Posted on 06/04/2004 12:00:16 PM PDT by AskStPhilomena
In his explanation for the decision, Maida cited the growing influence of schismatic groups within his archdiocese.
"We have much activity by schismatic churches in the Archdiocese. We have children in our Archdiocese attending schismatic schools and being drawn away from the Church. Some of our faithful are crossing the border to go into Windsor or other dioceses for the celebration of this Mass," the cardinal is quoted as stating.
Maida did not mention at the meeting that in addition to laity joining schismatic groups, he is also faced with a major emigration of seminarians from the archdiocese, and the crisis shows no signs of abating. In the year 2007 there is only one man scheduled to be ordained for the Archdiocese of Detroit, a native-born Filipino.
During the meeting Auxiliary Bishop Walter Hurley said the Tridentine Mass may be allowed in two parishes before the fall, but neither the parishes nor the frequency of the Masses has been decided.
Hurley is quoted as stating, "We are not looking to catechize new generations into the Tridentine Rite, but we are seeking to respond to those people who have identified this as a pastoral need In moving in this direction, there are certain things that must take place as we proceed. The first is that Vatican II, its authenticity, and its liturgical reforms have to be accepted as a legitimate work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. We do not want to set up something that would be divisive. We are not seeking to undermine or unravel the reforms of the Council."
The celebration of the Tridentine Mass will be coordinated under the auspices of the Archdiocesan Worship Office. "We do not want to see this as a work of a specific group of people, but rather an extension of Cardinal Maida's ministry as chief shepherd of the Archdiocese," Hurley is quoted as saying. "… All of our regional auxiliary bishops have indicated their willingness to celebrate this liturgy. The framework here is pastoral. We will not identify this as a "specific niche" of a parish; rather, this is simply something that would be offered at a parish."
The decision has been met with guarded optimism by those who have worked for the Tridentine Rite in the archdiocese, mainly because the rite – until now -- has been bitterly opposed by Maida and his chancery since Maida arrived as archbishop in Detroit in 1990. Additionally, the auxiliary bishop and chancery staff who are implementing his new decision are long-time chancery veterans who have no track record whatsoever of embracing traditional initiatives.
Many suspect the Tridentine Mass may be sparingly offered at small parishes in inconvenient locations, perhaps even in parishes hostile to traditional aspirations.
For at least the last 15 years there have been hundreds, if not thousands of requests to Maida to grant permission for the Tridentine Mass. A group of Catholics in the early 1990s filed a canonical lawsuit in the Signatura, the Vatican Court, to force Cardinal Maida to abide by Eccleiasia Dei, in which Pope John Paul II pleaded with the world’s bishops to allow a "generous application" of the indult for the Tridentine Mass. The St. Joseph Foundation assisted in that effort.
Maida opposed the lawsuit vigorously, and the legal effort ended when the Vatican ruled that with the death in 1994 of Thomas Marshall, the main signer of the complaint, the rest of signers of the petition to Rome had no standing to pursue the case.
It is noteworthy that the primary opponent of the Tridentine Mass at that time was Fr. Gerald Shirilla, professor at Sacred Heart Major Seminary and director of the Worship Department. Fr.Shirilla told a reporter for the Michigan Catholic that, regarding those who want the Tridentine Mass, "We have to fight them tooth and nail."
Fr. Shirilla was relieved of his post in 1993 when he was identified as a serial child molester, who favored young altar boys, going back more than 20 years. He never quite lost favor with Cardinal Maida, however, and was secretly re-assigned seven years later as pastor of a parish in the Diocese of Gaylord, Michigan.
Meanwhile, as the cardinal and his priests argue about the merits of the Tridentine Mass, the Detroit chapter of gay organization Dignity continues to hold its weekly Masses at Marygrove College every Sunday, and openly advertises that priests of the archdiocese celebrate its Masses. Priests of the archdiocese have never been forbidden to celebrate those gay Masses.
Cardinal Maida has always had different standards for different groups throughout his tenure in Detroit.
(Excerpt) Read more at cruxnews.com ...
Preconciliar popes taught unequivocally that treating all religions as equal and true is heretical. Yet the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima has permitted the altar of a Fatima Shrine to be used for Hindu rituals--even while FORBIDDING the Latin Tridentine Mass in his diocese. How perverse can the Novus Ordo get?
Let's face it--the two Masses reflect two different religions and not all the circumlocutions and lies and doubletalk can disguise the fact any longer. It is not Catholic to believe that all religions are true, that other religionists need not convert, that doctrinal differences do not matter as long as your heart's in the right place.
If the preconciliar popes were wrong--then so is the Catholic doctrine on the infallibility of the Magisterium. If this doctrine is wrong, then none of it is true, including whatever Rome teaches these days. The Novus Ordo can't have it both ways. It can't turn its back on the past yet insist on its own authority. By denying the past, it denies itself.
More than this, by denying the past, it is saying it agrees with Protestantism in its rejection of Magisterial authority, in its love for novelty, in its indifference toward established dogmas, and in its radical ecumenicism and openess to the spirit of the age. All of this is heretical and unCatholic.
It could be.
What kind of way is that to treat people? Just because some old guy dies, the Church throws out the whole petition. That is like spitting in the face of serious Catholics. Is it any wonder the Church is bleeding parishioners, and maybe rightly so?
Has the Church deserted everybody?
The Mass is not for our delight--it's to worship the Father--which is why we should face Him symbolically, and not each other. It is also why a sacred language is appropriate--as well as ancient prayers that have withstood the test of time and have been handed-down from apostolic times. It's not important whether we get a shiver down our spines or whether recently concocted prayers are politically correct and gender-neutral; it's to offer proper sacrifice--which Novus Ordo does not do since it undermines important dogmas of the faith.
Every single one of the 125 members of the College of Cardinals is a Novus Ordo advocate.!
Ergo, the next Pope will continue to support the Novus Ordo.
The Novus Ordo is historically more akin to the worship of the early Church than the Tridentine Rite.
Read the Didache.
They were more interested in feeling self-important than they were in worshipping God.
That's not true and you know it.
***Every single one of the 125 members of the College of Cardinals is a Novus Ordo advocate.!
Ergo, the next Pope will continue to support the Novus Ordo.***
There is an alternative!
I'm beginning to wonder about you.
John Paul II never had any sincere intent for a "wide and generous" offering of the Traditional Latin Mass. It is still not offered on the main altar of St. Peter' Basilica. JP II has never offered the TLM, as Pope, to my knowledge. His flamboyant World Youth Days have never introduced the TLM to young Catholics.
Ecclesia Dei was a straw man for his bogus attempt to silence the last remaining religious order of traditional priests.
Why ask bishops to offer a "wide and generous" application, when he, himself, does not? As a matter of fact, his "wild and crazy" Papal Masses have paved the way for even more radical alterations to the New Order Mass.
Weird.
The Novus Ordo is the Normative Mass in the Latin Rite.
Besides, maybe JPII just doesn't care for the Tridentine Mass; he prefers the Novus Ordo.
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