The Deacon's Bench
A look at one parish that has made the traditional Latin Mass an integral part of its culture, from the Catholic World Report:
The Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei keeps a comprehensive list of locations in which the traditional Latin Mass is available. At last count, in the 191 dioceses in North America, there are about 485 parishes that offer Mass in the Extraordinary Form with some frequency (monthly, twice-per-month, or weekly), with 335 parish locations offering it weekly.
In North America there are 75 parish locations that offer daily access to the Extraordinary Form. Of those locations, 38 are in the care of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and 13 are provided for by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. That leaves 24 locations run by dioceses or religious communities (such as the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius in Chicago) where the Mass in the Extraordinary Form is offered daily.
One such parish is thriving in what may seem to some to be the least likely of places—what is often referred to as “the buckle of the Bible Belt,” Greenville, South Carolina. Prince of Peace Catholic Church, located in Taylors, SC, is a diocesan parish with nearly 2,000 families and an evangelical liturgical approach that is beginning to draw national and international attention.
Not only is this parish attracting families interested in regular access to traditional liturgy and the sacraments, it is beginning to be recognized by even the non-traditional Catholic audience as a beacon of the “New Evangelization,” due to the number of converts and reverts it draws into the Catholic Church.
Prince of Peace also has a burgeoning school, a round-the-clock adoration chapel, and numerous other flourishing apostolates.
Father Christopher Smith has been the pastoral administrator of Prince of Peace since December 2011. A native of nearby Easley, he is a former Baptist who converted to Catholicism as a teenager. He is a graduate of Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, and he holds both a licentiate and a doctorate in dogmatic theology. He recently spoke with CWR about parish life at Prince of Peace and the parish’s approach to the liturgy.
Editor’s Note: Since this interview took place, Prince of Peace ceased offering daily Mass in the Extraordinary Form until a second priest is assigned to the parish. The Latin Mass is currently offered on Sundays, Holy Days, and special feast days, and it is expected that the daily Latin Mass will resume when another priest is assigned.
CWR: Why did you decide to offer access to Mass in the Extraordinary Form daily?
Father Smith: We had a community dedicated to the Extraordinary Form for about 10 years prior to my arrival, and the community has grown and has really begun to expect to live its daily life around that liturgy. Because we have had two priests who are able to celebrate both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Forms in a parish large enough to warrant two daily Masses, it made sense to have both forms daily.Also, it has both consolidated the community of those attached to the Extraordinary Form and has provided the opportunity for those who want to attend daily Mass the opportunity to consistently experience the Extraordinary Form Mass at noon. Some people come more because it is at noon Mass more than because it is the Extraordinary Form.
There’s much more. Read it all.
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