VTMS NEWS: Archbishop Adam Exner Grants Request

• full access to the Traditional Liturgy of Holy Mother Church;

• a Parish of our own; and

• a Priest from the Fraternity of St. Peter to minister to our needs.

• we have just recently lost another member of the community to the Society of St. Pius X;

• young families are being refused Baptisms in the Traditional Rite;

• young couples are refused the Sacrament of Matrimony with Mass in the Traditional Rite;

• Priests called to give Extreme Unction cannot confer this Sacrament in the Traditional Rite;

• we are permitted the Traditional Mass to fulfill our Sunday obligation, but not on major feast days;

• Our community lacks spiritual direction by a Priest sympathetic to traditional spirituality;

• we still do not know where we stand with respect to having Traditional Funeral Masses for ourselves and family members; and

• community members have moved out of BC; one of the contributing factors was their pursuit of a stable Traditional Parish.

We think we have, over the years, established our loyalty not only to the Chair of Peter, but also to your predecessor and to yourself, as well as to the One, Holy, Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We have patiently over the years continued to express our needs, hopes and desires both practical and spiritual even when rebuffed.

Our community, at this time, wishes to make some pertinent observations followed by specific requests for Your Grace's consideration:

• the motu proprio "Ecclesia Dei" of Our Holy Father Pope John Paul II in no instance refers to the Tridentine or Traditional Mass of the Roman or Latin Rite. In fact, in "Ecclesia Dei" the Holy Father was most careful to refer to access "to previous liturgical forms of the Latin tradition" and, elsewhere in the text, to "the Latin liturgical tradition". So we are talking about the liturgy which includes the Mass, the Sacraments, and the Divine Office. This point is borne out by Roman legislation that flowed subsequently from the Ecclesia Dei decree.

• Most important here is the erection in October 1988 by Pope John Paul II of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter which conceded them "the use of the liturgical books in force in 1962" -- the Missal, Pontificale, Rituale and Divine Office. Subsequently other religious communities have been erected, or whose previous existence has been formally recognized, with the same rights. For example: the Benedictine community of Le Barroux, the Benedictine community of Fontgombault (and its several daughter houses), the Institute of Christ the King and Sovereign Priest, the Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer, and there are many others. Not only do these communities have the right to use the Traditional Missal, Pontificale, Rituale, and Divine Office, so do all those Catholics who resort to them. The fact that Catholics are clearly free to resort to these religious communities -- and, indeed, their foundation was approved by Rome in the full knowledge that many Catholics would so resort to them -- indicates that all Catholics who aspire to have the benefit of the whole of the Latin liturgical tradition must be entitled to realize this aspiration in the Mass, in the Sacraments and all the rest of this great heritage.

• In the Papal address delivered to the Ecclesia Dei pilgrims in Rome on Monday, October 26th, 1998, His Holiness, Pope John Paul II stated "the Church also shows her understanding for people 'who feel attached to some previous liturgical and disciplinary forms.' (Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei, n.s). The Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei must be applied in this perspective ... I therefore extend an invitation to Bishops to show understanding and renewed pastoral attention to the faithful who are attached to the former rite and, on the eve of the third millennium, to help all Catholics live the celebration of the Holy Mysteries with a faith that nourishes their spiritual life as a source of peace."

Your Grace, the presence of the old liturgy does not disturb or break the unity of the diocese, but is rather a gift destined to build up the Body of Christ.

Having made the above observations, Your Grace, we respectfully request that:

• our community be provided full access to the liturgy of Holy Mother Church as set out in the pre-Vatican II liturgical books;

• our community be given access to full parish life with the establishment or the intention of establishing a 'quasi' parish for the Latin Mass Community; and

• a Priest from the fraternity of St. Peter be permitted to minister to our needs.

Sincerely Yours

Moira Garneau President

Eloise Raeder Vice President

Lynn Reid Treasurer

David Reid Communications Director

In October the Archbishop was contacted as to the status of our requests and we were informed that they would be considered in Council in November. The urgent Novena to the ‘Holy Souls’ was subsequently initiated and again the VTMS made an appeal to the Archbishop.

2nd LETTER TO ARCHBISPOP ADAM EXNER

1st. Nov., 1999

Most Reverend Adam Exner,

OMI Your Grace:

We thank you for acknowledging receipt of our latest request for a full share of and participation in the Church’s spiritual banquet and we note that you will be taking this request to Council.

In the meantime Your Grace may we humbly and prayerfully ask you to take into consideration the fact that during the Second Vatican Council, the first document promulgated by the Council Fathers was the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 4th December 1963). This document was approved by 2147 votes with only 4 against, thus indicating the overwhelming wishes of the Council Fathers. In establishing the principles and norms to be applied to the Roman Rite (Art. 3) the Council Fathers ordered the following:

• "… in faithful obedience to tradition, the sacred Council declares that Holy Mother Church holds all lawfully recognised rites to be of equal right and dignity; that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way." (Art. 4);

• "The use of the Latin Language, with due respect to particular law, is to be preserved in the Latin rites." (Art. 36(1));

• "…. care must be taken to ensure that the faithful may also be able to say or sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them." (Art. 54);

• "The treasury of sacred music is to be preserved and cultivated with great care." (Art. 114);

• "The Church recognises Gregorian chant as being specially suited to the Roman liturgy. Therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services." (Art. 116).

The entire Vancouver Traditional Latin Mass Community fully support these objectives and are being absolutely faithful to the collective will of the Council Fathers as promulgated in Sacrosanctum Concilium.

We are also deeply grateful to His Holiness John Paul II for his pastoral concern for "… all those Catholic faithful who feel attached to some previous liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition" and for introducing "the necessary measures to guarantee respect for their rightful aspirations" (Ecclesia Dei, Art. 5c), and His Holiness has publicly recognised these mandates from the Council Fathers by authorising the establishment of those priestly orders, monasteries, and religious houses that use the 1962 religious books.

This matter is so crucial to the spiritual welfare of ourselves and our families, Your Grace, that we would appreciate the opportunity to meet with yourself and Msgr. Monroe prior to the Council meeting. The purpose of the meeting would be to expand more fully on the urgency of the situation and to determine what else might be done to persuade you that our request has the potential to benefit the Vancouver Diocese.

Yours in Christ

Moira Garneau President

ARCHBISHOP ADAM EXNER'S RESPONSE

On the 7th. Dec., 1999 His Grace Archbishop Adam Exner met with the VTMS and gave his official response. The meeting was very cordial and his Grace said that:

1. he will be approaching the Society of St. Peter to supply a Traditional Priest for our Community;

2. he was fully prepared to authorize the use of the liturgical books in force in 1962 —the Missal, Pontificale, Rituale and Divine Office— together with all the Sacraments in the Traditional Rite;

3. he is prepared to form a Quasi Parish for our Community.

The VTMS wishes at this time to publicly acknowledge and thank:

• Archbishop Adam Exner for his kindness, empathy and for the great gift he has given the Vancouver Traditional Latin Mass Community;

• all the Holy Souls in Purgatory; all the Angels and Saints in Heaven with special mention of Mary the Mother of God, St. Joseph, St. Michael, St. Pius X, St. Pius V, St. Athanasius and St. Jean d’Arc;

• all the Priests and benefactors who have helped us, encouraged us and worked with us throughout these many years;

• all the members of the VTMS and our community who have written the Archbishop, prayed and kept the Faith never giving up;

• the kind soul in Ottawa who wrote the Archbishop pleading our cause and all those faithful throughout the whole world who have prayed, helped and encouraged us to keep going.

Ecce ancilla Domine; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum et fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra.