Alfons Maria Stickler - Support For Tradition

Support For Tradition

Stickler consistently defended the position that the Tridentine Mass was never forbidden or suppressed. He believed that the Mass of Paul VI contradicted the true wishes of the Second Vatican Council, and told the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales that its movement "has full legitimacy in the Church".

On 20 May 1995, Stickler stated that in 1986 a commission of nine cardinals (Stickler, Ratzinger, Mayer, Oddi, Casaroli, Gantin, Innocenti, Palazzini, and Tomko) appointed by Pope John Paul II unanimously gave a negative answer to the question "Did Pope Paul VI or any other competent authority legally forbid the widespread celebration of the Tridentine Mass in the present day?" and to the question "Can any bishop forbid any priest in good standing from celebrating the Tridentine Mass?" He said that eight of the nine were in favour of drawing up a general permission declaring that everyone could choose the old form of the Mass as well as the new.

"The Case for Clerical Celibacy: Its Historical Development and Theological Foundations", written by Stickler, was published in 1995 by Ignatius Press. It treats of the theological reasons and scriptural and magisterial roots of celibacy for Catholic priests.

Read more about this topic:  Alfons Maria Stickler

Famous quotes containing the words support and/or tradition:

    “Any relation to the land, the habit of tilling it, or mining it, or even hunting on it, generates the feeling of patriotism. He who keeps shop on it, or he who merely uses it as a support to his desk and ledger, or to his manufactory, values it less.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes—our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking around.”
    —Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)