DIOCESAN DIGEST

Mass of Ages quarterly round-up

ARUNDEL AND BRIGHTON - Anne-Marie Mackie-Savage 01323 411370

In February, Fr Gerard Hatton said a Mass for the repose of the soul of Mrs Gwen Telford at Our Lady of Ransom. Gwen was brought up in Eastbourne, and had many happy memories of singing in the choir, prior to the vernacular changes. I'm sure many of you knew Gwen and Mike from their days of travelling far and wide in search of the Latin Mass. No Mass was too far. They were a wonderful couple, and Gwen a sweet and charming lady. She and Mike are greatly missed.

Any change in Mass times I am aware of will appear on the blog. If you feel like learning how to serve, help is available in the Diocese, so please feel free to contact me.

BIRMINGHAM & BLACK COUNTRY - Louis Maciel; Tel: 0739 223 2225 louis.maciel@gmail.com http://birmingham-lms-rep.blogspot.co.uk/

I am pleased to announce a new location for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form in the region: St Dunstan’s in Kings Heath celebrated its first Missa Cantata on the Feast of Candlemas followed by another on the third Wednesday of March. The plan is to celebrate a Mass in the Extraordinary Form on the third Friday of every month to complement the first Friday Mass at St Augustine’s in Solihull. The celebration of the Extraordinary Form at this location now means there is a Mass available in every deanery in the West Midlands area. Please see the Mass listings to find the Mass closest to you.

St Mary on the Hill in Wednesbury, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Wolverhampton and the Oratory in Birmingham are forming a holy triangle where the Traditional Mass is celebrated on days of additional solemnity: there were Masses at Easter and the Feast of St Chad (the patronal feast of the diocese) at all these locations, with St Augustine in Solihull also celebrating the latter as it coincided with the first Friday of the month. There was an additional Mass, at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, the usual Friday Mass of Holy Week was moved to the Monday, and a High Mass was celebrated on the Feast of the Annunciation, along with a Low Mass at St Mary on the Hill. St Mary on the Hill also celebrated an additional Low Mass on Palm Sunday.

BIRMINGHAM (Little Malvern) - Alastair J Tocher 01684 893332 extraordinarymalvern.uk@btinternet.com extraordinarymalvern.uk Facebook: Extraordinary Malvern

It is now six months since the Mass centre at St Wulstan’s, Little Malvern was first established and we have now settled into a fairly stable schedule of Missae Cantatae on second and fourth Sundays. That is not to say we have not had our share of teething problems though: in addition to our second scheduled Missa Cantata, on 10 December, having been cancelled owing to heavy snow our third planned Missa Cantata on 14 January then had to be replaced by a Low Mass since the only available server was the Schola director! This temporary shortfall in servers was unfortunately symptomatic of a marked drop in overall attendance compared with our former home at Spetchley Park: halved from an average of 35 down to 18 including in each case a Schola of 8-10 singers.

There are however already some hopeful signs of new growth: some at least of the congregation are new faces from St Wulstan’s parish and surroundings; we have acquired two new Schola members; and at least one local parishioner has recently joined the LMS. We have also identified a couple of experienced servers able to supply as and when needed to cover for absences of our regular servers, and we are grateful to them all for their help.

We have also been represented at a number of recent events too: two singers attended the Gregorian Chant Network’s Chant Weekend at the Oratory School near Reading, and I attended the LMS Priests, Deacons & Servers Training Conference at Prior Park School near Bath, not to mention a couple of our number already signed up for the LMS Latin Summer School near Oxford.

We continue to be grateful to Dom Jonathan Rollinson who travels from Belmont Abbey near Hereford to celebrate Mass for us, and to Abbot Paul Stonham for lending him to us.

Now that the clocks have gone forward and summer is approaching we hope and pray for increased attendances.

BIRMINGHAM (North Staffordshire) - Alan Frost 01270768144

Traditional Rite Masses continue at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Swynnerton, near Stone, North Staffs. Apart from the Sunday parish Mass there are Low Masses on alternate Saturday mornings. Fr Paul Chavasse continued with these Masses through the cold and the snow, and a decent turnout in the midst of the bad weather showed the appreciation of the faithful.

A first Friday Mass was celebrated by Fr Christopher Miller at his parish Church of The Sacred Heart in Tunstall near Stoke-on-Trent on 6 April, and he intends this to be a monthly event. Fr Miller is also in charge of St Joseph’s, Burslem, which for several years (to beginning of 2013) was run by the Franciscans of the Immaculate who celebrated the Traditional Rite Masses each week.

