Newsletter # 2 August 1998
Thank You !
Once again, we extend greetings and a warm thank you to all for your support and prayers for our petition to his excellency Bishop Kevin Boland to grant our request for the Tridentine Mass to be celebrated here in Savannah, Georgia.
We especially wish to thank the Law Office of John D. Rasnick, Manchester, Ga., for his generous donation that helped pay for our telephone installation, answering service, post office box and office supplies. John has a deep love and respect for the Tridentine Mass, and has long been a supporter of the Latin Mass Community in Atlanta. Also, we send our thanks to those faithful Roman Catholics , who sponsored the Tridentine Mass petition notices in the Savannah Press. It has been very effective in reaching many people who otherwise, would not have known of our Holy Father's wishes that:
"respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition" (Ecclesia Dei, 6c) and asks the bishops for "a wide and generous response" to requests for their celebration.
As a result of their generosity, ..we have opened a special bank account for SCSTM to deposit any donations from people who feel they would like to contribute in support of our efforts. This will ease the burden of expense for the newsletter postage, telephone and further notices in the Savannah Press in September.. But remember, the greatest contribution you can give is to offer up prayers for the Mass and for our bishop. To answer a question that one person asked: …... "No,.. this is not being financed or in any way connected to the Diocese of Savannah. All funds have come from private individuals and all efforts are volunteered."
Since the Savannah Press notices, many people have responded via postal, e-mail, and telephone requesting petition forms and the newsletter. Our petition has grown to a listing of over 225 signatures and growing every week. In returning calls to those who contacted us, I came to realize that many people were not aware that this Mass was available to us with permission from our bishop. Come to think of it, I never seen it listed in the Church bulletin either! Not only have we received response from many parishioners throughout the Savannah diocese, ..... but also from many who have for one reason or another, ceased going to Church, but have expressed their wishes to return to the Church should permission be granted for the Tridentine Mass. - We ask everyone to please keep our petition in your prayers.
New Website Ready!
For those of you with computers,.. SCSTM is now an official presence on the Internet!
The Address is :à http://members.tripod.com/~SavannahLatinMass/
Please visit our web site to learn more about the Tridentine Mass, latest developments, and soon we will be adding some beautiful Gregorian Chant! We will also have links to EWTN, Una Voce, Ecclesia Dei, and other wonderful Roman Catholic resources on the Internet. …………Y'all Come Visit Soon!
An Invitation Extended
SCSTM has been invited to become an affiliate of "Una Voce (One Voice) International". Just this week, Mr. Fred Haehnel, director of "Una Voce America", extended an invitation for SCSTM to affiliate or become a chapter of "Una Voce". News of our petition has spread throughout many Catholic organizations via the Internet. We have had messages of support and prayer from not only Atlanta,.. but also from all over the Untied States, Australia, Ireland, England, Argentina, and many other countries around the world! These are groups who support the Tridentine Mass, and they are offering special prayers, Masses and novena's for the people of Savannah. News of further developments, messages etc., ... will be posted on our web site on the Internet as well in next month's newsletter..
What is Una Voce?
Una Voce, from the Preface of the Most Holy Trinity (with one voice) is an international federation of associations, founded in 1966 in Rome, that now includes national associations in 17 nations on every continent. It is in full union with Pope John Paul II and the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. Una Voce is dedicated to ensuring that the Roman Mass codified by St. Pius V is maintained as one of the forms of eucharistic worship which are honored in universal liturgical life, and to restoring the use of Latin, Gregorian Chant, and sacred polyphony in Catholic liturgy. The current International President is Mr. Michael Davies of London, England.
Members believe that use of Latin in the Mass and Sacraments is a unifying force, needed by the Church in these days of widespread controversy. They believe that using the rites which were the form of Catholic worship for over 1,500 years will preserve the traditional emphasis on the Mass as Sacrifice, with its central teaching of transubstantiation. This, in turn, will help reverse the decline in vocations as altar boys, charged with difficult and meaningful duties, will be imbued from an early age with a sense of the sacred.
