James MacMillan puts Scottish Bishops on the spot over Latin Mass
Posted by verbumpatris on November 4, 2009
Twenty-five new priest participants took part in a training conference at All Saints Pastoral Centre in Hertfordshire, which belongs to the Archdiocese of Westminster. It was organised by the Latin Mass Society and a heart-warming message of support was sent to the priests by the new Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols. He said: “Pope Benedict has given an additional and delicate task to priests and bishops: the provision of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in response to genuine needs as outlined in the Motu Proprio. I am grateful to you all for helping us to respond to this task, within the work of sustaining and nurturing the unity of the Church.” …
By the end of the week seven young priests had celebrated their first ever complete Extraordinary Form Mass. Bishop John Arnold, auxiliary Bishop of Westminster was present for part of the course. He also expressed his excitement and encouragement: “I think it is a tribute to the wisdom of Pope Benedict that this course on the Extraordinary Form is filled with ordinary priests who are working in perfectly average parishes the length and breadth of the country and who find themselves drawn to the reverence of the older form to order and nourish their priestly lives… or who are learning it in response to the pastoral needs of their congregations.”
This is certainly not the first such course to be held in England. Earlier this year a further 20 priests were trained at a conference at Ushaw Seminary in Durham, and Merton College Oxford has seen 97 priests trained since 2008. The LMS are busily planning new activities all over the country in the years ahead, including Mass servers’ training for the laity and classes in Gregorian chant. They say; “Our aim is to see the Extraordinary Form flourish in every parish in the land.” All this is supported by Bishops in England and Wales. A real transformation is clearly underway.
But not for viewers in Scotland, apparently! This is a pity. I have spoken to many Scottish priests, all over the country, who would be delighted to get such an opportunity, after all the energetic discussion on the matter in recent times. There is a clear desire for more prayerful and reverent liturgy generally here. In that sense we are no different to those who are now being proactive in responding to the Pope’s instructions and encouragement elsewhere. What is good enough for the English should be good enough for us too! And it is happening in America, Canada, Australia and in mainland Europe.
Some Scots I have spoken to seem scared to talk openly about the subject. It would be a grave matter indeed, if some of us were being bullied into silence. Surely that is not happening? It just takes one step, and many others would be opened up to the beautiful potential of a transformed and meaningful liturgical life: because the presence of the EF will have a beneficial effect on the practice of the Novus Ordo too, and both are valid and authentic expressions of the same rite. Time for action?
