Blog comments

Since establishing this blogsite I have never needed or wanted to moderate any comments made by anybody. Recently I have started to receive several "comments" on a regular basis which turn out to be a link to some oriental pornographic web pages - something a Priest blogger also reported happening to him a while ago.

However, I have always maintained, this blogsite is primarily an informative effort with personal observations and not designed as a forum for discussion, as there are plenty of other blogsites which encourage this and whose editors can devote more time to it.

Thanks to our oriental friends, who I'm sure could employ their hands and minds far more productively, I have decided to cease allowing blog comments at least until speaking to a more advanced and experienced blogger who can show me how to prevent this happening. I shall be in no immediate rush to do this. I have tired of deleting the comments/links from this nasty and creepy source.

First Holy Communion

Tomorrow is our son's First Confession and First Holy Communion Mass. The Mass will be at St. Mary of the Angels, Batley at 3.00p.m. and will be a Missa Cantata.

Pentecost VIII

Masses on Sunday.

Castleford, St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road. 3.00p.m.

Leeds, St. Augustine's, Harehills Rd. 5.00p.m. Mass will be offered by the Parish Priest, Fr. Michael Kelly.

What a blessing

On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is good, my week at school was hovering around minus 5, when I left at 5.00p.m. this evening. Thinking that things couldn't get worse I arrived home half an hour later to discover that my youngest son had thrown a stone and broken a neighbour's (large) front window.

I immediately went over to offer to pay for any damage. The lady was very nice and the first thing she said was that as soon as he had done it, he went and told her what had happened and to apologise before telling his Mum. I felt proud that he had done the right thing - next week is First Confession and Holy Communion for him.

Later he admitted that the whole thing could have been avoided if he had done as he had been taught- to only throw stones into the sea.

Small stones cast long ripples!

Busy, busy

Since the Bishop's latest round of new appointments I have been busy contacting clergy to continue existing provision, whilst discussing with the Rev Co-ordinator for the Extraordinary Form of Mass, possible future openings. I do receive letters requesting Mass in various parishes from people who do not know how to go about it or are too afraid to ask, for lots of reasons.

Fortunately the majority of clergy in this diocese are more than happy to help me if asked, even if the old Mass is not to their own taste. It is the occasional contact with these Priests which I enjoy, because they see that we are not out to do anything seditious and we often share concerns about how difficult it is to reach out to people in an out of control secular state.

Bishop Roche's support, in appointing priests to teach the rubrics (pre Summorum Pontificum) and to co-ordinate the old Mass (post Summorum Pontificum) were and still possibly are, unprecedented, as far as I am aware.

There are some unsatisfactory things which need to be addressed, and again I hear far more of these than anything.

So as things change over the next few weeks I shall take the recent changes and information received into consideration.

Today marks the third anniversary of Summorum Pontificum and we must give thanks to God for all the positive benefits this has brought, but there is a lot more to do.

God bless the Pope!

All change!

It is that time of the year again when the Bishop invites priests to visit him. Some such invitations mean that the Bishop wishes to implement changes by moving clergy to perform a different task in a new place. This is the case in many dioceses. Recently Bishop Roche announced a restructuring of the parishes in Leeds. This combination of clergy moves and reorganisation in Leeds will affect the provision of the Traditional Mass.

For example, the Diocesan Co-ordinator for the Extraordinary Form and PP of Batley's St. Mary of the Angels, Fr. Tim Wiley, has been appointed as Parish Priest of the newly formed parish of St. John Vianney, which will incorporate the former parishes of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Moortown and St. Paul's, Allwoodly in Leeds. The church of Our Lady of Lourdes at Cardigan Road is to be closed this summer and some more priests who allow us use of the church and others who either regularly or occasionally celebrate the EF Rite are also to move.

I shall now request a formal meeting with Fr. Wiley as soon as possible to discuss the immediate practical implications of these moves. Certain changes will have to be made fairly smartly and I am sure that this will be for the better

Many parishioners at Batley were shocked and saddened to hear that Fr. Wiley would be leaving

and concerned that they would lose their "Latin Mass". Two of my daughters were at the Mass and overheard the sentiments of the people afterwards and even during the announcement itself!

With my rep's hat on I need to ensure that as long as the demand is there we will be able to continue provision at Batley, especially given the Pope's wishes in his Motu Proprio and subsequent clarifications made by the Vatican about numbers of those who request the Mass.

Our Lady of Victories, pray for us.

Masses this weekend

Masses this weekend:

Saturday

Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall, near Skipton, 9.30a.m,

English Martyrs, Alexandra Road South, Manchester, 10.00a.m.

Holy Spirit, Heckmondwike, 11.30a.m.

St. Mary of the Angels, Batley, 3.00p.m. (vigil)

St. Marie's, Halifax, 6.00p.m. (vigil)

Sunday

St. Joseph's, Castleford, 3.00p.m.

Holy Name, Manchester, 4.00p.m.

Our Lady of Lourdes, Cardigan Road, Leeds, 6.00p.m.

English Martyrs, York, 6.30p.m.

St. Peter & Paul's Day Masses

Updated - with thanks to a sharp eyed reader, who spotted yesterday's deliberate error. The feast of Ss Peter and Paul is one of our few remaining Holy Days of obligation.

Mass at 7.00a.m. at St. Mary of the Angels, Batley and

at 11.30a.m. at Sacred Heart, Broughton.

A wonderful opportunity to celebrate the Primacy of Peter and so ideally situated in this time of Pentecost. The Church shows us the earthly head of the family, which God has drawn to Himself.

Instead of Peter we have Benedict, gloriously reigning, on earth.

One of our regular celebrants has been invited to offer Mass with the Holy Father in Westminster Cathedral, during the Pontiff's September visit.

4th. Sunday after Pentecost

It is refreshing to see the green of the liturgical post-Pentecost season again, from acidic pea-green to creamy olive shades, the sense of new life and growth is clear and the Gospel of today starts to chart the beginnings of the early Church and foreshadowing the primacy of Peter and the Petrine Office. Cast your nets deep recalls our own Bishop's motto. Duc in altum.

The recent output of the Holy Father concerning the nature of the Priesthood and the need to re-catechize the faithful about the centrality of the Blessed Sacrament has been relentless.

Father Wiley, EF co-ordinator and PP has kindly agreed to allow our youngest son to make his first Holy Communion at St. Mary of the Angels, Batley on Saturday July 24th. at 3.00p.m. This will be a Missa cantata and our son will receive the Blessed Sacrament for the first time, just a few feet away from where he was baptized seven years ago by the hand of the same priest.

Confirmation is the next Sacrament on the list after our youngest's First Holy Communion. All three girls were confirmed at St. James, Spanish Place, London by the late Bishop O'Brien in the EF, pre-Summorum Pontificum and with the blessing of Cardinal Cormac. I do hope that travelling so far will not be necessary for our eldest boy.

This week's Sunday Masses are at Castleford, St. Joseph's at 3.00p.m. and at Leeds, St. Augustine's at 5.00p.m.

Mass at 4.00p.m. at Holy Name, Manchester and English Martyrs, York at 6.30p.m.

The photo above shows the original interior of St Augustine's, Leeds. Our Mass takes place in the Lady Chapel.

God bless the Pope!

