Next week

There are some events which I would like to draw to your attention over the next few days:

Tuesday 25th March - Mass for the feast of the Incarnation  - Sacred Heart,  Broughton Hall near Skipton, 9.30 a.m.

Saturday 29th March - National annual pilgrimage to York in honour of St Margaret Clitherow and the York Martyrs - High Mass at St Wilfrid's, York. There will be no Mass at Notre Dame, Leeds as I shall be at the Mass in York.

On Sunday 30th we have an extra sung  Mass at St. Joseph's, Bilton Harrogate at 4.00 p.m.
On Monday 31st we have an extra Mass at St Ignatius, Ossett at 7.30 p.m.

Third Sunday of Lent

Masses this weekend

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

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

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

Next week there will be an extra Mass (sung) at St. Joseph's, Skipton Road,  Bilton, Harrogate at 4.00 p.m.offered  by Fr. David Smith of the army, and as always with the blessing of Fr. Byrne, the PP.

Congratulations to Archbishop McMahon

The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham as Archbishop of Liverpool. I have met his grace on several occasions at Latin Mass events and Masses and have always found him to be  charming and courteous. I wish him every success in taking on Liverpool.

Photo - Bishop McMahon at the 2013 LMS training event at Radcliffe College near Leicester.

Happy St. Joseph's day!

Holy Joseph, pray for us!

More on Chesterton

Yesterday I reported that Dale Ahlquist will be speaking at Heckmondwike in April, later that day he will be speaking in Leeds.
Here are the details, courtesy of the Leeds Diocese website:

On Sunday  April 6^th Dale Ahlquist will be speaking at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Heckmondwike on "G.K. Chesterton and the Real Father Brown" at 2pm.

Holy Spirit Church was built by Fr. John O'Connor, the priest upon whom Chesterton based the famous detective Fr. Brown. The Church is celebrating its centennial this year. 

Following the afternoon lecture, Dale will be speaking at Leeds Cathedral for the Cathedral's ongoing lecture series. It will be in the Wheeler Hall at 7.15pm  on the  "The Return of Chesterton".  

For more information on Chesterton click on:  www.chesterton.org

Suspension of Masses at Heckmondwike and a scoop

This year marks the centenary of the opening of the church of the Holy Spirit at Heckmondwike. There has been extensive work to repair the fabric of the building over recent months and now the church is closed for a few weeks to enable complete redecoration. Consequently there will be no Extraordinary Rite of Mass there until after Easter. There are plenty of celebrations planned for the centenary including a visit from Mr. Dale Alquist, the President of the American Chesterton Society* who will give a talk at the church on Sunday April 6th. at 2.00 p.m.


Masses tomorrow for the second Sunday of Lent

11.00 a.m. at Sacred Heart,  Broughton Hall near Skipton
3.00 p.m. at St. Joseph's, Pontefract Rd. Castleford



*Dale Ahlquist

Dale Ahlquist is President of the American Chesterton Society, creator and host of the EWTN series “G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense,” and Publisher of Gilbert Magazine. He is the author of three books, including The Complete Thinker, which was published in the fall of 2012, and has edited eight books of Chesterton's writings. He is a Senior Fellow of the Chesterton Library at Oxford, and is considered one of the leading Chesterton scholars in the world.

Dale has given over 400 lectures at major colleges and universities and other venues, including Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Notre Dame, Oxford, Cal-Berkeley, Cal-Tech, Rice, Penn, Dartmouth, San Pablo (Madrid), the Vatican Forum in Rome, and the House of Lords in London.

He is the co-founder of Chesterton Academy, a high school near Minneapolis, which was named one of the top 50 Catholic high schools in the country in 2012.

Dale received a B.A. from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and a M.A. from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He and his wife Laura have six children.

“Ahlquist on Chesterton is like Plato on Socrates, or Boswell on Johnson.” New Oxford Review.

Lent

Wednesday is Ash Wednesday - the holy season of Lent begins and our spiritual journey to the Easter fire begins. 

Ashes will be blessed and distributed before Mass at 11.00 a.m. on Wednesday at Sacred Heart, Broughton. Thanks again to Fr. Parfitt for this.

