Battle is o'er

It is almost the end of Lent. Easter is upon us - the highlight of the Christian Year. Christ's victory over death opens the way for our salvation. The Word made flesh now defies what is human and rises from the grave. Joy abounds as we are reminded of this in the Liturgy as all our senses are touched in a mystical way. Creation, the  Incarnation, light, warmth, truth, baptism, forgiveness, marriage, priesthood, the Eucharist, battle overcome by righteous victory and all that is beautiful and natural become interspersed as the Liturgy connects us with heaven and time somehow becomes different. We viscerally receive the risen Lord before Holy Communion.
   
Our Triduum at the chaplaincy concludes tomorrow evening with the Vigil. The traditional collection for the celebrant will take place at the offertory. Thank you for the healthy collection for the Holy Places today which I have left with Fr. Kravos.

Our final hymn on Saturday, Battle is o'er, will be followed by the Regina Caeli.

Confessions available at call.

Reminder of the remainder of Holy Week:

30 March     HOLY SATURDAY
          7.30 p.m.  Notre Dame, Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds   
31 March      EASTER SUNDAY
          11.00 a.m. Sacred Heart , Broughton Hall, Skipton.     
          3.00 p.m. St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford.

Confession

I have been hearing and reading a lot recently about people's return to the Sacrament of Penance and how the unburdening of their souls has given them a renewed impetus to put their lives back on track and so it was very rewarding tonight to see people being shriven before and after Mass tonight.

In a splendid Mass Fr. Hall preached movingly and as evocatively as ever on the Blessed Eucharist - the Word made flesh - a real presence, which leads the procession after Mass to the suffering in the garden and our altar of repose where that which is enshrined there in the tabernacle - is Christ who dwells amongst us, as He was in the Virgin's womb.

I enjoy listening to Fr. Hall's sermons as much as I like reading Mgr. Ronald Knox's sermons.  Tomorrow Fr. Hall will again sing the Passion according to Saint John at the Good Friday Liturgy. A collection for the Holy Places will be taken as tradition dictates.

Confession at call.

For the rest of Holy Week:

29 March     GOOD FRIDAY
          3.00 p.m.  Notre Dame, Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds
30 March     HOLY SATURDAY
          7.30 p.m.  Notre Dame, Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds   
31 March      EASTER SUNDAY
          11.00 a.m. Sacred Heart , Broughton Hall, Skipton.     
          3.00 p.m. St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford.

The Sacred Triduum and Easter

The weather over the weekend was utterly abysmal in many parts of the diocese and understandably Mass attendance was down by at least two thirds of what we would normally expect on a regular weekend. There is still nearly a metre of snow in our back garden and parking in front of the house is impossible. In other parts of the diocese there is hardly any snow. I was in Leeds preparing for tomorrow this evening and hardly a sign of any snow there now.

Our Triduum at Notre Dame, Leeds University Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds will go ahead as planned as will the other Easter Masses listed below:

28 March     MAUNDY THURSDAY
         7.30 p.m.  Notre Dame, Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds
29 March     GOOD FRIDAY
          3.00 p.m.  Notre Dame, Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds
30 March     HOLY SATURDAY
          7.30 p.m.  Notre Dame, Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds   
31 March      EASTER SUNDAY
          11.00 a.m. Sacred Heart , Broughton Hall, Skipton.     
          3.00 p.m. St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford.

Palm Sunday

Holy Week 2013 is almost upon us.

Masses for Palm Sunday

Saturday Vigil 6.30 p.m. St. Mary's, Halifax
Sunday 11.00 a.m. Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall, Skipton
              3.00 p.m. St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford

Passion Sunday

Today sees the veiling of statues until Holy Saturday's Mass. The Judica Me is not said as one of the prayers at the foot of the altar to further prune back the Mass in anticipation of the awesome events we  celebrate at Easter - the liturgy seems to deny itself the extra good things. Instead the psalm forms the Introit of the Mass. 

Masses today:

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

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

4.00 p.m. Holy Spirit, Bath Road, Heckmondwike 

Please think about attending our Sacred Triduum at Notre Dame Chapel this year - details of which are given in the sidebar. Father Kravos, the chaplain and one of our celebrants has been very kind us at the chaplaincy and when he was Parish Priest at Our Lady of Lourdes in Leeds. Our celebrant for the Triduum is again Father Hall who is becoming something of an old hand at this and I am more than grateful to him for his pastoral concern and generosity of spirit. 

It was nice to read on the Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy newsletter this week that the Latin Mass Society was responsible for renovating the Crucifix outside the chapel. I hope one of our younger members and student at Leeds University responsible for that is reading this! I remember many years ago one of my predecessors as rep, Mrs Rutherford, mounting a very successful campaign to raise funds for the renovation of the statue of our Lady of the Crag at Knaresborough.   

I hope Francis will prove to be a popular name for this year's confirmands.

God bless the Pope!

God bless Pope Francis!

Habemus Papam!

We have a Pope!

White smoke at 6.07 p.m. from the Sistine Chapel signalled to the world that the conclave was over and that a new Pontiff has been elected.

Pope Francis I,  the Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio (SJ) and Archbishop of Buenos Aries

Now gloriously reigning.

Conclave

 

A lot of Catholic and non-Catholic friends and colleagues who know of my interest in these things have asked me whom I would like to see emerge as the next Pope, what name would I like him to take etc.

Of course I have an opinion and a couple of preferences, but those are not for here. I am more certain about whom I would not wish to see and again that is not for here. I have been similarly interested to hear the views of others.

Only God knows who will emerge and it is our duty at this time to pray that the man chosen by the Cardinal electors will lead the Church faithfully and with strength and courage. It is not an easy job as our Pontiff Emeritus has proven and the new Pope will have a heavy cross to carry. Many might wish to see a return to the halcyon days of the early part of the last century or to the heady days of the immediate post-conciliar era. These I would suggest are pipe dreams as times have changed beyond recognition. Godlessness is rampant, secularism, militant atheism and anti-Christianity seem to lacerate society, particularly in Western cultures. South America is being claimed by Protestant sects because the Church there has lost its way and its identity. People are finding a different opium here and in all corners of the earth. Does any of this mean that what the Church actually teaches is wrong and needs to be updated or moderated to fit in with the latest politically correct agenda? No. We don't have a Church which bends to public will like many other Christian denominations including the C of E. Abortion, contraception, women priests, gay marriage and all the other old hot potatoes are not up for discussion. They cannot be. Christ founded His Church on Peter and they didn't nail either of them to a cross because they were nice guys who loved and approved of everything men and women do. There was always going to be conflict with Christ's message and that of his established Church on earth. That the wise man brought myrrh to the manger at Bethlehem and Simeon's words show that it wasn't going to be a lovely holiday. Yes, ours is a Church of sinners - were it not there would be no need for the Sacraments, particularly that of Penance, but this doesn't make the teachings any less true, pure or sacred. Our positive response is our call to personal holiness and most of us regularly fail in this but we keep trying. To change things - to make it all easier and less relevant would be a revolting betrayal of what the Lord entrusted his first Pope with. We will all stand in judgement one day.
Let us pray then that the Holy Spirit gives us a Pope for the needs of today and tomorrow and continues the corrective agenda given to us by recent Popes who have been great teachers of the Faith and morals in light of the direction taken by the authors of the nebulous and often erroneous "spirit of Vatican II" which has been trotted out for far too long. Heterodoxy does not serve Christ or his Church well. It cannot. We need only look at the Reformation in our country and the shambles which is the C of E to see where this leads. Humanae Vitae, Veritas Splendour and Summorum Pontificum are, for example, teaching documents which allow us to look at and accept the reforms of the Council through that hermeneutic of continuity which our most recent Pontiff regularly spoke and wrote.

