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Kobler’s Key to the CouncilBOOK REVIEW: Kobler, John F., C.P.  Vatican II, Theophany and the Phenomenon of Man: The Council's Pastoral Servant Leader Theology for the Third Millennium.  (American University Studies, Series 7, vol. 100)  New York: Peter Lang, 1991.  0820414921, 9780820414928  $51.95 by Paul Zarowny, Ph.D. Whatever its multiple shortcomings, my book on the Council is the only published attempt to provide a synthesis, at least in a seminal way, of the religious ontology shaping the sense of the Council.[1]     Passionist priest Fr. John F. Kobler’s Vatican II, Theophany and the Phenomenon of Man (1991) is a follow-up to...

Guess what? The *new* Extraordinary rite at our parish was featured on a local news broadcast! And very positively, I might add. Here's the link: Local Pastor Adds Latin Mass to ScheduleHere's a transcript [errors mine]: Reporter: Well today at noon St. Peter Celestine Catholic Church [sic--it's actually St. Peter's, not Celestine. That's another parish nearby.] in Merchantville, New Jersey takes a bold step. The pastor is putting a traditional Latin Mass on the church's Sunday schedule. As CBS 3's Pat Ciarrocchi reports, this comes at the encouragement of the Pope, who hopes that tradition will ignite the fires of...

Today Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, the Catholic archbishop in Moscow for the past 16 years, celebrated his last public Mass before his departure to Minsk, capital of Belarus. Report from Russia- by Dr. Robert MoynihanMOSCOW, Russia, October 28, 2007 -- His voice shaking with deep emotion, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz celebrated his last public Mass and delivered his last, dramatic homily this morning in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow before leaving the Russian capital to take up his new and difficult assignment in Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belorussia.  "I think he is one of the heroes of the...

The Rev. Alfred J. Harris, pastor of St. Mary, Mother of God Catholic Church in Northwest, has embraced the return of the traditional Tridentine Mass, in which the priest faces the altar rather than the congregation and celebrates in Latin. Roman Catholic churches nationwide are rushing to accommodate a surge in demand for the traditional Latin Mass, which is drawing a surprising new crowd: young people. Since July, when a decree from Pope Benedict XVI lifted decades-old restrictions on celebrating the Tridentine Mass, seven churches in the Washington metropolitan area have added the liturgy to their weekly Sunday schedules....

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments criticized bishops and priests who have given a narrow interpretation to Pope Benedict XVI's permission for the wider celebration of the Tridentine Mass. Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don told an Italian Internet news site that he found it difficult to understand the action "and even rebellion" of churchmen who have tried to limit access to the older Mass. "On the part of some dioceses, there have been interpretive documents that inexplicably aim to limit the 'motu proprio' of the pope," he told the Web...

Cardinal George Pell is the first Sydney Archbishop in 40 years to celebrate Mass in Latin according to the 1962 Roman Missal. Celebrated at St Mary’s Cathedral on Saturday morning, the Mass was held to celebrate Pope Benedict's apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum which was published in July. The letter, issued "motu proprio," on one's own initiative, explained new norms allowing for the use of the 1962 missal as an extraordinary form of the liturgical celebration. The norms took effect on 14 September. The Oriens Foundation, which promotes understanding of the Tridentine rite, said the Mass "represented a significant event in...

Vatican City, Oct 23, 2007 / 10:14 am (CNA).- The Vatican Press, Libreria Editricie Vaticana, has announced that it will begin selling the Roman Missal of 1962.  The publication is being viewed as a sign of support from the Vatican for those who wish to celebrate the Mass in Latin according to the 1962 rite, recently encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio instruction, "Summorum Pontificum."It is available for purchase at a price of 59 Euros.  Further details can be found at http://www.libreriaeditricevaticana.com/it/news/

The Most Rev. Emil A. Wcela, recently retired auxiliary Bishop of my home Diocese of Rockville Centre, has an article in this weeks America Magazine. The somewhat ironic piece is entitled "A Dinosaur Ponders The Latin Mass". In this piece, Bishop Wcela chronicles his personal journey from the Traditional Latin Mass to the new Mass along with some very telling observations. Take a look at this paragraph and tell me how many tired and used up cliches you can spot. During the first years of my priesthood (I was ordained in 1956), I knew and celebrated only the Latin...

After the sunny skies of August, storm clouds appeared this week in Rome as Benedict XVI's apostolic letter "Summorum Pontificum" came into effect Sept. 14. For those who have been sleeping under a liturgical rock this summer, the July 7 papal document, issued "motu proprio" (on his own initiative), gave all Catholic priests much broader permission to celebrate the liturgy according to the 1962 Roman Missal, and the faithful the right to request this form of the liturgy. This might have passed unnoticed except for a few keen Vatican watchers, but a commotion among the Italian bishops regarding the document...

A 'co-production' of the FSSP, the archdiocese, and the Franciscans, this was the annual 'Holy Name of Mary' Mass. It was a Pontifical High Mass, celebrant was the Apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Edmond Farhat. The music was by Joseph Haydn, the so-called Nelson-Mass. The Mass took place at Franziskanerkirche, Vienna. Here photos, taken with two Canon 5D, without flash, on the one the Canon EF 24-105 F4 IS L, on the other the Canon EF 70-200 F 2.8 IS L. EWTN was filming it, so it should be on sometime soon. To see bigger versions of the vertical photos, click...

