This is according to a Vatican-approved order that comes almost one year after Pope Francis removed Bishop Joseph Strickland, one of his most outspoken critics, as head of the diocese.

Bishop Joe S Vásquez of Austin, who has served as apostolic administrator of the Tyler Diocese in East Texas since Strickland's dramatic ouster last November, announced the move in a letter to parishioners of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Tyler, which has offered a 2 pm Sunday Mass in Latin.

A spokesperson for the diocese also confirmed with CNA that Masses celebrated according to the pre-Vatican II liturgical form will also be halted in four other parishes: Mary Queen of Heaven in Malakoff, Sacred Heart in Texarkana, St. Francis of Assisi in Gilmer, and Sacred Heart in Nacogdoches.

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Those who attend the Traditional Latin Mass are most likely to have adopted the practice.

What's driving the change?

Madeleine Kearns, associate editor at The Free Press and a Catholic, says there is a variety of reasons for the new veil-wearing trend in young Catholic women.

One says the practice enhances her spiritual experience by serving as a reminder of the sacredness of the Mass.

She says it's "like feeling I'm under a blanket — I can kind of shut other things out" while providing comfort and focus to her prayers.

Some women first adopted the head covering because of its aesthetic appeal. However it soon transformed into something much deeper.

Kearns quoted one such woman after she began veiling - she "fell in love" with it as a way to show her reverence for the Eucharist.

Now she always has it with her - along with other necessities like her keys, phone and wallet.

Another told Kearns that veiling "fits this entire aesthetic" in parishes with Gothic and Baroque architecture "which you don't see in as many modern parishes".

"When you have a parish that's filled with women wearing these finely made pieces of lace, it's beautiful to look at" she explained to Kearns.

She said this beauty is that of a "lost type of Catholicism".

Holier than thou

Both women say they hesitated to adopt the veil for fear of seeming "holier than thou".

One says while this perception arises largely from a misunderstanding of the scriptural meaning of veiling, this stemmed from views expressed by some Traditional Latin Mass communities.

Kearns says the growing trend to veil is a symptom of a "wave of nostalgia for an ancient, more solemn and reverent form of the religion" that Catholics are experiencing in the aftermath of Vatican II.

Source

• Catholic Vote

A recent Cardus Institute study says young Canadian Catholics are twice as likely as their elders to attend religious services at least once a month.

Faith's shifting landscape

Cardus' 2022 report "The Shifting Landscape of Faith in Canada" says religious indicators among people identifying as Roman Catholic have declined since 2017.

Fewer said they believe in God, have an experience of God in their life or regularly read scripture, pray or attend religious services.

Younger Canadian Catholics are the exception says Deacon Andrew Bennett from Cardus.

81 percent of young Catholics believe in life after death and, while 91 percent of under 35-year old female Catholics believe this, only 60 percent of older female Catholics do.

Bennett thinks the more Canada's secular society grows, the more Catholicism will become an attractive option for young adults (18-34 years old).

It's a form of rejection rather than escape. Increasingly, young people are rejecting society's "highly subjective idea of truth" Bennett says.

"They are seeking integrity, authenticity and something with real staying power ... and returning to their Catholic roots..."

Personal beliefs

Cardus' 2024 "Still Christian(?)" survey examined the relationship between Canadian Christians' personal beliefs and the teaching of various church denominations.

It found "younger Christians appear to be more intentional or committed to the teachings and practices of the faith than Christians of their parents' or grandparents' generations".

The younger generation "is beginning to desire a more traditionally Catholic life" Bennett says.

"If you look at any church where the Traditional Latin Mass is being offered ... they are bursting at the seams."

At one parish the Latin Mass has become the source and summit for its growing community.

Parochial vicar Fr Kent Grealy says parish growth in young people and families has amounted to about one new parishioner each Sunday for almost the last six months.

He thinks that, apart from an escape from the ideals of modern culture, there is something intrinsic in discovering a higher purpose that leads young people directly to the Gospel.

The romance of faith begins to take shape around that age and draws them into discovering the Gospel, Grealy says.

It "shows them that the nihilistic and materialistic bent of modernity makes life not worth living".

Some advice for parishes

Eric Chow from the Archdiocese of Vancouver says young Catholics crave to find their role within the Church. They're also seeking an identity that is true to who they are and who God has made them to be.

The demographics are changing - young Catholics want Church, and engagement, within its life and leadership formation.

"They are hungry for more than even just a young adult community, something that is not limited to a prayer group once a week" Chow says.

"I think [increased young adult involvement] invites every parish to consider how they might provide support ... tangible on-the-ground leadership opportunities to serve the Church in a greater way."

Source

• Catholic News Agency

Holy Rosary, walking distance from Lucas Oil Stadium, the hub for the US bishops' evangelization mega-event that continues through Sunday, is one of only two parishes in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis where the Mass is offered according to the 1962 Missal, often colloquially known as the traditional Latin Mass.

In his 2021 directive "Traditionis Custodes" ("Guardians of Tradition"), Pope Francis limited the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass to designated parishes.