No Mass on Sunday at Bradford

The annual Parish Blessed Sacrament Procession (a real experience of expressing our Faith in a heavily populated Muslim area of Bradford in Leeds Road) will take place on Sunday afternoon and so there will be no Mass at St. Peter's on Sunday in the EF.

Mass will be at Halifax on Saturday at 6.00p.m. and at Castleford on Sunday at 3.00p.m.

Various sources suggest that plans for the Holy Father's visit are not quite on track. Let us pray for the success of the Pope's visit. Perhaps Bishops could authorise skeleton services in their dioceses to allow parish priests and their parishioners to attend the Papal event on the Sunday if the organisers could think bigger.

Training conference announcement

The LMS office has just issued this press release.

10 June 2010

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY

For Immediate Release

LMS Residential Training Conference for Priests Wishing to Learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Downside Abbey, Somerset.

The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales (LMS) is organising a residential training conference for priests wishing to learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Downside Abbey, one of England’s most prestigious monasteries.

The conference will run from Tuesday 10 to Friday 13 August 2010 and will feature Traditional liturgies in Downside’s beautiful chapel together with a Gregorian Chant schola and polyphonic choir.

Expert tuition in the celebration of Mass in the Usus Antiquior will be provided on a small group basis. There will be tuition in Low Mass, Missa Cantata and Missa Solemnis and there will be streams for beginners and more advanced students. Tuition will also be given in the other sacraments and in Latin.

There will be opening and closing High Masses, daily Mass, Offices and Rosary. There will also be a closing Conference dinner with guest speaker.

The subsidised fee to participants is only £115.00 which includes all accommodation, meals and training materials. There are limited places and priests are asked to register as soon as possible.

Further details and registration forms can be obtained from the LMS office (Tel: 020 7404 7284, e mail: info@latin-mass-society.org) or from the conference organiser, Mr Paul Waddington (Tel: 01757 638027, e mail: paul@gooleboathouse.co.uk).

Running alongside the training for priests, the Society of St Tarcisius (the LMS’s newly-formed sodality for Traditional altar servers) will organise a residential training course for servers and MCs. Further details can be obtained as above.

Paul Waddington said, “This is the sixth training conference the LMS has organised and we are delighted to be going to Downside Abbey. The Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’ has recently praised our work which makes us more determined than ever to provide training to every priest in England and Wales who seeks to learn the Usus Antiquior.”

Latin Mass Society, 11-13 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NH
Tel: 020 7404 7284
E mail: info@latin-mass-society.org
Website: latin-mass-society.org

Corpus Christi

Mass at Pateley Bridge's Bewerley Grange Chapel on Thursday was a memorable occasion, with a schola of six and a pleasing turnout. In true monastic style we sang the Salve Regina at the end of Mass and as usual were graced with the presence of the local PP, Canon Vincent O'Hara whose melodic voice was again in perfect harmony with the schola.

Many thanks to Fr. Parfitt and the authorities at Bewerley for such a truly memorable Mass.

God bless the Pope!

June

June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I hope that I will be given some quiet time to meditate upon the Litany of the Sacred Heart in this month. A personal daily prayer of mine from this Litany has long been, "Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offences and negligences, have mercy on us".

The Feast (but not Holyday of Obligation) of Corpus Christi will be offered at the beautifully renovated chapel at Bewerley Grange, which was once an outpost of Fountains Abbey. This will be a missa cantata on Thursday at 11.30a.m..

There will be a missa cantata again for the Feast of Corpus Christi on Sunday at Broughton Hall at 11.30a.m. in line with the instruction of the Bishops of E&W

Saturday there is a Vigil Mass at Halifax St. Marie's at 6.00p.m. and on Sunday at St. Joseph's, Castleford at 3.00p.m.

York, English Martyrs at 6.30p.m.

Manchester, Holy Name at 4.00p.m.

God bless the Pope!

Umwelt

Die Umwelt is German for the environment. I am in the process of marking German speaking tests for nearly twenty schools, ranging from a couple to over fifty candidates.

A common presentation and discussion theme, as well as something which frequently crops up in the general conversation, is the environment and quite frankly I am sick to death of hearing kids trotting out the German for I help the environment by putting on a jumper, turning out the lights and going to the recycling centre with promises of never driving a car or flying anywhere again.

This topic bores me to tears, although I enjoy awarding marks for the use of good German, regardless of what I hear. Years ago 124 children described the film Titanic. I have never wanted to watch this film since.

I have heard two good sermons this weekend about the Blessed Trinity. Fr. Lister focused on the Sign of the Cross and Father Wiley concentrated on the question of who, as opposed to what, God is. That the Feast of the Trinity appears where it does is no accident, given last week's Gospel which foreshadows the Feast and which together allow us an insight into the nature of God, the Blessed three in one.

Blessed be the Holy and Undivided Trinity now and forever more. Amen.

Half term

I'm almost half way through my GCSE marking (German speaking) and half term has just begun. Apart from Mass and Confession my only self imposed obligations this weekend involve marking at least 50 scripts before lunchtime on Monday.

Father Lister will be offering Mass at Halifax on Saturday as Father Smith is away.

Fr. Lister was recently revered for his fast bowling skills in Father Elkin of Hexham and Newcastle's blog Let the Welkin Ring, wherein Fr. Elkin recounts their days at the College and on the cricket pitch.

I shall add Fr. Elkin's blog to this blog's links in the sidebar.

On Sunday there will be Mass at St. Joseph's, Castleford at 3.00p.m and at Our Lady of Lourdes, Cardigan Road, Leeds at 6.00p.m.

Blessed be the Holy and Undivided Trinity, now and forever more. Amen.

Dinosaurs

Over the last few weeks I seem to have heard or read the word dinosaur more than I usually might expect to. This is because I do not like the thought of dinosaurs. I saw the first twenty minutes of Jurassic Park and fell asleep (a bit like at a school leavers' Mass).

Years ago I read Mgr. Lefebvre's Open Letter to confused Catholics. One of the chapters of this book, which was translated by Fr Michael Crowdie, is entitled It's a dinosaur, or something close to this. I was able to question this venerable old priest about this and what the Archbishop had written.

At that time the Modernists were claiming that most of that which had gone before was to be consigned to the dustbin forever, likening much of what they were systematically destroying to some sort of never to be repeated horror now extinct.

Many of those who were "in" are now voices from the past, as insipid as their folk Masses, others realise that the revolution in their hearts can never stop, because there is no end for them and the more outrageous their conflict with the Magisterium of the Church the better it gets, albeit often under the banner of Peace and Justice which to many (but by no means all) has come to mean that you can do just as you please.

Alas, for them, they are now the breed entering extinction. After forty years in the wilderness the homeland is becoming increasingly more visible.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

God bless the Pope!

Pentecost

The Birthday of the Church is upon us again, when she celebrates the Apostles receiving the tongues of fire.

I think that this evening at Mass was the first time I have ever actively listened to the Gospel of this Mass, being so preoccupied with the Epistle and Sequence which precede it. Even today I felt it was overshadowed by what had gone before it, but that that it seamlessly links to next week's feast of the Blessed Trinity.

Trinity Sunday only makes sense in light of the events of today's Mass, which in turn make the events of the Ascension, Resurrection, Passion, Baptism, Infancy, Birth and Incarnation of our Blessed Lord, which plot our liturgy, mean so much more.

