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Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, approved a chaplaincy to serve Catholics attached to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in accordance with the Missale Romanum of 1962.
The “Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Victory,” announced June 19, will be officially established on July 1. According to the diocesan announcement, the chaplaincy is being formed “to serve the needs of those who attend Mass and receive other sacraments in the Extraordinary Form.”
The chaplaincy will be administered by two priests from the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) appointed from Front Royal, Virginia, about 70 miles west of Washington, D.C.: Father Jonathan Romanoski and Father John Audino.
“As a Chaplaincy, rather than a parish, this agreement allows for Fr. Romanoski and Fr. Audino to live the fraternity that is part of the FSSP charism and to serve primarily in Front Royal while periodically assisting elsewhere in the diocese,” the diocesan statement read.
According to the diocese, the chaplaincy formalizes an arrangement that had already been in place, as an FSSP priest has been assisting Arlington clergy. It does not add more locations for the TLM.
Access to baptism, confirmation, and matrimony in the traditional form remain available only to those “who have a particular pastoral connection to the community and who participate regularly in this form of the liturgy with the consent of the local pastor and the local ordinary,” in line with the current rules, according to the diocese.
“The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is grateful to His Excellency, Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington, for establishing the Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Victory to serve the needs of those who attend the traditional form of the Latin Liturgy beginning on July 1, 2026,” Father Daniel Powers, the provincial secretary of FSSP’s North American Province, said in a statement to EWTN News.
“We are looking forward to working in the Diocese of Arlington and serving the faithful there,” he said.
Noah Peters, a board member and the president emeritus of The Arlington Latin Mass Society (ALMS), expressed “sincere appreciation” to the bishop on behalf of the society for entrusting a chaplaincy to the two priests.
“ALMS believes that this is an enormously positive step that will help ensure access to the traditional sacraments: baptisms, matrimony, confirmation, and the rites for the sick,” he told EWTN News. “We pray for Bishop Burbidge, the FSSP priests, and all the faithful, and we pray that this chaplaincy will be the seed from which broader access to the treasures of Traditional Catholicism grows.”
Arlington, like many dioceses globally, faced Latin Mass restrictions over the past few years, in line with the rules set in Pope Francis’s 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which limited access to the older form of the Mass. However, the pontiff granted FSSP, which will administer the chaplaincy in the diocese, an exemption from those rules.
FSSP was founded in 1988 by priests who broke away from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), when then-Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who led SSPX, defied the Holy See by appointing bishops without papal approval and faced excommunication. FSSP was founded to maintain those liturgical traditions while remaining loyal to the papacy.
In Arlington — where the TLM remains popular, especially among young adults — Burbidge secured dispensations approved by the Holy See for three parishes and five non-parish church locations when Traditionis Custodes went into effect. These were temporary dispensations, but have been extended and remain in place.
This is still a reduction in locations for the diocese, which had 21 locations that offered the TLM prior to the motu proprio. Some Arlington locations also saw an influx of worshipers from the neighboring Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., which limited access to three locations — one in the city itself and two in Maryland.
In March, Pope Leo XIV described divisions surrounding liturgical unity as “a painful wound” in the church.
In his communication with French bishops, Leo encouraged concrete solutions, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that allow for “the generous inclusion” of Catholics attached to the TLM “in respect for the directions desired by the Second Vatican Council in matters of liturgy.”
Leo has not issued far-reaching documents related to the TLM, nor has he changed any of the rules established under Francis. He did, however, approve Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke’s celebration of the TLM last year at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
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This is welcome news!
I agree. A step in the right direction.
It’s worth noting that the final church mentioned in this article is a parish. Yes, St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City is a parish church. The website says this explicitly, even if many are unaware or choose to reject the reality. For those of us more familiar with St. Peter’s, perhaps due to living nearby for several years, the TLM’s presence in the basilica is not only worthy of mention due to its proximity to the Papal apartments, but for the canonical distinction it retains and the message this *should* send to pastors of souls, ie bishops, that parishes are welcome to host the TLM where previously they were not. The practice of the faith informs the endorsement. Where Francis taught us to exclude the TLM from parishes, Leo’s pastoral praxis is one of inclusion and welcome: holy hospitality.