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Of course, unfounded rumors out of the Vatican are not new, and some journalists have not been able to identify anybody who has actually seen the document in question.

Still, even if it ends up being in the class of "Pope Francis is dying" rumors that we have heard for years, such a document would be in character for a pontificate that has emphasised placing hedges around the more conservative, traditional elements of the Church.

While his predecessor's position towards the Latin Mass community can be broadly characterized as one of accommodation, Pope Francis has taken a more confrontational approach.

But why? What is the problem with allowing what is by all measures a small fraction of Catholics to participate in a licit Mass that they find beautiful, reverent, and holy?

The very real fact is that Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) participation has been associated with factions inside the Church who do not accept Vatican II and may even be quasi-schismatic, and multiple popes have taken a variety of approaches in how to deal with groups such as the SSPX.

It is not our place to tell the Holy Father what to do; we are social scientists, not bishops, and one of us is not even Catholic.

However the extent to which the TLM community is a schismatic hotbed of negative attitudes towards Vatican II is ultimately an empirical one that is scientifically investigable, and on this point there has been a clear lack of objective, systematically collected data.

The Latin Mass today

The Prefect for the Dicastery for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arthur Roche, has made it clear that he thinks the TLM has a different liturgical theology than the Novus Ordo.

There is also the argument that the TLM is an implied, if not explicit, rejection of Vatican II. It seems the Holy Father himself holds this view. Conclusions based on impressions are suspect if they are not supported by more objective evidence.

In announcing Traditiones Custodes (the 2021 round of Latin Mass restrictions), the Pope invoked a survey that he had disseminated among bishops on the question of the Latin Mass.

However, in addition to the fact that the survey was of bishops and not Traditional Latin Mass-goers themselves, the wordings used, the exact responses, the representativeness — any one of many things that would be required for a professional survey statistician to objectively gauge the validity of the survey — were completely unknown.

Therefore it is difficult to know how seriously to take the results of the survey when only the vaguest details are known.

Objective data collection

We, a professor of sociology and theology (and a TLM attender) and a demography/sociology dual-PhD data scientist, have been striving to remedy the lack of transparent, systematically collected, objective data on the TLM community in preparation for a book we are writing.

This involves collating all previously published information on the demographics and attitudes of the TLM community (it is not a lot), as well as conducting our own surveys and supplementing our quantitative data with approximately 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews of TLM Catholics across the country.

While our study is on the United States TLM community in particular, given the American Church's reputation as a hotbed of conservativism, we believe our findings have broad implications.

Survey findings

So what did we find? While we are still processing our data, some relevant themes have already emerged.

There is obviously a lot to talk about with TLM Mass-goers, which we will discuss in greater detail in the book, but in broad strokes, this is some of what we learned about Traditional Latin Mass Catholics in the United States:

There is some truth to the conventional wisdom that they tend to be politically conservative. Of the 446 respondents in our survey who attend the Traditional Latin Mass at least once per year, 77 percent of them lean Republican.

They are very, very pro-life. 85 percent of the TLM Catholics in our sample believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases, whereas 13 percent believe it should be illegal in most cases, while only 1.6 percent believe it should be legal in most cases, and less than 1 percent believe that it should be legal in all cases.

They are orthodox. In our survey only 2 percent% of TLM Catholics believe that the bread and wine of communion are symbols, as opposed to the Real Presence, of the body and blood of Christ. In a similarly worded Pew survey of general Catholics, 69% considered the Eucharist a symbol.

They generally accept the Second Vatican Council. When we asked "I accept the teachings of Vatican II"

• 4 percent - Strongly disagreed
• 7 percent - Disagreed
• 10 percent - Somewhat disagreed
• 15 percent - Neither agreed nor disagreed
• 15 percent - Somewhat agreed
• 27 percent - Agreed
• 22 percent - Strongly agreed

This is a case where the interview data helped flesh out the reasons for the ambivalence in the survey responses.

A very common theme found in our interviews was distinguishing between what was actually in the Vatican II documents and how it had been carried out or interpreted. Read more

• Stephen Bullivant holds professorial positions at St Mary's University, London and at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney.
• Stephen Cranney is a data scientist and a non-resident Fellow at Baylor's Institute for the Studies of Religion.

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer and its congregation have been targeted by a deliberate and coordinated misinformation campaign.

This campaign along with the outrageous, false, and fanciful allegations have not resulted in any discernible findings and have lacked any of the components of rigour or natural justice.

The bishop of Christchurch only managed to turn up minor administrative issues which are being used to suppress and shut down the Holy Latin Mass and issue proxy deportation orders to several New Zealand citizens.

The Bishop of Christchurch has repeatedly and continues to refuse to meet or open any dialogue with members of our congregation and community.

Overall, this is a direct attack on a strong and vibrant multicultural Roman Catholic community that provides much fruit for Holy Church in the way of vocations.