Reciting the Credo a few minutes later I realised that this great prayer, wherein I was personally reciting aloud what I believe, is the "bigger picture" from which we base our calendar.

As at every Mass the Incarnation, Birth, Death and Resurrection unfold in an unbloody way and become real before our eyes, but Pentecost which is the start end / end start point of the Church's cycle also heralds the celebration of the Feast of the triune God, Father, Son and Spirit. The purple, white and red vestments of the Passion, Death and Resurrection will soon give way to the fresh green colours of the post Pentecost Sundays, at the end of which we will eventually come to welcome the opportunity of self renewal which the Advent purple offers us.

Please remember to pray for our Holy Father and for the Papal Nuncio to Great Britain who recently suffered a serious stroke and remains in hospital.

A thought

A retired priest of this diocese, who shall go nameless, is often found attacking the Traditional Mass in some of the (nominally) Catholic publications of this country.

This is nothing new and I cancelled my subscription to one paper because of this priest's views a couple of years ago.

It is only now, I think I understand why he is so opposed to this Rite of Mass and has been for many years.

I think once it was given a foot in the door again he realised that it would be impossible to get the genie of the spirit of Vat2 back into the vinegar bottle, if the Traditional Mass were to be re-introduced. Not only was it re-introduced but we were told that it was never abrogated!

A look at the many trad/orthodox blogs shows ever increasing and ongoing expansion of the Extraordinary Rite, at all levels of the Church militant. From an ordinary little parish in freezing Glasgow to St. Peter's in scorching Rome this Mass is offered regularly.

It is interesting that suppliers of traditional vestments and liturgical books and equally important resources for an informed and more discerning laity fruitful in vocations are doing a roaring trade. Paying big money in bad times shows not only sacrifice but demand, with the desire to fill a big hole.

None of this means that the liturgical abuses will stop and alternative versions of the Catholic Faith will be embraced by priests and people alike, but it has set the Roman cat lover and the cat amongst the pigeons and the mess they have left everywhere after 40 years in the wilderness.

God bless the Pope!

Ss Joseph and Michael, pray for us!

From the Young Catholic Adults

Young Catholic Adults Host International Juventutem Weekend at Douai Abbey
During the weekend of the 10-12 September 2010

During the weekend of the 10-12 September . For the first time, Young Catholic
Adults will be running the 2010 Juventutem International Conference at Douai
Abbey(before the Douai weekend was aimed at the UK), the weekend will be led
by Juventutem Ecclesiastical Assistant Fr de Malleray . The weekend will be
full-board

Places are limited so please book early

* There will be Sung Mass, Low Mass, Rosary, Adoration, Confession, a Marian
Procession in honour of Our Lady of Fatima and socials

* Fr. de Malleray FSSP head of Juventutem will preach the retreat, Masses will
be in the Extraordinary form.

THE MAIN GUEST HOUSE

Saturday 11th – Sunday 12th September (full board)*

51 pounds full-board (except Sunday lunch) PER PERSON PER NIGHT

25 pounds for students/low waged/unwaged (or whatever you can afford)

THE COTTAGES

£35 per person per night (full board). Self catering £25 per person
per night (reductions for students:- or whatever you can afford) .

SELF CATERING CAMPING

£5 per person per night (or whatever you can afford - please bring your
own tent and food ).

Limited places so please reserve your place early

To reserve your place FOR THE WEEKEND (no deposit needed if you are coming for
the day on Saturday 5th July), please a 20 pound deposit (NON RETURNABLE) to
Damian Barker, Flat 5, 12 St. Catherine Street, Kingsholm, Gloucester, Glos.
GL2 9DU (please make any cheques payable to Damian Barker). For enquiries ring
07908105787.

For more details see:- http://www.youngcatholicadults.co.uk/

Different look

I thought I'd change the blog layout to something like it was originally, the pale blue background commemorates this Month of Our Blessed Lady.

I have introduced a poll (as if we haven't had enough of those!) for the next month or so. Please take at most ten seconds to answer, but only once, however many times you visit the site.

After a technical misfortune (I pressed the wrong button) I erased the "useful links" section of the blog a few months ago. I have now refined and restored this section.

God bless and protect the Pope!

Ascension Day Mass

Mass for Ascension Thursday will be at St. Mary of the Angels, Cross Bank Road, Batley at 7.00a.m.

The weekend Masses at Halifax, Castleford and Leeds St. Augustine's will be Masses for the Ascension.

Some good news

The appalling Dr. Death ex Lib Dem MP, Evan Harris lost his seat in Thursday's election. Even better the new MP is pro-life.

Following that same election we have a lame duck busted flush Prime Minister whose quoting of scripture before polling day made my flesh crawl.

The election looms

I use the word "looms" because none of the parties fielding candidates have a pro life agenda. The present Government has done nothing for the rights of the unborn child, the Prime Minister is proud of his gay friendly policies, a cigarette paper could be held between the views of the leaders of the other two parties on the same moral issues. I do not particularly like much of what any of the other minor parties have to say.

For the first time ever I am unsure whom to vote for (but I shall not be voting for New Labour). Do I tactically vote Lib Dem to get New Labour out, do I vote for the Muslim Tory candidate to show my opposition to the other two, given the Lib Dem opposition to Faith schools and Labour plans to continue to impose their appalling views , or do I vote for a minority party to express my disgust at all three? Do I spoil my paper by voting for none of the above, as my wife often does? I do believe I have the obligation to show up and put something on the ballot papers, but as yet I am decidedly "undecided". I have no idea what the common good is, as far as the General Election is concerned in this case. Not one prospective candidate has knocked at my front door for me to ask the questions I usually ask.

Decisions, decisions!

God help us come Friday morning.

Cardinal Mayer RIP

The first head of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei , Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer has died just three weeks before his 99th. birthday. A Benedictine Abbot, he will be interred in his Abbey at Metten in Germany where he was professed monk in 1931.

May he rest in peace.

Recent press release

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY

Successful Latin Mass Society Priests’ Training Conference at Ushaw College, Durham, 12 – 16 April 2010 (Low Week)


Between Monday 12 and Friday 16 April the Latin Mass Society (LMS) hosted its fifth national residential conference in four years to train priests in the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The conference was held in Ushaw College, Durham, and twenty priests were trained.

This year, for the first time, the conference included separate tuition for laymen to become proficient MCs for the ceremonies of the Extraordinary Form. Ten laymen attended the course.

Among the clergy present were two young priests from the Archdiocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka, who had been sent by Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, ex-Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome. Archbishop Ranjith is actively reintroducing the Extraordinary Form into his diocese.

Apart from the expert small group tuition given by experienced priests, there were Latin classes and lectures, daily Lauds, Compline, Vespers, Rosary and Benediction. Each morning the college’s numerous side chapels were used by the priests to say their private Masses.

Traditional Rite liturgies were offered each day in the seminary’s magnificent St Cuthbert’s chapel and there were impressive opening and closing High Masses at which the Church’s treasury of plainchant and polyphony was heard.

At the conference dinner on the Thursday evening, a letter of support from Archbishop Ranjith was read out. The archbishop encouraged the LMS in its work of implementing the Motu Proprio and helping priests learn the Extraordinary Form of Mass and he congratulated the Society ‘in this beautiful undertaking in the name of the Church’s Tradition and orthodoxy which is our need and the need of the time’.