The above views are entirely mine and do not reflect the views of the LMS.

Laetare Sunday

On Sunday we are at the midpoint through Lent. It is Laetare Sunday and the penitential purple gives way to the rose, the Church's way of saying to us to continue with our penance, fasting, prayer and almsgiving - there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Masses will be as follows:

Saturday (Vigil) 6.00 p.m. St. Mary's, Gibbet Street, Halifax.
Sunday 11.00 a.m. Sacred Heart , Broughton Hall, Skipton.
              3.00 p.m. St. Peter's, Leeds Road, Laisterdyke, Bradford (Sung).
              3.00 p.m. St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford.


HOLY WEEK MASSES

23-24 March.  PALM SUNDAY
Vigil 6.00 p.m. St. Mary's, Gibbet Street, Halifax.
         11.00 a.m. Sacred Heart , Broughton Hall, Skipton.     
         3.00 p.m. St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford.
25 March 
        9.30 a.m. Sacred Heart , Broughton Hall, Skipton.
26 March
        9.30 a.m. Sacred Heart , Broughton Hall, Skipton.
27 March    Spy Wednesday
         9.30 a.m. Sacred Heart , Broughton Hall, Skipton.
28 March     MAUNDY THURSDAY
         7.30 p.m.  Notre Dame, Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds
29 March     GOOD FRIDAY
          3.00 p.m.  Notre Dame, Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds
30 March     HOLY SATURDAY
          7.30 p.m.  Notre Dame, Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds   
31 March      EASTER SUNDAY
          11.00 a.m. Sacred Heart , Broughton Hall, Skipton.     
          3.00 p.m. St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford.

In the meantime let us pray that we have a new Pontiff before the Easter bells peal at the Gloria of the Holy Saturday Mass.

Holy Week

I am delighted to announce that the Sacred Triduum will once again be celebrated this Easter at Notre Dame Chapel, Leeds University Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds. 

Times to follow.

So

Well here we are.
Benedict XVI "EP"* is I pray happily in retirement and at the same time we have no Pope. The silver hammer traditionally used by the Camerlengo to check if a Pope is dead will for our last Pope not now be used.
*EP - Emeritus Pontiff who gave us the EF.

Our thoughts can respectfully return to the matter in hand. A new Pope.

Anybody with an opinion and his brother will know who the next best Pope will be. Even more people will believe that they know what the Church needs and even more will like me have a personal favourite.
But nobody actually knows who will emerge as the next Pope.

Let our next Pope continue to lead us in the Faith to reach our heavenly home.

On Friday evening  Father Wiley offered Mass for the election of a Pontiff and it was a pleasure to see a chap who attended our training day in February serve the Mass with near perfection.
At the end of Mass we sang "Lord for tomorrow and its needs".
Father Wiley commented afterwards on how strange it felt to mention neither the name of the pope nor that of the bishop during the Canon.

This weekend:

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

              6.00 p.m. (Vigil Lent III) St. Mary's, Gibbet Street, Halifax
             
Sunday 11.00 a.m. Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall, near Skipton- Missa cantata
             3.00 p.m. St Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford
             4.00 p.m. Holy Spirit, Bath Road, Heckmondwike

Gratias tibi ago

Sunday Mass at Broughton Hall

The regular first Sunday Mass at Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall near Skipton will be upon us shortly. Thereafter Mass will be offered EVERY Sunday at 11.00 a.m. instead of at 10.00 a.m. It is hoped that the later time will be more attractive to those who live some distance away from the chapel including those from this side of the Salford and Lancaster dioceses.
As ever thanks to Father Parfitt for this.

Mass for election of a Pope

On Friday we will be truly sede vacante in Leeds - no Pope, no Bishop.

The Mass at Immaculate Heart, Leeds on Friday (1st. March) at 7.30 p.m. will be a Votive Mass for the election of a supreme Pontiff. It would be good to see a good number of people at this Mass to pray for a worthy successor to Pope Benedict - a man, whoever he is, who will need great courage and strength to guide the Church.