The bishop has patronisingly offered ONE Latin Mass at a different location in place of the 9+ masses, catechism, and confessions, said and heard weekly for 300+ souls.

This is grossly inadequate for a congregation of our size and given the bishop's hostility toward the Holy Traditional Latin Mass, we have grave concerns for the longevity of this alternative arrangement.

Legal dispute looming

We believe the bishop is violating the human rights of members of The Sons of The Most Holy Redeemer and potentially violating various criminal laws.

We know that the Church has clear guidelines around taking such draconian actions and we know these have been suspended.

We the Faithful have engaged with lawyers and will pursue these cases in lengthy civil and canonical court cases until we are satisfied with the resolution.

There is a global movement to reduce the number of Traditional orders and this agenda is being pursued vigorously by those who claim to have absolute power in the Church and those with a destructive agenda.

May God have mercy on us all.

• Will McCartney is a lay member of the St Alban's parish church in Christchurch, where the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer say Mass and dispense the sacraments.

The letter, posted online on 15th July, appeals to the Pope to maintain the older liturgical forms of the Catholic Eucharistic liturgy.

This follows a similar plea made by prominent UK figures, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, in a letter published on 3rd July in the Times of London.

Organised by former National Endowment for the Arts chairman Dana Gioia, the letter includes signatories such as blogger Andrew Sullivan, actor Eduardo Verastegui and theologian Larry Chapp.

The signatories, identifying as Catholics and non-Catholics, believers and nonbelievers, argue that the Traditional Latin Mass has significantly influenced Western culture.

The letter states: "to deprive the next generation of artists of this source of mystery, beauty and contemplation of the sacred seems shortsighted. All of us, believers and nonbelievers alike, recognise that this ancient liturgy, which inspired the work of Palestrina, Bach, and Beethoven and generations of great artists, is a magnificent achievement of civilisation and part of the common cultural heritage of humanity. It is medicine for the soul, one antidote to the gross materialism of the postmodern age."

Vatican response expected

While such petitions to Pope Francis are not uncommon, they often receive little attention from Church leaders.

However Cordileone's public support for the letter has garnered significant notice. A spokesman for the archbishop released a statement praising the letter as "an extraordinary statement from some great artists and other cultural influencers about the value and inspiration they have received from the Traditional Latin Mass".

Cordileone added "I am grateful that faithful Catholics, who make clear that they love the Latin Mass but love Jesus Christ and His Church more, are making their voices lovingly heard."

The signatories assure Pope Francis of their loyalty:

"Those of us who are Catholics pledge our filial loyalty to you, Pope Francis. We come to you with the humility and obedience but also the confidence of children, telling a loving father of our spiritual needs. We pray that you will not lump us with some of the angry and disrespectful voices magnified by social media."

Despite the letter's respectful tone, its endorsement by a sitting American archbishop is expected to provoke a response from Vatican officials.

This all comes amid rising tensions between the Apostolic See and some members of the American episcopate.

Sources

The Pillar

Catholic Vote

CathNews New Zealand

This rite customarily takes place after the annual Our Lady of Christendom pilgrimage in Spain.

The organizers of the fourth edition of the pilgrimage announced the prohibition in a July 6 post on X: "At the Archdiocese of Oviedo they have informed us that they have received instructions from the Dicastery for Divine Worship stating that the Traditional Holy Mass is not to be celebrated in Covadonga."

The pilgrimage will take place from July 27 to 29, starting in Oviedo.

Our Lady of Christendom explains on its website that the pilgrimage "is organized by a group of faithful lay Catholics devoted to the celebration of the Holy Mass according to the extraordinary form of the Roman rite," otherwise known as the Traditional Latin Mass or the Tridentine Mass.

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"We shall return", a buoyant Fr Glen Tattersall said at the final Traditional Latin Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne on Wednesday evening.

The Australian reports the Cathedral was packed for the Mass - it estimated there was a congregation of around 850 people.

"They came in business suits, in strollers, on trams and in fluoro tradie gear. Most were rugged up in heavy coats against the Melbourne winter which did not dim the spirit of the cathedral lit with candlelight and optimism" reports Tess Livingston in The Australian.

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli sat in the Sanctuary, but did not address the crowd.

On Monday Comensoli received the news that the Vatican had denied his request to hold the Traditional Latin Mass at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral.

The decision from the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments was published on Monday on the news portal "Zenit".

"While we recognise that Mass according to the Missale Romanum of 1962 has been celebrated in the Cathedral Church for some time, we are nonetheless constrained to deny this request" the response stated.

The Vatican stated that liturgies in a bishop's church should serve as a model for the entire diocese.

"It does not seem appropriate for the antecedent liturgy to be celebrated in the place that should serve as an example for the liturgical life of the entire diocese" said the statement.

The Dicastery's Secretary, Bishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, signed the response.

Viola emphasised that "The Cathedral is the first place where the celebration of the liturgy must use the current liturgical books, which form the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite".

Lex orandi refers to what is prayed.

It is often used in conjunction with lex credendi which together translated from the Latin means: "the law of what is prayed [is] the law of what is believed".

