A Merry Christmas to all! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Posted on 12/19/2007 5:13:56 PM PST by Serviam1
This morning Fr. Connolly announced (to the throngs in attendance at the 10 o'clock Mass) that after his consultations with His Eminence, he (Fr. Connolly) has decided that the Tridentine Latin Mass will again be celebrated weekly at Holy Trinity. He mentioned that it remains for us to work out a schedule of clergy to enable us to have the priests necessary to ensure proper coverage. There also will be careful consideration as to the time the Mass will be celebrated. The possibility of having the Latin Mass take place before the [current 10:00AM] Novus Ordo one is under active consideration.
Peter Cooper Holy Trinity Business Manager
Holy Trinity was site of Boston's Indult for the Traditional Latin Mass (now referred to as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite) from 1990 until 22 April 2007.
Apparently, under the auspices of the Holy Father's recent Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum (14 Jul 07), a request for renewed regular celebration of the Extraordinary Form has been granted by Holy Trinity's new Administrator, Fr. John Connolly after conferring with His Eminence. What this means for the long term survival of the parish remains unclear; however, the latest news is viewed as a very positive sign.
May you and your families have a Blessed Nativity and prosperous New Year.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!
That’s great news!
How does this affect the Mass now at Mary Immaculate in Newton? My wife and I are very grateful for the Newton location, because of its very close proximity to her parents when we come to visit.
Hopefully Cardinal Sean will allow more than one TLM in the archdiocese of Boston...
Seriously, this is great(!!!) news and it should not affect the TLM in Newton at all. This is supposedly one of the largest diocese in the country. I would hope it could support at least two churches which offer the TLM.
At the moment, there is talk of either a 8:30 or 9:00 AM Traditional Latin Mass at Holy Trinity, as to not conflict with Fr. Higgin’s 12 Noon at Mary Immaculate (MIL). This would be particularly good for families with kids, so they may use the balance of the day for family time (dinner, sports, hobbies, rides in the country, etc.). This time is not firmed up yet.
A scheduled rotation of priests needs to be hammered out and is likely to happen after the first of the year. Of course, we must support Fr. Higgins. The center of gravity now for the Latin Mass community is at MIL.
One thing we should all remember is there is no longer an Indult as we knew it for many years, with a locus at one parish. With the July’s Motu Proprio, the Holy Father’s desire is to see the Extraordinary Form (EF or simply the Traditional Latin Mass) as once again a normal part of the Church’s Sacramental life in ALL parishes, thereby having a positive influence for the Good. This will act as an antidote for the detrimental affects of post-Conciliar abuse and ecclessiological problems with typical parish life. The Holy Father wishes the sense of Faith of average Catholics. MIL will likely be a spiritual and physical resource, for many parishes to help “jump start” other EF celebrations in other parishes throughout the diocese, given its has been the center of gravity since the move in April. Everything from training to providing a model of Parish life that includes the resident(Novus Ordo) parishioners and their needs. Our outreach and missionary activity could play a big role in a renewal. Fr. Higgins needs our constant encouragement, support and prayers.
Already, there has been a regular First Friday Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) at St. Columbkille in Brighton (where many seminarians from St. John’s Seminary have been attending regularly), several TLM’s popping up in the Diocese of Manchester (NH), including Immaculate Conception in Portsmouth and several more sprinkled in parishes throughout New England.
In the Archdiocese of Boston, we also expect new TLM’s to commence at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly, St. Joseph in Lynn, St. Peter in Dorchester, St. Anne in Neponset (Dorchester) in the coming months. There is a lot of interest among yonger clergy and seminarians. Certainly, this gives us great reason to hope.
This of course includes good old Holy Trinity, and hopefully the latest decision will draw more people once again to this Holy and historic House of God! What a great gift that this news comes at Christmas!
A Blessed Nativity and New Year to all!
"His Eminence" who still thinks it's at the discretion of the bishop, notwithstanding the motu proprio? Even so, it's a positive sign, and more than I could realistically hope for! Great, great news!
Could you remember to ping me or FReepmail me when plans firm up? Please? I'm in Southie and don't have a car, so Newton by T on a Sunday is impossibly daunting. But Holy Trinity is just a half hour bus ride.
