The bishops of Liverpool and Leeds have cancelled Traditional Latin Masses in their parish churches in the wake of further restrictions on access to old rite liturgies announced in Rome last week.
Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool has demanded an end to Latin Masses celebrated in two Lancashire parish churches while Bishop Marcus Stock of Leeds has announced that the Old Mass can no longer be celebrated in any parish churches in his diocese.
The move follows the publication of a “rescript” by the Holy See which stipulates that permission for the use of a parish church for celebrations of Mass using the 1962 Missal may be granted only by the Dicastery for Divine Worship, which is headed by Yorkshire-born Cardinal Arthur Roche.
The rescript refers to Canon 87.1 which states that bishops may lift the obligations of universal law for the good of souls in their diocese before making clear that this loophole no longer applies to the provision of the Latin Mass, a matter, it says, which is now “reserved to the Holy See”.
It means that the Traditional Latin Mass may now be celebrated in a parish church only with a dispensation from the Dicastery for Divine Worship.
Archbishop McMahon personally contacted the parish priests of St John’s Church, Wigan, and St Catherine Labouré in Farrington, near Leyland, to tell them that he was now withdrawing the dispensations he had previously granted for the celebration of the old Mass.
Fr Ian O’Shea, parish priest of St William’s, which incorporates St John’s Church, had permission to celebrate a Latin Mass every Thursday evening, attracting usually between 12 and 20 worshippers.
Fr Simon Henry, parish priest of St Catherine’s, celebrates two week-day Masses, attracting a small number of the faithful.
Fr Henry told the Catholic Herald: “The permission that the archbishop gave has been rescinded under the recent rescript from Rome last week. It’s rather sad but there is not much we can do about it. People are sad.”
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