www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News The Bishop of Calgary, Alberta, has just suspended Latin Mass

The Bishop of Calgary, Alberta, has just suspended all activities of the Latin Mass communities in Calgary and Medicine Hat due to a pseudo-scientific and anti-Canonical order mandating the non-reception of the Eucharist on the tongue due to concerns related to the transmission of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus.

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/

Byzantine Catholics in Calgary Area may want to invite these Latin Mass communities to their parishes for the Divine Liturgy till this is cleared up by Rome. They won't be happy in modern Roman Rite parishes. This will help!.

This will probably take all of a week to get to Rome and be overturned. If they are this worried about it they should just suspend Communion as the virus is as easily passed hand to hand.

His Excellency should be referred to what the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments said about this, both in Redemptionis Sacramentum as well as in a July 2009 letter discussing this specific issue (and clarifying that the faithful can under no circumstances be denied Communion on the tongue).

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/11/cdwd...-restriction-of-communion-on-the-tongue/

I don't know about a week, but this restriction is sure not to last, since it is invalid.

Alexis

Oops. Go over to www.rorate-caeli.blogspot.com [rorate-caeli.blogspot.com] to see that the Bishop actually says he is "well aware" of what the CDWDS says, and that he basically doesn't care.

Alexis

I seem to remember that we have at least two parishes in Calgary.

Fr. Serge

If you don't think a desire to protect people from the H1V1 virus motivated the Bishop's decision, what do you think did?
(this question is coming from a person who ain't got much trust in bishops)

1. There is no evidence that H1N1 has ever been transmitted via the medium of giving communion on the tongue--any more than there is evidence that it has been transmitted by the use of a common spoon. One is much more likely to get H1N1 by shaking hands with someone at the Sign of Peace--which may be a good reason to ban that odious practice.

2. Overall, the H1N1 epidemic has been a bust. Far fewer people have gotten it than have gotten the vanilla seasonal flu. About ten times more people have died of seasonal flu than H1N1. Already, the number of new cases of H1N1 is in decline. Essentially, this was a massive panic imposed upon the world by hapless governments and non-governmental agencies--the U.S. government not being hindmost in this abuse.

3. No, I don't think the Bishop of Calgary had the best interests of his flock in mind. I think he was looking for a way of suppressing a liturgy he finds obnoxious, over the objections (indeed, the specific directions) of the Holy See.

4. People should keep this in mind when they contemplate how the Latin bishops are going to respond to the "personal ordinariates" established to receive converts from TAC.

Stuart I hate to say this but I suspicion you're right.
If so, what a shame.

Just or unjust, this move is well within the bishop's authority and I just don't see Rome enforcing an overturn, even if Rome actually mandates one, which I am not sold on either.

Shalom,
Memo

Given His Excellency's sheer chutzpah and insolence, I'd be surprised if he weren't reprimanded in some sort of way.

It is NOT within the Bishop's authority. Rome has unequivocally stated as much. Rarely do you find answers clearer than the one to the H1N1 question. Let's also remember Redemptionis Sacramentum.

The bishop is the chief enforcer of liturgy in his diocese, yes, but he cannot mandate things that are completely contrary to the tradition of the Church and at variance with the explicit directives of the Holy See. He can't make a priest dress up in a clown costume to say Mass. He can't use a wooden cup for the sacred chalice. And he can't refuse faithful their right, again and again protected by the tradition of the Church and the Holy See, of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue.

Alexis

Sigh

Sorry to disappoint, but these things go on all the time. There is a bishop close to my diocese who has explicitly mandated a practice in defiance of the Holy See and who has made speeches denouncing Rome's "interference" with liturgical practices he wants to see happen.

Wooden chalice? Had a priest in my parish some years ago who used one all the time. Carved hardwood little thing.

The mindset is similar to that used by people who flout secular law: "they can't arrest us all."

I'd hate to be in Rome trying to keep the lid on all these bad actors.

BOB

Sometimes it makes you wish Rome was as powerful and authoritarian as Orthodox polemics would have you believe.

Bob,

Of course I know it goes on! When I say "he cannot" I do not mean it is physically impossible to do. I mean that it is not right to do, and that the directive has no real power behind it other than the bullying force of whatever cleric is trying to push it.

Cannot = cannot [rightfully do so]

Alexis

God Bless the Bishop of Calgary! He has shown the resolve to take the heat for making an unpopular decision (to some) in order to do what he can to safeguard the health of his flock. I wish more bishops had this level of courage on this and other matters.

There are really two issues. First, if limiting communion to reception in hand is effective in curtailing the spread of the H1N1 virus. Some here have offered their opinion that it is not -- as if their opinion are proven fact. It's not. I suggest looking at what the CDC has to say on the matter as just one authoritative source.

Second, does a bishop have the authority to apply such a decision in emergency times? I think it's ignorance mixes with "sheer chutzpah and insolence" to suggest he does not. The Church vests a great deal of authority in our bishops -- particularly during exigent times and some are quick to forget that when their bishops make decisions they personally do not agree with.

A ton of self-professed pundits will not doubt attack this bishop from the privacy of their keyboards. Let's see what Fr. John Berg the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter does in response to this matter. I think we'll wait a long time until any bishop does anything -- including the Archbishop of Rome.

To suggest the Bishop of Calgary is "suppressing a liturgy he finds obnoxious" is highly offensive -- and ludicrous. Talk about conspiracy theory! To come up with that conclusion is just odd...