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Q. Is the Latin Tridentine Community in good standing with the Archbishop of Milwaukee and with the
Pope ?
A. Y E S ! Our Latin Tridentine Community exists under the approval
of Archbishop Timothy Dolan. Authorization was granted by
Pope Benedict XVI under terms of his motu proprio
"SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM" (2007).
Q. Is the entire Mass at the Latin Tridentine Community said in
Latin ?
A. Yes, the Mass is completely in Latin or Greek (the Kyrie eleison)
with the exception of the Scripture readings which are also proclaimed to the congregation in English at the sermon.
Q. Which cycle of readings is used by the Latin Tridentine Community, A B or C ?
A. The Latin Tridentine Community does not use the Novus Ordo for
lections at Mass. All Scripture pericopes follow the 1962
Missale Romanum whose Epistles and Gospels do not change from year to year.
Q. I have noticed that the altar servers here are all boys and men.
Does the Latin Tridentine Community use girls or women to serve
Mass ?
A. No. In the "Tridentine" rite (Ordo Antiquus) women do not enter
the sanctuary during Mass, nor function as altar servers. Experience
has proved that serving at the altar is a very effective means of
generating vocations to the priesthood, which women are forbidden to enter
because the priest at Mass acts in persona Christi, offering the Sacrifice in the person of Christ Himself.
Q. Why is the Mass said in Latin ?
A. The Catholic faith and the Mass were spread by the Apostles and the first missionaries throughout the known world of the Roman Em-
pire in which the common languages were Latin in the West and Greek in the East. Latin helps to guarantee the authentic Christian
doctrine enshrined in the ancient Mass rite.
Q. Why was Latin not changed as the languages of the various nations
changed over the years ?
A. Because every vernacular language continues to evolve : since it is
"alive," the words and phrases can change their meaning. As Latin is a
"dead" language, it remains basically unchanged and hence sets the standard to which any translations are referred. The fixed meaning of
the Latin phrases is a powerful warranty of accurate doctrinal content,
and thus greatly helps to maintain unity of belief and prayer.
Q. Why does the celebrant not face the people in the Ordo Antiquus ?
A. Because he is offering the Mass in Christ's name and in His Person,
in persona Christi, to God the Father, leading his people in worshipful
adoration. As St Augustine puts it, "When we raise our hearts in
prayer, we turn towards the East (ad orientem convertimur), whence heaven arises. This is not to say that God could (only) be found there
and that He has forsaken the other points of the compass..., rather, we
face East to remind ourselves that we must turn in the direction of a
supernatural state, that is, that we must turn to God." Holy Mass is a
sacrificial offering, and the person who is presenting the offering stands facing the One Who receives the offering.
Q. Why is so much of this Mass celebrated quietly, or in silence ?
A. Because all the prayers are addressed to God, not to the
congregation, and particularly from the end of the Sanctus and throughout the
Canon, a solemn silence is the most effective expression of the
adoration and reverence due to God Who comes to us in the Divine Liturgy.
Where Christ is present, where the Godhead is enthroned, there
everything inferior, earthly, merely natural recedes into the
background; here grace reigns, separates, and elevates to God on high.
Q. In other words the people in the pews do not participate in the
rite of Mass ?
A. Wrong ! The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ the High Priest on
Calvary is and will remain the basis for the active participation of the
faithful in the Holy Sacrifice. Membership of the Church, effected
through valid baptism, makes one a part of the Mystical Body of
Christ the Priest, to Whose priesthood one is inwardly conformed
by the baptismal character. And since human beings are made up of
both body and soul, the active participation of human persons at Mass
is, perforce, internal as well as external : the interior element is the
"heart" of the matter, which must be expressed in the exterior
participation. Since the object of liturgical worship (whose highest
expression is Holy Mass) is to promote the self-oblation of the faithful as a
spiritual sacrifice in union with Christ the Victim-Priest, a constantly
more profound transformation in Christ is required, in the sense of
St Paul's admonition "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ
jesus" (Phil 2/5). The Ordo Antiquus, as we know from experience,
is very conducive to this result, and following the words and actions
in one's missal is a great help in understanding and appreciating its
richness and beauty.
Q. Why does everyone receive Holy Communion kneeling and on the
tongue ?
A. Although the practise of receiving on the hand was widely followed
during the early Christian centuries, gradually growing knowledge
and deepening appreciation of the Holy Eucharist and its profound
value evoked a response to that value which manifested itself through
increasing reverence and respect for the Blessed Sacrament, and
reception kneeling and on the tongue gradually replaced the earlier
practise.
Q. Can I fulfill my Sunday obligation by participating in the Mass at
the Latin Tridentine Community ?
A. Yes, indeed ! -- as has been the case for a thousand years and more.
Remember : the last Council stipulated that "Particular law remaining
in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin
rites," that "the Church holds all lawfully acknowledged rites to be of
equal right and dignity, and wishes to preserve them in the future and
to foster them in every way," and that "steps should be taken enabling
the faithful to say or to sing together in Latin the parts of the Ordinary
of the Mass pertaining to them" (SC 36/1, 4, 54).
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