Bishop Philip Egan presides from the throne at EF High Mass in Portsmouth Cathedral

Rt Rev Philip Egan, Bishop of Portsmouth, presided from the throne at a High Mass in the Extraordinary Form, organised by the Latin Mass Society, at Portsmouth Cathedral on Sunday, 27th October.

The Traditional High Mass was the first at the cathedral for four years and joins the weekly Sunday morning Low Mass that has begun at Portsmouth’s mother church in recent weeks. Despite warnings of dire weather conditions, the Mass was well attended.

The celebrant was Fr Phillip Pennington Harris, and the deacon was Rev Stephen Morgan, both of Portsmouth Diocese. The sub-deacon was Fr John Maunder of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, based at St Agatha’s, Portsmouth. Music was provided by the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, directed by Christopher Hodkinson.

During his homily, Bishop Egan said that the Extraordinary Form of the Mass was welcome in Portsmouth Diocese where people wished it to be celebrated, and should have a place amongst the liturgical diversity of the diocese. He also highlighted the importance to the Church’s liturgy in both forms of the Roman Rite of Gregorian Chant and the Latin language. The bishop then spoke on the subject of the feast of Christ the King, celebrated on that Sunday in the 1962 Calendar. When Pope Pius XI had instituted it, it had been intended as a corrective to the rampant nationalism seen in inter-war Italy. Today, said the bishop, it still has great relevance as a corrective to the rise of secularism in our society.

After Mass, tea had been organised by the LMS in the cathedral centre and Bishop Egan stayed to talk with very many members of the congregation.

LMS General Manager, Mike Lord, said: ‘We were delighted that Bishop Egan was able to join us on this great occasion and were heartened by his words of welcome to those of us who are attached to the Traditional Latin liturgy and by the bishop’s affirmation of its legitimate place within the life of the Catholic Church. The annual High Mass at Portsmouth Cathedral has been revived after several years and today’s event has proved a great success and a very joyful occasion for all who attended.’

LMS Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham ‘Best Yet’

The Latin Mass Society’s annual walking pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Walsingham took place over August Bank Holiday weekend. The fourth consecutive year of this event saw 90 people (a 25% per cent rise on last year) undertaking the three-day journey on foot to ‘England’s Nazareth’. The intention of the 55-mile walk, which started in the cathedral city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, was the conversion of England. Pilgrims slept in tents or on the floors of school and village halls along the way and clearly many found it more challenging than they had expected, but all managed to reach the Shrine in time for Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form on the afternoon of Sunday, 25 August.

The pilgrimage procession in Walsingham High Street

Four priests accompanied the pilgrimage. Fr Bede Rowe of Clifton Diocese, presently based at Chavagnes College in France, was chaplain of the pilgrimage. He was joined by Fr Thomas Crean, OP, of Holy Cross Priory, Leicester, Fr John Cahill of Northampton Diocese, and Fr Michael Rowe (no kin) from Australia. In addition, three English seminarians from the Fraternity of St Peter joined the event as well as member of the Dominican community at Blackfriars, Cambridge. Traditional Solemn Mass was celebrated every day of the pilgrimage, most notably at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, a fifteenth century moated manor house and former recusant home, still lived in by the Bedingfeld family.

LMS General Manager, Mike Lord, said: ‘By common consent, this has been the best year for this

The pilgrimage concludes by the Abbey ruins in Walsingham

pilgrimage so far. The overwhelming majority of walkers are young families and young people, showing the continuing vitality of the Traditional Mass and Faith. Many are encountering the Old Rite for the first time and have found the experience of the traditional spirituality of the Roman Rite and the spiritual and physical discipline of a walking pilgrimage an inspiring and transforming experience. Our entrance into Walsingham itself was memorable. On other public pilgrimages organised by the LMS, it is common to encounter hostility in the street, but as we approached the gates of the Abbey grounds to the former site of Lady Richeldis’s Holy House, the response of bystanders was very positive, even awed.’

The LMS plans to release a short film documentary in the early autumn about this year’s pilgrimage to inform and inspire others to join them for next year’s event.

The Decline of the Catholic Church in England and Wales since the 1960s

Newly released statistics show the decline of the Catholic Church in England and Wales in 1960s and 1970s.

Research by Latin Mass Society has demonstrated the striking decline of a range of statistical indications of the health of the Catholic Church in England and Wales in the 1960s and 1970s.

To our knowledge this data has never been made available in collated form before: the number of ordinations year by year since 1860, the number of priests since 1890, and baptisms, marriages, and receptions, and estimates of the Catholic population, since 1913.

Among the findings are:

Marriages: The number of marriages collapsed by a third between 1968 and 1978 (from 47,417 to 31,534), and has continued a rapid decline since then, now standing at less than 10,000 a year, a quarter of the 1968 level in absolute terms, and even less in relation to the estimated Catholic population (from 12 per thousand in 1968) to 2½ per thousand in 2010).

Conversions fell off a cliff in the 1960s. From a peak of 15,794 in 1959, it fell to 5,117 in 1972; in relation the Catholic population, it fell by more than 70% between those two years. It has not recovered.

