Tomorrow's Chant Training

As well as Sung Mass Booklets and complete choir booklets, I thought I'd share these Mass sheets for the congregation to participate in the prayers and chants of the Mass for the Feast of the Holy Angels. Missa de Angelis is a very common Mass setting, and although some die-harders may tire of it, your can't say it isn't appropriate for this wonderful Feast!

Chant and server training will commence at 1:30 (beginners and experienced alike welcome), with the Mass starting at 3pm.

Holy Guardian Angels With MassVIII

Sung Mass Missalette

Generic Sung Mass Booklet

Mass Listings November 2010 - January 2011

WEEKLY LOW MASSES:

Every Wednesday 12 noon (Our Lady & St Kenelm, Halesowen – Check 0121 6021972 before travelling)

Every Friday 7pm (St John Fisher, West Heath – Provisional beyond November)

Every Saturday 9.30am (Newman Shrine, Birmingham Oratory)

Every Sunday 9.30am (Birmingham Oratory)

OTHER LISTINGS OUTSIDE WEEKLY SCHEDULE:

• Monday 1st November All Saints High Mass 7.30pm Birmingham Oratory
• Tuesday 2nd November All Souls Low Mass 5.45pm Birmingham Oratory
• Friday 5^th November Anniversary Requiem High Mass 7pm St John Fisher, West Heath
• Friday 12^th November St Martin Low Mass 7pm St John Fisher, West Heath
• Wednesday 17^th November St Hugh of Lincoln 6pm Low Mass St Michael & the Holy Angels, West Bromwich
• Friday 19^th November St Elizabeth Low Mass 7pm St John Fisher, West Heath
• Friday 26^th November St Sylvester Low Mass 7pm St John Fisher, West Heath
• Friday 3^rd December St Francis Xavier 7pm Low Mass St John Fisher, West Heath
• Wednesday 8th December Immaculate Conception Low Mass 5.45pm Birmingham Oratory
• Wednesday 15^th December Ember Day Low Mass 6pm St Michael & the Holy Angels, West Bromwich
• Friday 24th December Nativity "Midnight Mass" Sung Mass 4pm Birmingham Oratory
• Saturday 25th December Nativity Low Mass 9.30am (Newman Shrine) Birmingham Oratory
• Thursday 6th January 2011 Epiphany High Mass 7.30pm Birmingham Oratory
• Friday 7^th January 2011 Epiphany Low Mass 7pm St John Fisher, West Heath
• Wednesday 19^th January 2011 St Wulstan Low Mass 6pm St Michael & the Holy Angels, West Bromwich

Missa Cantata and Training

Saturday 2 October at 1:30pm

Gregorian Chant Training 

& Altar Servers Training

(Two streams, beginners and experienced welcome)

Followed by Missa Cantata at 3pm

Feast of the Guardian Angels

Ending with Refreshments

St Michael & The Holy Angels RC Church

260 High Street, West Bromwich, B70 8AQ

Happy 3 years!

Yesterday was the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and therefore the third anniversary of the implementation of Pope Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, which basically makes it possible for me to do the work I do. It has enabled several new Masses to take place around Birmingham, principally in West Heath and West Bromwich.




Tonight Fr George Grynowski from West Heath's Parish (down the road from Cofton Park) came to West Bromwich to celebrate the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Last year this was actually a High Mass in his Parish. This year, a Low Mass with about 15 in attendance (plus, briefly, a drunk man looking for some money).

Fr George preached on the celebratory nature of such a sad event as the Crucifixion, since it gives us new life in Christ, and the great part our Lady took in this act of salvation. He then went on to talk about our Holy Father's great act of liberating the Latin Mass and affirming Pope St Pius V from 500 years ago, that it is the Mass of Ages that can never be abrogated or abolished.




In these days leading up to the Holy Father's visit, we pray for a spiritual revolution in this country both within the Church and outside it. The Holy Father may have made it easier to have the Latin Mass, but it has also served to make certain people more panicky than ever! As the Holy Father said in his covering letter, "make room for all the Faith itself allows", and I would urge everyone to remember that this includes not only reverent and beautiful worship, but integral and complete orthodoxy in Faith and Morals, as the Holy Father teaches.

Published by Blogpress for my iPhone

Sunday 19 September

Of course in a week the Holy Father will beatify Cardinal Newman. Despite the Birmingham Oratorians being very busy, they will kindly offer Low Latin Mass at 8am. Please note the car park will not be available for use.

Juventutem Retreat UK

Young Catholic Adults is the English branch of Juventutem which draws together young people attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Mass. It has its presence both at World Youth Days and the Chartres Pilgrimage.

