Joseph Shaw Calls Leaked Letters "Unequivocal Good News"

The message of the leaked correspondence between Westminster Cardinal Nichols and the Prefect of the Liturgy Congregation Arthur Roche, is “positive”, Joseph Shaw, the president of the English Latin Mass Society (LMS), jubilates on OnePeterFive.com (November 6).

Shaw and the LMS are сriticised in the correspondence. Nichols writes that their interpretation of Traditionis Custodes is "obviously not in accord with the mind of the Holy Father," and Roche replies that the LMS interpretation “has no standing whatsoever."

Ignoring the ugly tone of the correspondence, Shaw expresses politely his understanding that TC aims not to kill the Roman Mass alone but all Roman Rite sacraments. "It would be odd if the other sacraments continued after that had come to pass,” he writes. He asks Roche however to refresh his memory of those documents which allow the Roman Rite Priestly Institutes to offer all sacraments according to the Roman Rite.

Regarding the 1971 Agatha-Christi indult which gave more freedom to the Roman Rite in England, Shaw criticises that neither Westminster Archdiocese nor the Liturgy Congregation have kept a record but he underlines that it is available on the LMS website.

Shaw wants to believe that it is positive that Archbishop Roche stresses the need for “a delicacy of care and direction” as the Roman Rite “has been regulated and not suppressed.” According to this selective reading, this is “unequivocal good news”, and “we must not allow any negative phrasing in these letters to distract us from that,” Shaw writes.

The reality is however that Roche stresses that TC allows “pastoral prudence” for “a very limited time only,” implying that after that "prudence" cannot be expected from the Vatican.

Picture: © Fr Lawrence OP, CC BY-NC-ND, #newsVwrkconwlp