Mass of Ages Issue 183 Spring 2015

Mass of Ages The quarterly magazine of the Latin Mass Society

ISSUE 183 – Spring 2015

FREE GOLDEN JUBILEE ISSUE

A Colossal Wake-Up Call Prof. Peter Kwasniewski on the Synod, the future and what it all means for Catholics

Pilgrims’ progress? Fitness fanatics, non-believers and Protestants: Catholics find fellow travellers on the pilgrim trails.

Plus: Extraordinary Japan – the Old Rite in the Orient.

And Adventures of the Lone Veiler – a new column on traditional life.

NEWS, FEATURES, COLUMNS AND COMPREHENSIVE TRADITIONAL MASS LISTINGS JOIN THE LMS NOW – APPLICATION FORM, BACK PAGE

CONTENTS

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

COMMENT 2.

Intro 3.

Chairman’s Message 4-6. Drunks and Madmen: ‘Shepherds’ of the Church, Professor Peter Kwasniewski.

7.

Letters 8-9.

Sad, Scary and Strange, responses to the Synod 44.

Family Notebook, Gwen Richards 45.

The Adventures of the Lone Veiler 46.

Roman Report, Alberto Caruso 47.

Macklin Street, Mike Lord

TO BE A PILGRIM 10-11 12.

13.

15.

Pilgrims’ Progress?

Do we still believe in pilgrimage? Fr Bede Rowe Parish Profile – The Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden Two pilgrims’ tales – Dom James Cutts and Harriet Tait

NEWS AND FEATURES 14. Crossword and Liturgical calendar 16. In Illo Tempore 17. Obituary of Fr Kevin Knox-Lecky 18. Should we use a new Latin translation?

19. Clash of the Clerical detectives, Dan Atkinson 20-21. Year Planner 22-23. Art & Devotion, Caroline Shaw 24-25. The Extraordinary Japanese, Fr Daniel Horgan 36. Pentecost Peoples Revisited

DIOCESAN REPORTS 26-36

MASS LISTINGS 37-43

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the LMS or its members.

The Latin Mass Society 11-13 Macklin Street, London, WC2B 5NH Tel: 020-7404 7284

editor@lms.org.uk

Mass of Ages FREE GOLDEN JUBILEE ISSUE

A Colossal Wake-Up Call

Prof. Peter Kwasniewski on the Synod, the future and what it all means for Catholics

PILGRIMS’ PROGRESS? FITNESS FANATICS, NON-BELIEVERS AND METHODISTS CATHOLICS FIND FELLOW TRAVELLERS ON THE PILGRIM TRAILS. PLUS: EXTRAORDINARY JAPAN – IT’S JUST THEIR CUP OF TEA. AND: ADVENTURES OF THE LONE VEILER – A NEW COLUMN ON TRADITIONAL LIFE.

NEWS, FEATURES, COLUMNS AND COMPREHENSIVE TRADITIONAL MASS LISTINGS JOIN THE LMS NOW – APPLICATION FORM, BACK PAGE

Cover photographs L-R: Cardinal Burke, Pope Francis & Cardinal Kasper.

Thanks to the Catholic Church of England and Wales.

Mass of Ages No.183 Of your charity, we ask your understanding of the reality that, due to the considerable volume of e-mail received at Mass of Ages, it is regrettably not always possible to provide a reply.

Views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Latin Mass Society.

Candlelit Mass at Market Rasen, photo John Aron.

M

aybe it’s just that time of year, but, writing this in January, it’s tempting to look backwards as well as forwards.

Casting a look over our shoulder, the last edition sparked considerable interest and controversy. So we must be doing something right.

Despite our fears that the winter issue’s focus on critics of the Old Rite might offend, we received no complaints about this. We even had a modest flood of correspondence.

This will please those who have been calling for readers’ letters to be published. Sadly, as we have pointed out previously, we cannot publish what doesn’t exist. This time, though, we have no such problem and we even have some missives from outside LMS circles. One should always be careful what one wishes for, however, some letters argue that objections to the Old Rite have more to do with traditionalists than the Traditional Mass. So be prepared.

Looking ahead, the Latin Mass Society has a new General Manager, Stephen Moseling, formerly of the St Paul’s bookshop. Meanwhile, Clare Stevens, a press and publicity officer, has been engaged in this Jubilee year.

It is set to be a momentous year all round, what with the LMS’s 50 years, the second Synod in Rome in October and the small matter of a General Election in May. Pundits seem reluctant to call either the Synod or the Election, but we can predict that the LMS’s Jubilee will be a success.

The Bishops of England and Wales are going to issue guidance on the Election this month. It may already have emerged by the time this goes to press. But Mass of Ages will not be providing tips. Which, if any, of the parties would be preferable from the point of view of a traditional Catholic, is highly debatable.

We are fortunate to have so many excellent contributions – not least from Professor Peter Kwasniewski, the US academic, who writes for us about turmoil in the Church and from Fr Daniel Horgan, who has written about the Extraordinary Japanese. We also introduce our new and entertaining columnist, the Lone Veiler.

In this issue, we look at pilgrimage, holy places and the rise of the secular pilgrim. With a last glance back, we reserve final words for thanks for Mike Lord, until recently General Manager. Mike’s humour, kindness and good sense have contributed greatly to this magazine. His encyclopaedic knowledge of traditional matters, the Church and comedy have been invaluable. Good luck Mike.

THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY PATRONS: Sir Adrian Fitzgerald Bt, Lord (Brian) Gill, Dr James MacMillan CBE, Colin Mawby, Charles Moore COMMITTEE: Dr Joseph Shaw – Chairman; Paul Waddington – Treasurer; David Forster – Secretary; David Lloyd – Vice President; Paul Beardsmore – Vice President; James Bogle; Kevin Jones; Stefano Mazzeo; Roger Wemyss Brooks, Dylan Parry

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

Fifty Not Out LMS welcomes Cardinal Burke in its Jubilee year Dr Joseph Shaw

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ith this issue, the Mass of Ages is becoming free and I would like to extend a special welcome to those reading this who might not normally do so: welcome to the Mass of Ages, and to the Latin Mass Society’s half-centenary year.

The LMS was among the first lay associations founded to defend the Church’s liturgical traditions, and was created to work with priests, bishops, and the Holy Father, to keep alive (in the words of Pope Benedict) ‘the riches which have grown up in the Church’s life and prayer’. We have, with the grace of God, succeeded: what seemed hopeless, or worse still disloyal to the Church, to many, is now assured, thanks to the decisive intervention of successive Popes, and many of our own bishops, starting with John, Cardinal Heenan, passing on to Pope Paul VI the Society’s successful petition for the ‘Old Mass’ in 1970.

The Catholic liturgy in its more ancient form (the ‘usus antiquior’) is now celebrated in every diocese in England and Wales, and by an ever-growing number of bishops as well as parish priests. It remains for the Latin Mass Society to support, to explain, to identify remaining obstacles and, above all, to facilitate the celebration of Mass in the Extraordinary Form in as worthy a manner as possible. One way of doing that will be demonstrated on 14 November when Leo, Cardinal Burke, celebrates our Annual Requiem in Westminster Cathedral, with the kind permission of Vincent, Cardinal Nichols. Another way will be the celebration of Mass in Walsingham this August for LMS pilgrims, who will have walked 55 miles from Ely. Yet another will be the celebration of Mass in July for the children at the Summer School that we support in Pantasaph in North Wales.

These are all events which would not happen without the Latin Mass Society, and they illustrate the range of our activities.

There are many more and I hope you will enjoy reading about them in this magazine. In our time, as in every time, there is much to be done in the Church for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Let us do some of it, together.

---------------------On Saturday 14 March, the Latin Mass Society-sponsored umbrella group for Chant choirs and scholas, the Gregorian Chant Network, is having it biennial meeting in the Brompton Oratory in London.

It will be addressed by Dom Daniel Saulnier and Giovanni Varelli.

Dom Daniel is a former choirmaster of the Abbey of St Peter at Solesmes, and one of the most influential chant theorists and practitioners in the world. Mr Varelli is the Cambridge researcher,

who recently discovered a manuscript showing the earliest known polyphonic notation in the world. It is a Vespers Antiphon in honour of St Boniface from about the year 900 AD. It will be performed at the meeting. Anyone involved in chant, and particularly chant directors, are welcome to attend. Tickets are available from the LMS Office and website.

---------------------As readers will see elsewhere in this edition of Mass of Ages, we are saying goodbye to Mike Lord, our General Manager for four years.

His successor, Stephen Moseling, will be continuing Mike’s tremendous work in building up the Society, stabilising our finances, updating our website and publicity, and recruiting a large number of Local Representatives. We wish Mike well in his new work.

Traditional Priests’ Support Trust HMRC charitable status ref XR87762 ‘Now in the twenty-fifth year of my priesthood, my health broken by mission work, I am most grateful to this providential trust for their help and support.’

Fr B, May 2014 Since 2005 we have offered regular funding, in confidence, to individual priests resident in the UK, who are in need because they adhere to the traditional doctrine and liturgy of the Church and celebrate the Old Rite Mass exclusively.

13 Gladstone Road Headington Oxford OX3 8LL

www.traditional-priests.org.uk

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INTERVIEW

Our ‘Shepherds’ were like Drunks and Madmen The Wake-up Call we got from the Synod and why the Old Rite is the Answer An Interview with the US academic, Professor Peter Kwasniewski

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015 What does the recent Synod in Rome and events such as the ‘demotion’ of Cardinal Raymond Burke mean for the resurgence of Traditional Catholicism?

That’s a big question. I’ll try to be succinct: the Synod was a colossal wake-up call to the Church, to the faithful. It showed us, in no uncertain terms, that many of our ‘shepherds’ are like drunks or madmen, and that we cannot sit back and take for granted that the Faith is safe.

Modern Catholics have generally been rather passive: they are trained to take what is given to them and don’t stir themselves to action very easily. That was the problem with the reception of Vatican II and the reformed liturgy: the ‘experts’ spoon-fed us all this stuff, and we choked it down, instead of spitting it out or demanding to see the ingredients.

But you can see to an astonishing extent that this wasn’t working with the Synod. The experts tried to pull the wool over our eyes and it failed not only among us, but even among themselves. The Machiavellians were too clever by half. It came as a resounding warning to the Church Militant. The ensuing divisions in the ranks are unfortunate but necessary so that the truth can be proved and the deceiver exposed. As St Paul says: ‘I hear that when you come together in the church, there are schisms among you; and in part I believe it. For there must be also heresies, that they also, who are approved, may be made manifest among you’ (1 Cor 11:18-19).

So, in short, the Synod galvanised many Catholics around the world to take up their catechisms and defend the Faith. This is all to the good and, in God’s mercy, may portend a still greater opening of minds and hearts to traditionalism, which has been attentively clued in to the hermeneutic of rupture and discontinuity for five decades and offers a coherent, convincing way out of the madness.

As for that truly outstanding defender of the Catholic Faith, Cardinal Burke, I am inclined to see the shift in [his] position as a custommade opportunity for His Eminence to become, more than ever, a worldwide ambassador for the Old Rite, for the theology, spirituality, fine arts, discipline, and law that sustain it and for traditional Catholic doctrine on faith and morals.

I don’t see this as a matter of making lemonade out of lemons. Will he not end up more active and more influential, not less? If Pope Francis really wanted to exile him, it’s a strategic blunder that will benefit us in the end. If Pope Francis felt Burke’s time in office was up (no one has lasted long at the Signatura, if you look at the records) and wanted to give him plenty of freedom of action, then that’s going to benefit us, too. However you look at it, Cardinal Burke occupies the moral high ground and the cause of Tradition will continue to enjoy his wise, gentle, and generous patronage.

Professor Peter Kwasniewski: ‘Nothing is more important than defending and promoting the venerable Roman Rite.’

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Why did you write your latest book, Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis: Sacred Liturgy, the Traditional Latin Mass, and Renewal in the Church?

We are living through a crisis of an unprecedented nature: one that affects the Church no less than the

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

INTERVIEW

world at large. It is characterised by a systematic, all-encompassing rebellion against tradition and the wisdom of the ages, against divine revelation, even against human reason and natural law, as Pope Benedict XVI explained many times. I believe what many mystics and theologians have believed: the battle between Christ and Antichrist, between the Spirit of Truth and the hedonistic, nihilistic spirit of modernity, is intensifying and will continue to escalate until the Second Coming. We are in a new era of persecution, but with the strange twist that the persecution also happens within the Church. Curiously enough, it was none other than Pope Paul VI who most clearly bore witness to the ‘smoke of Satan’ that had ‘entered the temple of God’. Because of the immutable law of the Cross, the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity, Satan can never crush the Church, although he can test her and bring about a purification on a scale never seen before.

The battle in the Roman Church between those who love the traditional liturgy and those who have rejected it is but one ‘front’ in that intensifying conflict, and yet it is a particularly central one, because both symbolically and ontologically the liturgy is the centre of our Faith. How it is offered up to God, how we enter into it in faith, how we are formed by it in charity, determines the rest of the complexion and course of Christianity. When the liturgy is received humbly and its inner dynamism is lived to the full, the Church militant flourishes in sanctity and the rest of her house comes to be in order, no matter how great the surrounding chaos. The Church in many parts of the world has made a pathetic parody of herself, seeking ephemeral worldly relevance, while neglecting weightier matters of righteousness. The surrender to utilitarianism has resulted in the just punishment of a simultaneous loss of our powerful means of sanctification and a failure to achieve the end of reaching modern man, who is more desperate than ever for an escape from the prison of modernity.

That is why, for me, nothing is more important than defending and promoting the venerable Roman Rite (and, for that matter, all kindred traditional rites, Eastern and Western), and openly and plainly criticising harmful deviations that have afflicted the Church’s life of worship, especially in the past half-century. We have done things to our inheritance, to the most fundamental expressions of the Catholic religion, which would have been unimaginable in any previous age. We have set up an abomination of desolation in the temple, and we are suffering grievously for it.

God in His inscrutable Providence has permitted bad shepherds to be placed over the flock, to mislead, abuse, and persecute it. But in the midst of these woes we see an ever-growing movement of Catholic laity and clergy who are rising up against the mediocrity, the worldliness and poisonous modernism, rightfully demanding the restoration of the Faith in all its sacrality, holiness, and beauty.

Since it belongs to Our Lord Jesus Christ, this inheritance can never die, though it be temporarily lost, it was handed down by holy ancestors so that we might faithfully transmit it to all generations to come.

My book, then, is a lively expression of all these convictions.

How are we to worship God in spirit and in truth and in spite of all the chaos? Why is the traditional Roman Rite the way forward, the way out of the disaster? What are the crippling problems that beset the new liturgy, making it poorly suited for the New Evangelisation? These are the sorts of questions that drove the

writing of this book. I find it a tremendously difficult and exciting time to be alive and to be part of the traditionalist movement, which is a movement of youth, serious piety, gritty determination, joyful discovery and hope against hope.

What is it about the Traditional liturgy that attracts adherents old and new?

The classical liturgy is so obviously focused on God. The whole thing, from beginning to end, is an act of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and supplication. There is no doubt that the priest is ‘busy about the Father’s business’, as was the young Jesus in the temple. The faithful, meanwhile, accompany him along the way of Calvary as he offers the supreme sacrifice. It is all focused on the spiritual, the divine, the transcendent. You can see it, hear it, feel it. Indeed, if you’re not accustomed to the Old Rite, you can feel positively naked, out of place, as if you’ve trespassed into someone’s private rooms.

There is a tremendous air of secrecy and a humbling disregard for the people who happen to be there… it’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s totally about Him. We are drawn into that height, rather than drawing God down to our level. The traditional liturgy is quite different from the man-centred, community worship of the reformed rite, where it’s disturbingly easy to forget that one is assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

At an Old Rite High Mass, one can be carried away to the timeless worship of the heavenly Jerusalem, where angels chant one to the other before the pierced and glorified Lamb. At a Low Mass, the tranquility, the rich prayers, and the poignant gestures, can plunge a person into deep meditation on the Mysteries of the Lord and his saints.

There is so much one could say, but I believe what attracts adherents is the naked confrontation with the Holy. If you are longing for that, you will respond to it. If you are bored or scared of it, you will not darken the door.

It’s oddly hopeful to think about the fact that liberal Catholicism is suicidal.

If there is a resurgence of interest in the Old Rite, what is the evidence for it and the cause of it?

Obviously there are ups and downs, the resurgence is a chequered history of victories and disappointments. The traditionalist movement encompasses far more than the Mass: it embraces the Divine Office, devotions such as the Rosary, priestly and religious life lived with maximum density and consistency, and what might be called ‘child-friendly family life’, including homeschooling.

It is strong and flourishing in America and generally stronger in Anglophone countries than in others. Continental Europe has pockets of traditional Catholic life, as manifested in conferences and workshops, growing religious communities, excellent publications, and new apostolates. South America, Africa, and Asia have their pockets as well.

The most obvious indicator, I suppose, is simply that as each year passes, more parishes and chapels have the Traditional Mass. It gets easier to find such a Mass while travelling, and one meets more young clergy who either already know how to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form or wish to learn it.

As time goes on, the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter and similar societies are entrusted with more apostolates. Any sane bishop is going to think: ‘If this will get Catholics faithfully

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INTERVIEW attending Mass and living out their Christian duties, by all means, let it happen!’

I don’t know if this trend will continue, given the chillier atmosphere at the moment, but I think it will be hard to stop the momentum, especially since Summorum Pontificum.

The cause of this resurgence is twofold. The number one reason is quite simply the ongoing desire of many serious practicing Catholics to get as far away as possible from the distracting humanism and horizontalism, the irreverence, informality, saccharine music, and general atmosphere of noise that plagues the reformed liturgy. (This also explains the unusual phenomenon of Roman Catholics in America who have more or less ‘gone Byzantine’ by attaching themselves to the nearest Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Melkite, Maronite parish.)

A second reason, I believe, is the everincreasing literacy about the reform and the contrasting beauty of the traditional forms of worship thanks to growth of the resources – especially online. Things that had been hidden away for half a century are on display and advertised as scheduled in this or that city or parish. Archbishop Bugnini said the liturgical reform, to be successful, would need two generations of Catholics who knew only the new Mass. Thanks be to God, he didn’t get even one generation, as the Old Rite never ceased to be celebrated since the Second Vatican Council.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the heroic witness and pioneering labours of men such as Eric de Saventhem, Dietrich van Hildebrand, and Michael Davies, who kept alive the flame of hope and who, against unbelievable odds, strove with popes, cardinals, and bishops for the retention of the traditional liturgy.

Their stance has been vindicated and their legacy has borne abundant fruit.

A digression: some Catholics who debate with me maintain that the Novus Ordo Missae, because it was promulgated

by Paul VI for the entire Church, is de facto the Church’s current liturgy, and that the Old Rite is a kind of exception or concession permitted for the good of a limited portion of the faithful. If, however, one sign of a successfully promulgated liturgy is its universal and voluntary acceptance by the faithful, we may certainly say that the Novus Ordo Missae was not altogether successfully promulgated, for two reasons: its use has precisely coincided with the greatest decline in the history of the Church in the number of Mass goers, and, further, the use of the traditional Roman Rite that it was clearly intended to replace has never ceased and is now increasing. We could add to this the witness of the Anglican Ordinariate liturgy, which has restored many elements of the calendar, text, and ceremonial of the preBugnini liturgy; the conferral today of minor orders, which Paul VI spoke of as if they had been suppressed; the praying of Prime in monastic communities, even though it was abolished; and so forth. In other words, the Old Rite was not reformed, but

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ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015 rather, a new liturgy was put in its place. And, while the vast majority follow the new liturgy, it enjoys by no means universal adherence. Indeed, one might ask whether there is such a thing as the new liturgy, since the celebration of it varies so much from country to country, diocese to diocese, church to church, even priest to priest. This makes it not so much a rite as a schema of worship to be filled in at the discretion of the clergy and community.

Is such resurgence flying in the face of the general movement of the Church?

I don’t know; it’s hard to tell what the general movement is nowadays, things are so very chaotic and nebulous. Is there a general movement? Pope Francis has had paradoxical effects. His words and actions have prompted some conservatives to adopt or sympathise with a more traditional perspective, while making others less friendly to traditionalists.

Some liberals adore him, others are sharpening their knives because he is not delivering on his initial promise of turning the Faith upside-down. I get the impression, as do many others, of an increasing polarisation. One thinks of the contrast between Cardinal George and Archbishop Cupich. Those who are traditional and those who are ‘progressive’ will reach a point where they do not share the same faith or practice the same religion.

In a way, the Synod has been a good thing for showing people’s true colours, for setting in stark contrast the Catholicism that holds fast to what has always been taught and the pseudoCatholicism that sells a birthright for a mess of pottage. For me, it’s oddly hopeful to think about the fact that liberal Catholicism is suicidal. The Gospel of Modernity churches are emptying. Even if there seems to be a ‘general movement in the Church away from Tradition, it’s a race of lemmings to see who gets to the cliff first.

Peter Kwasniewski has taught and written on a wide variety of subjects, especially the thought of St Thomas Aquinas, sacramental and liturgical theology, the history and aesthetics of music, and the social doctrine of the Church. After teaching at the International Theological Institute in Austria, he joined the founding team of Wyoming Catholic College, where he currently serves as Professor of Theology and Choirmaster. He holds degrees from Thomas Aquinas College and The Catholic University of America, and has published two books with the latter university’s press, Wisdom’s Apprentice and On Love and Charity. His most recent book, Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis: Sacred Liturgy, the Traditional Latin Mass, and Renewal in the Church, has just been published by Angelico Press.

For the last 25 years, Dr. Kwasniewski has also been a director of choirs and scholas, a cantor, and a composer; his volume of Sacred Choral Works appeared in 2014 from Corpus Christi Watershed.

He writes regularly for The Latin Mass, New Liturgical Movement, and Rorate Caeli.

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

LETTERS

Dear Editor...

Trads, not the Traditional Mass, put others off the Old Rite From Corinna Bunce he problem with the Traditional Mass and its bad perception among ‘ordinary’ churchgoers is that a lot of the people who attend really DO have unpalatable views, especially about women. I have met a number of men in the Old Rite Mass scene who seem to suggest that women are second class.. At one Traditional Mass, I was even glared at by a number of people for wearing trousers. They also seem to think women should have no independence and should live under the authority of a man. I am a convert to Catholicism, so it has been a shock even to meet people with these viewpoints. I was amazed they existed in the 21st century.

