Sunday, November 18, 2018

Tridentine Masses coming this week to metro Detroit and east Michigan


Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Sunday


Monday


Tuesday


Wednesday


Thursday


Friday


Saturday


Sunday


* NB: The SSPX chapels among those Mass sites listed above are posted here because the Holy Father has announced that "those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins," and subsequently extended this privilege beyond the Year of Mercy. These chapels are not listed among the approved parishes and worship sites on archdiocesan websites.

Tridentine Community News - Reasons for Thanksgiving and Optimism; Tridentine Masses This Coming Week


"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"

Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (November 18, 2018):
November 18, 2018 – Resumed Sixth Sunday After Epiphany

Reasons for Thanksgiving and Optimism

It seems that most of the Catholic news nowadays comes in one of two categories, either bad news about malfeasance and corruption in the Church hierarchy or “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” seemingly forced-happy news from establishment Catholic media outlets.

Ignored in both of the above are the quiet signs of improvement in many areas of Catholic life, most connected with the Traditional Latin Mass. Given that this is the week of American Thanksgiving, it’s appropriate to remind ourselves to give thanks for what we do have. For example:

The continuing mainstreaming of the Tridentine Mass, and its increasing prominence in diocesan life. The ever-increasing number of Extraordinary Form Mass sites in metro Detroit and Windsor (and elsewhere) is something unimaginable just eleven years ago. Consider how many options we now enjoy on major weekday Feast Days as one example. In this region, we’re now limited by number of volunteers available to organize and run more Masses rather than by number of willing and interested host churches and clergy.


The ever-increasing number of priests and seminarians interested in learning to serve and celebrate the Extraordinary Form. A perfect example of this was at the All Souls Day Mass on Friday, November 2 at Old St. Mary’s Church in Detroit [photo above]: Brothers from the Franciscans of the Holy Spirit served the Mass, with seminarians from Sacred Heart Major Seminary representing two dioceses sitting in choir. Every one of the Franciscan seminarians repeatedly expressed their gratitude for having been exposed to the Traditional Mass. And stay tuned – there will be more good news along this front in next week’s Tridentine Community News column.

The increasing prevalence of Gregorian Chant and sacred polyphony in parish life. For example, this week this writer heard Gregorian Mass XVIII’s Sanctus and Agnus Dei and the Salve Regína sung at a weekday Mass at an average parish in Las Vegas. That would have been unthinkable in the pre-Summórum Pontíficum era as recently as eleven years ago, when blogs and discussion boards proudly boasted of Ordinary Form choirs taking the daring step of chanting the occasional Communion Antiphon in Latin. Clearly the bar has been raised.

A gradual evolution of where serious Catholicism is found. Prior to Vatican II, many if not most parishes seemed to have been fairly orthodox. Post-Vatican II, only a handful of conservative parishes and ethnic parishes cared enough to maintain traditions. Nowadays there is no mistaking that Tridentine Mass communities lead the charge, but an increasing number of Ordinary Form parishes are shifting to a more traditional presentation of the Faith, at least at certain Masses.

A recapturing of the importance of celebrating the Feasts of the Church Year, and increasing integration of the Church calendar into daily thinking and prayer. Catholic media and many priests’ preaching are helping to rekindle awareness of the sanctoral cycle, Feasts of Our Lady, octaves, and the lives of the Saints.

Rediscovery and rededication to traditional devotions, from the Rosary to Eucharistic Adoration to gaining Indulgences. Even at otherwise “modern” parishes, ground-level support from the faithful is causing a resurgence of popular devotions that often went ignored in the 1980s and 90s. One example is the increasing number of novenas and devotions prayed before or after weekday Masses.

Increasing availability of Confession before and after Mass. If you offer it, they will come, even in Ordinary Form parishes.

The resurgence of traditional art and architecture, both in new church construction and in restorations and un-wreckovations of older churches. The number of church restorations seems to be outpacing wreckovations these days. Communion Rails, High Altars, and serious religious art are making a comeback, and the designers and contractors supporting those efforts are growing in number and busier than ever.

The rise of a whole industry of secondhand and new traditional church goods vendors, as presented in the November 4 edition of this column. The era of 1970s style products is finally starting to pass.

One might ask, with all of this good news, why isn’t the Catholic press more focused on it? Certainly much of the mainstream Catholic press is under control of the bishops, most of whom still seem oblivious to or disinterested in traditional forms of piety and worship. However, web sites, blogs, and social media – and of course this column and Extraordinary Faith - abound with example after example of the resurgent interest in our immemorial traditions, so the encouraging word will spread via other channels.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
  • Tue. 11/20 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. Felix of Valois, Confessor)
  • Sat. 11/24 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (St. John of the Cross, Confessor & Doctor)
[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for November 18, 2018. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Tridentine Community News - How a layman can serve as subdeacon in the EF; Tridentine Masses This Coming Week


"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"

Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (November 11, 2018):
November 11, 2018 – Resumed Fifth Sunday After Epiphany

How a Layman Can Serve as Subdeacon in the EF

One of the most frequent questions this writer has heard over the past year has been whether it is permissible for a layman to serve as Subdeacon for a Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Some Latin Mass communities have been using laymen in this capacity; the question is whether this is actually permitted. The answer is yes, under specific circumstances.

