Rorate has presented a leaked letter from the Bishop of Fort Worth, Michael Olson, in which he prescribes that the Traditional Latin Mass not be said on the campus of Fisher More College, in his diocese.

Under the provisions of Summorum Pontificum, he cannot forbid the saying of the Traditional Latin Mass; in canon law, it is not his to permit or forbid. So, in this letter, instead of illegally forbidding the Traditional Latin Mass, he legally threatens to remove the chapel from campus entirely.

Now, there may very well be more to the story, in the sense that the bishop discovered a problem at the college that needs to be remedied. But using the Mass as the threatening component of blackmail is no remedy.

Blackmail is exactly the tactic this recently-consecrated bishop is taking. In effect, he is saying “Stop saying this Mass, or the chapel gets it!”

Just as I could not think of a reason justifying forbidding the Traditional Latin Mass to the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, so too I can posit no problem that a Catholic college would have that would warrant blackmail, much less using the Mass as a bludgeon in that blackmail.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is to bring glory to God and salvation to Catholics. Surely you reading this must have been used at one point in your life. I expect you hated it.

How much more must Jesus hate His glorious sacrifice being used in this manner by one of His bishops!

• Fisher More College