Cardinal Mahoney corrected by Rome
After sending two letters politely requesting the authorization
of a Tridentine Mass in her area, a subscriber in Glendale, California received
a reply from Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles. Having promised
to send a list of the "several locations" (in remote areas permitting only one
Traditional Mass per month) in the archdiocese "for those very few people who
wish to avail themselves of this particular form of Eucharistic worship." The
Cardinal then added,
"As our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has told me
on various occasions, he gave permission for the Tridentine Mass with the very
clear understanding that only those people who were alive and actively attending
the Tridentine Mass up to the year 1965 were the ones for whom this permission
was intended." As our Holy Father has pointed out, as this age group continues
to age and to enter eternal life, the numbers of that age group are diminishing
month by month, year by year, thus lessening the need for such Masses.
Our Holy Father is appalled that some people are bringing
children and young people to the Tridentine Mass in strict contra-diction to
what he intended and to what he has permitted.
One Vatican cardinal called Mahony's assertions flatly "false." No fewer than
four cardinals (all of whom were elevated to the College by John Paul Il) have
since 1988 been ordaining-by the score-young men to the priesthood to say the
old Mass many of whom were born after the promulgation of the new Mass. (Latin
Mass Magazine, Winter 1997).
Cardinal Mayer responds
In a response to allegations made that only those habituated to the 1962 missal
by 1965 are allowed to assist at Masses celebrated according to that missal,
His Eminence Cardinal Augustin Mayer provided the following clarification dated
Jan. 31, 1997 in a letter to Michael Davies:
"In recent times it has been affirmed that the allowances given for the celebration
of the Tridentine Mass have been granted with the provision that only those
who were familiar with the preceding forms of the Roman Liturgy would be allowed
to benefit from those concessions.
"During my time as President of the Pontifical Commission
Ecclesia Dei such limitation was never mentoned by the authorities involved.
In this regard it should be mentioned that the Commission has used the faculty
of erecting religious institutes which would benefit from the use the Roman
Missal of 1962 and the other liturgical books in force at that time. Evidently
it was understood that young recruits would be admitted to such communities
and would benefit from all the concessions made to them. Hence one cannot speak
of an age limit."