This is the 'balancing' post for my earlier "Anglican Angst" item.
An English cardinal has used canon law to prevent a Vatican official from celebrating a Tridentine-rite Mass in Westminster Cathedral and instead has asked an auxiliary bishop to celebrate it.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster refused to grant permission for U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, head of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, to celebrate Mass in the extraordinary form of the Latin rite, called the Tridentine rite, in the London cathedral June 20. The cardinal used the Code of Canon Law to insist that the Mass be celebrated instead by Auxiliary Bishop John Arnold of Westminster.
The Cardinal of Westminster has two axes grinding here: one against the lay society who invited Cdl. Burke, the other against the Vatican in general.
More:
The Austrian Bishops' Conference goes into revolt-mode:
"There were problems of communication also in the recent appointment of an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Linz...For many, the controversy over episcopal appointments led to a painful conflict, and they have triggered splits in the church,. It is precisely in this area that sensitivity is most appropriate. ...The faithful are legitimately concerned that the process of candidate search, examination of the proposals and the final decisions should be carefully undertaken and with pastoral sensitivity are possible. This can ensure that bishops are appointed who are not 'against' but 'for' a local church. We bishops will make every possible effort to support the forthcoming episcopal appointments in the sense of monitoring these procedures in close cooperation with the relevant Vatican offices."
Only took about 2 years for the Left to go into its full-throat tizzyfits. Led by an aging '60's-hippie-kinda-Jesuit Cardinal in Milan (retired, but not at room temperature), by a German Cardinal who is still active, and by another retired perfumed-hand-forked-tongue US Cardinal (now ensconced at Georgetown), they are determined to have their way.
It's called "Gallicanism."
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While it is true that the Ab. of Westminster is no lover of the Traditional Latin Mass (or the Latin Mass Society, most likely…) and rolled out the red carpet for Ab. Piero Marini’s not so veiled anti-Benedict ‘book signing’ at Westminster last year, it appears this was a breach of protocol on the part of the Latin Mass Society. That is, they failed to secure permission from Westminster before arranging for Ab. Burke to celebrate Mass there. Such permission is SOP everywhere in the Church.
Even a priest in good standing can’t just walk into a parish church and say Mass without the permission of the Parish Priest and showing proof of his standing by presenting his Dimissorial Letter from his bishop or religious superior. Accordingly, the Cardinal is within his rights in ‘controlling’ who says Mass in his Cathedral.
That said, the manner in which this was done shows little regard for openness, charity and hierarchical fraternity. One suspects that Ab. Burke (no slouch when it comes to Canon Law) was unaware that the LMS had not sought the requisite permission or he would not have acquiesced to the LMS’s request.
But it is demonstrative of the opposition the Holy Father is faced with in many parts of the Church and by some in the hierarchy. His ‘liberation’ of the Traditional Latin Mass was received with less than enthusiasm by the hierarchy of England and Wales (among other places…) headed by the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. This is just one more example of that.
The stance of the Austrian bishops is another…
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