Military Petition

Chaplain (Fr.) Emil Kapaun, USA

Petition

for the

Restoration

of the

Tridentine Mass

for the

U.S. Armed Forces

Chaplain (Fr.) Vincent Capodanno, USN

Medal of Honor Recipient

in accordance with

Summorum Pontificum

Many Catholics and family members throughout the armed forces have an affinity for the old Mass, now called the Extraordinary form of Mass.¹ Many times these soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and family members are forced to drive many miles to attend Sunday Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Lower ranking service personnel can scarcely afford the trip and senior service personnel often are unable to leave a certain radius due to deployment requirements.

From one duty location to the next there may be a wide variation in the availability of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. In a duty location in the vicinity of Washington D.C. there are multiple options, while locations such as Fort Drum, New York, or Fort Bliss, Texas, have very little availability. Mass in the Extraordinary form is still completely unavailable in many dioceses in which military installations reside: Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi and Fort Stewart Georgia are current examples.

We believe that Catholic chaplains should be prepared to celebrate both the ordinary and extraordinary form to better serve the soldiers and family members of today's armed forces. We ask that the Archdiocese for the Military Services be proactive in making this provision in accordance with the law that went into effect on 14 September 2007.

Furthermore, given that the military desperately needs Catholic priests, we believe that the Archdiocese for the Military Services should formally request priests for the chaplaincy from the traditional orders, such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest. There are many good and holy priests in these orders, many of whom are former servicemen. The seminaries of these orders are full of dedicated young men. Our soldiers need such priests to bring them the sacraments and spiritual direction now more than ever as we fight this Long War.

Below you will find a petition form. Please consider filling it out. We will present these names to the Archdiocese for the Military Services and together humbly request that they adopt new policies that are in line with the Holy Father's instructions and bring priests from traditional societies into our Chaplain Corps.

At the bottom, below the registration form, please find selected texts of Church law regarding the old Mass. And below that, you will find selected texts from a letter from Pope Benedict XVI to the bishops regarding the implementation of the new law.

Chaplain (Fr.) Emil Kapaun, USA, ora pro nobis.

Chaplain (Fr.) Vincent Capodanno, USN, ora pro nobis.

¹Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI, 7 September, 2007

Petition to Archdiocese for the Military Services

In keeping with the recent document Summorum Pontificum recently issued by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, we request that the Mass of Blessed John XXIII be made available within each major command on Sundays and Holy Days. This request is made in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs 5.1 and 5.2 of Summorum Pontificum. We also request that priests from traditional societies be included in the Chaplains Corps.

With the understanding that it may take a period of time for arrangements to be made, we offer you any form of assistance possible in satisfying our humble request, and we assure you of many prayers on your behalf, as well as for our future bishop, and for the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.

YOUR FEEDBACK WILL BE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL

*Branch of Service:
* Name:
*Rank:
*Address:
* City:
* State:
*Zip Code:
*Active, Retired, Spouse, or Former?
Comment

MOTU PROPRIO "SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM" - POPE BENEDICT XVI

...It is, therefore, permissible to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass following the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Bl. John XXIII in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the Church. The conditions for the use of this Missal as laid down by earlier documents Quattuor abhinc anno and Ecclesia Dei, are substituted as follows:

...In Masses celebrated without the people, each Catholic priest of the Latin rite, whether secular or regular, may use the Roman Missal published by Bl. Pope John XXIII in 1962, or the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970, and may do so on any day with the exception of the Easter Triduum. For such celebrations, with either one Missal or the other, the priest has no need for permission from the Apostolic See or from his Ordinary.

...In parishes, where there is a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition, the pastor should willingly accept their requests to celebrate the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962, and ensure that the welfare of these faithful harmonizes with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish, under the guidance of the bishop in accordance with canon 392, avoiding discord and favoring the unity of the whole Church.

...If a group of lay faithful...has not obtained satisfaction to their requests from the pastor, they should inform the diocesan bishop. The bishop is strongly requested to satisfy their wishes. If he cannot arrange for such celebration to take place, the matter should be referred to the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei".

LETTER FROM POPE TO BISHOPS ON "SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM"

My dear Brother Bishops,

...

As for the use of the 1962 Missal as a Forma extraordinaria of the liturgy of the Mass, I would like to draw attention to the fact that this Missal was never juridically abrogated and, consequently, in principle, was always permitted. At the time of the introduction of the new Missal, it did not seem necessary to issue specific norms for the possible use of the earlier Missal. Probably it was thought that it would be a matter of a few individual cases which would be resolved, case by case, on the local level. Afterwards, however, it soon became apparent that a good number of people remained strongly attached to this usage of the Roman Rite, which had been familiar to them from childhood....Many people who clearly accepted the binding character of the Second Vatican Council, and were faithful to the Pope and the bishops, nonetheless also desired to recover the form of the sacred liturgy that was dear to them. This occurred above all because in many places celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but the latter actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring creativity, which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear. I am speaking from experience, since I too lived through that period with all its hopes and its confusion. And I have seen how arbitrary deformations of the liturgy caused deep pain to individuals totally rooted in the faith of the Church.

Click here for a 3-panel .pdf copy of the Motu Propio and Letter

Click here for a copy of the document in MS Word

Sample letter to the Archdiocese for the Military Services Click here for a copy

Most Rev. Richard B. Higgins, S.T.L., D.D., Diocesan Administrator

P.O.Box 4469

Washington, DC 20017-0469

Your Excellency, December XX, 200X

I am an (active duty / retired / spouse) stationed in (name of military installation). In keeping with the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI’s recent document Summorum Ponitficum, articles 5.1, 5.2, 7 and 10, I am writing to request that the Mass of Blessed John XXIII be made available here. I have written to our unit chaplain, Fr. John Doe, with this same request but he has not replied. [OR I have written to my pastor, Fr. Doe, but he has declined to provide this Mass for us.] I request that this extraordinary form of the Mass be offered on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours in Christ,

Name, Rank, Address