Baptisms halved between 1964 and 1977 (137,673 in 1964 to 68,351 in 1977), and are even lower today (oscillating around the 60,000 mark). This is not just the effect of the end of the ‘baby boom’: considered in relation to total live births for England and Wales (using data from the Office for National Statistics), the first half of the 20^th century saw steady growth, with Catholic baptisms peaking at nearly 16% of all live births in 1963. This was followed by a decline of a third between the mid 1960s and the mid 1970s. A more gentle decline has continued to the present: today fewer than 10% of babies born alive in England and Wales are being baptised in the Catholic Church. 

Ordinations fell by more than 56% between 1965 and 1977 (from 233 to 101), and the decline has continued. Even on the more optimistic figures supplied by the National Office of Vocations (compared to the Catholic Directory) for the current year, showing an increase on recent years, numbers are at scarcely 30% of their 1964 level. (Counting only ordinations to the diocesan clergy, there were 134 in 1964; the NOV predicts 41 this year.)

Dr Joseph Shaw, the Chairman of the Latin Mass Society, who led the research, comments:

‘Anyone with an interest in the future of the Catholic Church in England and Wales will find these figures illuminating. They show unambiguously that something went seriously wrong in the Church in England and Wales in the 1960s and 1970s. Catholics ceased quite suddenly to see the value of getting married, having large families, and having their children baptised. Non-Catholics no longer perceived the Church as the ark of salvation, and ceased to seek admission. Young men no longer offered themselves for the priesthood in the same numbers as before.

‘It is not fanciful to connect this catastrophe to the wrenching changes which were taking place in the Church at that time, when the Second Vatican Council was being prepared, discussed, and, often erronesouly, applied. As Pope Benedict wrote in the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum (2007):

in many places celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but the latter actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring creativity, which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear. I am speaking from experience, since I too lived through that period with all its hopes and its confusion. And I have seen how arbitrary deformations of the liturgy caused deep pain to individuals totally rooted in the faith of the Church.

‘The theological and liturgical fashions of that era were invariably justified by the hope of positive pastoral results, and these results manifestly failed to materialise.

‘The effect of dissent from the Church’s teaching is particularly manifest in relation to contraception, which has had a direct consequence on the Catholic birth rate, as reflected in the number of baptisms, compared to the national birth rate.

‘The Church in England and Wales today has fewer than half the ordinations each year than it had in the 1860s, but more than double the number of priests. A large proportion of those priests, however, will die or have to stop work over the next decade. In this respect we are still living on our capital, and this capital is about to run out.

‘The Extraordinary Form has not lost its power to attract young men to the priesthood, and the communities which have grown up around it today provide disproportionate numbers of vocations, marriages, and baptisms. Thirteen young men from England and Wales are currently studying for the priesthood in the different religious orders committed to the Extraordinary Form; three more should join them in September; these are numbers which many dioceses would envy.

‘We believe that the Extraordinary Form (the Traditional Mass) has an important role to play in resolving the crisis in the Church.’

Notes on the statistics.

Unless otherwise indicated, the statistics are taken from the Catholic Directory. Statistics for ordinations can be recovered only by manually counting the lists of men ordained each year; some of this work was done by the Rev. Stephen Morgan and a team at the Diocese of Portsmouth. The Latin Mass Society has filled in the gaps in Rev. Morgan’s figures and extended the range of dates covered in both directions. In addition, the LMS has added the total number of clergy, and the numbers given in the Directory’s ‘Recapitulation of Statistics’ since 1913, which include Baptisms, Marriages, Adult Conversions (renamed ‘Receptions’ in 1976), and estimates of the Catholic population.

We are very grateful to the Rev. Stephen Morgan for letting us use the fruits of his research, to the Fathers of the London Oratory for giving us access to their library, and to a number of Latin Mass Society volunteers for their time.

For further information contact either: Mike Lord, General Manager, on 020 7404 7284 or michael@lms.org.uk

The full press release (reproduced here) on the LMS website:

http://www.lms.org.uk/resources/statistics-from-the-catholic-directory

A downloadable spreadsheet showing all the figures with 13 graphs:

http://www.lms.org.uk/resources/catholic-directory-statistics

JPEGs of all the graphs on a Flickr set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55776120@N08/sets/72157633478538615/

LMS York Pilgrimage 2013 Report

Saturday Shoppers in York Watch Pilgrimage With Respectful Curiosity

Photo: The statue of St Margaret Clitherow is carried through The Shambles in York, close to where the martyr lived. (Photo credit: Leo Darroch)

The Latin Mass Society’s third pilgrimage in honour of St Margaret Clitherow, one of its co-patrons, took place in York on Saturday 4th May, the feast day of the English Martyrs. Solemn Mass was celebrated in the Church of St Wilfrid by Canon Amaury Montjean of the Institute of Christ the King, with Fr Michael Hall as deacon and Fr John Cahill as subdeacon.

