Bishop D'Arcy

Hurray! Bishop D'Arcy's invited the FSSP in! (well according to this) If anyone has the text of his statement, please let me know!

D'Arcy responds to pope's decree

Bishop requests priest be sent to help in wider use of the Latin Mass

FORT WAYNE -- Bishop John M. D'Arcy of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Roman Catholic Diocese released a statement Saturday on Pope Benedict XVI's letter concerning celebration of the Mass.

In the pope's document released Saturday, "Summorum Pontificum," Benedict removes restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass, which the Catholic Church had largely abandoned in the 1960s.

D'Arcy addresses in his own statement Benedict's concern for those who desire greater access to the Mass as it was celebrated before and during the Second Vatican Council.

D'Arcy also notes that Benedict's letter to the church's bishops and the document concerning wider use of the Latin Mass show the pope's awareness of divisions that sometimes hardened because of the "church's failure to try to reconcile" with "those who have separated themselves from full communion with the Church over this and other issues."

About the pope's position in his decree, D'Arcy states: "I am reminded of the example of the Good Shepherd in the 10th chapter of John's Gospel: 'I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must lead them too, and they shall hear my voice. There will be one flock then, one shepherd.' "

The pope's decree goes into effect Sept. 14.

In his letter to the bishops, Benedict addresses the confusion generated by "news reports and judgments made without sufficient information."

Any fear that the decree may signal a questioning of the liturgical reform instituted by the Second Vatican Council "is unfounded," the pope states. The two versions of the Mass "is a matter of a twofold use of one and the same rite."

Benedict also states that he wants to allay the fear that use of the Latin-language missal "would lead to disarray or even divisions within parish communities."

A recent story in The Tribune detailed the concerns of parishioners at St. John the Baptist Church in South Bend, who worry that their priest, the Rev. James Seculoff, who has been reassigned and who celebrates a Latin Mass at the church, which is attended by about 80 to 90 parishioners, will not be replaced. After three years at St. John, Seculoff has been assigned to St. John the Baptist Parish in New Haven, Ind.

In his statement, D'Arcy indicates he has invited the Fraternity of St. Peter to send a priest to the diocese "to help us in the wider use of the older form of Mass" -- also known as the Tridentine Mass.