His Eminence Antonio Cardinal Innocenti
President, Commission Ecclesia Dei
Piazza Del S. Uffizio 11
00120 Vatican City, Italy, Europe

Your Eminence,

Thank you for your prompt and concise reply to my last letter dated June 14. It has been a great help in dispelling confusion regarding the true interpretation of the “Ecclesia Dei” decree. For the sake of further clarification I would appreciate answers to the questions below and your comments on the attached article by Fr Brian Lucas, the official spokesman for the Archdiocese of Sydney.

1. Are those who are regularly attending Masses celebrated according to [the] 1962 Missal and according to the provisions of “Ecclesia Dei”, but who are under the age of 45 and never followers of Archbishop Lefebvre, abusing a privilege or in an irregular canonical position by attending approved Masses?

 2. Is an aspiration to worship according to the liturgical books of 1962 under the provisions of the motu proprio “Ecclesia Dei” in any way un-Catholic, against the mind of the Church or canonically irregular?

 3. Is it true that the permission under “Ecclesia Dei” for celebrating the liturgy according to the 1962 books is only a temporary measure and will be revoked in the next ten years?

 4. Does the Holy See wish that societies of apostolic life etc. set up under the “Ecclesia Dei” provision continue and expand or not?

 5. Will societies of apostolic life etc. set up under the “Ecclesia Dei” provision eventually be suppressed or ordered to celebrate the Liturgy according to the 1969 typical edition?

Yours sincerely,
 John Gresser

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