It is also sometimes expanded as lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi, which again translated from the Latin means "the law of what is prayed [is] what is believed [is] the law of what is lived".

Congregation at St Patrick's Melbourne final old rite Latin Mass

Latin Mass restrictions

While the cathedral request was denied, the Vatican allowed the Traditional Latin Mass to be celebrated at Saint Michael and Saint Philip parishes in Melbourne for two years.

After this period, Comensoli must seek renewed permission from the Vatican to continue these services.

The Vatican suggested that a contemporary form of the Mass could be celebrated in Latin at the cathedral for the group favouring the Traditional Latin Mass, potentially using the same altar as the pre-conciliar form.

Archbishop Comensoli's request, made in June 2023, came in the wake of Pope Francis's 2021 Motu Proprio "Traditionis custodes" ("Guardians of the Tradition"). This publication restricted the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.

The rules were further tightened in February 2023, mandating that bishops need the Holy See's permission to authorise such Masses in parish churches.

Sources

Katholisch

Zenit

The Australian

CathNews New Zealand

Then all will be right with the Catholic world...

Obviously, I'm just caricaturing.

But this was the tenor of some of the comments that began circulating after the success of the traditionalist Chartres Pilgrimage over Pentecost weekend and the publication of La Croix's survey of young Catholics going to World Youth Day, who indicated enthusiasm for more classical forms of their religion.

The truth is, for the past 25 years we've been hearing the same thing, and in almost the same words...

One generation, the "conciliarists" or the famous "Vatican II generation", has failed to maintain Catholicism at its current level.

And so we need to return to more traditional celebrations, even in Latin, and to a more interior, less "social" practice of the Catholic faith.

Movements encouraged under the pontificate of John Paul II

Between 1990 and 2000, this same Vatican II generation was already being pitted against what was then seen as the "future" of the Church in France - groups such as the Saint-Jean Community and the Community Beatitudes, which were more traditional in their dress, theology, and liturgical practices.

It is not a matter of criticizing these movements today.

But they were presented as the solution at one time, and now we must admit that they were no more so than other groups.

In some cases, they have even been painfully called into question because of their abusive behaviour.

Meanwhile, Catholics of the Vatican II generation - those "conciliarists" who are accused of being the source of all evils - are mostly past retirement age.

Most of them have already died, while those still alive have not been at the helm of the Church for a quarter of a century.

So, if we really must point the finger at someone, we need to be consistent and say it's "the fault" of all these movements born with John Paul II.

An anthropological rupture

Except that doesn't make any sense at all!

It's really nobody's "fault"... or at least, not in that way.

The obsession to blame one segment of the Catholic Church - and let's face it, over the last thirty years, the conciliarists have taken their share of it - is the best way of refusing to see the problem.

The Church should welcome those Catholics who have a rather traditional outlook and remain faithful to regular religious practice.

But we must admit that they do not represent the French population as a whole, and realize that French Catholicism is in danger of becoming a "monocolored" minority.

The culprit, if there is one, is the considerable anthropological rupture we experienced from the 1950s onward, which completely overturned our relationship with the Divine, the human body and the institutions.

The model of an ecclesial institution focused solely on liturgical celebrations on Sundays and the major moments in life (birth, marriage, death) no longer holds up in our secularized society.

Or, it can only attract a small part of the population.

The vast majority of young people - and the not-so-young for that matter - don't fit in anymore.

This does not mean that it isn't important for Christianity to still find a means of expression, of transmission, and that the Gospel continues to be read and prayed.

On the contrary!

But without a doubt, we need to accept other ways of praying, gathering, coming together and getting involved.

Rather than embroiling ourselves in mutual and sterile accusations, we need to be creative - as Benedict XVI theorised - and dare to be different, diverse, without a single model, putting aside labels such as "reactionary" or "progressive" Catholics.

Because what is at issue here? Having a Church that "works" well or one whose members are collectively more faithful to the Gospel?

• Isabelle de Gaulmyn is a senior editor at La Croix and a former Vatican correspondent.

Francis reasserted in a new legal decree published Tuesday that the Holy See must approve new celebrations of the old rite by signing off on bishops' decisions to designate additional parish churches for the Latin Mass or to let newly ordained priests celebrate it.

The decree states that the Vatican's liturgy office, headed by British Cardinal Arthur Roche, is responsible for evaluating such requests on behalf of the Holy See and that all requests from bishops must go there.

For weeks, Catholic traditionalist blogs and websites have reported a further crackdown on the old Latin Mass was in the works, following Francis' remarkable decision in 2021 to reimpose restrictions on its celebration that were relaxed in 2007 by then-Pope Benedict XVI.

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Dom Alcuin Reid is a liturgical scholar, the prior of a monastic community in the south of France and a vocal critic of Pope Francis' decision to restrict the Traditional Latin Mass celebrations.

With a specialism in Catholic worship as it was celebrated before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, Dom Alcuin has called for a re-assessment of the liturgical changes which happened after Vatican II in what is known as the "reform of the reform".

