DEAR BISHOP
When Yours Truly requested the Traditional Mass from her Dear Bishop:
Yours Truly:
“When can we have the Latin Mass back?”
“When you get me a priest to say it”; and
“When there is a stable group requesting it”; and
“I would need a deacon”
So no. No Latin Mass for this diocese! Not in the perceivable future. The reason for that is simple; the Dear Bishop does not want the Latin Mass here. There are other reasons of course, but none of those reasons would matter if Dear Bishop wanted the Latin Mass in this diocese. Potentially he could say the Latin Mass himself, he told me he still remembers how; he just doesn’t want to. If he wanted the Latin Mass, he would be training the priests or he would be arranging someone else to do it for him. Deacons and altar boys would be in the making and a Sacred Music Ministry would have formed by now. (As they did elsewhere) But no, Dear Bishop did not do any of that here; he prefers to sit on his hiney with both feet raised. And he sincerely believes the Latin Mass for the diocese is not his responsibility; so it must be the responsibility of Yours Truly.
More of Dear Bishop's response to Yours Truly:
“The only reason the Pope freed the Latin Mass to appease those who separated”;
“You can try to advertise in the parish bulletins, but it doesn’t mean they will put it in”; “I am not going to advertise for you”;
“We have the Mass” (the Novus Ordo); and “The old mass had its own problems”; and “People didn’t participate in the old mass”;
“People used to say the ROSARY!; “People used to say the ROSARY!” Yes Dear Bishop said it twice. And please note, Dear Bishop pronounced “Rosary” with loathing!
According to dear Bishop the people here don’t want the Latin Mass. I asked him how he knows that. After all he didn’t ask the people; he must be reading minds now. He said I was one of two people requesting it. I find that hard to believe. Oh I am sure he was correct about the number of people who actually approached him about it. But two people asking do not mean two people wanting. I suspect there are many more of those who are waiting for the bishop and priests to respond to the call of the Holy Father to reinstate the Traditional Mass here. There are even more who would not DARE to ask Dear Bishop for the Traditional Mass. There is political correctness after all and requesting the Latin Mass is still risky business hereabouts. And no kidding, Dear Bishop shook with anger and was quite beside himself when Yours Truly told him that the Traditional Mass was not the same as the Novus Ordo. True enough Dear Bishop was ever so surprised; he even asked if Yours Truly wanted the Novus Ordo in Latin.
Of course Dear Bishop never considered an entire generation of Catholics, those who never experienced the Latin Mass. The under fifty crowd is uninformed and lacks the experience to determine what their preference would be. I suspect there are many people who would prefer the Latin Mass, but for lack of appreciation and understanding they simply remain unaware of that fact.
But when did the Catholic Faith become subject to personal speculations and to popular opinion? What IS a bishop – a mere politician or a shepherd of souls? Yours Truly is praying the Rosary, pronouncing Rosary with reverence, for Dear Bishop.
As for that “stable Latin Mass community” – where can it be after 40years? Many died, some gave up, some went to the local SSPX and some simply stopped going to church. As I told Dear Bishop, its a catch-22. What stable Latin Mass Community can there be after 40 years of depravation?
as James Hitchcock writes in Conservative Bishops, Liberal Results
"Conservative lay people find it practically impossible to make a credible stand for orthodoxy in a liberal diocese, precisely because their opinions are defined as merely that -- opinions. Although the Pope and the bishop may both state orthodox teachings clearly, in particular situations the bishop seldom allows himself to identify lapses from that orthodoxy. Thus conservative lay people protesting diocesan practices always come to be regarded as cranks, since the bishop himself does not recognize the abuses they see."
