Traditionis Custodes: 12 traditional institutes ask bishops for dialogue

With a letter addressed to the French bishops on September 1, a group of religious superiors are asking for a mediator.

In a letter addressed to the French bishops on September 1, the superiors of twelve of the main traditionalist institutes in the country are asking for the appointment of a “mediator.” Their request follows the publication of the motu proprio “Traditionis Custodes” and the decision of Pope Francis to restrict the celebration of the Tridentine Mass.

“We feel suspected, marginalized, banished.”

“We feel suspected, marginalized, banished,” the group states in the letter. Their request follows directly from the publication, in mid-July, of the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes on the Latin Mass.

A human, personal dialogue

Gathered on August 31 in Courtalain (Eure-et-Loir), at the general house of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, the signatories reaffirm their adherence to the magisterium, including Vatican II. Recalling “their love for the Church and their fidelity to the Holy Father,” they plead for “a human, personal dialogue, full of confidence, far from ideologies or the coldness of administrative decrees.” To this end, they ask the bishops of France “that a real dialogue be opened and that a mediator be appointed who is for us the human face of this dialogue.”

The document was signed by the superiors of twelve traditionalist institutes (nine male and three female): the Fraternity Sacerdotale Saint-Pierre, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, the Institute of the Good Shepherd, the Fraternité Saint-Vincent-Ferrier, the Institut Saint-Philippe-Néri, the Missionaries of the Holy Cross, the Abbey of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux, the Canons of Lagrasse, the Abbey of Sainte-Marie de la Garde, the Abbey of Notre-Dame de l ‘Annunciation of Barroux, the Canonesses of Azille and the Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus the Sovereign Priest.