After a lot of negotiating and selfless goodwill from our clerical friends we are once again able to have the Easter Triduum. The Vigil had been in doubt, but thanks to permission from Mgr Wilson (the Apostolic Administrator) and obtained by Fr. Wiley we are able to have the Vigil earlier in the afternoon. I am really delighted that Fr. M. Hall can again grace us with his presence as celebrant for the entire Triduum and that this jubilant Mass will be sung. Thanks to Fr. Kravos for hosting us again at Notre Dame Chapel. Details of Triduum to follow.

Reminder that the Mass for the first Sunday of Lent at St. Peter's, Leeds Road, Laisterdyke, Bradford will be sung at 3.00 p.m.

Still in Septuagesima

Next Sunday is Quinquagesima and we remain in the time of Septuagesima which is an ancient time of preparation in the Church for Lent. It was abolished after thirteen hundred years in the wake of the Counsel. The following is a video from the Latin Mass Society explaining the origins of this time of preparation. It is interesting that this time pre-dates Ash Wednesday. Copy and paste the following link:  http://vimeo.com/87314140.

Mass today at Pateley Bridge was well attended and we were glad to greet the Vicar of the local Anglican parish. Father Parfitt spoke passionately about the plight of Christians in the Middle-East, especially Syria, as he offered Mass in honour of Our Lady Help of Christians and highlighted why we seek Our Lady's intercession.

Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us.
Saints of God, come to our aid.

Half term

Already we are half way through the school year and on Tuesday at 11.00 a.m. we have our Mass at Bewerley Grange Chapel, Pateley Bridge. This will be a Missa cantata. Many thanks to Sr. Mary Cuthbert and Fr. Parfitt for again enabling us to have Mass in this Grange chapel established by the Cistercians of nearby Fountains Abbey.

Frank Savage RIP

Today I had the privilege of attending the traditional Requiem Mass of local member Francis Savage who died earlier this month at the fine old age of 88. Frank was a very gentle man who put Christ at the centre of his life. The Requiem was the first traditional Mass to be offered in the new church at Alwoodley, Leeds. Despite the modern layout the church lent itself very well to the old Rite and the sacristans were very impressed. One lady told me afterwards that the gradual nature of the changes in the sixties had made her forget just how it really had been and it had come flooding back to her - the silent canon had made the biggest impact on her...she could actually focus and pray!

Masses this weekend

Please note that Mgr Smith is away for the next two weeks so no Mass at Halifax for two weeks.

Sunday 12th. January

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. Thanks to Fr. Driver for offering this Mass.

Happy New Year

My first post of the New Year is one with immediate good news. Our old friend Father Richard Aladics who has now returned to the Diocese and is Parish Priest at St. Ignatius, Ossett has with his new parishioners arranged to have the Extraordinary Mass there each last Monday of the month.

Fr. Aladics has written:

I plan to have the Mass on the last Monday of the month at 7.30pm. So, the dates for the first half of next year are:

27th January

24th February

31st March

28th April

26th May

30th June

I am also now finalising details for a conference to be held in February half term which promises to be a very special occasion and the Sacred Triduum. 

Happy New Year and God bless us all. 

Christmas Masses

Masses this Christmas

Christmas Eve

Notre Dame, University of Leeds Catholic Chaplaincy, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds, 7.00 p.m.

Sacred Heart Chapel, Broughton Hall, Skipton, 11.30 p.m.

Christmas Day

Sacred Heart Chapel, Broughton Hall, Skipton, 11.00 a.m. AND NOT AT 11.30 A.M. AS PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED. My apologies for not noticing this typo before.

I believe in....the resurrection of the body and life everlasting

I believe in purgatory. I value the ability to hear Requiem Masses for the dead and offer up prayers for the dead. I regularly go to Ypres and offer prayers for my great grandfather who fell there in October 1917.
I hold dear the fact that the Church allows the Requiem Mass to be offered on Sunday for those who fell in battle in two world wars and other wars since, fighting the menaces faced by our country.

This weekend:

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

Thank you

Prayerful thanks to all of those of you who have sent your condolences, Mass intentions, beautiful cards and letters of sympathy, attended the Requiem or assured us of your prayers over recent weeks and days. Mass will be offered for your intentions
It was very good to catch up with people this morning at the Mass at Broughton for the Feast of All Saints. There was a good attendance - I'm always glad to see young families at our Masses and there were a lot of little children at Broughton today.

