Statement on Status of Latin Rite Mass of 1962 at Five Wounds Church

Diocese of San Jose
Office of Media Relations
Roberta Ward, Director
ward@dsj.org
(408) 983-0267

Statement on Status of Latin Rite Mass of 1962 at Five Wounds Church

The Latin Rite Mass of 1962 has been celebrated in the Diocese of San Jose at the Oratory of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Santa Clara since 2007 through an arrangement between the diocese and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

Canon (Father) Jean Marie Moreau, a priest of the Institute, is the rector of the Oratory. At the invitation of the former pastor, Father Anthony Mancuso, Canon Moreau had also been celebrating the 1962 Rite at Five Wounds Portuguese Church in San Jose.

Earlier this year, with the agreement of Five Wounds pastor Father Donald Morgan, Canon Moreau began regular celebration of the 1962 Rite on Sundays at Five Wounds.

Subsequently, concerns, and even misunderstandings, have developed between parish lay leaders at Five Wounds and at the Oratory.

The Institute has decided to discontinue the Latin Rite Mass of 1962 at Five Wounds and to reconcentrate their efforts at the Oratory while hoping to offer an additional venue which will provide more space. 

Specific concerns and questions are internal to the Oratory and Five Wounds Parish. The decision to discontinue the Mass at Five Wounds was made by the Institute, not by San Jose Bishop Patrick J. McGrath.

Background

In a motu proprio (papal document) of Pope Benedict XVI in July of 2007, the pope allowed more widespread use of the Tridentine Mass, the pre-Vatican II rite according to the Roman Missal of 1962 which was published by Pope John XXIII shortly before Vatican II convened.

That 2007 papal document noted that “the new missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970 is the ordinary form of the liturgy, while the Tridentine Mass should be considered an extraordinary form.”

Decision statement 

In a Sept. 26 Oratory bulletin announcement, Canon Moreau wrote, “After one year of experience of the Latin Mass at Five Wounds Portuguese National Church in San Jose, some difficulties force us unfortunately to discontinue this service for now and to concentrate all our efforts at Our Mother of Perpetual Help Oratory, our home  in Santa Clara.

“We must thank the Divine Providence for the opportunity that has been offered to us to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries in its Extraordinary Form in that beautiful Church.

“The first emigrants from the Azores wanted to place the acts of Divine worship under the adoration of the Most Sacred Five Wounds continually open for us during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

“We have loved this church. It speaks so much to us.  This Sunday [Sept. 26] marks the last Tridentine Mass at the site.  ‘God has given.  God has taken away. Blessed be God,’ would say the holy man Job in the midst of his physical and moral sufferings.  

“Let us have no doubts that Divine Providence has something in store for us.  I am thinking of these newcomers who came to Five Wounds for the Latin Mass and might become confused now to find a place big enough for all. 

“Many have already prayed and for a long time, thinking that the Five Wounds Portuguese Church might be the answer to their prayers, but all of us, new and ancient, will continue to pray.  

“God does not abandon those who put their trust in Him, providing that we are humble, poor, obedient and charitable.  Our Mother of Perpetual Help wholeheartedly welcomes you."