Brian MershonCharlotte Latin Mass Community Responds
By Brian Mershon, M.A., Sacred Theology, B.S., News-Editorial Journalism
Informed sources claim that further restrictions of the number of parishes offering the Traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Charlotte are imminent. There are currently six diocesan parishes that offer the Traditional Latin Mass every Sunday, and the rumored imminent suppression may further reduce that number to as few as four parishes. The further suppression is believed to include a 2-year time window (similar to other dioceses like Savannah, Ga., and Arlington, Va.) before an eventual snuffing out of the Traditional Latin Mass and sacraments as outlined in Traditonis Custodes and the rescript of Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship.
According to these sources, baptisms and all of the other sacraments offered in the Traditional rite will also be suppressed. It is unclear whether or not the Masses would be allowed to be offered in consecrated churches, or instead, would be relegated to non-consecrated worship spaces like gymnasiums, school classrooms or auditoriums as has occurred in other dioceses in the United States.
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Prior to Pope Francis’s reversal of his previous two predecessors’ advocacy of the Traditional Latin Mass (and admitting officially that the 1,500-year-old rite had never been abrogated), the Diocese of Charlotte had more than a dozen locations where the Traditional Latin Mass was offered on weekdays as well.
The directors of the board of the Charlotte Latin Mass Community provided the following statement: “The Charlotte Latin Mass Community is saddened but not surprised by recent rumors of further suppression of our form of worship by the Diocese of Charlotte. We renew and redouble our prayers for Bishop Jugis.”
The Charlotte Latin Mass community currently numbers nearly 1,200 Catholic members with nearly 5,000 social media followers.
Chris Lauer, Brian Williams and Markus Kuncoro are the directors of the Charlotte Latin Mass Community board. “We note that this reported development could have largely been avoided. Over the past 12 years, the Diocese of Charlotte has rejected each of the dozen or more letters and petitions from our community advocating for the establishment of a dedicated traditional parish. Had these petitions been granted, a dedicated traditional parish would have come with the added protections of Canon Law, as has been evidenced in other dioceses where traditional parishes have been erected.”
For those Catholics attached to the full Catholic liturgical life, feasts and sacraments, the Society of St. Pius X chapel, St. Anthony of Padua, in Mount Holly, N.C., has regularly provided for Catholic the needs of the faithful for more than 40 years.
“We seek to provide a fully Catholic life for the faithful of the area,” said Jim De Piante, whose parents were among the founding members of St. Anthony’s. “This means much more than just a weekly Traditional Mass, and includes all of the sacraments and a social life that revolves around the liturgy, the feasts and seasons of Holy Mother Church.”
The Diocese of Charlotte and potentially impacted parish pastors did not provide input for this breaking news story by deadline.
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