His work has gained him an international following. His 2004 book "The Organic Development of the Liturgy" included a foreword from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a year before he was elected Pope Benedict XVI.

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Msgr Andrew Wadsworth, executive director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, criticised Traditionis Custodes, "as full of errors and generalisations" in a series of new social media posts.

In a since-deleted post, Wadsworth likened the motu proprio to "an atomic bomb" that "fell on the Church". He blamed it for making him sick as if it were "a visceral reaction to this wound that has been inflicted on us."

In the same post, Wadsworth, 59, compared himself to an inmate on death row "awaiting news of when his sentence will be carried out." This referred to the uncertainty as to what his home diocese in the UK and the Archdiocese of Washington, where he currently lives, will do regarding the Latin Mass in the future.

Among the posts that Wadsworth has shared since mid-July are lengthy statements and essays critical of the apostolic letter. Some were written by Francis' most consistent critics, such as Cardinals Raymond Burke and Gerhard Müller, the former prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Wadsworth's Facebook page also includes posts like the critical essay from The Spectator that features a political cartoon version of a haughty-looking Francis with the headline, "Pope Francis is losing his culture war."

On July 16, Wadsworth posted a link to the text of Traditionis Custodes. A follower of his responded by commenting with a translation of 1 Peter 5:3: "Never be a dictator over any group that is put in your charge, but be an example that the whole flock can follow."

Wadsworth "liked" the comment.

Wadsworth, a priest of London's Westminster Archdiocese, has served as executive director of the ICEL Secretariat since 2009. Headquartered in Washington, ICEL was originally set up in 1963 by bishops' conferences across various English-speaking countries to aid in the production of English-language liturgical texts following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Responding to a priest who had commented on a July 18 post of his depicting a lonely broken heart "emoji," Wadsworth wrote that he had celebrated the Latin Mass since the day after his ordination in 1990.

"Everything that I understand about being a priest is in some sense related to this form of the Mass," he wrote.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Spectator

The archbishop's plans were formulated prior to Pope Francis' July 16 Moto proprio, Traditionis custodes, which placed restrictions on the use of the Traditional Latin Mass.

In response to the pope's order Archbishop Cordileone announced that he would allow the Traditional Latin Masses taking place in his diocese to continue, in accordance with the motu proprio's stipulation that bishops have the authority to make such determinations.

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Francis' new rules on the old liturgy were laid out in "Traditionis Custodes" on Friday (July 16).

Unlike his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Francis is no fan of the pre-Vatican II liturgy.

Like Pope Paul VI and most people in the church, Francis welcomed the liturgical reforms enacted by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and believed the old liturgy would gradually fade away as Catholics who were raised with it died off.

In 1981, a survey of bishops by the Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship found that only 1.5% of the bishops said their priests and people were in favour of making greater allowance for the Tridentine rite, as the old, pre-conciliar Traditional Latin Mass is called. (The post-conciliar version approved by Paul VI was written in Latin but then translated into the vernacular for common use around the world.)

Benedict, though, had experienced great spiritual nourishment in the old liturgy and hoped that allowing its greater use would foster church unity, especially with those who found change difficult. But he also wanted to provide the old liturgy to those young people who were attracted to it.

When local bishops were reluctant to allow widespread use of the old liturgy, Benedict sidelined them, giving every priest the right to celebrate the old Latin rite even if his bishop opposed it.

Benedict also went a step further. He declared that the new and old liturgies were of equal standing in the church. Thus, there was no need for the old liturgy to fade away as anticipated by Paul VI.

Benedict's hope to foster unity failed.

Those who went into schism because of the council, like the Society of St Pius X, would not come back simply because they were allowed to say the old Mass.

They are still in schism despite the efforts of Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.

There are others who remain in the church but who champion the Traditional Latin Mass as a symbol of their rejection of all the reforms that came from the Second Vatican Council.

These ideologues argue that the new Mass is an abomination, that ecumenism is a betrayal of tradition and interreligious dialogue is satanic.

They believe that only they are the true church and everyone else is in error.

By bolstering these dissidents, Benedict's efforts for church unity backfired.

This view was confirmed by a detailed consultation with the world's bishops by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Congregations that celebrate the old Mass today have become rallying centres for those fomenting opposition not only to the council reforms but to Francis' papacy.

Not only do they oppose the reforms; they also spread their dissent to those who simply come to find spiritual nourishment in the old liturgy.

The challenge that Francis now faces is how to separate the pious faithful with traditional devotion to the old liturgy from the ideologues who reject the reforms of the council.

His solution is to empower local bishops with the authority to separate the sheep from the goats. He has returned to bishops their traditional authority over the liturgy that is celebrated in their dioceses, the same authority they had under John Paul II.

The bishops can still allow the celebration of the old Mass where they judge there is a pastoral need, but they can deny it to dissenters who oppose the reforms of Vatican II.

The bishop can also control which priests are celebrating the old Mass to make sure that they are fostering unity with the church rather than dissent.

