Cordileone praises US Latin Mass 'open letter'

'We live in a time extraordinarily challenging for evangelization.'

The Archbishop of San Francisco on Monday praised an open letter posted online July 15, which urges Pope Francis not to impose rumored new restrictions on older liturgical forms of the Catholic Eucharistic liturgy, often referred to as the Traditional Latin Mass.

San Francisco’s Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. Credit: JD Flynn/Pillar Media.

The letter comes two weeks after prominent U.K. figures in the arts, business, journalism, and politics — including Andrew Lloyd Webber and a member of the British royal family — made a similar appeal, in a letter published July 3 in the Times of London.

The July 15 letter, organized by a former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Goia, is signed by blogger Andrew Sullivan, Mexican actor and one-time political candidate Eduardo Verastegui, theologian Larry Chapp, and a handful of other cultural and political figures, who identify themselves “as Catholics and non-Catholics, believers and nonbelievers.”

Responding to rumors — which The Pillar has not been able to confirm — that Pope Francis is considering new restrictions to the use of older liturgical rubrics, the letter argues that older liturgical rites have contributed to the development of western culture. 

It urges that “to deprive the next generation of artists of this source of mystery, beauty, and contemplation of the sacred seems shortsighted. All of us, believers and nonbelievers alike, recognize that this ancient liturgy, which inspired the work of Palestrina, Bach, and Beethoven and generations of great artists, is a magnificent achievement of civilization and part of the common cultural heritage of humanity. It is medicine for the soul, one antidote to the gross materialism of the postmodern age.”

While petitions to Pope Francis on theological or pastoral matters have become somewhat common in recent years, most get very little attention from ecclesiastical leaders. 

But a spokesman for Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone sent a statement from the archbishop to The Pillar Monday, which praised the July 15 letter as “an extraordinary statement from some great artists and other cultural influencers about the value and inspiration they have received from the Traditional Latin Mass.”

“When I learned that Dana Gioia was going to organize a letter from the Americas, I knew it would be compellingly well-written. … I am grateful that faithful Catholics who make clear that they love the Latin Mass but love Jesus Christ and His Church more, are making their voices lovingly heard,” Cordileone added.

The letter, like many petitions sent to Pope Francis, could be seen in Rome as part of a Vatican-perceived pattern of consistent Francis criticism from American Catholics, even while the signatories wrote that: “Those of us who are Catholics pledge our filial loyalty to you, Pope Francis. We come to you with the humility and obedience but also the confidence of children, telling a loving father of our spiritual needs. We pray that you will not lump us with some of the angry and disrespectful voices magnified by social media.”

But in the Vatican, while the letter might come as little surprise, the fact that a serving American archbishop endorsed its argument might seem especially notable, and some Vatican officials are likely to push back on Cordileone’s support for the statement, amid rising tensions between the Apostolic See and some members of the American episcopate.

In light of that, The Pillar posed questions to Cordileone about why he endorsed the statement, and what he thinks might come next.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone with the Eucharist, during a May 19 Eucharistic pilgrimage. Credit: Br. Chris Garcia OFM Conv. Catholic Voice Diocese of Oakland.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Archbishop, you decided to make a statement of support for an open letter to Pope Francis from a group of North American cultural figures. You posted support online when a group of British figures published a similar letter. Why do you support these letters?

Sir James MacMillan is an extraordinary man: one of the great classical music composers of our time and a very generous Catholic as well. 

Did you know he organizes a music festival called the Cumnock Tryst every year for the impoverished former coal town in Scotland that he comes from? 

It’s much like the Appalachians here. Music brings this poor community together in joy. The signers of Sir James MacMillan’s [July 3] petition include some of the most creative minds in Great Britain. It's just an impressive thing for this one composer to have pulled together on his own, and I felt a call to say: “Well done!”

Dana Gioia, who organized the “Open Letter from the Americas,” is a friend of mine. I was struck by the arguments made in this letter as well. 

The “Open Letter from the Americas” explicitly makes a very important point. The stereotype is that Latin Mass lovers are rigid and backward looking; why, then, do so many great creatives love the Latin Mass? 

Look at the signers of this petition, like the great composer Morten Lauridsen and of course the great Catholic poet Dana Gioia himself; look at the signers of Sir James MacMillan’s petition from Great Britain; then consider as well the signers of the 1971 and the 1966 petitions to Pope Paul VI to protect the Latin Mass: great novelists, composers, musicians, singers, poets and more. 

Certainly there are some Latin Mass enthusiasts who display intolerance toward those who worship in other ways, but petitions like these suggest on the contrary that, rather than rigid, some of the most creative Catholic minds are those drawn to the Latin Mass. And not just Catholics. 

As the new letter says: “Petitioners of this caliber are proof the traditional Latin Mass cannot be understood as a mere refuge from modernity, for some of the most creative minds on our planet are inspired by the Latin Mass—its beauty, its reverence, its mystery—to make new works of art and also to serve the least among us.”

