“Pope Benedict was the answer to the prayers of many people who prefer the Extraordinary Form. It’s hard to imagine that any other pope could have accomplished as much,” said Alex Begin, who has served as coordinator of the Tridentine Masses offered at a number of churches in Metro Detroit and across the river in Windsor, Ontario.
While a strictly limited availability of the Tridentine Mass became possible under the pontificate of Blessed John Paul II, subject to the local bishop’s approval, Pope Benedict not only made it clear that any priest, anywhere, should be able to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form, he also said it ought to be made available for lay people who wish it.
During Pope Benedict’s pontificate, the number of parishes in North America offering Mass in the Extraordinary Form (at least occasionally) have grown from relatively few to about 600, Begin said.
In the archdiocese, the Extraordinary Form is available twice weekly at St. Josaphat Church in Detroit’s Medical Center (where it was first authorized), and now at a number of other churches at varying frequencies.
Pope Benedict also “set important examples” in the way he celebrated Mass, even when not using the Extraordinary Form, Begin recently wrote in the local Tridentine Community News.
“He restored use of chanted propers and elaborate traditional vestments to his Ordinary Form Masses in the Vatican basilicas. He distributes Holy Communion only on the tongue to kneeling communicants,” he wrote.
Begin also noted that Tridentine Masses have been held at several of the major basilicas of Rome, and that the Church of Santissima Trinita dei Pellegri has been given over exclusively to the Extraordinary Form.
Paul Schultz, coordinator of Juventutem Michigan, said “I am so thankful for the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, and for his doing everything he could to help his brothers in the Catholic Church know and love Jesus Christ better.”
Schultz called Pope Benedict’s apostolic letter, “Summororum Pontificum,” “an act of justice, making it clear that a priest can celebrate the traditional Mass, and pastors can celebrate it at their parishes, without people having to fight bishops and bishops fighting people.”
Juventutem recently announced that an Extraordinary Form Mass would be celebrated for the first time in decades at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Aug. 30. “I thank God for Pope Benedict, and thank God for Archbishop (Allen) Vigneron that such a thing is possible,” he said.
Schultz described Juventutem as “a group of young adult Catholics, 18-35, single and married, who want to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ through pursuing traditional aspects of the faith and, in particular, the traditional Latin Mass.”
Fr. Lee Acervo, administrator at St. Edward on-the-Lake Parish in Lakeport, said, “One of the things that I have always loved about Pope Benedict is his great love and care for the Church’s liturgy.”
He said the retired pontiff acted not only so that those who have a love of the Tridentine Mass could have access to it, but also “so that the beauty of the Extraordinary Form could have a positive impact on the celebration of the Ordinary Form.”
Michigan Catholic special writer Tim Keenan contributed to this story.
