High Vatican official: Bishops who disobey Pope on Latin Mass are "instruments of the devil"
You might have heard that Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith (pictured above) of Sri Lanka, the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, made a blockbuster pronouncement recently.Here it is. It was on Oct. 6, and he was speaking to Vereniging voor Latijnse Liturgie, the Dutch Latin Liturgy Association. According to an eyewitness at the talk, as cited by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (click on this post's title), here is what Archbishop Ranjith said:
"The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum on the Latin Liturgy of July 7th, 2007, is the fruit of a deep reflection by our Pope on the mission of the Church.
"It is not up to us, who wear ecclesiastical purple and red, to draw this into question, to be disobedient and make the motu proprio void by our own little, tittle rules. Even not if they were made by a bishops' conference. Even bishops do not have this right.
"What the Holy Father says, has to be obeyed in the Church. If we do not follow this principle, we will allow ourselves to be used as instruments of the devil, and nobody else. This will lead to discord in the Church, and slows down her mission. We do not have the time to waste on this, else we behave like Emperor Nero, fiddling on his violin while Rome was burning.
"The churches are emptying, there are no vocations, the seminaries are empty. Priests become older and older, and young priests are scarce.”
Read and re-read that statement! So much for the ordinaries in the USA who have made "little, tittle rules" about the Latin Mass.
And notice that Archbishop Ranjith sees the Latin Mass as a remedy for the churches and the seminaries emptying.
Maybe The Tidings should apologize for running columns by Fr. Richard McBrien that disparage the Latin Mass.
Also, Abp. Ranjith had said the following early last July, just before the Holy Father issued Summorum Pontificum:
"I will surprise you here: Nowhere in the [Vatican II] conciliar decree does it say that the priest must face the assembly, nor that the use of Latin is forbidden!
"If the use of the common tongue is permitted, notably in the liturgy of the Word, the decree is very clear that the use of the Latin language should be maintained in the Latin rite."
As then-Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, told the amazed reporters after he knocked out Sonny Liston in a huge upset, "What'cha gonna say now, huh?"
posted by Quintero at 8:43 PM
20 Comments:
I'm only familiar with what has occurred here in Los Angeles with regard to Summorum Pontificum. Cardinal Mahony has done nothing to inhibit its implementation. Since Summorum Pontificum envisions arrangements for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass at the parochial level, it is there, and not at the (arch)diocesan level, that attention should be focused. As far as I know, there has been no great demand for the Extraordianry Form at the parish level.
I also live in Los Angeles and disagree completely with the above post. My local parish at first REFUSED to answer any questions about the mass and referred me to the archdiocese. When I called the archdiocese, as suggested, I was told that they were not answering any questions about the mass and to contact my local parish. So I did. Again, and again, and again. Someone from my church's liturgy committee got back to me only to belittle me and tell me I was "out of touch" for thinking that anyone would be interested in mass in any language other than English. I'm not old enough or on the fringe enough to be out of touch -- trust me. I'm just a normal young person in L.A. And keep in mind I wasn't calling to "demand" any kind of mass in Latin, I was simply calling, very politely, to ask HOW parishoners could inquire about it or express an interest. If someone has seen "no great demand for the Extraordinary Form at the parish level," please know it feels like we're being blocked and pushed away, purposely, at every opportunity.
Dear "young" anonymous:
Take a look at a discussion about one L.A. parish where parishioners were given the run around and were also "belittled" simply because they wanted the old Mass. Most of us are in our 20's, 30's and 40's.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2007/10/
los-angeles-and-the-reception-of-
summorum-pontificum/
I read the matter on Father Zuhlsdorff's page and all I can say is that it is completely unrealistic to inconvenience hundreds of parishioners who wish to participate in Mass celebrated in the Ordinary Form in order to accommodate dozens of parishioners who wish to "hear Mass" in the Extraordinary Form. Pastors have to juggle many balls and it seems that Father Perez is doing his best to see that everybody's pastoral needs are being met. I'm sure that, if the 1962 Mass assembly is consistently comparable to the 1970 Mass assemblies, it could be reasonable to schedule the traditional Latin Mass at a later time.