After Mass, there was a procession carrying a statue of St Margaret Clitherow through the streets of York and passing through The Shambles, where St Margaret lived, and over Ouse Bridge, the place of her execution. The procession ended at the Church of the English Martyrs, where there Benediction was offered by Fr Stephen Brown. 

York was full of tourists during the Bank Holiday weekend, who watched the procession pass through the crowded streets with a respectful curiosity.

One lady who was visiting from Perth in Australia, and happened to enter St Wilfrid’s Church, just as the Gospel was about to be sung, was amazed at the sight of a Traditional Mass, saying that nothing like that ever took place in her home diocese.

The musical setting of the Mass was Thomas Luis de Victoria’s Missa Simile est Regnum, sung by the Rudgate Singers who also sang Gregorio Allegri’s Adoremus in Aeternum at Benediction. The day ended with the congregation singing Fr Faber’s Faith of our Fathers!

Pilgrimage organiser Paul Waddington said: ‘We were very pleased with the turnout for this year’s pilgrimage which showed an increase on last year’s event. The sight of pilgrims processing through the busy streets of York past Saturday shoppers always draws people’s attention and is an important public witness to the Catholic Faith.’

St Margaret Clitherow was arrested in 1586 for the crime of harbouring Catholic priests. She refused to enter a plea to prevent a trial that would involve her children being made to testify, and therefore being subjected to torture. The standard punishment for refusing to enter a plea was being crushed to death and this was carried out to the horror of many local people on 25 March 1586.

York Pilgrimage Report

Over 700 Catholics committed to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) converged on York Minster on Saturday 26 March to attend the first celebration of a Catholic Mass in the Minster since the Reformation. Sung Mass in the ancient Latin Rite, complete with beautiful vestments, ceremonial and incense, was celebrated at the High Altar by Fr Stephen Maughan of the Catholic diocese of Middlesbrough. (The Mass was a Votive Mass of a Holy Woman Martyr Not a Virgin).

Afterwards, the huge congregation processed through the streets of York in public witness of the Catholic Faith to the Shrine of St Margaret Clitherow in York’s historic Shambles before completing a memorable day with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at the Catholic Church of the English Martyrs.

The occasion was the Latin Mass Society’s first annual York pilgrimage in honour of St Margaret Clitherow, one of the LMS’s patron saints. The day was organised by Paul Waddington, National Treasurer and local Representative for the LMS who said: “I am overwhelmed by the response of so many hundreds of faithful Catholics. The number of young families with children in buggies was particularly encouraging”.

Permission for the Mass was given by the Dean, the Very Reverend Keith Jones, and Chapter of York Minster; the Dean and the Precentor, Canon Peter Moger, sat in choir during the Mass.

The Latin Mass Society had originally hoped to celebrate the Mass in the nearby Catholic parish Church of St Wilfrid’s, but unfortunately it was not available; however, the parish’s loss was York Minster’s gain.

The massive choir of York Minster was completely packed and over 150 people had to be accommodated in the nave with extra seating brought in. The music was provided by the Rudgate Singers, a local choir who specialise in the Latin Mass and who sang William Byrd’s polyphonic Mass for Five Voices.

Saint Margaret Clitherow, (1556-1586) who lived in York was an ordinary wife and mother who refused to renounce her Catholic faith and who was martyred by being pressed to death in the reign of Elizabeth I. She was executed on Good Friday 1586 and was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Following the Mass, there was a procession from York Minster through the city streets to St Margaret Clitherow’s shrine in the Shambles, and then across Ouse Bridge, the place of her execution. The sight of so many Catholic pilgrims publicly processing and praying the Rosary drew the notice of Saturday afternoon shoppers, and a respectful silence fell as the procession passed.

The procession finished at the Catholic Church of the English Martyrs where a relic of St Margaret Clitherow, on loan for the occasion from York’s Bar Convent, was venerated and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was conferred by Fr Michael Brown, the LMS’s Northern Chaplain.

The occasion was widely covered by TV, radio and local press.

Michael Lord, LMS General Manager, said: “Something special happened in York on Saturday. Hundreds of Catholics gathered in this historic centre of northern Christianity to honour one of England’s bravest women in a quite extraordinary way. Indeed, some people travelled from as far away as London, Oxford and Dublin.

“This Mass in the ancient Roman Rite demonstrates quite clearly the suppressed level of interest in the Latin Mass, particularly amongst the young. I’m afraid many English and Welsh bishops are still very grudging in helping to organise celebrations of the Latin Mass but our huge congregation today shows that hundreds of people want to stand alongside Pope Benedict in his efforts to restore beauty and dignity to Catholic worship and to restore Christianity in its ancient European heartland.

“The LMS is already making plans for an even bigger celebration in honour of St Margaret Clitherow next year”.

The LMS offers its grateful thanks to the Dean and Chapter of York Minster, the Bar Convent, the Church of the English Martyrs and all those volunteer members of the LMS who co-ordinated the day’s events, and without whom such a happy and successful occasion would not have been possible.

