Most Holy Trinity Parish

08/14/2026

Fr. Greg Caldwell's bulletin letter of August 16, 2026

Over the past two months I have been considering the role of Latin in the Liturgy. Typically, I was considering the Liturgy through the view of the Order of Mass, something that is familiar to us and often the first thing we think of when we think of the Liturgy; yet there is far more to the Liturgy than just the Order of Mass. The Mass is the source and summit of the Christian life, and, as such, is central to any question of the Liturgy. However, when we consider the Mass, there is more to it than just the Order of Mass and when considering the Liturgy there is more than the Mass.

Any particular Mass is celebrated on a particular day. While the Order of Mass remains unchanged, the particular Mass being celebrated changes depending on the Liturgical Calendar. The Liturgical Calendar sanctifies the year through different seasons, penitential days, commemorations, feasts, solemnities, and memorials. It affects which celebrations can occur, what music is sung, what readings are proclaimed, which prayers are said, and what color is worn among other things. Beyond the Mass, the calendar shapes our daily lives as we move through the year. There are penitential days of fasting and abstinence, there are feast days of celebration, there are joyful seasons and penitential seasons.

Within a given day on the Liturgical calendar there is a shape to the day. As part of the Liturgy there is the Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours, which all priests and religious are required to pray. It is composed of several hours throughout the day, and by praying the Office at the various hours one sanctifies the day.

Additionally, as part of the Liturgy there are various blessings and sacramentals, sanctifying daily life. Some of these blessing set an object aside for sacred use, e.g. the blessing of Holy Water or a rosary, others are asking God’s protection for objects used in ordinary life, e.g. the blessing of a new car.

This is all in addition to the rest of the Sacraments which are also part of the Liturgy, something I reflected on in the bulletin about a year ago. With this broader view of the Liturgy, I would like to take this space in the bulletin over the next few weeks to look at some of these various parts of the Liturgy that we do not think about as much, starting next week with the Liturgical Calendar.

In Christ,
Fr. Greg Caldwell

08/14/2026

Fr. Six Returns to Tanzania!

Fr. Six, who served at Most Holy Trinity Parish, is celebrating his 25th Anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood and preparing to return to Rulenge Ngara, Tanzania. He is currently serving in the Diocese of Peoria Illinois. He has just been appointed Pastor of Mbuba Parish and overseer of Maleba Farm. At Mbuba he will be building a new church and rectory.

Fr. Six started Maleba Farm Initiative, an agroforestry project that will become self-sustaining, provide local jobs and care for older priests upon their retirement. More information can be found at rulengengaraagroforestryinitiatives.org

If you would like to send him a congratulatory or farewell card, you can do so by sending it to: Fr. Six c/o The Coys 777 Willoughby Lake Rd, Barton, VT 05822. Or email him at [email protected].

08/07/2026

Fr. Greg Caldwell's bulletin letter of August 9, 2026

At the start of this series on Latin, we saw Popes and Councils through modern history constantly reaffirming the importance of Latin. The Council of Trent defended the use of Latin and the Second Vatican Council, while allowing far wider use of the vernacular, still proclaimed that “the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites.” This left the question, what is the role of Latin in the Liturgy today? Having spent the last few months looking at Latin and the Liturgy, including the nature of the Liturgy itself, the history of the Liturgy, the history of languages in the Liturgy, and the benefits of Latin, we can at last come to a tentative answer to the question about Latin in the Liturgy. While there are many arguments for, and benefits of, Latin, as seen over the last few weeks, I think there are two essential roles of Latin in the Liturgy today.

The first is as a connection to the Tradition that has been passed down through history. We do not create the Liturgy even as it develops. We have received it in Latin and as such must preserve Latin. It is the sacred language used in the Western Church for the Liturgy for over 1500 years. Nothing that is fully brought to the church is ever fully removed. The Liturgy was first in Greek and we still see Greek remain with the Kyrie remaining in Greek along with the Trisagion during The Reproaches on Good Friday though it has been over a millennium since it has been a primary liturgical language in the West. As such, Latin in some way must remain, even as translations are provided. It is this connection that led Pope Benedict to call for “future priests, from their time in the seminary, receive the preparation needed to understand and to celebrate Mass in Latin, and also to use Latin texts and execute Gregorian chant.”