Pandora -- I'm surprised you didn't post this first! ;-)
This is great news as I drive 120 miles each day for work during the week and driving another 80+ miles on Sunday to Still River is tiring (but necessary for my sanity!) lol
Cheverus, are the two Dorchester parishes the ones you mentioned before? Is O'Malley changing his spots -- or just trying to pre-empt the anticipated Ecclesia Dei clarification of the motu proprio?
Ping!
Fr. Christopher Gomes, OFM.Cap. administrator of St. Peter has expressed interest. Apparently his Latin is quite good (he is fluent in English and Portuguese) but needs to learn the rubrics. The Church also hasn’t been “wreckovated”
Fr. Thomas Foley, V.F. Pastor at St. Ann, Neponset, has vestments (absent a Maniple which he can’t seem to find) and has been studying the rubrics etc. His Missalae Romanum though does not include the English text. I think it is Latin/Italian and he doesn’t speak Italian (acquired in Rome no doubt). Fr. Corcoran his Vicar is very orthodox as well and I’m sure supportive.
St. Ann is in pretty good shape (if you want to see it, Adoration (6pm) followed by the Chaplet of Divine Mercy (6:30) this Friday followed by a Mass at 7. Very well attending and the good Sisters chanting of the Chaplet is really something....they do it from the Choir loft so it seems otherworldly (there are about 12-15 of them).
Fr. Paul Soper at Blessed Mother Theresa was polite and not opposed but did say he didn’t know the rubrics.
Fr. Dan Finn at St. Mark was equally Pastoral.
Fr. Vincent Von Euw had a stroke and St. Ambrose has been in Pastoral Flux...he’d be the type to do it but obviously.
I got not response from St. Brendan or St. Gregory....but a side note, last Sunday at St. Gregory less than 30 for the 7 am Mass, and he still used an EXTRAORDINARY MINISTER .... why I go elsewhere.
A Merry Christmas to all! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Sounds like things are going pretty well in spite of the opposition from certain quarters — not to mention any names, of course! ;-)
I hope that the Germans also consider an 11:00 start for the TLM, or consider moving their Mass back a half-hour so the TLM can get 10:30. The 8 or 9 AM timeframe is just too early for the families coming a large distance. No one wants to do “dawn patrol” with a van full of kids to cross the archdiocese for an 8 AM Mass. They’ll go to the noon TLM in Newton instead. If the idea is to boost the numbers at HT, I hope this factor is considered. Otherwise, HT will only be attractive to early risers without kids or those living within a fifteen minute commute. Just sayin’...
Thanks for the tip on St. Ann’s, Cheverus! I think I’ll mosey on over and have a look around.
Described me to a T! ;-)
Seriously, most kids are early risers -- so perforce most parents are too! And if HT is a long distance, it sounds as if there will probably be a TLM closer in the Boston area that they'll prefer regardless of the time. I think 8:30 or 9:00 sounds great! I don't have kids, but it might take me an hour to get there. (When it was at noon, because of the bus schedule I could either be 20 minutes early or 10 minutes late.)
Well, I hope you forgive me for being a bit utilitarian about this, but I would lobby for a later time (10 AM would probably be ideal, but it would directly conflict with the existing N.O. Mass for the Germans) solely because I think it would produce the largest number of people. And boosting attendance by the greatest possible amount is the only thing that can save this church from ultimate closure. Seeing all of the logistics some of the folks with large families already undergo to trek across a good chunk of the archdiocese to get to the TLM, and formerly dealing with this stuff myself (albeit with only one small child) in my 53 mile ride to HT in the 1990’s, I can see that not too many would be fans of anything earlier than 10 AM. Since they are, as you know, the largest demographic group attending the TLM at Holy Trinity or at Mary Immaculate, their maximum possible participation is no small matter.
Of course, in a “perfect world” dealing with the Extraordinary Form, the FSSP, or ICK or a diocesan priest dealing with Holy Trinity as a personal parish for the TLM would be able to schedule an 8, 10 AND 12 o’clock TLM without any interference from certain individuals a few blocks west at 1400 Washington Street! But we know THAT ain’t gonna happen any time soon! ;-)
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