Chairman's Blog

15/06/2024 - 12:46

Learn Latin this Summer!

The Latin Mass Society offers 80% discounts to clerics, seminarians, and those about to enter seminary (trainee permanent deacons too!), if they are based in or come from England and Wales, to learn Latin either online or at our in-person course in August. Lay people are also welcome of course!

In person teaching (more here)

Monday to Saturday, 12-17th August, at Park Place Pastoral Centre near Fareham in Hampshire.

An intensive course to make the most of your time
Based on the Latin of the Traditional Mass
Three tutors to make sure everyone has exactly the level of Latin instruction they need
Daily Traditional Mass celebrated by our chaplain
A Catholic ethos
80% discount for clergy and seminarians
50% discount for students
Another £55 off for LMS members

The course is very competitively priced even without the discounts!

The Latin of the liturgy: while the basic grammar is the same it is has its own style, vocabulary, and peculiarities, and the examples and exercises used in the course are taken from the Missal text.

More information and booking here.

Some testimonials:

"I cannot thank you enough for organising this course."

"A good diversity of liturgical texts—I was particularly pleased that we did most of the Roman Canon. Participants learned a lot and had a good time."

"I found the level challenging, but not overwhelming—just right for me."

"I’ve been twice to the course now and enjoyed it, I convinced another seminarian to join me this year. I will probably come back next year…"

Online Latin teaching (more here)

Like the residential course, the Latin Mass Society provides a 80% discount for clergy and seminarians from England and Wales to take part.

The LMS is now able to support two very different but complementary ways of learning Latin.

“Live” instruction: Whether you are an absolute beginner or a more experienced Latinist who is returning to the language, after some time away, you can now join an expressly designed live class — run by Peter Day-Milne. He has taken over these groups from Matthew Spencer and brings to the table a carefully arranged series of sessions (both for beginners and intermediate students). More details, including how to sign up, can be seen at latinexplained.com.

“Self study / asynchronous” method: This is Matthew and Peter's budget option, designed to fit the needs of those who wish to study in their own time. For no more than £50 you can be introduced to all the grammar of four classic prayers via our “Latin shots” — not a jolt of caffeine but a dose of expertly introduced grammar to set you on your way. The four prayers covered at present are: Regina Caeli (the Marian antiphon for Eastertide); Salve Regina; Ave Maria and of course the Pater Noster. If you want some bespoke feedback, an encouraging word from a Latinist by email to make sure you’re on track, the charge is no more than £75 for 16 weeks of (32) videos — otherwise the course can be done independently.

Both methods — live class and self study — are interoperable. You might start off on one and then switch to the other. For example, the more immersive free flowing approach of “Latin shots” might be a good way to refresh the nervous system after those all important weeks formally studying grammar by way of a dedicated live class — though please note that attention to grammatical detail is, ultimately, a preoccupation of all our provision, even if Matthew’s and Peter’s ways of approaching grammar are naturally different.

(See the-pages-of-latin.com for more detail, including references.)

See the LMS page on the online courses here.

Email learnlatin@lms.org.uk to enquire about any of these courses.

The Traditional Mass in Park Place Pastoral Centre on a previous occasion.

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05/06/2024 - 16:21

Getting men to Mass: for Catholic Answers

Men outnumber women at the LMS Walsingham Pilgrimage: sign up here!

My latest pieces for Catholic Answers is about the alarming typical imbalance between men and women at Mass in the West. I devote a chapter to the 'feminisation of Christianity' in my book, The Liturgy, the Family, and the Crisis of Modernity, and there is also quite a lot on the subject on this blog.

There is a certainly a marked contrast between the imbalance of the sexes at typical Novus Ordo celebrations and the more balanced situation in the Traditional Mass, with some activities associated with it, which are particularly appealing to men, such as walking pilgrimages, often showing a clear majority of men. This is beginning to enter the discourse as a fact accepted by all sides: after all, anyone can see it for themselves by visiting a few Masses on Sunday. But as I note in this article, the tendency among liturgical progressives is not to acknowledge that they might have something to learn from others, but rather that it must be the case that anything in the Church able to attract men must be misogynistic.