Although I love the Traditional Latin Mass, such views have made me consider leaving not only the traditional scene but also the Catholic Church. It seems to me the problem for the wider Church is not the Old Rite Mass, but those people who go to it and who think it is acceptable to have extremist views. They ruin the Traditional Mass for many, and jeopardise its future in the wider Church. ….It is not hard to see why many in the mainstream Church do not like the traditional crowd.

T

From Fr Kevin O’Donnell, Rottingdean picked up a copy of Mass of Ages when in London recently. The issue with the biretta on the cover caught my attention. Reading through the magazine, I am delighted that people such as Philip Dillon has found a way back into the Church through the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. I am also pleased to hear of the devotion and spirituality of a Dominican priest. I have no problems with any of this at all and yet I am still left uneasy by the general tenor of the LMS and some of it supporters. I guess this is because it can come across all too readily as somewhat exclusive and only such people are ‘real Catholics’.

Your interview, very graciously done, may I say, with those who reject the use of the EF, shows this in their perceptions.

As a former Anglican priest, I can see how there has been a lack of good catechesis and too woolly an approach at times. There are features of the EF that remind us of the real dignity and content of what the Mass is all about. Yet, these things are all there in the Novus Ordo, if we have ears to hear and if it is celebrated as it should be. It doesn’t have to have 70s and 80s folk songs. And receiving in the hand while standing can be devout and sincere (and from my point of view, it usually looks that way). I take no issue with anyone who stands, receives in the hand or on the tongue, or kneels (usually awkwardly) to do so. It is their heart and disposition that counts.

Perhaps the biretta and related issues such as types of vestments, altar rails, communion only on the tongue and so on are like pressing alarm bells for some, or are badges and symbols for others. As such they can become sadly divisive rather than inclusive.

Do continue to try for inclusivity and not a takeover bid.

Going back in a time machine to pre-Vatican II days is not the answer. You can have ‘traddie Masses’ by all means, but the general shape of things needs strong doctrine, good catechesis and a reverent attitude to the sacrifice of the Mass.

I do recognise the best efforts of the LMS and the editorial

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stance of the Mass of Ages to open matters up. I can see your desire that people see ‘past the biretta’, but such things often work as the triggers and badges that I have mentioned above. Bon chance!’

From Fr Julian G Shurgold saw the front cover of Mass of Ages in St Paul`s Bookshop and, as the priest who ‘wrote to the Catholic Herald unflatteringly about the biretta brigade’ (‘Love Us, As We Love You’, pp.4-5), I feel some explanation is due.

Whether or not the biretta upsets people, as stated on the front cover, it does not upset me in the slightest. But it has become a symbol for many people of a traditionalist position, which is why I made such a reference (not unflatteringly I hope, but mischievously, which is different). I have never worn a biretta (although I did wear a soup-plate hat when I was a student in Rome, as well as a cassock – oh yes!) not because I don`t want to (I`ve been told that they`re excellent on a cold day at the graveside, and as the Catholic section of Sutton Cemetery is in the highest, most exposed portion, I`m certainly not averse to wearing one) but because I regard them as a ridiculous piece of headwear, almost as ludicrous as a mitre. An Anglo-Catholic priest once said that he saw no reason to wear it as its liturgical function is to be removed at the Divine Name. Why bother wearing anything on the head in the first place? As it has been abandoned by practically all clergy, it is now identified as an endangered species within the traditionalist fraternity.

I hope this letter clarifies my position. I write from time to time to the Catholic Herald with my tongue in my cheek, as I know certain people will react in a manner I find amusing. I think most readers of the Catholic Herald, including my good colleague, Fr Tim Finigan, recognise that, and are sharp enough not to rise to the bait! God bless you.

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But not I - says J Mackenzie s a recent convert from Anglicanism, there is I feel a very profound message beginning to emerge, about the effect that the Traditional Mass is having on individuals who encounter it for the first time.

I am in my 50s, and have been a practising (Anglo Catholic) Anglican all my life, with a love and respect for the beauty and efficacy of liturgical forms in the worship of Our Lord.

I came by chance to discover the ICKSP Shrine Church in New Brighton and the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. I was immediately transported to another realm. The obvious spirituality, respect, and devotion that I saw amongst the people and clergy moved me to such a degree that I was transfixed and knew immediately that I had found what I never knew I was looking for Had anyone suggested, that I would be a potential convert, I would have laughed at them. Though disenchanted with Anglicanism, I had never contemplated the journey across the Tiber as even a remote possibility.

Being given this wonderful chance to draw close to God for the first time in many years, and to engage with him at a far deeper level than I ever believed possible, is something that I could only have found in the Traditional Mass.

Catholics must embrace this as a wonderful jewel. For me at least, Sunday Mass cannot come quickly enough.

A

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REACTIONS TO THE SYNOD

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

Sad, Scary and Strange: Reactions to the Synod on the Family

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ast autumn’s Synod in Rome delivered in terms of drama and division – both in the discussions between the Princes of the Church and in the aftermath as commentators, clerics and critics rushed to the ether to continue the struggle and claim victory.

In terms of a battle of ideas, it was more like a battle. As the secular world watched, cameras gaping, full-scale hostilities erupted in the Vatican between Cardinals on different ‘wings’ of the Church over samesex relationships and Sacraments for divorced and remarried Catholics.

The debate continued, and continues, to rage, as the adherents of each seek to gain ground ahead of next autumn’s round two.

In the wake of the Synod, some, both in the Church and outside, claimed it as a defeat for Pope Francis – as the gathering refused to endorse a radical statement. Others, meanwhile, implied that the row was all part of some plan, which had let the genie out of the bottle and sent traditionalists on the run. Was it intended to soften up the Catholic public for next time? A classic one-two in boxing terms?

Mass of Ages has been sifting the wreckage.

The Tablet, 15 October A key document from the bishops’ Synod on the Family calling for the Church to make radical changes to its pastoral

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approach to gays, divorce and remarried and those in civil marriages has been criticised by Cardinal George Pell as ‘tendentious and incomplete’.

The text – known as the relatio – was released at the Synod’s midway point and sought to summarise the discussions at the gathering so far….But Cardinal Pell…said that the document was an ‘incomplete resumé’ of what the Synod Fathers had said…

He added that after the relatio had been presented threequarters of the participants in the Synod hall who had made interventions had voiced problems with the text.

‘The question of Communion for divorced and remarried is only the tip of the iceberg,’ he told The Tablet. ‘In seeking to be merciful, some want to open up Catholic teaching... in a radically liberalising direction, whose fruits we see in other Christian traditions,’ he said.

Fr Ray Blake’s blog, 17 October Yesterday’s events in the aula of the Synod were certainly remarkable, the bishops rose up cried ‘No’ to their manipulation, [Cardinal] Kasper disappeared as in a puff of smoke, and the Pope appoints an African.

The triumph of orthodoxy? No, just one battle won, the first maybe in a long war.

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015 What gave me joy was that the media, both Catholic and secular, followed the Kasper line that very few of the Bishops favoured ‘Tradition’ and yet yesterday’s events showed that most Bishops are actually orthodox.

I mistrusted the Synod and I was right to do so, yesterday’s events show that the majority of the Synod Fathers, including some of the Cardinals shared my mistrust.

Damian Thompson, Spectator blog, 18 October The most divisive meeting of Catholic bishops since Vatican II has ended – and no real damage has been done. Except, I’m sorry to say, to the reputation of Pope Francis. No real progress has been made, either….. …‘Pope suffers synod setback on gays’ was the BBC headline this evening – a misleading and meaningless verdict. But I’m afraid he asked for it.

BBC News website, 19 October Catholic gay rights groups say they are disappointed after the bishops rejected proposals for wider acceptance of gay people, which had the Pope’s backing. The call to ‘accept and value’ homosexuals was in a draft report, but failed to win the backing of two-thirds of the bishops at a synod in Rome.

LMS chairman, Joseph Shaw blog, 19 October What we have seen this fortnight is, nevertheless, quite scary. We have witnessed the operation, exposure, and defeat, of a ruthless attempt to manipulate the synod and, through the Synod, the whole Church. There is no reason to imagine the threat this represented is going to go away.

There is going to be a new, bigger Synod on the same subjects this time next year, and there is every reason to suppose that the same people will be in charge.

The Tablet Blog, 19 October Acting editor Elena Curti Synod final document is a setback for Francis’ reforms – for now

REACTIONS TO THE SYNOD

Tablet Blog, 27 October Daniel Hale There was scepticism around the recent Synod on the Family among many of the people I know. How could 190 old men comment on married life and the family? And why did two thirds of them veto already watered-down language on welcoming people in same-sex relationships?

But we shouldn’t slam the synod. A host of tricky issues are finally out of the box. Things could have gone further, but they also could have been much worse.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider, 4/5 November Interview on the Rorate Caeli website.

Polonia Christiana During the Synod there had been moments of obvious manipulation on the part of some clerics who held key positions in the editorial and governing structure of the Synod. The interim report (Relatio post disceptationem) was clearly a prefabricated text with no reference to the actual statements of the Synod fathers. In the sections on homosexuality, sexuality and ‘divorced and remarried’ with their admittance to the sacraments the text represents a radical neopagan ideology. This is the first time in Church history that such a heterodox text was actually published as a document of an official meeting of Catholic bishops under the guidance of a pope, even though the text only had a preliminary character.

Thanks be to God and to the prayers of the faithful all over the world that a consistent number of Synod fathers resolutely rejected such an agenda; this agenda reflects the corrupt and pagan main stream morality of our time….

This document will remain for the future generations and for the historians a black mark which has stained the honour of the Apostolic See….

Whatever gloss the Vatican press officers put on it, the final document on the Synod on the Family is a setback for Pope Francis and those prelates who support his drive for a much more pastoral approach for those living in ‘irregular unions’. Three paragraphs relating to gays and to offering Communion for divorced and remarried couples – much more anodyne than in the splendid mid-term relatio – did not achieve the requisite twothirds majority.

Fr Tim Finigan, 6 November blog

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, pastoral letter,

Where does this leave Francis? Looking a bit like ‘the Hamlet Pope’, Paul VI, whom he has beatified. He supports some sort of reform, but uncertainty is breaking the church into factions reminiscent of the Anglican Communion. Old enemies of Benedict XVI reckon they can persuade Francis to stack the college of cardinals in their favour. Meanwhile, [Cardinal] Burke has emerged as leader of the hardline traditionalists. ‘He did not want this role but perhaps he sees himself as a St John Fisher figure,’ says one Vatican source, a comparison that casts the successor of Peter in the role of Henry VIII. What should worry Francis is that moderate conservative Catholics are losing confidence in him. The New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, who is no one’s idea of an extremist, believes that ‘this pope may be preserved from error only if the Church itself resists him’. Cristina Odone, former editor of the Catholic Herald, says that ‘Francis achieved miracles with his compassionate, off-the-cuff comments that detoxified the Catholic brand.

He personifies optimism – but when he tries to turn this into policy he isn’t in command of the procedures or the details.

The result is confusion.’

25/26 October

You may have heard or read that this Synod has been about changing the teaching of the Church on marriage, family life or sexual morality.

This is not true. It was about the pastoral care that we try to offer each other, the ‘motherly love of the Church’, especially when facing difficult moments and experiences in family life. You may have heard that the Synod represented a ‘defeat for Pope Francis’ or that he was disappointed at its outcome. This is not true….

Cardinal Raymond Burke, statement, 27 October I did not state that Pope Francis has harmed the Church.…it was a lack of clarity about where the Holy Father stands on issues related to marriage and Holy Communion that had caused the harm. It is precisely for this reason that I subsequently said that only a statement from the Holy Father himself could now remove this lack of clarity.

Sadly, confusion, such as that generated by this particular interview, has been used to portray those opposed to Cardinal Kasper’s thesis as motivated by a personal animus against the Holy Father. This is just not the case, though it no doubt helps the cause of those with certain ideological axes to grind to make this appear so.

Synod Fathers came from around the world/photo Catholic Church of England and Wales

As a priest, it is a great consolation to see the leadership offered by Cardinals Burke and Pell, and by Bishop Schneider. We do not need to be disloyal to the Church, the Pope, or the College of Bishops to raise our voices in defence of dogmatic and moral truth concerning the human person, marriage and the family.

Damian Thompson – Spectator, 8 November

There is, and will be, more.

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TO BE A PILGRIM

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

Would Chaucer recognise today’s pilgrims? Absolutely... pilgrims often find more than they set out to seek. Photo: John Aron

Pilgrims’ Progress?

‘Pilgrim’: from the Latin ‘peregrinus’ meaning ‘foreign’

L

ong associated with traditional Catholicism, Christian pilgrimage is undergoing a transformation. A plethora of travel companies, with purely secular pilgrims in mind, now cater for new non-religious pilgrimages. And groups of Protestant pilgrims now also go on pilgrimage – some even to that most Catholic of sites: Lourdes. Meanwhile, certain mainstream pilgrimage operators offer sun-and-sacred trips, with a week at the beach after the ‘holyday’.

What has happened to pilgrimage? Has it become nothing more than a holiday, to sites of religious interest, akin to a trip to the temples of ancient Egypt? And has spirituality, with religion stripped out, become big business as the new travellers seek to live the pilgrim ‘experience’ – albeit without God? Although the Church has long been linked with pilgrimage, and the concept of special or holy places, the practice has its origins well before Christianity. In this country we have Stonehenge, Avebury and a host of other ‘significant’ sites. Elsewhere, Greeks travelled to the Oracle at Delphi. Romans visited the Pantheon.

But the tradition of pilgrimage, as we know it, perhaps has its roots in Jewish tradition. Our Lord himself, of course, famously went on pilgrimage with Our Lady and St Joseph – when He was lost in the Temple. The holy place was very much part of Jewish life. Along with many others, Our Lord travelled to Jerusalem with His Apostles to celebrate Passover in the holy city – the home of Solomon’s Temple, containing, as it did, the Holy of Holies.

Here was kept the Ark of the Covenant – and the Almighty dwelt.

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Even today, the Western Wall is a place of Jewish pilgrimage.

But now traditional Catholic pilgrim routes are often used as ‘endurance’ trails, viewed as akin to completing a marathon. People from all over the world travel to Spain to complete the Camino de Santiago, for all sorts of reasons. And travel groups take interested walkers on ancient pilgrim journeys – with no religious content.

But pilgrimage has particularly deep historical as well as spiritual significance for Catholics. The journey, travelling hopefully to a holy destination – literally and figuratively – is part of Catholic life. And setting out on a pilgrim voyage has been associated with the Church since the earliest days when St Helena identified sites associated with Our Lord in the Holy Land. Pilgrim sites made it the Holy Land: the ultimate holy place.

Over the years, other holy places were identified and became sites for pilgrimage, supplication and veneration. Some, such as Canterbury Cathedral, were associated with particular saints or events and attracted millions of visitors. Others evolved because of particular church buildings or relics. Some Christian holy places had pre-Christian origins, since churches were deliberately built at places of pagan worship. And, it is claimed, for instance, that the Camino was originally a Greco-Roman route to the ‘end of the world’.

Pilgrimage marked out Catholics. It was one of the many practices supressed in the Reformation. Trails, shrines, chapels and relics were destroyed by Protestant ‘reformers’ in an effort to stamp out devotions.

Today though, they have joined Catholics on the pilgrim trail.

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

TO BE A PILGRIM

While Catholic groups may travel to the traditional sites, nonWhatever the origins of certain holy sites, the belief that some Catholic groups often go ‘In the footsteps of St Paul’ or even to places are holy has been passed down the generations and pilgrims Santiago, said Mr Tangney. have sought them out – and still do. But in what sense are such Mr Dean, meanwhile, said that Methodist groups actually get places ‘holy’? What, in other words, is a holy place? on very well with Catholic ones. But, when it comes to Anglicans, The easiest way to find out, is to go to such a site. Some, because of custom and practice, are places of stillness, where apparently it depends ‘which end of the candlestick’ they come from, the pilgrim can offer penance or prayers or thanks. Others, such as to what sort of pilgrimage they are looking for.

‘Some Anglo-Catholics go to Lourdes,’ revealed Mr Dean. But as Lourdes, have a peculiarly affecting atmosphere, which see the same pilgrims return year after year. Pilgrims, meanwhile, non-Catholics are also interested in the Holy Land, Rome and Assisi.

Has Tangney Tours considered a Traditional Mass pilgrimage? talk of feeling awed by the sacredness of certain places, be they the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem or the tomb of Some US companies offer specific Old Rite pilgrimages.

‘We provide whatever group leaders want,’ said Mr Tangney.

St Peter in Rome. But you do not have to travel far to have such Meanwhile, Mr Dean said: ‘We tend to be driven by our clients.’ an encounter. According to one regular pilgrim: ‘If you go to Pilgrimage is something which today’s world finds difficult, Walsingham, there is an aura, something about it. You know you because the whole idea of holy places and devotions do not fit in are in a holy place.’ with secular understanding. In popular speech, the word pilgrimage Many pilgrims down the centuries have felt transformed by is lessened through its the experience of the use to describe trips to pilgrimage journey. And see Graceland or to visit Such places, and such STRANGE BUT TRUE Wembley Stadium. And experiences, are now Bizarre as it may sound, East Grinstead, the highly conventional there is a certain element attracting non-Catholic commuter town in Sussex, has become a place of ‘pilgrimage’. of the spectator-sport groups and the new This unlikely ‘shrine’ attracts hundreds, possibly thousands, of visitors about the televising of ‘non-religious pilgrims’. to the town each year. And there is a growing permanent community of events such as the Hindu Perhaps fitness reasons local believers, some of whom sport a uniform. ‘Pilgrims’ from around the festival, Kumbh Mela, at also play a part but the world come to the small town. In fact, if you meet an American, and they which millions of people journey, the search for have heard of East Grinstead, you will probably be in the presence of a follower bathe in the Ganges while enlightenment or at least of L Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer who started Scientology. millions of others watch contentment, is also (They could be a Mormon, however, since the group’s European HQ is on television. No wonder part of it. just outside the town. But the Mormon presence is now dwarfed locally cameras are not allowed But traditional by the sheer numbers of Scientologists.) into Mecca to record pilgrimage tours for They flock to see the late writer’s home and attend the annual convention. the Hajj. the faithful also remain A sign has even been erected at the local station, informing all visitors that It may seem voyeuristic, popular. John Tangney, East Grinstead boasts L Ron Hubbard’s home. but there is clearly a of the tour operator, desire to understand and Tangney Tours, said interest in other countries has fallen off while British pilgrims are be close to the holy. Any book with a tenuous claim to spiritual enlightenment or which ‘exposes’ mysteries of the Church seems still heading for holy places.

‘The numbers going to Lourdes has fallen dramatically from some to sell well. And the current concept of ‘mindfulness’ seems to bear countries,’ he said. ‘Among Catholics [in the UK], pilgrimage is a an uncanny resemblance to Dom Christopher Jamison’s advice in his book: ‘Monastic Steps for Everyday Life’. strong part of the ethos.’

There have also been a number of television programmes made, A pilgrimage has, traditionally, been a second or even a third exploring this mysterious phenomenon of pilgrimage. A year ago, holiday, even among Catholics. But, Mr Tangney disclosed, that interest in diocesan group travel is still good. Why do people go BBC2 broadcast the series, Pilgrimage, in which the presenter Simon Reeve travelled to a variety of holy places – often by train rather on such pilgrimages?

According to Mr Tangney, there are a variety of reasons, not least than on foot – in an effort to comprehend what it was all about. It being on holiday with like-minded people. But pilgrimage is also seemed pilgrimage was an historic phenomenon.

But recently, the same channel screened the series, Sacred about a journey and being in a group – which is why so many Wonders of Britain, in which the presenter, Neil Oliver, appeared people travel time and again with the main companies.

Philip Dean, of Pax Travel, told Mass of Ages: ‘People do it for to achieve some understanding. He acknowledged that some places do have a palpable sense of sacredness and suggested that holy different reasons.’ places were, for their pilgrims, a ‘gateway’ between this world This can include devotional reasons and a holiday or for a and the next. parish holiday.

Would Chaucer recognise today’s pilgrims? Absolutely. Whether ‘There are 30 or 40 reasons people give for going,’ said Mr Dean. it is a parish group, where friendships flourish after Mass and over ‘Each person has an individual reason. They may be seeking lunch, or a ‘new pilgrim’ who learns to listen while on the Camino, something, clearing their mind or it could be devotional.

Travelling as part of a group is key. According to Mr Dean: pilgrims often find more than they set out to seek.

The question is whether the Church can capitalise on the interest ‘You can book your own flight etc but what you probably can’t do is book a priest and your companions who go with you. That’s and the new pilgrims?

But how do Catholic and Anglican pilgrimage groups differ? Are often a highlight.’

The sense of holiday is part of it. According to Mr Dean: ‘People are Catholics more spiritual? Are Anglicans more knowledgeable?

Apparently, there are differences, according to one pilgrimage looking for a sense of something beyond the material, but they still director, Catholics drink more. might want a nice lunch’.

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TO BE A PILGRIM

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

Do we still believe in...

Pilgrimage?

Fr Bede Rowe

O

f all of the things that have been downplayed or modified post Vatican II, I suspect that pilgrimages do not figure high on the list. There is an abiding affection, in the minds of the laity and priests, for travelling to pilgrimage sites, and I strongly suspect that there has been no reduction in numbers of those who go. So do we still believe in pilgrimage? ‘Yes’. Next question please.

Hmmm, but I think that we can do a little better than that. So let’s make it a bit more challenging.

This country used to be a honeycomb of shrines dedicated to saints, and much more to the Blessèd Virgin. Wells, holy sites, places of apparition, saints’ tombs, all of these things studded our land as constant reminders that God was present in the everyday of our lives.

We needed, and still need, the presence of the holy next to us where we can go for inspiration and intercession.

We can still see some of the relics of the past in place names and in the few pilgrimage sites that remain. Of course there are the well-known ones, such as Walsingham and Canterbury, but there are so many more.

