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Welcome to the Ecclesia Dei

Ministry of the Diocese of Norwich, CT

The Tridentine Mass Is Celebrated Every Sunday at Noon at New St. Bridget’s Church. 

For Exceptions Click Here.

Mass in the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo) is Normally Celebrated at 5pm on Saturday

and at 7am, 9am and 10:30am on Sundays.  For the Parish’s Complete Mass Schedule, Click Here.

 

IMPORTANT MESSAGES:

 

#1 – URGENT MESSAGE:   AT THE DIRECTION OF MICHAEL R. COTE, BISHOP OF NORWICH, THE JANUARY 22, 2012 MASS FOR THE ECCLESIA DEI MINISTRY OF THE DIOCESE OF NORWICH WILL BE CELEBRATED AT 12:00 NOON AT ST. BRIDGET OF KILDARE IN MOODUS.  THE LOW MASS WILL BE OFFERED BY FR. CHRISTOPHER FEENEY.  DIOCESAN DIRECTIONS/DECISIONS REGARDING THE MINISTRY, ITS FUTURE AND ITS CHAPLAIN CONTINUE TO BE UNCLEAR, BUT THE CHANCERY WILL BE APPROACHED ON THE MATTER IN THE NEAR FUTURE. 

 

#2 – MASS INTENTIONS:  AS OF NOW, THE MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE MINISTRY’S FUTURE TRIDENTINE MASSES AND THE LOCATION(S) AT WHICH FR. FLUET (OR ANOTHER PRIEST) WILL CELEBRATE THOSE MASSES ARE UNCLEAR, AND WE ARE AWAITING FURTHUR DIRECTION FROM HIS EXCELLENCY, THE BISHOP, IN THAT REGARD.

 

#3 – MASS ACOLYTES:  TRAINING FOR POTENTIAL ACOLYTES IN HOW TO SERVE THE TRIDENTINE MASS IS TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED PENDING FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS FROM HIS EXCELLENCY, BISHOP COTE.  MORE INFORMATION WILL BE PROVIDED AS IT BECOMES KNOWN.  A DESCRIPTION OF THE RUBRICS USED AT ST. BRIDGET’S FOR LOW MASS IS AVAILABLE HERE, AND IT IS EXPECTED THAT ACOLYTES SERVING THE MASS WILL FOLLOW THOSE RUBRICS FAITHFULLY.   A DIAGRAM OF THE HIGH ALTAR REFERRED TO IN THE RUBRICS IS AVAILABLE HERE.

 

#4 – THE WEEKLY “CHURCH CHRONICLES” ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN THE LEFT COLUMN UNDER

“ST. BRIDGET’S WEEKLY BULLETIN.”

 

#5 – AS THEY HAVE BEEN FOR SOME TIME, THE ANNUAL REPORTS FOR FISCAL YEARS 2007-2008, 2008-2009 AND 2009-2010 CAN BE FOUND HERE

 

#6 – WE NOW HAVE SOME PHOTOS AVAILABLE IN THE “PHOTOS”PAGE OR CLICK HERE

 

#7 – THE WEBMASTER SUCCESSFULLY UNDERWENT SERIOUS ABDOMINAL SURGERY ON MONDAY, 12/5/2011, AND, AFTER A LENGTHY HOSPITAL STAY, HAS RETURNED HOME FOR RECUPERATION.  THE PATHOLOGY REPORT INDICATES THAT ALL OF THE CANCER INVOLVED WAS REMOVED AND THE PROGNOSIS IS CURRENTLY EXCELLENT.  HE WISHES TO THANK ALL THOSE FROM OUR COMMUNITY WHO OFFERED PRAYERS, ROSARIES AND MASSES ON HIS BEHALF, AND CONSIDERS THE RESULTS OF THOSE PRAYERS TO BE NOTHING SHORT OF MIRACULOUS! 

