The following comes from a Sept. 12 email and subsequent phone conversation.
According to local sources, an arrangement by which the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter priests for seven years have driven down from St. Stephen’s parish in Sacramento to St. Anthony of Padua parish in Fresno to celebrate the Extraordinary Form Mass, is over.
The Sacramento priests, including St. Stephen’s pastor, Father Matthew McNeely, made the two-hour-forty-minute trip every two weeks to celebrate the Latin High Mass at 3:30 p.m. Local Fresno diocesan priests would say the Mass on the weeks the Sacramento priests did not come.
The source who sent the email said the Fresno diocese offered the Priestly Fraternity a parish of their own in Goshen, outside of Fresno off Highway 99. And there was a subsequent offer of the parish in LeMoore, south of Fresno on Highway 41. For some reason, not known to the source, these offers were not accepted.
The Fresno diocese has said the local bishop is committing to maintaining the Extraordinary Form Mass for the 150 or so attendees, but it will most like be a low Mass said by diocesan priests who are available.
When visiting Sacramento I always attend Mass at St. Stephen First Martyr Parish. It is a beautiful experience. ALL Masses, daily and Sunday, are in Latin. The piety of the people attending Mass is almost palpable. Even young children are prayerful and quiet. Nearly all women wear hats or veils and few wear slacks.
Many of the young families come in with several children. I think the Latin Mass inspires people to adhere to traditional Catholic doctrine.
This news comes as no surprise to me as I have resided in the diocese of Fresno for nearly thirty years. With the indults of John Paul II in the 80’s, The great Bishop Madera allowed any and all priests in the Fresno diocese to celebrate all the sacraments according to the 1962 missal. Unfortunately, most priests refused. There were exceptions like Msgr’s Flood in Fresno and Belluomini in Bakersfield. A few years ago at the 50th anniversary Mass, Extraordinary Form High Mass for Msgr Belluomini, Bishop Madera told all the stories of “Fr” Ralph Belluomini, how he never ever failed at any tasked he as bishop assigned Fr. Ralph. When John Paul II penned the indults for the traditional rite, Bp Madera personaly asked Fr. Ralph to offer the ancient rite. Fr. Ralph of course said yes and the traditional rite thrived at San Clemente Mission in Bakersfield along side of the English, Spanish. Korean and occasional Italian Masses. Bp. Madera and Msgr Ralph Belluomini were living Summorum Pontificum years before it was promulgated. The mass began in Bakersfield and in Fresno under Bp. Madera, but Madera was a marked man and was soon forced out and replaced with a Cardinal Mahony classmate named Bp. John T. Steinbock.
Sorry to hear the FSSP missed the bus on this Fresno mass. 150 faithful at Latin Mass is no small achievement. Wife and I drove one and a half hours just to get to the TLM from The Los Angeles Archdiocese. Now we drive just over one hour but only because our beautiful Latin Mass Community was expelled by the new Pastor of San Buenaventura Mission (Fr. Tom Elewaut) and now meets at Camarillo (St. Mary Magdalen Chapel, 10 am every-Sunday). So for 150 people the drive of FSSP to Fresno was well worth it, given the present difficulties the Catholic Church is undergoing.
Take a look at a map. Also consider that most live in Fresno, that many drive in from north of Fresno, and that this anonymous source is getting a great deal of incomplete or false information.
I wish those that attended the EF Mass here locally were less severe and more “pious.” Nasty scowls are the norm here locally. I suspect that’s at least one reason why the EF Mass has never taken off here. It just sort of languishes at about 100 individuals total. Sort of a creepy environment.
Many of those who attend the EF Mass here locally also need to learn how to dress. It’s sadly laughable when an usher wearing a coat from a navy pinstripe suit, a pair of khaki-colored slacks and a short sleeved shirt (showing no cuff) and tie with white socks comments about the absence of coats and ties on other males. All I can do is laugh at him and his scowl.
I certainly don’t see how hats, veils or the absence of females in pants is any more “pious” than no head coverings and tasteful slacks.
Dear R.B. Rodda,
I have attended the TLM here in Fresno for well on to 10 years and what you say is clearly uncharitable. Yes, there will always be one or two at every Mass who ruin things for a community or how we look to others. I find most of the people at the Mass striving to become holy. We pray a rosary before Mass and then a beautiful Mass at 3:30 in the afternoon. Pulling that off with young children is no small feat. Many of us try hard to connect with those that come at our doughnut/coffee time after Mass. There are many, though, that just run to their cars and don’t want any interaction at all. Most of the women are appropriately dressed and do wear veils. Most of the men dress appropriately as well. Just because one particular usher doesn’t have the clothing that would make you happy is not reason to attack him. He happens to be very involved in the parish at both the traditional Mass and the Novus Ordo Mass. Your comments about many of us are uncharitable. I found just as many scowling people at the Novus Ordo in my life. There will always some who want to be miserable no matter what.
