Lanherne Nuns Looking for £1 million to Buy Their Convent - Can You Help?
Spiritual Bouquet for LMS Chaplain, Fr Andrew Southwell
Masses for Feast of the Assumption
Violent Attack by Liberal Parishioner on Priest for Celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass
Getting Permission for the Extraordinary Form in a Parish
Mass in Historic Family Chapel at Dilston Hall, Northumberland
How Does the Traditional Mass Fare in Switzerland?
LMS Pilgrimage to National Shrine of Wales on Sunday, 7 August
Report on Solemn Mass at West Heath, Birmingham, for Feast of SS John Fisher and Thomas More (9 July)
The Annual LMS Pilgrimage to Padley in Derbyshire is Restarted
LMS Pilgrimage to Padley Chapel, Grindleford, Derbyshire on Sunday 17 July
Homily preached at the LMS Annual Pilgrimage to Holywell, North Wales on Sunday 3 July 2011 by Fr Simon Henry
The Benefit of Going on Retreat
LMS Appoints New Editor of Mass of Ages
Thank You, Holy Father
Another Great Success for the LMS with the National Pilgrimage to Holywell – But We Need a New Organiser, So Please Volunteer
Pilgrimage Transfered from Cardiff to Abergavenny July 2011
Solemn High Mass for Feast of SS John Fisher & Thomas More in Birmingham This Saturday
Obituary: Arthur Crumly, 1936-2011
The LMS Gets a Fair Hearing from The Catholic Herald
Day of Recollection Next Saturday with Fr Michael Cullinan of Maryvale Institute in Stunning Pugin Setting
LMS AGM High Mass and AGM at St George’s Cathedral, Southwark Saturday 2 July 2011
Latin Mass Society AGM and Solemn Mass at Southwark Cathedral Tomorrow
The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate at Lanherne in Cornwall need your help. Unless they manage to raise £1 million to buy their convent buildings, they will be homeless.
A few years ago, the Sisters switched to following, exclusively, the Traditional Latin Mass and Office. They are a growing community of mainly young nuns, leading a traditional monastic life in total fidelity to the Church's orthodox teachings and liturgical heritage. They have more vocations than they can deal with!
When the Carmelites, who own the building, decided to amalgamate with another of their monasteries back in 2001, they asked the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate to continue their life of prayer and penance. However, following their arrival, the circumstances changed and it was decided that the Monastery should be sold together with its Estate. What has happened, in fact, is that the surrounding buildings have been sold and all that remains now is the Monastery itself and St. Joseph’s Hall (which is used as a church hall).
The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate cannot own property but are looking for a benefactor or benefactors who will purchase Lanherne Monastery and at the same time permit them to continue to live their life of prayer.
The Sisters lead lives of simple poverty, in the spirit of St Francis of Assisi. All that they have achieved at Lanherne has been brought about through God's grace and the generous gifts of benefactors. Now they need to ask again. Will you help them?
The sisters have produced a five-minute film as part of their appeal, which can be seen on YouTube. Here's the link.
If you would like to make a donation, please contact:
Mother Superior
Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate
Convent of St. Joseph and St. Anne,
Lanherne-St. Mawgan
NEWQUAY
Cornwall
TR8 4ER
United Kingdom
Tel. 01637 860423
Email: fsi.lanherne@talktalk.net
Many thanks to Michelle Catling for alerting the LMS to this story on the AirMaria Blog.
Fr Andrew Southwell has recently celebrated 30 years of the religious life. The St Bede's community is organising a spiritual bouquet in thanksgiving and for his good estate, with which the Latin Mass Society and the St Catherine's Trust would like to associate themselves. Please let us know what Masses you have had said, rosaries, communions etc. so they can be included in the bouquet to be presented at the beginning of September.
Fr Southwell has worked tirelessly for the cause of Tradition for many years, for scarcely any material reward beyond a roof over his head. He was the Chaplain of the Traditional Catholic Family Alliance, an apostolate for families, and later of the St Catherine's Trust, which runs a Summer School for children and a Family Retreat. He has for many years been attached to the parish of St Bede's in Southwark diocese, where he has built up one of the largest and most active congregations attending the Traditional Mass. This congregation is the mainstay of both the Sodality of the Five Wounds (of which he is Chaplain) and the London branch of the Guild of St Clare. He is now also the National Chaplain of the Latin Mass Society and has been closely involved with recent priest-training conferences.
You can email your contribution to the LMS office: info@lms.org.uk
The Feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady is on Monday, 15 August.
There are Traditional Masses being celebrated at around 30 different locations in England and Wales. A full listing can be downloaded here.
Here's a disturbing story from Italy, courtesy of Fr Z's blog. Father Hernán García Pardo, a parish priest based near Florence, who has introduced the Extraordinary Form to his parish and is celebrating it regularly, has received a series of threats from one liberal parishioner who hates the Traditional Latin Mass. This has culminated in his physically assaulting the priest, who ended up in the emergency ward of the local hospital.
Apparently, one of the practices to which the liberal parishioner objected was Communion distributed to the faithful on the tongue and kneeling. Read Fr Z's full posting here.
The ever-popular Fr John Zuhlsdorf, on his blog, www.wdtprs.com, carries a story from America which nevertheless has been repeated many times in England and Wales. This concerns the ‘problem’ of obtaining permission for celebrations of the Traditional Mass – or indeed of the other sacraments in the Traditional Rite. The problem is compounded of two parts: the first is the ignorance of priests and, yes, some bishops of what Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum actually says; the second is the self-same ignorance among some of the laity attached to the Traditional Rite. Summorum Pontificum was published nearly four years ago; it is not a long document – two sides of an A4 sheet; its provisions are quite clear: surely we might expect that at least those attached to the Extraordinary Form would have read it and pondered it?
Having said that, here is Fr Zuhlsdorf’s story, which begins with a query sent to him by a reader:
From a reader (edited): “I have a friend whose priest performs the extraordinary form of the Mass, but was only able to get it on Wednesday mornings. He does the ordinary form in a very traditional manner. He said that it was very difficult getting permission from the [d]iocese for only the Wednesday morning Mass, so he won’t even try for a Sunday Mass. I think Universae Ecclesiae would allow the priest to go around the archdiocese and to the Ecclesia Dei Commission. What should he do if he wants to get a Sunday Mass?”
Fr Zuhlsdorf responded:
For the love of all that is good and holy… Pastors of parishes don’t need permission of the bishop… don’t need permission of the bishop… don’t need permission of the bishop to implement the provisions of Summorum Pontificum in their parishes.
May I suggest that Father read Summorum Pontificum?
How many years will it take to get it through that the provisions of Ecclesia Dei adflicta were superseded by those of Summorum Pontificum?
If the priest is a) the pastor and b) people ask him for the older Mass on Sundays and c) he or another priest can cover it along with the other Sunday Masses, no permission is needed… no permission is needed… no permission is needed from the chancery or bishop.
That doesn’t mean that there won’t be pressure from the chancery. The priest has to want to deal with that. But he is within his rights to implement Summorum Pontificum. If there would be any undue interference from the chancery, I have little doubt but that the priest would find a very favourable hearing in the offices of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” so long as the priest followed the provisions of Summorum Pontificum.
So there you have it, direct from the horse’s mouth (well, Fr Zuhlsdorf’s). In case readers do not have the time to read Summorum Pontificum, here it is in a nutshell, as it affects parish celebrations:
The Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and reissued by Bl. John XXIII...must be given due honour for its venerable and ancient usage.
It is, therefore, permissible to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass following the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Bl. John XXIII in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the Church. (Art 1.)
In Masses celebrated without the people [so-called ‘private Masses’] each Catholic priest of the Latin rite, whether secular or regular, may use the Roman Missal published by Bl. Pope John XXIII in 1962...For such celebrations...the priest has no need for permission from the Apostolic See or from his Ordinary. (Art. 2.)
