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Chairman's Blog

    08/03/2024 - 10:00

    Walsingham Pilgrimage volunteers needed, 4: marshals and campsite volunteers

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    Booking is now open for the LMS Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham, which takes place from Thursday 22nd August to Sunday 25th August. But before we can welcome 200+ pilgrims, we need to be able to look after them. Today I appeasing for two more categories of volunteers: marshals for the walking part of the pilgrimage, and volunteers to assemble and dismantle things like gazebos at the campsites.

    Being a marshal is an unglamorous role, and it can also be quite solitary, since you walk between, behind, or ahead of the chapters. It is nevertheless essential. First, for road safety, managing cars passing sometimes on quite narrow roads. Secondly, to assist pilgrims who need to drop out.
    We prefer to have as marshals people who have walked the pilgrimage at least once before. An obvious qualification is being sufficiently fit to do the walk!
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    Another of taking part in the pilgrimage, that does not involve the walking, but still requires physically active people, is the role of campsite volunteer. As the pilgrimage has grown, the cooking team has outgrown the often tiny kitchens in some of the venues we use, and have to cook outside, under cover. By the same token, it is harder to fit everyone into the halls at these places to eat. 
    Similarly, we are bursting out of the churches we use along the route, and have to consider the celebration of the liturgy outside.
    So we are increasingly using gazebos and the like to keep the rain (or sun) off. This is a new aspect of the pilgrimage, and we need to establish a group of people able to spend time in the afternoon assembling these things, and in the morning taking them down again, while the walking is going on.
    Again, unglamorous, and largely hidden from view, but absolutely necessary for the good of the whole pilgrimage, and the glory of God.
    If you would like to volunteer for these roles, please email walsinghampilgrimage@lms.org.uk
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    07/03/2024 - 10:00

    Walsingham Pilgrimage volunteers wanted, 3: singers

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    Booking is now open for the LMS Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham, which takes place from Thursday 22nd August to Sunday 25th August. But before we can welcome 200+ pilgrims, we need to be able to look after them. We need volunteers! Today I am going to talk about singers.

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    Good Music, along with good food, may be said to power the pilgrimage in its natural aspect. But unlike the food, however good, the music has a significance at the supernatural level as well, because it can also be prayer.
    It will be no surprise for readers to hear that a lot of prayers are said on the pilgrimage. Pilgrims are divided into 'chapters' which are small enough for people to hear instructions from the front to the back, with the help of megaphones, and also for collective prayer. When we say the Rosary, we sing it: we have settings of the Hail Mary in English, Latin, and French. We also sing the Litanies of Our Lady, of the Saints, of St Joseph, and of the Sacred Heart. In addition, we sing many popular chants, such as the O filii et filiae (though we sing it better than the guys in the link), vernacular hymns, and when the going gets tough, even some patriotic songs.
    We believe the singing is very important and go to a lot of trouble over it. We have a book of all the chants and hymns, often with the music (and other useful prayers and information), the Vademecum Peregrini, which everyone has, and every chapter has a cantor.

    That's right: every chapter of 20-30 pilgrims has an experienced singer with a megaphone to lead the singing. Someone who can set the pitch, sustain the tune, can sing the litanies while the other pilgrims make the responses, and so on. Otherwise this task falls on the chapter leader, who has a lot of other things to think about.

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    This has been the practice of the LMS Walking Pilgrimage since the very early years, and it is a huge boon for the pilgrims. It means the singing consistently happens, and is not interrupted every time the chapter leader has to do something or talk to someone. Singing on the road has many challenges, but in the Walsingham Pilgrimage it works very well, is audible, and includes everyone.
    Naturally, these cantors also accompany the sung Masses. For these we have an all-male chant schola, supplemented by ladies for the final Mass in the Catholic Shrine to sing polyphony.
    What this requires, of course, is a set of 'chapter cantors' who are experienced chant singers, know the repertoire (or can quickly learn it), and have, yes, stamina.

