TOLEDO, Ohio — On Sept. 14, new rules expanding permission to celebrate the John XXIII Mass go into effect.

When priests in the Toledo Diocese were asked if they wanted to learn to celebrate the 1962 Missal Mass in Latin, Father Adam Hertzfeld volunteered.

Although he was ordained in 2002, decades after the Paul VI Mass became the liturgical norm, Father Hertzfeld was drawn to the older form of the Mass through his reading and since has mastered its rubrics.

As someone who hopes to celebrate the 1962 Latin Mass regularly if his assignments permit, he was among those who welcomed Pope Benedict XVI’s July 7 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum granting near-universal permission for priests to use the older form.

“I have come to believe that being familiar with and even celebrating the Tridentine Mass will help improve my celebration of the Novus Ordo Mass,” he said.

Even before Sept. 14, Catholics have been showing their appreciation for Summorum Pontificum by flocking to Masses like the one celebrated Aug. 15 by Bishop Salvatore Matano in Burlington, Vt. One thousand people filled St. Joseph Co-Cathedral on the feast of the Assumption. According to the Burlington Free Press, Bishop Matano was so struck by the number of people present that he said, “If this is what it takes to fill our churches, then so be it. I will do whatever I can to fill our churches.”

In St. Louis, where the Institute of Christ the King celebrates the John XXIII Mass at the Church of St. Francis de Sales, attendance has increased since the apostolic letter was published July 7, said Father Karl Lenhardt, vice provincial.

“We see the interest has grown and the faithful feel encouraged ... to experience the extraordinary form,” he added.

In referring to the “extraordinary form,” Father Lenhardt mirrored terminology Pope Benedict employed in distinguishing the ordinary expression of the Roman Rite, the Mass as it is celebrated since 1970, and the extraordinary expression, according to the last revision of the Missal before the Second Vatican Council. They are not two different rites, the Pope emphasized, but two “usages.”

“The Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI is the ordinary expression of the lex orandi [law of prayer] of the Catholic Church of the Latin rite,” the Pope wrote in Summorum Pontificum (Article 1). “Nonetheless, the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and reissued by Blessed John XXIII is to be considered as an extraordinary expression of that same lex orandi, and must be given due honor for its venerable and ancient usage. These two expressions of the Church’s lex orandi will in any way lead to a division in the Church’s lex credendi [law of belief]. They are, in fact two usages of the one Roman rite.”

Hundreds of Priests

The Institute of Christ the King will mark the effective date of the motu proprio with a Forty Hours Devotion and Triduum of Masses Sept. 14-16 at the Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a center for the traditional liturgy in Chicago.

In addition, Father Lenhardt said, since publication of Summorum Pontificum, the institute has heard from hundreds of priests interested in learning to celebrate the extraordinary form at one of its U.S. oratories or the International Seminary in Florence, Italy.

Other groups that are offering training and materials in the older form also have reported heightened interest in the weeks following the release of the apostolic letter.

Una Voce America, an organization that promotes the wider use of the John XXIII Mass and that is providing training in the older form in cooperation with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, had so many priests interested in its September session at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Neb., that a waiting list had to be established. The same was true for a session in June.

Another form of training in the older form — through an online tutorial with video — was made available Aug. 5 through the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius on a new website (sanctamissa.org). Father Dennis Kolinski said thousands of people around the world have accessed the site.

“It’s something they’re finding very helpful,” he said. “They’re glad we did it.”

In addition, the Church Music Association of America and St. John Cantius parish in Chicago already have nearly half the available spaces filled for a seminar in singing the 1962 form to be held Oct. 17-19 for priests, deacons and music directors.

Meanwhile, Coalition Ecclesia Dei has been swamped with orders for its Latin-English missals and DVD The Most Beautiful Thing This Side of Heaven, said Mary Kraychy, executive director. Normally, she added, the coalition sends out 400 of the missals in a week, but the orders are now up to 1,000.

And, in just two weeks, the Society for the Preservation of Roman Catholic Heritage has given out more than 100 free practice missals and audios to priests and seminarians.

Those who appreciate the prospect of expanded access to the extraordinary form also have been blogging their praise for it on Internet sites like Father John Zuhlsdorf’s What Does the Prayer Really Say (wdtprs.com/blog.)

When Father Zuhlsdorf asked those who did not grow up with the older rite to report on their experiences with it, 200 responded within the first 24 hours of his posting.

Many said they had fallen in love with the 1962 Missal. Many also said that they preferred the Paul VI Missal.

Father Zuhlsdorf, whose blog has emerged as a popular clearinghouse for information about Summorum Pontificum, said he thinks the overall response to the apostolic letter has been far more positive than negative.

For example, he said, Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colo., has said he will do all he can to help priests learn the older rite, and Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, where the 1962 form already is celebrated regularly in two locations, has pledged to work with parish priests to respond “appropriately and generously” to additional requests.

Archbishop Burke also has said courses on the extraordinary form will be provided for priests who desire them, and seminarians at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis will receive the formation necessary to celebrate the 1962 Missal.

Other bishops, such as Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., plan to officiate at Masses in the extraordinary form. Bishop Finn will preside over such a celebration at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City Sept. 15.

No one seems to know yet just how many parishes will offer the older form of the Mass, but Msgr. Anthony Sherman, associate director of the secretariat for the liturgy of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he has heard that most bishops are talking about simply continuing it at regional churches where it is now celebrated.

Judy Roberts is based in

Graytown, Ohio.

EWTN Latin Mass

HANCEVILLE, Ala. — A live solemn high Mass in the 1962 form at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament here will be televised Sept. 14.

Eternal Word Television Network will broadcast the Mass at 8 a.m. EST.

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, an international society of priests that preserves and administers the Church’s Latin liturgical traditions, will assist in the celebration by providing priests and seminarians to serve as celebrant, deacon, subdeacon, preacher, master of ceremonies and altar servers.

“Most Catholics have not seen this heavenly celebration in over 40 years,” Father Calvin Goodwin, a professor at the society’s seminary in Denton, Neb., said. “This is a cause for great joy.”

— Judy Roberts