Saturday, March 31, 2012

Northern Cross Article

I was asked to provide a review of the recent BBC4 series `Catholics` for the diocesan newspaper, the Northern Cross. The published article is trimmed a little, I`m sure for reasons of space. I apologise for the somewhat stilted style but I was a little nervous about having something in the NC. Here is the full version: readers will see that this review differs somewhat from the three blog items! I have highlighted the parts that didn`t make the NC.


Recently BBC4 showed a three-part series on Catholic life in England with the simple title `Catholics`. The BBC is often accused of having an anti-Christian and specifically an anti-Catholic bias so it was going o be interesting to see what this series would bring.

The first episode was about the life of the seminarians at Allen Hall in London. Any worries that this was going to be a programme with an axe to grind soon faded as the interviewer spoke to seminarians at various stages of preparation for the priesthood. I must say I was rather impressed by the life at Allen Hall and the attitude of the men and their teachers to the priesthood.

I was interested to see practical advice in pastoral classes, clerical dress, Latin lessons the Ordinary Form of Mass celebrated well and people who were comfortable with the primary role of the priest being a sacramental one. It was good to hear a couple of the students speak about their path to seminary.

The second of the series focused on three children from St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School in Chipping, Lancashire preparing for their First Holy Communion. Here was an idyllic view of Catholic life. Fr Grimshaw (who many will remember as director of the English College summer villa at Palazzola), is a caring pastor, a grandfather figure who read Winnie the Pooh stories to the school children and was wholly clear in his presentation of Catholic doctrine. I was somewhat alarmed by the low attendance at the Good Friday service but otherwise all looked good: the parish appeared to be a model of sanity.

Non-Catholic viewers may have been worried that the only subject the children studied in school was RE but as this was a programme about preparing for their first Holy Communion it was reasonable to focus on their religious education. And I know one of the teachers spoke about receiving the bread and the wine which always makes me cringe when I hear it but from what she said at other times it was clear she was not a heretic but had maybe fallen into that way of speaking which many use which can be confusing to the outsider who may well only think the Eucharist is only bread and wine.  
The last episode focused on Westminster cathedral and interviewed women who worship or work there. I thought it gave a fair reflection of the opinions found among lay people today. The few young women interviewed seemed happy with being Catholics. The older ones were less so although there were exceptions: Rose, the sacristan, seemed very comfortable with her Catholic life. Some of the older ones complained about the Church`s teaching on marriage and contraception. However particularly sad was the lady who won`t go to Communion because she married again eight years after her husband left her and when her second husband died is now free to go to Communion but won`t as she would need to go to confession and confess her second marriage as a sin which is something she won`t do. Moving was the lady who had had a stroke and had come back to Mass after sixty years of being a lapsed Catholic during which time she had even managed to live in Rome for four years and never go to Mass

Westminster cathedral is hardly a typical Catholic parish. I`ve heard similar remarks being made about the rural parish in the second episode too. It`s not even at every Catholic cathedral in the land let alone a parish church where putting out the reliquaries on the altar for a major feast would be regarded as normal! We also saw a priest setting off to say Mass alone in the crypt which again is not a common sight in most churches. However while this was the most challenging of the series as it was the only programme where signs of discontent within the Church came to the surface it wasn`t done in a sensationalist way.

Overall I thought this was a good series which looked at the Catholic Church in a sympathetic light and, apart from the unusual locations for the last two programmes, gave a fair insight into Catholic life in England today and some of the challenges the Church faces.

Liturgical Question





Last Saturday at York I was surprised to find the deacons at thhe throne were only in choir dress without dalmatics. We were also one priest short so our assistant priest had to double up as a deacon. However Fortescue does say that the deacons at the throne do not wear vestments. I`m sure I have seen them in dalmatics before, over choir dess and in fact this was what happened at New Brighton with the assistant priest in cope. Can anyone, such as Rubricarius, throw any light on this?

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Saturday, March 24, 2012

LMS York Mass

I`m not long back from York from today`s other Pontifical Mass. I see from Fr Henry`s blog that over 1,000 people attended Mass for the opening of the Blessed Sacrament shrine run by the Institute of Christ the King. It seems to have been as splendid an event as one would expect from the Institute.

However we also had a splendid Mass, procession and Benediction in York. Numbers did not match the 700 people who came to last year`s Missa Cantata in the Minster. No doubt there will be an official estimate of the size of the congregation but St Wilfrid`s church was full so I would estimate about 200-300 people came.