    We don't sing all the time. There's no point singing against loud traffic or when the chapter is strung out on a narrow path, and it is in any case good to have breaks for private prayer and, indeed, conversation. Nevertheless, we do a lot of singing, and these cantors have to walk the whole distance with the pilgrims, so this, like other volunteering roles, is pretty demanding. It is also, of course, extremely rewarding.
    Cantors able to do this exist, and we have been using them for years. Now, however, we are getting more chapters, and we need more cantors. I am planning to get together with the cantors once or twice before the pilgrimage to cover any gaps in knowledge of the music, but experience of singing chant is necessary in order to grasp the way that chant is sung, its ethos as sacred music.
    If you are reasonably fit, and have experience singing chant, you can do it. You'll get a free place on the pilgrimage, and a reward in heaven. So who's up for it? Please email walsinghampilgrimage@lms.org.uk

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    06/03/2024 - 10:00

    Walsingham Pilgrimage Volunteers wanted 2: drivers
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    Booking is now open for the LMS Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham, which takes place from Thursday 22nd August to Sunday 25th August. But before we can welcome 200+ pilgrims, we need to be able to look after them. We need volunteers! Today I am going to talk about drivers.
    The Pilgrimage has always had 'support drivers', and these have been becoming more and more numerous in recent years. For this year, we are in particular need of a van driver, as we need to have two luggage vans, and not just one. We can't get a lorry down the country lanes, so we hire an 'extra long' Mercedes Sprinter, or the the equivalent.
    The luggage van is just one part of the support driver team. We also have a mobile sacristy, dedicated transport for the equipment used by the cooking team, and a special vehicle for portable loos. 
    We also need cars to ferry volunteers from one place to another, to allow priests who have to say a private Mass to rejoin the walkers, and to pick up pilgrims who are injured or exhausted. 
    We are particularly keen to hear from drivers with experience driving vans, for the luggage vans, who have the necessary category on their driving license.
    Most of our larger vehicles are hired for the occasion; other drivers bring their own, especially if they have people-carriers. Naturally, all expenses can be claimed back from the LMS.
    If you would like to take part in the pilgrimage without walking, but in a way crucial to operation of the pilgrimage and indeed to the comfort and safety of walking pilgrims, please consider volunteering as a driver. Please email walsinghampilgrimage@lms.org.uk

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     Support the Latin Mass Society
    05/03/2024 - 01:30

    Walsingham Pilgrimage Volunteers needed, 1: cooks and cleaners

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    Booking is now open for the LMS Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham, which takes place from Thursday 22nd August to Sunday 25th August. But before we can welcome 200+ pilgrims, we need to be able to look after them. We need volunteers who give up their chance to walk in order to do some quite unglamourous jobs, such as cooking and cleaning.
    Each day of the walk there is breakfast and an evening meal. We don't just give pilgrims a paper cup of coffee or an empty milk carton of instant soup (happy though these memories of Chartres are!). While the size of the pilgrimage makes it possible, our cooking team continues to provide real food: bread and jam, porridge and hard boiled eggs for breakfast, and a hot meal made from basic ingredients in the evening. 
    There is plenty of penance to be had in getting up early to walk 20 miles or so, but our pilgrims don't set off with an empty stomach, and the evenings are convivial. It is another element of Catholic culture which we are aiming to restore, and a reflection of our respect for the walking pilgrims.
    Quisquis enim potum dederit vobis calicem aquæ in nomine meo, quia Christi estis : amen dico vobis, non perdet mercedem suam. Mark 9:41

    For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.

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    The cooking team is led by a professionally qualified cook, and the core team has many years' experience of cooking for the pilgrims in the unique conditions of the Walsingham Pilgrimage. They need help from a wider group of people who would like to participate in the pilgrimage in this special way, both in preparing meals and in preparing venues and cleaning them after the pilgrims have departed.

    You do not need to be a highly-skilled cook. What you do need is patience, an even temper, a willingness to do what you are asked even if this is not very interesting, a willingness to work in a team and make yourself as useful as possible, plus commitment and stamina.
    Because this is hard work. Being a volunteer in an event like this is not the easy option, and precisely for this reason all the graces of the pilgrimage are available. 
    It may be impossible for you to attend some of the main Masses, but Masses are celebrated specially for the volunteers, and we hope to have a chaplain just for the volunteers.

    If you wish to be considered for this role, email walsinghampilgrimage@lms.org.uk
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    A concession to mechanisation.