One of the lovely things that has happened in recent years is that pilgrimages to these places in our country have been revived. But there are many, many more pilgrimage sites, and what is better, they are not too far away.

In fact they are near to you, to where you live, to your everyday life.

Of course pilgrimage has always been something of a religion holiday, and I would not want to decry that for one minute, because every pilgrimage has its own feel. Lourdes shows the universal Church honouring the Virgin Mary in song and procession. The Chartres Pilgrimage has thrust a young, vibrant, traditional faith on to the landscape of France. Rocamador comforts

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addicts of drink and drugs. Rome stands for the pillars of our faith. But it would be so much better if it were part of the fabric of our country again.

One of the lovely things about returning to the North East of England, and especially studying in Durham, is that I am next to my bones. My holy and Venerable Saint Bede lies in the Galilee Chapel of Durham Cathedral. I go in as often as I can and kneel next to his tomb, to kiss it and press my rosary against it and to say my prayers. This is greatly to the bemusement of the Anglican Vergers. And that is one of the reasons why I do it!

But to this I could add the Shrine of Saint Cuthbert, St Aidan’s Well, Our Lady of Mount Grace, Holy Island, St Hilda’s Abbey, Our Lady of Jesmond… I could go on and on and on.

This is just one small part of Northumberland.

And I am only scratching the surface.

My saint, my pilgrimage site is just round the corner. And so when I say that I still believe in pilgrimages I mean that I still believe in making frequent visits to holy places where my faith is strengthened and I am inspired by the countless pilgrims before me who have trodden the same path. In my small way, by praying at the tomb of my Holy Patron, I am restoring a pilgrimage in my land. I am showing that we should be what we once were – a land of saints, the dowry of the Blessèd Virgin.

Look around you and find the holy places where you live. Visit them and pray at them.

Remind the saints that they are not forgotten and that their intercession for the conversion of our country is needed as much in our own time as ever it was. Plant your prayers into the soil of these shrines and it will spread into the hills and valleys, the cities and towns of this country.

And we can again live in a land of pilgrimages and pilgrims.

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

S

hrines to Our Lady are generally to be found in out of the way places – Lourdes; Walsingham; Fatima even Glastonbury. But some places do not remain out of the way and one shrine to Our Lady is now to be found in darkest… north London.

Willesden was once a small village, well beyond the Capital’s limits. And rowdy pilgrims would make a trip to its famous shrine across fields and down country lanes. The village has long been completely subsumed by the sprawling metropolis But Willesden has been restored as one of the most important shrines in England and Wales – and given the distinction of being a National Shrine, along with Walsingham and Our Lady of the Taper, Cardigan. It has also recently been refurbished – 60 years after the Shrine’s elevation to national status – and some now hope for a new era of pilgrimage for Our Lady of Willesden1.

Fr Stephen Willis, parish priest and Rector of the Shrine, maintained that Willesden actually predates Walsingham, as a place of Marian pilgrimage, by 130 years. Indeed, it was an enormously popular site before the Reformation and found an ardent pilgrim in St Thomas More, who would make the journey to Willesden from his Chelsea home.

Apparitions were reported at an oak in the churchyard, attracting many pilgrims and the dubious attentions of Thomas Cromwell, who personally supervised a ‘notorious bonfire’, in which the shrine’s statute was destroyed. This, maintained Fr Willis, was an indication of how important the devotion was, since most effigies were taken from shrines and churches to Smithfield and destroyed there.

The local Marian tradition was all but lost until the 19th century, when the area became home to many Irish immigrants.

Interest was revived in the former shrine and also in the oak tree, which was still standing in the churchyard. People had continued to come to the oak and leave offerings, and this was frowned on by the Protestant authorities who ordered that the oak should be cut down. Oak trees are often associated with Marian shrines.

But the bough of the tree, where the apparitions were said to have appeared, was rescued by local Catholics. And a new statue was carved from the wood.

It was not known what the original image looked like, but it was known to have been a black Madonna. And the new statue, carved from the oak, is also a

TO BE A PILGRIM: PARISH PROFILE

Our Lady of Willesden

The newly renovated Shrine Church/ Photo Roger Wemyss Brooks

black Madonna and it is at the heart of the Shrine today.

The local Catholic community developed from those Irish immigrants and the bishop promised to send a priest should 12 Catholics be found to start a mission. Initially, Mass was said in the front room of the house rented for the priest. Eventually an insubstantial Catholic church was erected and it was determined to restore the ancient devotion by dedicating the parish to Our Lady of Willesden.

The third Catholic church, a fine substantial building with a separate shrine chapel, was completed in the 1920s.

It quickly became a centre for processions and devotions for the archdiocese of Westminster.

‘Its profile was significant,’ said Fr Willis. Willesden’s status as a National Shrine was cemented when the image was chosen to be the centrepiece of the 1954 Marian year devotions. The image was taken to Wembley Stadium, where celebrations were held, and was crowned with a crown that had been blessed by the Pope and made from the rings of parishioners and pilgrims. Its closeness to Wembley may have played some part in the choice but Willesden’s importance was underlined.

Although the name Willesden means that the area was linked with wells – another frequent factor in shrines to Our Lady, according to Fr Willis: ‘There is no proof here of any pre-Christian worship.

We don’t know that it has been seen as a pagan holy place.’

But, he said, there is nothing wrong with taking over local significant places or traditions if they can further the Christian proclamation.

‘The Paschal fire comes from St Patrick taking a pagan rite and using it as part of Christian liturgy….Pope Gregory sent St Augustine to England and insisted he must take what is good and cherish it.’

But why Willesden?

‘Why not?’ he replied.

‘God raises up the lowly and the insignificant in unexpected ways…It takes a journey to get to a place of pilgrimage.

This is important. On the journey we meet others. You cannot be a Christian by yourself and pilgrims are there, present with others and the Church.

The days of local disapproval seem long gone. Each May and October, the streets of Willesden see processions from the church and hundreds will turn up.

‘People come from all over London for it,’ said Fr Willis.

Pilgrims come all year round to Willesden, mostly in small groups, and the church is open all day. Opus Dei has a particular interest in the shrine, since St Josemaría Escrivá was another visitor to Willesden, and he was accompanied by the recently Beatified Alvaro de Portillo – giving the site a connection with two canonised saints and a Blessed.

‘I’m not sure another shrine can claim the approval of two saints,’ said Fr Willis.

The Extraordinary Form of the Mass is celebrated at Our Lady of Willesden.

Fr Willis said: ‘It is a normal part of our spiritual diet.’

According to Fr Willis, they now have a weekly Sunday EF Mass with both Latin Mass devotees and locals, who want to get Mass, attending.

1

Not to be confused with St Mary’s Willesden, which is

the pre-Reformation site of the Catholic shrine.

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CROSSWORD AND CALENDAR

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

Mass of Ages Crossword (AF4) January 2015 Across 1 Ancient Holy Land city once had issue with its walls! (7) 5 See 16 Down (5) 8 Animal often portrayed with torch in Dominican symbol (3) 9 Attachment of importance to detail and tradition in performance of, e.g. Divine Office (9) 10 Walking sticks or Latin 22 pun linked to ‘Domini’ and 8s! (5) 11 Proposers of ideas yet to be proven (9) 14 Oviform treat associated with celebration of the Resurrection (6,3) 18 ….. Jones, architect of major buildings such as Banqueting House and Queen’s House Greenwich (5) 21 Dr James, outstanding contemporary composer and a Patron of the LMS (9) 22 Short operations for Dominicans? (3) 23 Art School where G.K. Chesterton studied (5) 24 Cancel out; render void (7)

A copy of the new book by Tony Reynolds, about St Nicholas Owen, will be awarded to the winning entry in this issue’s competition. All entries must be submitted by 15 March to: The Mass of Ages Crossword Competition, Latin Mass Society, 11-13 Macklin St, London WC2 5NH.

Down 1 Opening of Psalm 42 at the beginning of Mass (6,2) 2 ‘Ave …… Coelorum’ antiphon to Our Lady, said from Holy Saturday to Trinity Sunday Eve (6) 3 Agatha, best-selling author linked to Paul VI Indult for the celebration of the Traditional Rite Mass (8) 4 Period of eight days following major or simple Feast (6) 5 River beside monastery where Venerable Bede wrote his great works (4) 6 Groups of workers and marriages (6) 7 Cardinal for 23 years during the post-Vatican II changes to the Church’s traditional liturgy (4) 12 Pertaining to geographically divided areas (8) 13 ‘Papa ……..’ (Golgotha Monastery Island) Orkneys base of the Transalpine Redemptorists (8) 15 ‘…… Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis’ (6) 16 & 5 Acr: ‘Brideshead’ author who wrote award-winning biography of St Edmund Campion (6,5) 17 Famous Gardens near Rome in the Villa d’Este (6) 19 Book of the Old Testament (4) 20 ‘---- fine dicentes’, end of Eastertide Preface preceding the Sanctus (4)

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LITURGICAL CALENDAR FEBRUARY 2015 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Thu Fri Sat

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QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY II Cl V FERIA IV Cl V FERIA IV Cl V ASH WEDNESDAY I Cl V FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V I SUNDAY in LENT I Cl V FERIA III Cl V S MATTHIAS Ap II Cl R FERIA III Cl V EMBER DAY II Cl V EMBER DAY II Cl V

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II SUNDAY in LENT I Cl V FERIA III Cl V ST DAVID (In Wales) FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V IH III SUNDAY in LENT I Cl V FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V IV SUNDAY in LENT (Laetare Sunday) I Cl V/ROSE FERIA III Cl V

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FERIA III Cl V Commem of ST PATRICK FERIA III Cl V S JOSEPH PATRON of the UNIVERSAL CHURCH I Cl W FERIA III Cl V FERIA III Cl V PASSION SUNDAY (I SUNDAY in PASSIONTIDE) I Cl V FERIA in PASSION WEEK III Cl V FERIA in PASSION WEEK III Cl V ANNUNCIATION of the BVM I Cl W FERIA in PASSION WEEK III Cl V FERIA in PASSION WEEK III Cl V FERIA in PASSION WEEK III Cl V PALM SUNDAY (II SUNDAY of PASSIONTIDE) I Cl R & V MONDAY in HOLY WEEK I Cl V TUESDAY in HOLY WEEK I Cl V

APRIL 2015 Wed 1 Thu 2 Fri 3 Sat 4 Sun 5 Mon 6 Tue 7 Wed 8 Thu 9 Fri 10 Sat 11

WEDNESDAY in HOLY WEEK I Cl V HOLY THURSDAY I Cl W GOOD FRIDAY I Cl B & V HOLY SATURDAY I Cl V & W EASTER SUNDAY I Cl W EASTER MONDAY I Cl W EASTER TUESDAY I Cl W EASTER WEDNESDAY I Cl W EASTER THURSDAY I Cl W EASTER FRIDAY I Cl W EASTER SATURDAY (Sabbato in Albis) I Cl W

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LOW SUNDAY I Cl W S HERMENEGILD M III Cl R S JUSTIN M III Cl R FERIA IV Cl W FERIA IV Cl W FERIA IV Cl W OUR LADY’S SATURDAY IV Cl W † II SUNDAY after EASTER II Cl W FERIA IV Cl W S ANSELM B C D III Cl W SS SOTER & CAIUS PP MM III Cl R FERIA IV Cl W ST GEORGE (in England) S FIDELIS of SIGMARINGEN M III Cl R S MARK Evangelist II Cl R III SUNDAY after EASTER II Cl W S PETER CANISIUS C D III Cl W S PAUL of the CROSS C III Cl W S PETER M III Cl R S CATHERINE of SIENA V III Cl W

MAY 2015 Fri 1 S JOSEPH § the WORKER,

SPOUSE of the BVM C I Cl W Sat 2 S ATHANASIUS B C D III Cl W IH Sun 3 IV SUNDAY after EASTER II Cl W Mon 4 S MONICA W III Cl W HOLY ENGLISH & WELSH MARTYRS III Cl W Tue 5 S PIUS V P C III Cl W Wed 6 FERIA IV Cl W Thu 7 S STANISLAUS B M III Cl R JCHP Fri 8 FERIA IV Cl W Sat 9 S GREGORY NAZIANZEN B C D III Cl W

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

The Dome of Home Harriet Tait

C

atacombs have been the site of many pilgrimages since the earliest centuries. The Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome, an erstwhile Roman quarry, houses not only a wall painting thought to be the first-known depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but also contained the bones of a young girl.

An arrow, martyr’s palm and anchor emblazoned the rare 2nd century AD funereal tiles upon which read ‘pax tecum Filumena’.

The Shrine of SS Peter, Paul and Philomena in New Brighton is maintained by the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, where relics of the virgin martyr are held on the St Philomena Altar, installed in August 2013. An anchor, the early symbol of the Cross in disguise, adorns the vestments and dossal curtain of this side altar. The history and guide book ‘The Dome of Home’, published with funds from the National Lottery, as part of the appeal to raise funds for the Shrine, states that they were acquired by the first priest to come there from Portugal, given in praise to the saint after her intercession saved a Spanish fleet during a storm. It is apt for the ‘Dome of Home’, so named by merchant seamen during WWII, who were approaching land after crossing the Atlantic.

It was a ‘beacon of hope on the skyline’, said Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury.

So, at the feast of Corpus Christi in June 2014, my expedition out of London to New Brighton proved a unique experience.

TWO PILGRIMS’ TALES Well-attended Masses were a family affair and, indeed, I was told that such is the local devotion to St Philomena that young girls often take her name at confirmation. Her presence is exclusively apparent and to witness her Saturday Devotions was an honour. I was welcomed into the community and helped with the preparations for the festival events. Canon Amaury Montjean ‘runs a tight ship’ and in such a vibrant and energetic community.

The Procession itself was an inspiring affair, with children dispersing rose-petals along the streets ahead of the Blessed Sacrament in the great Monstrance, made from jewellery donated by locals in 1926.

By participating in both public and private pilgrimages, we are united with the early Christians and Martyrs in the ancient Catacombs who trod this path before us.

For information on the Church of SS. Peter, Paul and Philomena, visit www.domeofhome.org. A detailed biography of St. Philomena and the discovery of her tomb can be found at www.philomena. org/patroness.

Il Cammino di San Benedetto Dom James Cutts, OSB

I

am a Benedictine monk, and formerly parish priest of Worth Abbey. I use a bicycle three times a week so a recently devised bicycle pilgrimage route from Norcia in Umbria, 350 km south to Monte Cassino seemed just the sort of summer break I was looking for. I wanted to imbue myself with the spirit of St Benedict from his place of birth in Norcia, through his hermit experience in a cave at Subiaco, his first taste of Abbacy in Vicovarro, his first monastery in the Valley of the Anienne, to his famous foundation at Monte Cassino.

Traditionally, pilgrimages are filled with difficulties. My expedition was no different. Over the two weeks I had my mobile telephone stolen, my cycle helmet pinched and was an unwelcome guest in several, particularly religious, houses.

The joys, on the other hand, were the special places associated with St Benedict and the very highlight was Mass in the sacred cave where Benedict spent three years as a hermit. There were also the exhilarating long descents on my bike and some of the people I met: Robert and Giovanni who give me a lift to Norcia, Ingrid my landlady in Mandela, the Sisters of Charity in Pozzaglia Sabbina and Haniff, who helped me get my bike repaired when I was desperate.

I began to learn to live in the present moment – to forget the upsets of the past – to try to quell my fears of the future, and in moments of rest to try to find a place of peace inside myself where God is. (And that’s an insight I wouldn’t have had staying at home.) I had to be in a place where I was vulnerable, in difficulty and a certain distress.

My Lectio Divina en route was St Paul’s Letter to the Romans, the section where he is commending faith over good works.

I wonder if some of our ancient religious institutions and monasteries are not too wrapped up in keeping the good works going – the appearance of good things – and failing to receive the real gift which is love through faith.

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TIMES PAST

In Illo Tempore News Bulletin No.63 February 1985 – 30 years ago From the Secretary (Sue Coote)

I

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

OPEN LETTER UPDATE

T

he Open Letter from Joseph Shaw, the LMS chairman, to the bishops of England and Wales has had a significant impact in the

wider Catholic community.

In the last edition of Mass of Ages, Dr Shaw’s letter acknowledged the LMS’s 50-year campaign, and

t was perhaps inevitable that the more spectacular results of the new Indult would be in those countries which had not had the benefit of the Indult obtained for us in 1971

by Cardinal Heenan. One remembers the crowded Carmelite church in Kensington with people standing outside in the rain.

We rejoice with our fellow traditional Catholics….

It is up to us to demonstrate our love for Holy Mother Church and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by our attendance at Masses arranged by the Society whenever possible and we must show our gratitude to the priests who willingly celebrate it for us and to the bishops who recognise the deep need we feel to worship God in the…Mass as it has been offered throughout the centuries.

declared that the bishops were largely responsible for

Newsletter 103

to comment.

February 1995 – 20 years ago Can we have Our Church back, please?

Extraordinary Form. One told Mass of Ages: ‘I have

T

here is a joke going the rounds in which the question is posed, ‘What is the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist?’ The answer, of course, is that you can negotiate with a terrorist.

Liturgists in the Catholic Church today are too self-important it seems to engage in dialogue with the humble and woefully ignorant, man and woman in the pew. They operate on a higher intellectual plane than us mere mortals. What do we know about anything? ….Cardinal Ratzinger is perfectly correct when he condemns this frenzy for more and more ‘creativity’ which only leads to ‘empty’ liturgy. Can we not have our Church back please?

Newsletter No 123 February 2000 – 15 years ago And it came to pass!

I

t comes to very few to predict the consequences of something and for their words to be quoted nearly verbatim many years later as the consequences of what they predicted come to pass.

During the Synod of Bishops in Rome in October 1967, after seeing a demonstration of the proposed new Mass, Cardinal Heenan told the Synod: ‘At home it is not only women and children but also fathers of families and young men who come regularly to Mass. If we were to offer them the kind of ceremony we saw yesterday in the Sistine Chapel we would soon be left with a congregation mostly of women and children….. …Come forward 32 years to the Synod…in October 1999…. the Synod Fathers declared: ‘In many countries of the West, liturgical celebrations are frequented almost exclusively by children and older people, especially women.’

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dispelling hostility to the Traditional Mass. But Dr Shaw suggested, now might be the time to go further, to ‘go beyond toleration, and actually to facilitate or promote this form of the Mass’.

Mainstream Catholic publications including the Catholic Herald and The Tablet (!) reported the news of Dr Shaw’s letter and a response on a diocese-bydiocese basis is expected. The Catholic Communication Network on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference declined Some bishops already lend personal support to already visited the three congregations that are in the …diocese and I always make a point of presiding and preaching at any Mass in Latin, when I am carrying out a parish visitation.’

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

FR KEVIN KNOX-LECKY RIP

IN MEMORIAM:

Fr Kevin Knox-Lecky RIP 1955-2014 Dr Giles Mercer

A

Traditional Requiem Mass for Fr Kevin Knox-Lecky was offered at Our Lady St Mary of Glastonbury on 22 October last year. Before Mass, the celebrant, Fr Andrew Goodman, gave the congregation a clear and inspiring explanation of the Mass in which we were about to participate. Many attended from the parishes Fr Kevin had served while others came from the overseas aid charity Cafod and the Catholic Children’s Society and also from Anglican and other Christian bodies. There was also a large gathering of priests from the Clifton Diocese. Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton and Bishop Crispian Hollis, the retired Bishop of Portsmouth, were in the sanctuary, the former giving a moving tribute to Fr Kevin at the end of Mass.

Rupert Bevan directed a large choir in singing the Requiem plainchant to the highest quality. Fr Kevin had left instructions that the Requiem Mass should be in the Extraordinary Form.

It was his gift to us, and the packed congregation was utterly absorbed in each stage of the Mass.

Paul Anthony Kevin Knox-Lecky was born on 2 October 1955, the son of an army officer. He was educated at King’s School, Bruton and went on to take a degree in Music at Trinity College of Music in London, where he trained as an organist. On graduating, he became a Catholic in 1976. Soon afterwards, he entered the seminary at the English College in Valladolid. He added a lifelong love of Spanish to his command of French and German.

Following ordination in Clifton Cathedral on 16 July 1983, Fr Kevin served for three years as assistant priest to Monsignor Hollis in the cathedral, also becoming diocesan assistant director of vocations.

He served for four years in the parish of Stroud and then for another four in Corsham. In 1999, Fr Kevin was appointed parish priest of St Mary’s in Glastonbury.

Eight years later he was appointed dean

Fr Kevin was unfailingly gentle, kind, humble, and sensitive to others’ needs of the Glastonbury Deanery and was transferred to St Alphege’s in Bath in 2012. In January 2014, Fr Kevin was taken ill with a brain tumour from which he did not recover. He died peacefully in Yeovil Hospital on 9 October 2014, one week after his 59th birthday.

Fr Kevin was unfailingly gentle, kind, humble, and sensitive to others’ needs.

Calmness seemed to emanate from an interior peace and life of prayer. He had a deep love of the priesthood and the sacrifice of the Mass, which he approached with awe and profound reverence. Fr Kevin was happy to be what he called a dual-rite priest. From the 1970s, well before Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio, he gained episcopal permission to celebrate a regular

Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal.

He also regularly offered a signed Mass for the deaf, being fluent in sign language and suffering from partial deafness himself.

At Glastonbury, Fr Kevin set about restoring the profile of Our Lady’s Shrine, raising awareness of its presence, both nationally and internationally, through the internet, and making it as attractive as possible, opening the doors to people of all faiths and none. Glastonbury under his leadership also became known as a centre for healing. Fr Kevin was a gifted minister of healing and a sought-after confessor. He developed a remarkable working rapport with other Christian bodies. He was influential with young people in Catholic schools and at prayer festivals and retreats. And Fr Kevin helped many to turn – or return – to the Faith. To the sick and bereaved, he was kindness itself, bringing every consolation. His humility and self-effacement somehow enabled others to open up to him. But Fr Kevin refused to be boxed into any section of the Church. At the same time he held with utter firmness to orthodox Catholic teaching, which he taught in season and out.

He also led the team of exorcists for the Diocese. Naturally, he never said where he went, but those who knew him well had a sense that this hidden ministry took its toll. He courageously, prayerfully, selflessly put himself in the front-line in the Church’s fight against evil.