BIRMINGHAM (Oxford) - Joseph Shaw 01993 812874

Oxford lacks a celebration of the Easter Triduum in the Traditional form, but we are entering a uniquely busy period for Sung and High Masses, which I dare say rivals any other part of the country. In addition to Sung Masses for the feast days which follow Easter - the Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart, and SS Peter and Paul--we will mark the feast of Pentecost in a very special way. The Vigil (19 May) will be celebrated with a High Mass in the Dominican Rite in Blackfriars, with extra readings recalling the Easter Vigil; Whitsun itself (20th) will be marked by a Sung Mass in SS Gregory & Augustine's; the Saturday of Easter week (26th), again with extra readings, will see a High Mass in Holy Rood, Abingdon Road, over the boundary in Portsmouth Diocese, and we will have another High Mass, with polyphony, for Trinity Sunday (21st) in Holy Trinity, Hethe.

In addition to these our series of Sung Masses in English Martyrs Church, Didcot (Portsmouth Diocese) continue with its Patronal Feast on 4th May, and the Annual LMS Mass in the lovely private chapel of Milton Manor House will take place on Saturday 9 June, with Fr Anthony Conlon celebrating.

Please see the Mass list for full details. Noted there also is the new pattern of Masses at Holy Trinity, Hethe, on the 2nd Sunday of each month, and--thanks to the generous help of Fr James Mawdsley FSSP--on the final Sunday of each month. Both these Masses are sung. Please make an effort to discover this very beautiful historic church.

BIRMINGHAM (Worcester) - Margaret Parffrey

Since loosing our Mass Centre at Spetchely, our guardian angels have replaced it with Mass at St Wulstons (Little Malvern). We are grateful to Alastair Tocher for arranging Mass at 3pm on the 2nd and 4th Sunday’s. Our thanks go out to Father Jonathon Rollinson for offering a Missa Cantata on these Sundays.

Mass continues at Kidderminster, 1st Sunday at 3pm and at Redditch 2nd Tuesday of the month at 6pm. Mass at Evesham Tuesday at 7pm.

We are in need of priests and servers at Redditch and ask your prayers in this urgent matter.

CLIFTON - James Belt & Monika Paplaczyk 07890 687453 lmsclifton@gmail.com lmsclifton.blogspot.co.uk

Another Missa Cantata was held at Downside Abbey on Easter Sunday, this time in the Old School Chapel. This was once more very well attended. The annual Downside High Mass has been confirmed for Saturday 2 June at 11am.

Deacon Seth Phipps, FSSP, who grew up and found his vocation in Clifton Diocese, is due to be ordained to the Sacred Priesthood on Saturday 9 June, at St Mary’s Shrine Church, Warrington. He will celebrate a First Solemn High Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes, Weston-Super-Mare the following Wednesday, 13 June, at 7pm.

Other Masses continue around the Diocese, particularly in Somerset, where we now have regular Masses in WestonSuper-Mare, Glastonbury, Wells and Yeovil. Sadly, the retirement of Father Ian McCarthy means that there will be no more Old Rite Masses in Stow-on-the-Wold or Cheltenham until further notice. We would like to thank Fr Ian for his support for Catholic Tradition in the north of the Diocese.

There have also been some changes to the schedule at Prinknash Abbey. The Abbot and his Council have made the decision that the weekly Low Mass on Saturdays at 11am is to cease, and in its place there will be a Mass on the first Sunday of each month at 3pm, and one on the third Saturday of each month at 11am. Masses will continue to be celebrated by Father Mark Hargreaves.

Your prayers are requested for the happy repose of the soul of Dom Damian Sturdy, of Prinknash Abbey, who died on 19 March. Father Damian reintroduced the Traditional Mass to Prinknash in 2002, and celebrated it regularly until around 15 months ago, when he retired to Nazareth House, Cheltenham.

EAST ANGLIA (West) - Gregor Dick 01223 322401

Sunday Masses continue at Blackfriars in Cambridge. We are grateful to the friars for their manifold generosity, and not least to the several novices who learned recently to serve Mass in the Dominican rite and now help to relieve the pressure on the pool of servers. As always, offers to serve or sing are much appreciated.

HEXHAM & NEWCASTLE - Keith McAllister 01325 308968 07966 235329 k_mcallister@ymail.com

2018 has happily brought a reinstatement by Father David Phillips in Berwick-upon-Tweed of the Thursday weekly Low Mass at 18:30.

Diocesan Sunday Mass provision continues as 2017 with three parishes having this offering and with a wide geographical spread.

The Lenten season launched with Low Masses on Ash Wednesday, then on 8 March Fr Michael Brown offered a Sung Mass for the Durham Juventutem Group in St Cuthbert’s, Old Elvet, Durham. University students provided the serving team and choir.

On 20 March a Lenten service of prayers, readings and sacred choral music was held at St Joseph’s, Gateshead. The music included pieces by Antonio Caldara, Pergolesi and Victoria, as well as familiar Lenten hymns, all sung by the Westland Singers of Sunderland (this following an Advent service of similar format). The choir specialises in sacred choral music and regularly sings at Gateshead Masses, usually on the 3rd Sunday, monthly. We are grateful to the organist and choir master, Paul Dewhurst, who has long been associated with Catholic church music, notably at the Oratories of Birmingham and Brompton.