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    27/02/2024 - 20:30

    Westminster Diocese Triduum cancelled
    Cardinal Nichols will not permit the celebration of the Vetus Ordo Triduum in St Mary Moorfields this year. Here is our press release.
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    Traditional Latin Easter Triduum Services
    in the Archdiocese of Westminster cancelled

    The Latin Mass Society is grieved to announce that the
    Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, will not give permission
    for the celebration of the major services of the Sacred Triduum (Maundy
    Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday) according to the liturgical books in use
    before the Second Vatican Council: the Traditional Latin liturgy or     Vetus
    Ordo    .

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    There has been a celebration of the Traditional
    Triduum in the Archdiocese, with the permission of successive Archbishops,
    since the 1990s: first in Corpus Christi Maiden Lane, and then in St Mary
    Moorfields in the City of London. In recent years these services have been
    attended by up to 200 people.

    His Eminence places this decision in the context of
    his ongoing dealings with the Dicastery for Divine Worship in Rome, writing ‘My
    approach to these matters is to be within the parameters laid down by the Holy
    See while waiting for the judgment of the Holy See on which, if any, parish
    church may be used for the celebration of Mass according to the Missal
    antecedent to the reform of 1970.’    [1]

    His decision, he explains, was made ‘for the sake of
    the wider provision’.

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    Comment from the Latin Mass Society

    The faithful attached to the Vetus Ordo, served
    by Sunday celebrations in St James Spanish Place, the London Oratory, and other
    locations, will now be denied the chance to attend the most important
    liturgical days of the year according to this liturgy within the Archdiocese of
    Westminster.

    When Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Traditionis custodes,
    which restricted the     Vetus Ordo, was published in 2021, Cardinal Nichols
    summarised the Holy Father’s concerns, adding: ‘In my judgement, these concerns
    do not reflect the overall liturgical life of this diocese.’    [2]

    LMS Chairman Joseph Shaw comments: “In this decision,
    as in the earlier ending of the 50-year tradition of two annual     Vetus Ordo
    Masses at the High Altar of Westminster Cathedral, and the 20-year practice of
    the Archdiocese providing the Sacrament of Confirmation according to the     Vetus
    Ordo    , it seems that Catholics attached to the older liturgy are being
    punished for misdemeanours that Cardinal Nichols believes they have not
    committed.

    “We await with concern the decision of the Dicastery
    of Divine Worship concerning the current celebrations of the Vetus Ordo on
    Sundays and weekdays in the Archdiocese, which have enriched and consoled many
    hundreds of Catholics over the decades. This form of the Mass never ceased to
    be celebrated regularly in the Archdiocese, thanks to the pastoral solicitude
    of Pope Paul VI in 1971, and of successive Archbishops, in allowing it to
    continue. It is tragic to see that pastoral attitude now being put aside.

    “At the same time, we can reassure Catholics attached
    to the ancient Latin liturgy that the Triduum will still be celebrated in
    London, outside Westminster Archdiocese, and that the Latin Mass Society will
    continue to support these and other celebrations of this venerable liturgy.”

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    Notes for Editors

    The Latin Mass Society was founded in 1965 to support
    the continued celebration of the Catholic liturgy in the form it took at the
    eve of the Second Vatican Council: the ‘1962 Missal’, the ‘antecedent Missal’,
    the     Vetus Ordo or Traditional Mass.

    The Greater London area is served by three Catholic
    dioceses: Westminster, Brentwood, and Southwark.

    The “English Indult” granted by Pope Paul VI in 1971
    allowed the Vetus Ordo to continue to be celebrated in England and Wales
    without a break, even while it was prohibited in the rest of the world.

    Services of the Easter Triduum began to be celebrated in
    Corpus Christi Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, by the parish priest, Canon McDonald,
    in the early 1990s; the full set of major services were celebrated from 1999. Ten
    years later these moved to the larger church of St Mary Moorfields in the City
    of London. They were not celebrated in 2021 due to COVID restrictions.

