You Suggest: New book presented by Bishop Rifan on the TLM

From a reader:

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, the “Cultor de Livro” publishing house has just released the third book of the collection “Introibo ad Altare Dei” (in Portuguese “Entrarei no Altar de Deus”). This book is written in Portuguese.

Saint Francis Xavier Mission Trips 2016

For the last few years we've helped promote the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter's (FSSP) mission trips. Please see below for next year's schedule.

- It's a Trifecta: The Fraternity of Saint Peter arrives in Mexico City- Fraternidad Sacerdotal San Pedro en México, D.F.

For the Record - Costa Rica: step-by-step account of how Latin Mass was banned in practice in an entire country

A stable group of faithful tried for years to convince their Archbishop in San José, Costa Rica, to please, for the love of God Almighty, be open to the celebration of a regular Traditional Latin Mass in their diocese. Some of them have been contacting the blog for help at least since 2010. There are priests who are qualified, but afraid and silent. Even visiting priests (one of them a priest who works for the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei!) are told that they can celebrate only private Masses without any faithful - yes, all of this is a clear violation of Summorum Pontificum, but why would the authorities care?

This, dear readers in more privileged areas, is the reality in most of the Catholic world. Is there a thirst for the Latin Mass in Latin America? Yes there is, desperately: it was the traditional Latin liturgy that was the liturgical instrument of the greatest work of evangelization ever accomplished, the conversion of what would become Latin America. But violent rejection is what is found instead in many places. It appears beyond comprehension because it is beyond human understanding, as this hatred for the Traditional Mass cannot come from a mere human source.

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From the Una Voce of Costa Rica blog:

Official Communiqué

- To the Confused Catholics of Costa Rica and Abroad -
[versión en español aquí]

The purpose of this statement is to present a summarized report of the situation in Costa Rica, particularly in the Archdiocese of San José, in relation to the Mass of Ages, also called the Tridentine Mass, Traditional Latin Mass or Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Una Voce Costa Rica, member of the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce, a federation with recognition from the Holy See, has been working in recent years for all Catholics in Costa Rica to enjoy what in the letter accompanying the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of His Holiness Benedict XVI was called "a precious treasure to be preserved."

On A Mission -- For Souls ...

This June, the FSSP St. John Bosco Youth Group (Lincoln, NE) is heading to the Dominican Republic joining a mission trip to not only help the local people, but spread the Traditional Latin Mass and Faith. And they need your help.

The mission hosts numerous groups of young people and they do various types of work: building houses, digging latrines, etc. While they perform their corporal works, they'll tackle the spiritual as well.

Fr. Keith O’Hare invited the FSSP because he wants them to teach him the Traditional Mass so he can start offering it regularly at his parish. The Fraternity will be running workshops with him and with his altar boys to get them prepared. At the end of their stay they hope to have a Solemn High Mass in his nearly 500-year-old church in Banica and then another one in an historic church in colonial Santo Domingo.

Friends of Rorate inside the Fraternity tell us this could be "big time" because that city of 8 million people, mostly Catholics, only has one old priest who occasionally says the Mass. This could be the spark that starts the restoration in a critical Catholic area.

You can help the FSSP mission trip in a number of ways: Pray for the success of this venture; Make a tax-deductible donation (checks can be made payable to St. Francis of Assisi Chapel); Buy Mystic Monk Coffee from them or through the Mystic Monk Coffee Drive at www.mmcoffeedrive.com (select “St. John Bosco Youth Group” from the pull down menu. 40% of coffee sales benefit our trip and the remaining proceeds benefit the Carmelite Monks of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Monastery; Sponsor specific items such as missals, vestments, and other necessities for the Traditional Mass; Sponsor a priest or seminarian at $1000; Sponsor a volunteer youth who may not otherwise be able to make the trip: $1400; Any gift you are able to make.

Please consider helping this worthy cause either on your own or by organizing a fundraising effort for the group. Contact StJohnBoscoYouthGroup AT gmail.com for more information (additional contact info on the poster above).

You report: TLM in Lima, Peru

A friend of this blog, Mr. Gustavo Ráez-Patiño, has sent us the following report:

I am pleased to report that the TLM in Lima, Perú is now (since October 10th) celebrated every Sunday in a Parish Church: Parroquia de San Marcelo. (See the picture above. CAP) It is a vast, beautiful, historic barroque temple in downtown Lima, now almost fully restored thanks to the efforts of its Pastor and the community. This Mass is under full diocesan auspices.

Previously, during the last year and a half, the Mass was celebrated in the chapel of Our Lady of Solitude (Capilla de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad). We are very thankful indeed to the Confraternity in charge of the chapel for their support during that time (they even comissioned vestments for the TLM). But during a meeting of Pastors, Rectors and Chaplains of the zone (the celebrant of the TLM is Rector of the Chapel of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad), the issue of the TLM arose, and it was accorded that the one and only TLM in the Archdiocese should be celebrated in a proper parish church (!). And so came the generous offer of the pastor of San Marcelo (a diocesan priest) to have the TLM weekly in his parish, on Sunday mornings. Arrangements began and finally the Mass started to be celebrated yesterday.

