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| An Anglican Ordinariate Mass involving deacon and subdeacon |
This article has been updated in light of further information. -PAK
I learned from an inside source that Bishop Steven Lopes has told his clergy that Cardinal Roche ordered that priests must cease to function as deacons or subdeacons (and deacons as subdeacons) during solemn Mass but rather, if there is more than one priest, they must all concelebrate, and deacons may only function as deacons.
Prior to this, the Ordinariate had been following Catholic tradition by observing the distinction of offices in the liturgy with the classic triad of priest-deacon-subdeacon, which is part of the common liturgical patrimony of Catholics. Since each rank in the hierarchy builds on the one that came before it and obviously includes its powers (that is why a bishop in the traditional pontifical Mass wears the vestments of all ranks: alb, tunicle, dalmatic, and chasuble), there would be no difficulty whatsoever in a priest functioning as a deacon or subdeacon, as occurs to this day in the classical Roman Rite.
The obsession with concelebration was critiqued at the Second Vatican Council in a major intervention by the Dominican archbishop and later cardinal Paul-Pierre Philippe, as reported at New Liturgical Movement earlier this week. The same article recounts the potent critique made of concelebration by Fr. Enrico Zoffoli—one of many critiques that have been made over the years (see here, here, and here for starters).
How could it harm anyone to let a priest exercise his inferior ministerial roles? Oh, but it's so hierarchical—that must be the problem in our age of simplification and synodality. Is it the nod toward the immemorial tradition of the subdiaconate? One would think that an office Latin Christians share in common with Eastern Christians would be privileged in this age of ecumenism. (For a full defense of the Minor Orders and the Subdiaconate, see my book Ministers of Christ: Recovering the Roles of Clergy and Laity in an Age of Confusion.)
The pettiness of this intervention is apparent. The Ordinariate is minuscule, so who cares? Evidently, the observant eye of Roche & Co. notices whenever there is the slightest deviation from the utopia of Bugnini's liturgical reform, and crushes it!
Let us hope for a time when this kind of nonsense is a bad memory rather than an active burden. Meanwhile, the intelligent and pious will know how to work around the unreasonable dictates of the still-lingering Bergoglian court.
NOTE #1:
The pettiness of this intervention is apparent. The Ordinariate is minuscule, so who cares? Evidently, the observant eye of Roche & Co. notices whenever there is the slightest deviation from the utopia of Bugnini's liturgical reform, and crushes it!
Let us hope for a time when this kind of nonsense is a bad memory rather than an active burden. Meanwhile, the intelligent and pious will know how to work around the unreasonable dictates of the still-lingering Bergoglian court.
NOTE #1:
A journalist asked Bishop David Waller, the Ordinary of Our Lady of Walsingham, if there was a meeting of bishops (as I had originally reported) with Cardinal Roche. He denied that such a meeting had occurred. When queried, my source specified that it was a meeting of Bishop Steven Lopes with Cardinal Roche; and this makes sense if Roche (and Lopes?) perceive a problem with the more traditionally-minded members of the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States.
NOTE #2:
Another person said "The photo you picked shows the church of St. Vincent Ferrer, it's not the Ordinariate rite." Sorry, incorrect. The photo shows an event held in 2021, the first-ever Mass celebrated in New York City according to the Divine Worship Missal of the Ordinariates. You may see the video and full photo gallery here.
NOTE #3 (Added 4/24/26 at 15:12 CST)
NOTE #3 (Added 4/24/26 at 15:12 CST)
A reader has alerted me to PG 122 of the missal, in the directory:
"11. The Holy Eucharist is to be celebrated with due reverence and dignity and with such solemnity as may be proper to the quality of the day and season, the pastoral benefit of the People, and the resources of the time and place, according to the prudent determination of the principal celebrant or pastor. A more solemn celebration of the Mass is appropriate on Sundays, Holy Days of Obligation, Solemnities, and principal Feast Days. Mass celebrated more solemnly typically includes the use of incense, the singing of the Mass Propers as well as of parts of the Ordinary of the Mass, and should also include the ministrations of one or more Deacons assisting the Priest, each according to their roles. In the absence of a second Deacon, another cleric or even an Instituted Acolyte may serve the subdiaconal ministry and read the Epistle."
Comment: It is very odd that a priest may serve as a subdeacon but not as a deacon. If he may do the former, a fortiori he may do the latter. Nor would it be fitting to avoid the solemn celebration of Mass simply because a deacon were not available but only priests.
"11. The Holy Eucharist is to be celebrated with due reverence and dignity and with such solemnity as may be proper to the quality of the day and season, the pastoral benefit of the People, and the resources of the time and place, according to the prudent determination of the principal celebrant or pastor. A more solemn celebration of the Mass is appropriate on Sundays, Holy Days of Obligation, Solemnities, and principal Feast Days. Mass celebrated more solemnly typically includes the use of incense, the singing of the Mass Propers as well as of parts of the Ordinary of the Mass, and should also include the ministrations of one or more Deacons assisting the Priest, each according to their roles. In the absence of a second Deacon, another cleric or even an Instituted Acolyte may serve the subdiaconal ministry and read the Epistle."
Comment: It is very odd that a priest may serve as a subdeacon but not as a deacon. If he may do the former, a fortiori he may do the latter. Nor would it be fitting to avoid the solemn celebration of Mass simply because a deacon were not available but only priests.
