Prestestudenter må lære den tradisjonelle messen

Biskop Morlino i Madison, Wisconsin, USA, hadde nylig en samling for sine prestestudenter, om ba dem alle lære den tradisjonelle latinske messen (i tillegg til den nye messen) før si ordinasjon. Father Z. skriver om dette, bl.a.:

Bp. Morlino told the [seminarians] that it was his expectation that all of them learn how to say Mass in the Extraordinary Form before they are ordained.

Morlino did not say that they would be required to use it all the time, but that they must know how to use it. If seminaries are not offering the opportunity to learn the older form (which they ought to be, by the way), they could go to workshops or find priests who could help them to learn it. Bottom line: they are to learn the Extraordinary Form.

I think this was a remarkable. How many bishops, after all, are saying this openly to their seminarians? It was also, frankly, a paternally charitable thing to tell the seminarians.

First, if there were any doubts about their bishop’s attitude toward his seminarians and traditional forms, these doubts were thereby removed. They need never fear the bishop or worry about what would happen to them when he heard that they were going to TLM’s here or there, learning the rubrics, serving Masses. They need not on this account fear the rector of the seminary they attend, since they are following the expressed desire of the bishop. Moreover, Universae Ecclesiae (the Holy See’s commentary on Summorum Pontificum) gently asserts that seminarians are to know the Extraordinary Form.

Second, knowledge of and use of the older form of Mass teaches men -seminarians and priests alike – something about the priest and the priesthood which the Novus Ordo doesn’t really do on its own. The older form stresses the sacrificial and priestly nature of the priest’s actions and words during Mass as well as the priest’s own deep unworthiness and complete dependence on God’s mercy and grace.

Third, no priest of the Roman Rite ought to rest easy until he knows also the older form. Ignorance of the older form means ignorance of his own rite. Furthermore, when it comes to their ordination, someone must stand up and attest to the ordaining bishop that the men have been properly formed. How can he honestly say they are properly formed if they have been left ignorant by their seminaries of their rite? The seminarians of Madison, by learning the Extraordinary Form, can always be at ease on this point.

(Underlig at noen biskoper krever noe, og andre biskoper nekter akkurat det samme – mens pave Benedikt legger tydelig til rette for at den tradisjonelle messen gjerne må brukes.) Og Father Z. skrev også nylig om en prest som hadde blitt spurt av sin biskop om å lære den tradusjonelle messen:

During his homily this weekend, my pastor stated that our bishop asked him to learn to say the TLM so that he can say mass for a group of Carmelite nuns who recently moved to the area. I would like to pray for my pastor as he learns to say the TLM. …