U.S. Seminary In Rome… Snuffs Out TLM For Seminarians
By FR. JOHN T. ZUHLSDORF
(Editor’s Note: This commentary from Fr. Zuhlsdorf is taken from his September 1 wdtprs.com blog. We also include some background from a Catholic News Agency report by Alejandro Bermudez.)
- + + The craven faculty of the North American College (U.S. seminary in Rome), perhaps under the pressure of their board, has snuffed out the Traditional Latin Mass, which was a regularly scheduled Mass on Saturdays.
There was also training for the seminarians in how to celebrate the TLM.
I heard about this through several channels, but Rorate published a photo of the publicly posted memo, saying, “Our only options are to resist or to die and disappear.”
Thus will it be harder for these men to be fully trained in the Latin Rite, the Roman Rite, to which they belong.
Nota bene: This applies to the seminary college not to the priests’ college. The NAC has two places, one for seminarians in formation and another for priests studying in Rome.
My thought is that this will simply drive learning the TLM underground, as before in the times before Summorum. The huge difference between now and then is that there are lots of resources online and lots more priests who know how to say the TLM. These seminarians have a huge advantage now, compared to the past.
However . . . I counsel the guys there to be careful as they proceed anyway to learn the TLM and even perhaps to celebrate it out of sight. I would if I could tell them to be careful as they look for resources online. Recent trends suggest that, since their Internet activities are surely being monitored, it is likely that they would be more severely treated for looking at videos about how to celebrate the TLM than they would be for looking at “gay” porn.
If I were able to, I would encourage the men there to get local, Italian mobile phones if they don’t have their U.S. phones with them and then to tether their laptops and use the mobile, cellular data rather than the NAC’s network.
Moreover, were I able to send them all a message, I would say that there are a great many priests out here who are pulling for you! When we have the chance, we will support you all we can. But for now, be careful. Study hard. Lock your doors. Get ordained.
Remember that, in the Church, laws that are not received are no laws at all.
Alejandro Bermudez reported on the development August 31 as follows for Catholic News Agency:
In a memo sent to “the Community” at the North American College (NAC), Rector Fr. Peter Harman announced that all Masses in the Extraordinary Form will be permanently suspended at the most important American Catholic institution in Rome.
Also, according to the memo to which CNA had access, the celebration of the Extraordinary Form will no longer be taught to seminarians.
In a memorandum signed and published August 31, Fr. Harman explained that “when Pope Benedict XVI issued Summorum Pontificum in 2007, the Pontifical North American College in accordance with his motu proprio began official training in the ‘Extraordinary Form’ and provided for Masses according to the Missale Romanum of 1962 to be included in the regular rotation of special Masses on Saturday. In addition, the College provided liturgical supplies that were needed for priests to celebrate according to the ‘Extraordinary Form’.”
But the NAC’s rector proceeds to explain that “in light of the motu proprio of Pope Francis, Traditionis Custodes, which was issued on July 16, 2021, and after having received canonical counsel, the College remains consistent with what the Holy Father has asked of us. Consequently, the following will be the practice of the Pontifical North American College on the Janiculum.”
Fr. Harman also stated that “because permission from one’s diocesan bishop to celebrate according to the Missale Romanum 1962 is not sufficient for priest faculty or student priests to celebrate according to the Missale Romanum 1962 outside of their respective dioceses, there will no longer be ‘Extraordinary Form’ training taking place, nor celebrations according to the Missale Romanum 1962. This includes the student led ones which were done generally on Saturday mornings in the past.”
The rector also informed that “the rotation of special Masses on Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. will be modified so that celebration of Novus Ordo Mass in Latin will replace the former ‘Extraordinary Form’ Mass.”
“Consequently” — Fr. Harman concludes — “Saturday afternoons at the 12:30 Mass, other than on Travel Permitted Weekends, during vacations, and during exam periods, there will be a rotation of the celebration of Mass in this order: Mass in Latin (Novus Ordo), Mass in Spanish, Mass in Spanish, Mass in Latin (Novus Ordo), Mass in Spanish.”