Sunday, May 03, 2009

Bishop Tartaglia of Paisley: desire for the Traditional Mass 'an affectation'

Comment: this is another story from the latest Catholic Truth newsletter. A Catholic asking for the Traditional Mass in Paisley diocese received an email from Bishop Tartaglia which attempts to misrepresent the Pope's intentions and the law of the Church.

Bishop Tartaglia claims: If there is to be Mass in the Extraordinary Form in this diocese, it will be according to the regulations of Summorum Pontificum. These regulations will have to be met before I agree to make provision for this kind of Mass. I think that Summorum Pontificum is more demanding than you imagine.

But there is no need for a bishop to 'agree to make provision'. Any priest can say the Mass; any Catholic can ask for it. There are no 'regulations' in the Motu Proprio; it simply notes that priests saying the Mass should know how to do so.

Referring to reports of the Pope's words on his flight to France, Bishop Tartaglia suggests that the Motu Proprio envisaged only the older generation, who had known the Mass before 1970, and those with an education in Latin, as the beneficiaries of the new legal provisions. Even if this report is true, it makes no difference to the law of the Church: the Motu Proprio makes no distinctions about who can ask for the Traditiional Mass, or attend it.

Bishop Tartaglia adds: Are you sure your request is not just an affectation? Think about it.

What a patronising suggestion. It would be as well for the Bishop to ask himself if his opposition to the Traditional Mass is not born of fear, the chilling idea that all the destruction he and his generation were a party to since 1970 was for no good purpose, and that a new generation of faithful Catholics wants to go back to the Traditional Mass they have been told has been consigned to history. Think about it, my lord.

Read the Motu Proprio; know your rights!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do like this blog but why are you always seeking to attack the Bishops at any oppertunity? Why do you always seek to place the blame for everything bad in the Church on the Bishops?

The agressive tone and lack of respect shown to Bishop Philip in this article is distasteful.

I live in Paisley diocese, our Bishop is a good man who does a great job in very difficult circumstances. If you actually belonged to the diocese then you'd know that he has a very open and strong relationship with the wider laity. His main priority is vocations and working hard not to close anymore Churches in this Diocese. Why don't you go onto St. Mirin's Cathedral website and read his most recent letter to the community. Then you might understand his real priorities a bit better before critizing him.

Personally, I would agree with him, as far as I am aware there is no real demand or need for a Latin Mass in this area. Especially not when we are stuggling in so many other areas at the moment.

God Bless Bishop Tartaglia

Hercules said...

We're not criticising him for the good he may be doing - we've praised him in the past, for speaking out on on SORs. It is still legitimate to criticise the bad things he does.

You agree with his contemptuous attitude towards the lawful aspirations of the faithful because you think those aspirations are not widely shared? What sort of an argument is that?

Pope Leo XIII's Prayer to St Michael

Holy Michael, Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust down to Hell Satan, and all wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen