Welcome to

Can. 902 Unless the welfare of the Christian faithful requires or suggests otherwise, priests can concelebrate the Eucharist. They are completely free to celebrate the Eucharist individually, however, but not while a concelebration is taking place in the same church or oratory.

Why dedicate a whole web-blog to this one Canon?

Because, as I hope to show, concelebration in its theology and practice has yet to be settled or to be considered settled. In setting up and maintaining this blog, it is my hope that the nature of concelebration and its practices, both historical and modern, might be better understood in order to bring about that settled doctrine and practice that the Church has always achieved in her unbroken history.

Also, truth be told, I, a priest ordained since the turn of the millennium, have experienced numerous issues with concelebration both before and after ordination. I know other priests share the same sentiments. And so, in developing this blog, I am hoping to resolve some of these issues as well as help other priests (and perhaps even bishops) find understanding, and perhaps needed discernment, on how they may invoke one of their few canonical rights—whether to concelebrate or not as expressed in Canon 902. Like many priests in our times, I have experienced over the years much pressure to concelebrate or else! Thus, I am doing what Pope Pius XII did when receiving such attention (as reported by Mother Pasqualina in her memoirs):

“Some get really angry, others highly upset, others are incapable of reacting and fall into resignation. ... I am going after what is for me the cure of all pain, which makes me forget everything bad, study. When I have to fight against my enemies, I develop a powerful drive to do studies, strong, and numerous as never before. The prospect of the great works illuminates and strengthens me. This is my revenge.”

This blog is my poor effort to study the matter of concelebration from every angle… whether historical, theological, liturgical, legal, or simple piety. It is my effort to fulfill the principle of Aristotle, namely that true knowledge is knowledge of causes. The first document to be finalized at the Second Vatican Council was Sacrosanctum Concilium. Its first application came shortly thereafter in the first concelebrated Masses in St. Peter’s with Pope Paul VI. This in turn sparked many thoughts of how to implement the remainder of the Council’s document on the Liturgy… which then led to the Novus Ordo Missae and wholesale replacement of the usus antiquor. This simply means that concelebration played a key role in all that followed, because as St. Thomas says so well, “what is first in any order is the cause of everything which follows it.” Clearly, concelebration needs to be explored and discussed.

As a final note, this is a work in progress… so feel free to supply possible sources not found here and check back now and then to find additional articles, many of which are planned as I have a number of books to examine. Canon902 also plans to provide a summary all the findings from these resources and articles in the hopes that this effort may help settle things in the future. Maybe some good soul might also use these sources to write a much needed doctoral dissertation in Rome.

Why remain unnamed or anonymous in this effort?

The effort here is to find the truth and present it as clearly as possible without the organizer of Canon902.org getting in the way. Did not St. Paul say to the Corinthians: “Giving no offence to any man, that our ministry be not blamed: But in all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God . . . in charity unfeigned, In the word of truth, in the power of God . . . By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet known. . .” (2Cor 6:3-8)? Perhaps more than a few today are more than a little too known (mostly likely due to the crisis in authority found everywhere), such that, in my humble estimation, they are falling into Satan’s second temptation towards Christ. That is, they are always trying to do something wonderful, striking or new, attracting lots of attention to themselves. Is it too much, then, for someone to want to remain hidden and yet reveal what is true? In doing so, I think you will know me as one who loves the Church and the entire Deposit of the Faith, ever wanting it to shine forth without getting in the way. Thus, the authority issue is resolved! My authority is only as good as my footnotes! It all depends on the Church and the Deposit of the Faith She preserves. Thank you for allowing me to remain unknown and a “deceiver” of sorts in this effort to make the truth shine forth.