Chairman's Blog
Honouring our war dead
Me on LifeSite News. A key paragraph:
There are inevitably those who are uncomfortable with the commemoration of the war dead, the commonest complaint being that it ‘glorifies war’. This seems a curious reaction to the ritualized expression of public grief, but it contains this grain of truth: the laying of wreaths and the parading of soldiers does not merely remember the dead: it honors them. If one takes the view that all war is evil, then this is no more appropriate than publicly honoring a roll-call of mass-murderers.
Catholics funerals must beseech God's mercy
Me on LifeSite News: a sample paragraph.
But the meaning of the words is only one aspect of the listener’s experience of these chants. Gregorian Chant is remarkable for expressing emotion without manipulating the hearer: it doesn’t twang on the heartstrings with euphoric or lacrimose cords, but expresses joy and sorrow in a way at once authentic, dignified, and restrained. Equally striking, with the chants for the dead, is their powerfully insistent tone, especially evident in the Dies irae. There is no need to speak at length about despair, but there is need to spend time begging God’s mercy, because God is pleased to grant it at our insistence, if we insist with a confidence that does not tip over into presumption.
LMS Bedford Pilgrimage: photos
St Joseph's is a fine church which has survived the liturgical reform pretty well. The LMS' Mass was well-attended, with 86 (I am told) present. There is a regular Sunday EF Mass celebrated in the next parish, Christ the King, served by the FSSP. The regular celebrant of that Mass, Fr Patrick O'Donohue FSSP, was the celebrant of this High Mass.
He was assisted by Fr Michael Cullina as deacon and Br Albert Robertson OP from Oxford as subdeacon. Servers came from a wide area; a small chant schola was led by Matthew Schellhorn.
This being the first Mass of its kind we faced a number of practical obstacles, but it all came together and I hope the Pilgrimage in honour of Our Lady of Guadalupe will be a regular fixture in future years.
Many thanks to the indefatigable local LMS Representative, Barbara Kay, the Parish Priest who welcomed us, Canon Seamus Keenan, and the shrine 'Guardians' who looked after us.
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Newman Colloquium: with Fr Jeremy Davies, Exorcist
As last time, 3:45pm in the parish hall at SS Gregory & Augustine's in Oxford.
The booking page is here.
Witchcraft and the Occult
My latest at LifeSite News begins as follow:
Following the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court judge, an occult book shop in New York hosted his mass-“hexing”: people identifying as witches gathered to curse him. They had earlier done the same thing to President Trump. Reading such stories in reputable news sources like the BBC brings to mind G.K. Chesterton’s remark:
When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.
As LifeSiteNews has reported, however, self-described witchcraft has grown to the level which is no longer simply a joke. It is important to keep three points in mind about it. First, the claims of today’s occultists and witches to some historical continuity with European paganism are completely deluded. Secondly, it is nevertheless spiritually dangerous. Thirdly, Catholicism is the form of religion it most detests, and also the form which can most help its adherents.
Masses for Remembrance Sunday in the UK
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| Mass for Remembrance Sunday at Holy Trinity Hethe inn 2015 |
This Sunday is Remebrance Sunday in the UK, and wherever the Traditional Mass is celebrated here it will be a Mass of Requiem. Readers should seek out a Sung Mass if possible to experience this to best effect, and unite themselves to the prayers of the Church for those who have died in war.
A few to mention - there are many more:
St Bede's, Clapham Park: as always there will be a Sung Mass at 11am
Address: 8 Thornton Rd, London SW12 0LF (click for a map)
Holy Trinity Hethe will have a Sung Mass at 12 noon this Sunday. Holy Trinity is distinguished, among other ways, by having war graves in its cemetery.
Address: Hardwick Rd, Hethe, Bicester OX27 8AW (click for a map)
St Walburge's, Preston, which is served by the Institute of Christ the King, will see a High Mass at the special war memorial altar, at 10:30am.
Address: Weston St, Preston PR2 2QE (click for a map)
St William of York, Reading, served by the Fraternity of St Peter: Sung Mass at 11am
Address: 46 Upper Redlands Rd, Reading RG1 5JP (click for a map)
Pilgrimage to Stirling, Scotland, 30th November
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Good Counsel Network Ball, 10th Nov
See the Facebook event page.
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Mass of Reparation in Bedford: this Saturday, 12 noon
A High Mass will take place in Bedford's Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe this Saturday at 12 noon: St Joseph's Church, MK40 1HU
This is the first LMS Pilgrimage to this shrine, which houses one of the official copies of the famous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
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Annual Requiem in Westminster Cathedral
Last Saturday the Latin Mass Society's Annual Requiem took place in Westminster Cathedral. As more than ten years not it is always, thanks to the generosity of the Archdiocese of Westminster, a Pontifical Mass. This year it was celebrated by the recently retired Bishop Patrick Campbell of Lancaster.
A special feature of interest this year was the vestments. We have in the past used the Cathedral's, but this year they were the property of the Latin Mass Society. We have received a large bequest from a late member, John Arnell, and wished to perpetuate his memory with the purchase of a really good black High Mass set. Each item in the set is now marked with the Latin Mass Society's name, and the note 'Please pray from John Edward Arnell.'
The Latin Mass Society has not, historically, been a repository for fine vestments; for most of our history we haven't had the money. A few years ago we purchased a beautiful Green High Mass set in memory of another large benefactor, or rather a couple, Mr & Mrs Smith (John Herbert and Josephine Smith). We've also had Masses said for them, obviously.
This is a time to remember. Every year I (as Chairman of the LMS) place a wreath on the tomb of Cardinal John Hennan, in gratitude for his role in securing the first ever 'Indult' for the ancient Missal. He didn't just persuade Pope Paul VI to do this, but started the series of two annual Masses, of which last Saturday's was the latest, and a monthly Low Mass in the Crypt.
For all our deceased benefactors, members, and friends: Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. You are not forgotten.
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