Learn liturgical Latin?

If you would be interested in participating in a summer school devoted to liturgical Latin, an idea only in its infancy at the moment, please let me know at lmsleeds@gmail.com , it will probably take place in the south of England. At the moment we are just trying to gauge interest.

HOLY WEEK 2009 LEEDS DIOCESE

PALM SUNDAY:

Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall, Skipton, 11.45a.m.

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

(N.B. No Mass at Heckmondwike)

MAUNDY THURSDAY:

Notre Dame Chapel, 5 St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds (near university) 7.30p.m.

GOOD FRIDAY:

Notre Dame Chapel, 5 St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds (near university) 3.00p.m.

HOLY SATURDAY:

Notre Dame Chapel, 5 St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds (near university) 7.30p.m.

EASTER SUNDAY:

St. Peter's, Leeds Road, Bradford. 3.00p.m.

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

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO HAVE THE SACRED TRIDUUM FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY YEARS ACCORDING TO THE TRADITIONAL RITE.

New LMS Chairman and Treasurer

At the LMS Committee meeting on Saturday 21st. March Dr. Joseph Shaw was elected as Chairman and Mr. Paul Waddington was elected as Treasurer.

I am looking forward to working with both of these men who, like me, are active diocesan representatives. Dr. Shaw is the rep in Oxford and organizer of many events there as well as the St. Catherine's Trust Summer School and chant training days. Mr. Waddington has been responsible for organizing the two southern priest training conferences and the training conference at Ushaw to be held after Easter.

I have every confidence that the Society will now be able to move forward. A lot of time was spent discussing the way ahead to help implement the Holy Father's Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum.

Another first

There will be a sung Mass in the chapel of Notre Dame, St. Mark's Anenue, Leeds on Wednesday 25th. March, for the feast of the Incarnation at 7.30p.m.

Feast of St. Patrick

Eight years ago today our fifth child died only seconds after I had baptized him. As the cleansing waters of baptism touched his forehead he opened and closed his eyes for the only time in his short life. Although we rejoice at him being our own Saint, young Patrick's rapid entry into Heaven still causes us periods of grief which can and do hit at any moment.
I still remember when towards the end of the pregnancy serious abnormalities were detected we were offered "an alternative" procedure. The sheer bloody injustice of it revolts me to this day. Killing the patient is not the answer. We detested the work the consultant was doing and told him so politely but firmly. No abortion, thank-you.

The feast of St. Patrick also is a time when I think of those members of my family tree now long gone who came to England from Mayo and Sligo in the mid 1800s. The Churches of Ss. Mary, Joseph, Ann, Patrick and their daughter churches, schools and convents here in Bradford were all testimony to the Faith and sense of community of those often desperate and impoverished people.

Patrick is also one of my baptismal names, so I'm celebrating with a not so Irish curry!


Patrick Benedict, born and died March 17, 2001.

Mass at Seacroft

Fr. Billington of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Seacroft, Leeds has e-mailed me to say that his weekly Friday Mass at 9.15a.m. (funerals and suchlike excepted) will be according to the EF of Rite of Mass.

Please pray for the success of this Mass and for Fr. Billington, who attended the LMS Summer Conference last year and had follow up sessions with Fr. Parfitt almost immediately.


Frs. O'Reilly and Harrison are both former P.P.s of this parish and were regular celebrants of the EF at Killingbeck in the time of Bishop Konstant.

Rome has spoken

The Universe weekly newspaper will from Sunday feature a regular page devoted to the TLM - activities, Masses and other events and related news items and by no means reserved to LMS activities.

I shall try submit events to this venture myself and for the first time in over twenty years buy a copy this weekend of the Universe, which was always a favourite with my great grandmother, who died in 1956. I'll carry on taking it if I like what I see. Regulars to this blog will be aware that I have long since stopped taking the Catholic Times because of the bitterly offensive stance against the Tridentine Mass and those who prefer it, as taken by its regular columnist and self styled Vatican Counsellor, Basil Loftus.

Basil's quaint views, usually directed with sarcastic vitriol disguised as humour or in personal recollection are common among a small minority of a particular generation of clergy, who realise that their desire to chop the tree from its roots and be masters of the new church are now proving to be an exercise in humility and they now know how those old and young priests in the late sixties felt when all that they had presumably held as true was quickly dismantled.

