Pennsylvania church devoted to Latin Mass opens new quarters

YORK, Pa. (AP) About 100 worshippers met Sunday at the newly purchased home of Saints Peter and Paul Mission Church, which celebrates Latin Masses without the blessing of Roman Catholic authorities.

The congregation had met in a hotel for more than a year before the Jan. 12 purchase of a 1907 building in York's historic district.

Members said they worship and believe as all Catholics did until the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council that, among other things, advocated Masses in common languages rather than Latin.

A Jan. 9 parish bulletin announcement from the Harrisburg Diocese warned that such Masses do not fulfill the Sunday obligation for Catholics. The diocese has authorized one Latin Mass a month at a high school in the Harrisburg area.

''They can't just set up a church. Only the bishop can do this,'' said a diocesan spokesman.