[As a post-script, I just wanted to add what a success Birmingham's own pilgrimage was. Fr Anton Guziel led us in Rosary and a talk on St Margaret Clitherow whilst aboard the coach, and a great day was had by all 53 of us, including three Priests in choir from each of our respective 'Latin Mass Parishes'. 


I noticed particularly the Thurifer and boat-boy file down the quire at the offertory and incense the Dean and Precentor with clerical attributes; a truly ecumenical gesture! A head usher told our party there were upwards of 600 present, but it seems there are other estimates being quoted. I wish dearly that there could be such an event in this part of the country.]

St Joseph's Retreat

Latin Mass Society Celebrates St Joseph’s Day with an Overflowing Morning of Recollection Followed by a Successful Solemn Mass in Westminster Cathedral

The sun shone on the Latin Mass Society’s (LMS) Morning of Recollection on the theme of St Joseph and Lent and its afternoon Solemn High Mass in Westminster Cathedral on Saturday 19 March (St Joseph’s Day).

Fr Andrew Southwell, the LMS's National Chaplain, gave the Morning of Recollection at St Vincent's Convent, Carlisle Place, close to the cathedral. Nearly 60 people attended the event, exceeding the seating capacity of the meeting room so that extra chairs had to be brought in for those who arrived slightly late.

Many aspects of St Joseph and the Season of Lent were covered in the hour-and-a-half talk which concluded with the Litany of St Joseph in Latin and several people commented afterwards that they very much appreciated the insights given by Fr Southwell on Our Lady’s husband and foster-father to Our Lord.


Father Southwell was also the celebrant at the High Mass in Westminster Cathedral in the afternoon. Father Martin Edwards was deacon and Fr Patrick Hayward was sub-deacon; the Mass attracted a congregation of some 300 people.

Music was provided by members of the Cathedral Choir, which centred on Mozart's Coronation Mass. There were blue skies outside and the sunshine streamed in through the windows high in the Sanctuary sending beams of light through the clouds of incense rising from the altar. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the Feast of St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church.

More pictures on the LMS Flickr page here.



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Possible Personal Parish in England

Latin Mass Society's Response to the Announcement of Negotiations Between Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury has announced that he is negotiating with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, an international order of priests who solely celebrated the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, for them to take control of the landmark Church of SS Peter and Paul, New Brighton, on the Wirral. The church is commonly known as ‘the Dome of Home’ for its prominence and visibility, even from sea.

In response, the Latin Mass Society has announced that it warmly welcomes the news that Bishop Mark Davies is negotiating with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) to enable the ICKSP to assume responsibility for the much-loved Church of SS Peter and Paul on the Wirral and for it to become a centre for Eucharistic devotion. The local membership of the LMS has been campaigning for the church to be reopened and for the Traditional Latin Mass to be regularly celebrated there.

This initiative is sure to promote Church renewal in Shrewsbury diocese to the great benefit of all Catholics regardless of which Form of the Rite they are attached to. The LMS will offer every help and assistance to Bp Davies and the Institute to bring their plans to fruition and invites all those attached to the Extraordinary Form to pray for Bishop Davies’ intentions.

Doctor Joseph Shaw, LMS Chairman, said: ‘This initiative is a clear expression of the harmonious reintegration of the Extraordinary Form into the life of the Church which Pope Benedict XVI so patently desires. It is a wonderful idea to have a centre for Eucharistic devotion in Shrewsbury diocese and the ICKSP are second to none in their devotion to Our Blessed Lord in the Sacrament of the Altar’.

The LMS provides regular financial support both to the Institute of Christ the King (ICKSP) and the Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP) for their missions in England and Wales to reintroduce use of the Extraordinary Form; further financial support is given to English and Welsh seminarians at ICKSP and FSSP seminaries.”
--

This link goes to the LMS’s press release on its website:
http://www.lms.org.uk/news-and-events/news-blog#press-release-icksp-bp-davies

Priests' Training Conference 2011

Benediction at Downside Abbey
August 2010

The Latin Mass Society has announced its seventh residential conference for priests who wish to learn the Extraordinary Form of Mass. The conference will take place at Buckfast Abbey, Buckfastleigh, Devon from Tuesday 3rd to Friday 6th May.

Tuition will be given in small groups selected according to ability, and will cover Low Mass, Missa Cantata and Missa Solemnis. It is also hoped to provide tuition in the sacraments of baptism and marriage. Only rudimentary Latin is required.

There will also be a residential course for laymen wishing to learn to serve the Extraordinary Form.

The conference will begin late morning on the Tuesday, although there will be the opportunity for those travelling long distances to stay at Buckfast Abbey on the Monday night. The conference will end after lunch on the Friday.

Learning High Mass at Downside Abbey
August 2010

There will be sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form each day; parts of the Office will also be sung.

The inclusive fee is £85 which covers all tuition, accommodation and board.

Application forms for both priests and servers training are available from the LMS office (020 7404 7284) or the LMS website (www.lms.org.uk).