A petition to preserve the Traditional Latin Mass that brings together Eduardo Verastegui, Dana Gioia, Morten Lauridsen, and Andrew Sullivan is, well, something worth paying attention to, no?

Critics have raised concern about encouraging “theology by petition,” or the idea that laity might try to influence the Church's authorities with letters like this.

Do you think they're appropriate?

As Archbishop of San Francisco, how would you respond if this kind of open letter were sent to you on some issue?

Pope Francis has called for a listening Church. And indeed, even the Code of Canon Law states explicitly that “The Christian faithful are free to make known to the pastors of the Church their needs, especially spiritual ones, and their desires.” 

These petition signers are speaking to Pope Francis with great humility and in a spirit of obedience, and with the kind of confidence that children have in going to a loving father, in order to speak of their spiritual needs. 

I am impressed that Dana Gioia’s “Open Letter from the Americas” strikes this new note of civility and communion in such a potentially contentious area of Church life; indeed, for decades now we have heard the term “liturgy wars” used to describe these debates.

It seems to me important to do what I can to encourage these Catholics to raise the level of civility in speaking their mind on such an important topic. Yes, they love the Latin Mass, but they love Jesus Christ and His Church more. 

As for me, if a petition were sent to me I would respond as a father and a pastor, listen attentively, and do what is best for my flock in San Francisco to the best of my ability, providing for their spiritual needs with a sense of unity and always guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Do you think it's likely that the Vatican actually is planning additional restrictions on the Extraordinary Form of the Mass?

Why do you think Pope Francis has already restricted the Extraordinary Form? Why might he issue more restrictions?

I do not know any more than has been reported in the press and I don't think it appropriate for me to speculate. If something like this is about to happen, we will know the reasons for it when it becomes public.

You will celebrate an Extraordinary Form Mass at the National Eucharistic Congress.

What do you think it means that the National Eucharistic Congress will include two Extraordinary Form Masses? Why is that important? 

As I’ve said before, we live in a time extraordinarily challenging for evangelization. The Church needs to operate on all cylinders. Whatever is working to bring people to Christ in the communion of the Church we need to be doing. 

The Traditional Latin Mass is one that is working for some people; not the only one, but it is working for some. I was asked to celebrate one of the TLMs at the National Eucharistic Congress. I think it is a very pastoral gesture to those Catholics whose spiritual lives are enriched by this form of the Catholic Mass, and I want to support that. 

It’s not a political or ideological thing, it’s pastoral.

Pope Francis has written that he acted to restrict the celebration of the TLM, in part, out of concern for a culture which has grown up around the traditional liturgy in some communities — highlighting specifically a rejection of some aspects of the Church's teaching and discipline, including elements of the Second Vatican Council.

In recent weeks, we have seen a Spanish religious community declared in schism, and then the same for Archbishop Carlo Viganó. Both were attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass — which might seem to support the pope's point.

Do you perceive that as a problem in some places? If so how do you think it could be best addressed?

Social media rewards and magnifies the most extreme and disrespectful voices. That’s why it’s important to hear the voices of those who, as in this petition, are faithful Catholics, declare their loyalty to the pope, and at the same time ask that no further restrictions be placed on their access to a form that feeds them spiritually, that brings them closer to God. 

It’s important as well to hear from non-Catholics and non-believers who have been inspired to create new works of art by the Latin Mass and recognize it as a great achievement of civilization.

I would also suggest that we Church leaders need to do some introspection. Why do some Latin Mass enthusiasts display such rigid behavior? 

Many, I know, have experienced rejection and marginalization from the Church’s pastors –- the very ones called to nurture them spiritually –- simply because of their desire to worship in the way the Church has for many centuries. This serves only to embitter and harden one’s attitude towards Church authority. There is plenty of blame to go around for this lamentable state of affairs — to the extent that it exists. We all need to take a look deep within ourselves.

In my experience Latin Massgoers are good Catholics and faithful to the Catholic Church. They aren’t heretics or schismatics as a general rule. Some of the strongest Catholics I know, who serve the poor and their parish, love the Latin Mass. Surely there are exceptions, and it is the job of Rome or the local bishop to deal with those painful exceptions. 

But the problem in these situations is not the people’s preferred form of the Mass per se. The fact that such situations exist should not mean that the obedient Catholics must be deprived of their spiritual food. 

And likewise, let’s not deprive the next generation of artists of what feeds their Catholic imagination, either.

If the pope does issue new restrictions on the Extraordinary Form, how should Catholics respond? 

When people are aggrieved about these kinds of decisions, what obligations do they have — both for clerics and laity — if new norms are issued?

Of course, it will depend on what the instruction actually says. 

But my guiding principle will be what I alluded to before: to provide for the spiritual needs of my people in the spirit of preserving and building up unity in the Church.