Masses this weekend:

Masses for the feast of All Souls

Saturday 2nd November - Broughton Hall at 9.00a.m, 10.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m.

Masses for the 4th Sunday after the Epiphany.

Saturday 2nd. November - (Vigil) St. Mary's, Gibbet Street, Halifax at 6.00 p.m.
Sunday   3rd. November - Broughton Hall, near Skipton at 11.00 a.m. (Missa cantata).
                                    - St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford at 3.00 p.m.
                                    - Holy Spirit, Bath Road, Heckmondwike at 4.00 p.m.

During recent weeks there has been Mass at St Austin's, Wakefield - the first of many I hope and plans are now afoot for regular Solemn Masses in the diocese.

Of your charity

Please pray for the repose of the soul of my mother, Carole Christine who died at lunchtime today (Tuesday)  following 72 hours of the most utterly appalling suffering I have ever had to witness and experience. 

I think I am in a state of shock because everybody is telling me it hasn't yet properly "hit me": it cannot have, because after over 4 months of making sure all of my routine has fit in with appointments, trips to consultants, clinics, pharmacies, day centres, radiotherapy recovery sessions, Marie Curie, and more importantly with arranging 24 hour support without a day off myself, I'm now becoming anxious that I shall be unable to think of what to worry about next apart from reporting forthcoming events and serving Mass at a good number of our venues which I have been unable to attend. The last sixteen weeks have been exhausting and I am sorry to have been unable to keep things up to date. 

I shall provide an update on diocesan events soon.

Pentecost XVIII

Holy Masses this weekend for the 18th Sunday of Pentecost are as follows:

Saturday 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. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford
             4.00 p.m. Holy Spirit, Bath Road, Heckmondwike

Reminder
Mass on Thursday 26th September at Bewerley Grange Chapel, Pateley Bridge. Missa cantata at 6.30 p.m.

Forthcoming event

I have been asked to advertise the following event again, which I am more than happy to do. One of my children enjoyed this event greatly last year.

Book now for the Young Catholic Adults weekend event at Cold Ash Retreat Centre (a couple of miles from Douai Abbey, which was booked up this year).

 *It will be include the following speakers:- Fr Gregory Person OP, Fr Matthew Goddard FSSP  Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP,and Br. Gabriel Wilson O.S.B.
* There will be a Marian Procession, Rosaries, Sung/High Masses, Confession and socials.
* Gregorian Chant Workshops will also be running, this year led by the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge.

How to Book for the retreat

Prices start at £35 per night. For more details/options,  please see:- http://www.youngcatholicadults.co.uk/events.htm for the online booking service:or see the booking form on the events page.

If you have any queries, please ring Margaret on 07515 805015 or Damian on
07908105787.

Mass at Bewerley

I am delighted to announce that we shall be having Mass again at the charming Bewerley Grange Chapel, near Pateley Bridge. The Mass is in honour of Our Lady and will be on Thursday 26th. September at 6.30 p.m. 

Fr. Parfitt has asked my to remind readers that next Sunday the Mass at Broughton (15th September) will be at the earlier time of 10.00 a.m.

First Friday

Tomorrow is the First Friday of the month and there will be two public EF Masses in the diocese:

9.30 a.m. Sacred Heart, Broughton Hall, Skipton
7.30 p.m. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Harrogate Road, Moortown, Leeds


This weekend marks the Sixteenth Sunday of Pentecost - there are 5 Masses. September 8th is also the Feast of the Nativity of Our Blessed Lady.

Saturday 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, Bradford (Sung)
              3.00 p.m. St. Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford
              4.00 p.m. Holy Spirit, Bath Road, Heckmondwike (but no Mass next week)

Prayers please

My Mother is now very close to the end of her life on earth and today I received my "final instructions" about various things she wants to happen to her possessions and regarding her funeral. Her ultimate wish is to be buried with our son, who would have been twelve. The aggressive cancer has spread to the major organs of her body. She is in no physical pain, generally conscious but also anxious about what the end will be like. Our daughters have massaged her feet, combed her hair, helped her do things she cannot now do herself and more importantly kept her informed about everything that's been going on in their lives mingled with family gossip.  

Please remember her and us in your prayers.

Thank you.

Our Lady, Morning Star and Refuge in Grief, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.