Thanks be to Pope Benedict the "Old Latin Mass" is still Mass, is still Latin (with vernacular readings if desired) but is now no longer old. The Holy Father's letter to the bishops seems to assume that the reintegration of the EF is now to be accepted as over. Roma locuta est, causa finita est.

Papal letter to Bishops with the fire and charity of St. Paul the Apostle

I have just read an astonishingly humble but extraordinarily powerful letter from the Pope. Not to me, but to the world's bishops about the lifting of the excommunications of the four SSPX bishops and the Williamson affair.

I did read the letter in German and so the following is only my recollection. The advantage of reading it in German for me is that I can also hear the Pope's voice.

The Holy Father makes no secret of the fact that the whole episode was badly handled, that there will have to be improvements in the future and that those who have sought to make things worse are those claiming to be champions of ecumenism, but show no such desire to extend their love to those in danger of schism and who are validly but illicitly ordained. The Holy Father reminds his bishops that Vat II wasn't the start of something different but a continuation of all that had gone before it. He likens a tree being severed from its roots and how this is destructive.

The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will henceforth be part of Faith and Doctrine and not Worship. It is I suppose now felt that the Liturgy of 1962 has been sufficiently absorbed or kick started back in to the mainstream life that the process continues. It is totally assumed that the EF is now part of the norm (which he probably well knows is not the case) and the letter sends out this message without saying it.

It will be fascinating to see who is appointed to take over Cardinal Cormac and according to some blogsites this may be very soon. Let us pray that he will be a Pope Benedict's man.

God bless Pope Benedict!

Lent

The planning for the Training Conference at Ushaw is now well underway. At the last count there were 5 priests from the Leeds Diocese involved. We are grateful to the Diocese for alerting clergy to the Training Conference.
I have been charged by Mr. Waddington, chief organizer, with working with the Father Sacristan to co-ordinate the simultaneous celebration of Mass at 10 altars up to four times a day.
I am on the hunt for ten sets of Low Mass Vestments in red and white along with cruets, linen, candlesticks, candles, bells, lavabo dishes, chalices, cards, Missal stands and Missals with ribbons. I have one or two people in mind to help me. If you regularly read this blog you might be asked for a favour!

Until I get the gadget to download photos from the camera replaced, you will just have to imagine what a magnificent setting Ushaw is. The St. Cuthbert's chapel is totally stunning. Father Abberton asked me what I thought about the altar used for celebration of the New Mass. Having hardly noticed it I said that it hardly imposed. What did impose was the old high altar. It was quite a marvellous sensation to feel humbled before it. The altar represents Christ, the Lord. This is why it is blessed, consecrated, venerated, kissed, anointed with holy oil, doused in water, dressed, undressed, veiled and unveiled. In the tabernacle we behold the Manger in Bethlehem, the blessed fruit of Mary's womb, Christ crucified and resurrected. Like those wise men in search of the Manger so to we go to the tabernacle - to Christ - to the altar to find the Lord, we encounter Herods, Pilates and hostile people all the way to the tabernacle - whoever we are. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by the obstacles. For me the words of a modern hymn spring to mind, when this is the case - "But then Lord I think of You and I am given strength, Walk with me O my Lord..." . When I was Head of Year at my last school I had the children sing this at exam times in assembly.

This Lent like every Lent, the days seem to to get longer sooner and yet things always seem harder. Through regular fast and abstinence I do believe we gain spiritual strength, even when we are hanging on by the tips of our fingers to resisting that glass of scotch, that cigarette, that chocolate, that keema dansak or bag of crisps and that when we fail we are no worse for starting again.

Tomorrow I have the second of a series of meetings to make arrangements for the Sacred Triduum as well as liturgical research and...yes more year 9 reports.

A restful Sunday

Today was one of those when my mood is in harmony with the lovely weather. Although it was cold the sun was shining and it was dry. I stayed in bed for as long as I dared before the sarcastic reminders of the time from anybody going upstairs or downstairs started.

Mass at St. Peter's was sung by Fr. Hall who gave a very interesting insight into the Transfiguration. I love the Transfiguration and I could share Father's amazement at the sheer power of the presence of God at that moment in time and replicated for us in the Gospel.

