Vatican says Latin Mass parishes in Virginia diocese must offer Latin Novus Ordo once a month instead

"There are strings attached to the Vatican’s two-year extension for permission to offer the Traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Arlington in Virginia, with TLM parish churches required to offer the Novus Ordo in Latin once a month instead of the TLM...

The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments 'suggested that once a month, in place of one of the Masses usually celebrated in the usus antiquior, Mass be celebrated in Latin using the Missale Romanum of 2008 (the Novus Ordo Missae),' the diocese announced. 'Bishop Burbidge has accepted this proposal, which will solely pertain to the three parish churches listed above.'...

In 2022, Bishop Michael Burbidge issued one of the most sweeping crackdowns on the Traditional Latin Mass in the U.S. after Traditionis Custodes, eliminating 13 TLMs in his diocese. In fact, the Diocese of Arlington has pointed out in its most recent announcement that 'the Dicastery commended the diocese for how well it has implemented Traditionis Custodes.'

At the time, the restrictions were decried by Latin Mass attendees in the region as a tragedy and an affront to the TLM community.

'This announcement this morning was like a knife going through my heart,' Doug Koupash shared with LifeSiteNews after the 2022 decision. 'I (worshipped at) the Latin Mass until I went to college. That’s when the Novus Ordo was in full bloom. And I remember the first time I went to the local church at my university in Iowa and they had the English and the guitars and the banjos… I was absolutely horrified. I was horrified. I left that church and did not go back.'

'So on and off I went to the church. I got married and went back to the Church again. I tried with the Novus Ordo Mass and there was nothing there. After a while, there was nothing in my heart. I couldn’t do it anymore. And I can’t go back to that. So I have some decisions to make,' said Koupash, who went on to struggle to speak through tears.

Even when offered in Latin, the Novus Ordo Missae is radically different from the TLM in its prayers and gestures, so much so that... others have argued that it is 'a different rite.' The Novus Ordo has excised many prayers; watered-down existing prayers by, for example, cutting expressions of sorrow for sin and petitions for mercy; and it has made much less clear the nature of the Mass as Christ’s own sacrifice. Priests and theologians argue these Masses are thereby qualitatively different with respect to the worship they render to God, the faith formation of attendees, and even potentially the graces they produce."