On Christmas Day, Cardinal Blase Cupich issued a policy that restricts the Extraordinary Form in the Archdiocese of Chicago in the name of the ecclesial unity.
Newsroom (29/11/2021 2:30 PM, Gaudium Press) Under the policy, which takes effect Jan. 25, priests, deacons, and ordained ministers who wish to use the “old rite” must submit their requests to Cardinal Cupich in writing and agree to abide by the new norms.
Those rules specify that the Traditional Latin Masses must incorporate scripture readings in the vernacular, using the official translation of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In addition, such Masses cannot take place in a parish church unless both the archbishop and the Vatican agree to grant an exemption. The new policy also prohibits the celebration of Traditional Latin Masses on the first Sunday of every month, Christmas, the Triduum, Easter Sunday, and Pentecost Sunday.
Chicago’s new rules mirror those spelled out in an explanatory document regarding Pope Francis’ edict published Dec. 18 by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Vatican office responsible for matters related to the sacred liturgy.
“My intention in sharing this policy is to encourage you to reflect on the duty we each must assist our people in this moment of Eucharistic revival by rediscovering the value of the liturgical reform in the rites given to us by the Second Vatican Council,” Cupich wrote in an accompanying letter to priests, Vatican News reported.
These decisions are within the cardinal’s prerogative as a diocesan bishop. They are likely to stand up on appeal in Rome — so much so that Vatican News, the Holy See’s in-house press organ, made it a point Monday to feature the cardinal’s new policies, giving them a rather clear Vatican stamp of approval.
The cardinal emphasized in his instructions that the Ordinary Form of the Mass is ordinarily to be celebrated versus populum – facing the people – and that offering the Mass ad orientem – toward the east, which is to say, facing the altar – requires his permission.
Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, a religious community of men dedicated to a Restoration of the Sacred in the context of parish ministry, located in Chicago put out the following letter:
“On our community’s feast day, December 23rd, I had an audience with His Eminence Cardinal Cupich. I took the occasion of our meeting to assure His Eminence that the Canons Regular are committed to preserving unity with him and the Roman Pontiff. There he outlined the Archdiocesan policy, released today, concerning the implementation of Traditionis Custodes. His Eminence indicated he wants the work of the Canons Regular to continue, albeit within the boundaries established by the Archdiocesan policy to take effect January 25, 2022.
We, like many of you, receive this news with no little sadness, but we also recognize the challenge before us: to live more fully our charism, as outlined in our Constitutions. We have always recognized that “the core of our apostolate”—our very purpose—is to restore the sacred. We do this through the celebration of our Church’s liturgical tradition contained in both the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint Paul VI and well as the Missal promulgated by Saint John XXIII for those who have ties to it. We will be petitioning His Eminence for various permissions. The Cardinal has encouraged us to do so.”
The Canons Regular have asked their congregations to join in a Rosary novena so as to prayerfully discern how to be a bridge for unity in the life of the Church by faithfully implementing the Archdiocesan policy in accord with their spiritual and pastoral patronage, as well as the guidance of the Archbishop of Chicago, and at the same time remain faithful to their mission.