Please make an extra Lenten first Friday effort to hear this Mass.

New title

I have just read on the Transalpine Redemptorists' blog that from 7.00 p.m. GMT Pope Benedict will be referred to as His Holiness, Benedict XVI, Bishop Emeritus of Rome. For the announcement copy and paste the following link

 http://papastronsay.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/his-holiness-benedict-xvi-bishop.html

Lent II

Masses this weekend for the second Sunday of Lent are listed below:

Saturday 6.00 p.m. St Mary's, Halifax

Sunday 10.00 a.m. Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall, Skipton

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

Sunday 4.00 p.m. Holy Spirit, Heckmondwike

This will be a historic week as the Holy Father will abdicate at 8.00 p.m. on Thursday leaving the Church sede vacante. On Friday,  First Friday Masses will be at 

9.30 a.m. Sacred Heart Broughton

7.30 p.m. Immaculate Heart, Moortown, Leeds

At 2.00 p.m. on Saturday 2nd March, Mgr Gordon Read, National Chaplain to the LMS, will be celebrating a Solemn Mass in Westminster Cathedral.  It will be the Votive Mass, pro eligendo Summo Pontifice (for the election of a Pope).

Although a Mass at Westminster Cathedral on this date has been planned for some time, the resignation and Pope Benedict, and the expected calling of a conclave for later in March, has given the event added significance.  Furthermore, I understand that there is a possibility that the Mass will be televised, and therefore reach a wider, possibly worldwide, audience.  

Thank you

Thank you to all who made our training day at Notre Dame chapel possible today (pictured above).

Thanks to Fr. Kravos for so readily permitting us to use the chapel and excellent facilities, to Fr. Wiley for singing the Mass for us and to Mr. Waddington for sharing the tuition with me. It was wonderful for him and me to watch the tutees serve a sung Mass with only the odd mistakes. One gentleman is now going to serve Low Mass the next time his Parish Priest offers Mass in the parish, whilst our youngest participant graduated from Low Mass server, to candle bearer to thurifer and carried out this function with great precision at the Mass.

Reminder that later this week there will be a sung Mass for the second Thursday of Lent at Bewerley Grange chapel, Pateley Bridge on (CORRECTION) February 21st. at 11.30 a.m. (Photo - Fr. Parfitt at Bewerley)

On a sad note I learned from Fr. Kravos of the death of Canon Dennis Tangney who was the first priest to offer the Sunday indult Mass at Killingbeck Cemetery chapel back in 1988. On that occasion he was not particularly happy about it. When he retired many years later it was like us losing a member of the family. Canon Tangney was a pastoral priest and a very fine preacher whom I always looked forward to hearing. The late Gerry Lyons often recounted the occasion when Gerry had gone early to Killingbeck and there was a terrible snow storm. Mass was due to start and only Gerry was there, until he saw a muffled figure walking up the drive to the chapel. It was Canon Tangney who had abandoned his car and walked to say the Mass. He vested as if nothing was amiss and proceeded to offer the Mass. After the Gospel he turned to Gerry, who was serving and the only other person there and said, "I'll preach if  you  like."
Canon Tangney died on Friday night at 6.30 p.m. at the home of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Headingley.  
May he rest in peace.

Quadragesima

Tomorrow (Saturday) we have our server training day at Notre Dame chapel, Leeds University Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue,  Leeds. The doors will be open from 10.00 a.m. for a prompt start at 10.30 a.m. Please bring a packed lunch and something to drink.
Mass will be at around 3.30 p.m. and will be in anticipation of Quadragesima.

6.30 p.m. vigil Mass at St. Mary's, Gibbet Street, Halifax.

