On Friday, February 24, 2023, in a parish in the Southeast United States that offers the Traditional Latin Mass daily, the Pastor informed the congregation that he would be reading the lesson, gospel and other select parts of the Traditional Latin Mass in English in order to conform to Traditiones Custodes. This particular parish has grown from attendance of 90 to more than 500 regularly every Sunday with more than 100 attendees regularly every single Friday at noon.[2]
The spokesperson for the diocese did not respond to requests for clarification by publishing deadline. However, a person in the diocese with knowledge of the situation said, “It is not the case our bishop has specifically required this, nor has he, as of yet, made any pronouncement regarding the Traditional Latin Mass whatsoever,” he said. “As of now, we remain under the dispensation given by Bishop [previous Bishop] in November 2021.”
It is time to prepare, and many might consider finding a Priest who is empathetic to the “rightful aspirations” of the faithful and find locations that these Priests can offer the Traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments for those faithful who desire them.
On Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2023, a Priest who offers the Traditional Latin Mass in the diocese of Trenton informed his congregation that he would be offering Mass in the basement of the church following the first Sunday of Lent. Informed sources have indicated that all four approved diocesan Traditional Latin Masses would somehow be impacted similarly by no longer be having Holy Mass in their parish churches.
Father Brian Woodrow, the Trenton diocesan Priest who serves as the liaison for the Traditional Latin Mass said the following in response to an inquiry from The Remnant:
This matter is directly from the Holy See and does not come from any single diocese. As you are aware, this rescript provides papal confirmation that dispensations from the articles of Traditionis Custodes prohibiting the use of parish churches and the erection of personal parishes for the celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 Missal (cf. Art. 3§2) and granting permission for Priests ordained after July 16, 2021 to celebrate the older form of the Mass (cf. Art. 4) are “reserved in a special way to the Apostolic See.” Additionally, bishops who have already issued dispensations without consulting the DDW must notify the dicastery as soon as possible regarding these dispensations. This has clearly made it a matter of the Holy See and has taken it out of the hands of the local Diocese.
Our Bishop, David O’Connell, has been a tremendous advocate for the Traditional Latin Mass and has reached out and consulted with great compassion, all of the priests who hold this Liturgy dear. He has assured us of his prayers as we continue forward. Thanks for all your support of our Traditional Latin Mass families.
And over the weekend, news that a diocese in Texas, the diocese of Raleigh (Sacred Heart church in Dunn, N.C.)[3] and several other rumored diocesan locations may soon have their Traditional Latin Mass locations reduced or the Mass and sacraments curtailed. The diocese of Raleigh responded to the looming news through the Bishop’s previous response in October 2021 in which he has previously moved all of the Mass times to afternoon. By publishing deadline, there was no response regarding the possibility of any future or imminent restrictions.
The previous examples are in addition to the draconian measures already taken by Bishops in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Arlington, Va., and two dioceses in Wisconsin, among others.
What are the signs of the times that those in positions of power and authority are perceiving and acting upon? The answer is rhetorical.
Perhaps most alarming is the news that a church of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) in a Midwest diocese have been without confirmations for 4 years. The Bishop of the diocese very recently turned down a request that he confirm the Catholics at his parish in need of the sacrament. Reportedly, not only was the FSSP Priest turned down by the Bishop, but was also informed that the Bishop would not delegate Confirmation faculties to the said FSSP Priest.
The signs of the times again I suppose.
Finally, for those laymen who dutifully prayed, fasted and followed every little tittle rule outlined by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei Adflicta, garnering names of Catholics desiring the Traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments, working all of the angles by finding a diocesan Priest and parish location willing to offer it, or, working to bring in an FSSP Priest once-per-month and then twice-per-month with the local parish Priest, and finally, one day, having access to the Traditional Latin Mass every Sunday and major feast day, as well as the Sacraments…
Organize with like-minded Catholics. Do not be fooled by those who decide to go along with the current false obedience when are offered a reverent Novus Ordo with some Latin sprinkled here and there in the place of the Traditional Latin Mass.
What are the signs of the times for those lay faithful?
Those who are motivated to do so will have to build again. The Church has authoritatively declared that all of the Sacraments offered by Priests of the Society of St. Pius X are valid and fulfill a Catholic’s obligation, both Sunday and otherwise.[4] It is time to prepare, and many might consider finding a Priest who is empathetic to the “rightful aspirations” of the faithful[5] and find locations that these Priests can offer the Traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments for those faithful who desire them.
Organize with like-minded Catholics. Do not be fooled by those who decide to go along with the current false obedience when are offered a reverent Novus Ordo with some Latin sprinkled here and there in the place of the Traditional Latin Mass.
And finally, priests attached to both Tradition and tradition, might seriously consider contacting the Society of St. Pius X to become affiliated with them in one of several ways available.[6]
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[1] Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes promulgated by his Holiness Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965. https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html
[2]In Humanae Salutis, the document by which he summoned the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII first used the phrase “signs of the times,” referencing Matthew 16:3 in doing so. For Pope John, the Church needed to oppose the voice of those who only saw the world with eyes of condemnation. Rather, Christ “has not deserted the human beings he has redeemed”; as such, the Church should know how to “recognize the signs of the times” that it might, “in the midst of all the hideous clouds and darkness, perceive a number of things that seem to be omens portending a better day for the Church and for mankind.”[4] Later, in the 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris, the phrase was used as a heading for what the pope perceived to be positive developments in (then) recent history.[5] From these two uses it can be gathered that, for John XXIII, “signs of the times” referred to the characterizations and events of current history that manifest the present condition of humanity. Though he especially wished to highlight those signs that could be perceived as positive, John XXIII indicated both the negative and positive character of such signs, thereby calling upon the Church to distinguish between the two.
https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/signs-of-the-times-origin-and-meaning/#:~:text=In%20Humanae%20Salutis%2C%20the%20document,world%20with%20eyes%20of%20condemnation.
[3] The Bishop of Raleigh moved all of the Traditional Latin Masses in the diocese, including the longest-running liturgy in Dunn, N.C., from morning to afternoon times in 2021. https://www.ncregister.com/cna/bishops-of-lake-charles-raleigh-issue-statements-on-latin-mass
[4]Father John Zuhlsdorf, “What’s the truth about the SSPX?”
https://wdtprs.com/2020/04/ask-father-whats-the-truth-about-the-sspx/
[5] To all those Catholic faithful who feel attached to some previous liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition I wish to manifest my will to facilitate their ecclesial communion by means of the necessary measures to guarantee respect for their rightful aspirations. In this matter I ask for the support of the bishops and of all those engaged in the pastoral ministry in the Church. https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_02071988_ecclesia-dei.html
[6] Priests’ Training, the Society of St. Pius X. https://youtu.be/q1j9Y97qJJw
