Expert: Fr. Michael - 9/26/2005

Question
Hi Padre,
There is a Catholic Church near by that doesn't seem to be connected to the diosises(?).  The masses are all said in Latin.  I would like to attend an all Latin mass some time but I don't know if I should.  Would it cover my Sunday obligation?   I was an alter boy 60 years ago when it was all Latin and I kind of miss it.
Thanks,
Jim E

Answer
If the truth be told, those vernacular services that are frequently called "Masses" are really not so.  The "New Mass," so called, was composed to turn the Catholic Mass into a service that Protestants would accept.  Some now do in fact use the new service.  The problem is that the "New Mass" does not have its originals in Apostolic Tradition and is not Catholic.

The Roman Catholic Mass of Catholic and Apostolic Tradition, what you are referring to as the "Latin Mass," is your right and obligation as a Catholic, not only from Catholic Tradition, but explicitly from the dogmatic Council of Trent and Pope St. Pius V -- in perpetuity.

Fortunately, there are a number of priests in the United States that did not accept the Protestantized "New Mass," but stayed with the Catholic Mass, what we now call the Traditional Latin Mass.  Often these priests must operate outside the New Order dioceses because those dioceses abhor the Catholic Mass and wish to impose the New Order service.   And not only a "New Mass," but a new morality, new doctrines, and new sacraments.

Your "Sunday obligation" is to worship Almighty God in the way HE established, and that is the Traditional Latin Mass, the Catholic and Apostolic Mass, the Mass of Sts. Peter and Paul.  So, hang tough, you are doing the right thing to worship at the independent site in the way Our Lord Jesus Christ established and handed down to His Apostles.

Much of this information is covered in detail in the Official Traditional Catholic Directory, which you can inspect at http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-36834-4