Tom Fitzpatrick blogs a letter from Bishop Richard Lennon, vicar general in Boston, to the people of Holy Trinity parish, the Tridentine Indult parish, refusing a request that the Priestly Fraternity of Ss. Peter and Paul or the Institute of Christ the King—both communities of Traditional Latin Mass priests—be invited to take over ministry at Holy Trinity, which is slated to be closed. The archdiocese intends to close Holy Trinity in Boston and move the Indult Mass to St. James, which they say has less parking and is in a worse part of town.
The relevant part of the letter is as follows:
It is not the intention of the Archbishop to begin a Tridentine Rite parish, thus at this time he does not envision the necessity nor the advantage of inviting priests from either of the two groups that you mention to the Archdiocese as we can provide for the celebration of the Mass on a weekly basis.
To first statement, why not? There is a demonstrated desire of faithful Catholics to celebrate Mass according to a rite provided by the Church, a rite which has been said should be widely offered. As for the second statement, Tom gets it right. On the one hand, we’re told there are not enough priests in the archdiocese so they’re closing parishes, but yet there are plenty of priests to say the Tridentine Mass so they’re closing the parish. Does that make sense?
Technorati Tags: bishops, Boston, Catholic, parish-closing, Tridentine