According to Francis, these priests should be "animated by a lively pastoral charity and a sense of ecclesial communion."

However, Francis does reserve to the Vatican permission for newly ordained priests to celebrate the old liturgy.

He worries about young priests and seminarians who only want to celebrate the old liturgy.

He wants to make sure that they understand that they are being ordained for the whole church, not just a small faction within it.

Likewise, he has told bishops not to authorize new parishes or new groups for the sole use of the old Mass.

Francis has also reversed Benedict's decision to give equal standing in the church to the pre-and post-Vatican II liturgies.

According to Francis, the new liturgy is the only liturgy of the church, and the old liturgy is only allowed temporarily for pastoral reasons.

Francis has also mandated that the Scriptures at these Masses be read in the vernacular, not Latin. Perhaps he hopes to gradually introduce the vernacular into these liturgies in the future.

In any case, once again, it is the official position of the church that the old liturgy should fade away.

Will it fade away? Not quickly.

Many bishops have already announced that there will be no immediate change in their dioceses.

This is smart.

Pastoral practice demands that the bishop have a dialogue with their communities before making any decision.

Those who are spiritually attached to the old liturgy should be treated with compassionate sensitivity and separated from those who foment rebellion.

Those who are young must be educated to the deeper meaning of the Eucharistic reforms and encouraged to go to the new liturgy.

They need to understand the communal and participatory aspects of the liturgy.

We come together not simply for our individual devotion but to worship as a community of disciples who are called to help establish God's kingdom on earth.

Local bishops can also point out that saying the Mass in Latin is not a problem if it is the Latin version of the new rite.

It is the old liturgy that is used to breed disunion.

The need for pastoral sensitivity means that it will take time for the old liturgy to fade away, but this ultimately is the goal.

When my mother was alive, she used to go to the Saturday evening Mass at her parish.

One Saturday she showed up and the Mass was in Spanish. She kept going to that Mass even though she did not know a word of Spanish.

When I asked her why, she responded, "It is wonderful, just like the old Latin Mass. I don't understand a word they are saying."

Then she added, "It is even better, I don't understand the homily."

• Thomas Reese SJ is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, and a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America. First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

Boyce (pictured), was due to be ordained in the Traditional Latin Rite by Sydney's Opus Dei bishop, Richard Umbers however a pause in the travel bubble with Australia intervened.

Instead, Boyce was ordained by retired Hamilton Bishop, Denis Browne in Auckland on July 3.

Boyce is a member of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, serve the Latin Mass Community in Auckland.

On July 16, and for the sake of church unity, Pope Francis issued "Traditionis Custodes" a motu proprio restricting the use of the pre-Vatican II, traditional form of Latin Mass.

Priests ordained after Pope Francis issued motu proprio and who want to celebrate the Tridentine Mass "should submit a formal request to the diocesan Bishop who shall consult the Apostolic See before granting this authorisation."

Those already celebrating the Tridentine Mass must ask the diocesan bishop permission to continue.

In a letter to the world's bishops accompanying the motu proprio, Francis says concessions granted by his predecessors relating to using the 1962 Roman Missal were "motivated by the desire to foster the healing of the schism with the movement of Mons. Lefebvre" and "the ecclesial intention of restoring the unity of the Church."

Despite these aims, the concessions were "exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences and encourage disagreements that injure the church, block her path and expose her to the peril of division," Francis said.

Asked about his hopes for his future ministry Boyce said, "Really, in one respect it is a question of having the humility to do what you are asked.

"Obedience is very, very important for any community. Obedience to your superiors, obedience to Our Lord, obedience to the Church."

Boyce says growing up in a home where the faith was clearly valued and practised was important, although there were times in Auckland when he did not always practise his faith.

Before beginning his seminary training, he embarked on a teaching career and for just over a decade taught Latin at Auckland Grammar School.

Prior to his ordination as a priest, Boyce's seminary training was in the USA and his pastoral placement was in Sydney.

His first posting as a priest is back to Sydney.

Source

• NZ Catholic
• CathNews
• Image: Twitter

On Friday, the Vatican published a new motu propio, titled Traditionis Custodes, which tightened permission for celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, the use of which had been liberalized under Benedict in 2007.

According to Crux, liturgy expert and editor at the New Liturgical Movement blog Gregory DiPippo said that when he heard the news, he was filled with "profound sadness and dismay at the idea that the pope would so cruelly mistreat so many of the faithful."

DiPippo says the move is seen by enthusiasts of the Latin Mass "for what it is, a declaration of war, and a statement of intent to drive people who did not fit into the pope's ideological vision of the Church out of it."

Catholics who prefer the Latin Mass "have been sent the very clear message that they are not welcome or wanted in the Church, and that the Holy See now formally rejects all idea of undertaking their pastoral care," DiPippo said.

"However, they are as a group very well catechized. They know that the Church is not the Pope's personal plaything which entitles him to maltreat the faithful in this fashion."

