Providence brings Bishop Rifan to Una Voce
conference
Brian Mershon
From the December 1, 2005, edition of The Wanderer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. Amidst buzz in Catholic circles about the possibility
of an imminent freeing of the classical Roman rite of Mass, Bishop
Fernando Rifan offered a Solemn Pontifical Mass from the throne
and delivered the keynote address, highlighting the tenth anniversary
conference of Una Voce America in Providence, R.I., November
18-20.
And on Saturday morning, he treated Mass attendees with his musical
playing ability by slipping down from his chair near the altar
to play the organ during the communion of the faithful, as well
as for the recessional ó to the delight of those assisting
at Holy Mass.
Bishop Rifan is currently the sole bishop in the world with the
permission from the Holy See for his diocesan priests to offer
the Holy Mass and sacraments exclusively according to the Missal
of 1962. He said that the cause of tradition was very hopeful
in the new pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI and is currently
much brighter in the U.S. than perhaps many realize.
"You have four bishops who allow all their diocesan priests
to offer the Traditional Mass [privately] at any time,"
Bishop Rifan said. He specifically cited Archbishop Raymond Burke
of St. Louis, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb.; Bishop
Thomas Doran of Rockford, Ill.; and Bishop Alvaro Corrada, SJ,
of Tyler, Texas, who have been generous in the Ecclesia Dei indult
application, as requested and emphasized repeatedly by the late
Pope John Paul II.
A spokesperson from the Diocese of Lincoln explained that Bishop
Bruskewitz requests a "courtesy" from his priests prior
to offering the Mass publicly, as it is traditional for the bishop
to have jurisdiction over the Masses offered in his diocese.
For instance, Spanish, Vietnamese, and all regularly scheduled
public liturgies must be offered with the bishop's knowledge
and consent.
Bishop Rifan, the superior of St. John Mary Vianney Apostolic
Administration in Campos, Brazil, offered the Holy Sacrifice
from the throne with the permission of Bishop Thomas Tobin, and
gave encouragement to Una Voce leaders from all over the U.S.
and Canada who attended the three-day conference at Holy Name
of Jesus Church in downtown Rhode Island.
"Una Voce is a force in the Church now," Bishop Rifan
said to an audience of 200 laymen and women and 10 priests in
his keynote address on Saturday, November 19. "We have many
hopes with the new Pope, and we must pray for the Pope,"
Rifan said.
And perhaps due to the uptick in rumors about a possible pending
universal indult for all priests to offer the classical Roman
rite, Bishop Rifan emphasized the need for patience. He said
that sometimes bishops know things, but the laity must understand
they cannot disclose everything confided to them by the Pope.
"I will defend you always, especially Una Voce, when I speak
to the Pope," Bishop Rifan said.
The newly elected president of Una Voce International, Fra Fredrik
Crichton-Stuart, president of Una Voce Scotland, gave attendees
reason for additional hope. He said that Bishop Rifan meets with
the Pope often to discuss the concerns and spiritual needs of
traditional Catholics, and quoted Msgr. Camille Perl, secretary
of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, who recently told Una Voce International
leaders:
"There is a new wind blowing in the Church," with Pope
Benedict XVI in office. Msgr. Perl also told the Una Voce leadership
in an October meeting in Rome that the Ecclesia Dei Commission
has been shown a new level of respect since the new Pope has
been in office.
Fra Crichton-Stuart also added that he is aware of many younger
priests in the Church who are attracted to the classical Roman
rite of Mass. But he also emphasized the need for patience and
for praying for the Pope during these early stages of his pontificate.
Both Pope Benedict XVI and Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, prefect
of the Congregation of Clergy and president of the Ecclesia Dei
Commission, have told Bishop Rifan that traditional Catholics
such as the Campos apostolic administration, priests and lay
faithful, as well as Una Voce members, are seen as a model for
the rest of the Church.
"You are the example in preserving the tradition in full
communion with the Holy See," Bishop Rifan stated Cardinal
Castrillon Hoyos told him.
Bishop Rifan said that Catholics had the right to criticize certain
problems with the new rite of Mass, and developments after Vatican
II, but "with charity and from within the Church."
He also cautioned against a tendency toward over-criticism, especially
toward bishops, who represent the apostles and are vested with
authority from Jesus Christ.
The Search For Holiness
Fr. Joseph Wilson, associate pastor from St. Luke's Church of
the Diocese of Brooklyn, began the conference with some hard-hitting
analysis and questions. "Forty years ago, there were a lot
of optimistic books looking for the golden age of the future,"
he said. "If the past 40 years has been a renewal, I would
really like to see what a disaster looks like," he said.
Fr. Wilson explained that perhaps in the pursuit of attempting
to become more palatable to the world, the Church lost track
of its primary mission. He suggested that self-affirmation and
the search for sexual autonomy replaced the search for holiness,
then this helped to contribute to the current crisis in the Church.
"The Orthodox fast for nearly half the year," he said.
"We have taken many traditions and have decided to ignore
them ó to take the easy way out," he said. He recommended
a return to reading the fathers of the Church, and to recapture
many of these lost traditions, which the Orthodox have maintained.
"We decided the old wisdom no longer applied," he said.
He explained that the Church leaders, many laity, priests, bishops
appear to "have lost the ability of self-reflection."
The "signs of the times" that Gaudium et Spes emphasizes,
have not been read well in the past 40 years, according to Fr.
Wilson. He encouraged people to read an article headlined "The
End of Gaudium et Spes," by Dr. James Hitchcock, from a
previous issue of Catholic World Report.
