Archdiocese unsure how it will respond

About 50 attend weekly Latin Mass in city

- WCR photo by Bill Glen Fr. Joseph Poisson celebrates the Latin Mass at Our Lady of Good Help Maronite Catholic Church.

By BILL GLEN
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

It's too soon to say how Pope Benedict's letter expanding use for the Latin Mass will affect the Edmonton Archdiocese, says the archdiocesan chancellor.

"I'm not sure what effect this will have on anything," Father Greg Bittman said in an interview.

Bittman was reacting to Pope Benedict's letter allowing for greater use of the 1962 missal - the final version of the Latin Tridentine Mass approved prior to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

"We already have weekly Latin Mass offered in the archdiocese for those who want it," the chancellor said.

The priest who celebrates that Latin Mass on Edmonton's south side says he hopes the papal decree does not lead to disunity.

Priest from Calgary

Some 50 people attend 9 a.m. Sunday Mass in Latin at Our Lady of Good Help Maronite Catholic Church, 9805-76 Ave.

The church offers a Mass every Saturday and Sunday, as well as on the first Friday of every month.

Father Joseph Poisson, 44, comes to Edmonton from Calgary to celebrate the Mass.

Poisson is hopeful that any priest who celebrates the Tridentine Mass will first receive proper formation. That order of the Mass lifts hearts to God in a way that isn't expressed in other liturgies, he said.

"I hope and pray there won't be too many side effects or misunderstandings, like a division in a parish if you have both Latin and English languages," Poisson said. "We are all human beings and we aren't perfect saints."

Deanna and Loren Lester have helped preserve the Latin Mass in the Edmonton Archdiocese since Archbishop Joseph MacNeil reinstated it in 1991.

"The traditional Latin Mass is more sacred and reverent," Deanna said.

The Latin Mass was codified in the 1570 Tridentine Missal, but largely replaced following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The Lesters had recently been having trouble finding a priest until they called the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in Calgary.

A year ago, Father Christopher Blust offered to come every Sunday. Deanna told him she thought that would be too much for him as he has his own parish. If he could say Mass every second Sunday, that would be fine.

Blust did so for a year.

Women wear veils

"Now we have Father Joseph Poisson," she said. "He is a little stricter but that's OK. That's the way it should be. We love him. He wants us to wear veils and to dress modestly for church. It's an excellent idea."

Isn't that a throwback for a Church that wants to attract the young?

"No, not at all," Deanna told the WCR. "This is the way society should be. We have people who are coming with their little children, who don't even remember the old Mass.

"When they come, they get the reverence and sacredness. It's amazing."

Poisson and Blust trade off once a month so Poisson can catch a break.

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter was founded in 1988, at the request of Pope John Paul II, to welcome priests and seminarians who had followed Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre but could not in conscience follow him into schism.

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