The Lenten service was repeated one week later at St Joseph’s church in Sunderland; on both occasions ending with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The men’s St Joseph Schola, also directed by Paul Dewhurst, who usually sing on the 1st Sunday of the month, sang during the blessing of palms and procession on Palm Sunday.

The Easter Sunday Mass at Gateshead included music by Gruber, Ebner, Concone and Vivaldi. A High Mass and procession is planned for Corpus Christi, as well as a Marian celebration in words & music, for later this year.

Mural at Lancaster University Chaplaincy

LANCASTER - Bob & Jane Latin 01524 412987 lancasterlms@gmail.com latinmasslancaster.blogspot.com John Rogan 01524 858832 john_rogan@yahoo.co.uk

During this quarter there were two pieces of news. On 9 February, Mass was once again said in the Extraordinary Form at Lancaster University Chaplaincy. The celebrant was Fr John Millar and this was against the backdrop of the beautiful mural painted last year on the wall behind the altar (see picture overleaf).

On Ash Wednesday, it was announced that the Holy Father had appointed a new bishop for Lancaster Diocese, Canon Paul Swarbrick, and on the Feast of the Annunciation his episcopal ordination took place at Lancaster Cathedral. One of his first visits, after the announcement, was to St Walburge in Preston, where he had served as parish priest from 2007 – 2010.

We hope to have some Masses at Sizergh Castle as usual this summer, depending on the availability of priests. To date we are working towards Friday 25 May and Friday 22 June, but please check the website or with the Representatives before travelling.

LIVERPOOL - Jim Pennington 0151 4260361 pennington893@btinternet.com

Regular Sunday and Holyday EF Masses in the parishes of St Catherine Laboure, Farington, St Mary Magdalen, Penwortham, and St Anthony’s, Scotland Road, Liverpool, continue. As usual, we had blessing and imposition of ashes before Mass on Ash Wednesday at St Anthony’s, but we did not have blessing of palms and procession on Palm Sunday: if only we had a regular singing group to make this possible again!

Once again this year, Father John Hemer offered our Christmas Day Mass for us at St Anthony’s.

Sadly, we have lost two of our oldest members – John O’Farrell in December, and Bernard Hewson in February. John’s old rite Requiem was offered at St Peter & Paul, Crosby by Father Sean Riley, with the permission of the Parish Priest, Monsignor Furnival. Bernard’s Requiem was also offered by Father Riley at St Anthony’s Scotland Road, where Bernard and John faithfully attended Mass since the inauguration of the regular Mass there in 2000, and before that at St Mary’s, Highfield Street since 1990.

We had three Masses on Lent Saturdays for a good outcome of the Irish Eighth Amendment Referendum: Saturday Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 3 March, and Mass of the season with commemoration of St Patrick on 17 March, both offered at St Anthony’s by Father Leo Daley: and a Saturday Mass of Our Lady on 10 March at St Catherine’s, Farington by the Parish Priest, Father Simon Henry. Sad to say, none of these Masses was very well attended.

LIVERPOOL (Warrington) - Alan Frost 01270768144

St Mary’s Shrine (Priory) Warrington, run by the FSSP, is now well established and attracting more people into its congregation. There are also now two assistant priests, Fr Lowenstein returning from Bavaria to join Fr Verrier and the Rector, Fr de Malleray. A recent convert and leading member of the choir observes how friendly the people are and how lovely is the atmosphere at the Shrine services. This comment was in a brief chat after the mid-day Ash Wednesday Mass, which impressively attracted over 130 people.

The FSSP itself attracts more young men to serve God, and a seminarian from Wales linked to St Mary’s and training in Bavaria was ordained to minor orders on 10 February, along with 23 others (including to the subdiaconate). And on Saturday 9 June, the Reverend Seth Phipps, FSSP, will be ordained at St Mary’s by His Grace Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, O.P.

Fr Phipps’ first Solemn Mass will take place at the Shrine Church the following morning, Sunday, 10 June at 11am.

The daily Mass (12:10) can be watched for 24 hours on the internet, and the Sunday Solemn High Mass for the whole week, at www.livemass.org. The website has also been significantly updated, mainly through the work of Fr James Mawdsley, now at Reading/Bedford: www.fssp.co.uk

MIDDLESBROUGH - Paul Waddington 01757 638027 paul@gooleboathouse.co.uk

The priests of the Oratory in Formation in York continue to offer a Missa Cantata at noon every Sunday. The congregation continues to grow slowly, although most of the growth seems not to come from local people, but rather from visitors to York, who may not be expecting a Latin Mass. Many of the visitors are tourists from countries where the Latin Mass is not available, and are most surprised by what they discover. Some question whether they are in a Catholic church at all, especially when they encounter the Asperges. Most are impressed, especially at hearing a Haydn or Mozart setting of the Mass, the like of which they have probably never heard before. A few do walk out, but for many, it is an introduction which might lead to a lifelong interest in the Mass of Ages.

