A Lenten Invitation to the Church’s Living Heritage: Novus Ordo in Latin

Bishop Carl A. Kemme will celebrate the Ordinary Form of the Mass (Novus Ordo) in Latin at 10 a.m. Sunday, March 8, 2026, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita. The liturgy falls on the Third Sunday of Lent.

The readings and homily will be in English, while the Order of the Mass will be prayed in Latin. Many traditional Latin chants will be used, with the Cathedral choir assisting the congregation under the direction of Alan Held.

“This will be my seventh time to offer the Ordinary Form of the Mass in Latin. Each time that I celebrate the Ordinary Form of the Mass in Latin it is an opportunity for us to remember the church’s rich liturgical heritage,” Bishop Kemme said.

“The Cathedral choir, under the direction of Alan Held, will be of great help in supporting us in singing the time-honored chants. The Second Vatican Council envisioned parts of the Mass to be in the vernacular, however, it also encouraged the preservation of Latin in the Mass. My desire in praying the Novus Ordo of the Mass in Latin is that many will be inspired by this liturgical experience. I also hope that the preservation of the Latin chants might inspire a more reverent, solemn, and transcendent liturgy.”

To help the faithful participate confidently, the Cathedral will provide worship aids for the Latin Ordinary, with Latin on one side and English on the other.

Vatican II’s actual teaching on Latin and chant
This celebration also offers a practical doorway into what the Second Vatican Council taught in its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium. The Council did not treat Latin as an obstacle to participation; rather, it taught that “the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites,” while also permitting broader vernacular use—especially where it benefits the faithful, including the readings and certain prayers.

Importantly, the Council explicitly envisioned congregational participation in Latin at certain moments: “steps should be taken so 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.”   In that light, a Novus Ordo Mass in Latin—paired with English readings and preaching—can serve both intelligibility of the Word and a renewed encounter with the Church’s liturgical inheritance.

The same constitution also highlights the Church’s musical tradition, stating that Gregorian chant is “specially suited to the Roman liturgy” and, other things being equal, “should be given pride of place” in liturgical services.

A timely invitation to “read the Council” again
This Mass also resonates with a renewed, Church-wide encouragement to return to Vatican II “in the documents themselves.” In a January 7, 2026 general audience, Pope Leo XIV announced a cycle of catechesis dedicated to Vatican Council II and urged Catholics to know the Council “not through ‘hearsay’… but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content.”

Readers who would like to read Sacrosanctum Concilium directly can find it here.

The faithful of the diocese are invited to attend the March 8 Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and to join in this Lenten act of worship—rooted in the Church’s living heritage and ordered toward the full, conscious, and actual participation Vatican II sought to foster.