This connection to the Tradition is seen in the Second Vatican Council’s call make sure “that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.” These parts of the Mass do not change between Masses. As such, even when they are done in Latin (though they may be done in the vernacular) there is little difficulty following or understanding. Everyone one who comes to Mass regularly is familiar with the responses and what they mean in their native tongue. This has the added benefit in international Masses that there is a language that does not share favoritism to work as a universal language where people from all over the world, no matter their daily language.

The universality brings the second essential role of Latin today; it is a shared sacred language set apart from every ethnicity or nation. No particular group has a claim to own or control the Liturgy. If the Liturgy was in the language of a particular group, there would be advantages to being in that group. Nations or groups that do not use that language would become, in some sense, second class. By having the official texts of the Liturgy in Latin and having all national or ethnic groups use that Missal, even if often in translation to the vulgar tongue, the universality of the Liturgy and the Church is shown and preserved.

With these in mind, we can see where Latin fits in the Liturgy here at Most Holy Trinity Parish. Recalling the importance of Latin, we make some, though small, use of Latin. Given the importance of learning the common parts of the Mass in Latin we use the Latin Mass parts in Lent and Advent at all three of our Churches. We additionally use the Missa de Angelis during Easter and Christmas in Irasburg. Keeping in mind the Tradition, not only in language but also in music, we also use Latin for occasional hymns (e.g. O Salutaris and Tantum Ergo at Exposition and Benediction, Ave Maria, Panis Angelicus) along with the sequences that come up a few Sundays during the year.

There are many benefits to learning more of the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin and praying in Latin more than we use it here on Sundays, including the participating in Mass fully in Latin. There are some opportunities around for the Mass in Latin. The first is the Benedictine Immaculate Heart of Mary Abbey in Westfield, VT. The nuns celebrate the Liturgy in Latin, both for Mass and the Divine Office. Additionally, we will be celebrating the 6:15 pm Tuesday Mass on August 18 and 25 in Latin. The readings will still be in English for two reasons. The first is because the Second Vatican Council called for the readings to be in the vernacular. The second is because we do not have a Latin edition of the current lectionary here at Most Holy Trinity Parish. Note that these are using the current Missal (editio typica tertia) that our normal Sunday Mass is translated from, not the Traditional Liturgy from before the Second Vatican Council. The only place in Vermont that the old Liturgy is celebrated with the permission of the Bishop is the St. Philip Neri Chaplaincy at St. Anthony’s in Burlington.

Even as we make use of the provisions for far greater use of the vernacular as allowed by the Second Vatican Council, let us recall the importance of Latin, learn some of the prayers, occasionally pray in the sacred language of those who came before as we participate in the Liturgy, in particular in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

