Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Diocese of Fargo Forbids Mass Said Facing Liturgical East

Update: in the last few hours we've got one denial, but we've heard from a very reliable source that this is very much in the works.


A Mass said the way it's supposed to be.
[Fargo, North Dakota] At least four priests of the Diocese of Fargo, North Dakota have been forbidden by edict [at least a letter] from saying Mass the way Catholics have been praying it since the times of the Apostles. It's not difficult to look for the source of such a diabolical animus against the traditions of the Church and the desire to confuse the laity.

The Diocese of Fargo was established in 1889 and includes 30 counties of approximately 35,786 square miles in eastern North Dakota. It has a population of 71,211 Catholics out of a total population of 408,101 (17.5%). There are 132 priests (including active, retired and those serving outside the diocesan area), 42 permanent deacons, 89 religious sisters and 131 parishes in the diocese. (The Official Catholic Directory 2015).

It is headed by Bishop John Thomas Folda, who was ordained for the diocese of Lincoln Nebraska and consecrated bishop on 19 June, 2013. He attended St. Charles Borromeo in Philadephia, which might be the source of his problem. One wouldn't think a protege of Bishop Flavin wouldn't be this bad.

We've gone through the motions and contacted the chancery, but they have not contacted us.

Feel free to contact the diocese about their deplorable ignorance of the traditions of the Church, if you can get through their menu maze. Diocese of Fargo: Liturgy "Expert" 5201 Bishops Blvd. S., Suite AFargo, ND 58104-7605 Phone: (701) 356-7900


30 comments:

  1. Please remove this article or amend it as it is inaccurate. I am a priest from the Diocese and this isn't the case and the priest you mention doesn't no anything about it and he doesn't need people calling the Diocese complaining about him being forbidden to offer the Mass Ad Oreintem when that hasn't happened. I just spoke to the priest in question and he knows nothing of what you are claiming. Please for the sake of Fr. Lefor remove this misleading article.

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    1. Are you a modernist? Modernists have been doing a lot of damage to the Church for over 50 years. One of their tactics is lying to the faithful. If the priest who said this is Traditional then we believe him. It is Liturgical Legislation from Pope Benedict XVl that no priest can be denied the right to say Mass in the correct position which is Ad Orientem. Pope Benedict said that Mass facing the people by the priest started out as a Vatican ll novelty and it was an error. He said he would not order all Altars to be turned around immediately because, "We must learn from our past mistakes. When the Altar was first turned around we lost many Catholics". He said the turning of the Altars to their rightful position would be done gradually and that no priest can be denied the right to say Mass Ad Orientem. If you are correct then your Diocese will not interfere with a priests liturgical right to say Mass correctly. If your wrong then God will be very much offended. Always remember that sin has two consequences, Guilt and satisfaction which is Divine punishment due to sin. And God ain't kidding around when he punishes sin.

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    2. "priest you mention doesn't no anything about it". Priests are highly educated men. I question that you are a priest because you use the word "no" instead of the correct "know". Any priest would not make such a grammatical error. A Catholic who attended a Catholic school in the 50s would know which of the above words to use by the 4th grade!!

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    3. Must be a post-VII priest, then. QED

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  2. The old vatican 2 hacks are not going to give up. Every time I see one ranting in the blogosphere about "paranoid" or "cuckoo" traditionalists just remember this type of CRAP and double down on your radicalness.

    Luckily next year is the Fatima year, game is up lefty modernist loons, party is over.

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  3. This is Fr. Matthew Kraemer, Director of Liturgy for the Diocese of Fargo. I was not contacted by the author of this blog. Bishop Folda has made no edict forbidding priests to celebrate Mass ad orientem. Please do not spread misinformation.

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    1. Are you in fact intending to restrict Father Lefor and others from saying the Mass facing East?

      Glad we finally hear from you.

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    2. This would only apply to RC priests and not Eastern Catholic priests (who offer the Liturgy ad Kristen all the time), correct?

