Bishop Mark O’Toole of Plymouth has established a permanent base for the traditional Latin Mass in Devon.
A Sunday morning Mass in the Extraordinary Form is now being celebrated at St Edward the Confessor in Peverell, Plymouth. It is the first time in decades that the older form of the Mass has had a regular home in the county.
The weekly Mass will be a sung Mass, or Missa cantata. A sung Mass in the old form has not been celebrated at the church for 46 years, according to the Latin Mass Society.
Joseph Shaw, chairman of the LMS, said: “We are very grateful to Bishop O’Toole for making this new provision for the traditional Mass possible, in a previously neglected corner of England.”
The first Extraordinary Form Mass at the parish drew 50 people from all over Devon.
Parishioner Lydia Keogh said afterwards on Facebook: “I will be attending this Mass from now on – very blessed.”
The Mass was celebrated by Fr Anthony Pillari from Lanherne monastery in Cornwall. The old form of the Mass is celebrated every day at the monastery, which has long been the only regular base for the Extraordinary Form in the whole of Devon and Cornwall.
Last year a similar step was taken by Bishop Marcus Stock of Leeds, who announced that St Joseph’s Church in Bradford would be a “principal church” for the traditional Latin Mass in the diocese.
At the time the Latin Mass Society (LMS) said there were now nearly 50 parishes in England and Wales where the older form of the Mass was celebrated on a Sunday.
At least seven bishops in England and Wales have celebrated or presided at a Mass in the Extraordinary Form.
An association of Catholic priests has issued a statement in support of the four cardinals’ request for clarification of Amoris Laetitia.
The Confraternities of Catholic Clergy (CCC), who represent more than 1,000 priests in Britain, Ireland, Australia and the US, said that a clarification is “gravely needed to correct the misuse of the apostolic exhortation to undermine sacred tradition”.
The statement said that “the unity of the Church” and the “salvation of souls” were threatened by the widely divergent interpretations of the Pope’s apostolic exhortation, released last April. “We therefore thank the four eminent cardinals who have recently submitted their dubia to the Holy See,” it said.
The dubia are five yes-or-no questions which aim to clarify Amoris Laetitia. They include whether the remarried can take Communion without resolving to live “in complete continence”, and whether moral absolutes have any exceptions.
After Amoris Laetitia, several bishops reaffirmed the Church’s traditional teaching on Communion and the moral life, most recently expressed by Popes St John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
Ordinariate Bishop Steven Lopes recently wrote to his priests, reaffirming the traditional teaching on Communion. He wrote: “A civilly-remarried couple firmly resolving complete chastity thus resolves not to sin again, which differs in kind from a civilly-remarried couple who do not firmly intend to live chastely, however much they may feel sorrow for the failure of their first marriage.
In this situation, they either do not acknowledge that their unchastity, which is adultery, is gravely wrong, or they do not firmly intend to avoid sin.”
But last week, the Council of German Bishops said that the remarried can receive Communion on a case-by-case basis. Last month, the two Maltese bishops said avoiding sex with a new partner outside a valid marriage could be “impossible”, and that the remarried could take Communion if they discerned that they were “at peace with God”.
The CCC priests say it is essential to accompany people “living in complex situations”, which they say is “easier when the Church expounds her teaching boldly and clearly”.
They add that discipline should follow doctrine, and say: “In particular, since at the present time there is much confusion, it is necessary to make clear that Holy Communion cannot be given to someone choosing to live in a sexual relationship with a person other than their validly espoused husband or wife.”
In 2015, nearly 500 priests in England and Wales pledged their support for the Church’s traditional teaching on Communion . A signatory said at the time that priests had faced pressure not to sign. On this occasion, similarly, priests belonging to the Confraternities spoke to the Catholic Herald on condition of anonymity.
One told the Herald: “There is a real danger because some are using Amoris Laetitia to change doctrine and sacramental practice.” Another said that a clarification was needed because different bishops and “even neighbouring parishes are undermining each other”.
Priests said there was “low morale” thanks to the confusion, and a sense of not being supported against pressures to water down Catholic doctrine. Another asked: “If we change Jesus’s teaching here, what else will go next?”
Cardinal Vincent Nichols has spoken out against President Donald Trump’s restrictions on immigration, saying that they could increase terrorists’ “determination” to attack America.
The cardinal told Radio 4: “I think safety, in the long run, is not secured by fear, it’s secured by improving relationships.”
The cardinal also encouraged Catholic parishes to join the government’s Community Sponsorship Programme, whereby community groups support Syrian refugees.
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