Every year Damian Barker organises a weekend retreat here at Douai Abbey. This year we are fortunate to have several clerics from FSSP present, and will have a Solemn High Mass for the Blessed Virgin Mary tomorrow at 11am followed by a procession in the Abbey grounds.

Fr Armand de Mallery FSSP is the retreat giver, and after Low Mass for the feast of St Nicholas of Tolentino, followed by a hearty supper, is tonight launching the retreat with a conference entitled "How God is present in the Holy Eucharist".

St Pius X

This Friday at West Heath, the Mass at 7pm will be for the Feast of St Pius X (seen on the left celebrating Mass in the Sistine Chapel):

Joseph Sarto was born at Riese in Venetia on June 2, 1835. He was successively curate, parish priest, bishop of Mantua, patriarch of Venice. He was elected Pope on August 4, 1903. As chief pastor of the Church he realised to the full the value of the liturgy as the prayer of the Church and spared no effort to propagate the practice of frequent and daily Communion. In his encyclical Pascedi Dominici Gregis, he exposed and condemned the modernist heresy with force and clarity (1907). He died on August 20, 1914, and was canonized on May 29, 1954

St Pius X

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.

Clarification

I seem to have made all sorts of mistakes in my last newsletter! I upset the Provost of the Birmingham Oratory, who would like to clarify that Fr Philip and any other Oratorians have not been exiled. The word 'exiled' is "untrue, unkind and unhelpful".

Therefore I would like to go on record as saying a more appropriate phrase would be "gone on holiday" in which case please pray that they're having a jolly time.

When I have time I will amend the online newsletter, but it has already been sent out so therefore the 'damage' must have already been done and I hope this clarification will act some way to make amends for such a slur on the Congregation's intentions.

God bless

Latin Mass Correction

Further to the latest newsletter, the Mass originally scheduled for this Saturday, 21st August has been rescheduled for this Friday, 20th August at 4.45pm at the Birmingham Oratory.

The celebrant will be Fr Aidan Nicholls OP and it will be followed by drinks at the Plough & Harrow for Francis Burke's 60th Birthday party.

I hope you can make it. God bless!

Mass of Ages Report: August 2010

News from the Dioceses

(Birmingham & Black Country)

Mass of Ages Magazine

August 2010

The monthly Low Masses at West Heath and West Bromwich continue, although numbers have been down in the last couple of months. I urge anyone who can to attend.

Unfortunately our Midlands Chaplain, Fr Philip Cleevely, is on extended retreat. Father George Grynowski and Fr Chris Handforth are kindly covering his absence at West Bromwich. It is the first time in seventeen years that Fr Chris has celebrated the EF Mass, and we are very grateful to him!

Michael Bourke, LMS Rep for Birmingham during the 1980s, sadly died in April aged 79. Requiescat in Pace.

N.B. Above Edited

Latin Mass Training Day

NEW TRAINING EVENT INITIATIVE 

(FOLLOWED BY 3PM MISSA CANTATA)

Sat 2nd October (Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels) at 1.30pm

at St Michael & the Holy Angels, High St, West Bromwich B70 8AQ

1) Gregorian Chant Schola
We will establish a new Gregorian Chant initiative for the region. Anyone who is interested is welcome, be it newcomers or those more proficient in Chant. The main objective will be to meet perhaps every other month in different Parishes around the region. With the encouragement of the Gregorian Chant Network, it will group together like-minded individuals to hopefully form a schola to aid more sung Masses in the region.

2) Servers Training
Anyone wishing to learn to serve at a Sung Mass are encouraged to come to this training event. If you’d like to learn the Low Mass, please get in touch to arrange an opportunity. Affiliated with the Society of St Tarcisius, which I can provide further information about.

Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham

The Latin Mass Society is organising a Walking Pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham from Friday 20 August to Sunday 22 August. There is a noble tradition of walking pilgrimages to Walsingham which the LMS wishes to revive. The pilgrimage is inspired by the great Paris to Chartres Traditional annual walking pilgrimage which attracts thousands of young participants.

The LMS pilgrims will leave Ely on Friday 20 August after a 7.00 am blessing in Ely Cathedral. Accommodation will be in tents. There will be daily Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite concluding with a Traditional Mass in the Chapel of Reconciliation at Walsingham at 2.30 pm on Sunday 22 August. This will be open to all.

The pilgrimage will be restricted to adults for this year whilst any practical problems are ironed out. It is hoped it will be much larger next year.

Dr Joseph Shaw, LMS Chairman, said: “I am very excited by this pilgrimage – it’s the sort of practical and challenging devotion which young people in particular find of great benefit. This is just one of the evangelical activities by which the LMS is responding to Pope Benedict’s call for a fresh presentation of the Faith in Europe”.