Celebrations of Mass as mentioned above in Art. 2 may...also be attended by faithful who, of their own free will, ask to be admitted. [note: this does not preclude advertising, as some have claimed. The point about private Masses is not so much that they are ‘private’ but that they are extra to the normal pattern of advertised parish Masses] (Art. 4.)
§ 1 In parishes, where there is a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition, the pastor should willingly accept their requests to celebrate the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962,,,Celebration in accordance with the Missal of Bl. John XXIII may take place on working days; while on Sundays and feast days one such celebration may also be held. § 3 For faithful and priests who request it, the pastor should also allow celebrations in this extraordinary form for special circumstances such as marriages, funerals or occasional celebrations, e.g. pilgrimages. (Art. 5.) [Note: the subsequent Instruction, Universae Ecclesiae, from the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’, published with the authority of the Pope, on 30 April 2011, explains the “stable group” thus: “it is constituted by some people of an individual parish who...ask that [the Extraordinary Form] might be celebrated in the parish church or in an oratory or chapel;...such a ‘group’ can also be composed of persons coming from different parishes or dioceses. (Art. 15)]
Art. 7. If a group of lay faithful, as mentioned in art. 5 § 1, has not obtained satisfaction to their requests from the pastor, they should inform the diocesan bishop. The bishop is strongly requested to satisfy their wishes. If he does not want to arrange for such celebration to take place, the matter should be referred to the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”. [i.e. if the bishop, despite the Pope’s request, is unwilling to help the faithful, they should refer the matter to ‘Ecclesia Dei’.]
Art. 8. A bishop who, desirous of satisfying such requests, but who for various reasons is unable to do so, may refer the problem to the Commission “Ecclesia Dei” to obtain counsel and assistance. [i.e., a bishop who would like to help but does not have the resources to do so, should refer the matter to ‘Ecclesia Dei’. The subsequent Instruction, Universae Ecclesiae, goes further: “In dioceses without qualified priests, Diocesan Bishops can request assistance from priests of the Institutes erected by the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’, either to celebrate the Extraordinary Form or to teach others how to celebrate it” This refers to priests of the Fraternity of St Peter and the Institute of Christ the King, etc. (Art. 22)]
Art. 9. § 1 The pastor...may also grant permission to use the earlier ritual for the administration of the Sacraments of Baptism, Marriage, Penance, and the Anointing of the Sick,. § 2 Ordinaries are given the right to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation using the earlier Roman Pontifical.
Art. 10. The ordinary of a particular place...may erect a personal parish...for celebrations following the ancient form of the Roman rite, or appoint a chaplain [i.e. the bishop can nominate a particular church or churches where the Extraordinary Form will be fully and regularly celebrated and which can be attended by those attached to the Extraordinary Form and living outside the parish boundary.]
A number of people claimed that Summorum Pontificum left in doubt whether the Sacred Triduum could be celebrated in the Extraordinary Form. The Instruction Universae Ecclesiae made all clear: “If there is a qualified priest, a ‘group of faithful’…can also celebrate the Sacred Triduum in the Extraordinary Form. When there is no church or oratory designated exclusively for such celebrations, the parish priest or Ordinary, in agreement with the qualified priest, should find some arrangement favourable to the good of souls, not excluding the possibility of a repetition of the celebration of the Sacred Triduum in the same church (Art. 33).
One final point: nothing in Summorum Pontificum or Universae Ecclesiae precludes a priest, where there are no requests from groups attached to the Extraordinary Form, from introducing celebrations in the Extraordinary Form if he feels it will be advantageous to souls. He may want to do this gradually and with care, and with plenty of catechesis, but just as he might introduce a new devotion into parish life if he feels the faithful would benefit, so he has the right to introduce the Extraordinary Form for precisely the same reason – the salvation of souls.
You might also be interested in this on the same topic.
On Wednesday 20 July 2011, Fr Michael Brown, the LMS's Northern Regional Chaplain, celebrated the annual Missa Cantata in the chapel of Dilston Hall near Corbridge in Northumberland. The Mass is, usually, said on the Feast of St Mary Magdalene in whose honour the chapel is named. Due to the Diamond Jubilee of a retired priest resident in Fr Brown’s parish, on this occasion it was celebrated two days early.
The Mass is always offered for the repose of the souls of the Radcliffe family one of whose ancestors, the third Earl, was executed for his part in the failed 1715 Jacobite Rising when he sided with Charles Stuart.
The chapel is separate from the main house which is now run as a college by MENCAP. It is a tiny stone built chapel which contains mementoes of the Radcliffe family some of which are on loan from Ushaw College. Although basically unchanged since penal times a modern balcony has been added to seat a larger congregation.
The music for the Mass was provided by the Schola Sancti Baedae who sang the Proper in Plainchant whilst singing the Plainchant Missa Cum Jubilo for the Ordinary. The Mass ended with the congregation singing the Salve Regina.
Also in the congregation was Fra Matthew Festing the Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta who resides in Northumberland. Included in the altar team was FSSP seminarian James Mawdesley at present on leave from Bavaria.
Readers of the LMS’s magazine, Mass of Ages, will recall that over the past couple of years it has featured the results of the various surveys the French campaigning organisation, Paix Liturgique, have carried out in European countries to gauge the acceptance and implementation of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum. This included a detailed statistical survey of the situation in the UK published in Mass of Ages, November 2010.
Now Paix Liturgique have published the results of a survey carried out in Switzerland as recently as March 2011.
As is well known, the Church in Switzerland has many deep seated problems built around widespread dissent and disobedience. These problems have deeply infected the Swiss clergy. It is no coincidence that The Tablet runs many news stories deriving from Switzerland – all of them approving even though the topics usually covered are those of Episcopal and priestly dissent on matters such as women’s ordination and the ordination of married men; the reception of the divorced and remarried at Holy Communion, the reception of those attached to separated ecclesial bodies at Holy Communion and recognition of their orders, the rejection of Humanae Vitae, etc, etc.
Bishop Huonder (above): regarded as 'too
conservative' by his liberal fellow Swiss bishops
The root problem is that there appears to be so little orthodox belief and practice among the faithful, both clergy and laity, in Switzerland, reflected in the muted reception given to Summorum Pontificum. There is obviously a mountain to climb to reclaim Switzerland for the fullness of the Faith. Despite all the problems there are a surprising number of Extraordinary Form Masses regularly offered in Switzerland so all is not lost: let us pray that the new initiatives to be launched by the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation in Europe will energise the remnant in Switzerland who have clung to the fullness of the Faith and that the fruitful effect of the Extraordinary Form will pull souls away from the Protestant and New Age temptations so prevalent in that country.
The Paix Liturgique report is given below.
IN SWITZERLAND TOO, THE "SILENT ONES OF THE CHURCH" AREN'T MAKING WAVES...
A new international survey from Paix Liturgique brings to light the profound imbalance of the Swiss Church. 61% of Swiss Catholics are totally unaware of the motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum
Last March the Démoscope Institute conducted a telephone survey on behalf of Paix Liturgique among 2009 Swiss residents (German-speaking and French-speaking only), of whom 722 (36%) declared themselves to be Catholic. The results reveal first and foremost that in Switzerland too there exists a large proportion of Catholics who are ready and willing to subscribe to the renewal--including the liturgical renewal--that the Holy Father desires. Nevertheless, they have trouble gaining a hearing within ecclesiastical institutions, which are in thrall to progressive dictates.
Before we turn to the Extraordinary Form’s attraction in Switzerland in our second part, the first part of our survey deals specifically with the incredible chaos now reigning in the Church in Switzerland.
I – A CATHOLICISM THAT IS IN CRISIS
Switzerland numbers six diocese and two territorial abbeys, whose prelates belong to the Conference of Swiss Bishops (Conferenza dei vescovi svizzeri: CVS). Swiss Catholicism has been historically marked by its relations with Reformed communities and its ecumenical leanings. It is also known for its particular links to the Papacy (think only of the Swiss Guards sent from the Catholic cantons) as well as for its relative dependence on cantonal and federal political institutions because of its dualist system (Note 1) and, more recently, by the worsening of many post-conciliar tensions.
