorrah of the modern world for as far back as I can remember so I’m not surprised about the lack popularity of the EF.

All that you mentioned are equal parts of the issue, no one is more or less important than the relegation of the EF to second class status. The Church has undergone a dumbing down in my opinion and it will be extremely difficult if not impossible to go back. The EF is an effort to do so and I’ve been hearing more about voluntary fast and abstinence on Fridays. We already celebrate the First Friday and First Saturday, the Ember Days and Holy Hour at our TLM church in an effort to regain some of what has been tossed aside.

 

[Lamafacaja]

Here is what I would do:

1. Attend the TLM 1.5 hours a way at least once per month; this shouldn’t be too much of a hardship.
2. Buy a traditional breviary (either a Monastic Diurnal or Anglican Breviary for now, or wait a few month until the Baronius one comes out). Pray Lauds and Vespers, at least, every day and familiarize yourself with the traditional calendar.
3. Don’t eat meat on Fridays, and fast on the traditional ember days. Consider keeping the traditional 3-hour fast before Mass.
4. Find the most conservative, non-clowny NO Mass you can find and attend that as your regular Sunday Mass (or Daily if possible!).
5. Buy a traditional Missal (Angelus or Baronius) and read the readings/prayers of the TLM Mass each day.
6. Pray a daily rosary (or at least a decade if a full rosary every day seems daunting).
7. Regularly visit this forum or Fisheaters (assuming it comes back up) to stay connected to other Tradition-minded Catholics.

Yes all very good.

1. Move if you can.

 

[reggieM]

Hello Catholics,

What recourse do Catholics have who wish to live a traditional Catholic life if we do not have the EF available (the nearest one is 1 hour and 30 minutes away)?

It’s been mentioned elsewhere on this thread (I think) but consider also that attending the EF is only a small part of “living a traditional Catholic life”. It could be, as for most, a Mass on Sunday.

Now you have to determine what the target is … what is a traditional Catholic life?

Many of the things that you have to do to achieve that goal are independent of the EF (depending on how you define “traditional Catholic”).

 

[Orleans_Attny]

Why ? You think Summorum Pontificum is a joke ?

Of course not. And you would be gravely mistaken if you surmised that I had something against the TLM.

But, I do disagree that celebrating “an extraordinary expression of that same ‘Lex orandi,’” is a “birthright” and that the OP should “demand” that his local parish accomodate him.

Article 5 hardly goes so far as to allow the OP to demand anything:

In parishes, where there is a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition, the pastor should willingly accept their requests to celebrate the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962, and ensure that the welfare of these faithful harmonises with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish, under the guidance of the bishop in accordance with canon 392, avoiding discord and favouring the unity of the whole Church. Celebration in accordance with the Missal of Bl. John XXIII may take place on working days; while on Sundays and feast days one such celebration may also be held. For faithful and priests who request it, the pastor should also allow celebrations in this extraordinary form for special circumstances such as marriages, funerals or occasional celebrations, e.g. pilgrimages. Priests who use the Missal of Bl. John XXIII must be qualified to do so and not juridically impeded. In churches that are not parish or conventual churches, it is the duty of the Rector of the church to grant the above permission.

All that being said: I think it would be wonderful if the OP could convince a local parish to provide mass in its Extraordinary Form.

Pax,
OA

 

[reggieM]

Interesting, from Article 5 posted:

… the pastor should … ensure that the welfare of these faithful harmonises with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish … **avoiding discord **and favouring the unity of the whole Church.