For registration and full details potential pilgrims should e mail the organiser, Paul Smeaton, on paulsmeaton@hotmail.co.uk or telephone the LMS office on 020 7404 7284.

Picture: Dr Joseph Shaw, LMS Chairman, with a banner of Our Lady of Walsingham on the Paris to Chartres Walking Pilgrimage, May 2010.

Requiem Aeternam

R.I.P. Michael Marshall

Funeral in the Traditional Latin Rite on Tuesday 3rd August 2010 at 11.30am in the Birmingham Oratory. Low Mass.

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

Tradition Returns to West Bromwich

For the last 8 months the Parish of St Michael & the Holy Angels, which seemed to have been stripped of many treasures in the last 40-odd years, has benefited from a select group of parishioners striving to reinvigorate the Parish through Tradition. The church is located on the corner of a busy high street; an area which seems degenerate when compared with the nearby modern developments. Behind its car park is a pub, which seems to see more action than the neighbouring parish hall.

But looks can be deceptive. This Parish has a noble history which dates back to the Catholic Emancipation and the stalwart efforts of Hon Fr George Spencer CP, or Ignatius (his Passionist name). Building began in 1830 in large part due to his wealth, but the church has since been extended including a noble tower and spire erected in 1911.

Photos from pre-conciliar days show 40 hours devotion with an abundance of candles, a beautiful wooden reredos of the Archangels, and undoubtedly a Parish rich in both faith and furnishings. Today perhaps things have changed in a similar way to most of christendom: struggling, dwindling and ageing.

But on the other hand there are many pious people in the Parish who are hospitable and active in their local community. An LMS member made it possible with the Parish Priest's permission, to hold a Solemn High Requiem last November to honour deceased Parishioners, Priests and Benefactors. Shortly afterwards Fr Louis Le Van Hong erected a plaque commemorating all the Parish Priests.

This event was such a success that we are lucky enough now to have a monthly Low Mass at 6pm every third Wednesday. The original sacred heart altar was used, and furnished with dusty antiquities that have been retrieved from the church tower; these include beautiful altar cards and even an 18th century missal. It began on Ash Wednesday with, understandably, huge numbers. Since then it has been a modest crowd of about 20, mainly older age parishioners who would never have dreamed the treasure of the Latin Mass would return after they gave it up submissively. Also added to this shrine of Tradition is a votive lamp for the Servant of God Fr. Ignatius Spencer, who will hopefully be canonised in the future.

Day with Mary at Birmingham Oratory

As you may no doubt be aware, the Birmingham Oratory is converting St Philip's Chapel into a Shrine for Bd John Henry Newman, and therefore the regular Saturday morning Low Mass has been postponed until at least August.

However, tomorrow morning Saturday July 17th at 11am there will be a Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form in the main Oratory church with High Mass ceremony.

It is part of a day of prayer from 10am - 5.15pm organized by the Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix Movement, which is founded and guided by the Franciscans of the Immaculate (friars and sisters), inspired by the spirituality of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe.

The “Day” will be led by the Franciscan Friars from St Joseph's in Stoke, and is based on the message of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917. She requested: "Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them." The Day will include Mass, Scripture, Rosary, Meditation on the Passion, Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction, Processions of the Blessed Sacrament and of Our Lady, Act of Consecration, Theological Instructions, and the opportunity to enrol in the Brown Scapular and the Miraculous Medal.

Interestingly, today is the optional feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, and in the old calendar it is the Feast of St Simon Stock whom our lady appeared to in 1251 with the devotion of the Brown Scapular.

South Birmingham High Mass 2010

For the second year running, Rev Fr George Grynowski invited the Latin Mass Society to offer a High Mass in the Extraordinary Form in his Parish Church of St John Fisher, West Heath, for the Patronal Feast of Ss John Fisher & Thomas More. But several features were distinctly different this year from last, and deserve mentioning.

Yesterday it was not our chaplain Fr Philip Cleevely who offered the Mass. You see, last year Fr George was acting in the role of Deacon, one in which he had become well versed in his days as a 'permanent' Deacon with a different profession. But after last year, Fr George attended the LMS Priest's Training Conference at London Colney, and learnt how to be Celebrant. So this year he offered the Mass, and was assisted by (not Oratorians this time, but) Rev Frs Christopher Miller of Kings Heath and Jan Nowotnik of Northfield. Therefore it was a High Mass using Parish Priests all from the same deanery, who were happy to celebrate the occasion in fraternal joviality!

Fr George also used a new red High Mass set of vestments which he had acquired from Luzar Vestments, in the Gothic style. I was MC for the first time after much study following my training with the Society of St Tarcisius. Obviously I made lots of mistakes, but have clarified in my mind the role a great deal. Here's to the next attempt!

