I got these questions via e-mail:
I have a question dealing with the proper understanding of the Motu Propio Summorum Pontificum.
A hypothetical diocese has a policy in which the Extraordinary Form is only allowed where explicitly permitted by the bishop but the Ordinary Form is permitted in any church in the diocese. Is this consistent with Motu Propio Summorum Pontificum? I would think that wherever the Ordinary Form is permitted the Extraordinary Form is also permitted since these are simply two different uses of the same rite.
This seems not to be consistent with the provisions of Summorum Pontificum.
As I read it, the Motu Proprio places these decisions in the hands the priests, not the bishops. Bishops may not, it seems, forbid celebrations of the older form of Mass.
Pastors can schedule Masses with the older form of Mass either on a regular basis or ad hoc.
A second question: may a priest deny a local group the use of "his" church for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass? Assume a local group has arranged for a visiting FSSP priest to come to town, the visiting priest has obtained faculties, and the local group approaches the pastor respectfully and courteously to ask whether thevisiting FSSP priest may offer Mass on a single occasion at some time in which the church is not being used for something else. Does the pastor have the right to refuse to allow the group & the FSSP priest access to the church?
Yes, I think a pastor of a parish could forbid a visiting priest and an outside group from doing something in his parish.
Pastors of parishes (or those in charge of other churches and chapels) should extend to visiting priests the opportunity to say Mass.
However, a pastor is not obliged to let visiting groups or priests move into his church and do what they please, even when what they desire to do is laudable.
