Our new Pope

So on Tuesday 14th March 2013 the cardinals of the Church gather in conclave to elect our new Pope, the successor of St Peter (& more recently) of Benedict XVI. As good Catholics we must & will accept their choice but should this preclude us from praying for the candidate(s) we prefer? Can we not pray to the Holy Ghost that he will guide the cardinals to choose a candidate who will not undo all the good done by Benedict XVI? Can we not pray that our new Pope will compel the hierarchies to be more pro-active in promoting the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass? Pope Benedict instructed that seminarians should be trained in both forms of the celebration of Mass & yet we hear of seminaries which not only do not follow this instruction but have actually forbidden the celebration of the EF in the college. Our prayer must be; "Give us a holy Pope & give us one who will have the strength of character to renew the Church in tradition & who will weed out the evils of whatever kind which beset Holy Mother Church at this point in history."

LMS campaigning results in two new Sunday EF Masses in Westminster Archdiocese

We are delighted to announce that there will be weekly Sunday Masses in the Extraordinary Form at two new venues in the Archdiocese of Westminster in the near future. The Masses will take place in St Albans in the parish of St Bartholomew's, 47 Vesta Avenue, St Albans, AL1 2PE, and in Willesden, north-west London, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden, Nicoll Road, London NW10 9AX. In both cases the parish priests have been asked by the archdioces to learn and celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Neither Fr Tim Edgar of St Albans nor Fr Stephen Willis of Willesden has previously celebrated the Extraordinary Form, but both are approaching the opportunity of offering the ancient form of Mass with a very positive and pastoral attitude. It will obviously take some time for them to reach the necessary level of proficiency to start offering Masses publicly. Nevertheless, training has begun and regular weekly Masses on Sundays will start later this year on dates and at times yet to be announced. Their parishioners have already been consulted and informed about the introduction of the Extraordinary Form in their parishes and the reaction has been positive. This very good news follows meetings between the LMS and the archdiocese over a period of a year or more, in which the LMS Chairman, Dr Joseph Shaw, Local Representative for Hertfordshire, Mike Mason, and the LMS General Manager, Mike Lord, met with Bishop Alan Hopes and Bishop John Sherrington a number of times to discuss wider provision of the Extraordinary Form. The LMS would like to thank Bishop Hopes, Bishop Sherrington and Archbishop Vincent Nichols for their work in helping to make the Traditional Mass available in these areas of the Archdiocese of Westminster. LMS General Manager Mike Lord commented: "We are very pleased at this positive response from the archdiocese to what has been something of a pastoral crisis in Hertfordshire and north-west London in recent years for Catholics attached to the Extraordinary Form of Mass." "It is doubly pleasing that the parish priest in each case has been asked to be the principal celebrant. The Traditional Mass needs to become a full and accepted part of parish life in dioceses across the country with an important role in drawing the faithful closer to Christ, especially in this Year of Faith. In the cases of St Albans and Willesden, The Extraordinary Form is set to do just that."

Mass for the election of a Pope

Today at St Mary's, Forest Hall, Newcastle our Saturday morning EF Mass was 'For the election of a Pope'. We all prayed that our new pontiff would carry on the traditional mindset of Benedict XVI. I was concerned to read in our diocesan newspaper - Northern Cross - the report that "Parishioners call for a new vision". Why I was surprised I don't know as the article read "The Northern Cross, acting also for The Tablet, sought the opinion of three parishioners as they left morning Mass on Sunday, February 17." It is always concerning to right minded Catholics that anyone even reads "The Tablet" but more concerning that our own diocesan newspaper seems to align with it. Perhaps we should not be surprised that they took such a 'sweeping' poll of THREE parishioners. The fact that comments such as "will it be a good thing to bring in married priests?", "I would have liked him to have proposed a new vision for the Church", "the Church needs to engage with social, political and religious leaders", "we need to see power come down to the lowest level" were the level of comments made makes one worry about the level of Catholicity. We must remember that the Church is not a democracy, that the last time we had a 'new vision of the Church' was Vatican II with all the sorrow, upheaval & general malaise it left behind and we need to realise that the Church is there to GUIDE social, political and religious leaders, not come to a lowest common denominator agreement with them.

Missa Cantata Laetare Sunday

You are asked to note that the monthly Missa Cantata celebrated at St Joseph's, Gateshead on the 3rd Sunday of the month will, for March only, be celebrated on 2nd Sunday (10th March 2013) to coincide with the 4th Sunday of Lent - Laetare Sunday.

Thank you Holy Father

Within the diocese of Hexham & Newcastle there is great love & thankfulness for the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. His 'Summorum Pontificum' freed our priests to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite without let or hindrance from diocesan bishops. Our own bishop, let me add, has never placed any difficulties in the way of our diocesan clergy & all of our Sunday Masses are celebrated by the relevant parish priests. Deo Gratias. In many other ways His Holiness has confirmed the legitimacy of the EF by his pronouncements &, given a longer reign, would probably have removed many of the bad practices introduced. We looked for a way to express our thanks to Pope Benedict &, it was suggested that, we looked for a way to email him with those expressions. However, a solution was suggested which would ensure that he was aware of our thanks in a tangible way. Emails can be deleted so it was suggested that we, individually, arrange Masses for his future health & wellbeing & send Mass cards to him with suitable messages of support & thanks. Such an action could result in an avalanche of mail descending on him to overwhelm him with our gratitude. Please send you cards to: His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI Pontificalis Domus Vatican City

Onward & Upward

The recent introduction of the EF Mass in Darlington is showing great promise with a wish now to mount an exhibition in the local boys' secondary school over 2 days. It is hoped that this will engender enthusiasm among the young men to come forward to learn how to serve the EF Mass &, we must never forget, hopefully to develop the beginnings of a vocation to the priesthood. Such an exhibition will of course be aimed at parents & female siblings who will also realise the beauty in the liturgy which is, largely, absent from the OF Masses. The dates are not set in stone but we are looking at dates probably in November. If anyone has items which we might consider for exhibition which they are willing to lend please contact us on david-oneill3@sky.com or by telephone at 0191 264 5771.

Short term changes at Darlington

The Mass for Ash Wednesday with imposition of ashes had been changed to 12.15pm to accommodate an OF parish Mass. The monthly Mass will be replaced by a WEEKLY Mass for the duration of Lent.