Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte proposed the restrictions in a leaked draft of new liturgical norms, which was first made public by the blog Rorate Caeli on May 28 and confirmed by the Register.
Bishop Martin wrote that the purpose of the new norms, which also included barring ad orientem worship and traditional prayers at the foot of the altar, including the St. Michael Prayer, were made with the intention of “purifying and unifying the celebration of the Mass” in the diocese.
The bishop also wrote that the proposed norms are called for by Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s pastoral constitution on the liturgy, a perspective that has been widely challenged in reactions to the document.
The draft’s leak comes in the wake of the Charlotte bishop’s May 23 decision to restrict the traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in his diocese from four parish locations to a single non-parish site.
Set to go into effect on July 8, Bishop Martin said the move was consistent with Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio restricting the TLM, and was aimed at promoting “concord and unity.”
Critics have questioned the timing of the move, given that the diocese had an exemption from Traditionis Custodes for several more months and that Pope Leo XIV may indicate a different approach to the TLM than Pope Francis did.
The controversy in Charlotte is rising to international attention, as it represents the first major liturgical dispute during the reign of Pope Leo XIV, who has pledged to bring unity to a divided Church.
The North Carolina diocese is now considered a test case to see what, if any, indication Leo gives about not only the future of the TLM but also Vatican II’s authoritative teaching on the liturgy more broadly.
The Diocese of Charlotte told the Register that the liturgical norms document was “an early draft that has gone through considerable changes over several months” and is still being discussed by the diocesan presbyteral council and Office for Divine Worship.
Given references to Pope Francis, the document appears to have been drafted prior to the late pope’s April 21 death.
“It represented a starting point to update our liturgical norms and methods of catechesis for receiving the Eucharist,” said diocesan Communications Director Liz Chandler, adding that the norms will be “thoroughly reviewed” in accord with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM).
Bishop Martin was celebrating confirmations in the diocese on May 28, which covers the western half of North Carolina and includes 565,000 Catholics, and was unavailable to answer further questions about the proposed norms before publication of this article.
A member of the Conventual Franciscans, Bishop Martin marks one year as Charlotte’s bishop on May 29. Prior to becoming bishop, he was pastor of a parish in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and served as the director of the Duke University Catholic Center before that.
Vatican II and Liturgy
In the draft document, the bishop wrote that the proposed norms flowed from the Second Vatican Council’s call for lay participation in the Mass to be “full, conscious, and active.”
“These three words taken together are the heart and foundation of my following reflections and instructions on the sacred liturgy in our diocese,” Bishop Martin wrote.
However, several commentators have disputed the bishop’s claim that the proposed norms are called for by — or, in some cases, even consistent with — Vatican II and the Church’s liturgical guidance.
For instance, while Bishop Martin wrote that the Church does not “call for the Latin language to be used widely in the liturgy,” others pointed out that 2007 guidance from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), itself referring to Sacrosanctum Concilium, calls for just that.
While vernacular in the liturgy is the norm, the USCCB document states that “care should be taken to foster the role of Latin in the liturgy, particularly in liturgical song.”
“Pastors should ensure ‘that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them,” state the bishops, quoting Vatican II and referring to liturgical parts such as the Agnus Dei and the Sanctus.
Matthew Hazell, a British liturgy scholar, said that Bishop Martin’s perspective was consistent with what Benedict XVI famously described as a “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture.”
“Rather than allow the Novus Ordo to be celebrated in a manner in keeping with its own rubrics and with the Church’s tradition, Bishop Martin seems to see it as an entirely new creation that cannot even be seen to have anything in common with what came before,” Hazell told the Register.
Catholic Reaction
Other commentators found some of Bishop Martin’s proposed norms to be overly specific and contradictory to his call to “place our own personal preferences aside,” and pushed back against the proposed norm that women be barred from wearing veils while serving as lector, cantor, or altar server, critiquing it as an instance of “clericalism” and “micromanagement.”
“Is Bishop Martin of Charlotte really telling women assisting at the Mass what they can and can’t wear on their heads?” wrote Bronwen McShea, a Church historian.
Other commentators took issue with the proposed norms’ discouraging description of traditional priestly vestments as indicative of anti-Vatican II biases, given that Pope Leo XIV has worn some of these forms of clerical garb.
Father Paul Hedman, a priest from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, provided a widely viewed running social-media commentary of ways in which Bishop Martin’s proposed norms appeared to deviate from official Church guidance.
He took particular umbrage at the
Charlotte bishop’s proposed restriction of traditional prayers that
priests say while vesting, describing the move as “tyrannical.”
Even Mike Lewis, founder of WherePeterIs.com and a noted critic of traditionalists, said that there were things in the document that “have me scratching my head,” such as the prohibition of candles on the altar.
“Nevertheless, I appreciate the effort, and I will pray for him and the diocese as he endures the inevitable trad ire,” wrote Lewis on X.
Notably, Bishop Martin’s call to restrict more traditional liturgical practices in the Novus Ordo deviates from other prelates who have similarly restricted the TLM in their dioceses.
For instance, when Cardinal Blase Cupich restricted the TLM in the Archdiocese of Chicago in January 2022, he also urged pastors to accompany traditionally inclined Catholics by “creatively including elements that people have found nourishing in celebrating the pre-Vatican form of the Mass,” including Latin and Gregorian chant.
Uncertain Future
Catholics in Charlotte have expressed gratitude that Bishop Martin has not enforced the norms he proposed, but trepidation exists over what the future might hold.
Amy Jay, a parishioner at St. Elizabeth in Boone, North Carolina, noted that she has been teaching her four children more traditional forms of prayer in light of Pope Leo XIV’s own example.
The new Pope has made waves for chanting in Latin and wearing more traditional vestments — all practices that Pope Francis eschewed.
Instead of confusion and boredom, Jay says her children have responded to traditional liturgical customs with interest and devotion.
“The thought of telling them the [portable kneelers] at our parish are going away, that there will be no more ancient chants, or having to explain to them why I am no longer allowed to veil while cantoring, is beyond dispiriting,” she said. “This zeal and love should be nurtured, not suppressed.”
As of now, there is no timetable for when, if ever, new liturgical norms will be implemented in the Diocese of Charlotte.