Bishop Rhoades Praises the Beauty of the Traditional Mass

One of the commentators over at wdtprs has described quite a wonderful event yesterday at St. Lawrence (a closed parish church which, being right down the street, now serves as the cathedral's chapel) in Harrisburg, PA. It was the second anniversary of the establishment of the weekly Traditional Mass, and Bishop Kevin Rhoades surprised everyone by being on hand for the event. Read about it here. This is a wonderful development, particularly for me, since Harrisburg is my home diocese.

When the bishop took the reigns of the diocese, I was living out there, so I attended one of the deanery Masses which he had in various parts of the diocese. At those Masses, he explained what he as bishop wanted to emphasize:

1) The worthy celebration of the sacraments

2) Eucharistic adoration

3) Vocations

One commenter at Fr. Z's blog reports that vocations are booming: two classes in a row of 12 or more! I should also note that at His Excellency's first Chrism Mass, there were a number of Ordinary parts of the Mass chanted in Latin, including the Gloria--and he sang along!

Finally, the Traditional Mass whose anniversary was celebrated yesterday was established by Bishop Rhoades himself, who, upon becoming the Ordinary, wasted no time in establishing this weekly Mass in the heart of downtown Harrisburg. Previously, the Traditional Mass was offered monthly in a suburban school chapel.

We need more men like Bishop Rhoades.