While America absorbs the ramifications of the motu proprio, there’s a parish in Indiana that seems to have mastered a delicate balance. It’s been offering mass in both the old and new rite for several years :

Holy Rosary Parish might become a model for how two groups of the faithful- one that prefers the Mass in English and the other attached to the traditional Latin Mass – can grow together in faith as a unified parish community.

Father Dennis Duvelius was the associate pastor at Holy Rosary Parish for nine years as a member of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, a religious order that focuses on celebrating the traditional Latin Mass. He has since become a priest of the archdiocese and is finishing up his first year as administrator of St. Louis Parish in Batesville.

Father Duvelius acknowledged that integrating the extraordinary form of the Mass into the life of Holy Rosary Parish was challenging initially.

“To be honest, it was rough at first, as each group adjusted to the other’s ways of thinking and doing things, but now there are no sides,” he said. “Holy Rosary is one parish family with two forms of the liturgy.”

Msgr. (Joseph) Schaedel has been pastor of Holy Rosary for the entire time that it has offered both forms of the Mass.

He said it took about three years for a good level of trust to be developed between those attached to the Mass in English and those who prefer the Latin Mass.

Msgr. Schaedel noted, however, that tensions weren’t related solely to liturgical questions. He said that longtime members of Holy Rosary were concerned that the parish, as they had known it, would be “phased out” when the traditional Latin Mass was introduced there.

Msgr. Schaedel now sees the dual liturgical life as a force of vitality for the parish.

“It’s certainly enhanced the attendance, the activity around the parish, the number of young people, young families,” he said. “It’s probably more than tripled the income of the parish.”

Bottom line: those who are quivering in fear over the motu proprio might want to take a chill pill.

Photo: mass at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Indianapolis