      I think that ND Eastern Catholic priests would be subject to the either the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh-Munhall, the Eparchy of Van Nuys, the Eparchy of Parma Ohio (Byzantine Catholic) or the Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma Ohio (Ukrainian Greek Catholic) - I'm not sure which jurisdictions apply.



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    3. No reply Fr. Kraemer? Catholics deserve to know if you're going to prevent priests from facing east while saying mass.

      John Z.

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  4. This bishop is in violation of Vatican II, which makes no mention of a specific position for offering mass.

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    1. The vatican 2 pastoral council is a violation of the previous 20 dogmatic councils.

      Crusader tt

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    2. A fact not talked about very often is that some of the big movers and shakers who pushed for Vatican 2 were (((converts))) who became priests. The (((locusts ))) arrived and once again devastated the vineyard.

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  5. As it is explicitly said in Benedict XVI's Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum, priests don't need permission to celebrate the Mass facing east. So any decree of a bishop prohibiting it is null and void a priori.

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    1. I hate to be glib, but holding, defending and teaching the Catholic Faith isn't forbidden, either, at least not de iure, but many priests get censured, suspended, publicly pilloried and even murdered for it.

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    2. Summorum Pontificum is about the "old" Mass, not ad orientem, which it does not mention.

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  6. Not a real bishop. It is no wonder he forbids the True mass.

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  7. I don't think St. Charles Borromeo Seminary maybe the source of the problem, at least when I attended it the majority of the seminarians were conservatives/traditional, but I guess time can change people's mentality or attitude. And I don't ever remember any seminarian with that name, so I can assume that bishop was ordained in the 70's which explains it all :)

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  8. I also am a priest of the Diocese of Fargo. This story is totally false. I am shocked and appalled by the baseless speculation, spite, rash judgments, venom, and sheer hatred exhibited in the comments, as well as in the original story.

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  9. Wow. I am a priest of the Diocese of Fargo, and my previous comment has not been published. I have to presume the reason is that I, too, said that the story is totally false.

    It is disgusting that the blogger, already knowing Fr. Kraemer's name, recommends that readers address him as LITURGY "EXPERT."

    Regarding most of the other commenters, I can only presume that they are posing as the stereotypical "traddy," trying to make it appear that the Traditional Catholic movement is populated by vicious, rash, ignorant, venomous, spittle-flecked nutters.

    I was thinking of using my real name, but I decided it would be unwise to lower myself unprotected into this snake pit.

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    1. The story isn't false. This is very much in the works, and if you're one of the priests who exercises this more than legitimate option (it's always options: catholic or not catholic.), you're in for a rude awakening.

      I recommend you take another Catholic option and call Winona and see if there's a spot in the next seminary class.

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  10. Haha why is attending St Charles the source of the problem?

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    1. I went there for 7 years and never heard to it referred to as that. While st Charles has many problems and it is not a bastion of traditionalism, it is probably the most conservative seminary on the east cost. The seminarians wear cassock/surplice for mass everyday. Extraordinary form is said occasionally. Its problem is more in its mediocrity.

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  11. http://www.semcasual.org/only-openly-gay-speaker-spreads-message-of-hope/

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  12. North Dakota, which is one of those large, empty rectangular regions in the western USA, is actually so close to the North Pole that no matter where you turn you're going to be facing south. In other words, it's impossible to face East, which is all the bishop was trying to point out.
    I'm glad we were able to clear this up.

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    1. Our chapel has an altar facing southwest.
      Its OK as any chapel not facing east is out of respect and metaphorically facing east.
      By facing the congregation you turn your back on Jesus Christ,the God whom we worship.

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  13. There are traditional Holy Mass chapels in North Dakota whom are served by Valid Roman Catholic priest'.
    Google "Latin Mass North Dakota" and attend the Holy Mass that we as Roman Catholics have a solemn right to assist at!

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  14. Here it is 2019, and still no "edict" forbidding Mass ad orientem in the Diocese of Fargo.

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    1. Are there still Catholics in North Dakota?

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