Sunday

10.00 a.m. Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall, Skipton.
3.00 p.m. St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford. I shall ask Fr. Driver to sign a Mass card for me to send directly to the Holy Father on behalf of the LMS in Leeds as suggested by Fellow Rep Mr. O'Neill, Hexham and Newcastle. (see sidebar)

Please note the scheduled Mass at Heckmondwike, Holy Spirit, will now be next week at the usual 4.00 p.m.
Please do anything you can to support Fr. Abberton's Masses at Holy Spirit. I was ashamed to hear that attendance there earlier this month was down to only 3 people. Let's hope it was the weather to blame.

 God bless the Pope!

Shock

I must confess to having been extremely shocked today when I checked the blogs in my coffee break this morning. I even thought that perhaps I'd not realized it was April 1st and not February 11th. I had to leave the school premises and have a cigarette or two to get my head round what I'd read.
Whilst listening to the BBC news on Radio 4 at 5 o'clock on my way home and I heard the pope's address in Latin I had to choke back a tear or two. One of my daughters had already rung home from University to say that she had been similarly moved. We had both had front row seats at Birmingham when his Holiness visited our country.
This said I do have to admire the Holy Father's courage in breaking with a tradition which is centuries old. I saw on the internet that he had left his pallium at the tomb of Pope Celestine V at Aquila in 2009 after the devastating earthquake there. Pope Saint Celestine resigned the papacy in 1294 aged 79. No doubt Pope Benedict saw first hand the effects of the ill-health suffered by his predecessor, Blessed John Paul,  and moreover the effects it had on the Church in that suffering Pontiff's final years on earth.
Benedict has taken a courageous step forward - in humility and more importantly in Faith - faith that it is the Holy Spirit who guides the Church. There can be little doubt that the Pope's physical frailty is something he does not wish to hinder the progress of the Church especially in these dreadful times in which we live. He is to all extents and purposes still a man with a mission but is wise enough to know that there are others who can take forward his reforms whilst he starts to live a life more accustomed to someone in their mid-eighties and out of the spotlight and flash of cameras everywhere he goes. A natural teacher and not the Rottweiler he had been dubbed at his election, it is strange that this crass tag soon fell into the oblivion it deserved.
How things will develop with a Pope emeritus and who will now lead the Church remain to be seen. The Pope has obviously given this matter no little thought and prayer.

We here in Leeds Diocese, will I believe, for the first time be hearing Mass where no Bishop or Pope is named in the Roman Canon from March 1st 2013.
In the meantime we will soon be having a Votive Mass 'Pro Eligendo Summo Pontifice': the Mass 'Suscitabo mihi', which seems very odd given that we still have a Pope, who many of us love and who will be mentioned in the Roman Canon, the norm being that the Church is usually in mourning when this Mass is offered.
God Bless Pope Benedict XVI and may Joseph Ratzinger have a long and happy retirement.

Success in Harrogate

A congregation of over 70 came to our first Mass at St. Joseph's, Bilton and I would like to thank Father Byrne, the Parish Priest and the celebrant Fr. Smith, who is an army chaplain. I would hope that we will be able to return to St. Joseph's in the future.

On Saturday we shall be having our training day at Notre Dame, Leeds University Catholic chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds. We will be starting at 10.30 a.m. prompt and concluding with Mass at 3.30 p.m. I am working on the premise that this will be a sung Mass in anticipation of the first Sunday of Lent. Please bring a packed lunch.

Masses for Quinquagesima

Masses this Sunday, the last before Lent begins are as follows:

Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall, Skipton, 10.00 a.m.
St. Peter's, Leeds Road, Laisterdyke, Bradford. 3.00 p.m. (sung)
St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford. 3.00 p.m.
AND
St. Joseph's, Skipton Road, Bilton, Harrogate, 4.00 p.m.

Mass for Ash Wednesday at Broughton Hall at 11.00 a.m.

Saturday is our server training day at Leeds University Catholic chaplaincy. 10.30 a.m.- 4.00 p.m. More details later this week.