Music was kindly provided by Mr Oliver Hayes who is a regular choir member of the Birmingham Oratory, who doubled as an organist. Together with a good friend of mine they sung Plainchant Propers with Missa de Angelis Ordinary and Credo III (giving the opportunity for the congregation, and the ministers in the Sanctuary, to join in with full gusto!)

Fr Jan gave a sermon about the bravery of these holy English Martyrs, who died by holding true to their Faith in the face of much opposition. We must also derive this same bravery through Grace, so that in our own circumstances we can bear witness to the Faith and answer any questions that are put to us, in a society that is hostile to objective Truth and Religion. Fr Jan is in a good position to say this, since he has been in the Press in the run-up to the Beatification of Newman, which will be presided over by our Holy Father just down the road from the very Church we were in.

The other difference from last year was unfortunate. Before, I had only made about 25 Mass booklets - so this year I wasn't going to be caught out, printing another 75! But whereas there were over 100 people last year, yesterday there were 53. A respectable number for a Friday night nonetheless, and everyone in attendance, mostly local parishioners, seemed to have good words to say, naturally!

The Mass was followed by the opening and blessing of a new lawn and flower garden adjacent to the Church, complete with permanent Altar. It is dedicated to the first Parish Priests at West Heath; Frs Cyril Barlow & Philip Smith - the former of whom would have said the Traditional Mass in the first years of the Church when the New Mass was being concocted. An outdoor buffet was had and enjoyed by all present. On Monday Fr George will inter the ashes of a parishioner who had wanted to be laid to rest on holy ground.

℣.Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini	Our Help is in the name of the Lord
℟.Qui fecit caelum et terram	Who made heaven and earth
℣.Dominus vobiscum	The Lord be with you
℟.Et cum spiritu tuo	And with your spirit
Oremus	Let us pray
Oramus pietatem tuam, omnipotens Deus, ut hunc hortum, quem aeriis et pluviae temperamento nutrire dignatus es, bene+dictionis tuae imbre perfundas, et flores terrae tuae usque at maturitatem perducas. Tribue quoque populo tuo de tuis muneribus tibi semper gratias agere; ut a fertilitate terrae esurientium animas bonis omnibus affluentibus repleas, et egenus et pauper laudent nomen gloriae tuae. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.	We appeal to thy graciousness, O almighty God, that thou wouldst shower thy blessing+ upon this garden, which thou hast nurtured with favourable weather, and mayest bring these flowers of the earth to maturity. Grant also to thy people a sense of constant gratitude for thy gifts, so that the hungry may find rich nourishment in the fruits of the earth, and the needy and the poor may praise thy wondrous name. Through Christ our Lord.
℟.Amen.	Amen.
The garden is sprinkled with holy water.

Reminder: High Mass this Friday

St John Fisher RC Church
West Heath, Birmingham
Friday, 9th July 2010 at 7pm
(followed by Buffet and blessing of new Garden)

Fr George Grynowski would like to welcome everyone to a Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Use of the Roman Rite at his Parish Church in West Heath, South Birmingham, for its Patronal feast (which differs in the old calender and therefore gives his parishioners the chance to celebrate it twice!) From the website:

Dominating the 45 bus terminus at West Heath, Birmingham is the Catholic Church of St. John Fisher. Even though it rises from below road level, the lofty octagonal building is impressive from every angle, even from the nearby Lickey Hills. The predominant feature is a large octagonal dome surmounted by a large bronze cross. This copper dome has now toned to a soft green tint, a pleasing contrast to the honey coloured brickwork. Over the main entrance the large statue of St. John Fisher offers a blessing to all who enter, pass by or are waiting for the bus!

Parish of St. John Fisher, West Heath was founded on 30th September 1956. The first parish priest, Fr. Philip Smith, celebrated Mass at Turves Green School and later at Archbishop Masterson School for Girls. Work on the new church building commenced on 5th March 1962 with Fr. Smith cutting the first sod. The foundation stone was laid by Archbishop Grimshaw on 25th June that year.The church was opened on 31st March 1964 and consecrated by Archbishop Dwyer on 22nd June 1972, the [new rite] feast of St. John Fisher.

I hope you will be able to attend and support this great celebration, but also important initiative: a Traditional Latin Mass in a normal Parish Church, with all ministers being parish priests from the Deanery. This is the 3-year anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, and the Holy Father's wish for the faithful to benefit from the full riches of this Mass. It will be a time of reflection and what better way to show our support for the Pope than by attending this Mass!

Directions to St John Fisher, West Heath
1 Cofton Road,
West Heath
Birmingham
West Midlands
B31 3QT

SsJohnFisher