As some of you may know, as of Friday, 16th July with the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes (Keepers of the Tradition), the Pope has abrogated the general permission or faculty for priests to celebrate the Mass according to the 1962 Missale Romanum of Saint John XXIII. The faculty of celebrating this Mass in what Pope Benedict XVI had called the Extraordinary form has been severely restricted, and it now requires the Diocesan Bishop to authorise the celebrant, time and place of its celebration. The papal document issued last Friday included no vacatio legis, which means that it is to be implemented with Immediate effect. Consequently, it has not been possible to make timely arrangements so that the Traditional Latin Mass can be celebrated according to the new norms.
Accordingly, as diocesan Bishop I now grant the necessary faculty to celebrate this Mass according to the present arrangements now in place, until necessary provisions can be made to satisfy the implementation of the new norms. This means that the present circumstances are presumed to continue until any necessary future changes may be made.
Currently, the only Sunday celebration of the Pre-conciliar Mass in the Diocese of Dunkeld is celebrated on Sunday mornings at 11.30am in the Church of Saint Patrick in Stobswell, Dundee by Father Ninian Doohan.
+ Stephen Robson
Bishop of Dunkeld