This is truly a historic day, as both priests called it - the celebrant at his homily and the Pastor at his very kind words of welcome at the end. It is the first time in decades that the TLM is celebrated, on a weekly basis, at a parish in this diocese. It seems the whole diocese has now its eyes on this Mass! All the three Auxiliary Bishops of Lima have asked about how this Mass is going! The celebrant is the same priest who had been celebrating the TLM before. We really hope and pray that more priests here in Lima will take some time to learn the TLM. But these are exciting times here!

Last year's report on the TLM in Lima can be found here.

Upcoming TLM in Rio de Janeiro

An announcement from a Brazilian reader. The new Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro seems to be quite friendly to the Traditional Latin Mass.

Mons. Sérgio Costa Couto, chaplain of the church of the Imperial Brotherhood of Nossa Senhora da Glória do Outeiro in Rio de Janeiro (who, with the blessing of our new Archbishop, Dom Orani João Tempesta, celebrated the TLM for a group of faithful who requested it last July 11th) will celebrate another TLM on August 8th next.

I mention the blessing of the Archbishop because, although it is nolonger necessary according to law under Summorum Pontificum, it was widely known that our past Ordinary, Cardinal Eusébio Scheid, SCI, was opposed to the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in his Archdiocese, and his opposition was such that many priests, out of fear of incurring the consequences of the Cardinal's wrath, refused requests to celebrate the TLM. So, when our new Archbishop was installed last April, we made new attempts towards obtaining the celebration of the TLM (that was restricted to one or two very distant places), and the Archbishop indicated to Mons. Costa Couto that thefaithful attached to the EF "are welcome". So, it was with the Archbishop's explicit knowledge and approbation that Mons. Costa Couto took the step of offering the TLM last July 11th.

Father Costa Couto intends to provide regular celebrations of the TLM,in spite of his many duties (the church of the Outeiro is the site of many weddings and baptisms, and he already has a special dispensation to celebrate more Masses on Sunday than normally allowed; and he is also Vicar General of the Ordinariate for the Faithful of Oriental Rite in Brazil without their own Ordinary). The dozens of us who attended the Mass on July 11th last signed a petition to Archbishop Tempesta, so as to indicate that we are a stable group, and we requested that some structure be set up for us so that we may have a wider avalibility of the TLM (we are aiming for weekly celebrations).

I'm writing to ask you to include in your blog, if possible, an announcement about the upcoming celebration of the TLM scheduled totake place on August 8th, at 12:30 PM, so as to spread the word about the event to as many people as possible.

You report: Events and announcements.Rio, Newark, Essex, Lima

In the past few days, we have received from readers and friends the following reports of past events and announcements of future events.

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1. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Mons. Sérgio Costa Couto, chaplain of the Church of the Imperial Brotherhood of Nossa Senhora da Glória do Outeiro, a Church to which the Holy Father Pius XII granted the rank of minor basilica (National Basilica of the Assumption), will celebrate Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, next saturday, July 11th, at 12:30 PM.

The new Archbishop, Dom Orani João Tempesta, O. Cist, does not intend to oppose the celebration of the TLM in Rio as his predecessor, Cardinal Scheid, did.

Although no such thing was requested by the Archbishop as a precondition, the organizers of the July 11th Mass intend to use the occasion as an opportunity to collect signatures for a petition, requesting the appointment of a priest for the permanent pastoral care of the faithful attached to the Traditional Mass in Rio.

[The Igreja da Glória is located near the Glória subway/metro station - Google Maps.]

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2. Newark, New Jersey

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church (259 Oliver Street, Newark, New Jersey - Google Maps), will hold a Solemn High Traditional Latin Mass in honor of its patroness, on the titular feast of the parish, July 16 at 12 noon. The Mass will be immediately followed by a procession with the Statue of Our Lady through the parish accompanied by a full symphonic Italian feast band and fireworks.

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3. Essex

The Traditional Latin Mass is now offered on Mondays, 6 PM, in the Church of the Assumption (left), Diocese of Brentwood, Essex, England (Hainault/Chigwell: Google Maps). The celebrant is the Parish Priest, Fr Jean-Claude Selvini, who is associated with Latin Mass Society.

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4. Lima, Peru (Special Report)

For many years the TLM had been celebrated in a small private chapel in downtown Lima. Local Church authorities had known about this and put no obstacles, especially since Summorum Pontificum came into force. The Mass had few public due to space and also because few people knew about it.

But more or less one year ago, the priest celebrant (a dominican priest, Fr. José Luis Mejía, O.P., although the Mass is in the Roman Rite) told us that Church authorities wanted us to move to a proper church. And since Father was recently appointed Rector of one of the city's shrines (Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad), that church was obviously the first choice. Also, the Confraternity of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, which is in charge of the shrine, is very traditionally minded and welcomed wholeheartedly the newly scheduled TLM.

So we started celebrating the TLM on the First Sunday of Lent this year, every sunday at 10 AM. This is the main Sunday Mass. Almost every week the church is packed. Unfortunately, the main church cannot be used because it is in ruins due to a terrible fire that ocurred back in 2005. All Masses here are celebrated at what was the old Capitular Hall of the Confraternity (right), now transformed into a chapel. It is far bigger than what we had before.

As far as we know, this is the only TLM in the whole Archdiocese of Lima, or at least the only one celebrated regularly.

[The Iglesia de la Soledad is in the Historic Center of Lima, near the Plaza de Armas and the Desamparados train station - Google Maps]