LMS Chairman, Doctor Joseph Shaw said: “The LMS’s training conferences are now well-established in the Church’s calendar of activities. We have already trained over a hundred priests and many more Extraordinary Form Masses are being offered around the country due to our training activities”.

Successful Summer School

The St Catherine's Trust for Traditional Catholic Education held its sixth Annual Summer School from Sunday 1 to Sunday 8 August at Ardingly College in West Sussex. It was attended by forty enthusiastic students aged from 11 to 18, and a volunteer staff of sixteen, including a chaplain, Fr Andrew Southwell.

The students studied a range of subjects covering every aspect of Catholic belief, history and culture, and heard a piano recital by the professional pianist Matthew Schellhorn, and a talk from the Catholic journalist Dominic Scarborough.

There was daily Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form, including Mass in Arundel Cathedral, by permission of Bishop Kieran Conry.

As part of the Summer School, the Latin Mass Society held its first ever residential Latin course, directed by Philip Goddard, the LMS's adviser on Latin, which made use of the LMS's teach yourself Latin primer, Simplicissimus. The course was based on the Latin of the liturgy, and examples and exercises were taken from liturgical texts. Students were divided into 'beginners' and 'intermediates', although all joined together for lectures on psalmody and liturgical poetry, the history of liturgical texts, and Latin in Philosophy. Students were delighted with the amount of Latin they were able to absorb, describing the course as 'transforming’ and ‘enriching' their engagement with the liturgy of the Church.

Doctor Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the LMS, said: “The Summer School is always exhausting but exhilarating; it is inspiring to see so many children being so prayerful. This is surely what Pope Benedict wants as part of the re-evangelisation of Europe”.

The St Catherine’s Trust Summer School is financially supported by the Latin Mass Society and other benefactors, and accepts students regardless of their ability to pay. Next year it will be held in Ushaw College in Co. Durham, from Sunday 23 July to Saturday 30 July: see www.stcatherinestrust.org for more details.

Bishop Schneider coming to UK

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY

LMS Residential Training Conference for Priests Wishing to Learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Downside Abbey, Somerset.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider to attend Conference

The Latin Mass Society has announced that Bishop Athanasius Schneider ORC, Auxiliary Bishop of Karaganga in Kazakhstan, will be attending the forthcoming priests’ training conference to be held at Downside Abbey from Tuesday 10th to Friday 13th August. Bishop Schneider will celebrate a Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form in the Abbey Church at Downside on Thursday 12th August at 11.00am. He will also deliver a lecture as part of the conference.

Around 30 priests are expected to attend the conference where tuition will be given in the celebration of Mass in the older form. Some will be beginners, and will be studying Low Mass; whilst others with more experience will be expanding their skills to include Missa Cantata and Missa Solemnis. Tuition will also be provided for altar servers.

Bishop Schneider is best known for his defence of the traditional practice of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue and kneeling. His book, Dominus Est, originally written in Italian but now available in English, deals with this subject in some detail.

The public will be able to attend the 11.00 am Mass in the Abbey Church each day of the conference, but will be particularly welcome at the Pontifical Mass on the Thursday.

There are a few last minute places available at the Downside conference. Priests and potential servers interested in attending should contact the Latin Mass Society by telephoning 020 7404 7284 for further information and an application form.

Notes:

1. ​This conference will be the sixth to be organised by the Latin Mass Society during the last three years. Earlier ones have been held at Merton College in Oxford, Ushaw College in Co Durham and All Saints Pastoral Centre in London Colney, Herts.

2.​ Over 100 priests have attended these conferences, of whom about 85 now regularly celebrate Mass in the Usus Antiquior.

3.​ Practically all restrictions on the use of the Usus Antiquior or Extraordinary Form were lifted by Pope Benedict XVI in his motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, published in July 2007. Since then the number of both Sunday and weekday Masses celebrated in the Usus Antiquior has increased in all dioceses of England and Wales.

4.​The website of the Latin Mass Society Masses includes listings of Masses celebrated in the Usus Antiquior: www.latin-mass-society.org

. . . . ENDS . . . .

For further information, please contact John Medlin, General Manager, or James Murphy, LMS Office Manager, on (T) 020 7404 7284;
(F) 020 7831 5585; (E mail) info@latin-mass-society.org

LMS Pilgrimage, Wales

Annual LMS Pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Wales, Cardigan UK, Sunday 23 May 2010

Sunday 23 May 2010 – Catholics from across Wales will gather at the National Shrine at the Church of Our Lady of the Taper, North Road, Cardigan, SA43 1LT at 2pm (Confessions) followed by a Sung Mass at 2.30pm followed by a break for refreshments and a Rosary Procession and Benediction.

Groups wishing to attend should contact the Rector of the Shrine, Father Jason Jones, on 01239 612615

LATIN MASS SOCIETY PRESS RELEASE. 15 FEBRUARY 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LAUNCH OF THE GREGORIAN CHANT NETWORK

A new organisation – The Gregorian Chant Network - has been launched to organise training in Gregorian Chant and to link singers and choirs singing Gregorian Chant for the Catholic liturgy, with the support of the Latin Mass Society, Una Voce Scotland, the Association for Latin Liturgy, and the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge.

