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.