Saturday, August 27, 2011

Seminarians and the Extraordinary Form of Mass

It is rumoured that seminarians are being questioned regarding their interest/preference for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. How wonderful - or is it?

It would be wonderful if our bishops were raising this question to ensure that seminarians are aware (officially) that the two forms of Holy Mass are equally valid and that bishops wish to ensure that there is continuity into the future for those of the faithful who have a love of the 'usus antiquior'. Sadly this seems not to be the case. Seminarians are, it seems, being prejudiced against because of their wish to be involved in the Extraordinary Form. Yet it seems as if priests who are inclined towards this form may be more true to Catholic doctrine that those who lean towards liberalism and trendy 'happy clappy' liturgy.

What of the future????????

Monday, August 22, 2011

WYD success for Latin Mass Society

The Latin Mass Society (LMS) has teamed up with Juventutem, the international youth movement that supports the Traditional Latin Mass, and funded over twenty young people from England and Wales to attend two weeks of events in Spain culminating in Pope Benedict's visit to Madrid.

Juventutem organised a week-long 'pre-retreat' event based at the Carmelite monastery of Amorebieta-Etxano near Bilbao in the Spanish Basque Country, that combined daily Traditional Mass and talks about the Catholic Faith from priests of the Fraternity of St Peter with fun social and recreational activities around the region.

The Juventutem group then went on to Madrid to attend WYD, where the English and Welsh pilgrims mixed with many other Catholic youngsters and clergy, many of whom had not come across the Extraordinary Form Mass before. It was a wonderful experience for all those who were there.

Teresa Nevard, one of the English pilgrims, and WYD co-ordinator for Juventutem in England and Wales said:

"We had a fantastic time in our pre-retreat in Bilbao and in Madrid itself for WYD. All 22 of us from the UK Group are really grateful to the Latin Mass Society for the sponsorship which enabled us to attend and show our support for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and for the Pope, by joining in some WYD events as well as our daily Pontifical Masses. These Masses were attended by close on 1000 people with standing room only and included those experiencing the beauty of the Traditional Latin Mass for the first time. The numbers of young people attending Juventutem Masses and events in the UK have risen a lot over the last year and we anticipate another increase following the great time had by all of us who attended WYD with Juventutem."

For further information, please contact Michael Lord, General Manager, on: (T)020 7404 7284 (F)020 7831 5585 (email)michael@lms.org.uk

Communion kneeling & on the tongue

Once again our Holy Father shows his wishes graphically.

At the WYD Mass for Seminarians in Madrid this week Pope Benedict once again showed his will with regard to the reception of Holy Communion. All communicants knelt before the Blessed Sacrament and communicated on the tongue. We hope that our bishops note this and act.

Many bishops throughout the world have come to the realisation that standing to receive Holy Communion and then taking the sacred host into the hand is an unworthy way to approach our Lord and God. The situation has reached the state where laity consider it their 'RIGHT' to receive Communion in this manner. Wrong!! It is not a 'right' but a practice allowed by our bishops. The reception in this manner was allowed by Rome retrospectively following the unauthorised institution of the practice by some European bishops. In other words a wrongful act was legalised.

Perhaps we, the laity, should set an example to our hierarchy by insisting on receiving the Body of Christ in an respectful and adoring way - on the tongue and kneeling.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Priest new to EF

Today we had the great pleasure of welcoming Fr Paul Tully as celebrant of our noon EF Mass at St Joseph's in Gateshead. Fr Tully was supplying for PP, Fr Adrian Dixon, who is on holiday.

Fr Tully is chaplain for a number of hospitals in County Durham and resides in a parish in Easington. His knowledge of the EF was unknown to us although Fr Dixon knew that he celebrated his early morning private Masses in this form. Whilst Fr Tully has no objection to concelebrating in the OF he told me that it was best reserved for occasions when large numbers of priests concelebrate. He had tried celebrating his private Masses in the OF but found it lacking in spirituality. Thus he was drawn to the EF and taught himself. He finds that the EF gives him a closer relationship with God.

Today, in our diocese, we celebrated the Dedication of our Cathedral and Father's sermon was based on the readings of the Mass "Terribilis est.." telling us that the presence of God in the tabernacle is "terrible" in the sense that it is awesome to realise how close to us God is. He contrasted the beauty and silence of our churches with the Old Testament temple where bloody offerings were the order of the day, where the cries of animals being slaughtered for sacrifice mingled with the shouts of the sellers and moneychangers. The smells of blood, animal droppings and incense mixed up too outside of the Holy of Holies where God resided. Our Lord's death on Calvary changed that so that we have the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass and the Real Presence of God in our midst.

We hope to welcome Fr Tully again soon and thank him for his Mass today.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Cathedral Mass

We ask that you put Saturday 5th November 2011 at 10am in St Mary's Cathedral, Clayton Street West, Newcastle upon Tyne NW1 5HH in your diary for the EF Solemn High Mass. The cathedral is directly opposite Newcastle Central Railway Station and is easily reached by train, bus and Metro. Parking is quite difficult in Newcastle particularly on Saturdays so we recommend the use of public transport wherever possible.

Refreshments can be obtained following Mass in the Cathedral Cafe and this year they have been advised that the Mass will be held.

Further details regarding music etc will follow as soon as arrangements are completed.

Also please remember the annual Solemn High Mass at Brinkburn Priory, nr Rothbury in Northumberland at 12 noon on Saturday 10th September. Following Mass there will be a shared table and you are requested to bring a chair as seating is restricted in the house. There will, of course, be adequate seating in the priory church for Mass. Any priests intending to be in choir are asked to make themselves known to the MC prior to Mass.