Parish High Mass

I have a priest friend staying for the weekend: Fr Michael Cullinan who has just published a new book on ethics in St Paul. I hope to be able to publish a link to his book in due course.

Fr Cullinan will be celebrant at our principal Mass this morning, I will be deacon and my permanent Deacon, Rev Michael Baldry will be subdeacon. This will be our first Sunday High Mass as part of our normal parish schedule (I normally celebrate a Missa Cantata.) It is good to be able to do this since High Mass is the proper form of the Mass for the "extraordinary form" and I am glad that my regular congregation will be able to participate in the Mass celebrated as it should be.

We may be able to get one or two photos to post later.

World Youth Day Mass

I have stayed up a bit late to watch the beginning of the Mass for World Youth Day at Randwick Race Course, Southern Cross Precinct. After a sensible and reverent "new movement" style piece during the procession, the Introit is being sung in Latin... Cardinal Pell gives a magnificent introductory address recalling the Holy Father's words "The Church is alive, and the Church is young" which warms my heart as it is one of my favourite quotations from the Holy Father. The Cardinal talks of the mission of young people and says "one mission is better than a thousand options..."

The penitential rite is #3 from the Novus Ordo but the petitions are concluded with Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison, spoken and then sung to a polyphonic/operatic setting. Some sharp followers of the live coverage have pointed out on NLM that the text of the Gloria was a literal translation - perhaps the new ICEL version.

With the altar set up with seven candles and a crucifix, the appropriate music, and sense of sacred in the Liturgy, this World Youth Day Mass does appear to be firmly within the project of Pope Benedict for the restoration of the Sacred Liturgy.

Although it is compulsive viewing, I must now go to bed so that I can say the early Mass tomorrow. I look forward to reading the text of the Holy Father's sermon and finding out where the next World Youth Day will be.

Transalpine Redemptorist update

Fr Michael Mary answers some questions about the relationship with the SSPX and other matters. (cf. Interview Update I)

It seems that they are contemplating a change of name. They do not wish to enter the modern Redemptorist congregation and to be taken over by them - especially since there are some who would like to see the traditionalist group suppressed. A change of name will make the distinction clearer - but the Transalpine Redemptorists will continue to pray for all the deceased members of the Redemptorist congregation and will continue to follow the teaching of St Alphonsus.

The picture above is from a bonfire held a few weeks ago on the island of Papa Stronsay on the feast of St Peter and St Paul.

Papal mass at Sydney

I'm not sure what time it is in Australia - it is tomorrow afternoon over there or something. At any rate, the Holy Father has celebrated Mass at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney and consecrated the new altar. He is just travelling round in the popemobile before the main World Youth Day Mass - I'm watching some of the footage on EWTN.

NLM has some stills from the CTV coverage with some comments. Cardinal Pell quoted the beginning of Psalm 42 Introibo ad altare Dei when speaking about the centrality of the altar to be consecrated by the Holy Father.

The vestments for the Mass in Sydney Cathedral were designed by the St Bede's Studio - and very fine they are too.

From the barque

Speaking to the young people gathered to greet him at Barangaroo on the shores of Sydney Harbour, the Holy Father said:

Standing before me I see a vibrant image of the universal Church. The variety of nations and cultures from which you hail shows that indeed Christ’s Good News is for everyone; it has reached the ends of the earth. Yet I know too that a good number of you are still seeking a spiritual homeland. Some of you, most welcome among us, are not Catholic or Christian. Others of you perhaps hover at the edge of parish and Church life. To you I wish to offer encouragement: step forward into Christ’s loving embrace; recognize the Church as your home. No one need remain on the outside, for from the day of Pentecost the Church has been one and universal.

Pope Benedict also spoke of the various countries over which he flew during his journey and referred to the importance of care for the environment and sustainable development. He added and important rider:

The concerns for non-violence, sustainable development, justice and peace, and care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity. They cannot, however, be understood apart from a profound reflection upon the innate dignity of every human life from conception to natural death: a dignity conferred by God himself and thus inviolable.

You can read the full discourse here.