Rodda, where is “here?”
Nasty scowls…doesn’t sound like a pleasant environment.
But then, maybe the guy’s wife has just scolded him for dressing in such a bizarre fashion!
I don’t really want to say. What I will say though is the church holds about 500. I was there for the first two EF Masses after SP took effect. Both Masses were 3/4 filled. Stunning. Beautiful! There were hints of rude extremism here and there but there were so many Catholics of all types it didn’t really matter. I remember the priest asking the women to “cover their heads next week” which was received as being rather odd by some.
Because I much prefer the EF Mass and the Eastern Divine Liturgies I didn’t return for about six months. When I did it was sad. The huge increase in grimaces, the 100 or so left, still a low Mass (even today) etc., etc. The extremists sucked the life right out of that Mass.
Terribly sad.
Those 100 faithful you mock on account of the way they dress are the future of the Catholic Church. Going along with the current culture is no great virtue. Faith burns strong in the traditional Latin mass.
I **DO** mock them because they dress horribly YET they comment about others! A clean pair of slacks and a sports shirt beats a navy blue pinstripe suit coat and a pair of khakis anytime — tie or no tie!
Rodda,
As one who has attended Tridentine Masses all over the world, I can readily attest that your crass statements just do not ring true!
May God have mercy on an amoral America!
Viva Cristo Rey!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Oh they are true all right. I certainly wish they weren’t…
Can the priests of St. Stephen’s please start coming to Chico now??? They are desperately needed.
ONLY if you folks in Chico promise to clean up the “party town” reputation! :)
Or is that only the college there?
Well, if you took CSUS away from Chico, you’d have a city a lot like Redding or Bakersfield. But the university is a rather daunting presence, for both good and ill.
I’d like to know just what traditional Catholic doctrine it is that the Latin Mass inspires us to adhere to.
I don’t think the Tridentine Mass is about doctrine, but rather about beauty, mystery, and a sense of the holy.
I once knew a Russian Orthodox priest who was talking about converts — when I asked him why other Christians would convert to Orthodoxy, he always said it was the liturgy that grabbed their souls. I think a hootenanny type of worship gets real old real fast for many people.
Whether you attend a Trident Mass, a Papal Mass in Italian, a Syro-Malabar Mass in India, or a Byzantine Mass, the incense, the chanting, the icons and statues, the sense of reverence can all help lift us from this vale of tears and give us a sense of the holy…
Paul Dion,
Have you ever read the Rubrics of the Tridentine Mass. Had you done so, your question would be mute!
May God have mercy on an amoral America!
Viva Cristo Rey!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
This article is grossly inaccurate. I’m not certain who the source is, but Cal Catholic might want to do more fact-checking before writing such a piece.
I agree, Mr. Dion. The FSSP was offered a parish in Lemoore. They called the diocese and said yes to that offer. Then the diocese never returned their calls, nor have they thanked them for nearly 7 years of service to our community.
Specifics please, Larry? Thanks.
it’s the truth
Anonymous,
In what way is this article grossly inaccurate?
May God have mercy on an amoral America!
Viva Cristo Rey!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Kenneth, what do you mean by ‘amoral America’ ? I know that you will not reply to this question as I am still waiting for your definition of ‘modern Church’ you mentioned several weeks ago. You should back up your comments instead of leaving readers wondering…..
Why only Low Masses? With 150 people it seems to me a Missa Cantata sould be said at a convenient hour and perhaps could be said at the Shrine of St. Therese (and with the altar properly restored).
The priests who are called upon to say our Mass for us do not yet know the High Mass. They are open to learning.
A better title for the article would be “Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter told to take a hike.” Anonymous, you are obviously a shill for the Chancery, if not one of its anti-Latin Mass priests who colluded to send any priest who expressed an interest in the Extraordinary Mass to the hinterlands of the Diocese. The only inaccuracy in the article is that the Fraternity from Sacramento drove approximately 6 hours ROUNDTRIP to offer the Mass. The Chancery, under Bp. Steinbock, RIP, Msgr Cotta and now Bp. Ochoa, are hostile to the attendees of the Latin Mass and have shown their contempt by refusing to allow the Fraternity to establish a parish.
