REQUEST FOR THE GRANT OF INDULT FOR CELEBRATING TLM - MASS IN MADRAS

From                                                                                                     July 16, 2007

1. G. Alex Benziger, Advocate,
St. Francis Xavier’s Church, Broadway Parish.
2. Michael Amalraj Edward, Advocate,
Our Lady of Good Health Church, Little Mount Parish.
3. S. Parisutham, Advocate,
St. Mark’s Church, Adambakkam Parish.
4. Dr. S. Leonard Vasanth, Advocate,
St. Fatima Church, Kodambakkam Parish
5. A. Arokiadoss, Advocate,
Holy Cross Church, T. Nagar Parish
6. D.Irudhaya Nathan, Advocate,
St. Francis Xavier’s Church, Broadway Parish.
7. Conscious Fernando, Advocate,
St. Luke’s Church, Anna Nagar Parish,
8. A. Amalraj, Advocate,
St. Andrew’s Church, Choolai Parish.
9. Antony Jesu Rajan, Advocate,
St. Anne’s Church, Nesappakkam Parish.
(All of us are Roman Catholic Advocates, Practising in the Madras High Court, Madras, South India)

To

HIS GRACE Dr.A.M. CHINNAPPA. D.D.,
Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore,
Archbishop’s House,
Santhome, Madras-600 004.

May it please Your Grace,

Sub: Our request for the grant of Indult for celebrating Tridentine Latin Mass on Sundays in St. Mary’s Church, Co-Cathedral, Parrys, Madras-600 001- Regarding.
*****
Greeting in our Lord Jesus Christ

May we place before Your Grace a kind request of permission of Indult for providing us the Tridentine Latin Mass in the Parish Church St.Mary’s Co-Catherdral Shrine at Parrys, Madras-600 001 on every Sunday at 5.30 P.M.

1. The Liturgy of Mass is the greatest ‘Action’ where Our Lord Jesus Christ is brought down on earth in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, by the anointed hands of the specially consecrated persons of priesthood. It is certainly an extension of incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Savior and His Crucifixion, manifested for the redemption of our Soul of all the sacraments of the Church. The Sacrament of Eucharistic Liturgy is the heart-beat and the richest wealth of the Holy Mother Church.

2. Tridentine Latin Mass has been too evident a testimony to the sacrificial basis of the Roman Catholic Church, based on the great “Action of Christ” for centuries where the consecrated priest becomes “Alter Christus”. This Mass has, no doubt produced all the Holy Saints and Martyrs in the Church.

3. With the vernacular presentation of the Mass and with no one rubric, each priest has his own style of celebrating the Mass. No two priest celebrate the Mass in the same manner, so much so, the general comment of the faithful is always that ‘Fr. ‘X’s’ Mass is much better than Fr.Y’s’ Mass or is not as good as the other.

4. Pope John Paul II in his Encyclical, ‘Dominicae Cenae’ dated 24.02.1980 states as,
“I would like to ask forgiveness in my own name and in the name of all of your venerable and dear brothers in the episcopate-for everything which, for whatever reason, through whatever human weakness, impatience or negligence, and also through at the time partial, one-side and erroneous application of the directives of Second Vatican Council, may have caused scandal and disturbance concerning the interpretation of the doctrine and the veneration due to this great sacrament. And I pray to Lord Jesus that in the future we may avoid in our manner of dealing with this sacred mystery anything which could weaken or disorient in any way the sense of reverence and love that exists in our faithful people”.

5. As rightly pointed out by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger-the present Pope Benedict XVI-on 24.10.1998 to the 3000 traditionalist faithful in the Eternal City who are coming from as far away as Australia and New Zealand has said,
“the differences in the liturgy according to the new rite, as it is actually practiced in many places, are often greater than the difference between the new and the old liturgy, when both are celebrated according to the prescribed liturgical books” (the journal-“Inside the Vatican”, December 1998 issue).

6. Pope John Paul II in his Encyclical, “Dominicae Cenae” dated 24.02.1980 further states
“Nevertheless, there are also those people who, having been educated on the basis of the old liturgy in Latin, experience the lack of this “one language”, which in all the world was an expression of the Unity of the Church and through its dignified character elicited a profound sense of the Eucharistic Mystery. It is therefore necessary to show not only understanding but also full respect towards these sentiments and desires are to be accommodated, as is moreover provided for in the new dispositions. The Roman Church has special obligations towards Latin, the splendid language of ancient Rome, and she must manifest them whenever the occasion presents itself”.