We Catholics possess a living heritage. We owe a duty to our posterity to transmit it in its fullness, and as a living tradition. This is not only the feeling of Una Voce, it is the teaching of all the postconciliar Popes. Throughout the world, the City of Savannah is known to be "Steeped in Tradition", why should it be any different when it comes to our Faith as handed down to us by our ancestors who built our beautiful Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, specifically for the worship of the Roman Latin Rite. If the use of our Cathedral can be given to Protestant denominations for the worship of their liturgy, and to the Savannah Symphony for secular purposes (concerts), then, we feel it should also be given to the Roman Catholic faithful, whose very ancestors built it.
Larger Print
I hope this print is a little easier to read! In the quest to save space and paper, I may have made the print to small in the first newsletter. Some of our seniors expressed a desire for a more readable print.. If this is still a little difficult to read.. please contact us, (at the above telephone number,.. leave your name,..and we will arrange for a special newsletter with much larger print to be sent to your address..
Meeting to be Scheduled
Due to many people being on holidays during the month of August, we have planned to have a meeting some time in September. Notification of date, time and place will be announced in the September newsletter.
Don't Forget To Return Those Petition Forms! ----
Many have requested petition forms, but have not yet returned them. Even if each person on the list gets ONE other signature, (husband, children, family relations) we will have our list!..
And in addition to the submission of our petition to our Bishop, we urge everyone to please write to the bishop independently and call the chancery office to request the Tridentine Mass on a regular basis. Below is a sample copy of a private letter to the bishop requesting the Latin Mass that you may use as a guide in writing your letter..
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My family and I are Catholics from [ insert your parish name here], Savannah, Ga.
We would like to be able to attend a Sunday Tridentine Mass on a regular basis at a central location. We understand that the Holy Father has authorized you to give this permission in his Apostolic Letter, "Ecclesia Dei". We know other Catholics in Savannah who would welcome the chance to hear the Mass in Latin according to the 1962 Roman Missal.
Thank you for your consideration of our request. We pray for your intentions and favorable response.
Respectfully yours in Christ,
(insert your name here)
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"The things we have heard and understood, the things our fathers have told us, these we will not hide from their children but will tell them to the next generation... "
Let us today commend this intention to the Immaculate Heart of the Mediatrix of all graces. Let us implore her glorious intercession; now and in the future. What we are asking must surely be pleasing to Her Immaculate Heart; that Her Divine Son will be more widely known, loved and worshipped in His eucharistic sacrifice; that through the traditional Mass the graces of Calvary and the power of the resurrection will flow ever more abundantly to mankind; that the shepherds of God's pilgrim flock will lead their people to heaven in an ever deepening spirit of adoration and praise, centered always on the most Blessed Sacrament of the altar.
"He gave a command to our fathers to make it known to their children that the next generation might know it, the children yet to be born. "
In an exrtraordinarily moving homily on the glory of the Church's historic rite, Archbishop Donoghue described the Holy Mass as "born in the prayer of Jesus Himself, at the Last Supper, nurtured as an infant by the zeal of the Apostles and the blood of many martyrs, ....tended, protected, enriched, and brought to full flower over the centuries of the Church's procession upon the earth, still fresh and unwithered. It lives again in our celebration today, for we come to the Holy Mountain of the Mass, where our Lord, our great and mighty Lord, has gone up, to rule and be adored, without question or dissent, for time everlasting.
"You cannot make success in the world your end, and at the same time save your soul.. . This is why we must place at the very center of our lives, as the focus for all our actions, this sacred action, this timeless liturgy, this elaborate but comfortable companion of our lives, the Holy Mass.
"The very fact that Christ's power is continually hedged in by the business of our mundane lives, the very fact that wealth and influence and so many other distractions are always there, always tempting us: .. These facts of human life made it necessary that Christ give us some protection, some 'firm dwelling,' as one writer put it, 'in which the Holies would be guarded against rough hands and the dust of the streets, safe from desecration and dishonor. . . '
"Our firm dwelling, in the City of God, then, is the Holy Mass, the Mass of our fathers in faith, the Mass which we attend, which we guard, and which we protect as a mother her child; as a father, his family and his home."