The Oratory also provides a Sung Mass at 6pm on Holy Days and major feast days. Fr Mark Drew is offering a Low Mass on the second Sunday of each month at the Church of Our Lady and St Joseph in Hedon, which is five miles to the east of Hull. So far this Mass has not been well supported, so I would encourage people to attend in order to justify its continuation.

There continues to be no provision of the Mass of Ages in the northern part of the diocese. I would be very interested to hear from anyone living in the Middlesbrough area who is willing to help re-establish Latin Masses there.

NORTHAMPTON (South) - Barbara Kay 01234 340759 mbky3@outlook.com Nick Ross 07951 145240 nick@efmass.co.uk

The Latin Masses in this area remain unchanged at present: Christ the King, Bedford (weekly on Sunday at 8.30 am), Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Chesham Bois (weekly on Sunday at 8 am) and St Francis of Assisi, Shefford (3rd Friday of the month at 7.30pm). The Mass is sung at Chesham Bois on the first Sunday of each month, and similarly at Bedford, although the Sung Mass in May will be on the 13th, as we are welcoming Bishop Peter Doyle on that day as part of his pastoral visit to Christ the King.

The priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP) have now been saying Mass at Bedford for six months on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. In addition, one of them, Fr James Mawdsley, FSSP, is running Family Catechism Days with Fatima Devotions on First Saturdays, which are well worth attending if you can reach Bedford. There is Rosary and Confessions at 10 am, followed by Mass at 11 am, and then catechism for children and adults in the afternoon, ending up with server training and music practice. Please see https://www.facebook.com/bedfordlatinmass/ for what is going on at Bedford. The last in the current series of Family Days will take place on 2 June (on this occasion only, starting half an hour earlier at 9.30 am with Mass at 10.30 am) and the new series will begin on 1 September. Similar days are being held on 4th Saturdays at Chesham Bois; please see https://fssp.co.uk/family-catechism-day-saturday-24-march/ for details of those.

Our numbers at Bedford are healthy; about 50 attended on Easter Sunday, and some 80 attended our Sung Mass on Low Sunday. Our recently formed schola numbers around eight singers and we were very grateful to receive some copies of the ‘Liber Usualis’, containing most of the music we need, from a former choirmaster via the LMS. We would welcome new members who can commit to a fortnightly practice on a Saturday afternoon; please contact Barbara on the above email address or telephone number if this is of interest.

Two of our congregation, Chris Norfolk and Lucy Crabtree, celebrated a Traditional Rite wedding at Christ the King on 12 February. As far as we know, this was the first such wedding since 1969. Fr Gabriel Diaz was the celebrant. Another of our number, Francis Wanjiru, is to be confirmed by Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth on 12 June at St William of York, Reading, where our FSSP priests are based; Chris Norfolk will be Francis’s sponsor, and others from Christ the King are planning to be at the confirmation to support Francis on his special day.

NORTHAMPTON (Northamptonshire) - Paul Beardsmore 01858 434037

The usual Saturday Mass continues at St Brendan's in Corby; Mass was also celebrated there on Ash Wednesday.

NOTTINGHAM (Leicestershire and Rutland) - Paul Beardsmore 01858 434037

Sung Masses were celebrated at St Peter's in Leicester on the feasts of the Purification and the Annunciation, and on Ash Wednesday, and at Holy Cross Priory for the feast of St Joseph. Masses are also sung on the first Sunday of each month at Holy Cross, which meant that this year we had a sung Mass on Easter Sunday. Low Masses are celebrated at Holy Cross on other Sundays, and on most weekdays except Saturdays; Saturday morning Masses are celebrated at St Peter's, and there is a Friday evening Mass at St Joseph's in Oakham, as well as a first Friday Mass at St Peter's. In addition, there was a sung Requiem Mass at St Joseph's on the last Friday of January for the repose of the soul of Mackenzie Urquhart.

My thanks go to all our celebrants - Frs Rocks and Jarvis at Holy Cross Priory; Fr Dye at Oakham; and Canon Cahill at St Peter's to whom congratulations are due on his recent appointment to the cathedral chapter.

NOTTINGHAM - Jeremy Boot 07462 018386

I mentioned in the last report that a change of clergy at Our Lady and St Patrick, the Meadows, Nottingham and the appointment of a new Dean at the Cathedral might cause us concern. So far, there appears to be no cause for worry and Masses continue as before. Despite bad weather in the months since Christmas, no Masses had to be cancelled and congregations held up well or indeed improved.

It is good to hear from those younger members who have helped us to sing or serve in the recent past and have moved on. Two are now studying for the priesthood at traditional foundations: Lawrie Swithinbank who is now a novice, now Br Ildephonse, at Saint-Benoit monastery in La Garde-Freinet, France, and Pedro Henriques Santos, a Brazilian student at Nottingham University of a couple of years ago, and who is now with the Seminaire du Bon Pasteur at Courtelain, also in France. They are both happy, doing well and we remember them in our prayers and wish them every possible success.

