It's been a blessed few days at the Birmingham Oratory; it started with Fr Francis Gavin's ordination at 6pm on Friday evening by fellow Oratorian Bishop Robert Byrne - I think we can forgive them cancelling the regular Friday evening EF Mass for this! His first Mass in the Ordinary Form followed at 11am on Saturday morning and earlier today he celebrated his first High Mass in the Extraordinary Form, complete with coped Assistant priest. Each of the three events was followed by the opportunity to receive first blessings, which obtains a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions. Fr Francis may take a well earned rest now, but the events continue apace at the Birmingham Oratory, with an
Extraordinary Form High Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception tomorrow at 7pm. The Friday evening Mass will return at its usual time of 6pm this week, but it will be a candlelit Rorate Mass and so will the Saturday morning Mass which moves from its regular time of 9.30am to 7.30am. Last year Rorate Masses at 6pm on Friday evening and 7.30am on Saturday morning were a regular feature of the Oratory's Advent celebrations, so check back here or the
Oratory website for further events.
Fr Francis will also be giving his final talk of an excellent autumn series on Thursday evening at 8pm. Having attended many of the previous talks, I can highly recommend it if you are available. The topic of Thursday's talk will be on Euthanasia and Assisted Dying.