7. Further Pope John Paul II in his Encyclical “Ecclesia Dei” dated 02.07.1988 states as….
“To all the Catholic Faithful who feel attached to some previous liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition I wish to manifest my will to facilitate their ecclesial communion by means of the necessary measures to guarantee respect for their rightful aspirations. In this matter I ask for the support of the bishops and of all those engaged in the pastoral ministry in the Church”……… “moreover, respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition, by a wide and generous application of the directives already issued some time ago by the Apostolic See for the use of the Roman Missal according to the typical edition of 1962”.

8. Further we wish to state that the Holy Father Benedict XVI in his “Post Synodal, Apostolic Exhortation” “Sacramentum Caritatis” dated 22.02.2007 states as follows:
“…………… I am thinking here particularly of celebrations at international gatherings, which nowadays are held with greater frequency. The most should be made of these occasions. In order to express more clearly the unity and universality of the Church, I wish to endorse the proposal made by the Synod of Bishops, in harmony with the directives of the Second Vatican Council, that, with the exception of the readings the homily and the prayer of the faithful, such liturgies could be celebrated in Latin. Similarly, the better known prayers of the Church’s tradition should be recited in Latin and, if possible, selections of Gregorian chant should be sung. Speaking more generally, I ask that future priests, from their time in the seminary, receive the preparation needed to understand and to celebrate Mass in Latin, and also to use Latin texts and execute Gregorian Chant; nor should we forget that the faithful can be taught to recite the more common prayers in Latin, and also to sing parts of the Liturgy to Gregorian chant”.

9. There is a great depth of reasoning in having the dead language in the liturgy, so that the words are not misconstrued, misinterpreted or mistranslated with all exaggerations to suit the individuals and consequently, they are not being misconceived by the congregation. This should be the main reason why the other religions too, Hinduism, Islamism, Buddhism etc., have their religious prayers of worship and chantings in the dead language.

10. Motu Proprio “Summorum Pontificum” be considered as “established and decreed” by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on 07.07.2007 and to be observed from September 14, 2007 is as follows:-
“Art 1. The Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI is the ordinary expression of the “ Lex orandi’ (Law of Prayer) of the Catholic Church of the Latin rite. Nonetheless, the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and reissued by Bl. John XXIII is to be considered as an extraordinary expression of the same ‘Lex orandi,’ and must be given due honour for its venerable and ancient usage. These two expressions of the Church’s Lex orandi will in no any way lead to a division in the Church’s ‘Lex credendi’ (Law of belief). They are, in fact two usages of the one Roman rite.
“It is, therefore, permissible to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass following the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Bl.John XXIII in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the Church”.
and some norms of law, issued in this regard and we are eagerly awaiting your Grace’s necessary directions.

Under these circumstances, we, the undersigned Catholics and on behalf of quite a good section of Catholics, in the City of Madras humbly make our submission to Your Grace and request your Grace to grant necessary Indult for providing us the Sacred Tridentine Latin Mass in St. Mary’s Co-cathedral Shrine on every Sunday evening 5.30 p.m. which will go a long way for the salvation of our souls in search of our Eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
Thank you and pray for your Grace’s Blessings.

Yours most Obedient Children in
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Copy to :-
His Eminence Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos
President
Commission Ecclesia Dei,
Plaza del Sant’ Uffizio 11,
00120 Vatican City,
Italy, Europe.

All Communication and Correspondence to
G. Alex Benziger,
Advocate,
18, Pidariyar Koil Lane,
Chennai -600 001.
e.mail:- alexbenziger@aol.com

Name & Address of the Catholics 1. G. Alex Benziger,

2. Michael Amalraj Edward,

3. S. Parisutham,

4. Dr. S. Leonard Vasanth,

5. A. Arokiadoss,

6. D.Irudhaya Nathan,

7. Conscious Fernando,

8. A. Amalraj,

9. Antony Jesu Rajan,
NOTE :
Whoever read the contents of this Blog, please write something on comments or please E-mail me at : alexbenziger@aol.com ; or :alexbenziger@gmail.com


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