In Switzerland, as in Germany and France, Catholicism today is strongly marked by secularization. Sunday Mass attendance falls beneath 10% and vocations are critically low. Ecumenism has taken a back seat to the issue of “Dialogue with Islam” and attachment to Rome is less strong than in the past. Post-conciliar tensions, however, continue to characterize the local Church.
In Lugano, the current bishop came out, in a pastoral letter published in 2006, in favour of granting access to the Eucharist to persons who have divorced civilly and then remarried; meantime he multiplies hurdles to the application of the motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum. In Chur (Coire), a diocese that covers seven mainly German-speaking cantons including Zurich, the local ecclesiastical and lay hierarchy is after the head of the current ordinary, Bishop Huonder (whom Benedict XVI named in 2007), for being “too conservative.” In 1997 the same hierarchy, with the support of the political powers that be, had caused the downfall of Bishop Haas, whom Rome ended up sending to Lichtenstein. On the French-speaking side, Rome has yet to designate a successor to Bishop Genoud, the ordinary of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, who died prematurely last September. According to the Swiss press, the two first terna (the names of the three men proposed for the bishopric) that the nuncio had proposed to the Congregation of Bishops were set aside, which goes to show how difficult it is to fill that position in this crisis-ridden diocese. One last point: Swiss Catholicism is also home to Écône. It is indeed difficult to speak of Swiss Catholicism without mentioning that that is where the Society of Saint Pius X’s headquarters are located and where the Fraternity of Saint Peter was born. . . .
II – THE EXTRAORDINARY FORM IN SWITZERLAND
There are about forty Extraordinary Form Mass venues at the diocesan level in Switzerland today. Twenty-two offer a weekly Sunday Mass, mostly at a family-friendly time (9am to noon). Four offer a Sunday Mass on a regular, though not weekly, basis. The rest, about fifteen in number, offer only weekday Mass, whether every week or not. Nearly half of these venues are served by the Fraternity of Saint Peter, which covers German and French speaking Switzerland in equal shares.
In the diocese of Chur there are thirteen Mass venues, of which five offer a weekly Sunday Mass (two in the canton of Zurich, two in that of Schwyz, and one in that of Grisons).
On the SSPX end there are thirty-one Mass venues, including twenty-four weekly Sunday Masses. Two of these venues are in the diocese of Chur, bringing to fifteen the number of Traditional Mass venues in that tormented diocese. Not bad, but insufficient to have a voice in the diocesan symphony...
“Not bad but insufficient” is the comment that comes to mind to sum up the Extraordinary Form’s situation in Switzerland.
This can be explained: it comes from the attitude of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference (CVS). In Switzerland as elsewhere the bishops have endeavoured to limit the application of the Pontifical text by issuing “directives” governing it. The CVS’s 277th ordinary meeting, held 10-12 September 2007 just before the Motu Proprio came into force (14 September 2007), notably stipulated that the bishop’s authorization was necessary for a Swiss priest to celebrate according the Extraordinary Form of the rite! Just that...whereas article 5 of Summorum Pontificum, completed by article 7, specifically stipulates that the pastor’s authorization is what is needed and that the bishop is to intervene only as a second resort in case the pastor refuses; the bishop is even “ strongly requested to satisfy their wishes” in such a case!
With these directives, which are little known to the Swiss faithful but perfectly understood by diocesan machinery both lay and ecclesiastical (Bishop Huonder gets a pass since it was his first time at the CVS), the spirit of the Pontifical text has deliberately been altered in the sense of a return to the provisions of the 1988 Motu Proprio, Ecclesia Dei. It is therefore no surprise that 61% of Swiss Catholics declare that they have no knowledge of the Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum...
Yet the silent Catholics keep their own counsel. Our survey has allowed them to start speaking out. It shows that paleo-conciliar bishops are once again on the wrong line.
III – THE RESULTS OF THE DEMOSCOPE SURVEY
The following results concern 722 Swiss residents who declared themselves to be Catholic out of the 2009 interviewed on the telephone (CATI method) by the Démoscope Institute in March 2011. In order to take into account the respective demographic weight of French and German speaking respondents, Démoscope gave us data with corrected and rounded figures.
Question 1: Do you go to Mass?
Every Sunday: 8%
Monthly: 12%
On holy days of obligation: 19%
Sometimes (weddings, etc.): 41%
Never: 19%
NA (No answer): 1%
The results of question 2, 3, and 4 here below concern only Catholics who attend Mass at least monthly in question 1. You can consult the totality of the Swiss survey results on the Paix Liturgique website.
Question 2: In July 2007 Pope Benedict XVI recalled that the Mass could be celebrated both in its modern form, termed “ordinary” or “of Paul VI”--in the vernacular with the priest facing the people and communion received standing--and in its traditional form, termed “extraordinary” or “of John XXIII”--in Latin and Gregorian chant, the priest facing the altar, and communion received kneeling. Did you know this?
Yes: 56%
No: 42%
NA: 2%
Question 3: Would you find it normal or abnormal for both forms of the Roman rite to be celebrated in your parish regularly?
Normal: 41%
Abnormal: 50%
NA: 9%
Question 4: If the Mass were celebrated in Latin and Gregorian chant in its extraordinary form in your parish, without taking the place of the ordinary rite in the vernacular, would you attend it?
Every Sunday: 16%
Monthly: 19%
On holy days of obligation: 10%
Occasionally (weddings etc.): 21%
Never: 32%
NA: 2%
IV – THE COMMENTARIES OF PAIX LITURGIQUE
A) This new study, which was conducted according to the usual scientific and professional norms, once again confirms the surveys that have already been conducted: despite the very strong polarization of the Swiss Church and the noise made by “critical Catholics”, a substantial proportion of the faithful (35%) would regularly attend the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite--that is, at least once a month--if it were celebrated in their parish, or to put matters simply, if the Motu proprio were applied...
B) 42% of practicing Swiss Catholics have not heard of Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio . . . four years after its publication (a percentage that reaches 61% of all the respondents declaring themselves to be Catholic). This figure, which is comparable to that in Portugal, is the consequence of the reigning law of silence concerning the Traditional Mass in Switzerland. This silence of itself speaks volumes on the Swiss episcopate’s lack of zeal in spreading the word about Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio among the faithful.
C) This survey once again demonstrates that to treat the question of the Motu Proprio’s application from the point of view of expressed demand constitutes a fundamental misreading of the aspirations of the faithful, if not a disloyal manoeuvre aiming only at blocking the application of Benedict XVI’s text. Considering the attitude of the Conference of Swiss bishops, which in September 2007 subjected the possibility for a priest to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite to the bishop’s authorization, and considering the pathetically low number of the faithful in Switzerland having any knowledge of the Motu Proprio, we may be permitted to point our finger at the Swiss episcopate’s responsibility in “shelving” the Pontifical text.
D) Our next international survey is already under way; it focuses on Spain. If you wish to participate in financing it and thus allow us to continue our information effort, you can send us a bank transfer at:
Paix Liturgique, 1 allée du Bois Gougenot, 78290 Croissy-sur-Seine, France
IBAN : FR76 3000 3021 9700 0500 0158 593
BIC/SWIFT : SOGEFRP.
(Note 1) The specificity of Switzerland consists in the fact that faithful and priests ‘at the grassroots level’ have the possibility, guaranteed by federal institutions, of establishing associations governing parishes and levying the Church tax. This dualist system, which is particularly widespread in the German-speaking cantons, grants great powers to committed laymen since they control a share of the diocesan budget. Many pressure groups therefore, such as the Union of Critical Catholics in the Diocese of Chur, have much weight in pastoral, liturgical, and doctrinal orientations, all in a progressive direction. It is they who got the better of Bishop Haas in 1997 by going so far as to stop financing the diocesan seminary’s operations.
