Chairman's Blog
12/08/2022 - 20:10
What does pastoral care look like?
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| The Traditional Mass behind bars: so to speak. The Oxford Oratory. |
It has become clear that the Dicastery of Divine Worship, which alone has the authority to permit priests ordained after Traditionis custodes to celebrate the Traditional Mass, is systematically refusing to do so, even though requests are coming not from individual priests, but their bishops.
What reasons are being given? I have been given sight of a letter of refusal, and I suspect the others are substantially identical.
…this Dicastery is of the opinion that this [permission] would not be an opportune decision. Therefore, we deny the request. The path established by the Holy Father in Traditionis custodes is quite clear and this has been underscored both in the “Letter to Bishops of the Whole World” which accompanied the Motu proprio and in the Responsa ad dubia of this Dicastery, which were personally approved by the Holy Father. In this latter document, with regard to this very point, it was highlighted that the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council “has enhanced every element of the Roman Rite and has fostered – as hoped for by the Council Fathers – the full, conscious and active participation of the entire people of God in the liturgy (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium no. 14), the primary source of authentic Christian spirituality”. Most recently the Holy Father’s Apostolic Letter of 29 June, Desiderio Desideravi, on the liturgical formation of the people of God, expands on the above mentioned letter to the bishops and reaffirms Pope Francis’ desire that unity around the celebration of the liturgy be re-established in the whole Church of the Roman Rite (n. 61).
There is of course no difficulty for Fr [] to celebrate Mass according to the editio typica tertia (2008) of the Missale Romanum.
I wonder about that last sentence. I can't help but think that in some previous version it said at the end 'in Latin', and that this has been removed, without anyone noticing that the whole sentence is no pointless. The letter is about a priest; of course he can say the Novus Ordo!
It is noteworthy that although the letter begins by saying that the documents supporting the request have been studied carefully, the reasons for refusing the request is entirely general, not specific to the situation of the diocese.
Given that Pope Francis explicitly made provision for permissions to be given, and given that bishops requesting them presumably have good reason to do so, the attitude of the Dicastery does not seem like a straightforward application of the rules. There is something more here: something hostile to the provision which Pope Francis expected to be made 'to provide for the good of those who are rooted in the previous form of celebration.'
Is this what pastoral care looks like?
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10/08/2022 - 12:00
The Morning After Pill: abortion or contraception?
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| Annual Mass of reparation for abortion at England's Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe organised by the Latin Mass Society. The next one will be on 12 noon, Saturday 12th November; St Joseph's, Bedford MK40 1HU |
My latest on Catholic Answers wades into some of the complexities about the 'Morning After Pill', aka 'Emergency Contraception'.
It begins:
Recently, a spokesman for the bishops of Louisiana suggested that the use of so-called “emergency contraception” is compatible with Catholic teaching in cases of rape. The news article reporting this connected it with the explicit exception made for “emergency contraception” in the restriction of abortion by new Louisiana abortion laws, made possible by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. There are, however, a tangle of issues here that I will try to separate.
The Catholic Church teaches that human life is worthy of protection from the moment of conception—the moment when the genetic material of an ovum and of a sperm are united to form a new human (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2270 and following). The Church, further, demands that this life be protected by law (2273).
Read the whole thing there.
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09/08/2022 - 11:00
SCT Summer School: Classes and activities
The St Catherine's Trust Summer School has always been concerned not only to give the children a pleasant time, but with education: to convey something to them, not just a bit of catechism but a range of lessons on Catholic history, art, philosophy, Latin and Greek, and so on. There is a limit to what we can do in a week, but we want to give the children at least a taste of a range of things connected with our beautiful Faith.
To this end we have five 40-minute lessons most days, as well as Sung Mass, Rosary, Compline, and activities. Most of one day was dedicated to a trip to Oxford, where we had Mass in the Oratory and a tour of some sites of particular Catholic interest.
The week includes a quiz on what the children have learned, and we had football and tennis in the afternoons.
Every year the children perform a staged reading of part of Dorothy Sayers' radio plays on the life of Christ.
Rehearsing some polyphony for the final Mass of the week.
One afternoon activity was sewing; this year they made pocket shrines, which our chaplain, Fr Andrew Southwell, blessed (below).
To join the mailing list email info@stcatherinestrust.org; to make a donation see here.
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08/08/2022 - 18:31
SCT Summer School photos: liturgy
We have just concluded our annual Summer School, organised by the St Catherine's Trust: a small charity I set up for this purpose in 2004. It took place this year (for the first time) at the St Cassian's Retreat Centre, Kintbury. The Chaplain was Fr Andrew Southwell, a priest of Southwark Archdiocese. This was the first Summer School since 2019, due to Covid, and ran from 31st July to 6th August.