On Saturday 30th January, at a meeting at the London Oratory, 35 Chant directors, Gregorian Chant experts, and interested parties, including representatives from more than twenty Gregorian Chant scholas from all parts of England, Wales, and Scotland, and the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, met to launch a new association to coordinate and promote Gregorian Chant training initiatives, and to facilitate mutual support, both moral and practical, among chant scholas. They were addressed by Dr Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the Latin Mass Society, which sponsored the meeting, and Colin Mawby, the composer and former Director of Music at Westminster Cathedral. The meeting ended with Vespers in the Little Oratory, led by Fr Anthony Alexander.

Dr Shaw introduced the Gregorian Chant Network and outlined its practical work, which was further discussed in an open forum. Mr Mawby gave a paper on the importance of Chant, and led a practical session on conducting a chant schola.

The Gregorian Chant Network (GCN) is supported by the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales (LMS), and its Scottish equivalent, Una Voce Scotland, the Association for Latin Liturgy (ALL), and the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge. The LMS and UV Scotland promote the use of the usus antiquior of the Roman Rite (the Traditional Latin Mass). The ALL promotes the use of Latin in the liturgy in both forms of the Roman Rite. The Schola Gregoriana, which was founded by the late Dr Mary Berry CBE, provides training in the Chant, sings at events (including Mass in both forms of the Roman Rite) across the country, and has a programme of recording CDs.

The GCN’s first training event will be a three-day course at the Oratory School, Reading, 9-11th April, directed by Nick Gale, the Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral. The course will cater for beginners and more advanced singers alike.

More details can be found on the GCN website:

http://www.gregorianchantnetwork.org/

Email: chantnetwork@googlemail.com

Background

The Gregorian Chant Network is unique in the UK as a collaboration between groups which promote the Traditional Latin Mass (the LMS and UV Scotland), a group primarily associated with the New Mass (the ALL), and a group of professional singers (the Schola Gregoriana).

Gregorian Chant is called for in both the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ forms of the Mass, with Vatican II calling for it to have ‘pride of place in liturgical services’. In the fifty years leading up to the Council the Chant underwent a widespread renaissance in the Church, with the help of scholarly work of the monastery of Solesmes in France. Following the Council, however, Chant fell out of widespread use in the Catholic liturgy. In the context of the renewed interest in the liturgy stimulated by Pope Benedict XVI, interest in the Chant is growing once more. The spread of the Traditional Mass, allowed greater freedom under Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, is creating a greater demand for the Chant, which is required for its sung forms. The ‘Reform of the Reform’ movement, which seeks to improve the Mass promulgated in 1969, has also led to the restoration of Chant in many churches.

The repertoire of Gregorian Chant includes much music composed for the Mass between the 4th and the 8th Centuries, and chants for the Office which go back to the time of Christ and earlier. It is written in square notes on a four-line stave, from which modern musical notation developed, and requires special skills for its interpretation and performance. It was described by Vatican II and Pope Pius X as specially suited to the Roman liturgy.

For further information contact John Medlin at the LMS: 020 7404 7284
(info@latin-mass-society.org)

Westminster Pontifical Requiem

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY

21 November 2009

Westminster Bishop celebrates Traditional Mass for the First Time as the Latin Mass Society Celebrates Its Annual Requiem Mass in Westminster Cathedral

The Rt Rev. Alan Hopes, auxiliary bishop in Westminster, celebrated a High Mass of Requiem in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in Westminster Cathedral on Saturday 14 November for the repose of the souls of all deceased members and supporters of the LMS. Father Andrew Southwell was Assistant Priest, Fr Michael Cullinan was Deacon and the Sub-deacon was Fr Michael Dunne of the cathedral staff. Gordon Dimon of the LMS was MC. Bishop Hopes also preached on the theme of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a bridge between the saving events of Our Lord’s Passion and the men and women of our own time with all their hopes and fears.

A congregation of some hundreds heard the men of the Cathedral Choir sing the plainsong Requiem Mass together with the plainsong Adore Te Devote at Communion.

The Mass was followed by the traditional ceremonies of Absolutions at the Catafalque and before Mass, a wreath was laid by Mr Kingsley Lewis, Deputy Chairman of the LMS, and other LMS 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. Father Andrew Southwell read prayers for the occasion.

John Medlin, General Manager of the LMS, said afterwards: “This was the first time that Bishop Hopes had celebrated the Traditional Mass and the LMS is most grateful to him for the great care he took in learning the Rite. We also thank Canon Christopher Tuckwell, the Cathedral Administrator, and his staff for the friendly welcome we always receive in the cathedral”.

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.

. . . . ENDS . . . .

Traditional Confirmations

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY

12 November 2009

Westminster bishop confers Traditional Rite confirmations

Bishop George Stack, auxiliary bishop in Westminster, administered Confirmations in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Rite) at St James’ Church, Spanish Place, London W1 on Saturday 7 November. 32 candidates received the sacrament – 27 children and 5 adults. This was the sixth year of the annual ceremony organised by the Latin Mass Society.

