A MODEST PROPOSAL TO POPE LEO FOR SUPPRESSING CUSTODIS TRADITIONIS AND REFINING SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM…

 

Dear Pope Leo,

Thank you for listening to those who have come to discover the Ancient Rites of the Church due to the generosity and magnanimity of Pope Benedict XVI. 

I recommend that you simply discard Custodis Traditionis and reinstate Summorum Pontificum.

It might be a good idea to revisit why the late, great Pope Benedict XVI referred to the two forms of the one Roman Rite as the Extraordinary Form and the Ordinary Form. 

The Ordinary Form is the normal form of the Mass and all Latin Rite priests should respect the Ordinary Form as the normal form of the Mass for parishes. Remind them, though, to read the black and do the red and stop turning the Normal Mass into a sideshow of personality idiosyncrasies. 

Emphasize that the Extraordinary Form of the Mass is precisely that, out of the ordinary. If it is to be added to a parish’s Mass schedule, it should not replace any of the Ordinary Form Masses. It should be at a separate time. 

Emphasize too, that the faithful who request the Extraordinary Form for the other sacraments, like Baptism and Holy Matrimony and also for Requiems should be granted their request. 

Remind bishops to be engaged with those who celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and not to look down on them or to be aloof from them. Make sure priests respect those who want the normal form of the Mass to remain precisely that, the normal form and to respect those who desire the Extraordinary Form. 

Remind bishops and priests not to be rigid but flexible but within the context of the Canon Laws of the Church.

Finally, allow kneeling at an altar railing for Holy Communion at the Normal Mass as well as ad orientem. This will show the continuity between the two Masses, one normal and one out of the normal usage. 

Thank you for taking all this into consideration. I remember you at every Mass I celebrate. 

Sincerely  your in Christ,

Fr. Allan J. McDonald

Diocese of Savannah