It is worth mentioning that the laws governing this matter are not all that easy to find. One really has to be a scholar of Tridentine Mass rubrics to find the answer. The entity governing such matters, the Pontifical Commission Ecclésia Dei in Rome, does a poor job of publicizing its rulings. Ideally they would post their various decisions on a web site, but alas that has not yet happened.

The 2009 edition of Fortescue’s Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described states that originally, the only men who could serve as Subdeacon were those who had been ordained to any of the minor orders and those who had received tonsure, the ceremonial cutting of hair at the commitment to religious life.


Pope Paul VI’s 1972 Apostolic Letter Ministéria Quædam abolished the minor orders (porter, lector, exorcist, and acolyte) and eliminated the major order of subdeacon, leaving only deacon and priest. (Note the labeling of steps to the priesthood at Chicago’s Mundelein Seminary Chapel: minor orders on the front sanctuary steps, major orders on the back High Altar steps. [photo by Fr. Bryan Jerabek]) The document replaced them with “ministries”, of which Acolyte is one. The PCED’s ruling clarifies the matter and establishes that the Ordinary Form “installation” (as opposed to ordination) to the ministry of Acolyte is the pertinent modern day equivalent to the former minor orders. Note that the minor orders continue to be provided to members of the religious communities which follow the Extraordinary Form ordination track, including the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King.

In 1993, the PCED issued Protocol 24/92, a ruling stating the following: “In celebrating the Solemn High Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal it is necessary to follow the rubrics of that missal. In the past the employment of a person who had received the ministry of acolyte acting as subdeacon was tolerated. In that case the acolyte acting as subdeacon did not wear the maniple. Thus usage may continue to be tolerated.”

In response to the PCED’s ruling, a few dioceses began to install laymen as Acolytes. The Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska and the U.S. [Anglican] Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter stand out: both install large numbers of men as Acolytes, the latter specifically to assist at Solemn High Masses.

The challenge nowadays is that many if not most bishops do not understand the PCED’s rulings and have little if any interest in taking what they see as unusual steps to assist Latin Mass communities. Archbishop Allen Vigneron in Detroit and Bishop Earl Boyea in Lansing, Michigan, for example, have not installed any laypeople to the Ministry of Acolyte, despite having been made aware of the PCED’s stance on the matter.

Over the years, a few laymen who serve at metro Detroit and Windsor Tridentine Mass sites have expressed an interest in being installed as Acolytes, in large part because of the difficulty of securing priests and deacons on Sundays. The frequency of Solemn High Masses has in large part been limited by the availability of suitably ordained clergy.


Today we have some good news to report: Over the last few months, one of those laymen, James Murphy, one of our roving altar servers based at Windsor’s St. Benedict Tridentine Community, successfully petitioned Diocese of London, Ontario Bishop Ronald Fabbro to be installed as an Acolyte. His Excellency granted permission for this to take place and delegated the ceremony to his Auxiliary Bishop, Joseph Dabrowski. On Thursday, November 8, 2018 Bishop Dabrowski installed James to the Ministry of Acolyte at the chancery chapel in London.

As a result, James becomes the first layman in metro Detroit and Windsor to be authorized to serve as Subdeacon. As a layman, he will not wear maniple or biretta. Our congratulations to him, especially for patiently and persistently going through the steps Rome has decreed are necessary to undertake this ministry.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
  • Tue. 11/13 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. Didacus, Confessor)
  • Sat. 11/17 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (St. Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop & Confessor)
[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for November 11, 2018. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Tridentine Masses coming to metro Detroit and east Michigan this week


Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Sunday


Monday


Tuesday


Wednesday


Thursday


Friday


Saturday


Sunday


* NB: The SSPX chapels among those Mass sites listed above are posted here because the Holy Father has announced that "those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins," and subsequently extended this privilege beyond the Year of Mercy. These chapels are not listed among the approved parishes and worship sites on archdiocesan websites.

Monday, November 05, 2018

Tridentine Masses coming this week to metro Detroit and east Michigan


Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Sunday


Monday


Tuesday


Wednesday


Thursday


Friday


Saturday


Sunday


* NB: The SSPX chapels among those Mass sites listed above are posted here because the Holy Father has announced that "those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins," and subsequently extended this privilege beyond the Year of Mercy. These chapels are not listed among the approved parishes and worship sites on archdiocesan websites.