The Catholic Bishop of Christchurch is warning churchgoers that old Latin Mass services planned by breakaway groups are unauthorised.Bishop Barry Jones said he had raised the issue in a letter to the Christchurch diocese because visiting priests from traditionalist groups out of favour with the Vatican had not sought permission to hold the services.
The internal church dispute involves recent visits to Christchurch by priests from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) and from members of the Transalpine Redemptorists, a monastic order based on a remote Scottish island.
Both groups have the old Latin Mass as a central part of their beliefs, but the Vatican has excommunicated SSPX clergy because of deeper divisions.
The Transalpine Redemptorists, who live on Papa Stronsay in the Orkney Islands off Scotland and sympathise with the SSPX group, have chosen Christchurch as their first overseas mission.
They are setting up a church in St Albans.
The bishop said it was the custom that any priest visiting a diocese had to seek and obtain the authorisation of the bishop to hold services.
The two traditionalist groups had "not been authorised to exercise priestly ministry in this diocese", he said in the letter.
Last night, the bishop said that because the two groups had "broken away from full communion" with the Pope he could not give his permission, even if it were sought.
A Christchurch churchgoer with links to the Transalpine Redemptorists, who did not want to be named, said both groups hoped the issue would be sorted out through a reconciliation in Rome.
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