Chesapeake chapel rare in saying Latin Mass

Pope Benedict XVI gave a thumbs-up last July to wider use of the Latin Mass, but a year later the old rite is still hard to find in the Richmond Diocese, which includes Hampton Roads.

In fact, none of the diocese's more than 150 parishes has added the Tridentine rite to its worship schedules, Catherine Combier-Donovan, of the diocese's Office of Worship, said recently.

"There's been a bit of interest expressed" among parishioners, "but not a great deal." The diocese is talking with Lynchburg-area congregants interested in adding the Latin Mass to local worship, she said.

Only St. Benedict Chapel in Chesapeake and St. Joseph Catholic Church in Richmond offer the rite, Combier-Donovan said. Both got special permission years ago from the diocesan bishop to hold the Latin services.

Adding Latin Masses anywhere would be hard because the diocese's shrinking number of priests already is straining to maintain Mass schedules, Combier-Donovan said. And very few priests are trained or able to lead the Tridentine rite, which differs in language and text from the modern Mass, she said.

The pope's new policy freed priests to hold Latin Masses where congregants "spontaneously" requested it. Priests do not need their bishop's permission.

At the time, the pope's action was seen by many as a way to reach out to disaffected Catholic traditionalists.

The Latin Mass was the norm from the 16th century up to the mid-20th century. The Tridentine rite, performed mostly in Latin, was bumped by the Second Vatican Council in 1969 in favor of the current Mass, which holds worship in common, local languages.

The Rev. Kevin Willis, St. Benedict's pastor until his relocation in June, predicted last year that the new policy would generate more Latin Masses in the diocese.

He said early this month that people who had asked the diocese for a Latin Mass in their parishes instead had received letters directing them to St. Benedict or St. Joseph.

The Rev. Neal Nichols, one of St. Benedict's new priests, said the chapel had 150 families registered as members, a 20 to 25 percent increase since early 2007. He said it was hard to gauge how much of the increase was prompted by the pope's new policy.

Nichols is part of a religious order, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, whose priests are dedicated to serving Catholics who prefer the Latin Mass. Demand for priests trained in the Latin Mass is growing "by leaps and bounds" countrywide, he said. Nationally, more than 200 churches are offering the Tridentine rite, according to an estimate from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Catholic News Service reported that a Vatican official said in June that the pope wanted parishes around the globe to offer a Tridentine Mass, along with the modern Mass. "All the parishes. Not many, all the parishes, because this is a gift of God," Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos was quoted as saying.

At Christ the King Catholic Church in Norfolk, the Rev. Brian Rafferty said some members had discussed adding a Latin Mass even before the pope's pronouncement last July. Nothing has happened since though, partly because the diocese has not issued parish guidelines for adding Tridentine services, he said.

Additionally, only five to 10 families at Christ the King indicated they would be interested in having the Latin Mass offered periodically, Rafferty said. "It's not an overwhelming number for a parish of 600 families."

He would be happy to add the Latin Mass at Christ the King if there were greater interest, Rafferty said.

"On a personal level, I like it. I find it has a certain spiritual quality to it that is different than what you find in the Novus Ordo," or modern Mass.

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com