Comments on Summorum Pontificum: Not Required, But Not Rare!

What an amazing comment, concerning the "extraordi...

2008-06-18T10:17:00.000-04:00

What an amazing comment, concerning the "extraordinary use" and "extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion." What if we used the same logic here as has been used with EME's? Under that framework, "extraordinary" means "used at every single Mass, whether practical or not."

It would seem logical that the next careful step i...

2008-06-17T15:45:00.000-04:00

It would seem logical that the next careful step is for our Holy Father to offer this Gregorian Rite in a beautiful and public manner. I predict this will happen before the end of the year.

Deo Gratias for our Holy Father!

I really admire the Cardinal for saying this but I...

2008-06-17T13:09:00.000-04:00

I really admire the Cardinal for saying this but I'll admire him all the more when he puts it in writing officially instead of just saying it in front of the media (where the SSPX can get to hear about it).

Glad you've returned to sobriety. Ratzinger and Ca...

2008-06-17T03:00:00.000-04:00

Glad you've returned to sobriety. Ratzinger and Castrillon Hoyos would like to see the 1962 Latin Mass in every parish. They are not commanding that it be so. That is a big difference.

I would like all my students to have read Milton in his entirety, a worthy longing, I hope, on the part of a pedagogue. But if I were to command them to do so, I would be seen as a tyrant, and an impractical dreamer. Indeed, I would deserved to be fired! Damien T. has done a disservice to the Church by presenting the Cardinal's remarks in the way he did.

I agree with this analysis. If you look at the Ca...

2008-06-17T02:12:00.000-04:00

I agree with this analysis. If you look at the Cardinal's statement carefully and compare it to the text of S.P., there is no strict requirement to have a Gregorian Mass in every parish. Even if people petition for it, there is not absolute requirement (but nor, for that matter, is there an absolute requirement for faithful in any place to have a N.O. there).

What S.P. delivers is a right of priests to celebrate the old Mass whether their bishops like it or not, plus a right of faithful at least to have their requests considered seriously, and a canonical process to ensure that.

However, the words of the Cardinal likely mean that more measures will be taken by Rome to ensure a 'reasonable' provision of the Gregorian Mass. After all, in the face of implacable obstruction by bishops (like you, Bishop Conry of Arundel and Brighton), it is presently difficult to implement S.P. in accordance with the Holy Father's true intention.

As a result, I am confident that more measures are coming. One will likely be a document requiring seminaries to teach the Traditional Latin Mass. Another may be the long-awaited clarification of S.P.

Above all, however, the time and conditions are ripe for the universal diocese or apostolic administration. I am not dreaming in technicolour here. Not at all. On the contrary, such a structure would have only a small direct effect for some years, mainly because it would not have very much real property to provide for churches and chapels.

But the structure would entrench the Traditional Latin Mass in the Church, since it would be erected for certain groups some of whom reconciled because of it. So, it is my ardent prayer that this is in the works. At any rate, the new atmosphere created by the Cardinal's words is extremely positive.

Peter Karl T. Perkins
Victoria, Canada