Conference: "The Faith, The Family... The Future"

The Faith, The Family… The Future
25th-26th October 2008 at All Saints Pastoral Centre, London Colney, St. Albans

A conference of hope for young people and families, organised by Catholic Families, for Catholic Families. This weekend conference will focus on:

• Fostering and exploring the beauty of the Church’s vision for marriage and the family
• Passing on the faith to the next generation and the role of the family in this work
• Promoting the growth of Catholic culture and vocations through the family

Over the weekend there will be many eminent speakers, representing a broad panorama of Catholic thought and culture. With programs specially tailored to each age group, combined with the opportunity for retreat, spiritual reflection and renewal, the weekend provides a great opportunity for Catholics to renew their spiritual life, strengthening their families through meeting other young Catholics who share their hopes and views.

For details, and booking, see the dedicated website Faith and Family

Interview with Fr Z

Fr Z rang me up the other night and we did an impromptu interview about the older form of the Mass. We covered subjects such as family life, the life of the Church, the spiritual life of the priest, the involvement of children in the Mass, and genuine participation in the liturgy.

Listen to the podcast here.

A cat for the Holy Father

Fr Ray Blake has the story about the kitten that has been brought in to the opus Dei Retreat Centre in Sydney to keep the Holy Father company. (cf. Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! Kittens)

Now personally, I don't have any pets. Frankly I'm too busy - it would be just one more thing to take care of when I actually get to take a day or two away from the parish. But if I were a noted cat lover (actually I don't mind cats - don't much like dogs on account of having been bitten by one or two when a small boy) I would certainly appreciate the thoughtfulness of anyone who brought a cat in for me to play with, fed and watered the animal and took it away again.

This is so quintessentially Opus Dei - real care and thought for their guest. I bet that it was the women who came up with this great idea.

Videos from Sydney

Thanks to Fr Z, here are a couple of video clips from the beginning of the Holy Father's visit to Australia for the World Youth day. The first short clip from Vatican TV has Pope Benedict celebrating Mass, taking a walk in the Opus Dei retreat house, and enjoying a concert:


This next clip has footage from people arriving for the World Youth Day, in particular the Burmese pilgrims who had difficulty obtaining visas until Archbishop Fisher intervened:

Video from Assumption Grotto with Fr Pavone

Many thanks to Diane of Te Deum Laudamus for posting this inspiring short video of the Mass & Burial of Aborted Babies at the Assumption Grotto in Detroit. In the video, Fr Frank Pavone of Priests for Life speaks movingly of our responsibility for these children.



Many more videos at the Fr Frank Pavone YouTube channel as well as the channel for Priests For Life TV

Cappaphobia awareness

H/T to Mulier Fortis for pointing out this very funny article: Cappaphobia by Gerald Warner. There's no point trying to pick out quotations from this one - but do put your coffee down while you read it.

As a matter of urgency, the Church needs to arrange that every parish move swiftly towards the implementation phase of a national Cappaphobia Recognition and Understanding Directive. There should be no difficulty with forming a co-ordinated steering group of qualified experts to produce this CRUD. A budget of £250,000 or so would be adequate to begin with; this could be generated by a second collection on a designated "Noble Simplicity Sunday." In accordance with best practice, approximately 45% of the sum would be earmarked to produce coloured Gift-Aid envelopes, a glossy brochure, model bidding prayers and sermon, reflections on the readings, and materials for the Children's Liturgy.

In the meantime, as my contribution to cappaphobia sensitivity training, I have produced this warning sign that can be reproduced for seminars and should be posted on the door of any Church where a Pontifical High Mass is to be celebrated.

St Thérèse's Parents to be beatified

Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, will be beatified at Alençon on Sunday 19 October. This will be "Mission Sunday" and is a fitting day for the celebration since the Martins' saintly daughter always expressed a great desire to help the missions.

Here is the news story from Zenit and there is a roundup at the St Therese Gateway with details, such as the transferral of the bodies of the Martins to the Basilica. The website of the diocese of Bayeux-Lisieux has more information (in French), and there is a website in Italian devoted to the couple: Venerabili Luigi e Zelia Martin

H/T Blog by the Sea

Traditional Liturgy presentation

I just found Scribd which enables you to embed documents and powerpoint presentations. So here is my presentation from last Friday night's talk on Participating in the Traditional Mass. It only comprises summary notes but it may be of interest. The purpose of the talk was to help people to participate in our traditional Masses in the parish. (A couple of slides escaped minor edits but the overall thing is more or less OK.)