Masses continue at 6.15pm on the third Wednesday of the month (followed by a Juventutem meeting) at the Cathedral; Mass on the Saturday before the 2nd Sunday of the month (4.45pm) at The Good Shepherd Church, Arnold, Nottingham – yes, it does fulfil the Sunday obligation - and at Our Lady and St Patrick, Nottingham, for the 3rd and 4th Sundays of the month at 2pm (sung/said).

We were able this year to have a Sung Mass with procession and blessing of palms on Palm Sunday at Our Lady and St Patrick, Nottingham. Attendance at our Masses varies between churches but is stable and growing. There are Masses for three out of four Sundays per month in this area, and for any ‘blank’ Sundays, there are Masses at Holy Cross Leicester (1st Sunday sung) at 12.30 weekly for those who can travel. I was recently asked about Masses in Derby, where we have no outlet, and this area has been a problem for some years. If any Derby members feel there are avenues to explore, I would be happy to hear from them. We have, as I frequently mention, very limited resources and singers, servers, organists and indeed clergy. Thanks again to all of them for their time and energy.

PLYMOUTH (Devon) - Maurice Quinn 07555 536579 mq018q1057@blueyonder.co.uk

I am very pleased to report that all Devon Vetus Ordo celebrations have been reasonably well supported during the Spring months. St Cyprian’s, Ugbrooke House, Chudleigh, always has a body of regulars, but the Palm Sunday Sung Mass that took place there was particularly memorable. This was the first time that Fr Guy de Gaynesford had performed the Traditional Old Rite Palm Sunday Mass with blessing of the palms at this venue. We have to thank the choir members who turned up to sing the Palm Sunday chants so beautifully – Michael Crawford, Timothy Tindal-Robertson, and Andrew Beards with his daughter Clare. It was also pleasing to have three servers, including Benedict Beards and our MC, John Cox. John has decided to call it a day and retire after many long years of serving on the sanctuary. John’s guidance and quiet professionalism will be greatly missed, especially at Blessed Sacrament, Exeter, and at St Cyprian’s, Ugbrooke House, Chudleigh. It is fitting that John served for the last time on Palm Sunday, acting as Cross Bearer in the ensuing procession, where his advice and knowledge proved to be invaluable. We owe John a debt of gratitude that cannot be measured, and we wish him well for the future.

Fr Paul Brophy with the parish priest of St Mary Immaculate Mother of God, Barnstaple, North Devon, after a Vetus Ordo celebration – Fr Brophy was the celebrant, while Fr Paul Andrew preached the homily

At Blessed Sacrament in Exeter, our regular third Sunday of the month Mass still has the benefit of being celebrated by Mgr Adrian Toffolo and by Fr Harry Heijveld. On one particular occasion though, Fr Peter Coxe filled in at short notice when the scheduled priest could not make it. The third Sunday of March was a big disappointment though, as the Mass had to be cancelled due to a blizzard that suddenly hit South Devon and prevented travel. However, we have to thank Fr Harry for celebrating a ‘one off’ Mass the following week – Palm Sunday. This celebration was reasonably well attended, so we have to thank Tegwyn Harris the organist, the various people who made up the choir, and the server, John Tristram, all of whom made themselves available at such short notice (The regular servers were at the scheduled and widely advertised Mass at Ugbrooke House on the same day.) We also thank the parish priest, Fr Jonathan Stewart, for being instrumental in hosting this extra usus antiquior at Blessed Sacrament.

The Latin Mass celebrations that take place at St Mary’s Abbey, Buckfast are still popular with regulars and visitors alike, where Fr Guy de Gaynesford and Dom Tom Reagan OSB still alternately celebrate in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. On Ash Wednesday, especially, we were pleasantly surprised to see about 45 people at Mass - all of whom Fr Tom ensured were quite distinctively ‘ashed’. At tea afterwards in the Grange there was no mistaking those who had attended the Traditional Old Roman Rite!

The regular Plymouth Sunday morning Missa Cantata celebrated by Fr Anthony Pillari at St Edward the Confessor is still attracting young families, and it was pleasing to know that some of them were at the 7pm Ash Wednesday Mass in February. St Edward’s is the only venue in Devon where Holy Mass is celebrated in the Extraordinary Form every Sunday morning throughout the year. This fact has been instrumental in forming a real parish family, with children being at the very heart of it. Examples of this at St Edward’s are manifold, but one very good example of this was the First Holy Communion of young David Proctor that took place on Low Sunday, followed by a parish celebration in the hall afterwards. Mothers, too, visibly held in high regard in this praying community, were overjoyed to receive a special blessing on Laetare Sunday, some of whom were holding their latest arrivals. The Palm Sunday service with blessing of palms and procession around the church, was carried out using pre-1955 rubrics. (Unfortunately, due to an oversight, the intended Old Rite Triduum had to be cancelled for St Edward’s, although it went ahead as planned at Lanherne Convent in Cornwall, Fr Pillari’s home base). The second Sunday after Easter at St Edward’s included, along with the usual Sung Mass, extra time for Confessions, Adoration and Sung Benediction. At all these services the serving team was excellent, with Andrew Proctor as organist and performed as the ‘solo choir’. Andrew would be very pleased to hear from anybody who would like to join in the choir singing at St Edward’s on a regular basis - just turn up and get singing! If you would like to know more about the Vetus Ordo Latin Mass and activities at St Edward’s, please feel free to log in to their new website as follows:www.tlmplymouth.co.uk

