Letter from Una Voce Netherlands to Cardinal Estévez

His Eminence Jorge Cardinal Medina Estévez

Congregazione Per il Culto Divino

Palazzo delle Congregtioni Piazza Pio XII 10 00193 Roma,

Italy Fax: 39 06 69 88 34 99 Delft,

28th September 1999

Your Eminence

1. I am writing you in my capacity as President of the Una Voce Netherlands, member of the International Federation of Una Voce.

2. Reading the protocol 1411 of 3rd July 1999, it causes me great anxiety, because the specific answers on specific questions can lead their own life without the general rule on which it should be based. If this happens, and I am afraid it will do, this protocol can be a source of unjust acts and polemics not only against the faithful who loves one of the lawfully recognized Holy Rites, but also specific to that H.Rite, which was the common Rite in the Roman Church for so many centuries and which the H. FATHER has said should be made available for those who are attached to it. This makes me very anxious.

3. Despite, before 1969 in the Roman Church the H.TRIDENTINE Rite was the Missal in force, because it was promulgated in 1962 by our Holy Father Johannes XXIII as the H.Rite common to all clergy of the Roman Church in 1963 the Sacred Council declared that Holy Mother Church holds all lawfully recognized Rites to be of equal right and dignity (SC4). The Sacred Council also declares in the same SC4 that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way.

4. In 1988 our H. Father has promulgated the Motu Proprio "Ecclesia Dei Adflicta", and "manifested his will to facilitate the ecclesial communion by means of the necessary measures to guarantee respect for their aspirations" and asked "for the support of the bishops and of all those engaged in the pastoral ministry in the Church".

5. This Motu Proprio is not only addressed to priests who can celebrate their own H. MASS. It is also said to laymen who cannot celebrate the H. MASS by themselves, therefore they need priests. So from this manifested statement "to support the necessary measures to guarantee respect for their aspirations" it is evident that the Bishops should not only permit using the H.TRIDENTINE Rite, if necessary they should also indicate a Church or Chapel in which the H. Mass can be celebrated in the H.TRIDENTINE Rite. If there is no priest willing to celebrate the H. MASS in the H.TRIDENTINE Rite the diocesan Bishops as the superior should oblige one of their priests to celebrate it.

6. As an example, according to his statement as well as according the wish of the Sacred Council to preserve the H.TRIDENTINE Rite as one of the lawfully recognized H. Rites which should be preserved in the future and fostered and to help His Brothers to find priests to celebrate the H.TRIDENTINE Rite the H. FATHER has given the Fraternity of St. Peter and a few other Fraternities the permission to celebrate the H. MASS in the H.TRIDENTINE Rite only. As well as the Decree of Erection (28.10.1988) as the Statutes of this Fraternity have been approved by the Holy See. Therefore by being a member of the Fraternity of St. Peter or any other recognized Priestly Fraternity concerning the H.TRIDENTINE Rite only the priest obliged himself te celebrate the H.TRIDENTINE Rite.

7. The Protocol 1411 seems to be in contradiction to the Motu Proprio "Ecclesia Dei Adflicta". 1. Although the H.Tridentine Rite is replaced as the H.Rite common to all clergy of the Roman Church by the Novus Ordo Missae in 1969, the H. FATHER has permitted certain priestly Fraternities to celebrate the H.Mass by the H.TRIDENTINE Rite only. So it is not a matter of a prohibition by the Superior to say the Novus Ordo Missae but a moral obligation of the priest himself as a member of such a priestly Fraternity. He always is free to leave such a Fraternity. 2. Although the Novus Ordo Missae is the Normative Missal nowadays, by the act of publishing the Indult and the Motu Proprio "Ecclesia Dei Adflicta" the Holy See has recognised the H. TRIDENTINE Rite as one of the lawfully H Rites too and therefore every priest should be free to use it.

8. Not only because this Protocol acts against the approved documents, but also because the SSPX will be using it as a confirmation of their uncompromising propaganda against Rome and the Fraternity of Saint Peter. I am afraid that by this the gap between the SSPX and their supporting faithful with the Church will be getting wider and stronger. Definitily, it worsen all our activities for the reconciliation of the SSPX and their supporting faithful.

It should be clear that according the common practice of the Tradition in the Church any H. MASS celebrated by one of the lawfully recognized H. RITES are for the goods of the local communities as well as for the whole Church. So celebrating the H. MASS by the H.TRIDENTINE Rite is as good as celebrating it by the Novus Ordo Missae and cannot confuse the faithful at all. Therefore I sincerely ask Your Eminence not to publish this Protocol. I remain, Your Eminence, your obedient servant in Jesus Christ, and I ask your blessings for myself, for my family and for our Foundation.

Yours sincerely in Christo

Jack P. Oostveen

Una Voce Netherlands

c.c. His Eminence Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (Fax: 39 06 69 88 34 09)

His Eminence Angelo Cardinal Felici (Fax: 39 06 69 88 34 12)

Father Bisig fssp International Federation of Una Voce