The LMS Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Taper at Cardigan on the west coast of Wales takes place on Sunday, 7 August, starting at 12 noon with the Angelus and the Rosary. There will be traditional Marian devotions and Mass in the Extraordinary Form at 3pm, followed by Benediction.
Our Lady of the Taper is the National Shrine of Wales and is situated close to Cardigan Bay, a spectacular sweep of sandy beaches that looks out on to the Irish Sea. Please do come along and support the pilgrimage. Catholics in Wales attached to the Traditional Mass face many obstacles at the moment. Your prayers offered during this pilgrimage will, we hope, draw down graces to help improve matters.
The location is: Our Lady of the Taper, North Road, Cardigan SA43 1LT. You can also find the Shrine on our Mass Map.
Local contacts for more information: Luigi Dimaio (LMS Representative for Menevia) on 07802 792981 or Tom Sharpling (one of our Assistant Reps for the diocese) on 01239 710 411. Or download this PDF poster for further details.
Matthew Doyle, LMS Representative for Birmingham and the Black Country, writes:
Once again this year, for the third time, Fr George Grynowski invited the Latin Mass Society to his Parish of St John Fisher in West Heath, South Birmingham. The Feast of Ss John Fisher & Thomas More fell on a Saturday this year, which would have otherwise meant a larger turnout. However, today coincided with the Franciscans of the Immaculate second visit to the Birmingham Oratory for their Day with Mary (As well as enjoying a packed congregation, they also benefit from the FI speciality of Sung Mass in the Usus Antiquor).
The Neri Singers sang sang Missa O Quam Gloriosum by Victoria for the Mass Ordinary, Credo III De Angelis, Exultate Justi by Viadana at the Offertory, O Quam Gloriosum by Victoria at Communion, and settings of the Gradual and Alleluia to faux bourdons by Ignaz Mitterer. The Organist Mr Oliver Hayes, played the Hymn Rex Gloriose for the chorale prelude before the Introit, and the Bach Little Fugue in G Minor as the voluntary, as well as improvisations on the chant and the polyphony.
Fr George, the Parish Priest, was for the second time Celebrant; with Frs Christopher Miller & Jan Nowotnik as Deacon & Subdeacon respectively. All these three Priests reside in the South Birmingham Deanery, which is fortuitous for Fr George.
In total only about 40-50 people were in attendence, but we know we were also accompanied by the Choir of Heavenly Angels, almost tangible with Victoria's rendition of the Sanctus.
An incense filled Byzantine-style church was as ever grateful for such a beautiful expression of Latin Catholic Worship, beginning with the quiet prayers at the foot of the altar, Judica Me (Ps 42), so the silent and reverent flectamus genua of the Last Gospel according to St John (1:14)... It is a liturgy resplendent in its noble simplicity and reverent decorum. Thanks be to God!
Anthony Fitzpatrick writes:
After a break of a couple of years, due to fire damage, the LMS in Hallam Diocese organised a pilgrimage to Padley Chapel near Grindleford in Derbyshire. Alas, the rainy and windy July weather was against us but a resolute group of about thirty pilgrims attended the lovely Missa Cantata offered by the Very Rev. Martin Clayton, having previously prayed the Rosary.
The Shrine is dedicated to Bl. Robert Ludlam and Bl. Nicholas Garlick who were arrested at Padley Manor House (now Padley Chapel) on 12 July 1588; they were taken to Derby gaol where they were charged with having come into England as Catholic priests. We are told that Fr Garlick spoke for Fr Ludlam as well as for himself: “being very bold, his answers did serve them both”. They were convicted of treason on 23 July. The night before their execution they shared a cell with a fellow priest, Fr Richard Simpson, and a woman convicted of murder. In the course of the night they were able to reconcile the woman to God and on the scaffold the next day she openly professed her faith. The two priests were martyred on St Mary’s Bridge at Derby on 24 July 1588.
The LMS is most grateful to Mgr David Kirkwood, the Parish Priest, and also to Mrs Celia White, who looks after the upkeep of the Shrine, for their assistance in making this year’s pilgrimage possible. The 2012 pilgrimage is already being planned and we hope that with better weather more people will be able to join us next year. Contact Anthony Fitzpatrick, LMS Hallam Rep, on 07977 327817 for more information or to offer help.
Our photograph shows the Shrine altar, used by the Padley Martyrs, dressed and prepared for Mass.
After a break of a few years occasioned by a major fire at the Shrine of the Padley Martyrs, the LMS in Hallam Diocese is restarting our annual pilgrimage in honour of the Padley Martyrs, BB Nicholas Garlick, Richard Sympson and Robert Ludlam. They were hung, drawn and quartered in 1588 under Elizabeth I for their commitment to the Catholic Faith.
There will be a Rosary Procession from Grindleford Station at 12 noon, followed by Sung Mass at 12.30pm in Padley Chapel, Grindleford, Hope Valley, Derbyshire S32 2HN.
It is hoped that LMS members and all those attached to the Traditional Mass in the areas will attend in good numbers to honour our martyrs who died for the Faith.
Further details are available from Anthony Fitzpatrick, LMS Hallam Rep, on 07977 327817 or e mail: failte.sheff@googlemail.com
On Sunday 3 July, the LMS held its annual – and extremely successful – Pilgrimage to the Shrine of St Winefride at Holywell, North Wales. David Lloyd, a Vice-President of the LMS and the Pilgrimage’s organiser, wrote about it here. The celebrant and preacher at the Votive High Mass offered in St Winefride’s Church was Fr Simon Henry, parish priest of St Catherine Labouré in Preston. Father Henry’s sermon is given below.
The story of this place - St Winefride's well - is one of those Christian traditions that, on the face of it, might easily be dismissed by the sceptical because of the many centuries’ distance that we now stand at from the original events; and because of the nature of the story - the noble lady in distress, defending her honour, the extraordinary healing of reconnecting a severed head, the miraculous spring.
And yet, many of the oral traditions that form a part of the one great Tradition that is the Faith are found to have a great deal of truth in them when they come to be investigated.
To take just one instance brought to mind by the feast of SS Peter and Paul this last week - the very tomb of St Peter on the Vatican Hill in Rome. Was St Peter really buried there? How could we know? How could such an old tradition be believed after all the turmoil of the years and the centuries before Christianity became accepted?
When Pope Pius XII began excavations in the 1940s they were done in secret, lest little evidence was found and it should scandalize the faithful. A wise precaution, it would seem, when no bones were discovered there in the place of the humble earliest tomb, a row of slate-like stones built into a little ridge.
But, lo and behold, just nearby within yards, concealed in the wall were discovered the remains of a man - a tall, well-built man probably in his 70s. All the bones were there, except no foot bones at all. It was then realised that the bones had been hidden at some point when the tomb was threatened with desecration. And the lack of foot bones - St Peter was crucified upside down and the feet dismembered and lost as he was cut down for burial.
And the little humble original grave? Well, you can drop a plumb-line from the dome of the new St Peter’s down through Bernini’s canopy, through the high altar, through the high altar from the old St Peter’s built in the fourth century and still embedded in the soil, down through the little roof supported by two slender columns that was the first shrine erected over the grave, right down to the grave itself. The present day tradition turns out to be a direct link to St Peter, to the apostolic era and so to Our lord himself. And so we needn’t be sceptical of traditions, nor speak of them in embarrassed tones, as this one example illustrates.
Our traditions are rooted in history because God was made man and dwelt amongst us (we have a final reminder of this in the Last Gospel before we leave Mass and return to the world). So it is that place and pilgrimage to it are important in our Faith and always have been - the Lord made it that way when He chose to walk in particular places at a particular time in this world.
