Last Reminder

Please remember the Solemn High Mass to be celebrated at St Mary's Cathedral, Clayton Street West, Newcastle upon Tyne at 11.30am on Sunday 20th November 2010. Those of us drawn to the EF of Mass have been accused in the past of not fully supporting Masses arranged and, perhaps, this might be true. Let us show our detractors that we are willing and able to attend this most important celebration in the mother church of our diocese. Sadly Bishop Seamus Cunningham cannot be with us for the Mass but the cathedral authorities have been most helpful with all of the arrangements. The Diocesan Chancellor, Fr Peter Stott, has also been most accommodating and has sent a copy of our poster to all parishes in the diocese. A great deal of thought and effort has gone into this Mass from many sources and it would be a great pity if that effort is not translated into a large congregation. It is also an excellent opportunity to see the cathedral following the work which was carried out over a number of months. The Cathedral Cafe is also now operating again so the chance for coffee or lunch after Mass is there. Parking - as always - will be a nightmare close to the cathedral with many Christmas shoppers thronging the city. Wherever possible we would suggest using public transport as parking charges in Newcastle are horrendous. We look forward to seeing you all supporting the Mass of Ages.

Prayers (& more) needed to save Ushaw

As many of you will be aware Paul Waddington (Treasurer of LMS) is privately trying to put together a business plan to save Ushaw College. I am led to believe that the matter may be drawn to the attention of the Curia as we have to have faith that the college can be saved but that it must be re-constituted so that Latin is a required subject and that both forms of the Mass are taught. We all expected that 'Summorum Pontificum' would solve most of the problems existing for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite but, sadly, not all bishops have taken Pope Benedict's wishes to heart. Some archbishops and bishops have shown support for this form of the Mass and have celebrated it within their dioceses but, again sadly, these prelates are in the vast minority. It seems as if we, the laity, must show more Faith in the future of our Church than do most of the hierarchy (or at least those who are Trustees of Ushaw College). We should be prepared to offer prayers and Masses for the intention of retaining Ushaw College as a seminary wherein our future priests will be trained. We, the laity, pay for the training of our priests through the Priests' Training Fund but we may have to do more, we may be asked to, again, contribute to the support of our seminaries. Please pray for this intention and watch for news of other avenues which might be explored.

Westminster bishop celebrates the Latin Mass Society's Annual Requiem Mass in Westminster Cathedral

The Rt Rev John Arnold, auxiliary bishop in Westminster, celebrated a Pontifical High Mass of Requiem in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in Westminster Cathedral on Saturday 6th November for the repose of the souls of all deceased members and supporters of the LMS. Fr Nicholas Schofield was Assistant Priest, Fr Andrew Southwell, LMS National Chaplain, was Deacon and the Sub-deacon was Fr David Irwin. Gordon Dimon of the LMS was MC. A congregation of some hundreds heard the men of the Cathedral Choir sing the plainsong Requiem Mass. The Mass was followed by a homily by Bishop Arnold and then the traditional ceremonies of Absolutions at the Catafalque. The coffin for the occasion was supplied by the Fairways Partnership, funeral directors. Before Mass, a wreath was laid by Dr Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the LMS, and other LMS Committee members on the grave of Cardinal Heenan in the cathedral nave in thanksgiving for the Cardinal's efforts to preserve the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Fr Patrick Hayward read prayers for the occasion. Dr Shaw said afterwards: "This was the second time that Bishop Arnold has celebrated the LMS's annual Requiem Mass and we are most grateful to him. We also thank Canon Christopher Tuckwell, the Cathedral Administrator, and Fr Alexander Master, the Cathedral Precentor, for their help." Note: The Extraordinary Form has now returned to many of our cathedrals throughout England and Wales and the LMS is actively seeking to introduce further Masses. For further information, please contact John Medlin in the LMS office. Tel: 020 7404 7284 Fax: 020 7831 5585

Update

We are delighted to announce that our Diocesan Chancellor - Fr Peter Stott - has circulated all parishes within the diocese of Hexham & Newcastle with copies of our poster giving details of the Solemn High Mass in St Mary's Cathedral on 20th November 2010 at 11.30am. This contrasts well with the reported comment of 1 diocesan parish priest that he was "not interested". Knowing that Fr Peter is a reader of this blog may we say a heartfelt "Thank you" to him and assurances of our prayers for the diocese.

Cathedral Mass

It has been suggested that those of us committed to the Extraordinary Form of Holy Mass do not make sufficient efforts to attend those Masses which are available. Whilst I can see that this might be the perception in fact it is far from the truth. With our Mass in St Mary's Cathedral on 20th November we have the opportunity to show the lack of fact in that perception. You are being asked to turn out in force to show your support. Not only that but you are encouraged to bring along Catholics who, through no fault of their own, have little knowledge of the Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum' or, even worse, have been given only those snippets of information which it was felt were sufficient for them. It is often said that an informed decision or opinion can only be formed if information is made available and it must be said, sadly, that this information, at best, has not been made available or, at worst, has been witheld. We have asked those diocesan clergy with an email address to put up a poster advertising the Mass and to mention it in their parish newsletters. One priest has already responded that he 'has no interest' but, sadly, is still unwilling to give the information to his parishioners. It will be very interesting in the run up to the Mass to see how much - or probably how little - information is disseminated through the parish network. Please make the effort to attend and ask your parish priests whether they are prepared to advertise a perfectly legitimate Mass.

All Saints & All Souls

On the Feast of All Saints Fr Brown celebrated a Low Mass at St Mary's, Forest Hall and today, the Feast of All Souls, a Sung Requiem was celebrated at his other church, SS Peter & Paul, Longbenton. The Mass was sung in plainchant by our own schola. The next High Mass will be celebrated in St Mary's Cathedral, Newcastle at 11.30am on Saturday 20th November - the Feast of St Felix de Valois.

Feast of Christ the King

Yesterday at St Joseph's in Gateshead we celebrated the feast of Christ the King with Missa Cantata celebrated by our parish priest, Fr Adrian Dixon. We used a beautiful new set of gold vestments made by parishioner Margaret Barnes. The Proper and Ordinary were sung by our own schola and at the end of Mass we sang the 'Te Deum' in thanks for our priests and to honour our God and King. We did this as we are entering a month of fund raising for the Priests' Training Fund. Our bishop's letter must have been written before the sad decision to close Ushaw College was made as he looked forward confidently to the future. As this feast followed the Feast of the Blessed Douai Martyrs it was poignant that just as we are aiming to educate and train future priests we are closing Ushaw which follows so closely in the footsteps of Douai where so many of our English priests were trained for a mission that led only to hardship and martyrdom for so many of them. We should pray that in some way Ushaw will be brought back from the precipice and be taken on by those who still believe in the future of the Church.