In a rare move, more than 30 priests from the Diocese of Charlotte have submitted a set of formal dubia — or questions — to the Vatican, seeking clarification on the authority of a diocesan bishop to impose certain liturgical restrictions.
The formal questions, obtained by The Pillar, was sent Jan. 5 to the Dicastery for Legislative Texts and comes in response to Bishop Michael Martin's Dec. 17, 2025, pastoral letter detailing new Eucharistic norms for the diocese.
The questions submitted for clarification were signed by 31 priests, representing approximately one-quarter of the diocesan clergy, according to the diocesan priest directory. Two-thirds of the signatories are pastors, according to The Pillar’s report.
Bishop Martin’s pastoral letter announced that, effective Jan. 16, 2026, parishes may no longer use altar rails, kneelers, or prie-dieus for the reception of Holy Communion. The letter instructed that any movable fixtures used for kneeling during Communion be removed by the same date. Standing is preferred, but the bishop's letter states that anyone who chooses to kneel will not be denied the Eucharist. The bishop issued other directives on intinction, offering the Eucharist under both species, and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion.
In the letter, the priests asked whether a diocesan bishop has the authority to prohibit building altar rails or to require the removal of existing ones. They cited paragraph 295 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), which states that the sanctuary “should be appropriately marked off from the body of the church either by its being somewhat elevated or by a particular structure and ornamentation.”
According to The Pillar, the priests also cited GIRM 42, which says that attention should be paid “to what is determined by this General Instruction and by the traditional practice of the Roman Rite and to what serves the common spiritual good of the People of God, rather than private inclination or arbitrary choice.”
Additional questions addressed whether a bishop may prohibit the use of Roman-style vestments, altar crucifixes and candles, the Latin language, and traditional vesting prayers — all elements referenced in a leaked draft of further liturgical regulations attributed to the diocese.
The priests asked whether a bishop can prohibit priests from wearing certain vestments not prohibited in Church law, or from distributing Holy Communion by intinction, a practice described in GIRM as an option, among other similar questions.
The dubia come just two days before the College of Cardinals will meet with Pope Leo for his first Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals where the liturgy is reportedly an agenda item. They also come the same day a Vatican analyst published and reported on a letter sent by a French priest to the cardinals proposing a solution to the Traditional Latin Mass tension in the Church.
Bishop Martin was installed as bishop of Charlotte in May 2024. His liturgical policies have prompted criticism from laity and from some priests who describe his leadership as overly directive and say the changes have introduced uncertainty into parish life.
CatholicVote has reported on these changes since May 2025 when the bishop announced the sequestering of parish-based offerings of the Traditional Latin Mass to a single chapel too small — and for some too far — to accommodate all who once attended the celebrations at their parishes.