I must finish with an appeal. The rate of growth of the Old Rite in Devon means that we are in dire need of servers, without whom one cannot have a properly reverent and dignified Holy Mass. I would be very happy to meet and speak to any male readers charitable enough to offer themselves for this much needed role, especially in the Exeter and Torbay areas.

PLYMOUTH (Dorset) - Maurice Quinn 07555 536579 mq018q1057@blueyonder.co.uk

As always, we’ve had some very reverent and dignified usus antiquior celebrations here in Dorset, both at St Mary’s in the delightful village of Marnhull, and at Our Lady of Lourdes and St Cecelia in Blandford Forum. At the former, the Latin Masses were celebrated by the parish priest, Fr Martin Budge, assisted by the regular server, Dominic Prendergast, with small but appreciative congregations. This venue deserves a much better Mass attendance than has been the case for a while now, which meant that after this Easter Thursday Latin celebration, it was a pleasure to meet some new people among the congregation – Bridget Spender and Tony Ash, along with Quentin and Cathy Straghan. These welcome visitors boosted the congregation to about sixteen people in total, nine of whom – including Fr Martin - stayed for a small convivial lunch afterwards. The very sad news for everybody, though, was that in the early hours of the following day, Joan Bird passed away peacefully in the early hours of Friday morning. Joan, along with her surviving husband Ronnie, was a longstanding supporter of the Old Rite Mass, and will be missed by us all. In your charity, please keep Joan in your prayers, along with Ronnie and the whole family. Joan’s Traditional Rite Latin Requiem Mass ttok place on 19 April in the chapel of Wardour Castle.

Monsignor Francis Jameison celebrating Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes and St Cecelia, Blandford Forum, Dorset. The servers are, Kieran Weaver-Mizzi on the left, and Dominic Prendergast on the right

At Our Lady of Lourdes and St Cecelia in Blandford Forum, Mgr Francis Jamieson continues to celebrate the Old Rite, but I was unable to be present in March because of a very heavy fall of snow in Torquay where I live. However, it was pleasing to learn that against all expectations, the two monthly usus antiquior celebration at Blandford went ahead as planned. Also pleasing was the fact that Mgr Francis has found another server for this venue – Colin Harte. Colin has our thanks and gratitude for agreeing to learn how to serve the Latin Mass at this venue. All of us are acutely aware of the shortage of much needed servers, so please do think seriously about helping out on the sanctuary. If there are any men reading this who would like to help serve the Old Rite, do please contact me by phone or by email so that we can take it further. What must be kept in mind, especially in the Plymouth Diocese, is that the continued interest and growth in the Vetus Ordo means that now as never before, the need for servers is much greater.

PORTSMOUTH (Isle of Wight) - Peter Clarke 01983 566740 07790 892592

The EF Mass continues here on the Island on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 12 noon with Exposition from 11.30am. This is thanks to Fr Jonathan Redvers Harris (Ordinariate and parish priest of Cowes and East Cowes). It was a real shock to the system when Fr Anthony Glaysher departed from the Island last year and we thought that EF Masses would cease. He did however, return in March, for a Funeral Mass for Yvonne Rampton RIP, one of our stalwart supporters.

As mentioned before, we are grateful to Father Jonathan for his pastoral care for us in offering the EF Mass.

We look forward to some additional Masses offered by visiting priests over the summer period. We would be pleased to hear from any priest wishing to visit our lovely Island and offer Mass for us.

See Listings for Mass details. For further information on Isle of Wight E.F. Masses please contact me on 01983 566740 or 07790 892592.

PORTSMOUTH - Peter Cullinane 023 92 47 13 24 pmcullinane@hotmail.com

About 40 of us celebrated Palm Sunday with a short procession inside St John’s Cathedral, led by Fr Joe McNerney – we were fortunate indeed that this could take place within the very restricted time Father has before returning to his home parish to repeat the act of witness.

As last year, the Friars at Gosport celebrated the Triduum with the traditional services, including the less common Tenebrae on three successive days.

An average of 30-40 turned up each day and there was a remarkable “first” on Holy Saturday when a young man, Joshua, was received into full communion with the Catholic Church, having been instructed by the Friars. We hope that this will lead to further receptions.