It was my first experience as celebrant of a Mass in the presence of the Ordinary and I must say I liked it as the bishop shares in the tasks to be done and so took care of blessing incense, the deacon and subdeacon and the water to be added to the chalice. The ceremonies were not as complicated as Mass celebrated by a bishop at the faldstool which I`ve been involved in twice. Full marks to bishop Drainey who seemed to enjoy the day and threw himself into it. After Mass he led the procession with the clergy in honour of St Margaret Clitherow. He was keen to point out the plaque on the bridge which marks the spot where she was imprisoned and killed. It was so refreshing to have a bishop who was willing to give up so much time for an LMS event. It`s only a pity that out of the five priests present none were from his own diocese.

It was good to catch up with friends and meet others previously known to me only via Facebook. The music was splendid and there was lots of it. If I have one criticism it was that the devotions at Benediction seemed to go on rather too long I thought at the end of a tiring day.

No doubt there will be plenty of photos soon.The sharp-eyed will be quick to spot that the sacred ministers only had one maniple between us but there is so much to remember to bring on these occasions there is always something that gets forgotten. I speak as an expert in forgetting things. When at English Martyrs I found I had left a stole I had brought back at St Wilfrid`s. I rang the church and Canon Ryan could not have been more helpful in letting me get it back. I also managed to leave my biretta in the sacristy at English Martyrs which is normal for me (I last left it behind in Westminster cathedral after a Mass at the faldstool) but it was returned to me before I left the church this time.

So let`s hope the York LMS St Margaret Clitherow day is well-established and will continue next year. Thanks should go to Paul Waddington, the local LMS rep., and all who worked to make the day a success.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Catholics on BBC4: Women

I`m rather late with this (and too late to lift a photo from the BBC iplayer) but just for the sake of completeness I should say something about the last episode in the series. This programme focused on Westminster cathedral and interviewed women who worship or work there. I thought it gave a fair reflection of the opinions found among lay people today. The few young women interviewed seemed happy with being Catholics. The older ones were less so although not entirely: Rose, the sacristan seemed very comfortable with her Catholic life. Some of the older ones complained about the Church`s teaching on marriage and contraception. However particularly sad was the lady who won`t go to Communion because she married again eight years after her husband left her and when her second husband died is now free to go to Communion but won`t as she would need to go to confession and confess her second marriage as a sin which she won`t do. Moving was the lady who had had a stroke and had come back to Mass after sixty years of being a lapsed Catholic during which time she had even managed to live in Rome for four years and never go to Mass. 

Westminster cathedral is hardly a typical Catholic parish. I`ve  heard similar remarks being made about the idyllic rural parish in the second episode too. It`s not even at every Catholic cathedral in the land let alone a parish church where putting out the reliquaries on the altar for a major feast would be regarded as normal! We also saw a priest setting off to say Mass alone in the crypt which again is not a normal sight in most churches. However while this was the most challenging of the series as it was the only programme where signs of discontent within the Church came to the surface it wasn`t done in a sensationalist way.

Overall I thought this was a good series which looked at the Catholic Church in a sympathetic light and, apart from the unusual locations for the last two programmes, gave a fair insight into Catholic life in England today and some of the challenges the Church faces.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Fr Barron in Hexham and Newcastle: bad news for beige Catholics

I must say I hadn`t heard of Fr Barron at all until yesterday when a letter went out inviting the clergy, religious and catechists  inviting us to a meeting in April introducing his `Catholicism` project. He is appearing at the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham university on April 24th too. So I`ve been looking him up. Here he is on Youtube. I must say my initial reactions are rather favourable.



 And the official introduction video to the Catholicism series:

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Bavaria with Fr de Malleray

I would very much have looked forward to going on Fr de Malleray`s next foreign trip for clergy but sadly other commitments prevent me this time. It looks very good. Here are the details:






Clergy pilgrimage to Catholic Bavaria 7-11/12 May 2012, led by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP.
Quiz: in which country can one order a – very good local – beer at a local ‘Gasthaus’ with a crucifix in every room – and with two baroque churches to pray in for every Gasthaus? [Answer: AIRAVAB]
Programme:
Monday 7 May, 3.10pm: landing at Memmingen Airport (direct Ryanair flights from London-Stansted, Manchester, Edinburgh, Dublin) and 45-minute drive to Wigratzbad (45minutes);
Tuesday: visit colossal Baroque Benedictine Abbeys of Ottobeuren, and Weingarten (with a relic of the Precious Blood venerated at the largest annual equestrian procession in the world) ;
Wednesday: preached recollection;
Thursday: visit shores of Lake Constance (Lindau peninsula, Cistercian Minor Basilica of Birnau cf picture right, ferry crossing to ancient Monastery Island of Reichenau where monk Hermann Contractus composed the Salve Regina);
Friday: free time and take off from Memmingen at 3.10pm – OR stay on and attend Diaconal Ordinations at FSSP Motherhouse next door on Saturday morning by Bishop Castet of Luçon (French Vendée), with take off at 3.10pm after ceremony and landing in London at 3pm (or any airport of your choice).