The LMS has already announced its next residential training conference to be held at Downside Abbey from Tuesday 10 to Friday 13 August. Full details are available from the LMS.

The picture above shows Rev. Fr. S. Brown offering early morning Mass at the recent conference. With thanks to my friend Roydosan over on the LMS Middlesbrough blogsite from whom I've copied this picture.

Mass attendance

Without wishing to appear remotely virtuousI attended four Sunday Masses this weekend in this diocese (three Low and one Missa cantata). As far as I could make out from head counts from the sanctuary there were well over a hundred in attendance in total, something I would have only dreamed of even 5 years ago.

We are fortunate in this diocese in having daily Mass and a choice of venues at the weekends.

We have many priest celebrants (over twenty) who have trained at LMS conferences and with our tutor Father Parfitt or have brushed up with our Reverend co-ordinator, Fr. Wiley, who again acted as sacristan at the conference at Ushaw.

Moreover many clergy are very welcoming to us and who realise we don't have horns and demand long sermons in Latin!

There is still widespread ignorance about the availability of the Extraordinary Form and far less open hostility from those who believe the Pope was wrong to liberate this Rite of Mass.

I notice again that the times of some of the the EF Masses are listed with the wrong times in the diocesan newspaper the Catholic Post. I shall contact the editor about this.

If you are new to this blog and are interested in attending an EF Mass please see details to the left of this posting.

Please note there will be Mass again, this time on the Feast of Corpus Christi at 11.30a.m. at Bewerley Grange chapel near Pateley Bridge on Thursday June 3rd.

(The photograph shows Fr. Geoffrey Parfitt at Bewerley last year)

Pass me a blood pressure tablet

The "Catholic" Education Service has appointed a new Deputy Director. A good Catholic? I wouldn't know.

Greg Pope, a retiring Labour MP, certainly not known for his pro-life, pro-Catholic views is to be Ms Stannard's number two.

Mr. Pope's voting against a reduction in the abortion limit to 16 weeks, was explained away by a spokesperson at the "C"ES, as in the past and who pointed out we are all on a Faith journey.

See also http://spuc-director.blogspot.com/2010/04/catholic-education-service-appoints.html

God help us! I thought it was April 1st. before the absolute disgrace of the situation sank in.

Time for a Votive Mass for the forgiveness of sins.

I understand that the four Fridays of May are to be put aside as days of Penance for the sins of perverted clerics and their bishops who were complicit in the cover ups.

Perhaps it is high time to reintroduce meat free Fridays, or Vegetarian Fridays or Fish Fridays and offer this up for the victims and perpetrators of these utterly atrocious crimes.

Old sins tend to cast long shadows.

Sunday's Masses

Masses tomorrow are at;

Castleford, St. Joseph's at 3.00p.m.

Leeds, St. Augustine's at 5.00p.m.

The Holy Gospel is about the Good Shepherd, most fitting given the anniversary of the Holy Father's accession to the Pontificate on Monday.

At Mass in Halifax this evening Father Smith spoke of the recent vitriol directed against the Pope by a blood thirsty media and rabid atheists.

God bless the Pope!

Happy Birthday Pope Benedict

Dr. Joseph Shaw, the LMS Chairman, proposed a toast to the Holy Father on the occasion of this the Pontiff's birthday . This was followed by a lively rendition of "Happy Birthday to you Pope Benedict, Holy Father".

The Conference at Ushaw was a great success judging by the comments made by the participants who also had lots of welcome ideas about what they would like to see next time in addition to what was on offer this year.

Contacts were made and friendships were formed, renewed and strengthened.

At many such previous events I have attended much of the conversation has focused on negative things, this time there was an overriding positive exchange of views.

As usual there were many personally inspiring events.

One was a poignant account given by one of the tutors, Fr. Elkin, who was at Ushaw from 1946 until his ordination in 1959. He spoke of the hard times endured by the boys and men at the College. There were four hundred resident students in those days, today there are 26. This said, Father was generally filled with hope about the future of the Church and felt that the efforts of the LMS was playing its part in helping to form the future.

Some of the younger domestic staff at the College were quite mesmerised by the liturgy and a 20 year old student of music who formed part of the excellent schola, who is at the NCM in Manchester gave a few of us an insight into his feelings about how William Byrd must have felt when composing some of his music in penal times and the dangers involved in performing it and how this affected him. Discussion ensued and revealed many other people's experiences for better or worse for allowing themselves to become involved in promoting the 1962 Liturgy.

The best joke I heard this week was:

Q: What was the recessional hymn at Vatican II?

A: Go the Mass is ended!

Sad news

I am sorry to report that Fr. Abberton's mother died this evening. Our prayers go out to him.

Please check his parish website http://www.holyspiritchurch.org.uk/ for times of Masses (OF & EF) as changes are expected over the next few weeks.

Quasimodo Sunday

Low Sunday, Missa in albis, Divine Mercy Sunday...another day of obligation in which the Gospel recounts the way the events of recent days impacted on Thomas when he faced the risen Lord.

Saturday 10th. April Vigil Mass at St. Marie's, Halifax, 6.00p.m.

Missa cantata, Sunday 11th. April, St. Peter's, Leeds Road, Laisterdyke, Bradford, 3.00p.m.

and Low Mass, St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford, 3.00p.m.

Holy Mass, English Martyrs, York at 6.30p.m.

Battle is o'er, hell's armies flee

Jesus, my love, is crucified

Holy week (updated)

Four Masses for Palm Sunday were offered this weekend in the EF, at Batley, Halifax, Castleford and Cardigan Road, Leeds.

Many thanks to our clergy, Revv Abberton, Smith and Wiley who gave of their time so generously to offer the Masses.

Masses on Easter Sunday at Broughton, 11.30a.m. , Castleford, 3.00p.m. and York at 6.30p.m. The Mass at Broughton will be a Missa Cantata. No Mass at Heckmondwike. Please pray for Fr. Abberton's mother who is very ill.

Low Sunday and Divine Mercy Sunday Masses, Vigil at Halifax, 6.30p.m., St. Peter's, Leeds Rd., Bradford (Sung) 3.00p.m. , Castleford, 3.00p.m. and York 6.30p.m.

LOW WEEK TRAINING COURSE AT USHAW - Monday to Friday.

There is no Triduum this year. I hope we will rectify this next year.

Laetare Sunday

Time for the rose coloured vestments to make an appearance again, this time to mark the midpoint of Lent (which was actually on Thursday I think).

There is no Mass at Bradford at St. Peter's this Sunday, because of closure of the church during the installation of the new heating system. Next Mass there will be Low Sunday.

Mass at St. Joseph's, Pontefract Rd. Castleford at 3.00p.m.

Sung Mass at 6.30p.m. at English Martyrs, Dalton Terrace, York.

Rejoice, Jerusalem!

Moment to meditate

As seen on the NLM blogsite, from early Irish sources.

Let your life be completely detached from the world, and follow the teaching of Christ and the gospels...

Have a few devout men who will discuss God and the scriptures with you. Let them visit you on great feast-days, that so they may strengthen your devotion to the words and precepts of God.

Hold no converse with anyone who is given to idle or worldly gossip, or with anyone who grumbles about what he can neither prevent nor rectify...