The late afternoon sun shone beautifully into the lovely church. Father had heard several confessions before Mass and at Mass Fr. Wiley sat in choir and acted as bell ringer! There were several students at Mass (half the congregation was under 25) who were able to help Mike Murphy sing the wonderful Attende Domine at the Offertory and Communion. Fellow Blogger, Jane Theresa, of the excellent My Heart was Restless blog was at the Mass and she was able to make contact with Frs. Hall and Wiley as well as Mike Murphy who has roped her in to singing there again on Easter Sunday!

A LMS Committee meeting yesterday prevented us celebrating my eldest daughter's birthday together so we went out for a meal after Mass. It was nice to be able to eat some meat, even if it wasn't curried.

Normal sevice....

I have been encountering a lot of difficulty accessing the internet , with crashing e-mails and lots of access errors. Having prepared the slide show of typical LMS activity in the diocese and trying to download photos from my camera was the last straw.
There is excellent news about the Sacred Triduum about which I'll post in the next couple of days.
On Sunday there is the regular monthly Missa Cantata for Lent II at St. Peter's Leeds Road, Bradford at 3.00p.m. Mass will be preceded by Confessions and the Diocesan co-ordinator for the EF, Fr. Wiley will be in choir. Our regular celebrant Fr. Hall will sing the Mass.
At Castleford, also on Sunday, at 3.00p.m. we will welcome a new regular celebrant. Please make every effort to attend one of these Masses.

Ash Wednesday

This Wednesday sees the start of Lent. Mass and distribution of ashes will be at Sacred Heart, Broughton at 11.30a.m.

Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence.

Who is afraid of the big bad wolf?

My little photo gallery of activities will be complete tomorrow. It has been a very busy week not least because I have had lots of household jobs to do as well as marking and preparation which I was unable to complete even after spending a half day in school earlier this week. Our youngest son came back from his friend's full of beans but with something walking in his hair, I have inadvertently overdrawn at the bank and incurred a £100 penalty charge, the car needs a new front light bulb and the dog has to have a lump removed.

So life goes on, thanks be to God.

Local stuff I'll post about tomorrow.

This has been a very interesting week in the traditional Catholic world. For some I imagine it has been a nightmare and for others a delight. For others a mixture.

To summarize;

Bishop Richard Nelson Williamson has been requested to leave Argentina within ten days for apparently not having stated his correct status when requesting his residence permit.

Austrian Bishops are in revolt over the appointment of an outspoken priest as auxiliary Bishop of Linz, Herr Pater Wagner. Pater Wagner has according to some sources requested the Holy Father remove his name as candidate. Other sources suggest this request has not yet been formerly received, accepted or rejected by the Vatican.

The LMS is in hot water for an invitation sent to Archbishop Raymond Burke requesting him to offer Mass at Westminster Cathedral and to address its AGM, before squaring it with His Eminence, Cardinal Murphy O'Connor. On learning of the acceptance of Archbishop Burke the Cardinal appears to have objected on grounds of canon law, but aware probably that come June

he will be in retirement, graciously offered one of his auxiliary bishops, who will be the first ever English bishop to offer the Society's annual AGM in Westminster Cathedral. This confidential information was mysteriously leaked to a blog site and understandably the Cardinal's office was less than happy when this information got round, there is a full report in today's Catholic Herald.

The Universe newspaper, which for many years has been a poor read and full of clips and captions of crimpolene clad clergy with silly badges and and multi-coloured stoles is from Lent onwards to carry a regular Traditional Catholic News page. I hope that this breath of life will not prove to be a case of calling the vet to save the life of the pig in a pork pie. As a Lenten exercise I shall start taking the Universe and then carry on buying it after Easter if it successfully achieves what is says it is setting out to do. I no longer take the Catholic Times on account of Basil Loftus's boring attacks on what he loathes and his repulsive adulation of those thing which I dislike most.

The Tablet this week attempts to do a hatchet job on an ideal post Summorum Pontificum parish to which I have referred elsewhere, namely Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen in the Archdiocese of Southwark. This parish in south east London offers a Saturday Vigil Mass and three Sunday Masses, three of which are in the Ordinary Form, one in Latin and one ad orientem, one family Mass and one in the Extraordinary Form. A group of no more than a dozen parishioners have complained about this and having received no satisfaction from Bishop Pat Lynch have resorted to imploring the help of the Tablet which published a venomous but equally self-defeating assault on the PP and his legal innovations .

