I
Irish_Polock
Guest
I recently inquired to my liturgical director for our parish about starting a Extraordinary Form of the Mass at some point in time. My inquiry was more “could it be a possibility” and he responded with:
“With regard to the celebration using the Extraordinary Form of Mass, our parish has not attempted to do so because we do not have any priests who, as required by Article 5 Paragraph 4 of Summorum Pontificum Motu Proprio Datae, which indicates that a priest must be qualified to use the Missal of Blessed John XXIII.”
Understandably a priest must understand what he is saying and have a working knowledge of Latin, but I would think this would be a requirement for any Priest whim answers to the Church in Rome. This is obviously not the case; a couple questions of mine question would be:
** Exactly how much Latin would a Parish Priest be required to take while in seminary?
If any is required; are they expected to make any type of effort to maintain this knowledge?**
Further, our liturgical director also stated that in the brief existence of our parish (40 years), that the facts remains to be proven that “a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition” (Article 5 paragraph 1) could be found in our parish. This statement kind of set me back a bit, I have no doubt that there have been very few to inquire about a EF mass, but have they ever offered the opportunity up to the parish. And what exactly constitutes a “stable group”…
20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew (RSV) 18)
I am not trying to be obtuse, I would not expect a parish to schedule a EF mass for a minuscule group; although I would be interested in exactly what is meant by “a stable group” and the numbers of souls they apply this statement to.
Our liturgical director also asked:
“…who would benefit from this form. Those who have never attended a Tridentine Mass, but have only been told about it, cannot be said to “adhere” to a tradition which they never had.”
This seems myopic to me. Obviously everyone could benefit from the EF Mass, whether or not anyone would attend is remains to be seen. He implied that if you do not know Latin ‘at the collegiate level’, you will not “fully understand” the liturgy, or much else. I know very little Latin and I can attest that at least I can fully understand and my family of 5 can appreciate the EF Mass, even if we have to follow the liturgy in a Latin/English translated Missal.
Thanks in advance.
“With regard to the celebration using the Extraordinary Form of Mass, our parish has not attempted to do so because we do not have any priests who, as required by Article 5 Paragraph 4 of Summorum Pontificum Motu Proprio Datae, which indicates that a priest must be qualified to use the Missal of Blessed John XXIII.”
Understandably a priest must understand what he is saying and have a working knowledge of Latin, but I would think this would be a requirement for any Priest whim answers to the Church in Rome. This is obviously not the case; a couple questions of mine question would be:
** Exactly how much Latin would a Parish Priest be required to take while in seminary?
If any is required; are they expected to make any type of effort to maintain this knowledge?**
Further, our liturgical director also stated that in the brief existence of our parish (40 years), that the facts remains to be proven that “a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition” (Article 5 paragraph 1) could be found in our parish. This statement kind of set me back a bit, I have no doubt that there have been very few to inquire about a EF mass, but have they ever offered the opportunity up to the parish. And what exactly constitutes a “stable group”…
20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew (RSV) 18)
I am not trying to be obtuse, I would not expect a parish to schedule a EF mass for a minuscule group; although I would be interested in exactly what is meant by “a stable group” and the numbers of souls they apply this statement to.
Our liturgical director also asked:
“…who would benefit from this form. Those who have never attended a Tridentine Mass, but have only been told about it, cannot be said to “adhere” to a tradition which they never had.”
This seems myopic to me. Obviously everyone could benefit from the EF Mass, whether or not anyone would attend is remains to be seen. He implied that if you do not know Latin ‘at the collegiate level’, you will not “fully understand” the liturgy, or much else. I know very little Latin and I can attest that at least I can fully understand and my family of 5 can appreciate the EF Mass, even if we have to follow the liturgy in a Latin/English translated Missal.
Thanks in advance.