Participating in Traditional Liturgy - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Participating in Traditional Liturgy

Fr Finnegan across the pond

Fr Sean Finnegan of Valle Adurni has been in Canada and in the USA - in San Diego, in fact. He has some very entertaining posts on impious pelicans, baseball and an extraordinary form wedding, for example.

While in San Diego, he has met up with the legendary Karen (Gem of the Ocean) who took him to Seaworld where, in addition to sharks, he experienced jumbalaya and smoked vegetables. Perhaps the Mulier Fortis should go to San Diego. She never eats vegetables but might be persuaded to smoke them...

Greeting cards from the Holy Father

En route to Australia, the Holy Father sent telegrams to the heads of state of all the countries he flew over:

Albania, the Hellenic Republic, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

In each case, the text read something like:

Flying over N. en route to Australia for the celebration of World Youth Day, I send cordial greetings to you and to all your fellow-citizens, along with the assurance of my prayers invoking abundant divine blessings of peace and prosperity upon the nation. BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

A lovely parish Sunday

Today was one of those lovely early summer Sundays in the parish. At our 9am Mass, the children's choir seemed to have grown suddenly more confident, giving a hearty rendition of a "new movement" style Veni Sancte Spiritus at Communion and "Praise God from Whom all blessing flow". The Union of Catholic Mothers were holding a cake sale for the HCPT after Mass and had the inspired idea of getting in a stock of those little "windmills" for the children to play with while eating their chocolate chip cookies.

The Latin Mass at 10.30am saw our increasingly confident servers flawlessley execute their various duties. My young teenage MC has now learnt the responses by heart which is very much to his credit. It was good to see the front row of the Church filled with young children earnestly following the Mass.

At the Chislehurst Golf Club, Fr Charles Briggs and I enjoyed some very good roast beef followed by strawberries - the first bowl that I have had this summer. After shopping for this evening's Deanery Clergy Social, I called in to a family who were celebrating the 10th birthday of their daughter, Celeste. A number of other young families were there enjoying home made food, rides on a donkey, climbing trees, a little punch-up between two of the boys (separated swiftly by the respective Mums), and a cake with a firework candle. The donkey was the second to arrive that day. The first was sent back on account of the fact that it stubbornly refused to enter the back garden

I got some pink ice cream spilt on my black suit by one young lady who was telling me about her school friends, and we had a slight incident with a little boy being pecked on the leg by an angry rooster who objected to the chickens being taken out of the nest in the garden to be molly-coddled by various children in turn. In the background, my young MC was playing various numbers on the trumpet which made for a very sophisticated background sound.

After the evening Mass, the day was finished off by some of the clergy of the Bexley Deanery coming to my presbytery (we take it in turns to host this) for a couple of drinks and some food which, considering the other things going on today, was not homemade but prepared lovingly by Morrisons supermarket. I did not need to eat too much of it! As ever, we mixed diocesan news, pastoral hints and tips, and reminiscences. I read some extracts from the report of the 1953 synod of the Archdiocese of Southwark which I have borrowed from Fr Briggs who is the Diocesan Archivist. It has some interesting regulations about the Dialogue Mass which I will post tomorrow if I have time.

More WYD08 blogs

The Holy Father has now arrived in Australia and is sensibly taking a couple of days rest and retreat. Significantly, he is staying at the Kenthurst Study Centre, an Opus Dei house. Some reports have made much of the austerity of his accommodation. I would say, from my experience of Opus Dei hospitality that the accommodation will be comfortable without unnecessary luxuries, the food wholesome but not extravagant, and the atmosphere of the house priestly, prayerful and good-humoured. They will know how to show respect and courtesy to the Holy Father without smothering him. An intelligent choice of retreat on the part of our most priestly Holy Father.

Many thanks to Deo volente and Peter in the combox for these links to these additional blogs that will have coverage of the World Youth Day.

Aristotle, The Recovering Choir Director from Florida, is in Australia and has some posts and photos up already.

From the land of Oz itself, Australia Incognita will be keeping us posted.

David Webb, a keen photographer, will be posting from his pilgrimage at David's World Youth Day Journey

Alcuin Reid reviews "Worship as a Revelation"

Yet another article from this week's Catholic Herald to draw to your attention: "Divine worship and the rise of ‘feel-good liturgy’" in which Alcuin Reid reviews Laurence Hemming's "Worship as a Revelation".