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Latin Mass Society
  1. About Us
  2. Chairman's Blog
  3. Chairman's Blog

Chairman's Blog

    05/05/2023 - 15:36

    On pomp and ceremoney, by Geoffrey Houghton-Brown
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    Bishop Campbell processing into the sanctuary of Westminster Cathedral
    to celebrate Mass for the LMS in 2019. Photo by John Aron.
    I have been reading a very interesting document from the Latin Mass Society's archives, an unpublished history of the early years of the Society by Geoffrey Houghton-Brown: Notes on the Struggle to Retain the Roman Liturgy, 1964-1972

    Houghton-Brown, an artist and convert, was a founding member of the LMS, at first a Vice President and later Chairman and Diocesan Representative for Westminster. His history of these eight years is quite comprehensive, and every now and then he makes an interesting observation.

    Archbishop John Carmel Heenan was made a cardinal in 1965, just when some of the pomp and ceremony of the occasion, in Rome and on his return to Westminster Cathedral, was being abolished, including the "canopy of state" which was held over his predecessors as they entered the Cathedral. This is Houghton-Brown's comment.

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    I do not imagine that the Cardinal refused the customary canopy in order to be better seen [as suggested by the report in The Times] but in order to comply with the Pope's wish for "simplicity". If these customary symbols of high office are abandoned the office itself, be it of Pope, King, Bishop, Judge, or Mayor, will lose its significance, its dignity, its solemnity. By the sight of these symbols we recognise that which they represent. High Office must be made visible in order to be recognised and it can only be made visible by such symbolic and customary signs as the canopy of state, the crown, the mitre, the Judge's wig and robes, the Mayor's chain etc. Remove symbols and you lesson, even destroy, all respect, for authority.

    In connection with the canopy of state it should be noted that The Times (of February 26th) reported that "The public Consistory has, however, lost some of its pomp, just as it has lost the great cardinal's hat beneath which the new princes of the Church used to swear their oath before the Pope -- the great cardinal's hat has now vanished altogether from the formalities of creating members of the Sacred College."

    In comparision with other reforms now taking place the suppression of the cardinal's red hat may seem extremely trivial but nonetheless it is extremely significant, indicating as it does the loss of an emblem bound up iwth the history of the Roman Church. A generation that has no reverence for the past is doomed to become rootless, isolated, adrit. This is the sin condemned in the commandment of Moses, - if you do not hold your ancestors in honour you will not keep for long the inheritance that they handed down to you. The keeping of this commandment is the secret of the miraculous survival of the Jewish race. It is by the preservation of their ancient laws, festivals, fasts, and liturgical language that the Jews have kept their racial identity. Pope Paul is advocating a policy of ecclesiastical suicide when he announces that the Church will "despoil herself -- of that old royal mantle -- in order to reclothe herself in more simple manner suitable to the taste of to-day." The disappearance of the canopy of state and the red hat may be small matters but like certain small marks on the body they can indicate a deadly disease.

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    04/05/2023 - 10:00

    Part-time vacancy at the Latin Mass Society

    Mallow Street; our office is at the back of this building.

    Would you like to work part-time for the Latin Mass Society? We are advertising for a part-time position. In addition to looking after members, the LMS Office supports our events around the country, distributes our magazine Mass of Ages, and looks after our busy on-line shop.

    Our office is in central London, 9 Mallow Street, London EC1Y 8RQ.

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    Salary: £15,000 - £17,000 per annum
    Part-time: 21 hours per week

    The Latin Mass Society is recruiting an Office Assistant to work at its office in central London. The Office Assistant will be responsible for supporting the administrative work of the charity, including:

    • Office administration
    • Membership administration
    • Online retail
    • Information administration
    • Volunteer administration
    See full details on our webpage here.

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    03/05/2023 - 11:32

    Feast of St Joseph in Maiden Lane: Mass for the Catholic Police Guild

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    With the support of the Latin Mass Society, the first Monday Mass of each month in Corpus Christi Maiden Lane is being celebrated for the intentions of the Catholic Police Guild. Last Monday, which was the Feast of St Joseph the Workman, the Guild dedicated themselves to the Sacred Heart, and their processional banner was blessed.
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    The remarkable banner was made in 1939. With the post-Conciliar decline in processions (and indeed guilds) it was in storage for many years. Now it is on the wall in Corpus Christi (above the confessional at the back, if you know the church), and emphasises the connection now established between this church and the Guild.

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    The church was nearly full for this occasion, and the Southwell Consort excelled themselves with Palestrina, Byrd, and L'Heritier.

