Your Excellency,

 

We, the Traditional Latin Mass attendees, at St. Mary Catholic Church appeal to you to lift the liturgical restrictions imposed upon us. We mourn the impending loss of the Tridentine Mass due to the Vatican's failure to renew the indult granted to us in 2021.

 

In 2021, when we first received news of the indult which granted permission for us to receive sacraments according to the 1962 missal, we were certain that it would be renewed indefinitely since St. Mary is the only location where the Tridentine Mass is offered in Western Maryland - the furthest western region of your excellency's jurisdiction.

 

However, the newly expressed reality that after August 2024 we, the faithful, would have to find our way to apostolates outside Western Maryland to attend the Tridentine Mass is unrealistic.

 

Our congregation is comprised of mostly young people - young families with small children. The burden of driving hundreds of miles in search of the Tridentine Mass is cruel and puts a physical strain on mothers, infants, toddlers, and small children. There are also elders and middle-aged parishioners who have expressed difficulty with long-distance travel.  Whereas, St. Mary is right in our community and has served the needs of the Traditional Latin Mass community for 265 years since its founding in 1758. Currently, there are real safety concerns with long commutes especially as the autumn months change into winter months and the roads become unsafe. This creates an unnecessary barrier to receiving the sacraments.

 

Your Excellency, our request is simple: we humbly ask that you please exercise the power given to you in the very text of Traditionis Custodes which states in Article 2 that,

 

"It belongs to the diocesan bishop, as moderator, promoter, and guardian of the whole liturgical life of the particular Church entrusted to him, [5] to regulate the liturgical celebrations of his diocese. [6] Therefore, it is his exclusive competence to authorize the use of the 1962 Roman Missal in his diocese…."

 

Furthermore, Article 3 section 5 gives the bishop the power to, "Proceed suitably to verify that the parishes canonically erected for the benefit of these [Latin Mass] faithful are effective for their spiritual growth, and to determine whether or not to retain them."

 

Your Excellency has been a caring shepherd of the flock at St. Mary in the past and we trust that you will protect us and provide for us in the future. We have no reason to doubt this.

 

Your Excellency, your leadership is desperately needed to secure for us a Church to fully enjoy the Latin liturgy in keeping with the style and manner of our ancestors who knew that lex orandi, lex credendi – the law of prayers (the way we worship) is the law of belief (what we believe). In other words, how we pray informs what we believe.

 

Your Excellency, we urge you to draw strength from your brother bishops who have done exactly that in jurisdictions across the United States - they have designated Churches in strategic geographical locations that now serve the needs of the Latin Mass community in their dioceses.

 

We humbly request that St. Mary Catholic Church in Hagerstown, Maryland be designated as an oratory for the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass for the many faithful who live in the Western Maryland region of the Diocese of Baltimore.

 

Sincerely,

 

Faithful Catholics

 

NOTE: In addition to signing this petition, please send written letters to both Archbishop William Lori and Cardinal Christophe Pierre citing your personal reasons for seeking the continuation of the Traditional Latin Mass at St. Mary Catholic Church:

 

Archbishop William Lori

Office of the Archbishop

320 Cathedral Street

Baltimore, MD, 21201

archbishop@archbalt.org

Phone: 410-547-5437

Fax: 410-727-8234

 

Cardinal Christophe Pierre

Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See

3339 Massachusetts Avenue NW

Washington, D.C., 20008

Email: nuntiususa@nuntiususa.org

Phone: 202-333-7121

Fax: 202-337-4036