Summorum Pontificum - Kildare and Leighlin

Since it has not provided a weekly Sunday Mass in the Gregorian Rite, the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin does not feature in the statistics that I referred to yesterday. However, that does not fully reflect the situation in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin since Summorum Pontificum.

As already mentioned, the International Federation Una Voce is compiling a third annual report on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum for the Holy See to coincide with the third anniversary of its coming into force, and to coincide with the returns that every Diocese in the World has been asked to make to the Holy See to coincide with that third anniversary.

We have already provided details of the groundwork for the Gregorian Rite in the Diocese, the progress of the Gregorian Rite in the Diocese, and the interest in the Gregorian Rite in the Diocese. All these can be summarised as follows.

Before Summorum Pontificum

Before Summorum Pontificum, St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association had been consistently requesting for more than a decade, the provision of Mass in the Gregorian Rite on Sundays and Holydays. One single Mass was permitted in the Gregorian Rite each year in one Parish (Kildare Town).

After Summorum Pontificum

-Regular Masses-

Immediately following Summorum Pontificum, seven Parish-based groups of members of St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association requested that Mass in the Gregorian Rite be provided in their Parishes on Sundays and Holydays. The result was a single monthly Mass provided in one Parish (Newbridge) a year later.

At least one other group requested Mass in the Gregorian Rite be provided in their Parish (Carlow Town) on Sundays and Holydays. No Mass was provided in response to that request.

That is, of the 56 Parishes of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, 8 Parishes, or ONE SEVENTH of the Parishes in the Diocese, have received requests for the provision of a Sunday and Holyday Mass. NOT ONE has acceeded to those requests. Only one has made any provision at all for a regular Mass (monthly in Newbridge). The annual Mass continues (in Kildare Town).

-Occasional Masses-

Of the 56 Parishes of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, 24 Parishes (including most of the 8 Parishes above) have received requests for single once-off Masses in the Gregorian Rite. Of those, 10 have given permission for single once-off Masses in the Gregorian Rite. However, of those 10, once-off sometimes meant just that and subsequent requests were refused or ignored.

That is, of the 56 Parishes of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, 10 Parishes, or ONE FIFTH of the Parishes in the Diocese have tolerated (with varying degrees of hospitality or hostility) Mass in the Gregorian Rite at least once since Summorum Pontificum. Of the 56 Parishes in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, at least 14 Parishes, or ONE QUARTER of the Parishes in the Diocese WILL NOT TOLERATE even a single Mass to be celebrated there, even since Summorum Pontificum.