Chairman's Blog
The Papal Slap
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A lot of people have weighed in on Pope Francis repeatedly slappingthe hand of a pilgrim in St Peter’s Square. Reactions have not divided simply along ideological lines. Austin Ruse suggested, on Twitter, that Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II would have reacted even more fiercely to a pilgrim grabbing their hands and not letting go. I was undecided myself at first. The pilgrim’s action did seem a little aggressive. On the other hand, there she is, in the video, a rather small Chinese lady, making a sign of the cross to steel herself to take the hand of the much larger Pope, surrounded by body guards. From what one can see of the timing of the incident, the Pope reacts as he does not to the surprise of the physical aspect of the gesture, but to what she is saying. She is saying something about Hong Kong…
Read the rest on Rorate.
Roger Buck's 'Gentle Traditionalist' returns
My latest for LifeSite. Buy Roger Buck's latest book through this link which gives him a little more of the cover price.
Carry on reading there.
Learn to cook in 2020
My latest on LifeSite News
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James MacMillan interview: music, culture, politics, religion
I've just round to watching this, and it is very interesting.
Sir James is a Patron of the Latin Mass Society.
He mentions a recent book of his reflections, which can be found here.
Blessing of Wine for the feast of St John
At SS Gregory & Augustine's, Oxford, following the EF Low Mass.
The bottles in bags on the floor were also blessed and sprinkled with holy water. They include our current stock of red wine for the Iota Unum talks.
The Logic of the Incarnation
My 'Christmas article' for LifeSiteNews.
In Advent, we expect Christ’s coming in several senses. There is an eschatological sense: we expect Christ to come as Judge at the end of time, an expectation key to the Christian life. There is a sacramental sense: we expect the coming of Christ in the Eucharist, where He will be as real as He was in Bethlehem. There is the spiritual sense: we hope and prepare for Christ to come into our hearts. And then there is the most obvious one, which forms the backdrop to the others. The Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, is to be revealed as a baby.
Christ has been present on Earth since the Annunciation, hidden in the womb of His Mother. That day, 25 March, was for centuries the start of the English financial year; it is also the date JRR Tolkien chose for the final destruction of the Ring in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is, in truth, the date of the Incarnation. In His birth, however, Christ is revealed to us: He becomes, as a man, a public person. It is now possible and appropriate for Him to be venerated by the shepherds and the Wise Men. In His birth He becomes subject to the Law of Moses, at least apparently, though really He is the Lord of it: it pleases Him and His Mother to fulfil the Law scrupulously. In His birth He also becomes vulnerable, and He must be carried into safety from the wrath of Herod. We might say that in His birth, the logic of the Incarnation is worked out more fully.
Iota Unum talks confirmed for 2020
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| Fr Edward van den Bergh giving the last Iota Unum talk of 2019 |
In 2019 the Latin Mass Society undertook a number of new initiatives in London: notably, a new chant schola, the Schola Cantorum Sancti Ioanni Houghton, to train new singers; a series of Server Training days under the Society of St Tarcisius; and a monthly series of talks, the 'Iota Unum' talks.
These three initiatives have each been a great success. I have already announced the early 2020 dates for server training, and I am delighted to announce another 6 months' of Iota Unum talks have also been confirmed, with some great speakers and topics.
They take place in the basement of Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street (please enter through the basement stairs from Golden Square), on Friday evenings.
Doors open at 6:30pm for talk at 7pm.
All welcome. £5 on the door; light refreshments.
Join the mailing list for London events here.
January: Fri 31 Dominic Jones ‘Holiness and Chastity’
Dominic is a doctoral student in philosophy and runs the Sedes Sapientiae summer school.
February: Fri 14 Charles Coulombe: ‘Living the Liturgical Year’
Charles is a prolific author on Catholic history and a columnist for Mass of Ages, the magazine of the Latin Mass Society.
To note: Fri 28 Martin Mosebach will be speaking in the London Oratory about the new edition of The Heresy of Formlessness and his recent Subversive Catholicism. 7:30pm. Co-sponsored by the LMS.
March: Fri 27 Maria Madise ‘Attacks on the Family from Within the Church’
Maria is a leading organiser of Voice of the Family and edits their magazine Calx Mariae.
April: Fri 24 Joseph Shaw ‘Headship and Hierarchy in the Household’
Joseph teaches philosophy at St Benet's Hall, Oxford University, and is Chairman of the LMS.
May: Fri 29 Matthew Ward: ‘Latin Chant as Prayer’’
Matthew is Director of Music at Mayfield School and a the Southesat Regional Director of the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge.
June: Fri 19 Mgr Keith Newton ‘The Ordinariate and the Traditional Movement: A Truly Catholic Alliance.’
Mgr Keith is the Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
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Rose Vestments in Holy Trinity, Hethe
Fr Richard Conrad celebrated Mass in the Dominican Rite for the Latin Mass Society's quarterly Mass in Holy Trinity, Hethe, the oldest Catholic parish church in Oxfordshire.
Help the Sons of the Holy Redeemer replace their boat
A recent visitor to the Sons of the Holy Redeemer on Papa Stronsay Island in the Orkeneys, a former LMS Local Representative, writes as follows:
I left Papa Stronsay yesterday evening [9th Dec]. Fixed up the boat and myself and Fr Magdala launched it in a weather window on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. But- that evening a gale – a ten year freak - with 50-60 mph gusts and swell - blew up when it was on the other side at Stronsay pier. The front rope gave way on tying up. The monks were thank God all off. The boat spun round and was tossed ten to fifteen feet in the air like a toy and came down on the stone pier- smashing the deck off and the front. It ended up on the beach at Stronsay as matchsticks.
I helped pick up the bits off the beach last night. Tragic but not a disaster as they just get on with things. Boat had been overhauled for last three months rebuilding the engine, electrics, fuel and repainting. The other small boat is old, leaky and unreliable - so not useable as a main boat.
Had to get a local in a fishing boat to get us off the Island and the monks are relying on the good people of Stronsay for emergency supplies this Christmas.
This is a fundraiser!!! Please make this go viral.
This request is from me - private laity - not one of the Sons and not a representative- As the strict Rule of Saint Alphonsus does not allow soliciting. Your prayers and money in that order are vital.
Links here.
http://www.papastronsay.com/
http://www.papastronsay.com/
These photographas are from my own visit to Papa Stronsay in 2014: I assume it is the same boat, which carried me across from the larger island of Stronsay, which is accessible by public ferry and also by small aircraft. If not the same, it'll be something very similar. The Sons use it to get all their supplies to the monastery.
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Magazine of Una Voce International: new edition
It can be downloaded here.