Archbishop in row over Pope's motu proprio

Archbishop Conti responds to Apostolic Letter with stringent diocesan rules on the celebration of the traditional Mass, reports Mark Greaves ARCHBISHOP MARIO CONTI of Glasgow has alarmed traditionalists in his diocese by imposing stringent guidelines on the use of the 1962 Missal.
Critics have accused the archbishop of flouting Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, which allows parishes to celebrate the extraordinary form of the Mass as long as a group of the faithful ask for it.
Archbishop Conti, however, has told priests that he must be consulted before any celebration of the traditional Mass.
A spokesman for the diocese said on Tuesday that the archbishop's guidelines were meant to ensure the "ordered observance of the mom pmprio and were "not intended in any way to obstruct the Holy Father's wishes".
Archbishop Conti, in a letter to the priests in his diocese, said: "I require that you consult me before making use of these rites so that I may verify the circumstances for the use of the earlier ritual and your suitability for its use."
The archbishop explained that he ought to decide whether a priest is qualified to celebrate Mass in the extraordinary form.
"Priests ordained after 1970 are unlikely to be quail fled," he said. "It is certainly clear that a one-week course would be insufficient to so qualify a priest. The discernment is mine..."
The "one-week course" appears to be a reference to training sessions organised by groups such as the Latin Mass Society, the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.
The archbishop said that he should be consulted before any celebration of the old Mass to "confirm" the suitability of the priest.
This would "help prepare in my mind the required report to the Holy Father which he requests within the next three years".
The archbishop's critics insist, however, that according to Summorum Pontificum, priests do not need the permission of their bishop to celebrate Mass according to the 1962 Missal. Parishes can celebrate the traditional Mass on Sunday as long as a group of the faithful ask for it and if no suitably qualified priest is available, the bishop is expected to find one.
The matter is referred to the Vatican's Ecclesia Dei Commission, set up to bring traditionalist Catholics back into the Church. if no such priest can be provided.
The archbishop's letter, which was leaked on to the intemet last week, has been described by one Romebased priest as "the most hos tile" response to the motu proprio he has seen yet.
It has caused surprise among traditionalists because Archbishop Conti has always been viewed as sympathetic to the pre-Vatican II rite. In 2002 he became the first Scottish archbishop in about 30 years to celebrate Mass in the extraordinary form.
This week a spokesman for Archbishop Conti said: "The archbishop has always sought to respond to the wishes of those who are attached to what is now known as the extraordinary rite of Mass. namely that of the 1962 Missal.
• "Indeed last year he spoke warmly to Una Voce [international traditionalist organisation] offering his support and recognition of those attached to the dignity of the Latin liturgy." However, Fr John Zuhlsdorf, an influential conservative blogger, said in response to the letter "I think these excerpts from the Glaswegian archbishop will astonish you. They strike me as being among the coldest, most hostile I have read so far... and that says a lot."
He continued: "Far and wide, bishops who are hostile to the provisions of the motu proprio will very carefully, and mostly inaccurately, parse terms from the unofficial and inaccurate translation of the mom proprio so as to find a way to restrict as much as possible the use of the older Missal.
"This is contrary not only to the spirit in which Pope Benedict gave those provisions, but also to the principle of interpretation of Canon Law that laws which grant favours are to be interpreted as favourably as possible."
Meanwhile Cardinal Keith O'Brien. Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, has been praised for his response to Summorum Pontificum and for his support of traditionalists in his diocese. Fr John Emerson, regional superior of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter based in Edinburgh, said the cardinal had been "very sympathetic".
"He has been nothing but supportive and we appreciate that tremendously. Because of this, and because of his prolife and education work, we are very happy to call him our archbishop," the priest said.
For the Feast of the Assumption last week the cardinal presided at a Mass in the extraordinary form at St Andrew's Church in Ravelston.
In his homily the cardinal seemed to make an appeal to the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) to return to the Catholic fold.
"Obviously, it saddens me that within my archdiocese there is a church in which there is indeed breakaway and schism, those people who have found it necessary to break faith from the one true Church of Jesus Christ?"
He urged those who were separated from the Church to make "every endeavour for reconciliation and celebrate the Mass of the Roman Rite in the extraordinary as it is permitted if they so wish".