Includes the Mass Booklet which can be printed out (PDF format) for tomorrow's Mass (8 a.m. with encores at 6 p.m. & Midnight Eastern). Also includes links to Papal documents, church documents, special EWTN programming, online tutorial, workshops, and list of communities where the Extraordinary Form is celebrated.

Several Roman Catholic priests in Southwest Virginia are thankful demand for the old-style Latin Mass hasn't emerged here because they are already stretched thin trying to serve rural parishes.This summer Pope Benedict XVI allowed freer use of the traditional Latin liturgy. Some regard his July 7 apostolic letter as a way of healing a rift with Catholic traditionalists. Although Latin is woven occasionally into regular services, the pope's action means that priests no longer need special permission from bishops to perform the old-style Latin Mass. The 16th century Tridentine Mass had been commonly celebrated for 1,500 years but was modernized...

DENTON, Nebraska - AUGUST 17, 2007 - For the first time in its 26 year history, Mother Angelica's Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) will be broadcasting a live Solemn High Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama on September 14, 2007 at 8:00AM EST. EWTN has asked for the assistance of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, an international Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right, to help celebrate this "extraordinary" form. This past July 7th, Pope Benedict XVI affirmed the beauty and importance of the Tridentine Mass by issuing Summorum Pontificum, a papal document...

I have a favor to ask those of you who did NOT grow up with the older form of Mass.  If sometime along the way you decided to check out the older form of Mass, the "Tridentine" Mass, I am interested in your experience and reactions. Were you "hooked"?Are you hooked now but it took a while?Were you indifferent ("What’s the big deal?")Were you put off and don’t want to go back?What was it that captured you?What repelled you?Do you go now?  Often?  Exclusively?  Rarely? back? * What was it that captured you? * What repelled you? * Do you...

CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 19, 2007 - Fr. Scott Haynes, S.J.C. offered the Tridentine Latin High Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Siluva on 8-11-07. This was the first time the Traditional Latin Mass was offered at there since the Communist Occupation of Lithuania. Participants of Ad Fontes (http://adfontes.archangelus.lt/), a study-week of Gregorian Chant for young people, sang Gregorian Chant and rededicated themselves to their Catholic faith. After attending the High Mass, all received the blessing of Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius SJ, the Archbishop of Kaunas, Lithuania. As His Excellency confirmed our commitment to the implementation of Summorum Pontificum,...

In a recent "motu proprio," Pope Benedict XVI relaxed restrictions on the use of the Tridentine Mass, the Latin-language liturgy that predates the Second Vatican Council. The pope said that while the new Roman Missal, introduced in 1970, remains the ordinary way of Catholic worship, Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal, commonly known as the Tridentine rite, should be made available in every parish where groups of the faithful desire it. In this article, Fathers Peter J. Daly (ordained in 1986) and Eugene Hemick (ordained in 1963) --- both columnists with Catholic News Service --- offer their...

Father Rob Johansen blogged the story first, and Father Z picked up on it quickly, but your poor Uncle Di spent the weekend in a slack-jawed stupor, unable to respond. Bishop Patrick Cooney of Gaylord, Michigan, has forbidden the use of Latin in the Roman Catholic liturgy. Seriously. This policy, the bishop tells his clergy, will be in effect "[u]ntil other law is promulgated." But other law already had been promulgated. And I don't mean the recent papal motu proprio, which had not yet appeared when Bishop Cooney issued this astonishing directive (although the bishop surely knew it was...

NEWTON -- Boston Catholics who regularly participate in the Tridentine Mass are overjoyed by Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter “Summorum Pontificum” released July 7 which they say acknowledges that the Latin Mass has an enduring place in the life of the Catholic Church. In the apostolic letter, issued “motu proprio” (Latin for “on his own initiative” and indicating a pope’s special personal interest in the subject), Pope Benedict eased many of the restrictions on celebrating Mass according to the 1962 missal. The letter goes on to say that priests may celebrate the Latin Mass in private, for religious communities and...

The Tridentine Mass, the Latin-only rite both loved and hated by many Catholics for its medieval qualities, is roaring back into use after a July 7 papal decree loosened the rules on celebrating it. Two traditional priestly societies dedicated to the rite report that priests from all over the country are signing up in droves for weeklong classes to learn the rituals and language of the Mass, named after the 16th-century Council of Trent. Monsignor Michael Schmitz, vicar-general of the Florence, Italy-based Institute of Christ the King, said he has received hundreds of calls from interested clergy. "This is a...

Incense, bells, mysterious words intoned in an ancient language, congregation and priest moving gracefully in unison as they perform a 1,500-year-old ritual -- that was the old-style Catholic Mass. But when the Vatican decided to open up the Mass to improvisation in 1965, guitars replaced Gregorian chants, local languages replaced Latin, the priest faced the congregation rather than the altar and the entire Mass was simplified; a priest no longer made the traditional complicated series of scripted gestures during the Mass, nor did he wear elaborate old-style vestments. Some appreciated the more down-to-earth feel of the new Mass. Others mourned...