It has come to the attention of the Archdiocese of Perth that on Sunday, 15 September 2024, at the Latvian Centre in Belmont, Bishop Giacomo Ballini, at the invitation of Father Michael Rowe, previously the rector of St Anne’s Church in Belmont, illicitly celebrated Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite that was in use prior to the New Order of the Mass and the Roman Missal approved by Pope Paul IV on 3 April 1969. Furthermore, Bishop Ballini has also illicitly conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation on a number of young people at the Latvian Centre.

After the Second Vatican Council, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the Society of St Pius X [SSPX], a society of Catholic priests, in Switzerland in 1970. In essence, Archbishop Lefebvre considered the teachings of the Council and the changes to the ritual for the celebration of Mass to be contrary to the tradition of the Church. His society would ensure that priests would be faithful to the tradition of the Church as understood by Archbishop Lefebvre.

In 1988 Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops for SSPX. For some 200 years the law of the Church has provided that a bishop who, without a pontifical mandate, ordains a priest to the episcopate, and the priest so ordained, incur a canonical penalty. Hence Archbishop Lefebvre and the four new bishops were automatically excommunicated. After the death of Archbishop Lefebvre in 1991, Bishop Fellay succeeded him as the Superior of the Society of St Pius X.

On 21 January 2009 Pope Benedict XVI remitted the excommunication as a gesture of reconciliation with SSPX, which had separated itself from the Church. Pope Benedict XVI stated on 10 March 2009 that for doctrinal reasons, which concern primarily the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar magisterium of the Popes, the SSPX does not possess a canonical status in the Church, and therefore its ministers do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church.

One of the four bishops ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988, Bishop Richard Williamson, was expelled from SSPX in October 2012. Bishop Richard Williamson then established a new group known as the SSPX Resistance. Between 2015 and 2022 Bishop Richard Williamson has ordained four priests as bishops, one of whom is an Italian priest, Giacomo Ballini. Bishop Williamson did not have a pontifical mandate to consecrate any of these priests to the episcopate.

In accord with canon 1387 of the Code of Canon Law, Bishop Williamson and Bishop Ballini incurred automatically the penalty of excommunication, as did the other three bishops. As Bishop Ballini incurred the penalty of excommunication, he is prohibited by canon 1331 §1 1°-2° from “celebrating the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and the other sacraments” and “from receiving the sacraments”. Accordingly, Bishop Ballini is no longer in communion with the Pope and the other Bishops.

In keeping with the present legislation of the Church, the only priests or bishops who are authorised to celebrate Mass according to the Traditional Rite within the Archdiocese of Perth are those who are individually authorised by the Archbishop of Perth and they may do so only at the location(s) and time(s) as determined by the Archbishop of Perth. Fr Rowe did not have the authority to invite Bishop Ballini to the Archdiocese of Perth to celebrate the Mass and confer the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Fr Rowe himself is not authorised to celebrate the Traditional Rite Mass in the Archdiocese of Perth and the Latvian Centre has not been designated as an authorised location where this Mass may be celebrated.

Those Catholics who choose to organise, conduct or attend such celebrations of the Mass are acting in opposition to the clear and authoritative decisions of the archbishop who is, according to the Church’s tradition, the supreme moderator of liturgical life and practice in the archdiocese.

In the Catholic tradition, communion with the Church is realised through communion with the local bishop: this communion grounds and is the guarantor of communion with the Bishop of Rome and with the Universal Church.

All members of the Catholic community in the archdiocese are invited to maintain and deepen their communion with the Catholic Church by ensuring that they remain in communion with their bishop. Nowhere is this more important than in the celebration of the liturgy, which is the source and summit of the Christian life.

Most Rev Timothy Costelloe SDB
Archbishop of Perth