WARREN – The arrival of new clergy to continue Latin Masses and other ministry was greeted with jubilation Sunday at a solemn high Mass and meal at St. Paul Oratory.
Bishop McManus established the oratory Sept. 14 at what was St. Paul Parish, for the celebration of the liturgical rites of 1962. He entrusted its pastoral care to the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.
Institute members who began serving there Sunday are the rector, Rev. Canon Pierre Dumain (the priest entrusted with the pastoral care of members), and his temporary assistant, Abbé Kevin Kerscher, a clerical oblate.
The Institute borrowed from French the title “Abbé” for Kevin Kerscher, since he is an ordained subdeacon, explained Rev. Canon Matthew L. Talarico, the U.S. provincial superior, who lives in Detroit. Canon Talarico came for the Institute’s beginning at St. Paul’s, and celebrated and preached at Sunday’s Mass.
He said the Institute’s clerical oblates are consecrated members not pursuing priesthood, who live and pray in community with the priests and function somewhat like religious brothers, serving where needed.
In the Institute, “a canon is a priest who lives [a] community life of prayer,” singing the Liturgy of the Hours, the provincial superior explained. But the Institute’s priests also go out to “take care of people’s souls.” So, these priests use the ancient word “canon,” which refers to men living this lifestyle - “‘mid-way’ between religious monks and diocesan priests.”
The Institute is a society of apostolic life of pontifical right, which is like a religious order, he explained. Members live in common, observe their constitutions (like an order’s rule of life) and pursue their apostolate, but do not take religious vows.
Institutes of pontifical right are approved by the Holy See by formal decree, the website vatican.va says.
The Institute serving Warren was founded in 1990 in Gabon in Africa by Msgr. Gilles Wach, now prior general, and Father Philippe Mora, now rector of the Institute’s international seminary near Florence, Italy, Canon Talarico said. There are members in more than 12 countries including sisters and laity in addition to the priests and clerical oblates.
In his homily, Canon Talarico described the Institute as a bridge supported by columns which help carry souls from earth to heaven.
The first column is the traditional liturgy in Latin – the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. Members sing the chants together to adore God.
The second column is family. Members live in community to do this, he said. Through their prayers “you are prayerfully remembered at the altar,” he told worshippers. “Then from this altar, the clergy … will go out ... to carry the graces of the altar to people ... everywhere. Then, having met people where they are, our priests are to help each person … come to the altar of God.”
The third column is the spiritual method of the Institute’s patron, St. Francis de Sales, who said you attract more souls with honey than vinegar, so you should “cook the truth in charity until it tastes sweet.”
Canon Talarico said the clergy will seek to attract souls to God by celebrating and explaining the liturgy and emphasizing the beauty of Catholic life, music and arts, and by setting a good example and providing wholesome activities for people of all ages. The clerical family will seek to form a spiritual family with the people.
“The Mass was stunningly beautiful, very moving, after hoping for so many years for the Institute to arrive,” said Steven Rust, a St. Paul’s parish council member who helped bring the Institute here. He said people are “extremely grateful” to Bishop McManus; Msgr. Richard Reidy, formerly St. Paul’s administrator; and the Institute.
In a brief speech Mr. Rust thanked Bishop McManus for providing priests to celebrate the Latin Mass and noted that once the bishop even celebrated the Mass himself when no priest was available. Mr. Rust also expressed gratitude to St. Paul’s former pastor, Father Daniel J. Becker, for bringing the Latin Mass to Warren, and, after moving on, returning to celebrate it.
It is “nice to see the rejuvenation” here, said Kate Ulibarri, a St. Paul’s member for more than two years.
Christopher Flebotte, a member for 17 years, said “everybody’s prayers and sacrifices” helped bring about this “permanent solution” to their desire for the Latin Mass. He said he wants his 10 children to be part of this community and experience these Masses.
After Sunday’s Mass, life-long member Marie Girouard, 81, said, “I thought it was beautiful.” She said she has been attending Latin Masses at St. Paul’s.
“I would totally come back” to Latin Mass at St. Paul’s, said Victoria Dahm, of St. John, Guardian of Our Lady Parish in Clinton.
Harry and Maureen Hatch, St. Paul’s members from Spencer, said they started attending Mass in Warren when churches were closed during the coronavirus pandemic.
“My mother-in-law always talked about how she missed Latin Mass,” which she grew up with, Mr. Hatch said. “We learned that we could come out here and receive Communion. … It was a Latin Mass. You received while kneeling. … Everything my mother-in-law said was correct. It was more reverent.”
Sunday’s Mass “brought me to tears,” Mrs. Hatch said. “I just felt the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
Canon Dumain told oratory members to ask him to administer sacraments, visit the sick, etc. – the more they ask, the more energy he will have.
Born in France and ordained a priest eight years ago, he served in Belgium and, for the past five years, at an oratory in Missouri.
Abbé Kerscher, a Wisconsin native who has been a member of the Institute for more than 25 years, told The Catholic Free Press it is “a great privilege to be here at the beginning of the apostolate” and to meet everyone. He said he will probably also spend one day a week at St. Patrick Oratory in Waterbury, Connecticut, which is loaning him to St. Paul’s.
“We’ve had friends here in Warren for years,” Canon Talarico said. Youth have attended the Institute’s summer camps and one of its priests – Rev. Canon Edward Turner – came from the Worcester Diocese.