You don’t know why the “offer” was refused? St. Anthonys is the largest church in Fresno, and even the Guadalupe Chapel there is larger than the FSSP ex protestant modernistic little “church” in Sacramento, into which they are confined and quarantined, like lepers. Goshen and Lemoore? Apologies to the fine folks who live there, but frankly these two dusty, flea bitten, out of the way locations are a huge insult to the FSSP, as wells as to the faithful desiring the TLM, all things considered. Bottom Line? Let’s face it. From Pope Francis all the way on down, well over 99% of the Catholic Church, prelates and pew warmers alike, are either hostile to the TLM, or could care less. Which is especially troubling considering its venerable stature, and faith building benefits, noticably absent in most N. Ordo “celebrations”. May God have mercy on us all.
I wish it were possible to attend a Missa Cantata at the gorgeous old cathedral in Fresno where I last saw Bishop Steinbock ordain several new priests before he died. The interior of that church is a serenely beautiful testament to the Catholics who settled Fresno and valued their religion so deeply as to leave us a beautiful place to worship as if it were 100 years ago still. The artwork alone is both inspirational and of museum quality, as befits such a beautiful space where it must have been wonderful to worship at a Missa Cantata.
FSSP does not have enough priests to go around, but that will change soon. There are as many men in formation as there are in the priesthood. There is only about 200 FSSP priests in the US.
Perhaps looking to the Institute of Christ the King might be a good way to get a Traditional Parish Going in Fresno. There is also the Norbatines and the Miles Christi Priests that can do it.
Hear, hear, MKM, you are most right, this is something to cheer for. I know FSSP have a “reverse vocation problem”, with a huge influx of dedicated young men. People who want to support them can find their website and give online, as I do.
Why the tradition haters?
Maybe as a new attendee you could introduce yourself with a smile and warm handshake? I’ve found a kind response in any situation when I enter in to it with an open heart. Just think about what you can do to make people smile and be comfortable with you. One of the TLM’s that I have attended has a coffee and donuts share afterwards. Great time and place to talk and mingle.
Maybe what you are encountering are folks who are preparing silently and reverently for the Mass?
Maybe you folks could look at the plank in your own eye before complaining about the sliver in your traditional neighbors?
I am suspect of the source of this information based upon two very unlikely statements it contained. The parish of San Tomas in Goshen is one of four parishes consolidated under the aegis of “The Catholic Church of Visalia.” Both the former and current bishops are solidly supporting the success of this merger, now well into its fourth or fifth year. Secondly, both parishes in Lemoore are pastored by priests solidly ensconsed in the Ordinary Form and a post-conciliar ethos.
Personally, I would love to see FSSP invited formally into the diocese with a parish which could viably transition to the St. John Cantius experience in Chicago, St. Anne’s in San Diego and St. Stephens in Sacto. And if that were to be in Visalia, i think that cooperation with the existing leadership could be accomodated. But, I don’t speak for anyone but myself.
I have attended the TLM at Padua, and my heart goes out to the fine schola gentlemen whose work load may be severely lessened.
“Secondly, both parishes in Lemoore are pastored by priests solidly ensconsed in the Ordinary Form and a post-conciliar ethos.” <— nothing necessarily wrong with that!
This article here seems to have gotten some things wrong in translation. We in the Fresno Traditional Mass Society are just laypeople, but we did gain some insight into this process.
First of all, this article makes it sound as if the FSSP was offered two perfectly good options but turned their nose up at them and left the diocese. Actually, Goshen was never officially offered but was simply a rumor that floated around.
Lemoore was the actual offer. The FSSP initially turned this down before letting the bishop know days later that they were in fact interested in making it work (even though Lemoore is a small town located 40-45 minutes from the biggest population base in Fresno/Clovis). As laypeople, we’re not sure what happened next (and it’s not our place to know anyway), but last we heard, the deal is off.
I don’t mean for any of this to take sides between the FSSP, who served us heroically for nearly seven years, and Bishop Ochoa. I’m just presenting the facts to the best of my knowledge.
Finally, High Masses will certainly continue with one of the local priests–just not necessarily right away.
Lemoore is 9 miles/13 minutes from 58K people in Hanford, CA.
Why in the world are you so hostile? And really to comment on the way someone dresses is extremely shallow. If supposedly you are at mass to deepen your faith and encounter Christ, why do you care what someone is wearing? Why would you even noticing what a person is wearing if your immersed in prayer and reflection? And I don’t care how far Lemoore is, it’s still to far for this old lady! All I can say for you Rodda is as Christ said, “get behind me satan”.
Nothing like getting told off 10 years later.
Do you realize you commented on a post that is ten years old?
And?
And, please, could the readership exercize some discretion without caveats and not refer to parishes in Lemoore and Goshen as “fleabags.” I occasionally assist with the music ministry at St. Thomas, and the TCCoV are making tremendous strides in renovating the campus, the programs and ministries offered there. And I’m sure the same situation is occuring in the two Lemoore parishes.
That is very unbecoming a Catholic attitude to publish.
There is proof here that TLM does not give charity to those that are not open to it.