We want an EF mass. The priest says we sound like schismatics

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godisgood77 said:
The pastor is not going against the Pope… he has great latitude when discerning making the the pastoral care of the parish and favoring the unity of the whole Church.
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And having an EF Mass at the parish is against unity? Aren’t both forms of the Mass equally valid and licit? Are they barring anyone from outside their group from attending? Are they using it as a place to promote disagreement with the Pope or the pastor? What disunity are you talking about?
 
Fauken said:
And having an EF Mass at the parish is against unity? Aren’t both forms of the Mass equally valid and licit? Are they barring anyone from outside their group from attending? Are they using it as a place to promote disagreement with the Pope or the pastor? What disunity are you talking about?
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I’m not making a statement about the EF at all… please do not take it that way. My point is that priest has the authority to make a judgement on what is best for the parish in general and specifically called out in the reference to SP cited earlier. I wouldn’t presume to know the priests reasons, but recognize his authority.
 
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With all due respect, and speaking as someone who has no particular objection to Latin Mass and attends them from time to time, I can see a pastor being concerned if
  • Only 11 in a parish want to have a special Mass seemingly “just for them” (whatever kind of Mass they want…I’d say the same if it were charismatic Mass or Christian Contemporary Rock Mass or whatever)
  • it’s a traditional Mass and there’s an SSPX church nearby to which this pastor might have lost parishioners in the past
  • many of the 11 people making the request are young, impressionable, and might well not stay in the parish long term
The priest may want to emphasize that Mass is Mass and there’s nothing wrong with OF Mass. Trad communities within parishes, like other types of faith communities within parishes, can be divisive. I’m not saying they always are, but I can also see why a priest wouldn’t just automatically agree to a Latin Mass.
 
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If the Mass is open to all (and I assume it would be), it can’t legitimately be interpreted as “just for them.” And the priest is missing an opportunity to instruct ALL of the parish on the validity of both forms of the Mass.
 
He might think his parish isn’t ready for that.

It’s a reasonable position to take. I like the Latin Mass myself, but I don’t think it’s universally good for all Catholics, nor do I think it needs to be promoted or explained to all Catholics.

And having a Mass “open to all” doesn’t mean much if only a dozen people show up and the pastor is thinking “for a dozen people you want me to do this?”
 
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Eleven is a decent number for a start especially if the group already has a priest willing to do it. It will definitely grow from there. I wonder if that might be what the priest that denied them is afraid of.
 
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned that the priest must have the ability to offer the EF. Latin is paramount as are all the rubrics connected to it. Many seminaries do not offer Latin in the depth as formerly taught.

My understanding of the requirement for an EF is a stable group, eleven of which I do not consider “stable.” There is also the consideration that a priest is limited to how many masses he may offer in a given weekend, and unless the parish is gifted with an associate pastor, he may not dismiss one of his regular masses of obligation to the entire parish, in order to offer the EF instead.

It may also be uncomfortable for him to offer facing the altar, when he is so used to facing the congregation.
 
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I think you missed the part where I said a priest we know would be happy to come up and celebrate it on Sundays and is totally trained in celebrating it and does frequently.
 
I think you missed the part where I said a priest we know would be happy to come up and celebrate it on Sundays and is totally trained in celebrating it and does frequently.
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Prodigal1984 said:
We know a priest who thinks it would be a great idea to have one in the northern diocese and will serve it.
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I did not get the impression from your post above that he was willing to come to your specific parish and celebrate it, but rather that he thought it would be good to offer it to parishes in the north. Sorry if I misunderstood your words.

Edited to add:
Fr. Matthew Mary spoke at Mass today about the differences between schism, heresy and rigidity. It was an excellent homily and the mass will be repeated at 12:00 PM and 7:00 PM today.

It is no doubt offensive to you that your pastor implied you are schismatic, but not knowing your tone and manner of approach, he may just be reacting to unpleasant experiences with some traditionalists in the past who WERE rigid and schismatic, and lumped you into the group.
 
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If I were you, I would offer to cover the costs of adding a Mass.
 
If the parish has only one priest who is already celebrating one or two Masses on Sunday, and a Mass on Saturday, and has all the other pastoral duties 24/7, asking him to celebrate an EF Mass might seem like a lot of extra work.
 
on_the_hill said:
If the parish has only one priest who is already celebrating one or two Masses on Sunday, and a Mass on Saturday, and has all the other pastoral duties 24/7, asking him to celebrate an EF Mass might seem like a lot of extra work.
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We want an EF mass. The priest says we sound like schismatics Liturgy and Sacraments
I think you missed the part where I said a priest we know would be happy to come up and celebrate it on Sundays and is totally trained in celebrating it and does frequently.
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Thank God that’s all I can say. And young adults like the group you describe tend to have lots more children than the norm who mostly grow up traditional and orthodox Catholics, like the saints of old. That is my own observation before anyone jumps on me! 💐🙂
 
But how many Masses does he already Celebrate during the weekend?

In my diocese, priest are allowed to celebrate no more than 3 Masses between Saturday evening and Sunday, and that is only because we have such a shortage. Typically, a priest should only celebrate Mass once per day.

There are many, many factors that a Pastor must look at in making this type of decision.
 
Once again it is not the pastor of the Church who would be saying it but one of the priests in the diocese who says the EF frequently who is willing to travel to the parish and say the Mass.
 
They already have a priest lined up… so I assume that priest knows how many Masses he can handle. No one is asking the pastor to celebrate the EF.
 
From 1ke above: ‘Perhaps the priest you have approached to celebrate the EF mass would be willing to talk to his brother priest about his desire to celebrate it and the potential to draw back SSPX chapel goers to the Church through this endeavor?’

That’s interesting 1ke. That is exactly what our church did
 
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A few observations based on acutal experience:
  1. On arranging for a special mass: I participated in a project to have a mass offered in a language other than English. A priest is “imported” from a parish located two hours away. He is willing to come and celebrate on a regular basis. The organizing group has to cover the costs, including church lighting, etc. The mass is offered on Sunday afternoons. Those in attendance come from many different parishes.
  2. Latin Mass - I asked a priest once if he was interested in offering a mass in Latin. He said that the church tried it once but there was no interest.
  3. Parish unity - offering the mass in a different form does not seem to undermine “unity” of the parish. Latin mass could bring more people into the church and the parish. The priest in your case doesn’t want to bother.
 
If that is the case, this priest needs to contact the pastor and work it out with him. No priest is permitted to offer Mass in a parish without specific permission of the pastor.
 
Especially if he was never trained in the EF. That is often the biggest challenge, finding a priest who is trained to celebrate, has “free time” every Sunday, and then finding trained servers.
 
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