REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY
DIOCESAN DIGEST Mass of Ages quarterly round-up Arundel & Brighton Anne-Marie Mackie-Savage 01323 411370 aandb@lms.org.uk We have been blessed with wonderfully regular Masses in Eastbourne thanks to Fr Tristan Cranfield of Our Lady of Ransom, and Fr Thomas Mason of the Ordinariate. Of course, as Latin Masses are very much dependent on where priests are assigned, we are very aware that these Masses can be ended at rather short notice, so we are extremely grateful while we have them. Fr Gerard Hatton has returned to health and is once again saying Masses in his parish at Knaphill and we still have the regular Masses in Lewes thanks to Fr Jonathan Martin, and to Fr Sean Finnegan in Caterham. There are quarterly Masses at Our Lady of Consolation, West Grinstead. If any Masses have been omitted, please let me know so I can remedy that! Thanks to all our supporters and the priests who make these Masses possible. If I can be of any help in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me. Birmingham & Black Country Louis Maciel 0739 223 2225 birmingham@lms.org.uk birmingham-lms-rep.blogspot.co.uk/ For the first time since the reforms, the Christmas Midnight Mass at the Oratory was celebrated in the Extraordinary Form, following on from the successful Easter Triduum earlier in the year. There were also Christmas Day Masses at St Maryon-the-Hill, Wednesbury and Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Wolverhampton, as well as a fine Missa Cantata at the latter on the Friday after the Epiphany. I am sad to report that, after twenty-two years of faithful service as Parish Priest at Our Lady and St Kenelm in Halesowen, Fr Bruce Dutson retired at the end of January, with the oldest continuous EF Mass in the region ending at the same time. We wish Fr Bruce all the best in his well-deserved retirement. St Dunstan’s church reopened in December and the EF Masses have resumed at Our Lady’s Altar while the main Altar awaits renovation, having been celebrated temporarily in the Conference Centre. The parishioners of St Mary-on-the-Hill in Wednesbury were delighted to welcome back Fr Ian Verrier FSSP to celebrate Mass in early December, at the church where he was originally received into the Catholic Faith and where he was organist for a few years. Birmingham (Little Malvern) Alastair J Tocher 01684 893332 extraordinarymalvern.uk@btinternet.com extraordinarymalvern.uk Facebook: Extraordinary Malvern Missae Cantatae at St Wulstan’s are now established every Sunday. This has entailed additional preparation of music, much of which is now accessible on the Schola website (schola.uk). The Schola’s repertoire also, at last, includes a first
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polyphonic Gloria – from Hassler’s Missa super Dixit Maria – with more planned to follow in the coming year. On the last Sunday on October – Christ the King – what is thought to be the first High Mass at St Wulstan’s for 50 years was celebrated by Fr George Grynowski assisted by Canon Smith ICKSP and Fr Gribbin from Shrewsbury. This was followed two weeks later by our annual Requiem Mass on Remembrance Sunday, though this was less well attended than in the previous year. Fr Stephen Schumacher, a priest of the Archdiocese of St Louis currently studying in Rome, was visiting the area, learned of our presence online, and kindly offered to celebrate Low Mass in the Lady Chapel on 1 January, which I believe was another first for many years. Thanks as ever to Dom Jonathan Rollinson OSB (Belmont), Canon Scott Smith ICKSP, and Fr Anselm Gribbin for regularly giving up their Sunday afternoons to celebrate Mass for us; also to Fr George Grynowski as noted above and to Dom Paul Gunter OSB (Douai) – Parish Priest of nearby Alcester – for celebrating Mass for us on the Feast of the Holy Family; and last but not least to our singers, servers, tea ladies, and offertory collectors, and to our Parish Priest, Dom Edward Crouzet OSB (Downside) for allowing us use of the church and hall. Birmingham (North Staffordshire) Alan Frost Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Swynnerton near Stone continues to be the focus for Latin Mass devotees in North Staffs, and there is encouraging news. Two priests in the area are interested in celebrating the Tridentine Mass and hopefully we will witness this occurring in this new year and new decade. Further happy news is that a young lady and regular attender at N. Staffs Masses and LMS Summer Schools for a number of years is discerning a vocation and has recently entered a Convent as a novice. Fr Chavasse, P.P. of Our Lady’s, who has suffered for some time from throat illness, experienced, briefly, a ‘little miracle’ by being able to join in with the carol singing at Midnight Mass. Earlier in the day the local choir gave a carol concert at Our Lady’s Church. It was well attended and Fr Chavasse gave the homily and read the Lesson. Birmingham (Oxford) Joseph Shaw oxford@lms.org.uk Our annual Oxford Pilgrimage was well supported this year; we had a splendid High Mass in the Dominican Rite in Oxford Blackfriars (the Priory of the Holy Spirit), followed by a procession through the streets to the site of the martyrdom of Bl. George Napier in 1610, which is marked with a steel plaque in the Castle quarter, followed by Benediction. I should like to record my thanks to Fr Bruno Clifton OP, the celebrant, and the other members of the community who assisted, and to Alex Lloyd of the Newman Consort who provided some lovely polyphony to set off the Dominican chant sung by Oxford’s Schola Abelis.
SPRING 2020