For St Winefride, although her life was not written down in any form still known to us until the twelfth century, 500 years after her death, knowledge of her family at the time and a fragment from an eighth century reliquary witness to her reality and the fact that she was venerated as a saint from the time of her death in 650. And since that time, in unbroken tradition, despite the ravages of the Protestant revolution, pilgrims have come ever since.
This place and the tradition associated with it speak of a connection to those that have walked the path of Faith before us - reminding us that the Church is the ultimate society, the ultimate community, the ultimate family, for it is not shackled or torn apart even by death itself; death which is the cut off point for every other relationship and community on earth. “O Lord my God, Thou hast exalted my dwelling place upon earth and I have prayed for death to pass away.”
This place speaks of permanence and continuity - the permanence and continuity which is Christ himself. Through persecution and danger, through destruction and seeming abandonment, the pilgrims have continued to come here. Not just Catholics, but ever since the Protestant destruction, even those of other denominations and none have sought out this place - for like all truly Catholic places, the truth has the capacity to capture even hearts that have gone astray.
I think that this example of permanence and continuity is more important than ever in our day when so much of our pathetic culture is transient and flimsy, built only to be torn down within a few years, constructed so as to fit in with any passing fashion - as GK Chesterton remarked - There is nothing so quickly out of date as what is fashionable. We know that the Church of God is made up of living stones - the treasures are its souls and we’ve just been noting that not even death cuts us off from one another because we are each alive in Christ. But the places of our worship, our churches where the Holy Sacrifice of Calvary is made present for us are also important. No-one thinks a family is a building but the family home is an important place none the less. I think that’s what moves our hearts when churches are closed and the Church herself recognises this by setting these buildings apart by consecration.
The Church is a holy place by virtue of God’s people experiencing there the salvation won for them. This is why as years go by we build churches - whether parish or pilgrimage site - to speak of permanence and solidity, for in a physical way they represent God to us.
What’s more, the same can be said for the worship that takes place inside them. The Mass we celebrate today is a thing of beauty and holiness not just because in its inner meaning it brings the grace of God to us in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar but also because its physical appearance and form unite us in permanence not only with the faithful throughout the world but the faithful throughout time - to your grandfather or grandmother, to those who worshipped here in secret, to St Winefride, to St Peter, to Our Lord Himself when His feet in ancient time walked upon this green and pleasant earth of His creation.
St Winefride and all those martyred for the Faith were ready to make the move from God’s dwelling on earth - the Church Militant, the Pilgrim Church - to God’s dwelling in eternity - the Church Triumphant. But they could do so only because they were like the wise virgins in Our Lord’s parable - they stood ready. He will be able to recognise us and give us entrance to the marriage feast because we are already members of His earthly household. Those who are not can only store up for themselves the words of Our Lord reserved for those who have made themselves strangers to His earthly family, the words that will turn their hearts to ash - “ I know you not”.
For us, we must allow the soul within us to be strengthened by contact with the saints and martyrs of the Christian ages, the generations of our Christian family with whom we gather at every altar where the Mass of the Ages is offered,and whatever our suffering and time of trouble, whatever sins and woes beset us or enemies that assail us, let us praise His name continually together with those saints and martyrs each time we come to this Holy Sacrifice. Make us , O Lord, by their intercession, despise the alluring pleasures of this world and receive with them a throne of eternal glory.
AMDG
Note: you can follow Fr Henry’s blog at http://www.offerimustibidomine.blogspot.com/
A number of retreats in the Extraordinary Form are offered for the laity. There are fewer for priests. The Latin Mass Society, of course, runs its regular residential training conferences for priests wishing to study the Extraordinary Form, and many of the participants have said that in many ways these conferences are similar to making a retreat. However, Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP has specialised over the past few years in running intensive retreats by priests for priests – and which have had a profound effect on the participants in bringing them closer to the deep spirituality and theological underpinning of the Traditional Mass.
Father Michael Brown, the LMS’s Northern Chaplain, recently went on one of Fr de Malleray’s retreats and recounts his experience below. Readers should note his closing comment: “It would be good to see more priests come next time”. It is up to us, the laity, to bring such resources to the attention of our clergy and then politely urge and nag until they pack their bag and set off for an experience which could be literally life-changing.
Note: the LMS is running a one day training session for priests and servers in the Traditional Mass at Holy Cross Priory, Leicester on Tuesday 23 August. It will be possible to study Low Mass, Missa Cantata and Solemn Mass. There is a nominal £5.00 charge. Details are available from Paul Waddington on 01757 638027.
Fr Brown writes:
This week I have been on a priestly retreat in Berkshire. It was led by Fr de Malleray of the FSSP and there were fourteen of us altogether. Sadly I had to leave a day early to come back for a wedding in the parish. On the other hand I arrived the night before the retreat started to save a rush on Monday trying to get to Cold Ash, near Newbury from Newcastle for a 2.00pm start. So I was grateful for Fr de Malleray`s offer of staying a night at the FSSP house in Reading which I was looking forward to seeing anyway.
When I arrived I was invited in for tea. Around the table apart from Father himself (who is French) there was Christopher who has just completed his first year at the FSSP seminary in the USA and is Polish, Fr Grega, a young French Canadian priest who joined the FSSP in January from his diocese and an American FSSP seminarian whose name sadly escapes me. Not only was I the only British person I was the oldest by more than ten years. This was a strange experience as belonging to the diocesan priesthood I`m used to being part of a structure which is top heavy age-wise. I had a tour of the house and was able to see the wonderful conversion job that has been done into making it a religious house complete with a (quite small) chapel. After dinner and clearing up, the evening ended with Compline.
Next morning we went to the local parish church of St William of York for Mass. I was interested to see it having seen pictures on the internet. The altar looked splendid with its gradines and `big six` but all this has to be removed a few times each week so that the parish can have the ordinary form Mass there too. The FSSP have still to acquire a church of their own in the UK. Surely that will happen soon given that they have about five native priests (none of whom at present work in the UK), about the same number in formation and four new seminarians starting this year. All this is quite remarkable when you consider that this is for an institute which only has this small house in Reading as a presence in England ( as well as a somewhat larger house in Edinburgh).
The next day we drove to Cold Ash where lunch was arranged for 12 noon for the retreat participants so that we might have a chance to socialise before beginning the silent retreat. Again I was the senior priest by over ten years and as such was invited to say grace. There were about eight of us at lunch eventually and the arrival of Fr Leworthy of the FSSP at last meant I wasn`t the only priest in his 50s! The rest of the fathers were waiting at Cold Ash pastoral centre when we arrived.
The theme of the retreat was the prayers of the Roman Missal so Fr de Malleray took us through the Mass giving a commentary on the spiritual significance of the prayers and rituals of the Extraordinary Form. All I can say was that I had heard nothing like this in my spiritual formation at Ushaw College. (Fr John Saward may have taught these things but I only had one brief course with him.) Hearing Father speak, the logic of the Traditional Mass was made clear and its spiritual purpose revealed. There are lots of phrases from the retreat buzzing round my head as I write. There were things which I might have missed if I had read them in a book such as: the primary purpose of the Mass is the glory of God. I can be quite certain no-one ever told me that at Ushaw. Father drew our attention to this as the word `glory` kept appearing. It applies to the reading of the Gospel whose prime purpose is not instruction but the glory of God (which is why the response of the people or server is `Gloria tibi Domine`). Father also spoke of how today Catholics feel insulted if the priest says Mass ‘with his back to the people` as they feel they are excluded somehow but they have failed to realise that they are not the focus of the Mass but God and that the priest`s job is to lead them to God. I can`t give a synopsis of the whole retreat here but this gives a small taste. I also can`t give a synopsis because of the eight talks I only heard five as I had to leave a day early. There was a Holy Hour with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament each day and readings at all the meals. I particularly enjoyed those from Archbishop Dolan`s book `Priests for the Third Millenium`.
