Chairman's Blog
The Last Rites and the Emergency Services
As the United Kingdom has secularised, so the role of Christian ministers has diminished. If you read stories of natural crises from fifty years ago, priests and Anglican vicars are often involved. At the 1966 disaster at Aberfan in Wales, when a heap of spoil from a coal mine engulfed a school, the local vicar was practically the only person regarded as having responsibility for the emotional and spiritual trauma suffered by the people of the town. One of the most memorable images from the “troubles” of Northern Ireland is of a Catholic priest waving a white handkerchief, escorting a group of people carrying an injured man to safety, on “Bloody Sunday” in 1972. Times, sadly, have changed.
As the role of the Church has diminished, so have priests’ opportunities to make a positive difference. Last week a prominent Catholic Member of Parliament, David Amess, was stabbed by (apparently) an Islamist fanatic. As he lay dying, a Catholic priest was refused admission through the police cordon to give him the Last Rites. The priest seemed to accept the explanation: Amess, surrounded as he was by police officers and medics, was in a “crime scene” which couldn’t be disturbed by anyone as trivial as a priest.
LMS Oxford Pilgrimage: photos
LMS Pilgrimage in honour of the Chideock martyrs
The Traditional Mass and Diversity
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| Venerating Our Lady of Walsingham at the end of the LMS Walking Pilgrimage in August this year. |
In a recent article in the Illinois Times, Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia, is quoted as follows, of a specific Traditional Mass location:
It’s not an accident that all of these Catholics at the old Mass are white, because one of the things that happened after Vatican II was an ‘inculturation’ of the liturgy. …The Latin Mass is white and European by its definition, because it’s a product of the Catholic Church of the 16th century. So, this is creating serious problems because it is never limited to the liturgy only, but it is always the first step to saying Vatican II was a disaster.
I would far rather ignore these childish accusations, but I fear that if they are repeated frequently enough without rebuttal they will become established as part of the liberal narrative about the Traditional Latin Mass. But in order to shoe-horn the movement for the ancient Mass into the role of the bad guys in some racially-charged political confrontation, Faggioli needs to distort the past and ignore the present. Let’s start with the past.
Read the whole thing there.
New edition of the FIUV's magazine: Gregorius Magnus 12, Winter 2021
Reactions to Traditionis CustodesFrom members' magazines: Peter Kwasniewski on proclaiming the Gospel to the north; Pope Francis and Dante; Remembering Mgr Richard Soseman; Cardinal Merry del Val.Features: J.R.R.Tolkien by Robert Lazu Kmita; Traditional walking pilgrimage in Spain.50th Anniversary of the English Indult; Petitions from 1966 to 1997.
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Part time job vacency in the LMS
The Latin Mass Society is unique among Una Voce groups around the world in having a permanent office and paid staff. Above is a picture of our office which I took when we moved into it (from a smaller one) in 2009. It is big enough to have volunteers working in part of it, and for schola rehearsals in the evenings and vestment mending on Saturdays. It located in Holborn, London's theatre district, not far from Corpus Christi Maiden Lane.
We have two full-time members of staff, two freelancers (our publicist and our magazine editor), and, usually, a part-timer. Our previous part-time employee is moving to Canada, so we need to replace her.
Details below.
The Latin Mass Society has a vacancy for a part-time Office Assistant, based in Holborn.
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.
The full job description and details of the application process can be found here. Closing date for applications is Friday 22nd October 2021.
LMS Pilgrimage to Oxford, 11am Sat 16th October, Blackfriars
At 11am the Dominicans will be celebrating for us a High Mass in honour of the Martyrs of Oxford University. It will be accompanied with Dominican chant and polyphony.
Online stole making course from the Guild of St Clare, 30th October
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| An 'off line' Guild event |
Photos Masses in Oxford
We had two Sung Masses last week: for St Michael the Archangel, and a Requiem for someone who died during the Coronavirus epidemic. Both were accompanied with polyphony directed by Dominic Bevan.
With thanks to Fr John Saward, priest in charge, and the multitasking MC Richard Pickett.
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New Guild of St Clare video: a large patch
Support the Latin Mass Society