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    We have another great musical programme for Mass on Monday 8th, which will be a Mass of thanksgiving for the Coronation (a Votive Mass of the Holy Ghost). The Southwell Consort will sing music by Tye, Taverner, and Sheppard.

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    These Masses, organised by the Latin Mass Society, take place every Monday at 6:30pm, in Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, London WC2E 7NB, between Covent Garden and the Strand, continuing an unbroken tradition going back to before the liturgical reform.

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    26/04/2023 - 12:59

    LMS Residential Latin Course 2023
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    I'm delighted to announce that booking is open for the Latin Mass Society's annual residential Latin and New Testament Greek course.

    It will run Monday 14th August - Saturday 19th August 2023, 

    at Park Place Pastoral Centre, Wickham, Fareham, Hampshire PO17 5HA.

    You can get there by train or car; it's set in very pleasant grounds, not far from Southampton.
    The tutors are the same as last year: Fr John Hunwicke, who will also be celebrating Mass each day; Nathan Freeman; and, for the Greek, Matthew Spencer.
    The fees are very low and there are generous discounts for clergy, seminarians, and students.
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    There is some very interesting advice on learning Latin without a teacher by a Latinist called Carla Hurt; this can be read in full here. She says some interesting things about some of the well-known learning techniques which have acquired a cult-like following, but her positive suggestions are also important. A key passage:
    As a language teacher, I have found that my students’ scores in grammar tests have had little to no correlation to their scores in broader interpretive skills such as translation. This suggests that explicit knowledge of parts of the language is a separate beast from the actual ability to use and understand the language.
    ... meaningful activity is essential to language learning, because making form-meaning connections is the basis of learning a language. Any activity which does not genuinely engage with meaning is missing a crucial element. In order to associate all the various words, phrases, grammar, and syntax with their meaning, we need to encounter them many times in contexts where their meaning matters.
    On the first claim what she actually shows, with a rather small sample, is that knowledge of grammar is less highly correlated to outcomes than knowledge of vocabulary, which I'm sure we could all have told her in advance. Nevertheless, the only way anyone is going to tell the difference between 

    Marcus Sextum oppugnat
    and
    Marcum Sextus oppugnat
    or, heaven help us,
    Marcus Sextum oppugnet
    is by the kind of knowledge tested in those boring grammar tests. It's not the be-all and end-all, but this knowledge can't simply be left out.
    However, she is certainly correct that meaningful activity is a huge boon in all language learning. If you are interested in the Latin of the Mass you can't do better than use the texts of the Mass to learn it. 
    The Latin Mass Society's Simplicissimus book does this: many of the examples it uses are familiar, interesting, or memorable. The book works up to tackling passages from the Lectionary, the Propers of Corpus Christi, the Roman Canon, and similar texts. The same spirit animates the Residential Course.
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    19/04/2023 - 16:29

    Continental Synodal Reports and the TLM
    The 'Continental Stage' of the Synod on Synodality has concluded, with the publication of the 'Continental Reports': they can be seen here.
    Since the FIUV and the LMS asked people to contribute to the consultation process, it is interesting to see whether our voices have actually made it through to these reports. I discussed the national reports here.
    The voice of Catholics attached to the Traditional Mass do emerge in two of the reports: not surprisingly, those of Europe and North America. This is not because Traditional Catholics are absent from Oceania, Asia, Africa, and South America, but because the bishops of those regions have been unwilling to allow celebrations or to acknowledge their point of view. It is worth reminding ourselves that the Traditional movement is well-established in Australia and New Zealand; there are many apostolates of the Traditional priestly institutes in Africa, notably the ICKSP in Gabon; and South America is home to the Apostolic Administration of St Jean Vianney in Campos, Brazil, the one place in the world where one can find a bishop exercising ordinary jurisdiction over a community of traditional faithful.
    The reports are a reflection not only of the inputs, of course, but of the process of selection. The reports as a whole have very little to say about the liturgy.
    This is what got through in the European and North American reports: emphasis mine.

    Europe (pdf)

    67. From a fundamental point of view, it is possible to detect the link between Church and liturgy, between ecclesiology and the theology of liturgy: The liturgical dimension in the Church is a place of strong tensions. These tensions are part of a deeper tension of an ecclesiological nature. Ecclesiological tension often arises from a vision of the Church based on one’s own expectations (Italian language working group). In this context, the tensions and sufferings concerning the ancient form of the Roman liturgy should be understood, with explicit references by France, England and Wales, and Nordic countries to the pre-conciliar liturgy according to the Missal of 1962.