 

“SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM” IN LATIN/ENGLISH HERE

 

THIS WEBSITE IS BEST VIEWED USING MOZILLA FIREFOX

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         Old St. Bridget of Kildare Church

 

    New St. Bridget of Kildare Church

 

 

 

         North Moodus Road, Moodus, CT

 

    Moodus-Leesville Road, Moodus, CT

 

 

 

 

At St. Bridget of Kildare Parish in Moodus, CT, as in many other parishes in Roman Catholic Dioceses in the United States, the ancient Mass of the Catholic Church, offered in Latin by a priest facing in the same direction as the people, is being heard by a growing number of Catholics, loyal to both the Pope and to the local Bishop but personally attached to the traditional Catholic liturgy.  Many of these people, both young and old, are also discovering for the first time, the transcendental intensity and the quiet reverence that characterizes the so-called "traditional Mass", a solemn liturgy of ancient and noble lineage.

 

The traditional Latin Mass represented almost 1900 years of organic growth in the ancient Christian liturgy. That liturgy was finally "codified" by St. Pope Pius V in 1570 as part of his implementation of the disciplinary reforms required by the Council of Trent (1545-1563).  The Latin name for Trent was "Tridentum", and for that reason, the rite is commonly called the "Tridentine Mass".  During the following 400 years, there were only minor changes to that "codified" liturgy.  However, following the close of Vatican II in the late 1960s, Pope Paul VI instituted the Novus Ordo Missae, the so-called "New Mass", and, in 1970, the older rite was essentially suppressed.  But in 1984, Pope John Paul II issued the Papal Indult, Quattour Abhinc Annos, which permitted the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass under certain conditions and when specifically permitted by the local bishop. In 1988, the Pope broadened the permissible celebration of the Tridentine Mass by issuing his Apostolic Letter, Ecclesia Dei Adflicta, in which he declared that "respect must be  shown everywhere" for the "rightful aspirations of all the Catholic faithful" who find themselves "attached to the liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition" and then urged all local bishops to provide a "wide and generous application" of the permission initially set forth in the 1984 Indult.  After that time, the Tridentine Mass slowly began to return to the Roman Catholic liturgical scene, not as a challenge to the prevailing rite, but in order to meet "the rightful aspirations" of those faithful Catholics who prefer it over the modern rite.

 

 

On July 7, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued, motu proprio, his Apostolic Letter, Summorum Pontificum in which he decreed that the Tridentine form of the Roman Rite, as contained in the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Bl. John XXIII in 1962, had never been abrogated, that it comprised the “extraordinary form” of the Roman Rite and that its use was entirely permissible subject to the guidelines set forth in the Apostolic Letter.  The rules for the use of the Tridentine form of the Roman Rite officially took effect on September 14, 2007, the Feast of the Exultation of the Cross.

 

In the Diocese of Norwich, Bishop Daniel Reilly first re-authorized the celebration of the Tridentine Mass at St. Joseph Church in North Grovenorsdale in 1990, and appointed the pastor there, Father Gregoire J. Fluet, to undertake a particular apostolate to those Roman Catholics who preferred the more ancient rite.  The next Bishop of Norwich, Daniel Hart, re-confirmed that apostolate in 1997.  In 1998, the Tridentine Mass apostolate moved to St. Bridget`s in Moodus, where Father Fluet is now the pastor.  Upon his investiture as the current Bishop of Norwich, Bishop Michael R. Cote, again re-confirmed the Traditional Mass apostolate.  Most recently, on August 15, 2007, Bishop Cote, in beginning to implement the provisions of Summorum Pontificum, replaced the Diocese’s “Tridentine Mass Apostolate” with the new “Ecclesia Dei Ministry” for the Diocese of Norwich and named Father Fluet as the first Chaplain and Head of that Ministry.

 

The Tridentine Mass that is celebrated at St. Bridget`s is usually a "Low Mass", but a "Missa Cantata", or sung "High Mass" is celebrated on some Sundays and feastdays during the liturgical year, and is sometimes accompanied by a men’s "schola cantorum" singing the appropriate Gregorian Chants for that day.  All Catholics and any non-Catholics who might be interested in seeing the ancient Latin Mass are always welcome at St. Bridget`s.  For the Mass Schedule, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

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