It should come as no surprise that the statement issued by Bishop Trautman of Erie, PA on the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum is as weasily as the politically-correct translations he would have us suffer. The bishop issued a statement that is clearly a shot across the bow for priests and pastors in his diocese. “Don’t even think of trying to celebrate a Latin Mass without my say so.” is the message. You be the judge. My emphases and [comments].
Statement from Bishop Trautman on Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter “Summorum Pontificum”Most Reverend Donald W. Trautman, S.T.D, S.S.L., Bishop of Erie, issued the following statement on July 9, 2007 regarding Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter “Summorum Pontificum”:
The recent apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XVI on widening the use of the liturgical books of 1962 is prompted by his desire to reach out to those Catholics in schism [It seems that no matter how many times this gets corrected, they still say it. So it must be true.] because of their non-acceptance of the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. [Only the crazies you see, nobody who accepts V-II wants it.]
The Second Vatican Council, an ecumenical council of the Church [in case you didn’t know], restored and adapted the liturgy recommending vernacular languages for the worship life of the Church [ he must have forgotten about V-II mandating the retention of Latin, oops.] Pope Benedict, sensitive to those still clinging [what are the young clinging to?]to the Tridentine Latin Mass (the 1962 missal) and liturgical rites prior to Vatican II, now grants a more generous application of that former liturgy.
Since the Diocese of Erie already permits the celebration of the Tridentine Mass in two locations, St. Ann Parish in Erie and St. Bernadette Parish in Saegertown, I do not foresee a pressing pastoral need on the part of our people. [The diocese of Erie is composed of the thirteen counties of Northwestern Pennsylvania with a Catholic population of about 225,000. Geographically, it is the largest diocese in the state covering 9,936 square miles! Yup, two is plenty.]
In the future, I will be issuing diocesan norms to help apply and order the specifics of the pope’s letter. Priests who might want to celebrate the Tridentine Mass [before being banished to the smallest coal town in Pennsylvania] will be given a rubrical and Latin exam to comply with the pope’s own statement, “The use of the old missal presupposes a certain degree of liturgical formation and some knowledge of the Latin language.” [One can only imagine the type of exam that the good bishop will concoct…Please translate the entire Webster’s dictionary into Latin, you have 30 minutes…starting now.]
Further, there will be need to ascertain that the common good of the parish prevails and to ascertain what constitutes a stable community [Oooh, the hurdles he will think up for this one!] of those requesting the 1962 missal. We must keep in proper perspective [read, my perspective] the pope’s more generous use of the liturgical rites prior to 1962. The pope himself has said: “It is clearly seen that the new missal will certainly remain the ordinary form of the Roman rite.”
Remember, according to Bishop Trautman we are too stupid to understand ‘sullied’, ‘unfeigned’, ‘ineffable’, ‘gibbet’, ‘wrought’, and ‘thwart’. There is no way you would understand Latin. Priests will need to pass a 17-part exam in triplicate before being allowed to celebrate this mass for schismatics. Any bets on what the bishop will consider a ‘stable’ community?
Bishop Trautman’s message to his priests, “Not in my diocese.” My ineffable revulsion for what the Bishop has wrought to thwart the motu proprio is unfeigned.
July 14, 2007 at 3:36 pm
“Trautmann not only considers himself a liturgical expert and brags about having been a peritus, he has been elected chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy yet again.”
Actually, he’s not called the “chairman”, but the “chair”. That being the case, I believe we should shorten his name to “Traut”.
July 14, 2007 at 5:08 pm
“Stable”? Why, if they were “stable” they wouldn’t want the TLM in the first place, right?
That’ll be an easy one.
July 14, 2007 at 5:51 pm
HELP!!! If my memory serves me right, a few years ago when Bishop Trautman was elected, there were two other bishops in nomination for the post of Liturgy Chairman. As the person in charge was ready for votes for these two bishops, a bishop rose and requested a new nomination. Who? You guessed it, Bishop Trautman; and then two or three fellow “travelers” rose to second the nomination. I can still see this scene on the EWTN telecast. Never was a word of objection raised, to this day.
FRED
July 15, 2007 at 1:02 am
Dear fww29@aol.com,
Cardinal George, our point man on Vox Clara, was supposed to become the Chairman (as it is called on Bishop Trautman’s website. He withdrew because he took over another post. Two other candidates were nominated and then they threw in Trautman’s name. His forces apparently had it planned.
I do not remember the details, but you can find them on http://www.adoremus.org.
July 15, 2007 at 2:25 am
Bishop Trautman: born June 24, 1936 according to wikipedia.