    North America (pdf)

    27. Some participants in the synodal process reported on the profound sense of suffering of those prevented from receiving the Eucharist. While there are a variety of reasons for this reality, perhaps preeminent among them is Catholics who are divorced and remarried without an annulment, and others whose objective situation in life contradicts the beliefs and teachings of the Church. Additionally, some delegates spoke of those wounded by the limitations placed on the pre-conciliar Latin rite. Unfortunately, liturgy is not always experienced as unifying. “We could find our unity in common prayer, but liturgy is one of the things that is divisive in the Church and we must break through that” (Session X Group 18).

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    13/04/2023 - 12:33

    Walsingham Pilgrimage: booking open

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    You can now book your place on the Latin Mass Society's annual walking pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham. The dates are 24-27 August (Thursday evening in Ely to Sunday afternoon in Walsingham). For those staying overnight there will be a Mass in the Slipper Chapel at the Catholic Shrine in Walsingham on the Monday.
    For the first time, a limited number of places are available to walk on Thursday from Cambridge to Ely.
    There is a 10% discount for early booking until the Ascension. Make sure you are a member of the LMS for a further discount: you can join while booking and still save money.
    Note the new venue to meet on Thursday evening!
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    10/04/2023 - 10:00

    Easter Triduum Photos from St Mary Moorfields
    This celebration of the Easter Triduum liturgy is organised by the Latin Mass Society. The services were celebrated by Fr Michael Cullinan, who was assisted by Fr Thomas Crean as deacon and, on Friday, by Fr Mark Elliot-Smith, and on Saturday by Fr John Hemer. Lovely music was provided by Cantores Missae directed by Charles Finch.
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    09/04/2023 - 14:26

    On Good Friday: for Catholic Answers
    My latest for Catholic Answers. It begins:

    One of the markers of the utter desolation of the Chosen People at certain points of their history was the cessation of the daily sacrifice in the Temple: when Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, when its replacement was defiled by the Seleucid Empire in the time of the Maccabees, and finally when it was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. The profound grief of these moments found expression in the biblical book of Jeremiah’s Lamentations.

    A similar note of grief afflicts the Church in contemplating the crucifixion and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, commemorated most solemnly on Good Friday. The Lamentations form a major element in the traditional services of Matins and Lauds celebrated over the Triduum, called Tenebrae.

    We know that the story does not end there: Jesus rose again. Nevertheless, his death was real, and the grief of his mother and disciples was real. The grief of Our Lady was not based on a misunderstanding or a failure to accept God’s will. It was natural, and it was demanded by the occasion: the suffering and death of her Son. The sorrowful stage of the journey was a necessary one: Christ had to suffer through it, and Our Lady, our model, kept him company in that suffering. We must not succumb to the temptation of flipping the pages of the story too quickly to get to the happy ending.

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    01/04/2023 - 15:21

    Una Voce International: new edition of Gregorius Magnus magazine
    Gregorius Magnus is the twice-yearly magazine of the FIUV, Una Voce International.

    Gregorius Magnus 15, Summer 2023, is now available as a PDF. 

    and on ISSUU, optimised for mobile devices.

    This issue has two appreciations of Pope Benedict XVI and a report of the most recent Summorum Pontificum 'Ad Sedem Petri' Pilgrimage in Rome, and meeting of CIEL in Rome.

    Would you like to advertise? Or to contribute to future editions? Click on the links.

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    29/03/2023 - 16:31

    Guild of St Clare Sponsorship Scheme for the Royal School of Needlwork
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    At a Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat
    The Royal School of Needlework is one of the world's great centres of expertise keeping alive the tradition of hand embroidery. They do work for museums and the Royal Family, and they teach new generations of students. These include the skills necessary for making and restoring liturgical vestments, and several members of the Guild of St Clare have been through their rigorous courses, which take one to fours years.
    The courses are very flexible: they can be done at the student's own pace, and there is even a choice of venues.
    Five years ago we decided we needed more of such people: so we found a benefactor to make possible a sponsorship scheme to pay up to half of the fees, for one student a year. 
    If you are interested, don't miss this opportunity. The deadline is 23rd June.
    From the LMS;

    Do you have a passion for hand embroidery and the restoration of fine vestments?

    We are pleased to announce an exciting sponsorship opportunity for those interested in studying Needlework.

    The Guild of St Clare is offering sponsorship for candidates wishing to study The Royal School of Needlework Certificate Course.

    Dealine for applications is the 23rd June 2023

    See HERE for more information and how to apply.

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    At a Guild of St Clare Vestment Mending Day in London.

     

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