In Christ,
Fr. Greg Caldwell

07/31/2026

Fr. Greg Caldwell's bulletin letter of August 2, 2026

Last week I considered some benefits to the use of Latin on an individual and spiritual level. This week I would like to consider some other benefits, some more theological, others practical. Many of these are noted on the eve of the Second Vatican Council by Pope John XXIII in his apostolic constitution Veterum Sapientia.
Perhaps the first benefit that many consider thinking about the advantages of Latin, is that it captures the nature of the Catholic Church as universal. All vernacular languages are languages of a particular nation or people. However, Latin, today, is not. As such, in the words of John XXIII, Latin “gives rise to no jealousies. It does not favor any one nation, but presents itself with equal impartiality to all and is equally acceptable to all.”
It is this universality that makes Latin have value for evangelization. While it seems that the use of the vernacular is the best way to evangelize, and the vernacular has always through history been used in works of evangelization, Latin also brings important advantages. As John XXIII puts it, Latin “is a general passport to the proper understanding of the Christian writers of antiquity and the documents of the Church’s teaching.” So many of these works are important and come with rich spiritual benefit but will never be translated into every language. Still today many Latin works and church documents have never been translated into English, let alone smaller vernacular languages. When a people learns Latin, while maintaining their vernacular, the depths of the faith are open to them on par with any nation or people before them. Latin prevents any second-class citizens as we evangelize for no vernacular language of any people or nation is considered superior, no matter when that people came to the faith.
In addition to having a universality across peoples, Latin is also stable through time. Because Latin is not a vernacular language in use today, it does not change. Any vernacular language translation always has to be updated; it is part of the reason that the USCCB is always considering new translations of rituals and new scripture translations. Even excellent scripture translations sometimes need to be updated, not because the translation was wrong, but because the vernacular language has changed through common use. In the words of John XXIII, “modern languages are liable to change, and no single one of them is superior to the others in authority.”
However, the Church, by the use of Latin, not only in the typical editions of all the liturgical books, but also formal documents, uses a language that is stable. Again from John XXIII, Latin “is set and unchanging. It has long since ceased to be affected by those alterations in the meaning of words which are the normal result of daily, popular use.” This stability is important for the Church by providing a standard that is stable without giving any favoritism to any particular people or nation. Without Latin “There would […] be no language which could serve as a common and constant norm by which to gauge the exact meaning of other renderings.” We see the same thing looking to Pope Pius XI who writes that “the Church, precisely because it embraces all nations and is destined to endure to the end of time […] of its very nature requires a language which is universal, immutable, and non-vernacular.”
The stability and universality of Latin provides some very practical liturgical benefits. One common problem many dioceses have is Liturgies with people of multiple vernacular languages. Which one should be chosen? If using multiple, what part goes into what? How does one include everyone? The answer is a universal language that is not the vernacular; this is the reason Papal Masses are almost always in Latin. In fact, when I was in Paris concelebrating Mass at la Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, while the readings and homily were in French, the prayers of the Mass were in Latin.
With these benefits in mind, next week we can at last consider the role of Latin in the Liturgy today in a general sense as well as think about how we use Latin today here at Most Holy Trinity Parish, always aware of the Bishops’ approval for greater use of the vernacular at the Second Vatican Council.

In Christ,
Fr. Greg Caldwell

07/31/2026

07/24/2026

Fr. Greg Caldwell's bulletin letter of July 26, 2026

Latin holds an essential role in the Liturgy still today. We have seen that over the past few weeks. However, while the principal reason we come to Mass and assist at Mass is not because of what we get, we in fact come to offer true worship and sacrifice as we participate in the offering of Christ, there is no denying that we in fact do receive a lot from the Liturgy. As such, this week I would like to look at some of the spiritual benefits of Latin in no particular order.

First, it reminds us that we did not and do not make the Liturgy. It is something we have received, received through the centuries in Latin. We are not its creator and as such we cannot change it at will. The use of Latin, a language that not many of us today would have chosen, reminds us that we have received this as a gift. We are servants of the Liturgy, we form ourselves to the Liturgy, not the Liturgy to ourselves.

Second, it reminds us that the Liturgy is something sacred, set apart, other worldly, different than what we normally do. The use of a sacred language that is today reserved for sacred use marks the Liturgy as “a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle.” (CCC 1090) While there are times in history where Latin was far more prominent, today to hear Latin is to immediately think of the Church and the Liturgy.

Third, it reminds us that the Liturgy is ultimately not about us, but instead focused on God. Today very few are fluent in Latin, yet the use of that language makes the point that our understanding the exact words is not what is most important, but our participation in the prayer of Christ to the Father. The Liturgy is centered on God, not us and the use of language can remind us of that fact.

Fourth, it connects us to those who have gone before us. We are part of history, church history, salvation history. It is in this history that we have received the Liturgy in the tradition that has been passed down. “The faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3b) came down to us in the West through the centuries in Latin. As such the use of the same language helps to connect us to the tradition, and helps protect us from what C.S. Lewis calls “chronological snobbery.”

Fifth, it connects us to the communion of the saints. Through history over the centuries so many of them celebrated the Liturgy in Latin. When we use Latin, we are using the same words, not just related words as a translation might be, but the same as the saints through history; the same as Pope St. Gregory the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Francis of Assisi, St. John Vianney, St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Latin can help us to draw close to those in the Church Triumphant in Heaven as we look to their example and ask their intercession. This benefit is such that some like to pray common daily prayers in Latin including grace before meals and the rosary.