We had four altars in the rather attractive and largely unspoiled 19th century chapel so the first slot for saying Mass was the 5.40am! I`m afraid I don`t operate very well on less than eight hours sleep so I took at 7.10am slot each morning which meant being asleep by 10pm. It was lovely to walk into the chapel each morning and see all the altars in use.
At times I must admit the retreat was hard going but now I`m back it all seems wonderful and I`d look forward to another. (This is quite like the experience of the Chartres pilgrimage.) It was a long way from the north but I was surprised some of those I know from nearer cities and towns never seem to come to these FSSP events for priests. It would be good to see more priests come next time.
So thank you again Fr de Malleray and thank God for the FSSP.
Fr Brown's blog can be found at http://forestmurmurs.blogspot.com/
The LMS has appointed Gregory Murphy as its next editor of Mass of Ages magazine. Based in Liverpool, where he works as a freelance editor and PR professional, Mr Murphy is a regular member of the congregation at the Traditional Latin Mass celebrated at St Anthony’s, Scotland Road.
Gregory Murphy comes to his new role with over twenty years’ experience behind him as a professional journalist, editor and PR consultant. He learned his trade on local newspapers and Catholic publications, such as the Catholic Pictorial, until, in the mid-1990s, he joined the staff of the Catholic Times where he was News Editor and subsequently Editor. He then spent five very valuable years as Corporate Communications Publications and PR Manager for the Littlewoods Organisation, before deciding to go freelance. Mr Murphy now provides journalistic and editorial services to a range of commercial, public and voluntary sector clients around the UK.
Mike Lord, LMS General Manager, said:
‘We were fortunate to have several strong candidates at interview, but were particularly impressed by Gregory’s professional experience, his grasp of what is required in revamping the magazine and his personal commitment to the Traditional Mass and Faith. We are delighted to have Gregory on board and look forward to seeing the first issue of Mass of Ages under his editorship in November.’
Gregory Murphy will take over from John Medlin, who retires from the editor's post in August after eight years in the job. Next month's edition of the magazine will be John's last and his presence in the LMS will be much missed.
The appointment of a new editor and the forthcoming redesign and relaunch of Mass of Ages is the last of a series of major changes that have taken place at the LMS over the past two years. The move to new offices, the appointment of a new General Manager, the launch of a new and much-praised website, the use of social media such as Facebook, the adoption of a new constitution and other changes are part of a longer term strategy to enable the LMS to promote the Traditional Mass, and the orthodox Faith that accompanies it, more effectively following Pope Benedict’s liberation of the traditional liturgy four years ago.
Yesterday, 7 July, was the fourth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s gift to the Church of his Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, which was released on 7 July 2007.
As recently as May, the Holy Father also gave us, through the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’, the Instruction, Universae Ecclesiae, which will prove an invaluable tool in politely but firmly insisting that the provisions of Summorum Pontificum – which is a universal law – be observed by prelates, priests and faithful. The consequence of Summorum Pontificum is already noticeable in the greater number of Masses and other sacraments being celebrated, the greater number of priests learning and celebrating the Traditional Mass, the greater number of seminarians showing interest in learning it and the rapidly-expanding activity of the Traditional orders worldwide.
Summorum Pontificum was also a gift to those attached to the ordinary form of the Roman Rite as Pope Benedict pursues the resacralisation of that form and seeks to enrich it by its contact with the ‘Mass of all Time’. Such contact will ineluctably demonstrate the greater theological and spiritual ‘ballast’ of the Traditional Rite and will gradually underline its role as the senior partner among the forms of the Roman Rite.
With the renovation of Catholic truth and practice and the new emphasis on evangelisation and ‘élan’ being pursued by Pope Benedict things are beginning to look much more hopeful for the Church, particularly in the badly-decayed West.
A great handover of the generations is beginning to take place as the last of the Vatican II generations leave the stage and a new younger cohort of bishops and priests is introduced, much less influenced by the mantras of the ‘Spirit of Vatican II’. Also, who can doubt that the younger generation of the faithful is much more conservatively inclined – seeking orthodox teaching and traditional spirituality.
The Holy Father’s cautious but determined laying of the foundations is going to produce a great flowering of the Traditional Mass and Sacraments in the new generations and the Latin Mass Society is determined to play its full part.
Thank you, Holy Father and multos annos!
David Lloyd, LMS Vice-President and main organiser of the Holywell Pilgrimage for many years, has sent this report:
The Latin Mass Society’s pilgrimage to the shrine of St Winefride in Holywell, North Wales took place on Sunday 3 July. Father Simon Henry of the Archdiocese of Liverpool was celebrant at a Solemn Votive Mass of a Virgin Martyr and was Assisted by Fr Agnellus FI from the parish of St Joseph, Burslem, Stoke on Trent as Deacon and Fr Ian O’Shea of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool. The sermon was preached by Fr Henry. A number of clergy sat in choir, including Canon Bernard Lordan of the Diocese of Wrexham, and Fr Patrick Hayward of the Archdiocese of Westminster. The MC for the Mass was Mr James Pennington, the LMS’s Representative in Liverpool. Over 170 faithful assisted.
The choir, drawn from the Manchester area, was under the direction of Christian Spence, conductor of the Yorkshire-based Rudgate Singers. They sang Monteverdi’s Messa a quarttro voci da cappella, polyphonic motets at the Offertory and Communion and the Proper of a Virgin Martyr Me Expectaverunt pecccatores from the Liber Usualis.
Following Mass, the congregation gathered outside the church and, led by the cross bearer, acolytes and clergy, processed to St Winefrides’ Shrine and well reciting the Holy Rosary led by Canon Bernard Lordan, former parish priest at Holywell. In the well crypt the Litany to St Winefride was recited and during the veneration of the relic of part of her little finger the hymn “Thee we hail o sainted maid” was sung by the choir. The day’s events concluded back in the church with solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament given by Fr Simon Henry.
The LMS’s Holywell Pilgrimage has taken place now for about twenty-five years - in the beginning on a Saturday afternoon in the form of a Missa Cantata followed by Vespers and Benediction. It was organised then by Mr Edmund Waddelove, the LMS’s Representative in the Diocese of Wrexham. It is worth noting that in the Society’s early years Edmund represented it in the combined dioceses of Menevia, Shrewsbury and Wrexham. He is still alive and living in Ruthin and is in need of your prayers.
I have been responsible for the continuation and expansion of the pilgrimage for twenty years and early in my tenure also provided the music, drawing on a number of church musicians from as far afield as London, Sheffield, Liverpool, Shrewsbury and the University of Bangor to augment the small Traditional choir in Holywell. I always managed to find sufficient priests to support a Solemn Mass and among the many celebrants were The Rt Rev. Michael Gallagher O Praem, the Rt Rev. Mgr Gilles Wach Prior General of the ICKSP, Canon William Hudson ICKSP, Fr Anton Guizel, Fr Andrew Southwell, Fr Nicholas du Chaxel FSSP, Fr Andrew Wadsworth, Fr Antony Dykes and this year, Fr Simon Henry.
Altar servers from the length and breadth of England and Wales have travelled to Holywell to assist. I have always expected the very highest standard of music for worship and I am grateful to all those musicians who have assisted at this pilgrimage, in particular I must mention Anthony Dickinson who has formed small choirs of the very highest calibre to assist in Holywell on many occasions.
Canon Bernard Lordan who I think has never missed a single pilgrimage deserves a special mention, as does Graham Moorehouse who has for some years brought a coach of about fifty pilgrims from London, who are a welcome addition t our congregation.
Unfortunately, due to advancing years I am no longer able to continue to organise this pilgrimage and have now retired. The LMS has previously appealed for someone to accept this responsibility but so far without success. However, to ensure the future continuation of priestly assistance at Holywell, I have offered the pastoral care to Fr Agnellus Murphy FI who has very kindly accepted and will in future provide the sacred ministers for the pilgrimage and will also try to put in place a master of music.