July 15, 2007 at 5:52 am
So, you have been allowed to breathe. Were you not breathing all along? Is not the use of the Mass granted to every priest everywhere, anytime, in perpetuity, in spite of any prelate saying anything to the contrary? SP is one of the most shameful documents in the history of the Church. It is hailed as the most courageous act of a Pope, who makes sure that exclusivity in adherence to the one rite excludes one from communion with the Church! Document which is riddled with loopholes anyway you look, from any side.It is a document that says to those who have been holding their breath for forty years that they can breathe. How many of those is left around?
Why would the Lord and Our Lady warn us about the New Mass? Or, judging from the state of the Church and the fruits of the V II, which is “like this beautiful tree bearing all this beautiful fruit”, that God has finally lost grip on history, and the warning of Fatima “does not concern our time?”
We are witnesses, of the process of perversion in any walk of life. First and formost, this is happening, guess where?
July 15, 2007 at 5:05 pm
“Priests who might want to celebrate the Tridentine Mass will be given a rubrical and Latin exam to comply with the pope’s own statement, ‘The use of the old missal presupposes a certain degree of liturgical formation and some knowledge of the Latin language.'”
As it should be! I just hope this does not imply a Protestant view of the Novus Ordo as “text alone.” It too has rubrics, albeit minimalist. Maybe Trautman realizes that all Masses should be according to rubrics and not a free-for-all!!!
July 15, 2007 at 10:31 pm
This bishop and MANY others including mahoney and many cronies are all 71. Just think: in five years we can have the beginnings of a new springtime!
And in ten years when faithful bishops have had some time to clean up the mess in some dioceses, we will see a true return and growth in the Roman Catholic church.
PRAY PRAY PRAY for holy appointments to the episcopate!
By the way, I well recall watching EWTN when Bp. Trautperson became the liturgy head. Remember the electronic voting suddenly would not work? Recall that when the votes were counted there were too many? Shades of ‘vote early, vote often’.
July 15, 2007 at 10:35 pm
The times, they are a-changin’!
And those who ridiculed and ostracized others for being ‘rigid’ and ‘intolerant’ and ‘divisive’, etc. will find the shoe on the other foot.
BUT it is important to proceed with all charity for we do wish for a true renewal. I have already written to a priest 40 miles from here who I know loves Latin and I have hope he will offer the extraordinary form sometimes. And I will make the drive. Our diocese has not had in indult and now that is passe and any priest who wishes may offer the TLM in private; that is not up to the bishop at all.
And a friend wrote that in western Massachusetts already 1700 have registered their desire for the TLM. One can register at
http://lumengentleman.com/motucontacts.asp
Summorum Pontificum Contact Database
Search for contacts in your area
July 17, 2007 at 4:45 am
I almost wish the good Bishop would hold his ground. I’m curious to see if our “German Shepherd” has teeth.
July 17, 2007 at 9:52 am
Oh, Trautman’s a schismatic, probably an apostate. Don’t ever kiss his ring.
July 17, 2007 at 11:43 pm
I attended Mass (novus Ordo) in Latin at Our Lady of the Atonement in San Antonio on Sunday. Beautiful! “John and Mary Catholic,” a diverse congregation in every way, including youth, were very adept in their Latin responses. The Liturgy was simple, elegant, beautiful — just right! Bishop Trautman appears to be lost in a Never-Neverland Where It Is Always 1968.
Everyone in the San Antonio area, do plan on visiting Our Lady of the Atonement for the 6:00 P.M. Sunday Mass.
— Mack in Kirbyville
July 27, 2007 at 8:21 pm
By the way, has Bishop Trautman done any good elsewhere? Has he always behaved like this? Democracy on doctrine is creeping into his diocese. He’s one of those who thinks we are part of the American Catholic Church, not the Catholic Church in America.
July 27, 2007 at 10:02 pm
I came upon your CMR blog by accident today. The postings on Bishop Trautman make it evident that while your contributors may consider themselves creative, none can claim themselves charitable. I thought this sort of unkind hysteria was dead. Sadly, not.
July 28, 2007 at 8:36 am
“Let this Motu Proprio — despite its imperfections – be a call to arms in a new stage of battle. Now is not the time to settle for half a loaf. Now is not the time to allow the slightest alteration of the true Mass. Now is not the time to relax vigilance or to compromise one inch. As the liberals push forward with their liberalism, we press ahead with the truth. Only a complete return to the traditional doctrine and liturgy of the Church can be the goal of any Catholic worthy of the name.”
–John Vennari
Catholic Family News
October 29, 2007 at 3:41 pm
It is the use of sarcasm and the ‘my Mass is holier than your Mass’ attitude that puts me off the Tridentine Mass adherents. In my small town in the Scranton diocese (not a coal mining town, though – hard to beleive!) the ‘English’ Mass peoples raise the money and whilte the ‘Latin’ Mass peoples, when asked to support the parish in order to provide the music, presider, vestments, heat, etc. say, ‘It’s not about the money.’ I do strongly beleive that their should be a Latin Mass for those who request it, however, the results will be judged, as everything is, but its fruits.