Chairman's Blog
Walsingham Pilgrimage volunteers wanted, 3: singers
Walsingham Pilgrimage Volunteers wanted 2: drivers
Walsingham Pilgrimage Volunteers needed, 1: cooks and cleaners
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.
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.
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| A concession to mechanisation. |
Westminster Diocese Triduum cancelled
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.
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’.
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.”
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
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...
Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat: photos
Trip to Ireland, part 3: Waterford
Trip to Ireland, 2: Galway
Trip to Ireland: part 1, Silverstream, Dublin, Knock
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).
Ash Wednesday and St Valentine: for Catholic Answers
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.
Talks and Endorsements for 'A Defence of Monarchy'
HE Eduard von Habsburg, Hungarian Ambassador to the Holy See
This is an incredibly interesting and well done book. It is especially valuable that it makes the argument in favour of even a weak monarchy, in its constitutional powers and even in terms of the personal commitments of it representatives. Instead of giving way to despair, the book encourages us to continue to appreciate the constitutional and symbolic importance of monarchy, while we wait for a monarchy that embodies Catholic principles in their fullness.
Fr Calvin Robinson, Patron of the British Monarchist Society
This book provides many lessons to Roman Catholics on why the British monarchy is a good thing; how Christians can be united around the British institution, even with our differences; and a staunch reminder that British heritage is undeniably Catholic, and a strong preserver of Catholic tradition through ceremonies such as the coronation and funeral services of the monarch. The last thing any traditionalist should want to see is the end of Catholic tradition.
Gavin Ashenden, Chaplain to the Queen 2008-2017
This excellent and intriguing new book edited by Dr Shaw, defending the monarchy from a Catholic perspective, offers not only an informed perspective on constitutional developments and realities, but makes a powerful case that the monarchy we have offers us a great deal more than would a republic. It also serves as a defence of the integrity of Elizabeth II against under-informed anxieties held by some passionate defenders of the rights of the unborn child. The grasp of constitutional and historical development makes refreshing reading for anyone interested in our constitutional settlement not only as a matter of history, but also to furnish us with ways of judging the political dilemmas a turbulent cultural future may present us with.