Bishop Menjivar Appoints Priests to Assist Latin Mass Expansion in West Virginia
The bishop’s purpose is to foster “greater unity among Catholic faithful” and attend to “their diverse spiritual needs,” a diocesan announcement said.
about 1 month ago
Bishop Menjivar has appointed priests to support the expansion of the Latin Mass in West Virginia, according to reports published September 1, 2026.
The appointments are intended to assist the growth and continuation of Latin Mass celebrations in West Virginia.
Two reports covering the development were published on September 1, 2026, at 17:33 UTC and 18:08 UTC.
Examine Vatican directives governing Latin Mass expansion in the U.S
The Vatican directives governing expansion of the 1962 Roman Missal (“Latin Mass”) in the United States place primary responsibility on diocesan bishops, while reserving the most significant permissions to the Holy See.
The principal norm is Pope Francis’s Traditionis custodes. It treats the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Paul VI as the unique expression of the lex orandi—the Church’s official rule of liturgical prayer—of the Roman Rite. The 1962 Missal is therefore permitted only under regulated, exceptional arrangements rather than as an unrestricted parallel form of the Roman Rite.
The diocesan bishop is described as the moderator, promoter, and guardian of diocesan liturgical life and is responsible for authorizing and supervising celebrations according to the 1962 Missal. He must assess individual communities and work toward ecclesial unity.
A bishop may establish designated locations and determine the days on which the 1962 Missal may be celebrated. He must appoint a suitable priest who is competent in Latin and the older liturgical books, and who possesses pastoral charity and a sense of ecclesial communion. The priest’s responsibility includes not merely celebrating the rites correctly but also providing pastoral and spiritual care.
Permissions may be granted for a defined period of time. The Vatican’s Responsa ad dubia says that temporary authorization is not only possible but recommended, since its expiration allows the bishop to evaluate whether the arrangement conforms to the direction of Traditionis custodes. The permission may then be extended or suspended.
A permission granted by one bishop applies only within that bishop’s diocese. Visiting or substitute priests, as well as deacons and instituted ministers serving such celebrations, require the appropriate authorization.
The ordinary rule is that celebrations using the 1962 Missal should not take place in parish churches, and new personal parishes should not be erected for this purpose. The bishop is also directed to prevent the establishment of new groups.
This means that a U.S. diocese cannot ordinarily expand the Latin Mass by simply assigning additional ordinary parish churches or creating new personal parishes. Existing arrangements must be evaluated according to their genuine pastoral fruitfulness and contribution to spiritual growth.
Priests ordained after the promulgation of Traditionis custodes on 16 July 2021 must formally petition their diocesan bishop. The bishop cannot grant the authorization without first obtaining permission from the Holy See. This is a necessary authorization, not merely a consultation.
Accordingly, the availability of priests is a significant practical limitation on expansion in the United States. A diocese cannot freely authorize newly ordained priests to celebrate the 1962 Missal without the required Roman permission.
Priests who were already celebrating the 1962 Missal must likewise obtain authorization from their diocesan bishop to continue doing so.
The Vatican responses restrict bination, meaning a priest’s celebration of Mass twice on the same day. A priest who celebrates the current Roman Missal as part of his official duties may not ordinarily celebrate the 1962 Missal in addition, because the faithful’s right to participate in the Eucharist is not considered denied when the current Roman Missal is available.
Nor may an authorized priest ordinarily celebrate the 1962 Missal twice on the same day for separate authorized groups.
These provisions prevent dioceses from meeting increased demand simply by scheduling several traditional-form Masses through the same priest.
The 2023 Rescriptum ex audientia clarified that two permissions are specially reserved to the Apostolic See:
If a diocesan bishop has granted such a dispensation, he must inform the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which assesses the individual case.
Thus, even where a U.S. bishop believes an expansion is pastorally justified, the most consequential forms of expansion require Roman involvement. The 2023 rescript confirms the Dicastery’s supervisory authority and the binding force of the Vatican’s earlier interpretive responses.
The earlier framework, Summorum Pontificum, was more permissive. It encouraged pastors to receive requests from stable groups attached to the older liturgical tradition and allowed celebrations in parish churches, including on Sundays and feast days.
That framework cannot be treated as the current governing policy. Traditionis custodes expressly abrogated previous norms, permissions, and customs that do not conform to its provisions.
The directives do not prohibit every celebration of the 1962 Missal in the United States. They permit bishops to provide for faithful attached to the older form, but the governing objective is regulated pastoral provision and eventual liturgical unity, not broad institutional expansion.
In practical terms:
The reported appointment of priests to assist Latin Mass communities in West Virginia is therefore best understood as a diocesan pastoral decision within this restricted framework, not evidence of a general Vatican policy favoring nationwide expansion. Its canonical and liturgical validity would depend on the applicable permissions and, where required, authorization from the Apostolic See.