You can, I am sure, picture this.
Young families, with several small children, along with others of all ages and walks of life now have to rise that much earlier to travel the much greater distance to participate on a Sunday at the Traditional Latin Mass. They do so, with dedication and conviction, but it now costs them more in time, effort, and money. Everything has been made harder in times already hard.
As Father at the ambo finishes reading the Gospel in English, he takes up a sheet of paper and, with a humiliated and apologetic glance at the congregation reads the following:
“Those gathered for the celebration of Mass using the 1962 Missale Romanum are reminded that you belong to a parish for which priests are assigned for full care of souls and from whom the Faithful receive such care. Participation in this Mass is not a substitute for such care and the obligation to support your parish community.”
Men shift in their pews and cross their arms. Women look down at their prayer books or at the tabernacle. Kids stir uneasily, sensing that something isn’t right. Older people, who’ve been attacked for decades, glare.
Thus it shall now be in the Archdiocese of Detroit at the command of Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger.
I am not making this up.
Here is a screenshot from the document that that shepherd of the Motor City issued about the implementation of his inspirations:
One Michigander priest of my acquaintance sent me this:
Could we get a chant setting, maybe in Greek and Latin, for the deacon to make the “all you filthy trads remember to pay up to your territorial parish” announcement they have to make in Detroit?
I’ll get the ball rolling.
O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam, mementote sordidi retrorsi paroeciae vestrae territoriali solvere!