It is vital that a secretary and sacristan can be found and we appeal for a member or members to volunteer for this work. Please contact Michael Lord, LMS General Manager, in the LMS office on Michael@lms.org.uk or telephone the office on 020 7404 7284.
The pilgrimage for Saint John Lloyd and Saint Philip Evans which was to take place on Sunday 24 July 2011 at Saint Peter's Church, Cardiff has now been transfered to Our Lady and Saint Michael's Church, 10 Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny NP7 5UD at 10.00am on the same day which it has been advertised.
The Mass which will be celebrated on Sunday 24 July 2011 at 10.00am will be the Mass of the 6th Sunday after Pentecost with the Commemoration of Saint Philip Evans (according the the calendar of 1962) and will be celebrated by Dom Thomas Regan.
There will only be Mass celebrated this year, but provision has been made for next year on Sunday 1 July 2012 in Saint Peter's, Cardiff for a full pilgrimage.
The next Mass in Cardiff will be Saturday 10 September 2011 at 11.00am in the Sacred Heart Chapel - (to the right of the Sanctuary) and will be the Mass of Saint Nicolas of Tolentino.
South Birmingham will offer it's third annual High Mass at the Church of St John Fisher, 1 Cofton Road, West Heath, Birmingham B31 3QT on Saturday 9 July 2011 at 12 noon.
Parish priest Fr George Grynowski will be celebrant with Frs Christopher Miller & Jan Nowotnik fellow Ministers. The Neri Singers will be accompanying the ceremony with Polyphony and Plainchant for what may be their last outing. Followed by buffet lunch.
Please make every effort to attend and show your support for this special deanery event.
Mark Johnson, LMS Representative for Brentwood Diocese, writes:
Holy Saturday fell on 11 April in 1936 and it was perhaps significant that in the midst of the spiritual and liturgical high point of the Christian year Arthur William Crumly was born at home in Edmonton, London. The significance lies in the fact that the great passion of Arthur’s life was the Traditional liturgy of the Roman Rite and when looking at the history of the struggle for Traditional Catholic liturgy in England and Wales over the last four decades Arthur’s name will figure prominently.
Picture: Arthur Crumly (centre in cassock and surplice) as MC with Cardinal Stickler (right) at Westminster Cathedral
Arthur started serving the Traditional Mass during the Second World War at the parish church of the Most Precious Blood and St Edmund and attended St Ignatius School in Stamford Hill.
Arthur became Master of Ceremonies at his boyhood parish church in 1956 after his return from National Service with the Catering Corps, much of which was spent in Cyprus.
The beginning of the changes to the liturgy associated with Archbishop Annibale Bugnini began in earnest in the 1950s and Arthur was instrumental in teaching his parish clergy the changes to the Holy Week ceremonies in 1956 as well as the changes introduced with the 1962 Missal. As the decade wore on further changes were introduced in 1965, culminating in the introduction of the Novus Ordo in 1969, and Arthur was again involved in teaching his parish clergy the rubrics although by this time he had moved away from Edmonton and was assisting at Mass at St Mary Moorfields, Eldon Street, next to Liverpool Street Station. In 1967 Arthur became MC at Moorfields which appears to have been a vibrant parish at that time with many altar servers. Regular meetings took place of the Guild of St Stephen (Arthur had been enrolled into the Guild in November 1948), with activities such as snooker and outings to the theatre and the cinema. During 1974 most of the servers moved away from the parish and in due course Arthur was left as the sole member of the altar staff.
Picture: Arthur Crumly (far right) during the visit to Britain by Cardinal Stickler
In 1978 Arthur ceased to assist at the Novus Ordo. His involvement with the Latin Mass Society had started in the early 1970s and by 1978 he was the principal MC of the Society (as well as serving on the committee). These were particularly dark times for those attached to the Traditional Mass. However with the promulgation of Bl. John Paul II’s Motu Proprio, ‘Ecclesia Dei Adflicta’ in 1984, the freeze of the 1970s began to thaw a little. Arthur was in the vanguard of what were hoped to be better times.
During the 1980s Arthur was very busy. He was MC at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, London at the Monday evening Mass, started by the parish priest Fr Dodd, as well as MC at the Latin Mass Society’s annual Masses in Westminster Cathedral. In 1986 the Latin Mass Society recorded a video featuring High Mass, Benediction and Low Mass and Arthur was the MC for both the High Mass and Benediction.
In 1986 Arthur compiled and published the first edition of the liturgical calendar according to the 1962 Missal for the Latin Mass Society; something he was to continue to do until 1996.
He was also involved with the annual pilgrimage to Storrington Priory in Sussex as MC and produced a magazine to accompany that event. He also wrote a number of guides for celebrant and servers at the various forms of the Traditional Mass, had articles published in Mass of Ages and its predecessor, and, latterly, managed his own blog.
In the 1990s, approaching retirement, Arthur moved into the neighbouring diocese of Brentwood; living firstly in Ilford and then Woodford Green. He continued to assist at Low Mass at St James’, Spanish Place, London on Sunday mornings (often serving the Mass there on Holy Days of Obligation) and holding court downstairs after Mass. Progress was being made in the Brentwood diocese regarding provision of the Traditional Mass and Arthur became MC at monthly Masses at SS Mary & Ethelburga, Barking, and St Antony of Padua, Forest Gate. These Masses both subsequently developed into Sunday Masses and Arthur was heavily involved in supporting both, being MC at the latter as well as helping to train the clergy to celebrate the Traditional Mass at these and other locations in Westminster and Brentwood.
Right up until the end of his life, Arthur continued to be involved in the Traditional Mass and six weeks or so before his death on 6 May 2011, he was on the altar for a Missa Cantata at St Margaret’s Convent Chapel in Canning Town, which had succeeded Forest Gate as the venue for weekly Sunday Mass in east London.
Prior to Arthur’s High Mass of Requiem at St Margaret’s one of his friends commented that with his passing much knowledge and experience would be lost. That is true; however Arthur was never interested in nostalgia when it came to liturgy. For him it was not about trying to recreate the old days, it was all about unlocking the treasury of Catholic liturgy and music: he has done his bit, it is now down to the rest of us. Requiscat in pace.
LMS members know that the Traditional Mass still gets a rough ride from large sections of the Catholic press despite Pope Benedict XVI’s clear wishes as shown in Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae.
The Universe occasionally puts a delicate toe in the water; The Catholic Times treats us with extreme disdain and The Tablet is driven by an unambiguously liberal agenda. The Catholic Herald, however, has been friendly and accommodating to us – willing to listen seriously to our arguments and to take seriously the fruits of a commitment to the Extraordinary Form – ever more priests celebrating the Traditional Mass, ever more seminarians wishing to learn it, ever more young people and families discovering it.
Recently, they agreed to carry a full length article putting the Traditionalists’ case. Doctor Joseph Shaw, LMS Chairman, obliged and his article was published on the main editorial page of The Catholic Herald on 1 July. Here it is:
They simply want to reconnect with our time-honoured liturgical tradition, says Joseph Shaw
In 2007, in the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict ended 40 years of trench warfare on the Church’s liturgy, by designating the Roman Missal of 1962 a “form or use” of the Roman Rite, with the Missal of 1970 being defined as another “form or use”. Historically forms and uses of rites of Mass were specific to particular places or religious orders; the Holy Father used this legal concept to create a new situation: although the Missal of Pope Paul VI is the ordinary form of the Roman Rite of Mass, all the priests of the Western Church are now permitted to use the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII as the extraordinary form of the same Rite, and the Catholic faithful have the right to ask for it.
The Extraordinary Form is not something only allowed by permission or in exceptional cases; it is available to all. Catholics can simply choose which to attend, and they cannot be criticised for attending the Mass according to “the former liturgical tradition”: the liturgical tradition which was in many ways interrupted by the liturgical reforms following the Second Vatican Council.
