Kevin Kelly/Key photo Bishop Robert W. Finn speaks to members of the Latin Mass community at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish following Mass on Aug. 14.

"This is the answer to the prayers of many, many people for many years," said John Heuertz, one of a few hundred people who have been attending Mass celebrated in Latin, according to the 1962 pre-Vatican II rite, at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish near Crown Center.

Bishop Robert W. Finn, who had been consulting on the plan with a core committee of community members, told about 200 members of the community at the end of Mass Aug. 14 that they will soon have both their own church - historic Old St. Patrick at Eighth and Cherry streets in downtown Kansas City - and their own priest, specially trained in the celebration of sacraments in Latin.

Father Denis Buchholz, a priest of the Institute of Christ the King, will be coming to the diocese in early October to take over sacramental duties for the community. The Institute of Christ the King has a seminary in Italy specifically to train priests in the celebration of Mass and sacraments in Latin.

The date for the transfer of the community from Our Lady of Sorrows, where it has celebrated Mass in Latin for 11 years, to Old St. Patrick isn't definite and depends on renovations to the historic downtown church to fit the rites in Latin.

Begun in 1868, Old St. Patrick was the third parish established in Kansas City, following Immaculate Conception which became the cathedral parish, and Ss. Peter and Paul, serving German-speaking Catholics.

In 1875, the people of St. Patrick Parish built their church, which still stands as the oldest Catholic Church in continuous use in Kansas City, predating the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception by more than a decade.

Because of the increasing commercial development of the downtown area, the parish was suppressed in 1959 and the church became an oratory for the celebration of Mass under the care of the cathedral.

Bishop Finn told the community that Bishop John J. Sullivan in 1988 first granted the "indult" or permission to celebrate Mass in Latin in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese shortly after Pope John Paul II allowed it following the schism of French Archbishop Marcel LeFebvre and his Society of St. Pius X.

Archbishop LeFebvre and his followers rejected the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, and formally broke with the Roman Catholic Church in 1988 when he ordained bishops for his society without the approval of the pope.

But it wasn't until Bishop Raymond J. Boland established the Latin Mass community at Our Lady of Sorrows in 1994 that a regular Mass in Latin was celebrated in the diocese. That community celebrated its inauguration at a Solemn High Mass on June 29, 1994.

Bishop Finn told the Latin Mass community that Old St. Patrick is in sound condition. The cathedral has recently completed tuckpointing and roof repairs, and a small maintenance fund for Old St. Patrick will be transferred to the community. Old St. Patrick also has a monthly income of approximately $2,700 from the lease of its parking lot during the business week.

But Bishop Finn told the community that most of the expense of renovating the building as well as future maintenance will be the community's responsibility.

"The work will be demanding and costly," he said. "There will be sacrifices involved."

At a 90-minute question-and-answer session following his announcement, a few members of the community expressed misgivings about the costs of restoring Old St. Patrick, about moving from Our Lady of Sorrows which is one of the diocese's most beautiful churches, and about the permanence of the new arrangement.

Bishop Finn told the community that while he cannot bind his successors to any of his decisions, it is his intention to help the community grow.

"It's not my intention to decide this and say, 'Good luck,'" Bishop Finn said. "You will be receiving my support in various ways. It is my intention to see this community prosper."

He noted that while Father Buchholz will be "rector" of Old St. Patrick and will handle all day-to-day matters, Bishop Finn has appointed himself as the titular "pastor" of the community.

Although the community does face the immediate task of acquiring and installing a high altar for celebration of the Mass in Latin, called the Tridentine Mass, other renovations can be done over time, the bishop said.

"It can be done in certain degrees, but it can be done beautifully," he said.

Some members of the Latin Mass community said they have been given more than the people who first built the church in the 19th century.

"We have it better than our ancestors who built these buildings," said Bill Fitzgibbons. "We have a building. All we have to do is repair it."

Other Latin Mass community members noted that once in their own building, they will be able to celebrate Mass on their own schedule, and even celebrate daily Mass.

"This church will attract a lot of people," John Quastler said. "This church will exclusively have the Tridentine rite. That will be very attractive to a lot of people."

"It's a great opportunity and we should all get behind it," said Joe Farris. "It will be up to the strength of our community to make it a beautiful church."

Bishop Finn said that the community for the first time will maintain its own sacramental registry and celebrate all its sacraments according to the Tridentine rite. He said that he himself will confer Confirmation at Old St. Patrick according to the pre-Vatican II rites.

At the same time, he proclaimed to the community his love for the post-Vatican II rites, called "Novus Ordo," or "new order."

"I love the Novus Ordo Mass as a priest," he said. "I love the church, and I love the (Second Vatican) Council.

"But I also have a love and a respect for the Tridentine rite," he said. "This also has a special place."

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