Bishop Michael Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, announced May 23 that, effective July 8, the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) will no longer be celebrated in parish churches in the diocese. This comes ahead of the previously granted Vatican permission allowing four parishes to continue the TLM until Oct. 2.
“My predecessor, Bishop Peter Jugis, requested and received from the Holy See an extension for the Diocese of Charlotte in order to arrange an orderly transition to the new instructions,” Bishop Martin wrote in a pastoral letter. “That temporary extension expires this year, and I am now ready to finish the diocese’s implementation of the norms established in Traditionis Custodes.”
The decision completes the diocese’s transition under Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’ 2021 directive limiting the availability of the TLM. A chapel located at 757 Oakridge Farm Highway in Mooresville, North Carolina, will become the designated location for TLM celebrations.
A diocesan priest will serve as chaplain of the new TLM location, offering two Sunday Masses and Masses on Holy Days using the 1962 Roman Missal. Two of the parishes that are set to end the TLM — St. Ann and St. Thomas Aquinas — are in Charlotte and relatively close to the new chapel’s location. Devotees who attend the Mass at St. John the Baptist Parish in Tryon and Our Lady of Grace Parish in Greensboro would have about a 1.5- to 2.5-hour drive to the Mooresville location.
In his letter, Bishop Martin expressed a desire to fulfill the late Holy Father’s vision for liturgical harmony.
“It is my heartfelt desire and prayer that this implementation of Traditionis Custodes will further ‘promote the concord and unity of the Church’ among the People of God in the Diocese of Charlotte so that, as Jesus prayed to His Father, we ‘may all be one’ (John 17:21),” he wrote.
Parishioners who attend the Latin Mass will remain members of their current parishes.