Owensboro Bishop ends only Traditional Latin Mass in western Kentucky

Bishop William Medley is halting the Traditional Latin Mass option in the diocese, but will allow the parish to offer the Novus Ordo Mass in Latin and ad orientem.

The only weekly celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in western Kentucky will come to an end this weekend, following an order from Diocese of Owensboro Bishop William Medley, who says he is enforcing Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes.

Immaculate Conception Parish in Earlington — the oldest Catholic church in Hopkins County, established in 1886 — has offered the TLM for nearly a decade, and will have its final Mass in the extraordinary form at 12:30 p.m. CT on June 28.

It is the only parish offering the TLM in the diocese, which covers the 32 westernmost counties in Kentucky. The closest options available will be east in the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky; north in the Diocese of Evansville, Indiana; and south in the Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee.

Penny Giardinella, administrative assistant for the small parish, told EWTN News the church is “pretty full” during the TLM, as it is during all Sunday Masses. She said a large portion of TLM worshipers travel from outside parish lines to attend.

On May 18, the bishop sent a letter to the parish priest, Father David Kennedy, instructing him to halt all celebrations of the TLM after June 30. Although he initially secured a dispensation for the parish to continue its weekly celebration amid the 2021 Vatican restrictions, Medley did not seek an extension into the latter half of 2026.

The issue, Medley said in his letter, is that he lacked standing to seek an extension because the parish did not submit a report to the bishop, which the Holy See required for an extension to be granted. The bishop said this requirement was based on his 2023 correspondence with the Holy See.

The report, he wrote, needed to provide the TLM attendance and explain what steps were taken to lead the faithful toward the Novus Ordo Mass — the ordinary form of the liturgy adopted in 1969 by the Catholic Church in reforms following the Second Vatican Council.

“As I am unable to demonstrate that this condition has been met, I have no standing to request an extension of the Holy See,” Medley wrote.

Medley said the parish can instead celebrate the novus ordo Mass in accordance with the 1969 reforms in the Latin language and ad orientem, with the priest facing toward the tabernacle and away from the people.

“I know in some dioceses, the faithful who have shown a preference for the Mass celebrated in Latin have accepted the Novus Ordo Mass celebrated in the Latin language,” Medley said.

The bishop added that he postponed halting the Mass upon the death of Francis to see whether Pope Leo XIV would alter the restrictions. Because Leo has not — and because the January Consistory of the College of Cardinals explicitly opted not to review Traditionis Custodes — the bishop said he “felt obligated to act in accord with the direction of the Holy See.”

“For the faithful who may object to this directive, you may certainly refer them to me, but please make clear that I am acting in accord with my promise to the pope, the Bishop of Rome,” Medley said. “I am grateful for your ministry to this small and unique community. And I assure you of my prayers for them and for you and I kindly ask that you all pray for me.”

Rachel Hall, director of communications for the diocese, told EWTN News that “the parish will transition to the scheduled details in the correspondence” after June 30.

“As the parish navigates this transition with their faithful pastor Father Kennedy, the diocese asks for prayers to the Holy Spirit in guidance, with unity and peace,” she said.

Leo has not taken any official steps to amend Francis’s TLM restrictions, but has offered a conciliatory tone toward those attached to the older form of the liturgy.

In March, Leo described liturgical divisions as a “painful wound” in a communication with French bishops, and encouraged solutions that allow “the generous inclusion” of Catholics who choose to worship at the TLM “in respect for the directions desired by the Second Vatican Council in matters of liturgy.”

Last year, Leo approved Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke’s celebration of the TLM at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.