Be ready in mind for red martyrdom. Be persevering and steadfast for white martyrdom.

Forgive every person from your heart.

Pray constantly for those who annoy [quarrel with] you.

Be very constant in your prayers for the faithful departed as if each dead person were a personal friend of yours...

Your daily occupation should be threefold, namely, prayer, manual labour, and lectio.

-- Excerpts from "The Rule of Colmcille" taken from The Celtic Monk: Rules and Writings of Early Irish Monks, Cistercian Studies Series 162

No Mass in Bradford on 2nd Sunday but...

The next regular Mass at Bradford's St. Peter's has been cancelled, as the church is closed for two weeks to install the new heating system. (St. Peter's is now a chapel of ease in the parish of St. Mary).

Mass will resume there on the 2nd Sunday of April (Low Sunday) at 3.00p.m. This will be a Sung Mass.

Low week sees the Priest and MC Training course at the seminary Conference Centre at USHAW.

Priests reading this who would like to learn the rubrics of the 1962 Rite ab initio or as a refresher for Low, Sung or High Mass should contact the Office.

Also, if you are over 18 and would like to learn how to serve at a Sung or High Mass in the capacity of MC again, please be in touch with the Office.

Mr. Waddington who organises these things tells me today that things are running well to plan and that the music is going to print shortly.

At the Bishop's request Fr. Parfitt is always available to train those Leeds priests wishing to offer the Mass, privately or publicly, in the rubrics of the Low Mass. The wonderful setting of the Sacred Heart chapel at Broughton Hall adds to the experience I'm told.

So far during Lent I have been reading the Pope's Jesus of Nazareth. Probably also true to say that I have been digesting it, albeit bit by bit. I have been so far moved by the sheer depth of the Pope's incisive thinking and love of the Kingdom of God. His remarks on what true reconciliation means could be the focus of anything from a Holy Hour to a fortnight's retreat.

I have not yet finished reading this book. I am thrilled with my reading and thank Almighty God for our Pope with every page I turn, having digested its content to the best of my ability.

God bless the Pope!

Is there a link?

With thanks to http://thatthebonesyouhavecrushedmaythrill.blogspot.com/

What links the above pictures?

Pope John Paul II's "culture of death" is more than upon us.

I have long feared for the future of Catholic Education under this Government. I have long feared for where we are going. Recent events turn my stomach.

Half term

Time to breathe a quick sigh of relief. A well needed break from school work. This said I'm already (gladly) committed to going in on Monday for the day.

Lent starts on Wednesday, it only seems like yesterday since it was the beginning of Advent. We are just about halfway through the school year.

My sons think last Christmas is an eternity away and the summer more so.

THERE IS NO MASS AT PATELEY BRIDGE ON TUESDAY.

Father Parfitt will be offering Mass at Broughton on Wednesday at 11.30a.m. with imposition of ashes. Please consider the spiritual value of starting Lent with hearing Mass and possibly putting yourself out to do so.

On Sunday evening in York at 6.00p.m . at English Martyrs, Dalton Terrace there will be a Missa Cantata for the Feast of Quinquegesima.

Closer to home Masses on Sunday, both at 3.00p.m. will be at Castleford's St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road and at Bradford's St. Peter's in Leeds Road.

The last Mass at Bradford had to be cancelled because of the atrocious weather.

Vigil Mass at St. Marie's, Gibbett St. Halifax at 6.00p.m.

Discrimination?

My eldest daughter is a student who has worked as a sales assistant for at least eighteen months for a major outlet of greetings cards. Full time in the holidays and part time at weekends.

Increasingly she is experiencing difficulty in getting time off work to hear Mass. I do not approve of servile work on Sundays, I don't suppose that deep down my daughter does either but she invariably puts the obligation to attend Mass before everything else. Her boss is a lapsed Catholic who thinks my daughter is trying to be holier than thou going to a "Latin" Mass instead of going local and fitting it all in with her job.

It is ironic that much of the business generated by the shop is based on the traditional Christian calendar.

Is this discrimination? Where is society leading us?

The Pope speaks to the English and Welsh hierarchy

Dear Brother Bishops,

I welcome all of you on your ad Limina visit to Rome, where you have come to venerate the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul. I thank you for the kind words that Archbishop Vincent Nichols has addressed to me on your behalf, and I offer you my warmest good wishes and prayers for yourselves and all the faithful of England and Wales entrusted to your pastoral care. Your visit to Rome strengthens the bonds of communion between the Catholic community in your country and the Apostolic See, a communion that sustained your people’s faith for centuries, and today provides fresh energies for renewal and evangelization. Even amid the pressures of a secular age, there are many signs of living faith and devotion among the Catholics of England and Wales. I am thinking, for example, of the enthusiasm generated by the visit of the relics of Saint Thérèse, the interest aroused by the prospect of Cardinal Newman’s beatification, and the eagerness of young people to take part in pilgrimages and World Youth Days. On the occasion of my forthcoming Apostolic Visit to Great Britain, I shall be able to witness that faith for myself and, as Successor of Peter, to strengthen and confirm it. During the months of preparation that lie ahead, be sure to encourage the Catholics of England and Wales in their devotion, and assure them that the Pope constantly remembers them in his prayers and holds them in his heart.

Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed. I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended. Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others – on the contrary, it serves their freedom by offering them the truth. Continue to insist upon your right to participate in national debate through respectful dialogue with other elements in society. In doing so, you are not only maintaining long-standing British traditions of freedom of expression and honest exchange of opinion, but you are actually giving voice to the convictions of many people who lack the means to express them: when so many of the population claim to be Christian, how could anyone dispute the Gospel’s right to be heard?

If the full saving message of Christ is to be presented effectively and convincingly to the world, the Catholic community in your country needs to speak with a united voice. This requires not only you, the Bishops, but also priests, teachers, catechists, writers – in short all who are engaged in the task of communicating the Gospel – to be attentive to the promptings of the Spirit, who guides the whole Church into the truth, gathers her into unity and inspires her with missionary zeal.

Make it your concern, then, to draw on the considerable gifts of the lay faithful in England and Wales and see that they are equipped to hand on the faith to new generations comprehensively, accurately, and with a keen awareness that in so doing they are playing their part in the Church’s mission. In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate. It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church’s Magisterium that sets us free. Cardinal Newman realized this, and he left us an outstanding example of faithfulness to revealed truth by following that "kindly light" wherever it led him, even at considerable personal cost. Great writers and communicators of his stature and integrity are needed in the Church today, and it is my hope that devotion to him will inspire many to follow in his footsteps.

Much attention has rightly been given to Newman’s scholarship and to his extensive writings, but it is important to remember that he saw himself first and foremost as a priest. In this Annus Sacerdotalis, I urge you to hold up to your priests his example of dedication to prayer, pastoral sensitivity towards the needs of his flock, and passion for preaching the Gospel. You yourselves should set a similar example. Be close to your priests, and rekindle their sense of the enormous privilege and joy of standing among the people of God as alter Christus. In Newman’s words, "Christ’s priests have no priesthood but His … what they do, He does; when they baptize, He is baptizing; when they bless, He is blessing" (Parochial and Plain Sermons, VI 242). Indeed, since the priest plays an irreplaceable role in the life of the Church, spare no effort in encouraging priestly vocations and emphasizing to the faithful the true meaning and necessity of the priesthood. Encourage the lay faithful to express their appreciation of the priests who serve them, and to recognize the difficulties they sometimes face on account of their declining numbers and increasing pressures. The support and understanding of the faithful is particularly necessary when parishes have to be merged or Mass times adjusted. Help them to avoid any temptation to view the clergy as mere functionaries but rather to rejoice in the gift of priestly ministry, a gift that can never be taken for granted.

Ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue assume great importance in England and Wales, given the varied demographic profile of the population. As well as encouraging you in your important work in these areas, I would ask you to be generous in implementing the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, so as to assist those groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. I am convinced that, if given a warm and open-hearted welcome, such groups will be a blessing for the entire Church.

With these thoughts, I commend your apostolic ministry to the intercession of Saint David, Saint George and all the saints and martyrs of England and Wales. May Our Lady of Walsingham guide and protect you always. To all of you, and to the priests, religious and lay faithful of your country, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ.

From the blogsite of the LMS chairman Dr. Joseph Shaw.

Normal service resumed

Masses this weekend:

Saturday:

9.30a.m. Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall, nr. Skipton.

11.30a.m. Holy Spirit, Cemetery Rd. Heckmondwike.

6.00p.m. St. Marie's, Gibbet Street, Halifax. (Vigil)

Sunday:

3.00p.m. St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford.

6.00p.m. Our Lady of Lourdes, Cardigan Road, Leeds.

No Mass at Halifax on Saturday 16 January

Again Mass at Halifax will be cancelled, tomorrow at St. Marie's, Halifax.

Urgent - cancelled Masses

Due to the atrocious weather conditions Masses at Halifax (Saturday 9th. January, 6.00p.m.) and Bradford (St. Peter's, Sunday 10th. January at 3.00p.m.) have both been cancelled by the clergy in charge of these churches.

Quite so...

A friend of mine made a very pertinent observation this evening when she said she was looking forward to some of all this global warming to melt the snow ;)

Keep warm.

January 1st 2010

Mass at noon at St. Mary's, Crossbank Rd., Batley.

Masses at Christmas

Masses for Christmas in Leeds and Salford Dioceses are as follows:

Christmas Eve First Mass of Christmas 3.00p.m. , St. Mary of the Angels, Cross Bank Rd. Batley.
Midnight Mass, St. Osmund's, Long Lane, Breightmet, Bolton.
Christmas Day, Low Mass,8.00a.m. English Martyrs, Alexandra Road South, Whalley Range, Manchester.

Christus natus est.

Celebrating success at the Cathedral and a prayer for life

Many thanks to the Cathedral Dean Mgr. Moger and the wonderful sisters who made us so welcome on Saturday, when about forty good souls turned out for a sung Mass of Requiem for Bishop Wheeler. The schola sounded strong and it was great to catch up with old friends.
Many thanks also to the celebrant, Fr. Timothy Wiley, diocesan co-ordinator for the TLM.
I would have reported sooner, but my internet connection is as useless as a chocolate fireguard at the moment.
I hope to sort this out soon, but will be on a school trip to Germany next week, which has been an organisational nightmare, also given that at school a quarter of the teaching staff is off sick. It has been a helter-skelter week.
Tomorrow I shall be going down to London for a Committee meeting with an agenda as long as my arm and a good thriller.

Sunday (Advent II) sees Masses at Broughton(11.30a.m.), Heckmondwike(2.30p.m.), Castleford(3.00p.m.), and also on Saturday at Halifax(6.00p.m.).

I have just received an urgent prayer request for a young woman who attended an appointment today for an abortion, but seeing the heartbeat on the scan asked time to reconsider her choice.
She is now thinking about it again. Storm heaven with prayers of thanks that a new life was not exterminated and that its temporary reprieve may eventually allow for the grace of a natural death many years from now.

Regina pacis, ora pro nobis.

Prayer requests

Of your charity please pray for a number of people I have been asked or promised to remember on this blogspot including several sick priests and vocations to the religious life.

For almost a year I have been taking a former popular traditional Catholic blogger to Masses in Halifax and on occasion to Broughton on a weekly basis. On her own blog, now defunct, she charted her (amongst many other things) process of falling in love with the Traditional Rite of Mass, which never precluded her attendance at the novus ordo Mass. JT is now in Italy at the house for the many postulants her chosen order receive each year. I hope she can now focus her previously restless heart and do beautiful things for God.

Please remember to pray for those for whom nobody prays and the suffering souls in purgatory in these closing days of November.

Mother of the sick and our refuge in grief, Pray for us.

Reminder - Mass at Leeds Cathedral

A reminder that there will be a sung Mass of Requiem at the Cathedral on Saturday 28th. November at 3.00p.m. This Mass will be for the repose of the soul of Bishop Wheeler. At my request in the past Masses have been offered for Cardinals Hinsley and Heenan, but not on this scale.

I have fielded a number of telephone calls on this subject and hope it will be a memorable occasion. There will be absolution at the catafalque following the Mass.

Missa cantata in candlelight

I hope everybody enjoyed yesterday's Feast. All three Masses I attended (sorry Fr. Abberton that yours wasn't one of them) were all joyful occasions.

This evening I acted as MC at the sung Mass at Batley. It was a moving occasion. The schola sounded excellent, the young severs managed to concentrate very well for the entirety of the Mass and absolution at the catafalque.
The sanctuary and high altar were alight with flickering red candles, in dimmed light.
The other candles providing the light in church were from the altar and around the catafalque and the flickering votives at the side altars.
I was (even as MC), able to concentrate more on the Mass itself than actually serving it.

Please remember the suffering souls in purgatory and that on Sunday there is a sung Mass of Requiem for our war dead at St. Peter's, Leeds Road, Bradford, at 3.00p.m.

Today's Mass at Bewerley

A very gloomy day weather wise was brightened by the sung Mass in Upper Nidderdale in honour of our Lady of the Rosary today. A schola of four sang the Mass and Fr. Parfitt preached eloquently on the power of the Rosary drawing comparisons from the time of the Reformation when rosary beads had to be put out of sight, rather redolent of today's attacks on wearing crosses and crucifixes at work. As Fr. Parfitt has said before, there is nothing new under the sun. I suppose what goes round comes round. We were given food for thought.
It was very nice to see Canon O'Hara the PP in attendance and four servers. One lady had come from Pocklington and a couple from south Manchester.

Christ the King

All Masses offered this weekend include the indulgenced prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus from the Ritus Servandus.

Extra All Souls Mass

Fr. Abberton will be offering Mass on All Souls at 7.30p.m. but will be unavailable on Saturday 31st. October for his regular Saturday morning Mass.
The All Souls Mass is one of a growing list in this Diocese.

God bless the Pope!

Busy weekend ahead

Masses this weekend:

Saturday 9.30a.m. Broughton Hall
Saturday 11.30a.m. Holy Spirit, Heckmondwike

Saturday 3.00p.m. St. Mary's, Batley
Saturday 6.00p.m. St. Marie's, Halifax

Sunday 3.00p.m. St. Joseph's, Castleford
Sunday 6.00p.m. Our Lady of Lourdes, Cardigan Rd. Leeds.


News of further planned Masses to follow.