Fr Kevin embodied everything that is best about the priesthood whilst, at the same time, having a delightful sense of humour, as well as a devotion to his pet dogs. St Francis of Assisi said, ‘Preach the Gospel at all times and, if necessary, use words’. Those who had the great blessing of knowing him, would agree that this could have served as Fr Kevin Knox-Lecky’s epitaph.

Requiescat in pace.

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A VERY TRADITIONAL DEBATE

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

Lost in Translation?

In December, LMS member Neil Addison circulated a letter to the Mass of Ages, in which he suggested amending the English translation of the Traditional Mass – to reflect the new translation of the Ordinary Form. As you can imagine, this sparked an interesting exchange between Neil, Jamie Bogle, James Pennington and LMS chairman Joseph Shaw.

Neil’s letter said: Dear Editor It is now three years since the Church adopted the new English Translation of the Ordinary Form of the Mass which, despite regular bleatings from the Tablet and a certain Monsignor, has settled in well with Catholics who attend the Ordinary Form.

I wonder, therefore, if the time is now right for LMS to look at the translations of the Traditional Mass we use. Invariably at LMS events the old Red Booklets are used with a translation which is clearly 100 years old. As was said at the LMS conference in May 2014, Latin is now an eternal language with its meanings fixed whilst the meanings of English words change.

As just one example ‘Spiritus Sancti’ is translated in the Red Booklets as ‘Holy Ghost’ but in the new translation as ‘Holy Spirit’.

In English ‘Ghost’ and ‘Spirit’ used to have similar meanings, but over centuries the word ‘Ghost’ has evolved so as to have to have only the limited connotation of ‘Dead person, haunting’ and for that reason the title ‘Holy Ghost’ no longer reflects the real meaning of the Latin.

Prior to the new translation of the Ordinary Form, I can well understand why the LMS stuck with the earlier translations since the 1974 translation of the Ordinary Form was so deficient. The new translation, however, provides opportunity for a re-think.

CTS already produces a booklet for the Traditional Mass with a translation that is 90 per cent based on the new translation of the Ordinary Form. Any differences arise from the fact that the CTS booklet was published before the Ordinary Form translation was finalised. Looking at the CTS booklets together, is quite instructive since it shows that most of the Latin in the Traditional Mass is also in the Ordinary Form.

Can I suggest that local LMS groups and churches think about replacing the Red Booklets with the CTS Booklets. This would be of particular help to newcomers or occasional attenders, since it would provide them with an English translation with which they are already familiar.

Jamie Bogle was the first to reply This ‘Reform of the Reform’ agenda is all very nice but it represents but a tiny minority, I’m afraid. There is an inescapable division between ‘trads’ and ‘mods’ which is, I fear, never going to be resolved in our lifetimes.

‘Mods’ like the trendy, hip, ‘with it’ language of the new and ‘trads’ prefer the older and far more elegant (and accurate) language of the older translations.

They prefer ‘Ghost’ and ‘shew’ and ‘righteous’. And ‘they’ include a vast array of young people who want their sacred things to remain just that – sacred.

Neil Addison responded: I’m not suggesting a ‘Reform of the Reform’. The Traditional

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Mass will continue to be said in Latin and in accordance with the 1962 Rubrics, all I am talking about is the translation used in the Booklets provided at LMS events. As for the new translation used for the Ordinary Form, part of the objection to it by the Tablet et al is that it does not use ‘trendy’, ‘with it’ or ‘hip’ language. It is ‘elegant and accurate’ – which is why it is appropriate to use it as the basis for a translation of the Extraordinary Form.

James Pennington then joined in I incline to the view that an up-to-date (and dignified and accurate) translation of the Ordinary is rather more important where the congregation is expected to respond as a public action, as in the Ordinary Form. I guess most Extraordinary Form congregations use it as a ‘framework’, rather than slavishly following the precise wording. Certainly, I am not thrown by thou and thee and Holy Ghost, and I do not think the rising generations are any less adaptable. There might be a different case for the Propers.

At which point Jamie Bogle re-entered the fray.

I (no surprises) tend to agree with James on this one (unusually – I of course normally agree with Neil on life, the universe and everything).

I see no harm in a more ‘Ordinary-Rite friendly’ translation, to help those sued to the Ordinary form, but I would be against any definitive translations designed to eliminate ‘these’ and ‘thous’ and shoe-horn us into the less elegant language of the Ordinary form.

Joseph Shaw then weighed in with his Chairman’s view, along with some news We have a new Ordinary Booklet, which should be in churches by the time the next Mass of Ages appears. It has an entirely new translation taking account of the new ICEL. But it retains ‘Holy Ghost’ and thee and thou, which reflect the deliberate archaisms of the Latin and have become established as a form of English considered appropriate for ritual and the liturgy. No one wants to say ‘Hail Mary, the Lord is with you’.

The debate concluded with Neil’s reply I do respectfully disagree concerning ‘thee’, ‘thou’ and ‘Holy Ghost’ in a translation – which is only going to be said in Latin.

Latin is the sacred language and will be used throughout the ‘ritual and liturgy’. Deliberate retention of English archaisms in a translation, which is purely for reference, has no religious or devotional value.

More pertinently I return to my core point: if LMS provides a translation of the Extraordinary Form which follows the new translation of the Ordinary Form, then that will be of immense help to newcomers used to the Ordinary Form.

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

TELEVISION REVIEW

Clash of the Clerical Detectives Dan Atkinson

T

ypical, isn’t it?

You wait ages for a television series about a fictional clerical detective and two come along (almost) at once.

In 2013, Mark Williams took to the small screen, courtesy of the BBC, as the latest incarnation of Fr Brown, GK Chesterton’s much-loved and unassuming clergyman-sleuth.

The following year, ITV unveiled Sydney Chambers, a good-looking muscular Anglican vicar and part-time detective played by James Norton in Grantchester.

Fr Brown’s creator died in 1936, whereas James Runcie, author of the original Sydney Chambers books, is merely in the foothills of middle age. Yet their respective clerics – translated to TV – both find themselves in the same place at the same time: rural England in the 1950s. Nor are these the only similarities. Both have been placed in charge of historic churches in picturesque villages, most of the inhabitants of which appear to be regular churchgoers. Both are supported by occasionally-crusty but benign female assistants (a housekeeper for Chambers, a parish secretary for Brown).

Both enjoy a love-hate relationship with the local police, whose inadequacies they cannot help but expose. Neither appears to have much difficulty in abandoning their clerical duties when a case beckons.

Perhaps most importantly, neither is in the mould of the classic detective-hero, in particular conceited private eyes such as Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, whose brilliance is forever illumined by the dim-wittedness of their companions – there are no Dr Watson or Captain Hastings characters on hand to remind the mastermind-sleuth that he has absolutely run rings round Scotland Yard, as usual, and succeeded where the finest minds in Europe have failed.

So much for the similarities, which in a sense are overshadowed by one major difference, that in their respective philosophies of detection. Fr Brown’s focus is on motive and motivation, on the hidden forces at work in the human personality. In keeping with his Faith, he believes pretty much

anyone capable of more or less anything: the ‘criminal classes’ can embrace all classes, the ‘underworld’ is, potentially, the whole world.

Sydney Chambers, on the other hand, is a pursuer of clues, apparently in the Holmesian belief that sufficient of these, arranged in the correct order, will form an iron chain of logic leading to the identification of the wrongdoer. The moral drive has less to do with Fr Brown’s interest in the human soul than with the search for truth.

In the second of Runcie’s books, Sydney Chambers and the Perils of the Night (Bloomsbury; 2013) an unconnected series of mysteries is book-ended by an affair involving the secret services, the facts of which he is determined to establish, despite having been warned off at the highest level and in no uncertain terms.

It is tempting to see in this contrast something of the differences between the two denominations concerned, with the Catholic location of the crime in the motivation of the individual human person compared with that Protestant search for objective, factual truth that was to give birth, ultimately, to the Enlightenment. Indeed, neither author ought to be a stranger to their character’s faith. Chesterton was a famous Catholic convert, while Runcie’s father, the late Lord Runcie, was Anglican Primate from 1980 to 1991. Indeed, Sydney Chambers’s World War 2 back-story as a tank commander mirrors that of Lord Runcie, of whom, when he took office, the ‘young fogies’ of that era enthused that ‘the Archbish’ was the first holder of his post for simply centuries ever to have killed people.

But it is possible also to see in the Brown method versus that of Chambers something of a much larger divide in British detective fiction between the search for personal motive and the search for impersonal, clue-based truth.

In the former camp, one can find Inspector Morse, DCI Banks, Miss Marple and (for most of the time) Chief Inspector Wexford.

In the latter, along with Holmes and Poirot, are Lord Peter Wimsey, the assembled crews of Waking the Dead and New Tricks and (for most of the time) Commander Adam Dalgliesh.

Indeed beyond these shores we find the same division, with Dashiell Hammett’s forensic ‘Continental Op’ contrasting with the person-focused, intuitive Philip Marlowe brought to us by Raymond Chandler.

One final difference, thrown into sharper relief in the books than in the small-screen adaptations, is the attitude of the respective clerics to their detective activities. Because ‘book’ Fr Brown has no fixed parish, and appears in a number of locations, it is plausible that such an individual would see sleuthing as a seamless part of a much wider canvas of activity, the ceaseless attempt to sift good from evil.

Sydney Chambers, by contrast, has a parish in both his book and TV incarnations. This may help to explain why detective work appears as a bolt-on activity, apart from his duties, just one of any number of slightly eccentric hobbies permitted an Anglican clergyman, along with collecting rare butterflies, translating obscure classical texts or writing stories for children about steam trains that talk to each other.

All that said, anyone familiar with the Fr Brown stories but who has yet to enjoy the Sydney Chambers stories in book form is urged to do so, regardless of whether they have seen the TV adaptation.

I would go on but, in true detective-story fashion, I will close this chapter while saying no more.

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LMS YEAR PLANNER

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

LMS NOTABLE EVENTS Tuesday 14 to Friday 17 April 2015 Priests, Deacons & Servers Training course 2015

Saturday, 9 May 2015 York Pilgrimage 2015 The LMS pilgrimage to York in honour of St Margaret Clitherow and the York Martyrs has been organised for 9 May 2015. We are delighted that the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom will also be in York that weekend and we warmly invite them to join us on the pilgrimage.

As previously, Mass will take place at St Wilfrid’s Church, Duncombe Place, York YO1 7EF and will be followed by a procession through the streets and Benediction back at St Wilfrid’s. Many thanks to the Oratorian Fathers for their hospitality.

The timetable is as follows: 1.30pm Solemn Mass, 3.00pm Procession, 3.45pm Benediction

Saturday, 11 July 2015 Annual General Meeting Priests, Deacons & Servers training course.

The latest of our much-praised training courses in the Old Rite for priests, deacons, senior seminarians and servers takes place at beautiful Prior Park College in Bath, from lunchtime on Tuesday 14 April to lunchtime on Friday 17 April 2015 (This will be Low Week and we have chosen that deliberately to make it easier for clergy to attend once the busy period of Holy Week and Easter has finished).

High Mass in Westminster Cathedral at 2.00pm. Details of the AGM itself will be sent to paid-up members in the May edition of Mass of Ages. All are welcome to attend the Mass.

We have been running these residential courses since 2007 and last year’s event was arguably the most successful yet.

Interest in the Extraordinary Form is still increasing among clergy. If you think your parish priest would be interested in attending this inexpensive course, please tell him about it.

The price, as per previous years, is £100, which is heavily subsidised by the LMS. We offer concessionary places for full-time students or means-tested individuals at £50, and senior seminarians (final two years) go free.

Mass at the AGM.

Sunday 26 July to Sunday 2 August 2015 St Catherine’s Trust Summer School The St Catherine’s Trust Summer School is back this summer, at the same venue as last year: the Franciscan Retreat Centre at Pantasaph CH8 8PE, in North Wales, for the week 26 July to 2 August 2015.

York Pilgrimage.

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Pantasaph is very well-connected by road and rail, being a few minutes away from the railway station at Flint, and close to the motorway network. It is near Holywell, which many will know as the only medieval Shrine to survive the

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

LMS YEAR PLANNER

2015 ROLLING YEAR PLANNER

Summer School.

Walsingham Pilgrimage.

Reformation, and for many years has been the venue for one of the Latin Mass Society’s biggest annual Pilgrimages.

on Friday morning and the three-day walk of 55 miles will then commence.

Alongside the Summer School, the Latin Mass Society Latin Course for adults will be taking place. Accommodation at the Retreat Centre is limited, so Latin Course participants will be staying at the Pilgrims’ Guest House in Holywell. The Retreat Centre has a Pugin Chapel, flexible facilities, and lovely grounds. The Summer School makes it possible for Catholic children to experience a week of Catholic teaching, in a wide range of subjects, from our enthusiastic volunteer staff, in the context of the Traditional Liturgy. This experience is wholly unique, and is an invaluable supplement both to home schooling and conventional schooling.

Sung or High Mass in the Extraordinary Form will take place every day. Confessions will be available throughout the pilgrimage. There will be Traditional devotions and hymns en route and spiritual talks from our pilgrimage chaplain. There is also the chance to strike up new friendships, or renew existing ones.

Saturday, 14 November 2015 Annual Requiem Mass

There will be sung Mass each day, with singing of the highest standard, and there will be sung Compline each evening.

There will be a visit to a local place of interest, speakers, outside activities, the perennially popular sewing group and a staged reading of a play.

St Catherine’s Trust is a beneficiary of the Latin Mass Society.

There is no fixed fee, but parents and guardians are invited to pay what they can afford. Please take advantage of this tremendous opportunity.

For more information please contact the St Catherine’s Trust at www.stcatherinestrust.org

Thursday 27 to Sunday 30 August 2015 Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham The sixth annual walking pilgrimage to Walsingham for the conversion of England will take place over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Pilgrims will meet at Ely on Thursday evening, 27 August. Mass will take place early Photos: Joseph Shaw

Annual Requiem.

High Mass of Requiem in Westminster Cathedral at 2.00pm.

This is our annual Mass offered for the repose of the souls of all deceased members of the Latin Mass Society. Before Mass, a wreath is laid at the tomb of Cardinal Heenan, in grateful thanks for his role in helping to preserve the Traditional Mass in England and Wales.

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ART AND DEVOTION

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent Caroline Shaw

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n this teeming canvas, filled with more than 200 individual figures, Bruegel sets before us in vivid detail the main square of a 16th century Flemish town.

It is February, the month of carnival – carne vale or goodbye to meat – and also the month of Lent. The artist has conflated two days of the liturgical calendar – Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday – into one single scene, and the canvas is effectively divided into two parts. We see, on the left-hand side, the drunkards and gamblers of the carnival outside the tavern, and on the right, coming out of the church, the penitents and alms-givers of the first day of Lent.

The ‘fight’ of the painting’s title is taking place in the foreground.

The two principal combatants are ‘Carnival’ in red trousers on the left, and ‘Lady Lent’, the seated figure in grey on the right. They are grotesque extremes: the ruddy-faced glutton battling the ashen-faced penitent, with their followers snaking behind them on both sides.

‘Carnival’ is a pot-bellied man astride a beer barrel that has a pork chop attached to its front end. His helmet is a game pie and his lance is a spit on which a half-eaten suckling pig is skewered, along with other pieces of meat and a dangling sausage. Around his waist hangs a large butcher’s knife. By this time, butchers would have slaughtered all the livestock they were not keeping over winter and consequently meat was plentiful. At the beginning of Lent, they closed their shops and travelled to the countryside to purchase new livestock for Spring. So this is very much the butcher’s last hurrah.

Behind him is a motley group of masked villagers, playing music and carrying food associated with this time of year: a necklace of eggs, a large wooden platter of waffles, cakes and biscuits. All around them are symbols of vice. A man plays dice with a sinister masked figure in black in the bottom left-hand corner. Playing cards are scattered on the ground, and drunkards leer out of the windows of the tavern watching a makeshift production of a play called ‘The Dirty Bride’.

Meanwhile, a group of beggars and cripples on crutches gaze at the scene, ignored by everyone.

On the right side of the painting is the emaciated figure of Lady Lent: a man dressed as a woman, probably a nun. She wears a beehive on her head, symbolizing the Church, and her lance is a wooden oven

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peel with two Lenten herrings balancing on top. Her cart is pulled by a monk and a nun, and her followers – some of whom are beating their breasts – carry dry bread and pretzels, traditional Lenten fare. Lady Lent carries a bundle of twigs, a symbol of penitence. Behind them is another group of beggars and cripples. In contrast to their fellows on the left, these unfortunates are being attended to by well-dressed men and women who dig deep into their purses for money, and by nuns who hand out food and blessings. The alms-givers have just emerged from the Ash Wednesday Mass. Behind them, through the wide door of the church, we see veiled statues and a priest hearing confession, his hand raised in the blessing of absolution.

In the centre of the painting is a large square well, surrounded by a group of village women preparing fish for Lent. The well – a symbol of the well-spring of God’s love – stands at the heart of the village, but is ignored by the carnival-goers on the left. They are oblivious to the fact that Lent has begun: none of them acknowledges that the time of feasting and self-indulgence must necessarily give way to a period of prayer and penitence. Carne vale implies not only goodbye to meat, but farewell to the flesh. Far from turning away from it however, they remain absorbed in their world of debauchery. Bruegel makes a subtle but direct comparison between the drunken figure vomiting from the top floor window of the tavern on the extreme left, with the kneeling figure receiving absolution in the church on the right. Self-abandonment to worldly desires is contrasted with self-examination and a commitment to the path of salvation.

As always with Bruegel, there is a mystery at the heart of the painting, and it lies with the two figures in the centre of the canvas, the man and woman with their backs to us, who are being led along a path by a fool in a green, yellow and red costume. It is impossible to tell whether the couple will turn to the left – towards the tavern, vice and oblivion – or to the right – towards a true preparation of body, mind and soul for the death and resurrection of the Saviour of the World. It is clear that the fool wishes to lead the couple towards the tavern – this is the easy path, illuminated by a blazing torch. But which path will they take? That is the real question of this painting, and of the lives of Catholics – as much today as in the time of Bruegel.

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent 1559

Peter Bruegel the Elder by kind permission of Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna.

EXTRAORDINARY JAPANESE

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

The Traditional Latin Mass and Asian Peoples Rev Daniel Horgan

W

hen I first arrived in Japan in 1979, I found my confreres in the Missionary Society of St Columban and other Western missionaries enthusiastically applying the liturgical changes mandated by Rome in the years after the Second Vatican Council. The biggest change was, of course, offering Mass and administering the other sacraments in Japanese, and the simplification of the rubrics. The celebrant’s spoken words were now claiming the attention of the congregation, and ritualistic action was reduced to a minimum. The symbolic and artistic value of vestments and statues was being diminished.

This was the prevailing understanding of ‘inculturating’ the liturgy in Asia. But it represented the imposition of Western notions of informal ‘community worship’ on a people whose society was already group centred, and who were neither comfortable with nor comprehending of the informality and ‘table fellowship’ focus.

After two years of language study, I was appointed to assist at St Patrick’s church in Tokyo, and toward the end of my first three-year term, I was ordained to the Diaconate. After Ordination, I began to assist at Sunday parish Mass. It must have been on the first or second Sunday, when, after Mass, the man in charge of the parish Liturgy Committee, a Mr Masuda, approached me and asked: ‘Why did you cleanse the chalice at the credence table?’

‘It is just a cleansing, and the rubrics say that...,’ I replied.

‘But it is a part of the ceremony!’ he responded. Having already observed the Japanese Tea Ceremony, and seen how the preparation of the cup and its cleansing were an intricate element of the ritual, I knew what Mr Masuda was telling me: the ritual actions of the Mass carried as much value as the words spoken.

The Japanese Tea Ceremony is a mindful, punctilious, ritualistic making and drinking of a cup of green tea. Mainly carried out in silence, it enables the participants to focus entirely on the ceremony

and be present to each other in a timeless setting. With roots in Zen Buddhism, it draws the participants into the reality of that moment, liberating them from the exigencies of passing time. Ritualistic action takes precedence over spoken words, carrying participants into a timeless dimension, nurturing mystic awareness.

What surprised me during my early years in Japan was that, in their enthusiasm for the liturgical changes, most missionaries, along with the Japanese bishops and clergy, never attempted to incorporate the Oriental penchant for ritual and form into the new liturgies. Even Japanese priests, who studied liturgy in Rome and the US, focused on the modern wording, simplified ritual and incidental participation of the laity which characterised the new Rites. Thinking that people would understand the Western theological concepts they read and heard, they were satisfied with the communal responses and minimal ritualistic action. Instead of evaluating the suitability of modern Western liturgical forms for their native culture, they too had become its import agents. Mass and the Sacraments are, of course, carried on in a more formal manner in Asian countries than in many parts of the West, but the minimalism which characterises the reformed liturgy here predominates there also.

There are fewer than half a million Catholics among a Japanese population of more than 120 million. They are widely scattered around the country. Among older Catholics, there was a sense that something had been lost in the changes of the 1970s. One man told me that the new liturgy ‘lacks dignity’; another said it had no cultural value.

The Old Rite Mass, however, left an indelible mark on Japanese culture. Five hundred years ago, one of the great masters of the Tea Ceremony, Sen Rikyu (1522-91), seeing Mass offered by Jesuit missionaries, is reputed to have been so moved by the manner in which they arranged and held the chalice, and cleansed it, that he incorporated these movements into his Tea Ceremony. This is widely appreciated in Japan, and most experts do not dispute it. Some will maintain there is a lack of documentary evidence (not surprising, since Christianity was prohibited, under pain of death, from 1632 until 1871). Others are reluctant to admit a Western and Christian influence on their most aesthetic practice. The circumstantial evidence, however, cannot be denied.

The Yorkshireman and professor of British Studies at Ryukyu University in Kyoto, John Dougill, states in his book In Search of Japan’s Hidden Christians (Tuttle, 2012, p72): ‘A modern-day descendant of the tea master [Sen Rikyu], Sen Soshitsu, has argued persuasively for the Catholic influence, and once the connection is pointed out the similarities are striking. Raising the tea to head height as a token of respect, for instance, and wiping the

Mass at the Paulist Fathers chapel in Wakaba, Tokyo; celebrated by Fr Augustine Toshio Ikeda; on 21 December 2014. Photos/Mrs Lucy Yamanaka.

