Letter 1354 published 9 April 2026
PROPOSAL OF THE ABBOT OF SOLESMES:
INTEGRATE THE TRADITIONAL MASS INTO THE NEW MISSAL
OUR COUNTERPROPOSAL:
TO INTEGRATE THE TRADITIONAL MASS INTO THE PARISHES
237th WEEK: THE SENTINELS CONTINUE THEIR PRAYERS
FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE TRADITIONAL MASS
IN FRONT OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF PARIS
In these days of the Octave of the Resurrection, I would like to present a proposal that many will consider utopian, but which is actually extremely serious. I believe, in fact, that it would be the beginning of a resurrection for our afflicted Mother, the Church of God.
Everyone knows that Dom Geoffroy Kemlin, Benedictine Abbot of Solesmes, made a suggestion to the Pope, which preceded the latter's invitation to the French bishops to reflect upon solutions which might allow to heal the wound of the liturgical crisis—an invitation I attempted to decipher in my last Letter to the Sentinels last week.
It is possible that Dom Kemlin's proposal arose from conversations between certain prelates, superiors of communities celebrating the Vetus Ordo, such as the abbots of Fontgombault, Lagrasse, and Triors, and Cardinal Sarah, all having been asked the Cardinal’s editor, Nicolas Diat, to submit proposals to the Pope, under the patronage of the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra (see Letter from Paix Liturgique No. 1307 of November 20, 2025).
Dom Kemlin's solution, outlined in a letter to the Pope on November 12, 2025 "Un missel unique pour les deux rites" : la proposition de l'abbé de Solesmes qui relance le débat liturgique - Tribune Chrétienne), can be summarized in these three sentences that we find therein: "It would simply consist of inserting the old Ordo Missae into the Missale Romanum (possibly revised minimally to adapt it to the Second Vatican Council, in particular allowing, for those who so wish, the use of the vernacular, concelebration, and the four Eucharistic Prayers), leaving the new Ordo Missae unchanged. Both Ordines Missae would thus form part of the single Roman Missal. Instead of dividing and rejecting, this solution would allow for the inclusion and acceptance of the faithful attached to the old Missal, without offending or alienating those who are attached to the new Ordo." It should be noted from the outset that this proposal is part of an ongoing series of "solutions" that have emerged following the rejection of liturgical reform by a sector of the Catholic world. These solutions present alternatives that, if implemented, would add a third rite, a hybrid rite, to the old and the new.
Now, the boldest point of Kemlin's solution—integrating the old missal within the new missal—is immediately followed by a caveat that in fact nullifies the value of this integration: the old rite would be "minimally revised to adapt it to the Second Vatican Council." And, somewhat naively, the explanation is as follows: this "unchanged" missal would be open to the vernacular, to concelebration, and to the four Eucharistic Prayers. In short, we would have an old missal, but with options, and consequently, an explosion of diversified practices in different chapels, communities, and parishes where the new missal is used: here the celebrant would use the old missal with the Eucharistic Prayer II, there the priests of the community would concelebrate, and so forth.
For my part, I would present a counterproposal. It is not actually new, since I have formulated it in various ways, but I formalize it here. It would consist of integrating the traditional missal—and actually the entire traditional liturgy, since Dom Kemlin omits the sacraments, the Divine Office, blessings, and funerals—not into the new missal, but into the parishes where Mass is usually celebrated according to the new missal.
This is, in fact, what a considerable number of parishioners in "ordinary" parishes desire, as demonstrated by numerous surveys conducted by Paix Liturgique, also confirmed by Stephen Bullivant and Stephen Cranney, sociologists specializing in the study of the faithful of the traditional liturgy, who were recently received by the Pope (Letter Paix Liturgique 1344, March 18, 2026). In a study published in 2024, half of the Catholics interviewed expressed their interest in being able to attend Mass according to the traditional Roman rite.
Therefore, it would be appropriate for the traditional Mass to be celebrated freely in each parish, especially on Sundays, either by decision of the parish priest or at the request of the parishioners, together with the other Sunday Masses, but at a time which might prove convenient for families. Furthermore, the faithful would be able to receive all the other sacraments according to their wishes from the parish priests or other priests whom the parish priest might invite for that purpose. Of course, this would not prevent the existence of chapels, churches, and various places of worship dedicated exclusively to the traditional liturgy.
In short, my solution is not only a counterproposal to Dom Kemlim's Universal Missal, but also to the ordinariate of Father Louis-Marie de Blignières, through which he seeks to protect the traditional liturgy within a structure that one would have to join in order to attend or celebrate it.
Needless to say, my solution, based on the freedom of the traditional liturgy to which we must aspire, would offer this currently confined liturgy an unprecedented opportunity for expansion. A utopia? No, rather an act of hope. The risen Lord, who conquered death and rose triumphantly from the tomb, cannot but ensure, according to the will of his mysterious Providence, that his Church may rise again, along with its immutable doctrine, and its holy liturgy.
And the Parisian sentinels share my hope, and that is why they tirelessly pray their rosaries for the freedom of the traditional liturgy, at 10 rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame, Monday to Friday, from 1:00 to 1:30 p.m., at Saint-Georges de La Villette, 114 avenue Simon Bolivar, on Wednesdays and Fridays at 5:00 p.m., in front of Notre-Dame du Travail, on Sundays at 6:15 p.m.