That would be a pretty grim conclusion: that men will only attend Mass if it is in some sense anti-woman. It conforms, however, to an unspoken idea that seems behind a lot of modern discourse, that men are intrinsically bad, and not worth trying to save: worthy only, in fact, of condemnation, for characteristics that they cannot help having, as if God were not pleased with His creation after all.

My article for Catholic Answers begins:

In the United States, in England, and across the developed world, women outnumber men in Catholic churches on Sundays. (Figures over time in the USA can be seen here; a worldwide study can be seen here.) The phenomenon got a mention in Pope St John Paul II’s 1988 post-synodal exhortation Christifideles laici 52: “various sectors in the Church must lament the absence or the scarcity of the presence of men.” Despite this, there seems to be much more discussion of the lapsation of women in the Church, and far more concern is expressed about teachings and liturgical practices that might put women off.

Male Catholics might be forgiven for forming the impression that the Church’s hierarchy and commentariat do not, in general, view their disappearance from Mass as very important. Certainly, there are some voices that seem more eager to use the absence of men as an argument for the ordination of women than to do anything to redress the imbalance.

Read it all there.

We also have female-dominated events! Sign up for the next Guild of St Clare
Sewing Retreat here, or join us in London this Saturday.

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03/06/2024 - 18:42

Corpus Christi Procession in the rain

I think special credit is due when a procession takes place in the rain. This one was onthe feast of Corpus Christi, last Thursday, at SS Gregory & Augustine's, Oxford.

After the procession we had Benediction.

We had previously had High Mass.

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31/05/2024 - 18:09

An Ordinariate for Traditionalists?

Three priests of the Archdiocese of Westminster take part in a High Mass
for Pentecost Monday in Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, in London.

My latest on 1Peter5.

It begins:

In the new edition of the traditionalist journal Sedes Sapientiae readers will find an article by Fr Louis-Marie de Blignières FSVF on the idea of a traditionalist ‘circumscription’, a term covering Personal Ordinariates and Prelatures, and a response to this article by me. Fr de Blignières, for those who don’t know, is the founder and superior of the Society of St Vincent Ferrer, which uses the traditional Dominican Rite. His article promotes the idea of a “circumscription” for Traditionalists: a non-geographical diocese headed by an Ordinary appointed by Rome. I am a bit more sceptical.

Since then an interview with Fr de Blignières has been published on Rorate Caeli on this subject, and I have been encouraged to put my thoughts about it into the public domain as well, to further stimulate what is a very necessary debate. What follows is complementary to my Sedes Sapientiae article.

Read the whole thing there.

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28/05/2024 - 11:40

Dan Hitchens on Sister Clare Crocket: podcast from the Latin Mass Society

Dan Hitchens gave a talk to the Latin Mass Society's series of talks, 'Iota Unum'. He spoke about the remarkable religious sister, Clare Crockett, who hailed from Northern Ireland and died in Ecuador in 2016, aged 33. Her order was the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother (S.H.M.).

You can listen to Dan's talk on the LMS podcast channel: search for 'Latin Mass Society'

or 'Iota Unum'; here is direct link: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-j3pmw-1623f84

If you are in reach of London, do join us for these talks in person, meet the speaker, have a glass of wine, and meet some people in real life!

The next talk:

Friday 28th June, Sebastian Morello: ‘Cartesian Catholicism and the Loss of Sacred Space’

Talks take place in the basement of Our Lady of the Assumption; please enter by the back entrance into the basement: 24 Golden Square, W1F 9JR near Piccadilly Tube Station (click for a map).

Doors open at 6:30pm; the talk will start at 7pm.

There is a charge of £5 on the door to cover refreshments and other expenses.

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25/05/2024 - 09:42

Happy 20th Birthday, Juventutem International!

