Traditionalist groups plead for understanding, seek mediation
September 02, 2021
The leaders of religious groups dedicated to the traditional liturgy have issued a statement asking for "a humane, personal, trusting dialogue, far from ideologies or the coldness of administrative decrees."
The statement, issued in France, indicated that the traditionalist groups feared further restriction of their efforts after the promulgation of Traditionis Custodes.
In a joint response to Traditionis Custodes, they asked the French bishops to appoint a mediator who could facilitate a conversation. "We need listening and goodwill," they said; "not condemnation without prior dialogue."
”We would like to be able to meet a person who will be for us the face of the motherhood of the Church,” the group said. Their statement pleaded for understanding of “men and women religious who gave their lives trusting on the word of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.”
The traditionalist leaders rejected the charge that they do not accept the teachings of Vatican II. "We reaffirm our adherence to the magisterium (including that of Vatican II and what follows)," they said. "We are loyally subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Pontiff and that of the diocesan bishops."
The statement included a reminder that the traditionalist groups were formed under statutes approved by the Holy See, and their members had taken vows to follow those rules—which included adherence to the traditional liturgy. "Can we deprive them of what the Church had promised them through the mouth of the Popes?" they asked.
The statement was signed by the superiors of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, the Institute of the Good Shepherd, and several other groups of male and female religious.
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Posted by: dover beachcomber -
Sep. 02, 2021 8:48 PM ET USA
In the first meeting with these groups, in the unlikely event that it ever happens, the Vatican should provide a complete list of the specific actions and statements of TLM-linked persons (with names, places, and dates) that purportedly justified the draconian suppression program laid out in Traditionis Custodes.