As usual, permission for the Old Rite Confirmations had been given by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, now Emeritus Archbishop of Westminster.

The candidates’ day began with a catechetical meeting in the Lady Chapel with Bishop Stack. The Confirmation ceremony followed and the liturgical ceremonies were concluded with Pontifical Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

The choir and organist of Spanish Place provided the music, and a large congregation of over 400 family and friends joined them in singing the Veni Creator Spiritus and other traditional hymns. During the anointing, the choir sang polyphony and plain chant.

After the ceremonies, a reception for the bishop and congregation was held in the crypt. Bishop Stack met and chatted with the newly-confirmed and their families and cut the celebratory cake.

Doctor Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the Latin Mass Society, thanked Bishop Stack for his pastoral concern for those attached to the Extraordinary Form and led the families and children in a rousing round of applause.

. . . . ENDS . . . .

London Colney Priest Training Conference

2 June 2009

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY

For Immediate Release

LMS Residential Training Conference for Priests Wishing to Learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at All Saints Pastoral Centre, London Colney, St Albans, Herts

The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales (LMS), in association with the Archdiocese of Westminster, is organising a residential training conference for priests wishing to learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at All Saints Pastoral Centre, London Colney, Herts, the premier conference centre of the Archdiocese of Westminster.

The conference will run from Monday 24 August to Friday 28 August 2009 and will feature Traditional liturgies in London Colney’s magnificent Ninian Comper-designed chapel together with a Gregorian Chant schola and polyphonic choir.

Expert tuition in the celebration of Mass in the Usus Antiquior will be provided on a small group basis. There will be guest lecturers and all participants will receive 1962 Missals.

As well as daily Sung Mass, devotions will include Lauds, Benediction and Rosary.

The subsidised fee to participants is only £115.00 which includes full board and accommodation. Places are limited and priests are urged to register as soon as possible.

Further details and registration forms can be obtained from the LMS office (Tel: 020 7404 7284)

Mark Johnson, lead organiser, said, “We are extremely pleased to have the backing of the Archdiocese of Westminster and Archbishop Vincent Nichols. This conference – our first at London Colney – builds on the success of our two previous conferences at Merton College, Oxford. I hope the laity will tell their priests about this wonderful opportunity to learn the Usus Antiquior in a welcoming and recollected environment.”

Latin Mass Society, 11-13 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NH
Tel: 020 7404 7284
E mail: thelatinmasssociety@snmail.co.uk
Website: latin-mass-society.org

. . . . ENDS . . . .

For further information, please contact John Medlin, General Manager, or James Murphy, LMS Office Manager, on (T) 020 7404 7284;
(F) 020 7831 5585; (E mail) thelatinmasssociety@snmail.co.uk

More information and application form

Image: Flickr

Ushaw College Press Release

1 May 2009

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY

For Immediate Release

GREAT SUCCESS! TRADITONAL LATIN MASS RETURNS TO THE HEART OF THE CHURCH

The Latin Mass Society’s (LMS) residential training conference for priests wishing to learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) held at Ushaw College, Durham from Monday 20 April to Thursday 23 April (Low Week) has been a great success.

Twenty priests, mostly from the northern English dioceses, received intensive training in the celebration of Mass in the Usus Antiquior or Extraordinary Form.

Tuition was given in small groups by priests who regularly offer Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite. Four of the groups were for beginners or near-beginners and concentrated on Low Mass. The other two groups were for priests already proficient in Low Mass and who wished to study the more complicated forms of Missa Cantata or Solemn Mass.

The conference participants felt thoroughly welcomed at Ushaw College, one of England’s most prestigious seminaries. Particularly useful was the availability of many side altars suitable for practice and private Masses. The conference made use of no less than ten of these.

The magnificent St Cuthbert’s Chapel was used for all the public services. These included Lauds, Vespers, Compline, Rosary and Benediction as well as the daily conference Mass. The plainsong chant was provided by the schola of the Rudgate Singers; and at the final Solemn Mass the polyphonic choir, Antiphon, sang Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices.

As a seminary chapel with plenty of choir stalls, St Cuthbert’s Chapel was ideally suited for a gathering which included so many priests. The impressive gothic architecture, cathedral-like accoustic and traditionally styled sanctuary made a perfect setting for the Latin liturgies.

The Holy Father in his Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum not only ‘released’ the Mass but also the other sacraments and Father Thomas Crean OP, who includes part-time hospital chaplaincy amongst his duties, gave a well-received lecture on the pastoral relevance of the Traditional Rite of Holy Unction, Viaticum and Commendation of the Dying.

Canon Stephen Shield, Dean of St Peter’s Cathedral, Lancaster, who celebrated some of the conference liturgies, gave the keynote address at the convivial Gala Dinner at which the priests lustily sang ‘God Bless Our Pope’.

