I got this note from California Daily Daily. It sounds like good news!
My emphases and comments.
“The use of the Latin language is to be preserved” [Well.. after all, …. that’s … that’s… only Vatican II saying that!]Will Benedict XVI’s motu proprio result in more Tridentine Masses in California? [So… they didn’t see the WDTPRS poll.]
Will celebrations of the Tridentine Latin Mass multiply – even in California? Under John Paul II’s indult, the number of Latin Masses in the state was few and far between. But will things change under Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio liberalizing permission for celebrating the old Latin rite?
The Oct. 13 Riverside Press Enterprise reported that Fr. Steve Porter of St. Catherine of Siena church in Rialto (San Bernardino diocese) seems willing to offer the Mass on a regular basis. On Sept. 14 – the date the motu proprio went into effect — Porter offered a Tridentine Latin Mass at his parish, attended by 100 people.
After the Mass, Porter received e-mails asking that he say the Mass more often. He is consulting with St. Catherine’s liturgy committee about the possibility of celebrating the Mass on major feast days, beginning with All Saints, Nov. 1.
The Tridentine Mass continues at San Secondo D’Asti church in Guasti, every Sunday at 10.30 a.m. The celebration, begun under the indult, is the only weekly celebration of the traditional Latin Mass in the San Bernardino diocese.
San Bernardino diocesan spokesman Fr. Howard Lincoln told the Press Enterprise that there is little demand for the traditional Mass. [The Party Line.] Bishop Gerald Barnes, said Lincoln, will allow the Tridentine Mass as long as the priest can pronounce the Latin prayers and knows their meaning – something, said Lincoln, the Holy See requires. [The Holy See requires that the priest be minimally qualified. It doesn’t say that you have be be expert in Latin. Card. Egan, a distinguished canonist, explained that the priest must be able to pronounce the words properly.]
In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, St. Therese of Liseaux in Alhambra, staffed by Discalced Carmelite fathers, will offer the Tridentine Mass on the third and fourth Sundays of each month at 1 p.m. The offering of the Mass, says the parish’s web site, is “in response to the gracious invitation from His Holiness.”
The Diocese of Orange has two weekly Latin Mass locations – at Mission San Juan Capistrano and the Pope John Paul II Center in Yorba Linda. St. Mary’s by the Sea in Huntington Beach was to inaugurate a celebration of the Tridentine Mass in September – but it has been delayed.
But the Orange diocese might soon have a third Tridentine Mass – at St. John the Baptist in Costa Mesa, a parish staffed by the Norbertine fathers from St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado. In an Oct. 4 posting on his blog site, the parish’s pastor, Fr. Hildebrand Garceau, said he met with the Pastoral Council about interest shown by parishioners in the Tridentine Mass. The council “advised that I should have a meeting with all those interested to explain clearly what the traditional Mass is and how it compares with the newer form,” wrote Fr. Hildebrand. The “explanatory meeting” is set for Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.
“It will be necessary to have a large and stable group of parishioners [There’s that nad translation, "stable group". There is NO indication from the Holy See that the group has to be "large".] who are committed to attending this Mass weekly for us to dedicate a time on Sunday,” said Fr. Hildebrand. The Norbertines have said the Tridentine Mass at other locations in Southern California.
Fr. Hildebrand’s blog features “Latin Mass FAQs,” explaining the old rite in comparison with the new. Vatican II did not forbid the Latin Mass, writes Hildebrand. “The Council, in its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, said: ‘The use of the Latin language is to be preserved.’ The Council merely gave permission for the limited introduction of the vernacular (or local language) into certain parts of the Mass when celebrated in public.” [Right!]
Things seem to be looking up!