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ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015 bowl after drinking with a white cloth. There is indeed in the whole ritual a sense of two or three gathering together in spiritual union.’

Unfortunately, the fact that it is the Extraordinary Form of the Mass that the Tea Ceremony most resembles, and not the modern form, is rarely highlighted.

During my years in Japan, I had occasion to visit Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, and I also practiced Zen meditation. Whenever I saw the dignified ritual and attention to decorum, smelled incense in a Buddhist temple, or listened to the Sutras being chanted, I kept saying to myself ‘we too had this, and we let it go’. So when Pope Benedict XVI published Summorum Pontificum in July 2007, I took him at his word, and began to learn to offer the Old Rite Mass.

An older confrere gave me instruction and encouragement, and I first offered a Traditional Mass in the chapel of our house in Tokyo alone, early in the morning, on the Feast of Christ the King 2007. Later, during the second week of Advent, at the parish church of St Anslem in Tokyo, I offered my first public Old Rite Mass. At that time I was director of the Catholic Tokyo International Centre, the diocesan body with responsibility for the pastoral care of migrants, and its main office was located at St Anselm’s.

St Anslem’s parish had been cared for by American Benedictines before the Archdiocese of Tokyo bought the property in 1999. Another confrere, Fr Leo Schumacher was, and still is, pastor. A small schola continued to sing Gregorian chant after the Benedictines left, and they practised diligently before singing the propers of my Mass. Mr Masuda arrived to serve. Since retiring, he told me, he had been to Solesmes Abbey in France to attend Holy Week and Christmas liturgies. He was delighted that the Old Rite Mass had returned to a parish church in Tokyo.

As I became accustomed to offering Mass in the Extraordinary Form, I began to understand the place of the precise rubrics. In prescribing the manner in which I bowed, held my hands, and directed my gaze, the rubrics were focusing my whole attention on the mystery I was celebrating. My attention was not fractured between addressing the congregation and performing the ritual. My attention is entirely on the mysteries I am re-presenting. Every actor knows that when they are absorbed into their role on stage, the attention of the audience is magnetically drawn by them. Similarly, in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the more the ministers are absorbed into their liturgical role, the better the attention of the congregation.

In 2008, I was appointed to England, and was able to fulfil a long cherished wish to water the roots of my faith and study theology again in its native environment (albeit a modernist setting). I was instinctively drawn to read the writings of the Fathers, St Thomas Aquinas, and the medieval English mystics. Having lived in a milieu where all forms of tradition enjoy respect and esteem, I now have a strong urge to seek the wisdom hidden among the roots and branches of my own philosophical and theological heritage.

On a visit to Tokyo in 2010, I was invited to join an annual gathering of Catholic priests, Protestant pastors and Buddhist priests for interreligious dialogue. A feature of the gathering was a Mass in Latin.

There too was a Buddhist priest from a rural temple, whom I have known for some years. Privately, I mentioned to him that this was actually a modern form of a more ancient Mass, a Rite which had unbroken continuity from the first centuries of the Church until it was

EXTRAORDINARY JAPANESE

prohibited in 1970. I told him that the Pope had since decreed that it be made available once again, but many priests and bishops were reluctant to comply. He was astonished: that an ancient Rite could ever be prohibited by the same religion which had preserved it for so long; and that it would be withheld from people.

‘Why can’t they let the people have both Forms,’ he declared. How much the Buddhist instinct for inclusiveness and pluralism surpasses ours, I thought.

While the Japanese have achieved a high level of refinement of the ritualistic aspects of their culture, esteem for form and ceremony, both in public and in private, pervades all Asian cultures. To the Asian mind, ritualised gestures express courtesy and esteem, while informality and easy familiarity betray lack of respect. It is not surprising then that Asian peoples easily perceive the sacredness of the action of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, and are naturally drawn to it. Buddhist priests never chant their Sutras in the language of the street, and so Dougill (p 155) writes: ‘It’s also worth noting that calls to reintroduce Latin to the Catholic Mass are motivated precisely because the obsolete language is thought to provide a greater sense of the mystery.’

Banished from Asia in the 1970s, the Old Rite Mass is slowly finding friends there again. The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest has a Japanese member, Canon Raphael Katsuyuki Ueda. He is chaplain to Una Voce Japan, and is one of the priests who offers Mass in Tokyo. Sisters and brothers from the Philippines are to be found in many of the traditional orders. Una Voce has chapters also in India, Malaysia, Manila, Seoul, and Hong Kong, where Cardinal Zen sometimes offers Mass for their members.

Unlike in Europe and North America, the movement for women’s ordination, and demands for wider access to Holy Communion, are not prominent in Asia. Catholic worship there is not the battleground that it has become in some places in the west.

Their innate reverence for the sacred, their respect for all forms of worship, and their intuitive understanding that everything about a sacred rite should contribute to the act of worship, forbid Asian people from manipulating such occasions to advocate their personal preferences. There is so much we can learn from these ancient cultures.

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REPS’ REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

DIOCESAN DIGEST Mass of Ages quarterly round-up, Spring 2015

LMS chairman and Oxford rep Joseph Shaw, greets Pope Francis at a General Audience in Rome, as part of a delegation from the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce, the Federation of lay associations which support the Extraordinary Form around the world. To Dr Shaw’s left stand James Bogle, FIUV President and Leo Darroch, former FIUV President/Photo - Fotografia Felici

Arundel and Brighton Anne-Marie Mackie-Savage Here in Arundel and Brighton, I am happy to be able to report that Masses are now being offered on the fourth Sunday of the month at the parish of Our Lady Immaculate and St Philip Neri, Uckfield. Masses began on 25 January. Thanks to Fr Hardaker for welcoming the EF to his parish, to Mrs Pam Talbot, for being a tireless worker in the wilderness, and to Fr Hurley and to Fr Witchalls for being so generous with their time.

With only one regular weekly Sunday Mass in Brighton, we are now able to say, in the east and centre of the Diocese at least, that if you can travel, there is now a Mass available every Sunday, bar the 5th. I would also like to mention all the priests who say Masses regularly in the week, and on Holy

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Days, and who spring Latin Masses on their unsuspecting congregations every now and again, it is wonderful work you are doing, thank you. To anyone living west of Brighton, please do contact me if you think you would be able to help establish Masses in your area. It is a bit of a desert at the moment, and I know there are people out there who do like a Latin Mass, so please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Once again, my thanks to everyone who helps and supports the EF in our Diocese with their time and prayers.

Tel: 01323 411 370 Email: amacsav@sky.com www.arundelbrightonlatinmasssociety.blogspot.com

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REPS’ REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

The Ordination of Father Stephen Morrison, O. Praem.

Brentwood Peter Cullinane I was privileged to be invited to the ordination of Fr Stephen in Chelmsford Priory on 6 December. The ceremony was the first ordination conducted by the recently consecrated Bishop of Brentwood, the Right Rev. Alan Williams. Apart from members of the Priory, some 60 clergy were present in the sanctuary, including several abbots and bishops, and the church was full to overflowing for the two-hour ceremony. This was simply the largest ordination I had ever attended and your correspondent was happy to stand throughout, together with many others.

As well as Fr Stephen’s family, many members of his home parish in Hemel Hempstead attended, and it was especially good to see so many children and young people at quite probably their first ordination. It was also encouraging to see several other young men in various stages of formation in the Priory.

I first knew Fr Stephen when he was a 16-year-old founderpupil at Chavagnes and I later kept in touch with him at Oxford and the Priory, where he completed his priestly formation as a Norbertine father. Happily, about a dozen former Chavagnes pupils were able to be there.

Fr Stephen scarcely had time to attend his own reception after the ordination Mass, so busy was he giving his first blessing to those who had helped him on his journey. But we did manage to reserve a plateful of sandwiches for him before the assembly broke up!

Kent Marygold Turner Our weekly Masses continue, Deo Gratias, we are very fortunate that Canon Luke Smith (the new parish priest at St Francis, Maidstone) has welcomed us warmly, and the monthly Masses (1st Sunday in the month at 12.30pm) are now on the parish fixture list. This is the best attended Mass of our parishes.

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, we had a Sung Mass. Andew Bosi took on the singing single-handed – no mean feat! Andrew Cesana played the small organ, from which he produced a marvellous Toccata by Vidor to end the Mass: a fine accomplishment on such a little instrument.

Fr Logan, a wonderful friend, stood in for Fr Clifton, who was unwell (please pray for him). We all came back for lunch at my house.

On Christmas Day, Fr Michael Woodgate gave us a beautiful Mass at 8.30am – a lovely way to start the celebration of Our Lord’s birthday.

We shall start the New Year with another Sung Mass (unusually for us) on the Feast of the Epiphany (6 Jan).

On 25 March, the Feast of the Annunciation, there will be Mass at Headcorn at noon.

Tel: 01580 291 372

Fr Stephen’s first Old Rite Mass/Photo I.Dawson

The following Monday, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Fr Stephen celebrated his first Extraordinary Form Mass in the Priory, which was attended by a large congregation and it is hoped that EF Masses will be a feature in Chelmsford in future.

Please pray for the souls of all members who have died recently

Requiescant in Pace Rev. Fr Christopher Back Mary Barlow Mary Boshell Pamela Cameron Michael Crew Alan Davis Anita Doran Elaine Elderkin Margaret Evans David Forder Ralph Gurnett Colin Henderson Rev. Fr Paul Knox-Lecky David Mossop Eileen Peters Cecilia Philbrick Ruth Real Francis Rickards Francis Savage Mary Tyldesley Every effort is made to ensure that this list is accurate and up-to-date. However, if you know of a recently deceased member whose name has not, so far, appeared on our prayer memorial, then please contact the LMS, see page 2 for contact details.

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REPS’ REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

Light in the Darkness Epiphany Mass, Holy Rood, Market Rasen, Mike Carroll

Fr Dominic O’Connor leads the candlelit congregation at Market Rasen/Photo John Aron

On the Solemnity of the Epiphany of Our Lord something quite unexpected happened. In a small isolated Lincolnshire town, literally in the middle of nowhere, more than 60 people attended an Extraordinary Form Mass. As many will be aware, this is an unprecedented occurrence in this part of the world. It was a surprise to say the least to quite a number of local people.

Fr Dominic O’Connor of Brigg travelled to Holy Rood church, Market Rasen, along with the Brigg server, David Jenkinson.

Needless to say, we are indebted to them both.

Fr. O’Connor agreed to celebrate a candlelit Mass, which has since been described by one person as ‘spectacular and beautiful’. James Gillick, Dr Donal Staunton and Padraig Staunton provided the plainchant, which created an extremely prayerful and devout back drop for the Mass.

This Mass came after an equally successful votive Low Mass of the Holy Cross, which more than half the Holy Rood congregation attended. Profuse thanks to Fr Tom Breslin, the resident priest, who has been extremely supportive and has been pleased to see that these two Masses so successful.

Fr Breslin was encouraged to see several younger people in

Lincolnshire Mike Carroll Lincolnshire continues to have one Sunday Old Rite Mass at St Mary, Brigg with Benediction at 4.15pm, and Low Mass at 5pm. Holy Rood church, Market Rasen will host four Low Masses over the course of the next year. Check the LMS Lincolnshire website for updates.

I have been asked to provide a report to summarise the year’s work in Lincolnshire. The headline, as many are aware, is that Market Rasen requested the Extraordinary Form Mass and that they are just about to celebrate the second Mass in their parish. What has not been mentioned, however, is the fact that the resident priest and parish council are positive about this. I understand a server has now come forward for future Masses.

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the congregation, something they are pro-actively encouraging within the parish. The gatherings for coffee after these Masses have also been vibrant. It is worth noting that, after this Low Mass, Fr. Breslin was kind enough to open up presbytery rooms to welcome the visiting congregation. This was especially appreciated and it gave a wonderful opportunity for people to come together.

Market Rasen is a centre of Catholic history in its own right.

A day after the start of the Lincolnshire Rising, our local heroes and martyrs of the Catholic Faith camped at Market Rasen’s Willingham Woods. They were joined by fellow Catholics from around Lincolnshire, and by that evening their numbers had grown to 50,000-strong. Fast forward 500 years and Fr Breslin and his predecessors have managed to save the history and vestments of penal times and pre-Reformation Catholic Lincolnshire. It is with these thoughts in mind that the return of the Old Rite Mass to Holy Rood, Market Rasen seems extremely fitting.

The first Mass was a great success, with well over half the usual congregation attending. Profuse thanks is especially given to the Brigg server, who has travelled many miles and who has helped get things up-and-running in a county where there is so little EF provision.

It also came to light that Caistor, a very small and predominantly traditional Irish Catholic parish, has also provided the minimum number of Summorum Pontificum signatures. St Thomas More Church, Caistor is a sister parish of Holy Rood and the priest seems happy for future Traditional Masses to be held at this church. A Mass on the Feast of St Patrick is being discussed.

I am continuing to collect Summorum Pontificum signatures at Louth. A parishioner has now spoken to me regarding starting up Low Masses and has offered to liaise with the priest. Louth is more difficult ground, but after two years of groundwork, things are now opening up. http://lmslincolnshire.blogspot.com http://lincolnshiremartyrs.blogspot.co.uk/

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

East Anglia Emma Ingram I am the assistant representative for the East Anglia area.

Unfortunately, the main representative, Kevin Marshall, is unwell so please include him in your prayers.

A lot has happened in the cathedral parish of St John the Baptist in Norwich since we had our first Traditional Mass on 1 November 2014. We have now a regular Old Rite Mass every first Friday and we have been delighted to see interest building in East Anglia and people coming from as far afield as Cambridge.

We have also had a Missa Cantata on Christmas Eve and again for the Feast of the Epiphany. We have truly been blessed to have had Bishop Alan Hopes’ support and that of Fr Michael and for the generosity of all involved in Masses at the Cathedral. Deo Gratias!

Lancaster Bob and Jane Latin Things have been quietly ticking over here in Lancaster Diocese. All Masses have gone ahead as scheduled and extra ones have been added from time to time.

In Carlisle, during Advent, Mass was offered every Sunday evening at Our Lady & St Joseph, and this proved sufficiently successful for it to be continued as a regular fixture. Mass was also offered here on Christmas morning and for the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The Shrine church of St Walburge in Preston goes from strength to strength. An Advent novena was made from 30 November to 8 December on Our Lady of the Old Testament with a different speaker each day: Fr Ian O’Shea, Fr Francis Olaseni, Canon Altiere, Fr Robert Billing, Fr John Millar, Mgr John Walsh and Canon Montjean. The final talk was given by Bishop Michael Campbell on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

There was also an Advent Retreat on 13 December, at which Canon Altiere spoke on ‘The Fullness of Time – Understanding the Coming of Christ’ and Canon Montjean addressed us about ‘Our Lady in the Advent Liturgy – the Joys of Mary’. Mass was offered on Christmas Eve, Christmas morning and Epiphany, this last being followed by refreshments in the Presbytery including a traditional French Epiphany cake!

For those of you, like ourselves, who missed the opening ceremony of the Shrine in September, a DVD is available, priced £15 + postage, from The Bishop’s Office, The Pastoral Centre, Balmoral Road, Lancaster LA1 3BT. The Shrine now has its own website www.stwalburge.org with details of all its activities.

Finally we are grateful for the continuing help of our priests in the Diocese, both those who offer the EF Masses and those who support us by assisting with arrangements and displaying posters. Also a special thank you to Bishop Campbell for putting a link on the Diocesan website to our Masses poster.

REPS’ REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Nottingham Jeremy Boot For the time being, our Masses remain as: The Good Shepherd (Sat before 2nd Sunday, 4.45pm); Our Lady and St Patrick’s, The Meadows, Nottingham (3rd Sun, 2pm) and the Cathedral 3rd Wed 6.15pm in the Blessed Sacrament chapel.

As I mentioned in the last report, however, since either confusion arises as to which week we are in, or which church is appropriate, we are looking to unify all Masses (except the Cathedral) in one church at one fixed time, hopefully within a couple of months.

We still have no Bishop nor any sign of one after Bishop McMahon’s departure last Easter. Members are asked to remember this and all our intentions to promote Extraordinary Form Holy Mass in their prayers. And I thank those who have made the effort to attend Masses locally, numbers having improved recently. A reminder too that for those with transport, there is daily Mass in Leicester and weekly masses at Holy Cross Priory in weeks where there is no Traditional Mass in Nottingham.

To celebrants, servers, organists and all who help our Masses, renewed thanks as ever.

Tel: 0115 913 1592

Midnight Mass at St Walburge’s

Tel: 01524 412 987 Email: lancasterlms@gmail.com www.latinmasslancaster.blogspot.com

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REPS’ REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Birmingham & Black Country Louis Maciel The Oratory continues to provide most Extraordinary Form Masses in the area. Requiem Masses were celebrated on Monday evenings in November followed by Sung Vespers of the dead. Meanwhile, the regular Low Masses on Friday evening and Saturday morning were celebrated as candlelit Rorate Masses in Advent, as were additional Masses as part of a Novena preceding the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

In addition to the weekly Sunday High Mass, there was a High Mass on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception itself, as well as on Christmas Day and on the traditional date of the Epiphany. The noon High Mass on the Octave

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015 of Christmas was particularly well attended, and we will forgive the Oratory the cancellation of a Friday Low Mass so that Br Francis could be ordained to the sacred priesthood by fellow Oratorian Bishop Robert Byrne, a joyous occasion indeed!

I managed to attend the Christmas morning Mass at Wolverhampton, where some 25-30 people were in attendance, including newcomers. The new final Friday Mass at Solihull has got off to a pleasing start with a similar-sized congregation turning up every month.

Halesowen and Maryvale continue to celebrate Masses on Wednesdays, the latter on 2nd Wednesdays which attracts a reasonable size congregation – the majority of whom I would say are not regular attendees of Masses in the Extraordinary Form.

Tel: 07855 723445 E: louis.maciel@gmail.com W: http://birmingham-lms-rep.blogspot.co.uk/

Oxford (Birmingham diocese) Joseph Shaw We had a busy autumn and Christmas in Oxford, with the usual LMS Pilgrimage to Oxford in October, and our first (in recent decades) Sung Mass on Christmas Day at Holy Trinity, Hethe.

Coming up is the annual LMS Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Caversham on Saturday 28 February. This is the Ember Saturday of Lent so, as usual, we will combine our devotions to the restored ancient shrine to Our Lady with the very special liturgy of Ember Saturday. As last year, I am planning a High Mass. It will be accompanied by the Schola Abelis (for Chant) and Cantus Magnus (for Polyphony). Mass is at 11:30am; please join us.

Also of local interest is the St Catherine’s Trust Family Retreat, over Low Sunday weekend (10-12 April), this year led by the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer at the Oratory School, near Reading. Contact info@stcatherinestrust.org or see the details elsewhere in this issue of Mass of Ages.

As usual, the Oxford Oratory is celebrating a High Mass for the feast of the English Martyrs on Thursday 4 May at 6pm.

For all our local Masses, including many Sung and High Masses on Holy Days, see the Mass listings.

Tel: 01993 812 874 Email: joseph.shaw@philosophy.ox.ac.uk www.oxfordlmsrep.blogspot.com

N. Staffordshire Alan Frost Fr Chavasse, Parish Priest at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Swynnerton, celebrated his first Mass for some while on 11 January and the signs are finally really encouraging. And it is hoped we will have been able to have sung Masses again, by the time this report is published. Not that there has been

Worcester Margaret Parffrey Fr Talbot continues to say Mass at Spetchley at 10.45 every Sunday. Our attendance is steady, considering we are at a private chapel and it is difficult to advertise.

However, we have good souls that come from Birmingham and Evesham. The support from Worcester, our nearest parish, is low because of clerical opposition. However, we pray for their conversion.

The nearest Masses at Kidderminster, Evesham and Redditch remain the same. My best wishes to Michael Lord and grateful thanks for all help given.

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an absence of the Missa Cantata for the faithful. Fr. Goodman of Wolverhampton and Fr. Grynowski of Bilston, who have been standing in, gladly celebrated sung Masses.

And one Mass was celebrated by Fr Daniel Horgan of the Columban Fathers, who made the long haul from Solihull.

Our thanks to Winefride Scorey, a young lady who has taken over playing the organ, after we lost Royal Northern College-trained Rebecca Hill. She, with husband Mark, has gone to New Zealand. Remarkably, they are in reach of the Transalpine Redemptorists’ (Papa Stronsay monks) monastery church in Christchurch. We hope to keep in touch. Our thanks also to Fr Dykes, who offered several Low Masses in the Old Rite during Christmastide and on the Epiphany at St. Wulstan’s, Wolstanton.

There is further good news from Fr Chevasse, as some time soon he hopes to restore the fortnightly Saturday morning Mass at Swynnerton.

Tel: 01983 566 740 Email: Alan.jfrost@btopenworld.com

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

REPS’ REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Clifton Ken and Carol Reis Firstly, it is with sadness that we report that Fr Kevin Knox-Lecky, Parish Priest of Our Lady and St Alphege, Bath, died peacefully in hospital on Thursday 9 October. A Traditional Requiem Mass took place on 22 October 2014 at The Shrine of Our Lady St Mary of Glastonbury, where Fr Kevin had been a parish priest for 13 ½ years before moving to St Alphege’s, Bath. The celebrant was Fr Andrew Goodman. The Church was packed, with people standing along the sides, at the back and upstairs with the choir.

Bishop Declan Lang and Bishop Emeritus Crispian Hollis (of Portsmouth) processed into the church followed by Priests from the Diocese. It was a great testament to the affection with which Fr Kevin was held by the people of the Clifton Diocese, and indeed by many others from further afield.

Bishop Declan gave the oration. He talked with fondness about the quiet and unassuming nature of Fr Kevin, which belied his talents in the field of music and languages. Fr Kevin had a great love for music and had prodigious talent. He had played the organ at his school from the age of eight and could easily have followed a career as a professional musician. He studied for the priesthood in Spain and was a fluent Spanish speaker as well as being proficient in French and German. Bishop Declan then went on to say that, most of all, Fr Kevin treasured the Word of God and applied this throughout his ministry as a parish priest, always leading by example.