    Latin Mass Society

     

    Press contacts:

    Communications Officer, Portia Berry-Kilby portia@lms.org.uk

    Chairman, Joseph Shaw oxford@lms.org.uk

     

    Registered Office: 9 Mallow Street, London EC1Y 8RQ

    020 7404 7284

    info@lms.org.uk

     

    Registered Charity Number: 248388


    [1]

    In an email of 23rd
    February to Fr Michael Cullinan, who was to have been the principle celebrant
    of the Triduum services. Quoted with permission.

    [2]

    See the website of the Archdiocese
    of Westminster
    https://rcdow.org.uk/cardinal/news/cardinals-message-to-clergy-about-tra...

    [Photos from last year's services.]

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    23/02/2024 - 17:25

    Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat: photos

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    Another successful Sewing Retreat was organised by the Guild of St Clare, for prayer, the traditional Mass, spiritual conferences, and the making and mending of vestments.
    The retreat giver was Fr Edward van den Burgh of the London Oratory.

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    The Guild's National coordinator was live-tweeting the retreat: if you are on Twitter ('X') give her a follow: @guildofstclare and see her thread here.
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    22/02/2024 - 17:49

    Trip to Ireland, part 3: Waterford

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    The final stop of my trip to Ireland was Waterford, where I attended Mass in the very impressive St John's church, celebrated by Fr Patrick O'Donahue FSSP. I joined the chant schola for the occasion.
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    The Latin Mass Society of Ireland very kindly organised another occasion for me to give a talk, and although fairly short notice they filled a room in the Galmont Hotel to listen. I spoke about Catholic Families and Intentional Communities: spoiler alert, they aren't the same thing. You can listen to the talk here:
    You'll find the Latin Mass Society's 'Iota Unum' series on any podcast platform.

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    21/02/2024 - 17:40

    Trip to Ireland, 2: Galway

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    At the Roundtower Association conference in Galway we had a beautiful Mass celebrated by Fr Philomeno of the Marian Franciscans, and a rosary procession through the streets.

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    Then the conference continued, with Robert Colquoun of 40 Days for Life, and me. With due acknowledgement to the Roundtower Association, you can hear my talk here:
    Culture, Modernity and Post-Modernity

    You'll also find it on any podcast platform by searching for 'Latin Mass Society' or 'Iota Unum' (the name of our series of talks).
    Videos of all the talks will be available in due course.
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    21/02/2024 - 16:18

    Trip to Ireland: part 1, Silverstream, Dublin, Knock

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    Last week I was in Ireland, to attend a splendid conference in Galway. Before going there, however, I visited Silverstream Priory, which is north of Dublin, where I met Prior Basile McCabe. 
    The following day, I gave a talk in Dublin's Catholic Central Library, on the 'Family and Culture: Lose One, Lose the Other'. I introduced the idea of luxury beliefs, developing the argument of my book, The Family, the Liturgy, and the Crisis of Modernity.

    I recorded my talk, so you can listen to it as a podcast (I've given it a slightly snappier title):
    Families, Culture and Luxury Beliefs
    You'll find the Latin Mass Society's 'Iota Unum' series on any podcast platform.
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    Before the Galway conference, which will be the subject of the next post, I and other conference participants visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, where Fr Philomeno of the Marian Franciscans celebrated a Low Mass (in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel).

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    20/02/2024 - 17:25

    Ash Wednesday and St Valentine: for Catholic Answers

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    I'm behind with my blogging, but here's something I wrote for Catholic Answers and some photos of an Ash Wednesday Mass.
    The article begins:
    The Church’s liturgical calendar throws up some oddities sometimes. One set of Sundays, and other feasts and fasts, is fixed in relation to Easter, which moves around the spring. Another of feasts is fixed to Christmas, and a third is fixed to calendar dates. And so different occasions can coincide: a feast of the “sanctoral cycle” can fall on a Sunday, and all the feasts of the spring and early summer are vulnerable to being swallowed up by the events of Lent and Eastertide.

    A feast day like Christmas will fall on a Sunday only approximately once every seven years. Even less frequent are the occasions when significant dates of the sanctoral and paschal cycles coincide. The most famous of these occasional coincidences is that between Good Friday and the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25. It last happened in 2016 and will not happen again until 2157.

    This year, we have the coincidence of Ash Wednesday and the traditional date of the feast of the Roman martyr St. Valentine.

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