Toledo parishes offer additional Tridentine Masses |
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Written by ANGELA KESSLER, Chronicle Editor
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Thursday, 03 April 2008 19:00 |
TOLEDO—Two Toledo parishes are offering those who want to attend a Tridentine Mass more opportunities to do so.
Toledo Immaculate Conception is adding the Mass on the third Sunday of each month at noon and Toledo St. Joseph is now offering it every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. St. Joseph already had offered the Mass, which is celebrated in Latin, two Sundays a month and every Thursday at 6 p.m.
In July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI announced restrictions would ease on the use of the Tridentine Mass, which predates the Second Vatican Council.
The Tridentine Mass had been allowed as a liturgical exception since 1984, but Catholics had to request permission for it from local bishops. The July decree altered the bishop’s role, maintaining his general oversight on liturgy but removing him from initial decisions on Tridentine Masses.
“A number of people said they’d like it,” says Father Paul Kwiatkowski, pastor of Immaculate Conception.
Seventy-two people attended the Mass in January, he says, and 75 came to it in February.
Almost half of those who attended the Mass in January were from Immaculate Conception. A cross-section of people attend the Mass, Fr. Kwiatkowski says. Some, he says, miss the old rite and bring their own missals, saved since the ’60s. Others, he says, are curious about the Mass, having never attended because they are converts or too young to have experienced the old Mass.
“It’s very technical,” he says of the old rite, adding “there are a lot of beautiful prayers — the spirituality is so beautiful.”
Ordained in 1964, Fr. Kwiatkowski learned the Mass in Latin and became a member of the diocesan Liturgical Commission that helped shepherd the changes from Vatican II. He says he probably hadn’t done the full old Mass since his early days as a priest.
“I forgot I used to know all that stuff,” Fr. Kwiatkowski laughs.
At Immaculate Conception, he was able to locate an old altar cloth, six candles and a missal from 1966, however he anticipates purchasing a 1962 missal.
Trevor Fernandes, master of ceremonies and liturgical coordinator at St. Joseph, along with altar servers from the parish have been helping Fr. Kwiatkowski each Sunday he celebrates the Tridentine Mass.
“A lot of people from my generation — and I’m 39 — are looking for a more reverent and mystical experience,” Mr. Fernandes says. “It’s not about the Latin, it’s about the reverence and the awe.”
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Last Updated on Monday, 22 September 2008 09:11 |
