Cardinal seeks Sunday Latin Mass in every parish.
Parishes should have Sunday Masses in the Extraordinary Form, the Vatican Cardinal in charge of implementing the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum has said.
Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, head of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, said in an interview with the Italian magazine Jesus that the 1962 version of the Roman Rite should be celebrated on every Sabbath day.
Discussing the difficulties that have arisen or might arise with the re-institution of the traditional Latin Mass the cardinal said that the shortage of priests should not pose a problem to the use of the older form of the Rite.
He said; "If in a diocese priests are lacking and only three or four faithful request the ordinary Rite, it's a matter of common sense to think that it is difficult to satisfy this request.
"However, since it is the Pope's intention....to grant this treasure for the good of the Church, in a place where there are no priests the best option would be to offer a celebration according to the Extraordinary Form in one of the parish Sunday Masses.
"It would be a Mass for everyone, and everyone, including younger generations, would benefit from the riches of the extraordinary rite, for example, those moments of contemplation that have disappeared in the Novus Ordo."
He also confirmed that he foresees at least one Sunday Mass in the Extraordinary form per parish in the future even if there isn't the "consistent and stable" group described in article five of the Motu Proprio, demanding the traditional Latin Mass.
A number of traditionalists who welcomed the Pope's liberalization of the 1962 rite last year have complained that their requests for Extraordinary Form Masses are obstructed by their bishops, or held on weekdays or on Sundays at unusual times. So the Cardinal's comments re likely to be welcomed by traditionalists.
Last week Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos said that the Extraordinary Form should be available to all, but did not specify whether this included Sunday Masses. In the Jesus magazine interview the Cardinal also clarified what was meant by a "stable group", the definition of which has been a sticking point for bishops, who have said that demand is too low for there to be provision for the older form of Mass.
He said; "This is a matter of common sense; why create problems if the people who ask for the Rite come from different parishes? If they get together and request a Mass, they become a stable group even if they did not know each other before. Also the number (of the group) is a question of goodwill. In some parishes, especially in the countryside, on weekdays the people who come to the ordinary Mass are three or four and the same occurs in not a few religious houses. Why, if those same people request the old Mass, would it be pastorally necessary to refuse it?".....
Comment: Well said Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos! Rome knows that the traditional Mass and those who attend it are not going to go away. Since the implementation of the Pope's motu proprio the Mass has sprouted up again all over the world in a way that even a few years ago would have been considered impossible. The architects of the chaos caused by the poor implementation of the Council's Documents are now understandably filled with angst and all of a sudden have become aware that their work is doomed. Many are the battles they have won but given the promise of Christ that He would be with His church until the end of time they cannot win the war. Indeed this new freshness in the church - shows all the ageing liberals to be living in the past. Tacky liturgy and poor catechises peddled as the "spirit of the Council" are now being scrutinized by Rome. If I were given to schadenfreude I would be delighting in all of this but looking at the havoc these people have wrought over the last four decades it makes me feel quite sick. When Rome speaks there always seems to be a plethora of experts to reinterpret what the Pope is really saying. Why should they change the habit of a lifetime? Thinking of the things which some retired clerics like Basil Loftus write in the Catholic Times and the Tablet, I sometimes wonder which church he is a member of. In these exciting times of renaissance in the Church I think he wonders which church he is in too. He might well feel the same way as many elderly priests did in the mid 1960s and 70s, when they saw all that they held to be true being systematically eliminated. It hurt, but in obedience most went with the flow. The rest, they say, is history. Basil doesn't seem too keen on obedience, citing some demented old aunt who pettily ridiculed the rule of the Eucharistic fast of the time. But at the same time as criticizing such pious rubrics he also very slyly undermines the Church's Teaching on a lot of other things too. Fortunately his pieces are generally so inaccessible that there is seldom any real feedback to his notes in the Catholic Times. Ignore him and he might go away has always been my counsel!
I shall be requesting a votive Mass for the propagation of the Faith!
