REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY
DIOCESAN DIGEST Mass of Ages quarterly round-up Birmingham & Black Country Louis Maciel 0739 223 2225 birmingham@lms.org.uk birmingham-lms-rep.blogspot.co.uk Advent saw Rorate Masses celebrated each Saturday at our two local churches, with four Masses celebrated on Christmas day itself. Both churches celebrated High Mass on the 6th January for the Epiphany, with both planning to celebrate High Mass for Candlemas at the time of writing. In addition, the Birmingham Oratory celebrated High Mass for its Patronal Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception as well as the Octave of Christmas in addition to its usual daily schedule. Please see the Mass Listings for a new Mass in a neighbouring area on the first Thursday of each month, which can be celebrated as a Votive Mass of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in particular for vocations. Several young men have put off entering seminary following the suppression of the right to publicly celebrate Mass using the 1962 Missal for newly ordained priests, as set out in Traditionis Custodes in 2021. The Archdiocese of Birmingham currently has no seminarians below Year 3. Birmingham (North Staffs) Alan Frost north-staffs-lms.blogspot.com The news from North Staffordshire continues to be disappointing. After the passing away of Fr Paul Chavasse, Cong. Orat., the former parish priest of Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Swynnerton, there was just one TLM celebrated
there, by Fr Montjean, ICKSP, who came all the way from New Brighton. Unfortunately, though this kindly priest would have celebrated again, such an arrangement was not allowed to continue. We are in a sort of abeyance in North Staffs at present, awaiting any encouraging word from the archdiocese. Birmingham Oxford Joseph Shaw oxford@lms.org.uk Regular Masses continue, both on Sundays (Low at the Oratory and Sung in Holy Rood in the Abingdon Road, in Portsmouth Diocese), Holy Days (usually Low in the Oratory and usually Sung in SS Gregory & Augustine's in the Woodstock Road), and even on certain weekdays. It has been very heartening to see increasing congregations at many of these Masses, and as well as our many dedicated clergy I would like to thank the servers and singers who rotate between the different churches and maintain consistently high standards. The LMS Oxford Pilgrimage was too late for the last edition of Mass of Ages, and although it now seems a long time ago, I'd like to record that as usual the Dominicans celebrated a beautiful Mass for us, which was accompanied with polyphony by the Newman Consort (Byrd and Sheppard) with the Schola Abelis singing the chant. We had a well-attended procession through the streets of Oxford to one of the city's two sites of martyrdom. The next one will, God willing, be on 19 October 2024.
The LMS Oxford Pilgrimage: ‘a wellattended procession through the streets of Oxford to one of the city’s two sites of martyrdom’
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SPRING 2024