"The entirety of our spiritual health is to be found in the Mass. It is our real home and our real universe. It is the way to Confession and penance and restoration. It is the outpouring of the wisdom of God's holy words. It is the fount of all grace and the place of our most intimate communion with the ever-gracious and saving Lord, Jesus Christ.
Not long after Archbishop John Donoghue's celebration of a Pontifical Solemn High Mass in the Tridentine Rite in his Atlanta Archdiocese, a favorable article on the Latin Mass Community appeared in the Georgia Bulletin ( the Archdiocesan newspaper ), which set off a firestorm of letter-writing.
Archbishop Donoghue, who has been very supportive of the traditional Latin Mass community and has permitted the Fraternity of St. Peter to minister to the spiritual needs of traditional Catholics in the Archdiocese, was met with virulent criticism in the pages of his newspaper. The volume of letter writing to the editor of the Bulletin was so heavy - and the tone so unfortunate that the Archbishop himself was forced to issue a statement clarifying his intentions regarding his permission for a Traditional parish.
As the Atlanta Archdiocesan website states:
"In its February 12, 1998 issue the Georgia Bulletin published an article on the Saint Francis de Sales Latin Mass Community.
It occasioned considerable discussion in the form of letters to the editor. After two weeks of response, the newspaper had to terminate the discussion in order to devote the space to other topics. At this time Archbishop offered a written statement of guidance on the matter."
Archbishop Donoghue's Message - March 9, 1998
My dear Friends in Christ,
Prompted by the recent discussion here in the pages of the The Georgia Bulletin, and throughout the local Church, I wish to offer some guidance concerning certain aspects of the Church's teaching about the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy.
Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II granted permission for bishops to allow the celebration of the Mass according to the Missal of 1962, or in the fashion that is commonly called the "Traditional Latin Mass." The Holy Father not only granted this permission, but has also requested that bishops be generous in allowing the celebration of the Latin Mass within their jurisdictions. I believe he did this according to the will of the Holy Spirit for the Church, and for the edification and inspiration of her people. I am honored to be able to participate in this gift to the Church and to bring it to this Archdiocese.
As to the use of Latin: the preservation of spoken Latin prayer as well as the offering of the Latin Mass, are suitable means by which the historic foundations of our particular rite within the Catholic (universal) Church are preserved. This is the will of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council who wrote, "The use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites." The study, preparation, and practice of the traditional Latin Mass, in accordance with the indult of the Holy Father, fulfills this wish of the Council Fathers perfectly.
Finally, it is not to be denied that the Second Vatican Council desired that the Mass be offered in the vernacular, and we do this, faithfully, according to the Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI. This form of the Mass, the novus ordo, or new order, is the official and prevalent form in which the Eucharistic Liturgy is celebrated in our local Church, as it is throughout the world, and enjoys the acceptance of all obedient Catholics.
Fr. Rutler Speaks of Mother Teresa
Sermon at St. Agnes Church, New York City.
From Fr. George William Rutler Good Friday, 1989,
"I will tell you a secret, since we have just a thousand close friends together, and also because we have the Missionaries of Charity with us, whom the Holy Spirit has sent into the world that the secrets of many hearts might be revealed. Not very long ago I said Mass and preached for their Mother, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and after breakfast we spent quite a long time talking in a little room.
Suddenly, I found myself asking her (I don't know why):
"Mother, what do you think is the worst problem in the world today?"
She, more than anyone, could name any number of candidates: famine, plague, disease, the breakdown of the family, rebellion against God, the corruption of the media, world debt, nuclear threat, and so on.
Without pausing a second she said:
"Wherever I go in the whole world, the thing that makes me the saddest is watching people receive Communion in the hand."
