Dear Priests and Seminarians:
I am happy to greet you as you gather at the Cardinal Stritch Retreat House in Mundelein to participate in the Training Conference in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass that is being offered by the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. I am grateful to you for taking the time from your busy schedules to attend this workshop, and to the priests and brothers of the Society of St. John Cantius whose love for and familiarity with this form of the Mass makes this program possible here in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
In the letter he wrote to the Bishops prior to the promulgation of the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum," Pope Benedict XVI stated that "what earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too." Charged with proclaiming Christ's universal call to holiness, the Church wishes to foster a love for the sacred whenever her people gather to worship God as he wants to be worshiped. In order to better serve Catholics who wish to worship according to the Forma extraordinaria, ample and ongoing catechesis in the form of the Mass must be available. This can only be achieved if, first of all, priests and seminarians are prepared to serve this need. I have therefore asked the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, whose charism is the "Restoration of the Sacred," to assist the Archdiocese by providing training fro priests and seminarians in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite according to the liturgical books of 1962, and by offering catechesis to the faithful in this form of the sacred liturgy. The celebration of the Roman Rite according to the Extraordinary Form is a rich treasury of grace for the Church, and it is of great importance to form our clergy and seminarians in the proper celebration of this venerable rite so that they might serve the pastoral needs of the Church today.
You will be in my prayers throughout this workshop as you spend time in the prayer, study and practice that are necessary to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass with reverence and beauty. I entrust this sacred work to the protection of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, who exhorts us, in perfect Christian trust and love, to "do whatever he tells you."
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
They also sent along this bit of news:
At the invitation of the Most Rev. Patrick R. Cooney, S.T.D., S.T.L., Bishop of the Diocese of Gaylord, Michigan, Fr. Scott A. Haynes, a priest of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, Chicago, Illinois, visited the Diocese of Gaylord from February 24-29, 2008, to instruct priests in the celebration of the Roman Rite according to the Extraordinary Form. Fr. Donald Libby of Holy Rosary Parish in Cedar, Michigan, hosted the workshop, which also provided training to altar boys in the ceremonies of Low Mass and High Mass. Each day the Holy Mass was celebrated according to the Missal of 1962, as the faithful were catechized on the meaning of the Sacred Liturgy. The Sunday celebration of the Extraordinary Form will be coming to the Gaylord Diocese by Easter. Deo Gratias!
