Andy Drozdziak
Bishop of Leeds Marcus Stock has expressed his support to ‘secure provision’ of the Latin Mass in the light of new Vatican instructions.
Diocesan bishops must now have Vatican authorisation to allow the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass in a parish church after Pope Francis issued rules restricting the celebration in July 2021.
Any bishop who has granted a dispensation from those rules must inform the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, “which will assess the individual cases,” said a rescript approved by Pope Francis during a meeting on 20th February with Yorkshire Cardinal Arthur Roche.
In July 2021, Pope Francis’ apostolic letter “Traditionis Custodes” stated that priests must have their bishops’ permission to celebrate the “extraordinary” form.
Since May 2016, the ‘home’ of the Leeds diocese’s Latin Mass was the parish church of St Joseph’s, Bradford. During Advent 2021, the Bishop moved this Mass to the non-parochial St Patrick’s Mission in Bradford’s city centre, for which he needed no dispensation.
Last Sunday, after Mass, an announcement was made that Bishop Stock ensured their regular Sunday Mass in the Extraordinary Form would be safe after the publication of Traditionis Custodes– although six weekday TLM Masses will be lost under the new instructions in the Diocese of Leeds.
The Bishop said: “The recent rescript from Cardinal Arthur Roche confirmed that such dispensations are now “reserved in a special way to the Apostolic See”. Consequently, in light of this latest directive, those temporary permissions had to be revoked. I took this action with a view to ensuring that all current and future provision for the celebrations of Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal in this diocese would be undertaken in accordance with the wishes of the Holy Father Pope Francis.”
“This is the surest way of securing such future provision.”
The congregation at St. Patrick’s has been described as ‘diverse, 60-plus-strong, comprising students and young families.’
Fr Michael Hall is Episcopal Delegate for the traditional Latin Mass and one of a dozen or more priests from the Diocese of Leeds who celebrate the vetus ordo: all are also celebrants of the novus ordo Mass of Pope Paul VI.
“Though the rescript constrains the evident fruits of the Traditional Mass both in evangelisation and spiritual formation, I value immensely Bishop Marcus’s support for the work that is being done in our spiritual home of St Patrick’s,” Fr. Hall told the Universe.
Last week, the Bishop explained his decision with the priests involved and with layman Neil Walker, who runs the independent blog Latin Mass Leeds. Mr Wlker noted that Bishop Stock assured him that he ‘intends to do all within his power as Bishop to continue to provide for the legitimate spiritual needs’ of supporters of the Latin Mass.
“Other than at St Patrick’s in Bradford, this may mean looking at alternative venues to the parish churches previously used in the diocese. However, he has also pointed out that it is not easy to designate existing churches as non-parochial since most of them form part of the patrimony of an existing parish and have their own juridic personality in Canon Law; nevertheless, I understand that he will be exploring all possibilities,” he said.
The Archdiocese of Liverpool explained that the ‘two parish churches’ who currently celebrated the traditional form will ‘no longer’ be able to do so under the new instructions.
“Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP granted dispensations so that Mass according to the 1962 Missal could be celebrated in two parish churches in the Archdiocese of Liverpool,” the Archdiocese told the Universe.
“The recent rescript makes it clear that these dispensations are dependent on the Archbishop informing the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the assessment of the Dicastery in each case. Given that the Archbishop will not be approaching the Dicastery, Mass according to the 1962 Missal will no longer be celebrated in these parish churches. The Archbishop has been flexible in the timeframe for the cessation of the celebration of the Masses in these parish churches, and has not required their immediate cessation.”