Bishop Higi's comments on motu propro

Well, Bishop Higi has finally spoken regarding the Holy Father's recent motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Here's the full text of the article in the July 15th edition of The Catholic Moment. Comments will follow later. For now, just soak it up:

Bishop: Unanswered questions remain about actual
practice

The Catholic Moment

Pope Benedict XVI’s
relaxation of restrictions on the use of the Latin Mass leaves unanswered
questions regarding the actual practice, says Bishop William L.
Higi.

The pope’s directive was issued July 7 to bishops
worldwide. When interviewed by The Catholic Moment, Bishop Higi said he
understands the Holy Father’s desire to retain the Tridentine Massas an
extraordinary part of Catholic liturgy, and is fully supportive, but he
questions whether it will be possible to provide it in the Local Church
.

By letter, Bishop Higi asked priests across the diocese to wait
to see how procedural details are addressed by the Secretariat for the Liturgy
of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The pope noted that use
of the 1962 Missal “presupposes a certain degree of liturgical formation and
some knowledge of the Latin language; neither of these is found very
often.”

Bishop Higi, who was ordained in 1959,
agreed.

“Even though I celebrated the Tridentine Mass for several
years, I would no longer be able to do so using the Roman Missal of 1962 (the
required text) without significant study of the rubrics and a refresher course
in Latin,” he said. “I suspect that is true of most of not all priests of
the diocese.”

“In this Local Church , pastoral sensitivity suggests
an in-depth study of Spanish rather than Latin,” he said.

The
pope’s directive states that a priest must be qualified to celebrate Latin
Masses before he can celebrate one. But it sheds no light on who decides
whose qualifications.

The 1962 Missal also requires the use of
altar boys – not girls – and they must be capable of responding to the celebrant
in Latin. Choirs also probably would have to be trained in the Gregorian
chant, Bishop Higi said. The 1962 calendar would be followed, because no
mixture of the 1962 missal and the current missal will be allowed. Only
one form of Communion would be available.

Pope Benedict XVI said
that any priest, without further permission, could celebrate the Latin Mass
without the people at almost any time, and that laypeople could be admitted if
they spontaneously requested to do so. It remains unclear whether such a
Mass could be scheduled.

The pope’s directive states that where any
group of parishioners attached to the Latin Mass “exists stably” it may request
a pastor to offer one. Apparently, when only one Sunday Mass is offered,
Latin may not be used.

No definition of “group” or “exists stably”
was offered.