In terms of additional Masses in the Diocese, there was a Missa Cantata at the 12th Century church of St Mary’s, Cricklade, to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary on 7 October. It was lovely in the church, with the light shining through the little

Hexham & Newcastle Andrew and Jayne Armstrong and Philip Dillon This January marked the beginning of our term as local representatives, so we have not had time, as yet, to organise or bring about change within the diocese.

We did, however, have Midnight Mass at St Wilfrid’s in Gateshead on Christmas Eve. The Mass was celebrated by Fr Michael Brown and attended by a congregation of more than 70 worshippers. The music was provided by the organist, Miss Dorothy Allen, and singers Terry Middleton and Leo Darroch.

We also had a short carol service before Mass. Meanwhile, the serving team was made up of four young men from the parish, two of whom were members of the newly-formed Juventutem group at St Joseph’s.

This first chapter of Juventutem in the diocese continues to attract young people and we have already put in place, with the assistance and efforts of Fr Brown, Latin classes every Tuesday evening, recitation of the Rosary before Mass on Thursday lunch time, followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for an hour after Mass. Juventutem is hoping to re-introduce First Saturday Devotions in the near future.

On the Feast of the Epiphany, we were pleased to celebrate a Missa Cantata with celebrant Fr Brown and music provided by the Westland Singers from Sunderland – a superb choir with their directors Paul and Theresa Dewhurst. Soon we hope to introduce a series of High Masses for special occasions within

Bishop Declan Lang at Fr Kevin’s funeral/Photo Ken and Carol

stain glass windows, the stone pillars and curved archways and the rows of enclosed wooden pews. The Mass was well attended with more than 30 people in the congregation. Fr Alex Redman was the celebrant. The schola sang magnificently, adding to the spirituality of the Mass.

There was also a Sung Requiem Mass in honour of the Holy Souls at Holy Cross church, Bedminster, Bristol. The subdued lighting in the church, combined with the flickering candles at the altar and moving music provided by the David Bates singers made this a very atmospheric Mass. The celebrant was Fr Philip Thomas, Deacon, Fr Alex Redman and Sub-Deacon Fr Jean-Patrice Coulon.

Tel: 07896 879 116 Email: felisbenglaensis@gmail.com www.lmsclifton.blogspot.com

the Diocese, hopefully accompanied by the Westland Singers, since their contributions have been so well received.

We would also like to announce that, with the recent arrival in our diocese of Fr Bede Rowe – lately of Chavagnes College in France, we now have a regular Sunday Mass at 12 noon at St Mary’s, Great Whittingham Hexham. A very warm welcome to Fr Bede.

You can also access the new blog for the diocese at the following address: http://lmshn.blogspot.co.uk/ Email: andrew_armst@hotmail.com

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REPS’ REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Liverpool Jim Pennington It is now certain that the regular Sunday Masses at Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Seaforth will not continue. They ceased after the departure of Fr Wood in November. However, he is willing to continue on the St Anthony’s rota for the foreseeable future.

As I mentioned in my previous report, Fr Mark Drew has now left Liverpool Archdiocese for St Wilfrid’s, York, and has been replaced on the St Anthony’s rota by Fr Ian O’Shea, so we still have a viable ‘pool’ of willing celebrants for Masses there. Fr Sean Riley, who is now Parish Priest of Holy Cross in St Helen’s town, offered a Traditional Mass there on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015 We were after all able to have a Christmas Day Mass: Fr Riley celebrated a Missa Cantata at Holy Cross, with the choral help of visiting seminarians and priest from America and Australia. He plans to offer the Old Rite Mass again on the feast of the Epiphany, and probably on Holydays and feasts thereafter.

In summary, the future of the regular Masses at St Anthony’s is well assured, and there are a number of parish clergy who offer occasional Old Rite Masses in their parishes.

Menevia

More Menevia

Luigi Dimaio

Tom and Elaine Sharpling

In October one of our staunchest and most dependable supporters of the Extraordinary Form Mass in Menevia, Richard Collins, returned to the Lord. Fr Jason Jones, the EF Diocesan Co-ordinator, offered a sung Requiem in the form most of us prefer at the parish church in Haverfordwest, assisted by a full church including almost every member of our regular EF congregation. This was a fitting testament, which showed the very high regard we all had for Richard, and the enthusiasm he always had for the EF, even (or perhaps especially) when times were more difficult than they are today.

Richard travelled to and served at EF Masses in Menevia wherever they might be – from his home area of west Wales (Fishguard, Cardigan or Newcastle Emlyn) to Masses 50 miles away in Swansea, Morriston or Port Talbot. His work was fundamental to the growth of EF Masses from once a year, to once a month to every Sunday. Richard was also central to the work of the Confraternity of the Holy Cross and kept us all updated by his website. Always welcoming, knowledgeable, and of the utmost courtesy, we will miss Richard for many years to come, but know that his contribution to the promotion of the EF has a lasting legacy.

Tel: 07864 578 192

We are indebted to Fr Jason Jones and Fr Michael Burke, who continue to offer the Traditional Mass on a regular basis at Sacred Heart, Morriston and St Joseph’s Cathedral, Swansea. The pattern of the Masses remains the same and if you would like details, please send us an email and we will be in touch. Fr Jones continues to support the Newcastle Emlyn Schola and we were blessed with a Missa Cantata in Advent and for the Epiphany. At the Advent Mass, the choir sang the Creator Alme Siderum, alternating the verses between four part harmony and plainsong, which was very beautiful.

Mass on the Epiphany included the blessing of chalk, which is lovely tradition, and hopefully a few homes in Wales are now blessed with 20+C+M+B+15! Our own home has inscriptions from 2010 and it is quite thought provoking to see those blessed years each time you come and go.

We have a small but faithful congregation and one of the challenges for 2015 will be to increase our numbers by encouraging those who do not know the Extraordinary Form to come along. The rural nature of Wales is an additional challenge. Some folks travel significant distances to attend Mass each Sunday. We are very grateful to those families for their faithful support.

Our plans for 2015 include: a pilgrimage to New Brighton, a performance of a new Mass setting composed by Tom Sharpling and to fund two young people for the Chartres pilgrimage. Finally, we cannot let 2014 go by without a word about Richard Collins (RIP). Some of you may have known Richard from his blog Linen on the Hedgerow. He was a great supporter of the Old Rite Mass in Menevia. Richard’s funeral was a sung Requiem celebrated by Fr Jones and attended by a great many people from far and wide. It was a truly fitting occasion and we were blessed to have known him. May he rest in peace.

Email: tom.sharpling@btinternet.com

Plymouth Francis Osborn The leaves have left the trees, well most of them have anyway, and Christmas is just a joyous memory so I’m trying sum up the Dorset LMS report whilst planning for the future.

I must start by clarifying the geographic position. Although the civil authorities moved their borders more than 40 years ago, the Portsmouth diocese clings on the former Hampshire parishes, in what is now East Dorset and Christchurch. Portsmouth diocese also provides the clergy from the Isle of Wight, Fr Anthony Glaysher, for an Extraordinary Form Mass every third Sunday of the month at Our Lady Immaculate, Westbourne in Bournemouth.

The rest of the rural county belongs to the Plymouth diocese, where the legacy of the last 25 years remains. We continue to

32

develop a dialogue with our clergy, and work to form Dorset’s Gregorian choir has met with much encouragement.

The choir’s membership is open to all faiths and none, so will be the ecumenical route for some, in time, no doubt. It is hoped that Bishop Mark’s support for the Choir will prove the dynamic starter we all pray for.

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

REPS’ REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Portsmouth Peter Cullinane Following last year’s success, High Mass was again celebrated on the feast of Christ the King, 26 October at St John’s Cathedral, Portsmouth.

Fr Philip Harris was again the chief celebrant, while the deacon and sub-deacon were Fr Richard Lloyd of the Oxford Ordinariate and Fr Patrick Hayward respectively.

Other Ordinariate clergy, including Fr John Maunder from St Agatha’s close by the Cathedral, and others from elsewhere, were well represented in the sanctuary.

As last year, the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, under the direction of Christopher Hodkinson, provided the inspiring music for the Mass.

About a dozen altar servers attended, including several young ones and the proceedings were directed by Gordon Dimon as MC. Fr Anthony Glaysher preached the sermon, reminding us that the evil forces of the secular state were never far from the doors of the Church - starting from the French Revolution onwards.

More than 100 were present in the congregation. Including clergy, choir and servers, the total for the Mass was about 150, an increase of about 40 compared with last year, which was affected by a forecast of a hurricane at that time.

This Mass is an important feature of our presence in the diocese and we are most grateful for Bishop Philip’s support.

Numbers at St John’s Cathedral at 8am on Sunday mornings

Isle of Wight Peter Clarke The two weekday Traditional Masses (Tuesday and Thursday) continue at St Mary’s, Ryde.

There is a Sunday Extraordinary Form Mass at 5.00pm on the 1st Sunday of the month and at 7.45am on the 3rd Sunday.

We were pleased once again to have an Old Rite Mass on the principal feasts recently: the Immaculate Conception, Christmas, New Year’s Day, the Epiphany and Candlemas.

Our annual 40 Hours Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will once again take place over the Passion Sunday weekend (20-22 March). Full details can be found on the web site www. stmarysryde.org The parish priest, Fr Anthony Glaysher, continues to support the LMS by travelling to Bournemouth once a month on Sunday afternoon, to offer the EF Mass in Westbourne. Fr Glaysher also welcomes visiting priests to the Island who offer the EF Mass.

Why not combine a day visit on a Tuesday and include a Traditional Mass at 12.30pm with a guided tour of our beautiful Victorian church in Ryde? To arrange this contact Peter Clarke 01983 566740 Tel: 01983 566 740

Bishop Egan processes in at the High Mass/Photo Joseph Shaw

continue at about three dozen but a welcome surprise occurred on Christmas Day when some 70 attended, including several local families, taking advantage of an early Mass on a busy day of festivity. We hope to encourage them to come again.

At St Joseph’s in Basingstoke quarterly Masses continue with about 30 attending on a dark evening in December, rather lower than normal because of the the time of year.

Reading (Portsmouth) Adrian Dulston At St William of York we enjoyed a full programme of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany Masses. Our visitors were given the witness of a fairly stable community over this joyous Season, not least with the additional bonus of after-Mass coffee exchanges.

Fr Goddard is currently looking at starting a Legion of Mary group based at St William of York, if numbers permit.

The usual Men’s and Women’s groups meet and there is the Family Catechism day. Can I once again point you to the FSSP facebook page for further details of these meetings, retreats and regular Masses. https://facebook.com/fssp.England http://lmsreading.wordpress.com/ Email: Adrian.dulston@btinternet.com CLERGY PLEASE TAKE NOTE There will be an FSSP-led Clergy Retreat on the Four Last Things from Monday 4 May until 8 May at the Marian Shrine of Wigratzbad in Bavaria. Priests and any consecrated men, including deacons and religious, are welcome.

Full cost £299, including flights and full board. Details of the English language retreat available from Fr Armand de Malleray. malleray@fssp.org Tel:+44 (0)118 966 5284

33

REPS’ REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Beds and Bucks Eric Friar The weekly Sunday Mass at 8am, and Masses on Holy Days of Obligation, continue at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, under the care of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter. At Flitwick Sacred Heart, Frs Horgan, Leworthy, and Byrne have stepped into the breach and ensured that the weekly Sunday Mass at 5pm and monthly last-Thursday Mass at 7.30pm have continued uninterrupted during Canon Dennis McSweeney’s absence. Thanks be to God that Canon McSweeney is making a good recovery and will soon be back in action. The monthly 3rd Friday Mass at St Francis of Assisi, Shefford at 7.30pm continues thanks to

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015 the enthusiasm of Canon Bennie Noonan and the commitment of Fr Gerard Byrne.

During this third quarter, the serving at Chesham Bois has come together well. Thanks to Ivan Grimer’s zeal, and the encouragement of our FSSP Priests, we are going to introduce Latin chant during parts of the Low Mass and traditional vernacular hymns after Mass; to enhance the solemnity and foster devotion. God willing, this will strengthen our congregation and encourage more people to become involved in the choir or serving the Mass. The shortage of singers and servers remains a big challenge.

Many thanks to Paul Rowntree, Eric Caudle, and the Di Falco and Grimer families for all their support in serving and singing at our Masses.

Nottingham South (Leicestershire and Rutland) Paul Beardsmore

Holywell 28 December/Photo Kevin Jones

Wrexham Kevin Jones A pastoral letter from Bishop Peter Brignall, issued last September, painted a bleak diocesan picture in respect of priestly coverage.

In the letter, the Bishop draws attention to the acute situation in the Diocese and his deteriorating ability to be able to provide sufficient priests for the celebration of a Novus Ordo Mass each Sunday in all parishes. It makes stark reading and his Lordship even reluctantly used the metaphor that he is ‘no longer able to pull rabbits out of a hat’.

He explained that parish priests have been tasked with reviewing Mass times and perhaps reducing the number of Masses to allow the clergy of two parishes to cover the Masses of three.

This is a concern and in my most recent Diocesan LMS newsletter (which the Bishop receives), I stressed that the Traditional provision, that we cherish, is duly recognised in any review and that it is afforded protection. Please, I ask for your prayers for the Bishop, the clergy and the Wrexham Diocese as we endure this severe shortage of priests and lack of vocations, surely the worst in England and Wales?

In other news, the Saturday Mass at Buckley changed to the first Saturday from January (previously the second).

This has happened for a variety of reasons but chiefly to aid devotion to the first Saturday Fatima devotion: Our Lady said to Lucia in the July apparition: ‘I shall come to ask... that on the First Saturday of every month, Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins of the world.’

The 4th Sunday Mass at Holywell looked as though it would

34

The feast of All Saints was celebrated at St Peter’s Leicester with a Sung Mass offered by Fr Cahill, who also officiated at a Sung Requiem on 14 November for deceased LMS members of the Nottingham diocese. Meanwhile, at Holy Cross Priory a Sung Requiem Mass was offered on All Souls’ Day, and High Mass was celebrated for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Low Mass was offered at Holy Cross at noon on Christmas Day. By the time this report goes to press, a Sung Mass will also have been celebrated at Holy Cross for the feast of the Epiphany.

The regular weekly and daily Masses continue at Holy Cross, St Peter’s and St Joseph’s Oakham (see Mass Listings and www.lmslnr.co.uk).

Nottingham North (Northamptonshire) In addition to the weekly Saturday Masses, Fr Byrne offered additional Masses for the feast of All Saints and the Commemoration of All Souls, and a first Mass of Christmas late on Christmas Eve. There will also have been a Mass on the evening of the feast of the Epiphany.

Tel: 01858 434 037

be a Low Mass because of the regular group of cantors being depleted for various reasons. However, thanks to the visiting Scorey family (regulars at Our Lady of the Assumption at Stone, North Staffs), Mrs Scorey and her daughter, with Liber in one hand and Rossini in the other, formed an impromptu Schola, meanwhile the Scorey boys supplemented the altar servers. It worked very well and a Missa Cantata was appreciated by the 23 attending.

All other Masses went ahead despite one of our servers, Phil Russell being involved in a roof fall at the end of November.

Thanks be to God, he was spared serious injury and is once again providing exemplary service at the altar. http://lmswrexham.weebly.com Twitter twitter.com/LMSWrexham e-mail lms.wrexham@outlook.com

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

REPS’ REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Hertforshire

Westminster

Nicandro Porcelli

Roger Wemyss Brooks

We thank our bishops and priests who support and make our Masses possible.

Thanks to Michael Lord, the outgoing General Manager, for his and central LMS office’s necessary support this last year. May the new manager settle quickly into his role and the LMS continue to effectively promote and support the Church’s liturgical traditions.

At Old Hall Green, Mike Mason continues to find priests for Mass with the assistance of Alan Robinson at St Edmund’s.

We are hopeful to find priests for our plan to regularise Masses.

All Masses by Fr Tim Edgar, not dedicated at St Bartholomew’s, are for the re-instatement of the Holy Days of Obligation.

Epiphany Mass at St Albans, on the actual evening, saw many new people from far and wide. Thanks to Peter Johnson and the choristers and we hope for more Missae Cantatae and chant in 2015.

Email: nicandroporcellis@hotmail.co.uk

All advertised Masses have been fulfilled though it has been touch-and-go at times, not so much because of a shortage of priests but rather a lack of servers. We very much need more laymen to come forward and offer their services, particularly in the privilege of helping our priests at the altar. The new Mass centres at St Albans and Willesden are now well established. EF Masses having been celebrated there for more than a year, but more support for the priests would be welcome.

The Traditional Confirmations and New Year’s Day High Mass at Spanish Place were both well attended. Sadly, recent Masses at the Cathedral have been less so.

Our 50-year-old Society deserves maximum support – financial as well as personal – in this Jubilee Year Our efforts should match if not exceed those of earlier generations.

Tel: 0207 224 5323

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PENTECOST PEOPLES REVISITED

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

Pentecost Peoples

A

mong the Christians in the Middle East is the first Christian nation, the Armenian Catholics, who adopted Christianity as their official state religion in 301 AD. But this was not the beginning of Christianity in the region.

It is said that the Armenians first heard the Good News at a very early date from the disciples Bartholomew and Thaddeus. Although Armenia is on the Eastern border of Turkey, the Armenian church spread well beyond and there are now arch-dioceses in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and the Ukraine – as well as representations in Iran, France, the US and South America.

St Gregory the Illuminator (257-337) is acknowledged as the great apostle of the Armenians. He is said to have baptised the King Tiridates III, along with many in the royal court, in about 261 – paving the way for Christianity to be adopted as the state religion some 40 years later.

Today, the vast majority of Armenian Catholics, nearly half a million, are based in Eastern Europe, including Armenia itself, with another 200,000 spread around the world with large numbers in the US and France. The Armenian Catholic church is based in Lebanon. It is recognised as one of the Eastern churches, which accept the Pope as spiritual leader. The current Patriarch of Cilicia, is His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX. His Lebanon HQ is at Bzoummar, north of Beirut. In 1991, Pope John Paul II reconstructed the Catholic hierarchy of Armenia, appointing as Ordinary for Armenian Catholics in Eastern Europe.

Just 10 per cent of Armenians are Armenian Catholics, with the church having broken away after the Council of Chalcedon of 451. The majority of Armenian Christians remained part of the Armenian Apostolic church. Both denominations use the same, Armenian Rite, though, which was influenced by the Syriac Rite, used by other Eastern churches. The liturgical language was once Syriac, which is similar to Aramaic, but is now Armenian.

Unlike some Orthodox churches, the Armenian churches are not filled with icons. They have a curtain concealing the altar and the priest from the congregation during parts of the liturgy. The Armenian services are described are some of the most fascinating in the East, they are choral in nature and there is use of splendid vestments and music.

Unusually, they do not use water with the wine. But there are Latin influences, with the bishops using mitres and the bread used is unleavened, although it is baked that day.

Coptic Catholics Coptic Catholics, as distinct from the majority of Egypt’s Copts, were brought back to the Church during the counter reformation, after a long division following the Council of Chalcedon.

They are sometimes known as Alexandrian Catholics and use the Alexandrian Rite, also known as the Liturgy of St Mark, who is credited with bringing Christianity to Egypt.

Catholic Copts use the Coptic and Arabic languages. There are only some 162,000 Catholic Copts, they are led by the Patriarch at Cairo. The vast majority of Copts, some 8 million, belong to the Coptic Orthodox church – the largest Christian denomination in the Middle East.

Catholic Copts do not have the monasteries associated with the Coptic church. There are three religious congregations for women and a male Franciscan community, all in Egypt.

There has been considerable persecution in recent years of Christians in Egypt.

The current Catholic Coptic patriarch of Alexandria is Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak. Although the patriarch is based in Cairo, most Catholic Copts have been traditionally located in Upper Egypt.

But, as with other Christian communities, there has been some flight to the West.

 

  

                                      

   36

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

MASS LISTINGS

The Latin Mass Society

Mass Listings

Supplement to Mass of Ages 183 Spring 2015 While the Latin Mass Society makes every effort to ensure that these listings are accurate, we cannot guarantee that they are free of errors or omissions and acknowledge that some Masses can be cancelled at very short notice.

WESTMINSTER Westminster Cathedral, Victoria Street, VICTORIA, London SW1P 1QW

2nd Saturdays (Lady Chapel)

4.30pm

Low Mass

The Oratory, Brompton Road, LONDON SW7 2RP

Sundays Mon to Sat (St Joseph’s Altar) Saturdays (usually in St Wilfrid’s Chapel)[1]

9.00am 8.00am 12.15pm

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass

St. James’s, Spanish Place, LONDON W1U 3QY

Sundays Holy Days of Obligation Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday)

9.30am 11.00am 11.00am

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass

Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, COVENT GARDEN, London WC2E 7NA

Mondays 2nd Fridays Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Thu 19 Mar (St Joseph) Wed 25 Mar (Annunciation)

6.30pm 6.30pm 6.30pm TBC TBC

Sung Mass Low Mass Sung Mass Sung Mass Sung Mass

St Etheldreda, Ely Place, LONDON EC1N 6RY

1st Fridays

6.00pm

Low Mass

St. John the Baptist, 3 King Edward’s Road, HACKNEY, London E9 7SF

1st Fridays

6.00pm

Low Mass

St Mary Moorfields, Eldon Street, LONDON EC2M 7LS

Fridays Last Fridays Sacred Triduum

7.45am 7.30pm TBC

Low Mass High Mass Sung Mass

Holy Trinity and St Augustine, London Road, BALDOCK, Herts SG7 6LQ

1st Sundays

3.00pm

Low Mass

St. Edmund of Canterbury & English Martyrs, Farm Lane, 3rd Sundays[2] Old Hall Green, Nr. WARE, Hertfordshire SG11 1DT

3.00pm

Low Mass

Our Lady of Lourdes & St Michael, Osborn Rd, UXBRIDGE UB8 1UE

1st Fridays

7.00pm

Sung Mass

St Bartholomew’s, 47 Vesta Avenue, ST ALBANS AL1 2PE

Sundays[3]

5.00pm

Low Mass

Our Lady of Willesden, Acton Lane, WILLESDEN, London NW10 9AX

Sundays[3] Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Wed 25 Mar (Annunciation) Sun 5 Apr (Easter Sunday)

5.30pm 12.45pm 12.45pm 10.00am

Low Low Low Low

Mass Mass Mass Mass

Immaculate Conception and St Joseph, 23 St John’s Street, HERTFORD SG14 1RX

Sat Sat Sat Sat Sat Sat

11.00am 11.00am 11.00am 11.00am 11.00am 11.00am

Low Low Low Low Low Low

Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass

31 21 16 11 19 31

Jan Mar May Jul Sep Oct

St Bonaventure, 81 Parkway, WELWYN GARDEN CITY AL8 6JF Wed 13 May (Vigil of Ascension) 7.00pm Sung Mass

[1] Phone 020 7808 0900 to check before travelling. [2] Also 5th Sundays, but check before travelling – 07810 778160 or 07920 122014.

