
Indeed, one skirmish in the so-called “worship wars” featured advocates for the “timeless” Mass booing liberal Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, who has banned the Latin rite from being said in parishes at Christmas, Easter and other other feast days.įrancis’s efforts to suppress the Latin Mass have caused “confusion” and distress at Holy Redeemer, said a parishioner in his 30s who identified himself only as Matthew, noting that the venerable rite has drawn younger Catholics of his generation. Zwilling noted that there were people with “passionate views” on both sides of the debate. “The matter is still under review and has not taken action as yet,” Zwilling told this reporter, adding, “The New York Archdiocese is happy to be in compliance with The Holy Father’s wishes and is studying the best way to do that before we issue any guidelines for this archdiocese.” Dolan, New York’s archbishop, is still evaluating his response to Francis’s letter from July 16, 2021, according to Joseph Zwilling, a spokesperson for the archdiocese.
YOUTUBE HAIL MARY IN LATIN SPOKEN SERIES
The church bulletin doesn’t even describe the series as Latin Masses.Ĭardinal Timothy M. It’s still unclear whether he will be allowed to continue to offer the old rite after the current series concludes in December. Quite a few women wore mantillas, light scarves, over their heads. Congregants receive communion at a Latin Mass in the East Village. “I think the Latin Mass gives you a real sense of the sacred, and of the purpose of the Mass,” he said in a telephone conversation. The new law requires celebrants of the Latin Mass to obtain signed permission from local bishops to practice in nonparish churches and to express fealty to the reforms in liturgy defined by Vatican II.Ĭonnolly, who is on his first pastoral assignment at Holy Redeemer, said he obtained permission last year to celebrate the Latin Mass from the New York Archdiocese. Traditional Catholics responded in fury: One conservative writer claimed Francis was “destroying” the church. Often called the Tridentine Mass or the “extraordinary form,” the Latin Mass has been threatened with total extinction ever since Vatican II, notably last summer when Pope Francis reversed a 2007 ruling from his still-living predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who had relaxed restrictions on the old rite, allowing it to flourish.įrancis, in an apostolic letter titled “Traditionis Custodes,” called on bishops around the world to reimpose restrictions on the Latin Mass in their parishes, claiming it had created division in the church spurred by people opposed to the reforms of Vatican II. Vatican II), which ushered in new Masses in the vernacular. (Photo by Mary Reinholz)ĭa Luz, who also released incense, repeatedly called out to congregants, “Dominus Vobiscum” - meaning “The Lord is with you” in English - words from traditional Latin Masses that were codified from earlier liturgies by the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and used in the Roman Missal from 1570 up until the Second Vatican Council of 1963-65 (a.k.a. In 2015, Holy Redeemer merged with the former Second Avenue Church of the Nativity, which has since been demolished for a new market-rate housing development. A Baroque Romanesque pilgrimage shrine built in 1852 for largely German Catholic immigrants in the East Village, the soaring, cathedral-like edifice between Avenues A and B includes a clock bell tower. An altar server rang a communion bell when he elevated the host. Da Luz stood at the high altar, facing the tabernacle as he murmured prayers in Latin.

This ancient Mass drew about 150 people, many Latino.

It was one in a series of five Masses that will be conducted - for a second year - on the first Saturday of each month at the soaring baroque edifice in the East Village.

6, the Reverend Father Alessandro da Luz, a visiting priest from the Long Island Diocese of Rockville Centre, celebrated the controversial Latin Mass at Holy Redeemer.

Connolly washed the feet of a disabled elderly woman in a front pew, moments before offering her a consecrated communion wafer. The faithful joined him in prayers and in singing hymns like “Ave Maria,” several holding rosary beads. The Roman Catholic diocesan priest, 33, is pastor/administrator of the historic East Village church at 173 E. It was noon on a hot summer day as Connolly, resplendent in a green cassock, began celebrating a modern bilingual Mass in English and Spanish. BY MARY REINHOLZ | The Reverend Father Sean Connolly faced about 30 parishioners from behind a free-standing altar at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer and Nativity.