Two priests in this diocese of Leeds who share the view that the Tablet has truly overstepped the mark have recently refrained from offering this seditious little rag at the back of their churches and others have told me of rapidly declining interest even amongst its more relaxed parishioners, making them consider the value of continuing to offer it.

As I write I have learned of another priest wishing to learn to offer the 1962 Mass and two others offering to help out which is leading to another possible first for us.

Please continue to pray for our Holy Father Pope Benedict as he feeds his sheep and searches for his lost lambs whilst fighting off the wolves and the wolves in sheep's clothing. Who are the big bad wolves? Have they had their day?

The week ahead

Tuesday sees another visit to Bewerley Grange chapel at Pateley Bridge, with a Missa cantata at 11.30a.m.

I took photographs on Saturday at Halifax, on Sunday at Castleford and intend to keep the camera to hand for the rest of the week's activities. I shall post these in due course. Bewerley is very camera friendly. I remember the snowdrops vividly last year.

Wednesday will be a first for me with trip to Ushaw. Again I shall have my camera to hand.

To those who are in the west of the diocese and/or who can get to Bury on Friday evenings should be aware of the regular Mass there at 7.30p.m.

Fr. Francis Wadsworth, the P.P. offers Mass and gives an inspiring/thought provoking/practical and invariably Christ-centred sermon, which never fails to bring a wry smile to the lips, at least once.

It is wonderful that in so many parishes, compared with the situation much less than a decade ago, the Extraordinary Form has taken root and is flourishing, the Parish of Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen or St. Mary Magdalen, Brighton would be obvious examples to regular bloggers but closer to home St. Joseph's, Castleford, St. Marie's, Halifax, Sacred Heart, Broughton, St. Mary's Batley, Our Lady of Lourdes, Leeds, St. Peter's, Bradford and Holy Spirit, Heckmondwike are all already regular venues in this Diocese. There are more in the pipeline.

The photo above was at St. Peter's Bradford before the Mass of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14th. 2008.

Half term

Half term is here, very shortly we will be half way through the school year and it will be downhill to the summer.

My trip to Ushaw is scheduled for Wednesday and before that on Tuesday there is Mass at Bewerley Grange Chapel at 11.30a.m. This will be a Missa cantata. The medieval chapel of Bewerley is noble simplicity itself which comes alive whenever Mass is offered there.

This weekend there will be Mass at Broughton at 9.30a.m. at Heckmondwike at 11.30a.m. and at Halifax at 6.00p.m. on Saturday and on Sunday at Castleford at 3.00p.m.

Mass on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at Broughton Hall at 9.30a.m.

Please pray for one of the pupils at my school who was taken to hospital this afternoon having been stabbed at the bus stop after school. As yet I have no other details.

Buzzing!

I often hear this word at school but have never used it before, but today I am buzzing!

All of a sudden a lot of things have come together and I have had lots of loose ends tied up. This I had expected long before Christmas, so patience has now been rewarded. I will post on these in due course.

There has been a lot of interest in the forthcoming conference at Ushaw and as a member of the sub-committee responsible for this Conference I am taking a trip to Ushaw with fellow Committee member and Middlesbrough Rep next week to check out things.

Leeds clergy have been e-mailed about the event by the Diocese and I am heartened by the number of priests from all over the UK who have written letters of support or to personally to apologize for not being able to attend but to be informed of similar events in the future.

After a bit of prompting from the LMS the Catholic Herald and The Tablet now give the Feastdays of the 1962 missal each week.

Buzz over!

In the wider Church it appears that Mgr. Williamson has been relieved of his position as rector of the SSPX seminary in Argentina after the 4 bishops wrote a joint letter to the Vatican.

Cardinal Lehmann of Germany has since called for the re-excommunication of Mgr. Williamson.

Unity does not come easily.

More prayers for the Pope please.

First Friday

Tomorrow is the First Friday of February. There will be Mass in the morning at Broughton at 9.30a.m.

Mass in the evening at St. Mary's, Cross Bank Road, Batley at 7.30p.m. preceded by confesions.