PORTSMOUTH (Reading) - Adrian Dulston 01491 682909

As in previous years the FSSP gave a full Triduum Liturgy including Tenebrae - this without our former musician Fr Verrier, who was no doubt heard in FSSP Warrington. Thanks once again to the St William of York Choir for the effort which goes into this sombre and demanding but thoroughly rewarding liturgy. As usual there was the offering of both Easter Vigil and Sunday morning Easter Mass.

Fr O’Donohue is currently helping Fr Goddard with daily and Sunday Masses. The priests run youth, men and women groups as well as regular catechesis on Thursdays. A reminder to check the following address link for timings of Masses during the week which can change but generally follow the pattern of Monday 12 noon, Tuesday 7am at St John Fisher House, Wednesday 12 noon, Thursday either 11am Mass for Family Catechism day or 12 noon, Friday 7.30pm, Saturday 8am. https://fssp.co.uk/reading/

Also, FSSP are running boys and girls retreats in the summer so please look this up on the link address above.

For those in the vicinity of Didcot there is now a regular Wednesday evening (7.30pm) Latin Mass at English Martyrs Catholic Church offered by Philip Pennington Harris with a 1st Sunday 7am Mass, although there are changes so please refer to newsletter (for Didcot) https://tinyurl.com/y77fgzr9

May Royal St Joseph continue to rebuild Our Lady’s Dowry.

SHREWSBURY (The Wirral) - Stefano Mazzeo 0151 638 6822

Holy Week and Easter at the Shrine Church of Ss Peter & Paul and St Philomena were particularly wonderful this year as we were given permission to use the pre-1955 Tenebrae prayers, which were beautifully chanted by the Canons and some of the servers. All our Masses were very well attended. In fact, it is clear that attendance for Sunday Masses in general is steadily growing at the Dome for both our 8.30 and 10.30 Masses.

Activities continue to expand - Canon Montjean runs a youth group that meets once a month on Saturdays with faith talks and discussion. Anyone between the ages of 14 and 25 who would like to join should contact Canon Montjean, at chn.montjean@icrsp.org. There is also a catechism class for ages 8 to 12 on Sundays after Mass, again contact the Shrine for details and times. And there will be a group going from the church on the Chartres Pilgrimage, contact Canon Montjean on 0151 638 6822 or Vicky Kearns on 0790 3518970.

Canon Montjean is a long-time veteran of the Chartres Pilgrimage and I was able to interview him and have produced a little video interspersed with images from EWTN's documentary of the 2013 "In Search of Christendom - The Chartres Pilgrimage". To view on You Tube See Chartres Pilgrimage 2018 preview.

Canon Vianney Poucin is giving faith formation talks for adults, this year based on the history of the Church. Canon Parant in running monthly faith formation talks for married couples, Domus Christiani which looks at love and marriage issues from a Catholic perspective. Contact chn.parant@ icrsp.org for further information. We are also running the first five Saturdays devotion for families.

Roam with the Dome is a rambling group set up by Jane and Tim Scott, in which members of the congregation can go on wonderful walks in the Welsh mountains - to join them please email timandjanescott@me.com.

The church gets many parties of visitors and to help people understand the Catholic church, and in particularly the history of the Dome, we have produced an audio tour. The tour is a series of little three to four minute audio plays that take place in different parts of the church that can be picked up on a smart phone via wifi. Anne Archer has done sterling work in promoting the Dome and organising the lottery funding, without which we could not have been so far advanced in the renovation work.

Masses at Carmel Birkenhead continues at 7:45 on Thursdays celebrated by a priest from the shrine. This year the community will be celebrating 100 years of foundation. There is a little video on their website that I managed to put together for the Mother Prioress which she wrote and narrated.

SOUTHWARK (Kent) - Marygold Turner 01580291372

As I felt there was little to report in the last Mass of Ages, I am glad to say I was lucky enough to be invited to Gricigliano for Holy Week. Holy indeed! It was superb and I don’t think anywhere in the world the marvellous liturgy could have been more prayerful or dignified – or indeed more beautiful.

Monsignor Wach is a genius in my opinion, as well as being a most generous host. He has such an eye for beauty and detail. We were spoilt, especially as Cardinal Burke presided – Capa Magna at all times – so perfectly served by the young priests, with so much devotion. The music was sublime. I was honoured to speak to Cardinal Burke, and he struck me with his humility and care for us all. He said, ‘I hope I do enough for you’! Such a comforting approach.

Apart from that, we are so well blessed with priests, young and older, who come long distances to celebrate our beloved Holy Mass.

