Bishop has forced Latin Mass onto the street

The traditional Mass "outside the walls", in front of the chapel of the hospital in Saint Germain en Laye, will take place every Sunday this summer.

A parishioner was asked about this:

If I've understood correctly, next Sunday 9 July you'll be continuing your celebration of a traditional mass in front of the hospital chapel in Saint-Germain-en-Laye?

Germain de Paris: Absolutely, and not just on Sunday 9 July at 11am, but on every Sunday in July and August, and of course on Tuesday 15 August, the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

Why this decision?

St. Germain de Paris: Quite simply because the Catholic faithful, including those of St. Germain, have a duty to attend Mass every Sunday, and they wouldn't understand if the celebration of the usus antiquior was interrupted for almost two months.

But many of the faithful go on holiday...

Germain de Paris : Of course... but also some don't go away... and others don't go away for two months. All this explains our request that the traditional liturgy be celebrated at Saint-Germain every Sunday and feast day of the year, without exception.

But perhaps the diocese cannot always provide this service...

Germain de Paris: That's quite possible, and that's why we've always proposed that when the diocese can't guarantee the celebration of one or more Sunday Masses, it should be normal for us to nevertheless allow this celebration to be carried out by priests who are quite willing to do so, and in that case the diocesan objection would no longer be relevant. And I can confirm that such priests do exist.

So why do you think this refusal?

Germain de Paris: It's quite difficult to explain. Of course, we can imagine that part of the reason for this refusal is that the diocese is very uptight, like "We said no, that's no". Our pastors don't have children! They don't know how to adapt flexibly and intelligently to circumstances.

What do you mean by that?

Germain de Paris: Just to remind you that for nearly thirty years the diocesan line has been to deny that the faithful of St. Germain had anything to do with this. I can understand that it must have been a cold shower to discover that the church was full of Franciscans as soon as the first celebration was held, but also to realise that a very large group continued to meet in front of the hospital every Sunday. Let's not forget either that many Saint-Germinois practice elsewhere, either at Saint-Louis du Port-Marly or at Villepreux or Versailles for lack of a complete and clear solution.

But are there other reasons for this pastoral harshness?

Germain de Paris: The secret - and stupid - desire to force us to attend the new liturgy as if we didn't know it: an absurdity, of course, because it's because we know the new liturgy very well that we want to live our Catholic faith to the rhythm of the old liturgy, which for us is more invigorating, pious, beautiful and enriching for our souls.

A final word, dear Germain?

Germain de Paris: Everyone who wants to should come and take part in our celebrations. They're friends we love and we'll be delighted to meet them again.

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