It is possible to pray in the vernacular; God does know English. Our prayer, including in the vernacular, is meritorious if united to Christ. This includes not only personal prayer but also, as noted by the Second Vatican Council, at times and in places within the Liturgy. However, it is important to note that, in addition to the reasons why Latin still holds a place in the Liturgy from tradition and the inner essence of the Liturgy itself, there are spiritual benefits to Latin. Here I considered a partial list of spiritual benefits, next week I hope to look to some theological and temporal benefits before ending this series with a reflection on the use of Latin in the Liturgy today, in particular here at Most Holy Trinity Parish.

In Christ,
Fr. Greg Caldwell

07/17/2026

Fr. Greg Caldwell's bulletin letter of July 19, 2026

The initial question with this series was about the place of Latin in the Liturgy today. We started by seeing that the Church has consistently, even to today, maintained the importance of Latin. In previous weeks we have seen how the Liturgy is received, not created by man, that the reason we celebrate the Liturgy is not what we get, but to give an offering to God, and how, as the Liturgy is ultimately not our prayer but the prayer of Christ, we can assist even if we do not know the language. Over the last two weeks we have seen how the Liturgy has developed, not crafted by man, but developed from the inner essence of the Liturgy. These developments have included different languages yet all of these have a sacred character that makes them in some way fitting for the Liturgy, with Latin being used in the West as this sacred language over 1500 years. With this background it is possible to take an anthropological turn, for while the Liturgy is not created by man, it is celebrated by man.

The human person is created in the likeness and image of God, but he is not God; he is finite, limited. While God is eternal, the human person is temporal, attached to time and history. One cannot consider any human person separated from history. We are born in history; we will die in history; we live in a particular historical place. We are in particular families; we learn particular things from them shaped by a particular time. What we learn depends on where we go to school, what we read. All of that learning happens in particular languages. The human person is connected inseparably to history, something noted by Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, in his work Eschatology looking to the last things.

This essential nature of history is revealed further looking to Divine Revelation, for God did not reveal himself to us outside of history, but in and through history. God called Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees, a particular person with a particular family at a particular time. The prophets were sent to a particular people and particular kings with the word of God in history. All of this was with particular languages, in the Old Testament that was mostly Hebrew. Turning to the New Testament it is still within history, for God entered history, Christ, the second person of the Trinity became Man at a particular place, born of a particular Virgin. He learned trade in history and was crucified under the governor Pontius Pilate. He rose from the dead on a particular day. His actions were all in history, in a particular culture, with a particular language. Our salvation is through history; in many ways scripture is the story of salvation history. There is no abstract faith, revelation, or salvation separate from history.

This essential nature of history to the human person continues as we look to the Liturgy. We did not create the Liturgy, but received it, and this reception was not in the abstract, but in a particular language. In the West for over 1500 years that language has been almost exclusively Latin. Through history Latin has become a sacred language, the means of passing down the Liturgy and, recalling the principle Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi (the law of prayer is the law of belief), the faith. Anyone who has worked with translations knows that something is always lost in translation. A translated prayer is never the same as the original. As such, and given the essential nature of history it is necessary to preserve the prayers to preserve the faith. Doing this requires the use of the language. Here we see why the Second Vatican Council, even as it allowed the translation of liturgical prayers, still held to the importance of Latin. It is the reason that Missale Romanum, Editio Typica Tertia is properly in Latin even as we use a translation into English for a vast majority of Masses in the United States.

While few, if any, Bishops wish to return to the complete use of Latin in typical parish Masses, here we have seen why Latin cannot be fully dispensed with. The Liturgy is received and we have received it through history in Latin. In addition to this more foundational reason for Latin, for the next week or two I hope to turn to some additional practical benefits of Latin before concluding this series by returning to the starting question, what is the place of Latin in the Liturgy today?

In Christ,
Fr. Greg Caldwell

07/14/2026

Today we pray for Fr. Gregory Caldwell and his Priestly Ministry at Most Holy Trinity Parish in Barton.