On Sunday, July 5, St. Joseph’s Church in Peoria will join the list of central Illinois faith communities that regularly offer Mass in the extraordinary form, also known as the Tridentine rite. This is the liturgy celebrated in Latin according to the Roman Missal of 1962.

Father Michael Driscoll, chaplain at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, will be the celebrant for the Masses, which are planned for 9:30 a.m. each Sunday at St. Joseph’s, 103 Richard Pryor Place. In addition, a Tridentine-rite liturgy will be celebrated on holy days, with the times to be announced.

While there will be no music at these Masses at this time, the goal is to form a Gregorian chant choir. Young men are also being sought for training as servers.

Use of the Mass in the extraordinary form at St. Joseph’s has the approval of Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, who asked Father Larry Zurek, OFM, pastor, for permission to have it at the church.

“I’m sure the bishop has received some requests for it, and I know I have,” Father Larry told The Catholic Post, adding that it was another way to bring people to St. Joseph’s Church. “This is a temporary thing to see if there is any interest for it.”

Father Driscoll said he learned how to celebrate Mass using the 1962 missal a year or two after he was ordained in 1992. He assisted Msgr. Richard Soseman at St. Mary of the Woods Parish in Princeville, where the Mass was being offered each week.

He said this form offers “a universality of time and place.”

“When the priest is facing the same direction as the people, there’s more of a sense that he is leading them in prayer,” Father Driscoll explained. “And I think this is a much more carefully defined ritual — there aren’t as many options.”

He also likes the continuity of celebrating Mass and using the same readings that were used for centuries.

The current Roman Missal, published after the Second Vatican Council, is considered the ordinary form for celebrations of the Mass in the Latin-rite church. Masses in Latin, based on this missal, are also being celebrated in the Diocese of Peoria, most notably at 4 p.m. on Saturdays at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria.