Monday, August 27, 2007

EXTRAORDINARY!

Campus Ministry of the University of Notre Dame has made public its statement and policy regarding Summorum Pontificum!

Read it here!


Beginning as soon as possible after September 14 (remember Basil Moreau founder of the Holy Cross Fathers will be beatified Sep 15! So many of our priests will be abroad for that joyous occasion) Holy Mass will be offered according to the extraordinary use every Sunday in the Chapel of St Charles Borromeo in Alumni Hall, the most beautiful dorm chapel on campus, at 8:00am. Already they are hoping to have Mass sung by the Basilica Choirs by the second semester!

I can see the statement on baptisms, marriages, and funerals causing a deal of disappointment - but they do have a point - special permission has already been granted to administer these sacraments at all. Perhaps with time this will change.

Regardless, I am thrilled that the Tridentine Mass is returning to Notre Dame after so many years! I am so happy that Campus Ministry has been eager to address our needs and is even planning on helping educate the students about this beautiful form.

I can't wait until September!
Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

9 comments:

Anna Clare said...

Such wonderful news!!! :)

Papabile said...

It is interesting for me to read this, because it seems extraordinary that the Vice President for Student Affairs has any say whatsoever with regard to these Masses.

It would seem to me that the people who properly exercise jurisdiction are the Rector of the Basilica, and IF jurisdiction has been delegated to him, the head of Campus Ministry.

The Rector of the Basilica should have canonical jurisdiction over all chapels, etc, and hence, there is no way the Vice President should be able to forbid a Nuptial Mass, etc. at Notre Dame.

YES..... this is a BIG step forward, but once again, canonically sloppy.

Rae said...

Congratulations!! You've worked hard for this.

Robert Gotcher said...

Why would the rector of the Basilica have jurisdiction over dorm chapels? Because they are in his territory? It seems to me the canonically the parish is separate from the University and campus ministry. Campus ministry probably is directly under the ordinary, rather than the rector of the Basilica. Those are just guesses on my part--vague memories from my days there (1977-81, 84).

Cathy said...

Woo-hoo!
:)

Anonymous said...

Robert,

At Notre Dame, the rector of the basilica is not the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish. Those (the basilica and the parish) are two separate entities. The rector, as well as the director of campus ministry work under the president, not the ordinary, though as ministries within the diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend they are responsible to him in an indirect way.

The statement about baptisms, marriages and funerals should not cause any disappointment. Notre Dame is not a parish, after all, and celebrates such sacraments only with the bishop's explicit approval. In the motu proprio, there is no provision for a place like Notre Dame to substitute the extraordinary rite for the ordinary rite for these sacraments. Perhaps this will change, but I'd say that is very doubtful. The Christian faithful have no right to expect anything else from the university.

I think it is great that both the rector of the basilica and the director of campus ministry are making these allowances for the extraordinary rite. However, given Notre Dame's decades-long commitment to high-quality liturgical celebration on campus (certainly culminating in the basilica liturgies) I am glad that they have decided to move quickly from a Low Mass--a low water mark of Catholic liturgy by all standards--to a sung Mass.

Anonymous said...

Furthermore, at ND, the Vice President for Student Affairs is a CSC priest with supervisory responsibility for Campus Ministry. This is very much within his purview.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear that ND will be doing this! Somehow I don't think my Jesuit school will be jumping on the bandwagon anytime soon...

Anonymous said...

peadar --

I have to say I wish they'd stuck with a low mass for a while. Instituting a sung mass places a huge burden on the Basilica music staff.