In a letter to the world's bishops published alongside the July 16 motu proprio, Pope Francis said that in the 13 years since Benedict XVI broadened access to the Latin Mass in a bid to foster unity, that openness has been "exploited" to create divisions.

DiPippo rejected the idea that restricting the Latin Mass was done to promote unity, calling the claim "a blatant falsehood."

The pope's decision, he said, "will unquestionably divide Catholics further. I think that even many of those who have no particular sympathy for the traditional liturgy or its follows will be repelled by the callous lack of pastoral charity which this change evinces."

In a statement Friday, Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, said Francis's if the new norms are strictly implemented, it would "drive a great many faithful Catholics, who desire nothing more than to attend the ancient Mass in communion with their bishops and the Holy Father, to attend celebrations which fall outside the structures of the Church, above all those of the Society of St Pius X."

"These Catholics have worked hard over many years, particularly since 2007, to build up the unity of the Church, which as the Second Vatican Council declared does not depend on liturgical uniformity but on unity of faith under the Pope," he said.

"We would challenge any apologist for this document to produce real evidence that the [extraordinary form] has undermined the unity of the Church," Shaw said.

Sources

Crux

New York Times

Saint Anthony's Priory

His new apostolic letter, Traditionis Custodes, in which Francis communicates "the firm decision to abrogate all the norms, instructions, permissions and customs that precede the present [document] and declare that the liturgical books promulgated by the saintly Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II … constitute the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite" is the ecclesial equivalent of ripping off the Band-aid in one pull.

It was also the only real option.

Four years ago, on the 10th anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic letter granting greater access to the Tridentine rite, I noted that it was clear the pope's hopes had not been realized. I wrote:

There are those who have made the extraordinary form the symbol of an ecclesial agenda that certainly runs counter to much of what Vatican II achieved. If you spot a bishop who likes to don the cappa magna, or a seminarian with a biretta, you can bet that they likely are inclined toward a triumphalist view of the church and a more rigid theological stance than the council required.

I also noted that Benedict:

totally failed to perceive the potential for the development of websites with a kind of cult following, sites that are ostensibly devoted to the extraordinary form of the Mass but that also serve as a conduit for a crimped, theologically unsophisticated form of Catholicism, combined with right-wing political agitprop. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf and Church Militant and Rorate Caeli all traffic in this nasty brew.

It turns out that I was not the only one who perceived that the situation had miscarried.

A priest who was close to Benedict told me that when the pope issued Summorum Pontificum, "he never intended to start a movement, still less an ideology!"

But that is what happened.

Francis, in his letter accompanying the new document, issued motu proprio (on his own initiative) on July 16, notes that at the time of the 10th anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, he asked the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to send out a questionnaire to the world's bishops about the implementation of the document.

Having gotten the replies, the pope felt moved to make the decisive step to greatly restrict the celebration of the old rite and to again leave it to the local bishop to decide when and where it may be celebrated.

If you doubt that the pope really understands the nature of the problem, look to Article 4 of the new letter. It states:

"Priests ordained after the publication of the present Motu Proprio, who wish to celebrate using the Missale Romanum of 1962, should submit a formal request to the diocesan Bishop who shall consult the Apostolic See before granting this authorization." Seminarians who are asking older priests to teach them how to say the old rite need to be more focused on improving their bedside manner for hospital visits.

Two passages in Francis' letter to the bishops accompanying the new motu proprio stand forth. The first points to the way some exploited the pastoral solicitude of Benedict and St. Pope John Paul II:

Regrettably, the pastoral objective of my Predecessors, who had intended "to do everything possible to ensure that all those who truly possessed the desire for unity would find it possible to remain in this unity or to rediscover it anew," has often been seriously disregarded. An opportunity offered by St. John Paul II and, with even greater magnanimity, by Benedict XVI, intended to recover the unity of an ecclesial body with diverse liturgical sensibilities, was exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences, and encourage disagreements that injure the Church, block her path, and expose her to the peril of division.

It is not given to any of us, including popes, to look into the future. Benedict was not wrong to hope that people would accept his gracious indult and not abuse it, but the hope proved wrong. They did abuse it.

The second passage from Francis' letter that stands out for its doctrinal clarity is this

In defense of the unity of the Body of Christ, I am constrained to revoke the faculty granted by my Predecessors. The distorted use that has been made of this faculty is contrary to the intentions that led to granting the freedom to celebrate the Mass with the Missale Romanum of 1962. Because "liturgical celebrations are not private actions, but celebrations of the Church, which is the sacrament of unity," they must be carried out in communion with the Church. Vatican Council II, while it reaffirmed the external bonds of incorporation in the Church — the profession of faith, the sacraments, of communion — affirmed with St. Augustine that to remain in the Church not only "with the body" but also "with the heart" is a condition for salvation.

