.jpg)
Bishop Joseph Andrew Williams of the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, has decided not to renew the indult (permission) to continue the Traditional Latin Mass that was offered at St. Gianna Beretta Molla parish in Northfield, according to a recent report.
LifeSiteNews confirmed that the last TLM at St. Gianna was held Sunday, June 28, just before the retirement of Father Anthony J. Manuppella.
According to several parishioners, the priest who has taken over as an administrator knows how to say the TLM, but lacking permission to offer it, is instead offering Novus Ordo Masses in Latin, ad orientem, at noon on Sundays.
The parish does not disclose its noon Masses on its website, reportedly after Fr. Manuppella was “chastised by the chancery for publicizing the noon Latin Mass on the parish website site and in the bulletin.”
A Responsa issued by Archbishop Arthur Roche, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, to clarify question about Pope Francis’ Latin Mass-crushing Traditionis Custodes stated that TLMs are not to be advertised in parish Mass schedules.
LifeSite has heard from multiple parishioners who eagerly hope the parish will return to the Traditional Latin Mass.
The bishop “has a great opportunity to get on with saving souls and not follow the horrible decisions of (Pope Francis) that halts the only reverent, growing portion of the Catholic Church,” said one anonymous parishioner, who further noted that the introduction of the Novus Ordo was followed by a “steady decline in participating Catholics.”
“Pray. Hit the beads. Pray the pope, bishop and cardinals come to their senses. There is no need to stop the TLM and it has no impact on the other Masses. The TLM fits real well in Northfield,” the parishioner added.
LifeSiteNews contacted the Diocese of Camden for comment but had not received a response as of publishing.
Traditionis Custodes, which led to the suppression of dozens of Latin Masses around the world, has been denounced by clergy and scholars as a repudiation of the perennial practice of the Catholic Church and even of solemn Church teaching.
Cardinal Raymond Burke has affirmed that the traditional liturgy is not something that can be excluded from the “valid expression of the lex orandi.”
“It is a question of an objective reality of divine grace which cannot be changed by a mere act of the will of even the highest ecclesiastical authority,” the cardinal wrote in 2021.
Traditionis Custodes also defies Quo Primum, which permanently authorized the traditional Mass, declaring that it may be used “freely and lawfully” in “perpetuity.” The 1570 bull further declares regarding the “Tridentine” rite:
This Missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment, or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used. Nor are superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us. We likewise declare and ordain … that this present document cannot be revoked or modified but remains always valid and retains its full force.