Sorry, Father, but it seems like the priest in the link is purposely, specifically and very pointedly trying to encourage as few people to show up as possible -- and to belittle those that do want to attend. Like I said, I'm just a normal young person in L.A (and I don't belong to the parish mentioned in the link) but it wasn't until I read the link someone here was nice enough to supply that I realized I'm not alone. I was belittled and spoken to with a kind of condesencion I've never, not once, experienced before when speaking with my church, simply because I dared to INQUIRE about the Extraordinary Form of the mass. There was a level of meanness and scorn that really shocked me when I called around over the last few weeks; I never imagined such vitriol was possible in Los Angeles. I've usually had pretty good experiences here. From my point of view -- the point of view of someone who up until this point hasn't been particularly overactive in my church but is now considering finally DOING SOMETHING -- it seems like there is a vast movement of people WITHIN the Church in L.A. to stomp out, discourage and belittle as many of us as possible. That's just not right, and it's very hard to explain away.
Dear Anonymous 12:12,
It's very important to reiterate that your negative experiences occurred at another parish, not SS Peter and Paul where the pastor is making a good faith effort to be accommodating.
What I suggest you do in your parish is to find a group of like-minded parishioners and ask for an appointment with the pastor to express your unhappiness with the initial response and formally to present your request for Mass celebrated in the Extraordinary Form.
Be prepared for a negative response if certain conditions do or do not exist—e.g. no priest familiar with the Extraordinary Form is available; the needs of the majority of parishioners must also be taken into account; the group desiring the Extraordinary Form is numerically too small and/or more "ad hoc" than "stable" etc.
If your group feels it is being denied what the Pope said pastors should provide, then request a meeting with the regional bishop...if frustrated at that level, appeal to the Archdiocese and then to the Cardinal himself.
If you feel that you have been ill-served after all of these good-will attempts, present your case to the Commission "Ecclesia Dei" at the Holy See.
I know this seems ponderous and will take time, but this is way things do get done within the Church.
"It's very important to reiterate that your negative experiences occurred at another parish, not SS Peter and Paul where the pastor is making a good faith effort to be accommodating." Oh, come on... 6:30 a.m. in the morning IF the parishoners can come up with a minimum, totally arbitrary number of atendees AND keep it up for a year AND be made to understand how ridiculous their request is AND how inappropriate it is to make it? Because that's certainly the message that church is giving; it's readily apparent by even me, a complete outsider. That's not accommodating, not by any stretch of the imagination... And that's fine, that church can set any standards it wishes, but to pretend it's being accommodating is disingenous at best and in-your-face ha-ha-ha sarcastic at worse. It limits the Mass only to people who can afford their own transportation and can cavalierly disregard their own safety. Have you ever tried to board an LA bus at 5:30 in the morning? With small children? Because that's how long it takes to get ANYWHERE in L.A. if and when public transportation is actually running. So, basically, Peter and Paul has said you're welcome to come to this morning mass only if you're wealthy enough and well-connected enough (if you need a ride) to do so. That's not "accommodating."
And Father, I do appreciate you giving a list of steps I should take to ask for an Extraordinary Form of Mass.... It's nice to see it spelled out somewhere. It is, however, not very useful to me.
You say, "What I suggest you do in your parish is to find a group of like-minded parishioners and ask for an appointment with the pastor to express your unhappiness with the initial response and formally to present your request for Mass celebrated in the Extraordinary Form." That would be great, but as made abundantly clear to me when I contacted my church, I am not allowed to inquire as to HOW to put together a group of like-minded parishoners, the church will not allow me to post anything related to that in the church bulletin, have it mentioned after mass during the announcements, write any letters to the liturgy committee, ask for a meeting with the liturgy committee, be allowed to contact the pastor on my own on this topic or use any church resources to contact anyone else within the church. Those are direct quotes. It definitely came off as a warning, not as an invitation.
So to say that, "As far as I know, there has been no great demand for the Extraordinary Form at the parish level," take the blinders off. There are definitely more than a handful of us, if the college friends in the area I've been talking with this week are any indication, and we're all being given the same runaround... We aren't allowed to ask for an Extraordinary Form Mass because there's no interest in it, but there's no interest in it because we're being actively blocked from asking about it.
