A healthier looking picture this week ahead:
Tuesday - St Ignatius, Ossett, 6.00 p.m.
Wednesday- St. Winefride's, Wibsey, 6.30 p.m.
Thursday - St. Anthony's, Clayton, 9.30 a.m.
- St. Joseph's, Pontefract, 7.00 p.m. (but no Mass next week)
Friday - St. Austin's, Wakefield 7.00 p.m. (note earlier time)
Sunday - St. Ignatius, Ossett, 8.30 a.m.
- St. Patrick's, Bradford, 1.00 p.m.
Date for your diary:
Sung Mass of Requiem for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
Friday 27th January - 7.30 p.m. St. Austin's church, Wakefield.
The rumour drum appears to be banging in Rome as does the counter rumour drum about a possible document from the papal pen which would all but put the kybosh on the celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 missal. Whatever the case it behoves us all to pray fervently that there are no further restrictions on the celebration of this venerable rite. Indeed, I am constantly inspired by the words of Cardinal Ratzinger before he became pope:
“I am of the opinion, to be sure, that the old rite should be granted much more generously to all those who desire it. It’s impossible to see what could be dangerous or unacceptable about that. A community is calling its very being into question when it suddenly declares that what until now was its holiest and highest possession is strictly forbidden and when it makes the longing for it seem downright indecent.”, Salt of the Earth (1997)
I hope and pray that because we use it, we must lose it, does not become the case. Such discrimination would be difficult to swallow.