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REMARKS FROM BISHOP MELCZEK
REGARDING THE
APOSTOLIC LETTER OF POPE BENEDICT XVI |
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The Church calls each of us to full, conscious, and active participation in
the Mass. The vast majority of the faithful have experienced the
celebration of the Mass in English with the priest facing the congregation
and with the expanded use of the Sacred Scriptures much easier for them to
unite their hearts, minds and voices to the sacred action of the Mass.
Few of our priests possess the rubrical and linguistic skills required for
the reverent celebration of the Mass using the 1962 Missal. Pope Benedict XVI appreciates the above realities very well and for that reason indicated that "the new Missal will certainly remain the ordinary Form of the Roman Rite." I fully expect that to be the case here in Northwest Indiana. |
Pope Benedict XVI has allowed the use of the older Missal in use prior to
the Second Vatican Council as the extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the
Church. He has made this generous gesture in a spirit of
reconciliation and unity as he said "to make every effort to make it
possible for all those who truly desire unity to remain in that unity or to
attain it anew." For the same reason, I have for many years permitted the celebration of the Mass according to the pre-conciliar form at the Carmelite Monastery in Munster. There are certainly very limited numbers of the faithful who prefer to worship using the Latin language and the older Missal. With Pope Benedict XVI, I fully believe that, with few exceptions, our priests and people will continue to prefer to worship in English and with the Missal currently being use. July 9, 2007 |