"How did we lose the ability to criticize ourselves?"
he asked. He also said that an accurate reading of "the
signs of the times" is necessary in order for the Church
to find its way out of the current crisis.
Bishop Rifan indicated that in recent meetings with both Pope
Benedict XVI and Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, he stressed the importance
of providing Catholics the full use of the traditional sacraments
and devotions so they could conserve the traditional Catholic
way of life. "Personal parishes [traditional] are needed,"
Bishop Rifan said.
Become A Saint
Other highlights of the conference included Bishop Rifan outlining
numerous points on what it means to be a traditional Catholic,
as well as an emphasis on the centrality of devotion to the Holy
Eucharist. He repeatedly stressed the theological virtue of charity.
Reaffirming the proper and rightful place of traditional Catholics
within the Church, Bishop Rifan quoted Pope Benedict XVI from
the Cologne World Youth Day: "Only saints can restore mankind.
The Church does not need reformers ó it needs saints!
We will reform the Church by becoming saints," he said.
"Martin Luther tried to be a reformer," he said. "St.
Athanasius was a saint," and through the process of becoming
one, he reformed the Church.
He also cautioned attendees from paying too much attention to
rumors and conspiracy theories. "In my 30 years in the priesthood,"
Bishop Rifan said, "I have offered only the Traditional
Latin Mass." He said that because he is a bishop in the
Universal Church, he sometimes must attend Masses offered using
the Missal of Pope Paul VI.
"However, just because I attend these Masses occasionally,
does not mean that I necessarily agree with everything that goes
on," he said.
This may be a reference to some Catholics associated with Society
of St. Pius X, currently in dialogue with the Holy See in order
to possibly resolve their canonical irregularities (but "not
in formal schism," according to Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos).
Some Catholics and web sites sympathetic to the Society of St.
Pius X have repeatedly accused Bishop Rifan of "selling
out" traditional Catholics due to his occasional attendance
at concelebrated Masses with other priests and bishops.
Among other suggestions to Una Voce leaders, he encouraged them
to defend "correct ecumenism." According to Bishop
Rifan, this means that with charity in our contacts with non-Catholics,
we should "ask them to return" to Christ's Church,
and also pray for their conversions. He said that in Campos,
as part of the New Evangelization, his priests and laity engage
in door-to-door missions while handing out tracts, and they politely
invite those they encounter to consider the truth of Jesus Christ
through His Church.
Focus On The Supernatural
Msgr. Michael Schmitz, the U.S. vicar general and provincial
for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, gave a
rousing closing talk Sunday afternoon on the importance of tradition.
"Many times people have come to me and told me, 'Father,
I know I must become Catholic because I have been to Mass,'"
he said.
Msgr. Schmitz also agreed with Bishop Rifan's positive assessment
of tradition in the United States. "American society is
much more traditional than European society," he said. "In
Europe, the traditions have been almost destroyed."
"Tradition in the Church is supernatural, and therefore,
we should not speak of the Traditional Latin Mass," he said.
Instead, "we should speak of the Mass because it is God's
Mass; it is the Mass God wants us to celebrate," Msgr. Schmitz
said.
"Many believe that tradition is something dusty ó
that the word should be avoided," he said.
He explained that all people, regardless of their religious,
or even political, leanings, have a routine, a custom, a tradition
they follow on a daily, weekly, and even monthly basis.
Simply speaking, according to Msgr. Schmitz, tradition is "some
worthwhile learning that is received by us by someone who gives
it." This "handing on," is traditio ó the
Latin root for tradition. All learning takes place through the
use of tradition.
"Education at every level is traditional ó even if
sometimes the contents are not worthwhile," he said. But
when tradition is applied to divine Revelation, then tradition's
importance is increased ó "in the realm of God."
Msgr. Schmitz said that Catholics should try to permeate their
daily life with tradition through the use of sacramentals, devotions,
holy water, and other things to keep the focus on the supernatural.
With regard to Tradition and divine Revelation: "Everything
is reception. Everything is gift. Everything is Tradition,"
Msgr. Schmidt said.
Bishop Rifan emphasized this same theme during his keynote address
the previous evening. "To be a traditionalist means to defend
the doctrine of Christ as King!" Bishop Rifan declared.
"To be a traditionalist means to be attached to the Traditional
Latin Mass because it better expresses the Catholic doctrine
on the Holy Eucharist," he said "To be a traditionalist
is a Catholic way of life: It is not just the Mass," he
said.
The Reform Of The Reform
Fr. Thomas Kocik, from the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., and
author of The Reform of the Reform, published by Ignatius Press,
said he believed the 1962 Missal must be the starting point for
any reform of the 1970 Missal of Pope Paul VI. "When you
are doing a complicated math problem, and it comes out wrong,
you go back to the original place where you began to go wrong,"
he said. Fr. Kocik said he believed the coexistence of the classical
rite of Mass was vital for a proper reform of the current normative
rite of Mass.
Fr. Kocik also raised the question as a possibility of the Campos,
Brazil, apostolic administration being used as a model diocese,
and possibly eventually applied to traditional Catholics throughout
the entire Church.
When asked if he thought Pope Benedict XVI would publicly offer
the classical Roman rite as Pope in St. Peter's Basilica, he
said he "did not know." When asked if he thought the
Pope should offer it, he said that based upon the Pope's own
positive previous writings about the classical rite, "I
think he should."
From the December 1, 2005, edition of The Wanderer