Cardinal Hoyos in London

This evening, I had the privilege of attending dinner at the Travellers Club in London with HE Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos and the Committee of the Latin Mass Society, together with the other sacred ministers for tomorrow's Mass, Frs Wadsworth and Conlon of the diocese of Westminster, and Fr Hudson of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, together with Fr Ronald Creighton-Jobe of the London Oratory. Fr Christopher Tuckwell, the new administrator of Westminster Cathedral was also there: we are all very grateful to him for his hospitality and for making available some of the Cathedral's finest vestments and plate for tomorrow's Pontifical Mass.

After dinner, Julian Chadwick, the LMS Chairman gave a rousing speech in which he noted that the visit of Cardinal Hoyos does much to fulfil the legitimate aspirations for which the society has worked over several decades.

Cardinal Hoyos replied in a moving and heartfelt address in which he expressed the hope that tomorrow's Mass would be a sign to the Church throughout the world of the personal desire of the Holy Father that the richness of the traditional liturgy of the Church would benefit all. He was glad that the Mass is to be televised by EWTN so that it can be seen by people across the globe. He said that we should not refer to the "old Mass" since we go up to the altar of "God who gives joy to my youth" - he referred to it as the "Gregorian Mass" in order to emphasise its enduring youthfulness. It was evident that the Cardinal's love for the traditional liturgy was personal and sincere. We toasted him with the "Ad multos annos."

(In the photo above, you can see Cardinal Hoyos in conversation with Fr Andrew Wadsworth, and, to the right, Prince Rupert zu Loewenstein, the Honorary President of the Latin Mass Society.)