And keep in mind, again, I'M JUST A NORMAL YOUNG PARISHONER in L.A. I'm not some crusader, not some fringe lunatic, just someone who goes to Mass on Sundays and spends the rest of my time listening to rock on the radio and browsing the Internet and going to work and hanging with my family. All of this started simply because I dared to POLITELY call my church and ask about this Mass. I am completely befuddled about the rhetoric and double-talk surrounding it, particuarly in Los Angeles, but I have faith that voices like mine will eventually find a forum to at least DISCUSS the Mass -- even though we are being actively dissuaded to do so.
Reverend and dear Father,
Thank you for writing, and thank you very much for being a priest.
I wish The Tidings would have not run Fr. McBrien's columns against the Latin Mass. They are essentially against the Holy Father's motu proprio and desires.
The liberals have done a great job, over the past 45 years, of hiding, misrepresenting and defaming the Latin Mass and its glorious ages-long history.
If indeed there is no great demand for the Latin Mass, no wonder. The liberals have seen to that.
Reverend and Dear Father,
No one calls it inconveniencing parishioners when a pastor makes room for a Mass in one of the 38 foreign languages in which Mass is celebrated in this archdiocese.
Why is Latin alone claimed to be an inconvenience?
Reverend and Dear Father,
The real test will be when parishioners go to the archdiocese for help when their pastor or parish staff refuse requests for the Latin Mass.
Will they really get genuine help, or will they have to go to Rome?
Thank you again for being a priest, and God bless you and your flock today and every day.
Dear Anonymous 11:11 p.m. etc.,
Thank you for writing and telling about your sad experience with your parish and the archdiocese.
Keep at it, and get your friends to help out. I totally sympathize with you in your first experience of being belittled and stiffed by the liberals.
You put it very well when you say,
"We aren't allowed to ask for an Extraordinary Form Mass because there's no interest in it, but there's no interest in it because we're being actively blocked from asking about it."
The liberals love to prate about "diversity," but by it they mean only diversity on the left.
To the liberals, traditionalists do not count, and neither do pro-lifers.
Dear Anonymous 11:11 p.m. etc.,
By the way, please don't be hard on the "crusader" and "fringe" people who have been seeking reform in this archdiocese, and trying to pave the way for a better, hassle-free future in the Church for you and your friends.
There's nothing wrong with being a crusader, and I hope your sad experiences will turn you into one.
And "fringe" is just a name the liberals love to use to dissuade people from joining others in standing up for what is right.
Reverend and Dear Father,
I know you are sincere in recommending the appeal-all-the-way-to-Rome process, and I know the Pope provides for it.
But it is certainly true that Catholics in this archdiocese having been doing that on many issues for literally decades and have gotten NOWHERE.
Those who hate the Latin Mass -- and they do hate it -- will surely use every stalling tactic they can think of, including the appeals process, so they can delay ever having to have the Latin Mass.
The liberals will say, "That's just tough luck for you traditionalists." I say it is tough luck for the Catholic Church.
Dear Q,
I wish The Tidings would just drop Father Richard McBrien's column, period. He's a has been, like all those fat, tie-dyed tee-shirt and grungy jeans clad
ex -nuns who imhabit Call to Action conferences! :o)
Reverend and Dear Father,
I totally agree with you. The Tidings should drop Fr. McBrien, and your description of him as a has-been is right on target.
::Looks in mirror, is 22:: I haven't had problems with the Motu Proprio..as my Church offered it for us. St. Therese is a good place if you're looking for a Latin Mass :)! (It happens to be my Church)
and I totally agree, Fr. McBrien has to go.