These words, it seems to me, put the pope's theological finger on the problem exactly: Aficionados of the old rite like to talk about how that rite uniquely conveys the sense that each Mass is a part of the one eternal sacrifice of Christ, and the thanksgiving to which the Eucharist is our response, but then they insist on their right to have a private Mass. Continue reading

• Sean Michael Winters writes for NCRonline

Traditionalist Catholics reacted strongly to the promulgation of Traditionis custodes, a motu proprio signed by Pope Francis on July 16.

They decried it as an attack on them and the ancient liturgy.

The crackdown, which comes into effect immediately, reversed one of Pope Benedict XVI's signature decisions. It is seen as a major challenge to those Catholics who long to return to pre-Vatican II days.

The pontiff issued a new law requiring individual bishops to approve celebrations of the old Mass, also known as the Tridentine Mass. In addition, newly ordained priests will be required to receive permission from bishops in consultation with the Vatican.

Francis said he was taking action because Benedict's reform had become a source of division in the church. He suggested it had been exploited by Catholics opposed to the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that modernized the church and its liturgy.

Under the new law, bishops must also determine if the current groups of faithful attached to the old Mass accept Vatican II. This allowed for Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than Latin.

These groups cannot use regular churches; instead, bishops must find alternate locations without creating new parishes.

Francis also said bishops are no longer allowed to authorize the formation of any new pro-Latin Mass groups in their dioceses.

The pope's rollback immediately created an uproar among traditionalists. They are already opposed to Francis' more progressive bent and nostalgic for Benedict's doctrinaire papacy.

"This is an extremely disappointing document which entirely undoes the legal provisions of Benedict's 2007 document," said Joseph Shaw, chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales.

While Latin celebrations can continue, "the presumption is consistently against them: bishops are being invited to close them down," Shaw said. He added that the requirement for Latin Masses to be held outside a parish was "unworkable."

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco told CNA that "The Mass is a miracle in any form. Christ comes to us in the flesh under the appearance of Bread and Wine. Unity under Christ is what matters."

"Therefore the Traditional Latin Mass will continue to be available here in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. It will be provided in response to the legitimate needs and desires of the faithful."

However, Christopher Bellitto, professor of church history at Kean University, said Francis was right to intervene.

Bellitto noted that Benedict's original decision had had a slew of unintended consequences that not only created internal divisions but temporarily roiled relations with Jews.

"Francis hits it right on the head with his observation that Benedict's 2007 loosening of regulations against the Latin rite allowed others to use it for division," he said. "The blowback on Latin Mass restrictions proves his point."

Sources

Daily Mail

National Catholic Register

Catholic News Agency

Apostolic See guidelines say it is the bishop's exclusive responsibility as the moderator of his diocese's liturgical life to authorise the 1962 Roman Missal's use.

In a motu proprio Traditionis Custodes (Guardians of the Tradition) published on Friday, Francis restored limits on the celebration of the Missal in use before the Second Vatican Council for the sake of church unity.

His decision overturns or restricts permissions St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI had given to celebrate the Tridentine-rite Mass.

Francis said the bishop must verify that those attending the pre-Vatican liturgy "do not deny the validity and the legitimacy of the liturgical reform, dictated by Vatican Council II and the Magisterium of the Supreme Pontiffs".

The motu proprio says:

Masses celebrated according to the 1962 Missal are not to take place in parishes.

Bishops must establish where and when the Mass will be celebrated.

The readings must be proclaimed "in the vernacular language", using the translations approved by local episcopal conferences.

The bishop will delegate the celebrant.

The bishop must evaluate the Mass to see "effectiveness for spiritual growth" and "to take care not to authorize the establishment of new groups".

Priests ordained after this motu proprio wanting to celebrate the Tridentine Mass "should submit a formal request to the diocesan Bishop who shall consult the Apostolic See before granting this authorization".

Those already doing so may ask permission to continue.

In a letter to the world's bishops accompanying the motu proprio, Francis says concessions granted by his predecessors relating to using the 1962 Roman Missal were "motivated by the desire to foster the healing of the schism with the movement of Mons. Lefebvre" and "the ecclesial intention of restoring the unity of the Church".

Despite these aims, the concessions were "exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences and encourage disagreements that injure the church, block her path and expose her to the peril of division," Francis said.

"Indications about how to proceed in your dioceses are chiefly dictated by two principles," he continued.

"On the one hand, to provide for the good of those who are rooted in the previous form of celebration and need to return in due time to the Roman Rite promulgated by Saints Paul VI and John Paul II.

"And, on the other hand, to discontinue the erection of new personal parishes tied more to the desire and wishes of individual priests than to the real need of the 'holy People of God',"

Francis is "saddened by abuses in the celebration of the liturgy on all sides" and deplores the fact that the "instrumental use of Missale Romanum of 1962 is often characterized by a rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Vatican Council II itself, claiming, with unfounded and unsustainable assertions, that it betrayed the Tradition and the 'true Church'".

To doubt the Council "is ... in the final analysis, to doubt the Holy Spirit himself who guides the Church," Francis said.

As well as the Moto Proprio, Francis wrote to all bishops.

Source

• La Croix
• Catholic News Service
• La Croix
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