First Mass

Fr Thomas Achatz of the Institute of St Philip Neri in Berlin, was recently ordained by Bishop Rifan. He celebrated his first Mass on All Souls Day. (More photos.)

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1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
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Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

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A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
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The Transfiguration and Jewish feast days

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My post on " Interesting parallels in Jewish customs " seems to have been well received, so I thought it might be helpful to look at today's feast day in the light of two Jewish feasts. Many years ago, I was bowled over by Fr Jean Galot's observation concerning St Peter's profession of faith. He argued that if, as many scholars accepted, the transfiguration occurred during the feast of tabernacles, then the "after six days" of Matthew 17.1 would mean that the profession of faith of St Peter in Matthew 16.16 would have taken place on the Day of Atonement. This is highly significant because the Day of Atonement was the one day in the year on which the high priest solemnly pronounced the holy name YHWH in the holy of holies in the Temple. St Peter, by his confession of faith fulfils the work of the high priests, and Our Lord in His own person is the living presence the Most High. Then there is the feast of tabernacles itself. This feast lasted for a w...
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St Francis Church, Melbourne

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Yesterday afternoon, the ACCC had their business meeting and so I went for a walk in the centre of Melbourne. I was dropped off at the corner of Lonsdale Street and Elizabeth Street, the site of the Church of St Francis . Built betweem 1841 and 1845, it is the oldest Church in Victoria and the place where St Mary of the Cross (St Mary MacKillop) was baptised and received her first Holy Communion. After talking to the clergy here in Australia, I am determined to find a good life of this saint to read. St Francis was the Cathedral Church of Melbourne until St Patrick's Cathedral was opened for worship in the late 1860s. It is in the care of the Blessed Sacrament Congregation and there is adoration each day from 6.45am to 5.30pm. Here is a view of the interior of the Church: The Ladye Chapel is beautiful:
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Recommended Basic Spiritual Reading for Lent

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Someone asked if I would recommend some reading for Lent. Here goes! On such matters I generally try not to be original and instead to introduce good Catholics to classic spiritual works in case they have not come across them. If you have read all the below, you are probably in a good position to find other worthwhile reading yourself. But if these are books that you haven’t read, then any one of them would be a potential life changer. And if you have read them all, you will probably know that they are all worth reading again. Most of these books are readily available as books with paper and glue, books that go on your e-reader, web pages, and pdf versions. I don’t have so much experience of audio books but my guess would be that they are now all around in that format too. Over the past couple of years I have gravitated more and more to the Internet Archive  which I now use in lieu of a library, with the help of a Kindle Fire 10 which makes pdfs readable. And do not forget the e...
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