Snow for Candlemas

This morning I arrived at school at 8.20 to find that it had been closed due to heavy snow. I did a couple of hours of filing and preparation and at 10.40 took my marking to the car. A trouble free stretch over the moors to Keighley enabled me to join the Skipton Road for Broughton's Candlemas Mass at 11.30a.m. A few others had braved the weather from the western side of Skipton. It was a beautiful Mass, with incense at the blessing of the candles and a token procession around the little chapel. The blessing of candles and procession replace the prayers at the foot of the altar, and as Father made the sign of the Cross at the Introit, the symbolism of this rubric suddenly struck me.

Lunch as Father Parfitt's guest was a very enjoyable and unexpected pleasure enhanced by the welcome break from the routine. The Mass was offered for the intentions of Barbara Cave and so I was pleased to be able to hear the Mass "on behalf" of my old teacher, friend and mentor Mary Cave, for whose sister, the Mass was being offered and was unable to hear the Mass herself.

Even better news then - when I got home the Deputy Head rang to say school is closed tomorrow, along with all other local schools.

I was able to discuss one or two other matters with Fr. Parfitt and already have to pass on details of extra Masses to the Office.

As we are back to liturgical purple for the pre-Lentern Season on Sunday I am pleased to say that there will be Mass on Ash Wednesday to mark the start of Lent at Broughton at the slightly later time of 11.30a.m......... Dare I ask for snow on that day?!

Tomorrow gives me a chance to do the marking still in the boot. I also have a great deal of LMS Committee business to deal with. More than ever I can recall. The Pope knows how to keep us busy. I now smile to myself at the thought of a former Bishop of this diocese joking to one of my predecessors that as Rep he would hardly be exhausted with his workload. What goes round appears to come round.

Just over twenty years ago Archbishop Lefebvre excommunicated; last week the excommunication of the four ordinands the Archbishop consecrated was lifted. Meanwhile there was the uproar caused by imprudent remarks and the humble apology to Cardinal Hoyos and the Holy Father from Bishop Richard Williamson following the interview with Swedish television in which he expressed some ghastly opinions about the holocaust. Williamson has since been silenced by the order's Superior General, Bishop Fellay and has also written a humble letter to Cardinal Hoyos in which he expresses his sorrow at his imprudence and the problems these have caused the See of Peter, without actually acknowledging the very nature of that for which he was having to apologize.

Some blogs had quoted rumours about official recognition by Rome of the SSPX as soon as tomorrow. Others believe that this has been put back because of the anti-semitic remarks by Bishop Williamson.

There are also blog rumours of a personal prelature for disaffected Anglicans given the carry on over "women bishops".

What, I wonder, will tomorrow's historians make of today's news?

Our Holy Father Pope Benedict is at the helm.

God bless the Pope, the Great, the Good.

News from Rome

Earlier today it was announced in Rome that the Holy Father has lifted the 20 year excommunications imposed upon the bishops by Pope JPII who were consecrated by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
I am sure that those who hear Mass tomorrow at the SSPX church in Keighley will feel that the Holy Father has gone a long way to address grievances referred to him by Bishop Fellay. I rejoice in the Lord for them that the path to dialogue has been opened.

Just after Summorum Pontificum was published a priest I know had been speaking to a Vatican Official at the time who had made no secret of the fact that the Motu proprio was in fact just a start to further Benedictine Reforms. It is a good time to be a Catholic.

Meanwhile I expect that there will be a lot of muck being thrown at the Pope given that Bishop Williamson is a holocaust denier, or would have us believe this. Bishop Williamson also has some unusual views about The Sound of Music.
How do you solve a problem like Richard?

Octave for Christian Unity

I have no desire to be controversial but I must confess to being mystified by what is meant by Christian Unity. It cannot mean that there is a new truth out there waiting to be discovered which will be suddenly become clear. We have the Truth - we have the Church. The reason we have disunity is because of disobedience and rejection of the Truth by people breaking away from the Church, founded by Christ upon the rock which is Peter. You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church. My vision of Unity is a wholesale return to the Catholic Church by those whose ecclesial communities have become estranged. The document on Ecuminism in the documents of Vat II is not the horror story some over enthusiastic people might portray it to be. It is a very beautiful document.
I have always found the following prayer, as well as the Prayer for England very good at focusing my mind on these issues.

O God, you bring back to the right way those who have gone astray, you gather the scattered, and keep together those you have gathered. Mercifully fill Christian people with the grace of your own oneness, that they mey reject all division and, being one in communion with the true shepherd of your Church, be able to serve you as you should be served.