Sacred Heart Church, Limerick, to re-open after 6 years. A sign of the times?

Video produced by Dr Michael O'Brien, June 2011

Today's Irish Independent carries a story that gives hope, Prayers answered as faithful flock to help save church. Sacred Heart Church, in the heart of the city of Limerick, closed down in 2006 when the Jesuits left. The report says that the property had been on the market for €4million but was sold very recently for €700,000 to the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. That is a bargain price, even though much money will be needed for repairs and to refurnish the church.

The priests of the Institute celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form, what the Irish Independent report refers to as 'the Latin Mass', a term also used, in inverted commas, on the Institute's website, though its preferred term is 'Traditional Latin Mass'. Latin is still the basic liturgical language of the Latin Rite, to which most Catholics belong. I have never celebrated Mass in the Extraordinary Form, either when it was still the only Mass we knew or in recent years. When I was ordained in December 1967 there was an 'interim Mass', the main change being that the readings were in the vernacular. However, I have on a number of occasions celebrated the 'New Mass', Novus Ordo or Mass in the Ordinary Form, in Latin.

Sacred Heart Church, Limerick

Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle, Stamullen, Diocese of Meath, Ireland

(Formerly the Visitation Monastery)

My blogging friend Shane reported earlier in the year that the Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle was moving from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Stamullen in County Meath, north of Dublin. 

There is no doubt that the Catholic Church in Ireland is going through a grave crisis. Among many other things, very few young men are accepting a call to the priesthood. Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 7 December 1965 as the Second Vatican Council drew to a close, says, the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which men ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other. We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its explanations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics.

Are the new monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle, with young monks from the USA living a new expression of the ancient Benedictine form of the monastic life, and the reopening of Sacred Heart Church, to be staffed by young priests from overseas, members of an institute that came into being some years after Vatican II, and helped by local people young and old, among the signs of the times we should be paying attention to?

Video produced by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

Philippine 'Diocese brings back Latin Mass'

Christmas Day 2007. Correction: This Mass was celebrated in Lord of Divine Mercy Parish, Diocese of Cubao, not in Jesus, Lord of Divine Mercy Parish, Diocese of Novaliches as I posted originally. (H/T Pro Deo et Patria for photos and correction).

CBCP News, run by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, carries a story today about the Traditional Latin Mass, no properly called the Extraordinary Form (EF) of the Mass, being celebrated regularly in the Diocese of Parañaque, which consists of three cities in the Metro Manila area and was carved out of the Archdiocese in 2002.

When Pope Benedict's motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, came out in 2007 there wasn't much discussion about it in the Philippines, although some celebrations were reported in the media. The Society of St Pius X has houses in at least two places, Quezon City, Metro Manila, and Iloilo City. On Monday of last week when I went to Iloilo for an ordination I met two SSPX priests as I was getting on the boat for Iloilo, a Frenchman and a Filipino. They were wearing white soutanes with a blue sash. I only exchanged greetings with them.

The CBCP News headline speaks of bringing back the 'Latin Mass'. Quite a few people, even priests older than me - I was ordained in 1967 - refer to what is now called Mass in the Extraordinary Form, or 'TLM' (Tridentine Latin Mass), as many call it. They are unaware that Latin is still the official liturgical language of the Roman Rite. However, hardly anyone I know here has ever been at a Mass of any kind in Latin since the radical changes were introduced. I have celebrated Mass - Novus Ordo - publicly in Latin only twice, in 1981 in a Carmelite Monastery in Iceland, where the nuns were all Dutch, most of them elderly (they've been replaced since by Polish Carmelites), and in a retirement home for Daughters of Charity near Munich in 1988. On the rare occasions when I celebrate Mass alone I sometimes do so in Latin.

In 1990 I attended a TLM, approved by the archbishop, in the church in Dublin where my parents were married. Many in the congregation were young and I was struck by the prayerfulness of those there. For me it was like being at a reconstruction of something from the past in a museum.

However, I wouldn't see it that way now, even though I haven't been at a TLM since. But I hope that the ocasion will arise when I will be able to celebrate an Mass in the Extraordinary Form. When I was ordained we had an 'interim' form, basically the TLM with some vernacular, especially the readings. The Roman Canon could be said aloud but Archbishop John Charles McQuaid of Dublin, where I'm from, decreed that it was to be said quietly, 'for the sake of uniformity', as I recall.

In the larger cities in the Philippines and in most religious houses and Catholic schools English rather than the mother-tongue has replaced Latin. This troubles me at times but it's a complicated issue.

Pro Deo et Patria gives a directory of the TLM in the Philippines, which shows that it is celebrated in a growing number of cities. But I have rarely heard anyone speak about it. One friend of mine in Mindanao was quite upset when some Greek and Latin chants were introduced at one Sunday Mass in his cathedral.

Diocese brings back Latin Mass

MANILA, August 27, 2009—The use of Latin Mass is actively being done in the Diocese of Paranaque with a go signal given by its bishop.

The Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) celebrations in southern Metro Manila are currently hosted by the National Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Villamor Air Base.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass continues to be a Missa Cantata, celebrated at 9:30AM every Sunday at the crypt chapel of the Columbarium.

The Traditional Latin Mass Ministry of the Diocese of Parañaque which celebrates the TLM has adopted the name Societas Liturgiae Sacrae Sancti Gregorii.

The Ministry is composed of the priest-celebrants trained at St. Jerome Emiliani and Sta. Susana Parish (SJESSP), the TLM altar servers of SJESSP, and the Van De Steen Choir.

The Societas LSSG continues to be supported by SJESSP parishioner benefactor, George Balagtas, and its activities coordinated by Marilou Cortes.

Societas LSSG continues to undertake its TLM activities under the directives set by Paranaque Bishop Jesse Mercado and guidelines approved by Fr Grato Germanetto, CRS.
The first celebration of the traditional Mass in the diocese was held on June 29, 2008 on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, at the Church of St. Jerome Emiliani and Sta. Susana Parish in Muntinlupa City.

It will be recalled that in July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued Motu Proprio an Apostolic Letter entitled “Summorum Pontificum” regarding the celebration of the Roman Rite according to the Missal of 1962 and gave guidelines on how to proceed with the so-called Latin Mass. (CBCPNews)