“For reasons that are not entirely clear”

Bishop asks TLM community to move out of mission

Monterey Bishop Richard Garcia has asked the Traditional Latin Mass Community that has been celebrating the Extraordinary Rite at Mission San Juan Bautista since 2008 to move to a new location 35 miles away. 

Beginning on Sunday, July 3, the Extraordinary Rite will be celebrated at 8:45 a.m. at the Shrine of the Oblates of St. Joseph, 544 West Cliff Drive, in Santa Cruz. The Mass will remain a sung High Mass with Gregorian Schola.

“It is Bishop Garcia’s intention that we find a church for ourselves, a church for the Traditional Latin Mass, our own parish,” said Fr. Nicholas Milich in a June 19 message to the Latin Mass Community. “That will take some time.”

“In the meantime, for reasons that are not entirely clear, we have been asked to move to a temporary site away from this Mission,” said Fr. Milich.

“Although we still hope that we could stay at this Mission which has been our home, there are some positive things about the Shrine of St. Joseph,” Fr. Milich continued. “Among them, we would be able to have a morning Mass, although it would be early -- at 8:45 a.m. It will require traveling for many of you, but again, it would allow us to be a little more traditional and family oriented, with a morning Mass. It would also allow people to get into Santa Cruz before the heaviest tourist traffic at the beaches.” 

Fr. Milich had been celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962 at Mission San Juan Bautista at 2 p.m. on Sundays since June 29, 2008.

While Fr. Milich indicated in his message that he was not entirely happy about the prospects of moving the Mass to Santa Cruz, he added that the change could herald something good for the Latin Mass Community. “I pray that it will be the first clear step towards a parish of our own and what has long been our desire -- a full and normal Catholic life for us and for all who come to us,” he said.

A second Traditional Latin Mass in the Monterey diocese at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Pismo Beach is unaffected by the change at the Mission. According to the parish website, the TLM is offered at St. Paul the Apostle at 12:30 p.m. on Sundays.


From http://www.calcatholic.com/