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Views from the Choir Loft

Fascinating! • Tridentine “Permission Slip” (1985)

Jeff Ostrowski · October 23, 2019

80973 holy family OLINESS IS SOMETHING each one of us must attain. We have no choice except to be a saint—unless we want to spend eternity suffering in Hell. One of the great enemies of holiness is gossip; especially since it wastes energy that could be spent on good works. We must guard against dwelling on the evils in the Church. That being said, we are never obligated to hide the truth. If someone forced me to compile a list of the most corrupt bishops ever to serve in the United States, Archbishop Rembert Weakland (Milwaukee, 1977-2002) would definitely make the top ten. Bishops, priests, and monks who knew him dubbed Weakland “rotten to the core.”

Through Twitter, we were sent this fascinating “permission” slip:

    * *  PDF Download • “Permission Slip” to attend Latin Mass (1985)

It references a document bravely promulgated by Pope Saint John Paul II:

    * *  PDF Download • “Quattuor abhinc annos” (1984) — Latin/English

There is great concern over whether someone might bring a son or daughter:

80980 permission slip LATIN MASS

According to that letter, a parent is forbidden to bring, for example, a handicapped child, unless the child applied for (and received in advance) a “permission” slip. Archbishop Weakland seems terrified a young Catholic might experience what the saints for 1,000 years experienced—but what harm is there in attending Holy Mass?  Wicked beyond a doubt!

From Google, I see that Mr. Greg DiPippo has posted another “Tridentine permission slip” from Texas:

    * *  PDF Download • Diocese of Austin (1988)

Do you see what Bishop John McCarthy says at the bottom? 1

While I hope that this arrangement is satisfactory to you, I would ask you to be aware that the vast, vast majority of our people prefer to pray in a language that they understand, and it is the teaching of the Universal Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, that they be allowed to do so. Please continue to pray that Christ’s Church will grow evermore united.

Bishop John McCarthy was not telling the truth:

(1) The Second Vatican Council mandated the use of Latin. It was not a suggestion. For example: Read what page 18 says about “servetur.”

(2) The Second Vatican Council mandated the use of Gregorian chant. Gregorian chant is sung in Latin.

(3) Bishops such as John McCarthy were remarkably poor judges of what “the vast, vast majority” of Catholics felt and knew about the Catholic Faith, to say nothing of their erroneous predictions about “a new springtime.” He was in no position to say what Catholics “prefer.”

(4) Assisting at the Sacred Mass has very little to do with what Catholics prefer. I might “prefer” to attend Mass while laying on the beach—but that doesn’t mean it’s good for my soul.

Bishop John McCarthy should have spent his energy dealing with goofy, uninspired, undignified, heavily syncopated, embarrassing music being used at 1980s Masses. I was a young child, but I’ll never forget the type of music being sung, such as this piece by Paul Inwood:

    * *  Mp3 Sample • “Church” Music by Paul Inwood

Why did Bishop John McCarthy lack the courage to censure such composers? Why did the bishops not spend energy restoring truly sacred and transcendent music such as plainsong, Palestrina, Morales, Lassus, Guerrero, and so forth? These days, I know four (4) dioceses which have spent more than 700 million dollars creating hideous, ugly, disgusting cathedrals—yet these same dioceses claim they have no money to create decent music programs.

Around the same time, an article appeared in Los Angeles (23 February 1985):

Father Arthur Holquin, director of the Office of Worship, estimated that “less than 1%” of the diocese’s 500,000 Catholics would be interested in attending Tridentine Masses.

I don’t know whether Father Arthur Holquin is still alive, but I can tell him this: They tried to kill the traditional Mass, but it wouldn’t die. We are back! And the Weakland “permission slip” now looks totally absurd and bizarre.

On the bright side, many “enemies” of Tradition ended up switching their views. For example, the bishop who tried to shut down Mother Angelica because of “ad orientem” a few years later fell in love with saying the Traditional Latin Mass. To give another example, a priest in a major city (which shall remain nameless) once fired his musician for using Latin—yet that same priest now offers Mass exclusively in the Extraordinary Form. I could cite more examples.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   In contrast to Bishop McCarthy’s assertion that “the Universal Church, guided by the Holy Spirit” teaches that Catholic people are allowed “to pray [the Mass] in a language that they understand,” the Universal Church actually anathematizes those who say that the Mass ought only to be celebrated in the vernacular. Cf. Council of Trent (Session XXII, Canon IX): Si quis dixerit Ecclesiae Romanae ritum, quo submissa voce pars Canonis et verba Consecrationis proferuntur, damnandum esse: aut lingua tantum vulgari Missam celebrari debere; aut aquam non miscendam esse vino in Calice offerendo, eo quod sit contra Christi institutionem: anathema sit. [If anyone says that the rite of the Roman Church, by which a portion of the Canon and the words of the Consecration are pronounced in a quiet tone, is to be condemned: or that the Mass ought only to be celebrated in the common language; or that water is not to be mixed with the wine when offering the Chalice, for it is contrary to the institution of Christ, let him be accursed.] Furthermore, those who wish to understand Latin can learn the language—just as they can Spanish or Vietnamese.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Paul Inwood Composer, Tridentine Permission Slip Last Updated: September 1, 2021

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
    EVIN ALLEN was commissioned by Sacred Music Symposium 2025 to compose a polyphonic ‘middle section’ for the GLORIA from Mass III, often denoted by its trope name: Missa Kyrie Deus sempiterne. This year, I’m traveling from Singapore to serve on the symposium faculty. I will be conducting Palestrina’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as teaching plainsong to the men. A few days ago, I was asked to record rehearsal videos for this beautiful polyphonic extension. (See below.) This polyphonic composition fits ‘inside’ GLORIA III. That is, the congregation sings for the beginning and end, but the choir alone adds polyphony to the middle. The easiest way to understand how everything fits together is by examining this congregational insert. You may download the score, generously made available to the whole world—free of charge—by CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED:
    *  PDF Download • Gloria III ‘Middle Section’ (Kevin Allen)
    Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #24366. Related News • My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, composed an organ accompaniment for this same GLORIA a few months ago. Obviously, the organist should drop out when the polyphony is being sung.
    —Corrinne May
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

In the Orthodox Churches they have kept that pristine liturgy, so beautiful. We have lost a bit the sense of adoration. They keep, they praise God, they adore God, they sing, time doesn’t count. God is the center, and this is a richness …

— Pope Francis (8/2/2013)

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