For the 20th Anniversary of the foundation of Juventutem International. The celebrant was Fr Armand de Malleray; deacon Fr Henry Whisenant, subdeacon Fr Neil Brett. In the church of St Mary Magdalen's, Wandsworth. Thursday of the Octave of Pentecost. It was accompanied by the Southwell Consort and sponsored by the Latin Mass Society.

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24/05/2024 - 12:13

Fr John Hunwicke: 'month's mind' Requiem

The Latin Mass Society is pleased to announce that on Wednesday 29th May a Requiem Mass will be celebrated for the late Fr John Hunwicke, roughly a month after his death on 30th April 2024, in London.

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, has a regular Wednesday evening Traditional Mass, and this is taking place in that time slot, at 6:30pm.

It will be celebrated by the parish priest, Fr Mark Elliot Smith, who, like Fr Hunwicke, is a priest of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

It will be accompanied by the Southwell Consort, singing Victoria's Missa pro defunctis.

As an aside, we have arranged a Mass to be celebrated near the 20th anniversary of the Michael T. Davies, at our annual Mass at St Augustine's, Snave, on the feast of the Holy Cross, Saturday 14th September. (Because of the feast it will not be a Requiem Mass, but it will be offered for him.)

Mass in Snave is at 12 noon. (Click for a map.) See my report of the last one.

Requiem in Warwick Street from last year.

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20/05/2024 - 14:08

Novena for a special intention, starting Tusday 21st May.

Bishop Sherrington giving Benediction at the LMS Confirmations in 2019, St James' Spanish Place.

The Latin Mass Society calls for a Novena
in honour of Corpus Christi

We appeal to our members, supporters, and well-wishers
to pray a Novena with us for an special intention:

beginning on Tuesday
21^st May,

and culminating on the
eve of Corpus Christi, Wednesday 29^th May.

This is not some matter of international importance,
pertaining to just one diocese, but it is of great importance for those
concerned, and it is emblematic of the sufferings of Catholics attached to the
Traditional Mass which have followed Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Traditionis
custodes.

For the case we have in mind, and for all similarly
affected because of their devotion to the Church’s traditions, we implore the
assistance of Our Lord, really present in the tabernacles of our churches,
through the intercession of His Mother and St Joseph Patron of the Church, and
of our church’s patron saints: to remember His people. Those praying this
Novena might like to use the following invocation (repeated three times):

Parce Dómine, parce pópulo tuo: ne in ætérnum irascáris
nobis.

Spare, O Lord, spare Thy
people: and be not angry with them for ever.

I have a little comment on this here. This is one of our irregular 'Chairman's Briefings' which go to people signed up to the monthly Newsletter.

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16/05/2024 - 14:45

Praying for the Conversion of the Jews

The Good Friday 'Intercessions' in 2023, in St Mary Moorfields, London.

In the Evening Prayer of the 1974 Liturgy of the Hours, on Easter Sunday and throughout its octave, and then again on the third and fifth Sundays of Eastertide, the Church prays,

"Let Israel recognize in you [Jesus] the Messiah it has longed for; fill all men with the knowledge of your glory."

The Church desires that Jesus of Nazareth be accepted as the longed for “Christ,” by “Israel”—Israel in the biblical sense, the Jewish people. This implies that they accept the Christian faith, in the context of the Church’s mission to “all men.”

Readers who have followed the debate surrounding the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews found in the pre-Vatican II 1962 Missal may find this surprising, but this is not an isolated case. Even more explicit prayers for the conversion of the Jewish people are found in the Liturgy of the Hours, in the Morning Prayer of December 31 and in Lauds on January 2, and the idea is raised elsewhere.

Read the whole thing there.

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12/05/2024 - 10:00

Ascension Day High Mass in Oxford

A splendid High Mass took place in SS Gregory & Augustine's in Oxford for the Ascension. The celebrant was the Priest in Charge, Fr John Saward, assisted by Rev. James Forde-Johnson (as deacon) and Rev. Kevin O'Connor (as subdeacon).