Tridentine Community News

Tridentine Community News (May 16, 2010):

Assumption-Windsor To Debut Tuesday Evening Mass

We are pleased to announce that Fr. Paul Walsh, pastor of Windsor’s Assumption Church, has approved a weekly Tuesday 7:00 PM Tridentine Mass. Unlike Assumption’s other weekday Masses, which are held in the parish’s beautiful-but-small Rosary Chapel, the Tuesday evening Mass will be held in the main church, so that we may make use of the parish’s historic Casavant organ. Masses will ordinarily be Low Masses to respect people’s busy schedules. High Masses will be held for occasional special feasts.

The Tuesday evening Masses will begin on June 8. Fr. Peter Hrytsyk will be the principal celebrant of the Tuesday Masses.

Fr. Walsh deserves our thanks and prayers for his show of support to the Latin Mass Community.

Corpus Christi Masses & Processions

It has been a tradition in our churches to make use of the External Solemnity provision to move the Feast of Corpus Christi to the Sunday following the actual feast day. We shall do the same this year at both St. Josaphat and Assumption-Windsor. The Church’s thinking in permitting this move is to encourage as many of the faithful as possible to venerate our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. In particular, processions with the Blessed Sacrament that are customary on this feast are likely to have more participants on a Sunday.

We mention this because in addition to these two usual celebrations and processions, there will be one more celebration of the feast, followed by an outdoor procession, at Windsor’s St. Theresa Church on Thursday, June 3 at 7:00 PM. Thursday is the proper day of the feast, hence the decision.

St. Theresa Mass To End

There is a sad tinge to the above Mass. The pastor of St. Theresa, Fr. John Johnson, is being transferred out of Windsor this summer. As a result, at the time of this writing, the June 3 Mass will be the last Thursday Extraordinary Form Mass to be held at St. Theresa.

In addition to being an enthusiastic student of the liturgy, Fr. John has been an immense help behind the scenes with our local Tridentine Masses. He hopes to remain involved as an occasional celebrant in both Detroit and Windsor.

The debut of Assumption’s Tuesday Mass therefore comes at a fortuitous time. The very next week after the last St. Theresa Mass, the first Assumption Mass will be held.

While it is on a different day of the week, it still provides for one weekday Extraordinary Form Mass per week in Windsor. St. Theresa’s Mass has attracted faithful from far and wide; one individual drives one and a half hours each way from far north of Detroit to attend most weeks. While this is most impressive, we should note that this kind of dedication is not unknown elsewhere in the Extraordinary Form Mass world.

Tabernacle Location and the Altar Crucifix

While we are on the topic of St. Theresa Church, it is worth mentioning a rubric that may be counter-intuitive. In our historic churches, the tabernacle is in its traditional place in the center of the high altar. At St. Theresa, as in many modern churches, it is off to the side. In such a circumstance, what are the celebrant and servers to do in the way of reverences?

It is a little-known fact that the bows during Mass, such as during the Orémus before the Collects, are to the altar crucifix and not to the tabernacle. In the Extraordinary Form, every altar must have a crucifix on it. (A mosaic above and behind a high altar will suffice.) Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, encourages something similar in the Ordinary Form if it is celebrated facing the people: He recommends that the celebrant face a crucifix placed on the freestanding altar, as it provides a point of visual focus for the celebrant and congregation alike. It reminds all of the sacrificial nature of Holy Mass, plus it avoids the human tendency to stare at one another when in fact we are addressing God.

This begs the question of genuflections: To what do the celebrant and servers genuflect if the tabernacle is not on the altar? The rubrics specify that the celebrant is merely to make a bow to the crucifix at the points when he approaches or departs the altar. The servers are still to genuflect, probably to ensure that all servers are trained to do the same thing no matter the locale. During the Mass, of course, genuflections to the consecrated Blessed Sacrament are still done.

We would like to conclude with some food for thought: A centrally-located tabernacle has many advantages theologically: an easily-found focus for prayer, a throne-like placement of our Lord, and an unavoidable reminder to all to genuflect and adopt a reverent mindset as they enter their pews. Peoria, Illinois Bishop Daniel Jenky recently ordered all of his churches to restore their tabernacles to a central point. Yet there is something unseemly in having the celebrant turn his back to the Blessed Sacrament as he celebrates Mass facing the people. Logic tells us this is another argument in favor of ad oriéntem celebration of Holy Mass.

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for May 16, 2010. Hat tip to A.B.]