Observance of Traditional Calendar is Intrinsic to the Celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass

The Office of the Ecclesia Dei Commission has made a ruling that Traditionalist Catholics can use the Traditional Calendar Feasts. This is in contradiction to the earlier statement made by the Bishops Conference of England and Wales. Here is an excerpt from the Catholic Herald, as reported by Anna Arco in an article entitled; “Vatican Allows Traditionalists to keep Holidays”. Here is the excerpt -

“The Vatican has told traditionalists they have the right to celebrate major feast days according to the older calendar even where they have been transferred to the Sunday by the bishops.This appears to contradict a statement made by the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales earlier this year. Responding to a dubium (query) by the Latin Mass Society, the Ecclesia Dei Commission, which deals with the implementation of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, said the older calendar is legitimate. Unlike the new calendar, in which the feast moves to the Sunday if the bishops' conference transfers it, the rubrics for the 1962 calendar allow for the obligation to be transferred to the Sunday without moving the feast.”….

For more on this report you can visit the The Catholic Herald.

Personal Comment: It is my personal opinion that the observance of the Traditional Roman Calendar (1962 edition) is intrinsic to the celebration of the TLM. There is a temptation among some to use or mix the readings and feasts of the Novus Ordo with the TLM. Sometimes Priests who were so used to the Novus Ordo Mass could not help but mixed their sermons with references to the readings from the Calendar used in the Novus Ordo. I think that the readings and feasts in the New Calendar should not be mixed up with the TLM. These two forms of the Roman Rite have distinct theological emphasis and the calendar is a part of that mosaic. Mixing it with the Novus Ordo will undermine the integrity and wholeness of the rite.