Traditional Latin Mass: An Invitation

The Flint Traditional Latin Mass community would like to invite you to join them at 3pm on Sunday November 24 at the city’s St John Vianney Church to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the community when Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing will offer Pontifical High Mass.

“We are excited to have Bishop Earl Boyea joining us in commemoration of our 30th anniversary, celebrating a Pontifical Mass at the Faldstool, an ancient expression of the Roman liturgy that is unique in ritual and experience,” said David Williams of the Flint Traditional Latin Mass community, November 12.

“We would like to invite as many people as possible to come and witness the beauty and treasure of the Traditional Latin Mass, especially those who have never experienced it.”

The term Traditional Latin Mass refers to the rite of Holy Mass as originated within the Diocese of Rome from the earliest days of the Church. This rite was revised during the papacy of Pope Saint Gregory the Great (540–604) which involved, according to one contemporary account, the Holy Father "removing many things, changing a few, adding some". Following the Council of Trent (1545–63), the rite was, again, slightly modified and also made obligatory across the Western Church.

This status quo persisted until 1969 when Pope Saint Paul VI promulgated a revised version of the Roman Rite – the Novus Ordo Missae or New Order of the Mass – which replaced the Traditional Latin Mass as the normative rite for Holy Mass across the Western Church.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI declared that both the Traditional Latin Mass and the New Order of the Mass should be considered as two forms of the Roman Rite, with the former being referred to as the “Extraordinary Form” and the latter as the “Ordinary Form.”

There will be a celebratory reception following Pontifical High Mass on November 24. If you wish to attend, please R.S.V.P to Angie Blondin on (810) 603-0818 by November 18. There will be a cost of $5 per person or $20 per family. Also note, there will be no Traditional Latin Mass at 3pm at St. Matthew, Flint, on that day.

For more information on the Traditional Latin Mass Community in Flint go to: https://www.tlmflint.org/