[Apologetics] Leading Catholics petition for Latin Mass

[Stephen Korsman]

Leading Catholics petition for Latin
Mass<http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2008/07/24/leading_catholics_petition_for_latin_mass>
via blogs.telegraph.co.uk Blog
Listings<http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson>on 7/24/08

As the *Catholic Herald* reveals this week<http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/>,
leading Catholics including Lord Alton of Liverpool, Bianca Jagger and Dom
Antony Sutch have signed a petition asking the bishops of England and Wales
to provide more Latin Sunday Masses in the extraordinary form (Tridentine
rite).


*Bianca Jagger wants to see provision of the Old Rite extended*

The petition - which has been signed by Catholics from across the political
spectrum - "humbly requests" that the bishops make traditional Masses widely
available to the faithful, in accordance with Pope Benedict's wishes.
Progress on this front has been slow, to put it mildly.

Signatories include Catholics not normally associated with traditionalist
circles, such as the concert pianist Stephen Hough and Robin Baird-Smith,
publisher of Continuum Books. He has written on the petition: "Liberal and
progressive, I am nonetheless in support of the petition's aims."

Bianca Jagger, a devout practising Catholic, is well-known as a radical
human rights activist; but she also regularly attends Latin Mass at the
London Oratory and wishes to see the provision of the Old Rite extended
throughout the world.

Prince Rupert zu Löwenstein, former president of the British Association of
the Order of Malta, has signed the petition, as have Sir Rocco Forte, a
major shareholder in the *Catholic Herald*, and Peter Sheppard, chairman of
the *Herald*.

Priests supporting the petition include Dom Antony, former headmaster of
Downside, Fr Tim Finigan, Fr Dominic Allain and Fathers Julian Large and
Rupert McHardy of the London Oratory.

Writers who have signed the petition include Mary Kenny, Cristina Odone,
Stuart Reid, former deputy editor of the *Spectator*, and the historian
Desmond Seward.

Prince Albert and Princess Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis - whose family has
been close to the Holy Father since before he was elected Pope - are also
among 750 signatories.

The petition, started by Eveline Booth, a young worshipper at the Oratory,
reflects concern at lack of official enthusiasm for Summorum Pontificum, the
Pope's Apostolic Letter liberating the older form of Mass, published just
over a year ago.

Since then, however, the number of weekly Sunday Masses celebrated in the
extraordinary form has increased only very slightly, and traditionalists
claim that some dioceses have done nothing to promote the Motu Proprio.

As the Herald reports in detail, the Archdiocese of Liverpool has abandoned
plans <http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000333.shtml> to create
Britain's first parish dedicated to celebrations of the traditional Latin
Mass.

Miss Booth said: "I started going to the extraordinary form and discovered
that it was a much more reverent experience.

"I thought it was such a shame that Catholics outside London didn't have
access to this liturgy - and also that some bishops and clergy didn't even
want to know about it. Yet it is the Pope's wish that the older Mass should
be at the forefront of worship."

The petition will be presented to the Bishops' Conference of England and
Wales and a copy sent to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which
recently asked the English and Welsh bishops to implement the Motu Proprio
more thoroughly.
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