(LifeSiteNews) — The bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, has announced that he will be adding a monthly Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) at a location very close to a Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) chapel.
“Motivated by the salvation of souls, Bishop [Michael] Sis announced that the Traditional Latin Mass according to the 1962 Missal will be offered beginning Sunday, 30 August, and thereafter on the last Sunday of each month,” shared Father Ryan Rojo, director of vocations and of seminarians for the diocese, in a post on X last week.
“This Mass will be offered on the last Sunday of each month at 3:00 p.m. in the Holy Family Chapel at St. Ann’s Church. It’s our hope that this time will enable people from West Texas (Lubbock, Amarillo, and El Paso) and Southeastern New Mexico (Diocese of Las Cruces) to join us for this celebration,” wrote Rojo.
St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Midland is only a five-minute drive from St. Michael the Archangel Chapel, where Masses are offered by SSPX priests.
In response to the announcement on X, some social media users welcomed the addition and expressed their gratitude. Others questioned why the Latin Mass is not being offered every Sunday instead. A few suggested the location of the Mass is designed to poach SSPX Mass-goers.
Indeed, in a letter from Sis issued last month, he encouraged San Angelo Catholics to avoid SSPX Masses offered in Midland at St. Michael the Archangel Chapel and to instead attend the Traditional Latin Mass offered at St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church “with permission from the Holy See each Sunday.”
READ: Abp. Cordileone says Vatican TLM restrictions aren’t ‘realistic,’ contra Cardinal Roche
Apart from the SSPX Mass, the closest Latin Mass to the one to be held at St. Ann’s is offered two hours away at St. Margaret’s in San Angelo, which holds Traditional Latin Masses once on Sundays as well as on Thursday mornings.
In the summer of 2025, the Vatican granted the Latin Mass at St. Margaret’s a two-year extension. The Latin Mass there is expected to expire next year.
Bishop Sis explained when he announced the extension that he views it as a means toward promoting the Novus Ordo Missae.
“Just as before, the granting of this dispensation is based upon an ongoing effort to promote the full appreciation and acceptance of the liturgical books renewed by decree of the Second Vatican Council and promulgated by Popes Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II,” said Sis.
Last month, Sis issued a letter reiterating the Vatican’s claim regarding the SSPX: that priests of the SSPX “unlawfully administer the sacraments” and that “the sacrament of penance administered by them and marriages witnessed by them are now invalid.” Such a claim presumes the real excommunication of these priests, which canon lawyer Father Gerald Murray admitted has not been legally effected.
While Pope Francis’ TLM-suppressing Traditionis Custodes said that priests must ask permission from their bishop to continue to offer the TLM, the Traditional Latin Mass has been definitively authorized by St. Pius V’s bull Quo Primum.
It states regarding the Traditional Latin Mass codified in 1570 that “this Missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment, or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used.”
“Nor are superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us. We likewise declare and ordain … that this present document cannot be revoked or modified, but remains always valid and retains its full force,” the bull states.