One of the priest participants said afterwards, “It rejoiced our hearts to hear the Gothic splendours of the Pugin chapel of St Cuthbert ringing once more to the sound of plainsong and the Mass of Ages. It is to be hoped that more clergy will rekindle joy in the priesthood through discovering the riches of our Catholic heritage.”

Doctor Joseph Shaw, LMS Chairman, said, “The glorious sight of the great chapel with Solemn Mass, two choirs, more than a score of priests in choir, and a good number of local faithful, was surpassed by the bustle of the enormous sacristy and the whisper of private Masses at innumerable altars in the early morning. What the LMS conference represented is the re-establishment of the Traditional Mass as part of the tool-kit of parish priests. It was wonderful to see Ushaw College doing what it has done for two centuries: enabling the training of priests in the Church’s great liturgical tradition”.

The training conference at Ushaw College is the third the LMS has organised. Two very successful conferences were held at Merton College, Oxford, in 2007/8, attended by over 95 priests. However, the LMS wanted to move its conferences to unambiguously Catholic surroundings and Ushaw College was an obvious choice.

The LMS is organising a further training conference for priests at All Saints’ Pastoral Centre, London Colney, St Albans, Herts (the Archdiocese of Westminster’s premier conference centre) from Monday 24 to Friday 28 August. Details are available from the LMS office.

Latin Mass Society, 11-13 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NH
Tel: 020 7404 7284
E Mail: thelatinmasssociety@snmail.co.uk
Website: latin-mass-society.org

….ENDS….

Extraordinary Rite Triduum at Eight Locations

The Triduum has to be the high point in the liturgical year of the Church. It consists of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on Saturday Evening. There have been many changes over the years with the exact ceremony, including during Pope Pius XII's reign. But as far as the 1962 Rite, please see the following Press Release from The Latin Mass Society:

The Sacred Triduum in the Extraordinary Form Will be Celebrated at 8 Locations for 2009

In a sign that the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) has returned to the heart of the Church, the Latin Mass Society has announced that the Sacred Triduum in the Extraordinary Form will be celebrated at 8 locations within England and Wales.

In recent years the LMS has organised 2-3 celebrations of the Sacred Triduum each year so 2009 is proving a bumper year – clearly Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio, ‘Summorum Pontificum’ is having a powerful effect. The full Holy Week ceremonies will be celebrated at Lanherne (Cornwall), Reading, South London, Central London, NW London, Brentwood, Leeds, Shrewsbury. A partial Triduum will be celebrated at Ham, Surrey. A full list is available on the LMS website (http://www.latin-mass-society.org/) or from the LMS office.

IMPORTANT
For many years, the LMS has celebrated the Sacred Triduum at Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane, London WC2. Because the Triduum was also celebrated there in the Ordinary Form, the LMS had to arrange its celebrations at unusual times. However, this year, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, has graciously arranged that the Ordinary Form congregation of Corpus Christi Church will join the congregation at nearby St Anselm & St Cecilia’s Church in Kingsway for their Ordinary Form Triduum so allowing the Sacred Triduum in the Extraordinary Form to be celebrated at Corpus Christi Church at the usual times (e.g. 3.00 pm on Good Friday).

In a further gesture of reconciliation, Cardinal Cormac has asked one of his priests, Fr Andrew Wadsworth, to celebrate the Corpus Christi Triduum – in previous years the LMS had to make its own arrangements.

John Medlin, General Manager of the LMS said, “We are very grateful to the congregation of Corpus Christi and the parish priest, Fr Chris Vipers, for giving free use of Corpus Christi Church for the Triduum in the Extraordinary Form. We are particularly grateful to Cardinal Cormac for proposing this arrangement and to Fr Wadsworth for coming to join us. Fr Wadsworth knows the Extraordinary Form well and we are looking forward to a wonderful celebration of these Mysteries of our salvation.”

National Events

April

20-23 Ushaw Training Conference

May

Sat. 23 Guild of St Gregory Pilgrimage and High Mass (2.30pm) at West Grinstead

June

Sat 6 Fr Goddard’s first Mass in London at St James’ Spanish Place

Sat 20 AGM (11am probably) and Annual High Mass (2.00pm)

Downside High Mass

July

Sat 11 Day of Recollection at Ware

Sun 12 National Pilgrimage to Holywell Mass at 2.00pm Bishop Rifan celebrant

August

2-9 St Catherine's Trust Summer School

Sat 15 Welsh Pilgimage to Shrine of Our Lady of the Taper

24-28 London Colney Training Conference

September

Sat 5 Pilgrimage to Glastonbury Mass at 12 noon Benediction 2.15pm

Sat 12 National Pilgrimage to Walsingham

Sat 26 Southwark Diocese Pilgrimage to Aylesford? tbc

November

Sat 7 Confirmations at St James’ Spanish Place 11.00am

Sat 14 Dio Reps meeting am Annual Requiem in Westminster Cathedral 2.00pm

Towards Advent Westminster Cathedral Hall

Sat14/Sun15 Una Voce Rome Conference