Mass (sung) on Tuesday at 11.30a.m. Bewerley Grange Chapel, Pateley Bridge.

LEEDS CATHEDRAL MASS

I am writing this post on my new computer. Both my old laptop and desktop have recently died on me and internet connection has been a bit of a hit and miss business. And still is!

The good news is that I can now confirm that the Traditional Mass is again welcome in Leeds Cathedral and that a sung Mass of Requiem for the repose of the soul of Bishop Wheeler will take place at the Cathedral on Saturday 28th. November at 3.00p.m.

Clergy reading this are welcome to attend in choir dress.
Photo above is simply for illustrative purpose and has nothing to do with Leeds Diocese or Latin Masses offered there.

God bless the Pope!

Quick reminder

Mass tomorrow at 3.00p.m at St. Joseph's, Pontefract Rd. Castleford.

Mass tomorrow at 4.00p.m. at Holy Name, Oxford Rd. Manchester

Mass tomorrow at 5.00p.m. at St. Augustine's, Harehills Rd., Harehills, Leeds.

Mass tomorrow at 6.00p.m. at English Martyrs, Dalton Terrace, York.

Deo gratias.

Deo gratias!

Not instantly recognizable as one of life's biggest optimists, even I felt the feel-good factor throughout the entire inspection over the last couple of days. Having received "outstanding" twice in the last two inspections, but under the old rules, I expected to be seen this time, to see if I had adapted to the new rules. (Not something I'm normally given to! Meat....on Friday?) I was, however, not one of the chosen many.

In all honesty I felt quite cheated that they did not see the lessons I taught and moreover the learning that took place . I wasn't observed once. I have not been to bed before 3.00a.m. since Thursday night, nor have I been up after 6.50a.m. since Saturday. I am very tired. Yet, I have not really delivered anything different to what I would normally deliver. Paperwork was eventually in place and at least my limited interest in this boring part of the job was focused for the time I had and I was happy to think anybody could inspect it.

Thank you very much to those of you who offered me your prayers and more particularly to St. Anthony and St. Joseph for prayers answered.

Please pray for a friend of mine who is trying to discern a vocation to the religious life and also to a young lad who has put himself forward as a candidate for the Priesthood.

Of you charity please pray for the repose of the soul of a 16 year old girl from my school who died tragically a few days ago and for her family and friends. At her parents' request any mention of this tragedy must go with the request that we should always wear a seatbelt.

May she rest in peace.

REMINDER

Regular Masses on Sunday at St. Joseph's Pontefract Rd. Castleford, resume on Sunday 18th. October at 3.00pm..

ALSO: The first of our regular 3rd. Sunday Masses at St. Augustine's, Harehills Rd. Harehills, Leeds start on Sunday at 5.00p.m.

Following all that great news...

I have a copy of the above in my classroom. It inspires me.

Ofsted has given my school 24 hour notice of inspection to begin on Monday 8.40a.m. until Tuesday 4.10p.m. Totally confident of my ability to teach well, my only worry is that all the mind boggling paperwork on my desk, the sitting room floor, the dining table, my bedroom floor, the car boot and more worryingly, on my lost memory stick, will be in some sort of order before Monday. St. Anthony, pray for me. St. Joseph, inspire me!

Don't expect much by way of posting until at least Wednesday of next week!

God bless the Pope!

Regular Sunday Mass

The regular Sunday afternoon Mass at St. Joseph's, Pontefract Rd., Castleford at 3.00p.m. will resume on Sunday October 18th. This beautiful little church with very fine and devotional stained glass windows is centrally located and with ample parking.

This means that each weekend there will be at least three Sunday Masses per week.

It can only get better.

God bless the Pope!

More good news

I had a very productive telephone conversation this evening with Mgr. Moger and subject to confirmation a sung Mass of Requiem will take place in the Cathedral in November.

This will be the first public Mass in the Extraordinary Form here since the Cathedral re-opened following extensive refurbishment.

I hope this will be the first of many.

Leeds Cathedral. Photograph by Fra Lawrence Lew OP.

Ave, ave, ave Maria

Last night at Batley many hundreds of people turned out to bear witness to the Faith and process from the Market Square to St. Mary's Church for Benediction offered by the Bishop. It is always touching to see the gleeful faces of all the little children illuminated by their candles, last year my youngest son even managed to set his hair on fire, much to the amusement of his older sisters.

Tomorrow is the feast of the Holy Rosary.

Mass at Batley at 7.00a.m. and at Broughton at 9.30a.m.

If you are in Manchester, Mass at English Martyrs, Alexandra Rd. South, Whalley Range at 7.00a.m.

After the torchlight procession I was able to chat with several clergy. All of them are regular or occasional celebrants of the EF and the others are good friends of the EF, allowing their churches to be used for the celebration of the Traditional Rite.

As a result of last night I have learned of extra Masses and finalized details of others, including Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception to be held at Leeds University Chaplaincy, December 8th. at 7.30p.m. You may remember that this was where we had Mass for the Feast of the Annunciation in March and the Easter Triduum.

I have arranged meetings with some priests and will report future regular Masses in due course.

What is becoming very clear is that the Latin Mass Society's role in this Diocese has changed very dramatically over recent years. When I first became rep I had to request permission for each and every Mass, this was having had to negotiate a time and place and to find a priest who, quite frankly was willing to risk the ire or suspicion and even the ridicule of fellow clergy and superiors by agreeing to do it.

Under Bishop Roche no such restrictions as had previously been imposed existed and following the election of Pope Ratzinger and promulgation of his definitive Motu proprio, interest has really intensified among many priests and bishops, locally, nationally and internationally.

The greatest majority of Traditional Masses in Leeds (and Salford) are now a part of regular parish life. As I have stated before, the Extraordinary Form of Mass is not the property of the LMS, the FSSP, the Society of St. Pius X or anybody else. It belongs to the Church and the People of God.

If anything I need to carry on banging the drum that there is nothing suspect about this form of Mass and nothing dotty about participating at it. This means advertising the regular celebrations and persuading others to do the same. There is a lot to do and much to which we can look forward.

Ave Maria!

New venue

Sunday 18th. October at 5.00p.m. sees the first of our new regular Masses at St. Augustine's, Harehills Rd., Leeds. Thereafter Mass will be offered here each third Sunday at 5.00p.m. Many thanks to Fr. Kelly, a longstanding friend of the LMS, the PP.



A reminder that the annual torchlight procession at Batley will take place on Monday (5th. October), starting in Batley Market Square at 7.30p.m. There follows a procession from the Market Place to the church where the Bishop will give Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. If the event proves to be anything like the last two years it will be a wonderful occasion and an outstanding opportunity to bear witness to our Holy Faith in public and give honour to our Heavenly Mother in this month of the Holy Rosary.

The Parish Priest, Fr. Wiley, Diocesan Co-ordinator for the EF, has told me about the incredible amount of work which goes into this event. Please support it.

Update

Next weekend sees the visit of the relics of St. Therese de Lisieux, our Cathedral will become a little Lisieux for the weekend, as Bishop Roche reminds us in his pastoral letter today.

Holy Spirit parishioners from Heckmodwike will be visiting the relics on Sunday and so there will be no Mass at Heckmondwike on that Sunday.