Pope Benedict’s motivation for this is made clear in the Motu Proprio and the letter to bishops which accompanied it: he praises the older form of the Mass for its sacrality, he recognises that it is this sacrality which attracts young people to it, and he hopes that it will influence the style of celebration of the Novus Ordo. The Extraordinary Form is thus a means by which the Holy Father can bring about a restoration of the sacred in all of the Church’s liturgy. The long, but frequently ignored, campaign of condemnations of liturgical abuses under Pope John Paul II, the ultimately successful struggle to create an English Mass in a more sacral language, and Pope Benedict’s own numerous books and articles on the liturgy, are all efforts in the same direction. A desacralised liturgy is one in which the Church’s teachings are harder to perceive, and in which Our Lord Himself is not so easily recognised.
Why is it that making the form of the Mass more comprehensible and accessible has not attracted more people to it, whereas a Mass in an ancient language with strict rituals is proving to be attractive, particularly, as the Holy Father says, to the young? How can Christ be made manifest in Latin prayers and often invisible priestly gestures? The answer is that the traditional liturgy does not set out to engage with people word by word, like the text in a newspaper, but rather as a whole overarching experience. The Latin language and ritual actions create an atmosphere and a symbolic language which convey to the faithful the awesome reality of Christ’s self-offering of the Sacrifice of Calvary to the Father made present through the words and actions of the priest. The traditional form of the Mass does not seek to be “mundane” (of this world). Rather, it takes us out of the everyday world, and gives us a glimpse and foretaste of the liturgy of heaven which for Christians is the destination to which our earthly pilgrimage is oriented.
Through Summorum Pontificum Pope Benedict has invited all Catholics attached to the Extraordinary Form to help him resacralise the Church’s worship: to make the Church’s public prayer more clearly a communication with the divine and to recognize the close connection between Beauty and Truth. The role of the Latin Mass Society (LMS) in this great project of restoration is to promote the older Missal, and all that pertains to it, by organising Masses, pilgrimages and other events, and by supplying all kinds of assistance to priests wishing to celebrate it. In order to have regular celebrations of the Extraordinary Form, particularly, as is right, in its most solemn forms, a whole Catholic liturgical culture needs to be re-established: that is why we organise regular training conferences for priests – which have now been attended by more than a hundred priests. In addition, we need a pool of lay people able to serve, to sing Gregorian Chant, to mend vestments and to do many other things. The passing of skills and customs from those old enough to have used them before 1970 to the young is a pressing need, and the LMS has established groups of servers, singers, and needlecraft experts to facilitate this.
Beyond those directly involved in liturgical matters a much wider body of Catholics desire spiritual and liturgical formation in the spirit of the “former liturgical tradition”. The LMS sponsors a summer school for children, a large residential retreat around Easter for families, and a residential Latin course for adults. We also support the groups of young people in the Juventutem movement which are springing up around the country. In addition we organise a large number of pilgrimages, many witnessing to the Faith with public processions.
This is not antiquarianism or an attempt to reconstruct the 1950s, but a reconnection with a liturgical tradition going back to the Apostles, and indeed even earlier to the worship of the Jewish Temple, a tradition whose spirit and principles were able to overcome the disasters of the Arian heresy, the fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Protestantism, and the 20th-century world wars. Given the chance, this living tradition can provide the resources to address the problems of the present day just as effectively.
Cardinal George Pell recently said that the “now aged liberal wing of the Church, which dominated discussion after the Council and often the bishops and the emerging Church bureaucracies, has no following among young practising Catholics, priests or religious”. He added: “This is not only true in Australia, but everywhere in the Western world. In these different countries dominated by a secular media and intelligentsia, liberalism has no young Catholic progeny.” It is up to the more traditional groups in the Church to make up the shortfall, and we do this with few of the institutional resources which the “liberal wing” still controls.
The work of the restoration of a sacred liturgy is a massive one. The LMS is not the only group engaged in this work, but it is an important one. It was able to help keep the traditional form of the Mass alive when it was widely said to be forbidden: that claim has now been laid to rest by the Motu Proprio’s affirmation that it was never forbidden, and remains part of the patrimony of the Church which should be passed on to future generations. With the reality that this patrimony is the right of all the faithful to have, our work is only just beginning.
The Latin Mass Society's annual Day of Recollection is taking place as usual in St Edmund's College, Ware, Herts this Saturday, 9 July 2011. The College boasts one of the finest chapels of E.W. Pugin in the country, and the only one never to have been reordered. This is a not-to-be-missed event.
The LMS always has distinguished priests preaching these days of recollection; this year we will have Fr Michael Cullinan, a long-term friend of the LMS and a scripture scholar. He is the head of the theology department at Maryvale Institute in Birmingham.
The Day of Recollection will be held at St Edmund’s College, Ware on Saturday, 9th July 2011 at 11.00 am. Father Cullinan will celebrate High Mass in the Traditional Rite at 12 noon. The day will conclude with Solemn Vespers and Benediction at 3.30 p.m. The cost of the Retreat will be £5.00. Participants should bring their own lunch, although tea and coffee will be provided.
For those wishing to attend, more information is available from Eric Caudle (e mail: egthebm@btinternet.com) or Mike Mason on 01983 567996 or (Mob.) 07810 778160.
The Latin Mass Society was warmly welcomed to St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, London on Saturday 2 July by the Cathedral Dean, Canon John O’Toole and the Administrator, Mr Alex Scott. The LMS is grateful to all the cathedral staff for their help and encouragement in making our AGM arrangements.
The day commenced at 11.00am with High Mass of the Visitation of Our Lady celebrated by Fr Andrew Southwell, LMS National chaplain, assisted by Fr Michael Cullinan as Deacon and Fr Gregory Kilaja as Sub-deacon.
The men of the Cathedral Choir sang Victoria’s Missa Quam Pulchri Sunt. The Gloria was taken from the Missa de Angelis, the Creed was Credo I and the Offertory motet was Victoria’s Ave Maris Stella.
After lunch, the LMS AGM convened in the cathedral’s Amigo Hall to hear reports from the Secretary, Mr David Forster, the Treasurer, Mr Paul Waddington and the Chairman, Dr the Hon. Joseph Shaw. The LMS’s National Chaplain, Fr Andrew Southwell, had opened the proceedings with a prayer and after the reports gave an address in which he discussed Pope Benedict’s XVI admirable work in the fields of doctrine and the liturgy. The meeting then sang ‘God Bless Our Pope’ to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of Pope Benedict’s ordination to the Sacred Priesthood and closed with the singing of the Credo.
This year’s AGM was relatively low-key and in a new venue. However, Dr Shaw, in particular, was able to update those present on the increasing level of work being carried out throughout England and Wales by the LMS and its local representatives. A lot of work is taking place to restructure and upgrade the LMS’s central administration. This will bear fruit in enabling the LMS to be more focussed in the support it provides to those many priests and faithful throughout the country who are gradually reintroducing the Extraordinary Form into their parish life. As ever, it is necessary that the wider Church is fully informed as to the nature and amount of work the LMS is doing to support the liturgical initiatives of Pope Benedict and to support and encourage the growing number of young people and young families who are committed to the Old Rite.
For photographs of the High Mass and the AGM go to our Flickr page here.
The LMS holds its Annual General Meeting tomorrow, Saturday, 2 July, at Southwark Cathedral in London.
Solemn Mass in the Cathedral is open to everyone, whether they are members of the LMS or not, and we are delighted that the new Dean of Southwark, Canon John O'Toole, will be attending the Mass in choir. Mass begins at 11am. The celebrant is Fr Andrew Southwell, LMS National Chaplain, with Fr Michael Cullinan and Fr Gregory Kilaja as the Sacred Ministers. Music will be provided by the Cathedral Choir.
Following a break for lunch, the Annual General Meeting will take place in Amigo Hall, adjoining the Cathedral, at 2pm. This is open to paid-up LMS members only.