24-05-2025
Charlotte Diocese ending Traditional Latin Masses this summer at parish churches
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Catholic churches in Charlotte will no longer hold Traditional Latin Mass starting this summer.
In a letter written Friday by Charlotte Diocese Bishop Michael Martin, those services at parish churches will be consolidated at a future chapel in Mooresville. The change takes effect July 8.
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Martin cites the 2021 letter the late Pope Francis published, 'Traditionis Custodes,' which restored limits on the celebration of TLM in the Universal Church to 'promote ecclesial communion.' Martin's predecessor Peter Jugis requested an extension for the diocese to prepare for a transition, but that expires this year.
'I am now ready to finish the diocese's implementation of the norms established in 'Traditionis Custodes,' Martin said.
The chapel will be located on the diocese's 8-acre property at 757 Oakridge Farm Hwy., currently the home to the Freedom Christian Center, and adjacent to Curlin Commons, its senior apartment community. The name of the facility is yet to be determined.
Martin said a priest of the diocese will be appointed as a chaplain, who will be responsible for celebrating two Sunday Masses and Holy Day Masses using the 1962 Roman Missal at the new chapel. Those who participate in the services there will remain active members of the current parishes.
St. Ann's Catholic Church on Park Road posted on its website that it is no longer permitted to advertise Latin Masses due to the order.
The Carolina Traditional Liturgy Society said area priests will be addressing the changes this weekend, ending their statement with:
'Let us continue to pray for our bishop and priests, entrusting them to Our Lady's care and protection. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!'
The Associated Press reported that Pope Benedict XVI had loosened restrictions on celebrations of the Latin Mass, which was used for centuries before the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council. Francis reversed Benedict's this liturgical legacy, saying the spread of the Latin Mass had created divisions in dioceses.
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