On the Wednesday of the week, we had a day-trip to Oxford, with Mass at the Oratory--thanks to the hospitality of the Fathers.
These are photos of our liturgies: Mass in St Cassian's, in a temporary chapel (the permanent one was too small for us); in the Oxford Oratory; Compline, Benediction, Stations of the Cross outside, and veneration of a relic of St Pius X which has been given to the Latin Mass Society.
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07/08/2022 - 13:04
LMS AGM Mass: photos
I didn't have time to post these photos until now, but here they are: from Saturday 30th July, in St Mary Moorfields. The celebrant was Canon Amaury Montjean ICKSP, the deacon Fr Michael Cullinan, and the subdeacon Fr John Scott.
My address to the Annual General Meeting, which followed this Mass, can be heard here.
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26/07/2022 - 17:48
Radio discussion with Fr Robert McTeigue SJ
You can hear my latest chat with Fr McTeigue SJ on his Catholic Current radio show here.
It is always a pleasure to shoot the breeze with Fr McTeigue! This was my second visit to the show, and our theme was Pope Francis' Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi on liturgical formation.
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14/07/2022 - 10:00
New video on the LMS Walsingham Pilgrimage
Here is a 6 1/2 minute promotional video for the Latin Mass Society's Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham; it's a longer version of the one embedded in the LMS booking page.
For more information and to book a place on the pilgrimage, see here.
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13/07/2022 - 11:31
Part-time Job opportunity at the Latin Mass Society
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| The current LMS Office, when it opened in 2009. |
The Latin Mass Society is advertising for a part-time employee.
We have two full-time employees, plus this part-time role, two freelancers who work for us, and many volunteers, in the Office and around the country. I believe the Latin Mass Society is the only national 'Una Voce' group around the world to have permanent staff of any kind.
This role is administrative: answering the phone, maintaining data-bases, fulfilling orders to our online shop, and so on.
We will soon be in a new, larger, office, where our thriving shop can continue to expand. We last upgraded our office space in 2009, and were planning to do this again before Covid struck.
The deadline for applications is 26th August.
Job title: Office Assistant
Based in our central London office, the Office Assistant will be responsible for the administrative
work of the charity. The General Manager is their line manager.
KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
- Office administration - The Office Assistant acts as the principal secretary for the LMS office.
- This includes general correspondence, answering telephone calls, post and emails.
- Membership administration - The Office Assistant is responsible for the membership database (CiviCRM), membership renewals, data entry, data analysis, data export (print or email mail-merges).
- Mail-order - The Office Assistant is responsible for the administration of the LMS online shop (Drupal Commerce). This includes stock replenishment, stock management, product updates/additions and order fulfilment (picking, packing & mailing).
- Information administration - The Office Assistant is responsible for compiling information which pertains to the Charity, including research and document publication and distribution.
- Volunteer administration – The Office Assistant is responsible for overseeing office work undertaken by volunteers.
- Other tasks as determined by the General Manager.
More details from the LMS Website.
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07/07/2022 - 16:54
New podcasts: interview with Timothy Stanley
In this podcast with Tim Stanley I discuss his recent book Whatever Happened to Tradition?
You can find on various platforms; on Podbean it is here.
He also gave a talk in the Latin Mass Society's Iota Unum series in London; more about that series here.
Tim writes in the Telegraph and is on Twitter as @timothy_stanley
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06/07/2022 - 17:19
Learn Latin this Summer! Residential and Online options
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| Mass at Park Place during the Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat in the spring. |
Not many of those reading this blog will be able to put their hands on their hearts and say that their Latin could not be improved. So why not do something about it?
Residential Latin Course, 8th - 13th August
The Latin Mass Society hasn't had a residential Latin course since before Covid, but this year we are back, better than ever: a better venue, and the option of beginners' New Testament Greek as well as beginners or intermediate Latin. The great Fr John Hunwicke will be with us to teach Latin.
The venue is Park Place Pastoral Centre in Hampshire (PO17 5HA), a quiet rural setting with en suite rooms and excellent food.
There are discounts for LMS members (yes, join us to get one, it's cheaper that way) and enormous discounts for clergy, seminarians, and religious.
All the details are here.
Online Courses, July–October
Can't make it to Hampshire in August? From later this month the next round of online courses organised by Matthew Spencer, now with an assistant, Peter Day-Milne, starting late this month.
The courses accommodate Latinists of all levels, and include options to explore a wide range of Latin registers: liturgical Latin, the Latin of the Fathers, Classical Latin, the Latin of modern Church documents, and so on.
The courses are essentially ongoing through the year, and can be done from anywhere in the world.
The LMS' sponsorship for clergy and seminarians applies to these as well. In fact we will pay 80% of the cost for clergy etc. based in or from England and Wales.
All the details are here.
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