On the feast of the Ascension, Corpus Christi and SS Peter and Paul, we shall have Mass at Headcorn. Please all try to come to Corpus Christi, 31 May, 12 noon at Headcorn, when there will be a Missa Cantata, with Charles Finch coming to play and sing for us for the first time. This is a most special event for us in Kent, so please do come in droves! The first time we have pushed the boat out to this extent. But the feast of Corpus Christi is so poignant and important in these times, when we suspect and realise many clergy and faithful have lost their faith in the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

SOUTHWARK (St Bede's, Clapham Park) - Thomas Windsor

Firstly, I would like to thank the Parish of St Bede’s for kindly funding the music for our anticipated Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, David Guest’s excellent professional choir sang the Mozart Mass. This gave our own schola a break between singing the Vigil Mass in the morning, and the Day Mass of Christmas. Once again we must thank Fr Southwell for spending his Christmas break with us, celebrating these sung Masses and also for Sung Masses on St Stephen's day, Sunday, within the Octave and only a few hours later our traditional midnight Mass to welcome in the New Year and a few hours later another Sung Mass at our usual Sunday time of 11am.

Fr Diaz celebrated the Blessing of Epiphany water and chalk, followed by a Sung Mass for the Feast of the Epiphany. Father also came back to celebrate Candlemas with us where we had a full Sung Mass and procession.

As usual we had a Sung Mass and imposition of Ashes on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent also marked the 1st Anniversary of the death of Fr Clifton, so we arranged a sung Requiem Mass for him here on 2 March.

Fr Southwell returned to spend Holy Week and Easter with us. On Palm Sunday we had our usual Sung Mass and procession with the choir singing the wonderful setting by Victoria of the Passion and Isaac’s setting of the Communion Proper. Our choir once again provided some wonderful polyphony and chant for the Mass and procession of Maundy Thursday, and on Good Friday we once again had Victoria’s setting of the Passion. Our Easter began with our Vigil Mass, with the lighting of the new fire, Exsultet sung by our Polish Priest Fr Zgorecki, all the Prophecies, blessing of the Font, with the choir singing the beautiful setting of the Sicut Cervus by Palestrina. It was especially good to see so many of our boys serving and one even joined the choir and sang one of the Prophecies. Once again our church was full of young families for these long services over Holy Week.

With the Vigil over, our excellent serving team and choir could not yet have a well-deserved break, with Easter Sunday Mass and Vespers and another Sung Mass on Easter Monday.

Our Chapter of the Guild of St Clare continues to repair our vestments, and has recently made a beautiful cover for the Altar in the Lady Chapel.

Recently comments have been made about the noise at our Sunday Mass. Here at St Bede’s we are lucky to have more than 10 families and almost 40 children regularly attending. Many of these children are under four, and it can be very difficult to keep all of them quiet all the time. With marriages and baptisms being celebrated regularly in our community, I cannot guarantee Masses without the noise of babies and children, but I hope this can be seen as good news for the future of the Traditional Mass.

WESTMINSTER (Spanish Place) - Roger Wemyss Brooks wemyssbrooks@outlook.com

Sunday Masses have continued to be well attended and said by our chaplain, Fr Michael Cullinan, with support from Fr Patrick Hayward and Fr Mark Elliott Smith who often help out at short notice. The provision of Masses was not interrupted by the recent bad weather with many braving transport problems to attend. All three of these priests also acted as sacred ministers at the Triduum ceremonies at St Mary Moorfields.

I am sad to report the death of Fr Nicholas Kavanagh who lived in the Rectory at Spanish Place for a number of years. He passed away after a long illness on his 69th birthday and his funeral was attended by the Cardinal and many fellow priests from the diocese. Many will remember Fr Nicholas saying the early OF Mass on Sundays and recall his gentle, reverant presence. May he rest in peace.

I hope that many members will again attend the Corpus Christi procession this year on Sunday 3 June. This wonderful act of witness takes place at 5.30pm at The Assumption, Warwick Street, passing through the busy streets of central London to arrive at St James’ for the welcome Benediction with glorious music and beautiful ceremony – not to be missed!

WREXHAM - Kevin Jones 01244 674011 lms.wrexham@outlook.com www:lmswrexham.weebly.com @LMSWrexham

We continue with our cycle of Masses in Wrexham Diocese, still ticking over with no reduction on the status quo. The numbers attending those Masses also remains steady and on more than one occasion, we welcome new faces, albeit perhaps maybe as visitors. It would be great to see even more people experience the beauty of the traditional Roman liturgy!

The First Saturday Mass at Our Lady of Rosary, Buckley has now replaced the Novus Ordo Parish Mass at 11am. This assists Canon Doyle balance his heavy workload and introduces (and in some cases, reacquaints) parishioners with the Mass of Ages.

Yours truly now serves the Low Mass at St Francis of Assisi, Llay on the second Sunday.

For various reasons, we moved what would have been the Palm Sunday at St Winefride’s, Holywell to Easter Sunday and this paid a little dividend of attracting a few more people to the Mass.

Finally, planning for the Holywell pilgrimage on 1 July continues; all clergy have been identified and the music is to hand. It promises to be a glorious day! Please, if you can assist in serving please bring your apparel. The Mass is at 2.30pm.