ARUNDEL AND BRIGHTON St Pancras, Ireland’s Lane, LEWES, Sussex BN7 1QX

1st Sundays Saturdays Sun 5 Apr (Easter Sunday) Thu 14 May (Ascension) Sun 24 May (Pentecost) Thu 4 Jun (Corpus Christi) Mon 29 Jun (SS Peter & Paul) Sat 15 Aug (Assumption)

12.30pm 10.00am 12.30pm 7.00pm 12.30pm 7.00pm 7.00pm 10.00am

Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low

Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass

St Mary Magdalene, Upper North Street, BRIGHTON BN1 3FH

Sundays Fridays Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Sun 5 Apr (Easter Sunday)

6.30pm 7.00pm 7.30pm TBA

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low/Sung

37

MASS LISTINGS

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

St Mary, Surrenden Road, BRIGHTON BN1 6PA

Thursdays

7.00pm

Low Mass

St Thomas More, Sutton Road, SEAFORD Sussex BN25 1SS

3rd Sundays

3.00pm

Low/Sung

Our Lady of Consolation, Park Lane, WEST GRINSTEAD RH13 8LT

2nd Sundays Sun 8 Feb Sun 10 May Sun 8 Nov Sun 13 Dec

3.00pm 3.00pm 3.00pm 3.00pm 3.00pm

Low Mass Sung Mass Sung Mass Sung Mass Sung Mass

Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Essendene Road, CATERHAM, Surrey CR3 5PB

Wednesdays

10.00am

Low Mass

Our Lady Immaculate and St Philip Neri, UCKFIELD TN22 5DJ

4th Sundays

3.00pm

Low Mass

The Oratory, Hagley Road, BIRMINGHAM B16 8UE

Sundays Fridays Saturdays Weekday Feast Day / Holy Days of Obligation (check newsletter)

10.30am 6.00pm 9.30am 6.00pm or 7.00pm

High Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass High Mass

St Augustine’s Catholic Church, Herbert Road, SOLIHULL B91 3QE

Last Friday

6.30pm

Low Mass

Maryvale Institute Chapel, Old Oscott Hill, BIRMINGHAM B44 9AG

2nd Wednesdays

7.00pm

Low Mass

Our Lady & St Kenelm Cobham Road, HALESOWEN B63 3JZ

Wednesdays[1]

12.00pm

Low Mass

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Cannock Road, WOLVERHAMPTON WV10 8PG

Fridays

6.30pm

Low Mass

The Oratory, Woodstock Road, OXFORD OX2 6HA

Sundays Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Thu 19 Mar (St Joseph) Wed 25 Mar (Annunciation) Mon 4 May (English Martyrs)

8.00am 12.15pm 12.15pm 6.00pm 6.00pm

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass High Mass High Mass

SS Gregory & Augustine, 322 Woodstock Road, OXFORD OX2 7NS

3rd Sundays 12.00pm Wednesdays 6.00pm Fridays 6.00pm 1st Thursdays 12.00pm Wed 11 Feb (Our Lady of Lourdes) 6.00pm Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) 6.00pm Wed 25 Mar (Annunciation) 6.00pm

Sung Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass Sung Mass Sung Mass Sung Mass

St Anne’s, in South View Avenue, CAVERSHAM, RG4 5AB

Sat 28 Feb (LMS Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Caversham)

11.30am

High Mass

St Birinus, DORCHESTER-ON-THAMES, Oxfordshire OX10 7JR

Wednesdays Saturdays

8.00am 9.30am

Low Mass Low Mass

12.00pm 12.00pm

Low/Sung Low Mass

BIRMINGHAM

Holy Trinity, Hardwick Road, HETHE, nr Bicester, Oxfordshire OX27 8AW Sundays

Saturdays St Wulstan, Wolstanton, NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME, Staffordshire ST5 0EF Our Lady of Mount Carmel, REDDITCH B98 8LT

Mondays

6.30pm

Low Mass

St Mary & Egwin, High Street, EVESHAM, Worcestershire WR11 4EJ

Tuesdays

7.00pm

Low Mass

St Ambrose, Birmingham Road, KIDDERMINSTER DY10 2BY

1st Sundays Fridays

3.00pm 7.30pm

Low/Sung Low Mass

St John Baptist, Spetchley Park, WORCESTER WR5 1RS

Sundays

10.45pm

Low Mass

Our Lady of the Assumption, 8 Weaver’s Walk, Swynnerton, nr STONE, ST15 0QZ

Sundays Saturdays (fortnightly)[2] Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Sun 29 Mar (Palm Sunday) Sun 5 Apr (Easter Sunday)

6.00pm 10.00am 7.30pm 6.00pm 6.00pm

Sung Mass Low Mass Low Mass Sung Mass Sung Mass

Oulton Abbey, Kibblestone Road, Oulton, Nr STONE ST15 8UP

3rd Sundays[3]

3.00pm

Sung/Low

[1] No Mass on 14/01/15, 28/01/15 or 18/02/15 (Ash Wednesday). Phone 0121 6021972 before travelling. [2] Phone Local Rep on 01270 768144 to confirm dates. [3] Monthly Masses - check for future dates on http://north-staffs-lms.blogspot.co.uk or call Local LMS Representative, Alan Frost, on 01270 768144. Subject to cancellation, so check blog above before travelling.

BRENTWOOD Our Lady of Lourdes & St Joseph, Leigh Rd, LEIGH-ON-SEA, SS9 1LN

1st Sundays

4.00pm

Sung Mass

St Philips Priory, 178 New London Road, CHELMSFORD CM2 0AR

2nd & 4th Sundays Sun 5 Apr (Easter Sunday)

10.30am 10.30am

Low Mass Low Mass

38

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

MASS LISTINGS

Our Lady Immaculate, New London Road, CHELMSFORD CM2 0AR

1st Fridays Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Thu 14 May (Ascension) Thu 4 Jun (Corpus Christi) Mon 29 Jun (SS Peter & Paul)

7.30pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 7.30pm

Low Low Low Low Low

Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass

Church of the Assumption, 98 Manford Way, HAINAULT IG7 4DF

Most Mondays[1]

6.30pm

Low Mass

St. Mary Immaculate and the Holy Archangels, KELVEDON CO5 9AH

1st Saturdays

12.15pm

Low Mass

St Margaret’s Convent Chapel, Bethell Avenue, CANNING TOWN, London E16 4JU

Sundays Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Thu 2 Apr (Maundy Thursday) Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil)

6.00pm 7.30pm 8.00pm 12.00pm 6.45pm

Sung Sung Sung Sung Sung

Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass

[1] Please telephone 020 8500 3953 to confirm before travelling or email nda.hainault@btinternet.com

CARDIFF Poor Clare Convent, Much Birch, HEREFORD HR2 8PS

Sundays

6.30pm

Low Mass

Most Holy Trinity, New Street, Ledbury, HEREFORD HR8 2EE

2nd Sundays

5.00pm

Low Mass

St Francis Xavier, Broad Street, HEREFORD HR4 9AP

Last Sundays Fridays

12.15am 6.30pm

Low/Sung Low Mass

Our Lady & St Michael, Pen-y-Pound, ABERGAVENNY NP7 5UD

Fridays[1]

7.00pm

Low Mass

University Chaplaincy, 62 Park Place, CARDIFF CF10 3AS

1st Thursdays[1] 3rd Thursdays[1]

7.00pm 7.00pm

Low Mass Low Mass

[1] Until further notice please visit the website www.lmscardiff.org.uk for more information and full listings. For the Herefordshire area contact Marion Luscombe (01432 760896) or Shaun Bennett (07917 577127).

CLIFTON Holy Cross Church, Dean Lane, Bedminster, BRISTOL BS3 1DB

Sundays 1st Wednesdays Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Sun 29 Mar (Palm Sunday) Sun 5 Apr (Easter)

12.30pm 6.30pm 12.45pm 12.30pm 12.30pm

Low Low Low Low Low

Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass

St Dominic’s, Jubilee Road, DURSLEY, Gloucestershire GL11 4ES

Sundays[1] Mondays & Tuesdays Wed - Sat (inclusive) Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Wed 25 Mar (Annunciation) Sun 29 Mar (Palm Sunday) Sun 5 Apr (Easter)

5.30pm 9.00am 8.00am 8.00am 8.00am 5.30pm 5.30pm

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass Sung Mass

St George’s, Boreham Road, WARMINSTER, Wiltshire BA12 9JP

One Saturday per month[2]

9.30am

Low Mass

SS Joseph & Teresa, 16 Chamberlain Street, WELLS, Somerset BA5 2PF

Tuesdays [3] Fridays Wed 25 Mar (Annunciation) Sun 5 Apr (Easter)

6.00pm 6.00pm 6.00pm 8.00am

Low Low Low Low

Our Lady & St Kenelm, STOW-ON-THE-WOLD, Gloucestershire GL54 1DR

Saturdays[4] Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Sun 5 Apr (Easter)

10.00am 10.00am 6.30pm

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass

Prinknash Abbey, CRANHAM, Gloucestershire GL4 8EX

1st Sundays Saturdays[5] Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Wed 25 Mar (Annunciation) Mon 6 Apr (Easter Monday)

3.00pm 11.00am 11.00am 8.15am 8.15am

Low Low Low Low Low

Our Lady of Lourdes, 28 Baytree Road, WESTON-SUPER-MARE BS22 8HQ 4th and 5th Sundays

1st Thursdays

Sun 29 Mar (Palm Sunday)

11.30am 9.30am 11.30am

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass

St Benedict’s, Stratton-on-the-Fosse, RADSTOCK, nr. Bath, Somerset BA3 4RH

1st Sundays

11.15am

Low Mass

Our Lady of Glastonbury, Magdalene Street, GLASTONBURY, Somerset BA6 9EJ

3rd Sundays

12.30pm

Low Mass

St Gregory’s, 10 Saint James’ Square, CHELTENHAM GL50 3PR

1st Wednesdays

7.00pm

Low Mass

The Holy Ghost, 73 Higher Kingston, YEOVIL, Somerset BA21 4AR

Fridays

6.00pm

Low Mass

All Saints, WARDOUR CASTLE, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6RR

Quarterly 3rd Saturdays[6]

11.00am

Low Mass

Holy Redeemer, Fotherby Crescent, SALISBURY, Wiltshire SP1 3EG

Quarterly 3rd Saturdays[7]

11.30am

Low Mass

Mass Mass Mass Mass

Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass

[1] Missa Cantata first Sunday of each month. [2] Please check with Parish Office on 01985 212329. [3] Phone 01749 673183 to confirm before travelling. [4] Phone 01451 830431 to confirm before travelling. [5] Phone Fr Damian on 07742 659106 to confirm before travelling.

[6] These Masses will continue quarterly (February, May, August, November) until further notice. Please call 01373 301691 before travelling.

[7] Quarterly (March, June, September, December). Please call 01373 301691 before travelling.

39

MASS LISTINGS

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

EAST ANGLIA Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Unthank Rd, NORWICH NR2 2PA

First Fridays

6.00pm

Low Mass

Blackfriars, Buckingham Road, CAMBRIDGE CB3 0DD

Sundays 1st Fridays

9.15am 6.00pm

Low Mass Low Mass

University Chaplaincy, Fisher House, Guildhall St, CAMBRIDGE CB2 3NH

Sundays (during term time)

8.30am

Low Mass

St Peter & All Souls, Park Road, PETERBOROUGH, Cambs PE1 2RS

1st Fridays

7.00pm

Low Mass

St Mary Magdalene, 468 Norwich Rd, IPSWICH IP1 6JS

Wednesdays

12.00pm

Low Mass

St Pancras, Orwell Place, IPSWICH, Suffolk IP4 1BD

2nd Sundays 2nd Thursdays

5.30pm 10.30am

Low Mass Low Mass

St Teresa’s Church, Prince of Wales Road, SHEFFIELD S2 1EY

1st Sundays[1] Sun 5th Apr (Easter Sunday)

12.15pm 12.15pm

Low/Sung Sung Mass

Padley Chapel, GRINDLEFORD, Hope Valley S32 2JA

Sun 17 May (LMS Pilgrimage)

1.00pm

Sung Mass

[1] Please phone 01473 741975 for more information.

HALLAM

[1] Please phone 0114 2332801 for more information or visit our Facebook page (Hallam lms) for updated events.

HEXHAM AND NEWCASTLE St Joseph’s, High West Street, GATESHEAD NE8 1LX

Sundays[1] Saturdays

12.00pm 11.00am

Low/Sung Low Mass

St. Mary’s, Barrasford, Swinburne, HEXHAM NE48 4DQ

Sundays

12.00pm

Low Mass

St. Mary’s Church, Birch Road, BARNARD CASTLE, Co. Durham DL12 8NR Sundays[2]

Tuesdays[2]

Holy Days of Obligation[2]

9.00am Low Mass 7.30pm Low/Sung 7.30pm Low Mass

Sacred Heart & English Martyrs, THORNLEY, Co. Durham DH6 3HA

Sundays

9.30am

Low Mass

St Patrick, Smith Street, Ryhope, SUNDERLAND SR2 0RG

3rd Wednesdays

7.30pm

Sung Mass

SS Joseph, Patrick & Cuthbert, Church Street, COXHOE, Co Durham DH6 4DA

Thursdays

12.00pm

Low Mass

St Augustine’s, 30 Coniscliffe Road, DARLINGTON DL3 7RG

2nd Wednesdays

7.15pm

Low Mass

[1] Sung Mass on 1st & 3rd Sundays. [2] Owing to the ill health of the priest, please confirm with Rep before travelling (0191 264 5771).

LANCASTER St Peter’s Cathedral, Balmoral Road, LANCASTER LA1 3BT

Sun 22 Feb Sun 22 Mar Sun 26 Apr

3.00pm 3.00pm 3.00pm

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass

Our Lady & St Joseph, Warwick Square, CARLISLE CA1 1LB

Sundays

6.00pm

Sung/Low

Our Lady & St Wilfrid, WARWICK BRIDGE, near Carlisle CA4 8RL

TBA[1]

TBA

TBA

St Walburge’s Church, Weston Street, PRESTON PR2 2QE

Sundays Mon-Fri[2] Saturdays

10.30am 12.00pm 10.30am

Sung Mass Low Mass Low Mass

[1] Occasional Masses may be arranged for Warwick Bridge. For information on Masses, please contact Canon Watson or Fr Millar on 01228 521509 or visit latinmasslancaster.blogspot.com .[2] Except First Fridays when the Mass will be at 7.00 pm. See www.stwalburge.org for details of all services.

LEEDS Leeds University RC Chaplaincy, 5–7 St Mark’s Avenue, LEEDS LS2 9BN

5th Saturdays Thu 2 Apr (Maundy Thursday) Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil)

4.00pm 7.30pm 3.00pm 3.00pm

Low Mass Low/Sung Low/Sung Low/Sung

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Harrogate Road, LEEDS LS17 6LE

1st Fridays

7.30pm

Low Mass

St Mary’s, Gibbet Street, HALIFAX, Yorkshire HX1 5DH

Saturdays

6.00pm

Low Mass

St Joseph’s, Pontefract Road, CASTLEFORD, Yorkshire WF10 4JB

Sundays

3.00pm

Low Mass

The Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall, SKIPTON, Yorkshire BD23 3AE

Sundays[1] Monday-Saturday inclusive[1]

11.00am 9.30am

Sung Mass Low Mass

St Peter’s, Leeds Road, Laisterdyke, BRADFORD, Yorkshire BD3 8EL

2nd Sundays

3.00pm

Sung Mass

Holy Spirit, Bath Road, HECKMONDWIKE, Yorkshire WF16 9EA

1st & 3rd Sundays

4.00pm

Low Mass

St Ignatius, Storrs Hill Road, OSSETT WF5 0DQ

Last Mondays

7.30pm

Low Mass

[1] Anybody wishing to attend these Masses is advised to ring 01756 793794 or visit www.lmsleeds.blogspot.com.

40

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

MASS LISTINGS

LIVERPOOL St Anthony’s, Scotland Road, LIVERPOOL L5 5BD

Sundays[1] Holy Days of Obligation Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday)

3.00pm 12.00pm 12.00pm

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass

St Joseph, Bolton Road, ANDERTON PR6 9NA

Saturdays[2]

9.10am

Low Mass

Holy Spirit, 66/68 Poulsom Drive, BOOTLE L30 2NR

Tuesdays[3]

7.00pm

Low Mass

St Mary Magdalene, Leyland Road, PENWORTHAM PR1 9NE

Sundays[4]

8.30am

Low Mass

St Catherine Labouré, Stanifield Lane, Farington, LEYLAND, PR25 4QG

Sundays[5] Tuesdays Saturdays Holydays of Obligation[5]

11.30am 12.00pm 12.00pm 7.00pm

Low Low Low Low

Mass Mass Mass Mass

[1] For all Masses, please phone 0151 426 0361 before travelling. [2] Please phone Fr. Ian O’Shea 01257 480237 before travelling. [3] Please check with Fr John Harris 0151 928 0040 before travelling. [4] Please phone Jim Aherne 01772 378488 before travelling. [5] Additional Masses may be posted on Fr Henry’s blog (offerimustibidomine.blogspot.com). Please phone Fr Henry 01772 421174 before travelling.

MENEVIA St Joseph’s Cathedral, Greenhill, SWANSEA SA1 2BX

4th Sundays

12.00pm

Low Mass

Sacred Heart, School Road, Morriston, SWANSEA, SA6 6HZ

Saturday before 1st Sundays[1] 3rd & 5th Sundays[1]

5.00pm 3.00pm

Low Mass Sung Mass

[1] Please check with Local Rep, as there may be cancellations - 07810 778160.

MIDDLESBROUGH St Wilfrid’s, Duncombe Place, YORK YO1 7EF

Sundays Sat 9 May (LMS Pilgrimage)

12.00pm 1.30pm

Sung Mass High Mass

Sacred Heart Church, Lobster Road, REDCAR TS10 1SH

Sundays[1]

11.30am

Low Mass

St Brendan, Beanfield Avenue, CORBY NN18 0AZ

Saturdays Sun 5 Apr (Easter Sunday)

9.30am 12.30pm

Low Mass Low Mass

Sacred Heart, Pope Close, FLITWICK, Bedfordshire MK45 1JP

Sundays Last Thursdays Sun 5 Apr (Easter Sunday)

5.00pm 7.30pm 5.00pm

Low Mass Low Mass Sung Mass

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Amersham Road, CHESHAM BOIS HP6 5PE Sundays[1]

8.00am

Low Mass

St. Francis of Assisi, 25 High Street, SHEFFORD, Bedfordshire SG17 5DD

3rd Fridays

7.30pm

Low Mass

St Barnabas Cathedral, Derby Road, NOTTINGHAM NG1 5AE

3rd Wednesdays[1]

6.15pm

Low Mass

The Good Shepherd, 3 Thackeray’s Lane, Woodthorpe, NOTTINGHAM NG5 4HT

Saturday before 2nd Sundays (anticipated Mass of Sunday)

4.45pm

Low Mass

Our Lady and St Patrick, Launder St, Meadows, NOTTINGHAM NG2 1JQ

3rd Sundays

2.00pm

Low Mass

Holy Cross Priory, 45 Wellington Street, LEICESTER LE1 6HW

Sundays Mon - Sat inclusive Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday) Thu 19 Mar (St Joseph)

12.30pm 8.00am 7.15 pm 7.15 pm

Low Mass Low Mass Sung Mass Sung Mass

St Peter’s Church, Hinckley Road, LEICESTER LE3 0TA

1st Fridays Saturdays Wed 25 Mar (Annunciation)

6.00pm 11.00am 7.00pm

Low Mass Low Mass Sung Mass

St Joseph, Station Road, OAKHAM, Rutland LE15 6QU

Fridays[2]

7.00pm

Low Mass

St Mary’s, 12 Barnard Avenue, BRIGG DN20 8AS

Sundays[3]

5.00pm

Low Mass

Holy Rood, King Street, MARKET RASEN, Lincolnshire LN8 3BB

TBA[4]

TBA

Low/Sung

[1] Please check before travelling (01642 484 047).

NORTHAMPTON

[1] Sung Mass on 1st Sundays.

NOTTINGHAM

[1] Cathedral Mass is followed by a social for young Catholic adults (18-35), organised by Juventutem Nottingham. For more details contact Corinna on 07791 041442. [2] Check newsletter at www.stjosephs-oakham.org. [3] Check newsletter at St. Mary’s Brigg, or ring 01652 652221.

[4] Please contact the LMS Rep - Mike Carroll for more details on 07883 564408.