MORE THAN LIKELY THIS POSTING WILL BE CENCORED BY THE WORD POLICE ON THIS BLOG, NONETHELESS HERE GO'S. IF THE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CATHOLICS IN ORANGE AND THE LA DIOCESE ARE EXPERIENCE EXTREME B.S. FROM YOUR PARISH PRIEST (NOVUS ORDO) VIS A VIS IMPLEMENTING THE ANCIENT TRIDENTINE LITURGY BEAR IN MIND THE PRIEST AND THE NOT QUITE LIGIT SO-CALLED PARISH (LITURGICAL COMMITEES) HAVE BEEN GEARING UP FOR SOME TIME TO THWART THE HOLY FATHERS WISHES EXPRESSED IN HIS RECENT MOTU PROPRIO SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM FREEING THE LATIN MASS AFTER 40 YRS OF ILLEGAL REPRESSION AND UNCHRISTIAN HUMILIATION OF THOSE WHO WANT IT'S RETURN. FORGET THE HOSTILE AND REVISIONIST CLERICS, RELIGIOUS AND BISHOPS OF L.A. & ORANGE COUNTY AND GO DIRECTLY TO ROME (THE SO-CALLED CHAIN OF COMMAND IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN S. CALIFORNIA IS TOP HEAVY AND RIGGED WITH HOSTILE LIBERAL 60'S, CUMBYYA "CATHOLICS". YOUR WASTING YOU TIME BY PLEADING TO THESE REVISIONISTS, THE CARDS ARE STACKED AGAINST ORTHODOXY HERE IN CALIFORNIA OREGON AND WASHINGTON STATE, NOT TO MENTION BRITISH COLUMBIA, GO DIRECTLY TO ROME TO THE ECCLESIA DEI COMMISSION AND SAVE A LOT OF TIME AND GRIEF.
From what I gather there has to be a significant demand for the Latin mass in order for a priest to say it & even there he has to discern whether it is sought from sincere people or those who believe the Paul VI mass is invalid.Obviously the overwhelming parishes of the world couldn^t care less about the Tridentine mass & when the motto proprio was released last summer hardly anybody cared,it was business as usual.The problem is right now were dealing with alot of fringe people in the vatican who are trying to go back to the 50s but as the saying goes you can^t put toothpaste back in the bottle.Certain stands taken(contraception,women priests,celibate clergy) have no basis in scripture & even tradition since Catholic dealings with sexuality have been disgraceful in the past.Before Vatican II sex in marriage was considered a neccessary evil & women were excluded from priesthood because they were thought of as inferior.Two absurdities that exist with some of these people even today.St Paul who wrote in Timothy that a Bishop should be married once with his children well behaved & who argued in corinthians that he had every right to bring a christian wife like Peter & the other Apostles would be appaled at the celibacy imposed on such an important ministry as priesthood.Most in the church who are the people of God don^t buy this nonsense.It is the sensus fideii but there are those in power trying to impose dictates of a very small minority & who themselves dissent from many teachings of Vatican II especially Collegiality
Dear Kimster,
If you have the chance, you can find the text of the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum" on the www.vatican.va website and see what it actually says.
The Pope has given every priest the freedom to say the Latin Mass privately whenever he likes. Lay people may attend.
More and more parishes in some dioceses are scheduling Latin Masses. The Vatican is readying a document that might tell bishops and pastors to get with the Pope's program and stop blocking the Holy Father's wishes for the Latin Mass.
Quite a few Catholics care about the Latin Mass, but we don't hear much about it because the diocesan newspapers and liberal Catholic publications do not want us to know what is really going on.
The Pope is not "fringe people in the Vatican." Neither is Cardinal Arinze or Archbishop Ranjith.
With all due respect, may I say that you've been reading or hearing incorrect, anti-Catholic things about the history and the doctrines of our Church. Maybe you've heard some of these things from well-meaning Catholics, but they are sadly misinformed.
May I say that what you've written sounds like Call to Action and Voice of the Faithful. I urge everyone to stay away from them. They are FALSE guides
Have you looked at all the great histories and doctrinal books, pamphlets, DVDs, etc., available from Tan Books, Ignatius Press, Preserving Christian Publications and Catholic apologetics and family sites such as St. Joseph's Communications? They are true guides to Holy Mother Church.
A rule I've always found to be good and reliable is, "Give our Church the benefit of the doubt. If you hear objections to the Church, don't automatically believe them; investigate so you hear both sides of the story. Believe that Jesus knew what He was doing when He founded the Church and gave us the Papacy; believe that the Holy Spirit guides the Church and did so even before Vatican II came along!"
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