The Masses at the weekend will all be Votive Masses of St. Therese, this is because in the 1962 calendar, her feast is October 3rd. and all Sunday's Masses are to be Votive Masses of St. Therese, this will apply to both the new and old Rites of Mass.

Morning Masses at 7.00a.m. at St. Mary's Batley continue.

On Monday 5th. October there will be the annual torchlight procession at Batley culminating in Solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament by the Bishop. Details later this week.

EXTRA MASSES

Mass at Sacred Heart, Howden, near Goole on Tuesday 29th. September at 7.30p.m. This is a first for us. Thanks to the Middlesbrough rep for organizing this Mass who lives in that area.

Mass will be offered again at Bewerley Grange Chapel on Tuesday 27th. October at 11.3oa.m.

Mass for the feast of All Souls, Monday 2nd. November at 7.30p.m. at St. Mary's, Batley.

Plans are well under way for a new wave of regular Masses and for the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

God bless the Pope.

Benedict XVI bound for Britain

I was delighted to hear on the wireless at teatime that the Holy Father, the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI is to make a state visit to Britain sometime next year.

This planned visit to Britain is a wonderful opportunity for the Catholic Church to re-assert some sort of positive and lasting identity and to invite the lapsed and would be converts into full communion with Rome.

Deo gratias!

Just had to post this

Ego volo celebrare Missam iuxta ritum sanctae Romanae ecclesiae, ad laudem omnipotentis Dei, totiusque ecclesiae triumphantis, ad utilitatem meam, totiusque ecclesiae militantis, pro omnibus qui se commendaverunt orationibus meis in genere et in specie, ac pro felici statu sanctae Romanae ecclesiae.

I intend to celebrate Mass according to the rite of the holy Roman Church, to the praise of the almighty God and of the whole Church triumphant, for my benefit and that of the whole Church militant, for all who have commended themselves to my prayers in general and in particular, and for the happy estate of the holy Roman Church.

Taken from Fr Zuhldorf's WDTPRS I thought I must share the sheer purity of this prayer, given the words recently directed by our Holy Father to the South American Hierarchy on their ad limina visit to Rome.

2nd. anniversary of Summorum Pontificum

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of our first regular 2nd Sunday Mass at St. Peter's, Leeds Road, Bradford at 3.00p.m. I should like to thank Fr. Hall, the celebrant, Fr. Frank, the Parish Priest and Dorothy the sacristan for their continued help and and kindness. The Mass will be Missa cantata.

Monday is the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and also marks the second anniversary of the coming into force of the Motu proprio which derestricted the use of the Old Rite of Mass and Sacraments and Breviary. Thanks be to God!

Mass on Monday at 7.00a.m at St. Mary's, Batley and at 9.30a.m. at Sacred Heart, Broughton.

Today I attended an English Heritage event at Bradford's Reform Synagogue, which is the only one in Northern England.

God bless the Pope!

200th. post

This is the 200th. post since I began this blog 15 months ago.

Tonight saw the second Mass of the day in the traditional Rite at St. Mary of the Angels, Batley. The first was a votive Mass of the Sacred Heart at 7.00a.m. and the second was a sung Mass in honour of our Blessed Lady to mark Fr. Wiley's 50th. birthday. Well over 120 people attended the Mass, at which there were many excellently behaved children present. The parish ladies had laid on a delightful feast in the parish club afterwards and it was lovely to see a superfluity of nuns from the nearby convent at the Mass and the party.

Ad multos annos Fr. Wiley!

Last Friday there was a traditional sung Requiem for a member of my own family at which well over 200 were in atttendance. (Fr. Wiley was again the celebrant.) Questions after the Mass at the reception included the one I am often asked at such occasions, "Why did they have to change everything"? Not altogether sure of the answer, I can say with certainty that the Pope is now trying to to redress the balance.

Mass at Sacred Heart, Howden, near Goole at the eastern end of the diocese, on Tuesday 29th. September, will be a Missa Cantata, for the Feast of St. Michael at 7.30p.m. Fr. Smith, Episcopal Vicar for clergy and PP of St Marie's, Halifax will be celebrant.

Plans are underway for Mass in half term at Bewerley Grange, Pateley Bridge. Fr. Parfitt will offer this Mass. Details to follow.

Getting back into the swing ....

Summer holidays already seem far away, and I've only been back at school for one day!

My class and indeed my department's exam results were beyond reproach at GCSE and GCE level and although my nerves were wrought by the end of term a good long break and trips to Belgium, France, Scotland and Northern Ireland have helped to leave me feeling fully refreshed.

On Saturday I have to be in London for an LMS meeting and on Sunday there is the usual Missa Cantata at Broughton Hall at 11.30a.m. Please note, however that on Sunday there will be no Mass at Heckmondwike on Sunday, nor on Saturday 12th. September as Fr. Abberton is away.

Tomorrow at 7.00a.m. there will be Mass at St. Mary's, Batley, at 9.15a.m at Our Lady of Good Counsel, Seacroft, Leeds, at 9.30a.m. at Broughton and at 7.00p.m. again at St. Mary's Batley.

The evening Mass at Batley is a Missa cantata and marks Father Wiley's 50th. birthday.

Looking ahead there will be Mass at a new venue on the Feast of St. Michael, at Sacred Heart, Howden, near Goole. Watch this space for further details.

Finally the regular last Sunday of the month Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes, Cardigan Road, Leeds will now be at 6.00p.m. instead of 3.00p.m.

News

Due to unforeseen circumstances Masses at Castleford are again suspended until further notice.

I am delighted to be able announce that there is to be Low Mass, every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in term time at 7.00a.m. at St. Mary of the Angels, Batley.

As a result of this there will be no evening Mass on the first Friday of the month, unless otherwise announced, after the first Friday of September (4th.) when the Mass will be a Missa cantata to celebrate the 50th. birthday of Fr. Timothy Wiley, PP and Diocesan co-ordinator for the 1962 Rite of Mass and Sacraments.

Other changes are also on the cards, which I shall make known in the next couple of days.

Happy Feastday!

As I get older, the Feast of the Assumption, which is one of my absolute favourites, seems to come around faster and faster. At Mass this evening in Halifax, Fr. Smith spoke eloquently on the subject and pointed out that the absence of original sin made Her able to be assumed, body and soul, into heaven at the end of Her earthly life. I remember Fr. Charles Doughty drawing the same conclusions at a Traditional Mass he offered on August 15th. 1985. This Mass was a first for many years on that feast in England and at St. John's, Buttershaw, Bradford. I can still remember the delight of people who came from Manchester at the Mass, people with whom I still remain in touch.

Mass on Sunday will be at St Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford at 3.00p.m. Due to Priests' holidays and consequent unavailability, there has been a break in provision in Castleford for a few weeks.

There will be a special First Friday of September Mass at St. Mary of the Angels, Batley at 7.00p.m. (and not now 7.30p.m as advertised in Mass of Ages). This Mass will be a Missa Cantata to mark the 50th. birthday of celebrant Fr. Timothy Wiley who is the the Parish Priest and official Co-ordinator of the TLM in the Diocese of Leeds.

Recently Holy Mass has been offered by Fr. Parfitt at Markenfield Hall, to mark the feast of St. Henry and in June there was a solemn High Mass of Requiem for Father Charles Borromeo Holmes on the 52nd. anniversary of his ordination to the Sacred Priesthood. Father died in April.