PLYMOUTH Church of Christ the King, Armada Way, PLYMOUTH PL1 2EN

1st Sundays

3.00pm

Sung Mass

Blessed Sacrament Church, Fore Street, Heavitree, EXETER EX1 2QJ

3rd Sundays

3.00pm

Sung Mass

41

MASS LISTINGS

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

Exeter University Catholic Chaplaincy, Boniface House, Glenthorne Road, Fridays EXETER EX4 4QU

7.30pm

Low Mass

St Cyprian’s Chapel, Ugbrooke House, nr CHUDLEIGH, Devon TQ13 0AD

4th Sundays

3.00pm

Sung Mass

Lanherne Convent, St Mawgan, Nr NEWQUAY, Cornwall TR8 4ER

Sundays & Holydays of Obligation 10.00am Mondays to Saturdays inclusive 7.30am

Sung Mass Sung Mass

St Mary’s, Old Mill Lane, MARNHULL, Dorset DT10 1JX

Thu 19 Feb

12.00pm

Low Mass

Buckfast Abbey (St Michael’s Chapel), BUCKFASTLEIGH TQ11 0EE

Wed 11 Feb (Our Lady of Lourdes) 11.00am

Low Mass

St John’s Catholic Cathedral, Edinburgh Road, PORTSMOUTH PO1 3HG

Sundays

8.00am

Low Mass

St William of York, Upper Redlands Road, READING RG1 5JT

Sundays Mondays Tuesdays to Thursdays[1] Fridays Saturdays Holy Days of Obligation[1]

11.00am 12.00pm 7.00am 7.30pm 8.00am 7.30pm

Sung Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass Sung/Low

St Joseph’s Church, St Michael’s Road, BASINGSTOKE, RG22 6TY

Sun 15 Feb Sun 8 Mar

6.00pm 6.00pm

Sung/Low Sung/Low

Our Lady Immaculate, Westbourne, BOURNEMOUTH BH4 9AE

3rd Sundays

6.00pm

Low Mass

St Peter, Jewry Street, WINCHESTER, Hampshire SO23 8RY

2nd Sundays

12.15pm

Low/Sung

St Mary’s, High Street, RYDE, Isle of Wight PO33 2RG

1st Sundays 3rd Sundays Tuesdays Thursdays Fri 20 Mar (40 Hours’ devotion) Sat 21 Mar (Anticipated Mass of Sunday)

5.00pm 7.45am 12.30pm 7.00pm 8.00pm 11.00pm

Low/Sung Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low/Sung Low/Sung

St Michael’s Church, Walls Road, BEMBRIDGE, Isle of Wight PO35 5RA

1st Fridays

9.15am

Low Mass

4.45pm

Low Mass

English Martyrs, Alexandra Road South, Whalley Range, Saturdays[1] MANCHESTER M16 8QT Wed 18 Feb (Ash Wednesday)

Thu 19 Mar (St Joseph)

10.00am 7.00pm 7.00pm 7.00pm

Low Low Low Low

St Osmund’s, Long Lane, Breightmet, BOLTON BL2 6EB

1st Thursdays[2] Thu 19 Mar (St Joseph) Thu 9 Apr

7.30pm 7.30pm 7.30pm

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass

St Marie’s, Manchester Road, BURY BL9 0DR

Fridays[3]

7.30pm

Low Mass

PORTSMOUTH

[1] Please check before travelling - 0118 966 5284 or visit www.fssp.co.uk/england for details.

SALFORD Oratory Church of St. Chad, Cheetham Hill Road, MANCHESTER M8 8GG

Sundays

Mass Mass Mass Mass

[1] Not Saturday 4 April. [2] No Mass in March or April. [3] No Mass on Friday 3 April.

SHREWSBURY St Winefride’s, Crowmere Road, Monkmoor, SHREWSBURY SY2 5RA

Sundays

12.15pm

Low Mass

St Vincent de Paul’s, 2 Bentinck Road, ALTRINCHAM WA14 2BP

2nd Sundays

3.00pm

Low Mass

SS Peter & Paul and Philomena, Atherton Street, NEW BRIGHTON, Sundays[1] Wallasey CH45 9LT

Mondays-Thursdays[2]

Fridays[2]

Saturdays and Bank Holidays[2]

Holy Days of Obligation[3]

8.00am 10.30am 9.00am 7.00pm 10.00am 7.00pm

Low Mass Sung Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass Sung/Low

St Thomas Becket, Nantwich Road, TARPORLEY CW6 9UN

12.30pm

Low Mass

3rd Sundays

[1] Preceded by Confession and Rosary. Sunday Vespers & Benediction at 5.00pm. [2] Confessions are heard and the Rosary is recited half an hour before Mass. In the evening Vespers is said at 5.30pm followed by Adoration. [3] In accordance with the Calendar of the 1962 Missal.

SOUTHWARK (NORTH) St Bede’s, 58 Thornton Road, CLAPHAM PARK, London SW12 0LF

Sundays Mondays – Fridays (inclusive) Thursdays Saturdays

10.45am 7.00am 12.30pm 9.00am

Sung Mass Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass

St. Mary Magdalen (East Hill), 96 North Side, WANDSWORTH COMMON, London SW18 2QU

Sundays

11.00am

Low/Sung

42

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

MASS LISTINGS

St Mary, 28 Crown Lane, CHISLEHURST, Kent BR7 5PL

1st & 3rd Sundays Fridays

11.00am 7.30pm

Sung Mass Low Mass

St Mary Magdalen, 61 North Worple Wy, MORTLAKE, London SW14 8PR

1st Fridays

7.00pm

Low Mass

St Augustine’s Church, St Augustine’s Road, RAMSGATE, Kent CT11 9PA

Sundays Fridays[1]

12.00pm 9.30am

Sung Mass Low Mass

St Ethelbert, 72 Hereson Road, RAMSGATE, Kent CT11 7DS

Wednesdays[2]

9.30am

Low Mass

St Austin & St Gregory, 38 Charlotte Place, MARGATE, Kent CT9 1LP

Sundays Mondays

11.30pm 6.30pm

Sung/High Low Mass

St Thomas of Canterbury, Station Road, HEADCORN, Kent

4th Sundays Most Fridays Wed 25 Mar (Annunciation)

12.00pm 9.30am 12.00pm

Low Mass Low Mass Low Mass

St Augustine’s, Crescent Road, TUNBRIDGE WELLS, Kent TN1 2LY

First Wednesdays[3]

7.30pm

Low Mass

St Francis, Week Street, MAIDSTONE, Kent ME14 1RL

1st Sundays

12.30pm

Low Mass

St Simon Stock, Brookfield Road, ASHFORD SOUTH, Kent TN23 4EU

2nd & 5th Sundays

12.15pm

Low Mass

St Andrew, Ashford Road, TENTERDEN, Kent TN30 6LL

3rd Sundays

12.30pm

Low Mass

SOUTHWARK (KENT)

[1] Then Exposition, Confession & Benediction at 10.00am. [2] Preceded at 8.30am by Exposition & Benediction. [3] Check on 01892 522525.

WREXHAM St Francis of Assisi, Llay Chain, Llay, nr. WREXHAM LL12 0NT

2nd Sundays

12.30pm

Low Mass

Our Lady of the Rosary, Jubilee Road, BUCKLEY CH7 2AF

1st Saturdays

12.30pm

Low/Sung[1]

St Winefride’s Catholic Church, Well Street, HOLYWELL CH8 7PL

4th Sundays

11.30am

Low/Sung[1]

"God Will Not Leave Us Orphans" At a time of widespread apostasy, God is raising up shepherds to lead the faithful remnant. The following is from an interview with Bishop Athanasius Schneider concerning the recent scandalous synod: " Even though it has not achieved the required two third of the votes, there remains nevertheless the worrying and astonishing fact that the absolute majority of the present bishops voted in favour of Holy Communion for the ‘divorced and remarried’, a sad reflection on the spiritual quality of the Catholic episcopacy in our days." [emphasis ours] We are possibly in a worse tragedy now than the Arian crisis, when, according to some historians, in some areas only about 3% of the bishops remained faithful. Blessed John Henry Newman wrote of that period that it was the laity who saved the Church.

Are the laity ready to step up to the plate again?

If you are tired of complaining, tired of feeling useless, if you are ready to take the gloves off and demand your Church back, start reading the Flock. The Flock is published quarterly by Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice and is FREE - we rely on the generosity of our readers for survival.

To enrol ring Graham Moorhouse on 0132-240-9231 or email him at PEEP@cathud.com, or complete and post the slip below to Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, 118 Shepherds Lane, DARTFORD, DA1 2NN:

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FAMILY NOTEBOOK

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

Traditional Baptism/Joseph Shaw

Godparents are for life not just for Christmas

D

Gwen Richards

ear Reader, it is New Year’s Day 2015 and I wish to share my resolution with you, because I want you to make the same resolution - if it is appropriate. By the time you read this, Lent will be upon us, but what does for the New Year will do just as well for Lent. No excuses.

I have been to several Baptisms recently (all Traditional Rite, Deo Gratias, and more of that anon). At one, the Godmother wore jeans, at another the infant was held by a lady in a large hat. I was even a Godmother myself on one occasion and I wore…..but that isn’t the point. Whatever I wore, I took on a rather terrifying responsibility. The fact is that Godparents commit to doing their best to ensure that their Godchildren grow up, and remain, faithful Catholics. As I was reminded at one of the afore-mentioned Baptisms, this is not to be undertaken lightly. Yet many of us have accepted the honour of being a Godparent with joy and our greatest fear has been whether we could hold the baby securely whilst undoing the antique christening robe for the anointing. Of course, primary responsibility for teaching, nurturing and leading their children belongs to parents. But, even the best of parents may fail or need help. Those dreadful teenage years, that seem so distant at an infant Baptism, will come, and with them very often a (hopefully temporary) break-down in parent/child communication, just when doubts and questions about the Faith start to trouble the youngster’s mind. Wouldn’t a caring Godparent be ideal as a confidante, both kind and truthful, who could be trusted to be their champion and yet was clearly guided in everything

by Christ and His Church? And wouldn’t it be awful if that young person’s Faith was lost while their Godparent stood by, unable to do anything except pray? God requires us to do our duty. Will He be pleased with how we have behaved towards our Godchildren?

Although I myself have five children with two Godparents apiece, and I have stood as Godparent to four children, I have never known of godparents being instructed by the priest of their solemn duties, except sometimes in a short homily at the

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Baptism itself, by which time it is a bit late to say you don’t feel up to the job. And so, dear priests reading this, please is there some way of helping us Godparents get things right…. maybe a leaflet to take away and read?

For myself, that resolution I mentioned earlier is that I will try to do more for my Godchildren this year. Praying for them is certainly a good and necessary thing, but developing a relationship that extends beyond birthday cards will be essential, if there is any chance of you being a successful mentor in future.

And be warned, Godparents of my children, I will be trying to get you to take the same resolution yourselves. I am going to need your help. A Godparent is for Life, not just Christmas.

As a coda, why not compare the Traditional Rite of Baptism with the New Rite. The Old Rite expresses the doctrine of Original Sin and the essential, healing, purifying, grace-giving action of Baptism in a way that is rather lost in the new.

Famously, the Traditional Rite has three exorcisms demanding the devil in no uncertain terms relinquish his claim to the child’s soul. There is but a single prayer, described as an exorcism, in the new - but that seems a bit vague to me (Almighty and ever-living God, you sent your only Son into the world to cast out the power of Satan, spirit of evil, to rescue man from the kingdom of darkness, and bring him into the splendour of your kingdom of light. We pray for this child: set him (her) free from original sin,….) In the Old Rite, the priest speaks directly to whatever evil spirits may be hanging about and authoritatively commands them to depart in the Name of God. In the New Rite, we could easily forget that the devil might still be a threat.

Regarding Godparents; the New Rite does include questioning of parents and Godparents about their willingness to bring the child up in the Faith, whereas in the Old Rite the priest addresses the child alone. However, since the child cannot speak, the Godparents (not the parents) answer for the child.

And in common speech saying you will ‘answer for’ someone means taking full responsibility for their actions. I think the point is made...

ADVENTURES OF THE LONE VEILER

No Pain. No Gain.

The Lone Veiler

I

loathe going shopping, and not just at Christmas. There is something really depressing about a quick tootle to the shops for a box of tea bags, and finding Hot Cross Buns all year round. We won’t start on the Easter eggs which appear just after Epiphany, if the Crème Eggs aren’t out before.

We are sold the line that anything we want, we can have. We don’t have to wait until Christmas, we can eat, drink and be merry during the whole of October, November and December - before the decorations come down (usually prior to 1 January). And we don’t have to wait for Easter to eat the buns and eggs. They’re in the shops after all, aren’t they?

But it’s not just in the supermarkets where choice, and desire, are supreme.

If we want a question answered, there’s Wikipedia and Google, and we can find out who has done what to whom instantly on Twitter.

Families are retro, marriage temporary, promises are conditional. Whatever it is, if we want it, society says we can have it now. So relationships are ephemeral, sex is hassle-free recreation with whomever, children are accessories, and God is irrelevant.

Patience is clearly no longer a virtue. It’s something you suffer when you can’t get it, whatever it is, instantly.

With so much choice, and the boundless freedoms to express ourselves in whichever way seems desirable to us, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some people think we Catholics are weird, a tad rule-obsessed, or even, dare I say, a bit repressed.

Well, au contraire, world. In the alternative reality experienced by those

Easter treats fill the shelves just after Christmas.

it, as it’s laid before us - as the rhythm of the liturgical year informs us, giving us things of true value to look forward to in both the penitential seasons and the great Feasts. We fast and feast. We have to wait for things, even if some family and friends find it rather trying that we don’t eat that burger on Friday unless it’s Quorn. Waiting is not always just for a meal, or a few weeks in the case of anything we have given up for Lent, but other things, such as sex if we aren’t married. It’s difficult even to start an explanation as to why it’s not possible to live together, before you can afford that show-stopping wedding, if someone is not used to hanging around for anything.

Delaying gratification is not easy, nothing worth it ever is, be it large or small, and that is just one of the things the secular world doesn’t get about us.

It’s hardly a secret but it might as well be: the anticipation, the expectation, makes something more special. Of course, waiting doesn’t come naturally to most. It’s a skill that has to be learned and nurtured.

But, without the excitement of waiting, we lose something invaluable and, perhaps, devalue what we are waiting for.

What makes Christmas even more special to me is the preparation throughout Advent. What makes Easter extra special is the anticipation of the Resurrection, while fasting and praying during Lent. No-one said waiting is effortless, and I don’t think it should be, no pain, no gain as the saying goes.

Which brings me right back to shopping. I really ought to do some.

‘Anything we want, we can have. We don’t have to wait until Christmas, we can eat drink and be merry during the whole of October, November and December’. with the Faith, things are refreshingly different. We have parameters, within which we can be freed from the tyranny of consumerism and the commodification of us as human beings. It all comes down to that most undervalued term: delayed gratification.

We Catholics should be quite good at

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ROMAN REPORT

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

Five Cardinals, 250 clergy and Hundreds of Pilgrims Alberto Carosa

T

his report on the third annual Populus Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage (23-26 October 2014) in Rome also offers the opportunity to correct the last ‘Roman report’.

Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, was to have celebrated a pontifical in the Extraordinary Form on 24 October. Unfortunately, due to a sudden bronchitis, the senior prelate was replaced by his personal secretary, and former member of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, Fr Mark Withoos, who also read the homily the Cardinal had prepared. In this, he called on traditional-minded faithful to remain loyal to the Pope and to eschew ‘sterile polemics against a surprisingly small number of Catholic opponents’, and thus help him preserve the integrity of the traditional doctrine on the family in view of the 2015 Ordinary Synod on the family.

After recalling that ‘the Church is not built on the rock of Peter’s faith, but on Peter himself, despite his faults and failings’, the Cardinal went on to stress that ‘the role of the successor of St Peter has always been vital to Christian and Catholic life, especially as the touchstone of doctrinal fidelity and as a resolver of disputes, pastoral as well as doctrinal’.

The homily appeared to address the fears that many traditionalists have expressed about the recent Synod. ‘Doctrine does develop - we understand truth more deeply – but there are no doctrinal back-flips in Catholic history,’ he emphasised.

Cardinal Pell concluded: ‘We all have an important task during the next twelve months i.e. to explain and build a consensus out of the present divisions…Our task is to explain the necessity of conversion, the nature of the Mass, the purity of heart Scripture requires to receive Holy Communion. We, and especially you young people, must live this in love, giving reason for your hope. This is a unique opportunity, which we must seize in God’s name”.

This reference to young people reminds us that one of the purposes of this pilgrimage was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Juventutem, the international youth movement of young Catholics who are attached to the pre-Vatican II Latin liturgy.

Juventutem is, of course, the Latin word for ‘youth’ and is taken from Psalm 42(43):4, as used in the opening prayers of the pre-Vatican II Roman Rite, the Traditional Mass.

Benedict XVI himself acknowledged the close interaction between the Extraordinary Form and youth. Contrary to the belief that ‘the use of the 1962 Missal would have been limited to the older generation’, he said in his Letter to the Bishops accompanying the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, ‘it has since become clear that young people were also discovering this liturgical form, feeling attracted to it and finding in it a type of contact with the Most Holy Eucharist which suited them particularly well’.

The first World Youth Day of the Pontificate of Benedict XVI took place in Cologne in 2005, two years before the Motu Proprio, and he there granted his blessing to Juventutem. He further

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supported Juventutem by receiving Cosimo Marti, its co-founder and treasurer, with Giuseppe Capoccia, general delegate of the Populus Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage 2014.

They are also much indebted to Cardinal George Pell, who presided at Solemn Pontifical Vespers for the thousand young WYD pilgrims of Juventutem first in Düsseldorf on 17 August 2005 and again in Sydney on 16 July 2008.

‘I am happy to be here because the Old Latin Rite is one of the most beautiful things in the entire Western civilization”, he was quoted as saying after Vespers in Düsseldorf. ‘And I am very glad that this ancient Rite has its place in the Church today…

We have one Church only, whose Head is the Successor of Peter, with the Bishops as successors of the Apostles, and this unity is very important for the life of the Church.’

Back to the pilgrimage in Rome, other highlights were the solemn Vespers celebrated by Archbishop Guido Pozzo, secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei in Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini on 23 Oct; a solemn pontifical in the Extraordinary Form celebrated by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke in St Peter’s on 25 October; and two Solemn Masses for the Feast of Christ the King according to the old calendar, which is celebrated on October’s last Sunday. At Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome, and at the Basilica of San Benedetto in Norcia, built over the birthplace of St Benedict and St Scholastica.

Besides the hundreds of pilgrims, the pontifical in St Peter’s was celebrated in the presence of some 250 clergy and seminarians, including Cardinal William Levada, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Guido Pozzo and a number of senior clerics well known in traditionalist circles. Moreover, the celebrations were graced by the welcoming messages from the Holy Father and his predecessor, Benedict XVI. ‘The Holy Father, Pope Francis, addresses his cordial welcome, hoping that taking part in this pious journey to the tomb of the apostle Peter may foster a further attachment to Christ celebrated in the Eucharist and in the public worship of the Church, and hoping also that it may give a renewed impetus to the witness of the perennial message of the Christian faith.’

Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, said: ‘I am very happy the usus antiquior is living today in a fully peaceful way within the Church, including with the youth, and that is supported and celebrated by great cardinals..I will be spiritually united with you all.’

Juventutem co-founder and international ecclesiastical assistant, Fr. Armand de Malleray of the FSSP, was of the opinion that ‘the whole pilgrimage went well’. He has contributed much to the growth of this youth movement throughout the world and is, of course, currently serving as superior of the FSSP apostolate in England, based in Reading. In particular, he pointed out: ‘The procession through Rome and St Peter’s Square, with access through the main doors of the Basilica, was quite stunning and memorable.’

ISSUE 183 - SPRING 2015

MACKLIN STREET

Keep the Faith Michael Lord, LMS General Manager

‘Out of the limelight, lurking in the shadows, the General Manager.’

Mike Flying the Flag.

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his will be my last Macklin Street column for Mass of Ages. By the time you read this, I will have stepped down as General Manager and handed over to my successor Stephen Moseling, who has my best wishes for what is always a busy and challenging job.

The post of General Manager is in many ways, this column notwithstanding, an invisible one. The limelight mainly falls, quite rightly, on the elected officers who lead the Society, and who decide, with their committee colleagues, the policy and overall direction of the LMS. Out of the limelight, lurking in the shadows, the General Manager has the task of putting those decisions into action, of sorting out problems of all sorts, of being the place where the buck stops, and generally keeping the ship on an even keel. On the one hand, I’ve had the immense privilege of meeting and talking with bishops and senior churchmen, and all types of interesting lay Catholics as part of the senior management team.

On the other hand, I also have to deal with what our Chairman recently described, slightly tongue in cheek, as ‘the boring bits’.

No prizes for guessing which has taken up most of my time!

I’d like to thank the officers and committee for their unstinting support in what has not always been the easiest of jobs, and the

expanding team of local representatives who put in so many hours as volunteers to further the cause of the Traditional Mass.

The past four years have been a time of general progress for the LMS. That has been partly down to our own efforts and partly because of a slow, but inexorable, thaw in attitudes in the Church towards the Traditional Mass by many clergy and laity, but most significantly of all, by a number of bishops. When I took this post at the end of 2010, the longer term effects of Summorum Pontificum were still unclear. They continue to be played out in the life of the Church. But what has become obvious now is that, despite much remaining and vehement opposition to the ancient liturgy, there has begun a shift in the ecclesiastical zeitgeist. Has this been a reaction to Summorum Pontificum, or has a new generation of younger clergy, un-weighed down with ideological baggage from the ‘60s, simply seized the chance they were waiting for? Probably a bit of both.

One of the pleasant surprises in the last four years has been the number of younger priests, who seem to have come out of nowhere to adopt orthodox beliefs that would have shocked their Vatican II-generation predecessors. Many of these men grew up in families who had all but abandoned the Faith, and attended schools where Catholic moral teaching was an embarrassment.

Yet they’ve found vocations and want to spread the Word of God. Of course, they are often drawn to the Traditional Mass as the fullest expression of that Faith.

I mentioned the bishops. Many of the recent appointments

by Rome have been good news for the Church in England and Wales especially for those of an orthodox bent. However, having received a clutch of new bishops clearly devoted to the Catholic Faith, we find that those same prelates are somewhat stymied in their intentions to reinvigorate their new dioceses by a severe lack of priests. The cataclysmic decline in vocations since the mid-1960s has taken a severe toll and many of the new bishops who are actually friendly to followers of the Traditional Mass, and who see it as perfectly reasonable to make provision for the Old Rite as part of the life of their dioceses, find it difficult to do so because the remaining clergy are already covering three, four or even five parishes on a Sunday.

So it’s never perfect - a bit like the job of LMS General Manager!

I’m looking forward to pastures new and wish Stephen Moseling all the best as he takes up responsibility for (as the job description says) the day-to-day running of the LMS. Keep the Faith!

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