Also planned: next door is the International Seminary of St Peter and motherhouse of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger visited there on Easter 1990 and offered Easter Mass in the usus antiquior. A visit of the seminary and meal(s) with community can be planned for us. Possibility of attending some of the community Masses and Divine Office.
Although a pilgrimage, it will not be penitential but surely Marian, especially in Bavaria in the month of May, when the immaculate Queen of the country – Maria Patrona Bavariae – is honoured in a particular way.

Accommodation: We will be staying at the Marian shrine of Wigratzbad, in the comfortable Pilgrims’ Hostel with the option of single rooms with ensuite bathroom.
Estimated cost: £400 (all inclusive for 5 days in single room). Cheaper if 4 days and no ensuite bathroom. For convenience, each priest will book his own flight.
Booking: We only ask you to send us a £30 cheque as deposit made payable to FSSP ENGLAND. Please specify your name, contact details and whether you wish a single or shared room, with or without ensuite bathroom.
Liturgy: Priests are obviously free to offer daily Mass using the Missal of their choice.

Please contact Fr de Malleray if you have any questions: malleray@fssp.org.

Rev. Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP
St John Fisher House, 17 Eastern Avenue,
Reading, RG1 5RU, England
Tel: 0118 966 5284; Email: malleray@fssp.org
St John Fisher House is the residence of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter in England, a Catholic international priestly society canonically established in the dioceses of Portsmouth and of Northampton, and a registered charity: number 1129964.
Support: all donations kindly to be sent to our address above - cheques to be made payable to FSSP ENGLAND. Gift-aid receipt on request.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

York LMS pilgrimage: March 24th

Last year saw the first LMS pilgrimage to York in honour of St Margaret Clitherow. It was a huge success with about seven hundred people attending a Missa Cantata in York Minster. This year the LMS are repeating the event but with some differences. This year the bishop of Middlesboough, will be present and the Mass will be a solemn High Mass in the presence of bishop Drainey who will take his part in the ceremonies for such a Mass. However I think it is a pity that the Mass will not be in the Minster again as that was quite an attraction but instead in the nearby Catholc church of St Wilfrid.  The same day sees the formal opening of the apostolate of the Institute of Christ the Kng at New Brighton which will certainly be a splendid event and mean that we probably won`t be joined by the Catholics from Merseyside who joined us last year. 

Still it is marvellous that bishop Drainey is taking part as many bishops still shy away from attending special celebrations of the Extraordinary Form. I hope it all goes well. I`ll bear some responsibility for this as I am the celebrant of the Mass (as LMS Chaplain for the North of England) and have been sudying the rubrics to check I manage to leave out the parts normally done by the celebrant but in a Mass like this are done by the bishop.

So this should be a splendid occasion and I hope as many as can will make the effort to attend to show there is a desire for the Extraordinary Form in the normal life of the Church. It does seem to be taking some time for this to happen. I do wonder when some of those who profess deep loyalty to the Holy See never seem to be heard of celebrating the EF. I hope the York Mass this year will be another small step forward along the way to breaking down fears and prejudice. Mass starts at 1.30pm and is followed by a procession to the church of the English Martyrs for veneration of the relic of St Margaret Clitherow and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Catholics on BBC4: Children

Having watched the second  of the BBC4 series `Catholics` on three children from St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School in Chipping, Lancashire preparing for their First Holy Communion I began to feel that my perception of the state of things in the Catholic Church in England may have been wrong. Here was an idyllic view of Catholic life. Fr Grimshaw (who I remember as director of the English College summer villa at Palazzola during my two years in Rome), was a caring pastor, a grandfather figure who read Winnie the Pooh stories to the school children and was wholly orthodox in his presentation of Catholic doctrine. I was somewhat alarmed by the low attendance at the Good Friday service but otherwise all looked good. OK so I would have liked to see the Extraordinary Form and a change from those modern vestments but compared to what often can happen today the parish appeared to be a model of sanity.

Non-Catholic viewers may have been worried that the only subject the children studied in school was RE but as this was a programme about preparing for their first Holy Communion it was reasonable to focus on their religious education. And I know one of the teachers spoke about receiving the bread and the wine but from what she said at other times it was clear she was not a heretic but had maybe fallen into that way of speaking which many use which can be confusing to the outsider who may well only think the Eucharist is only bread and wine.

Apparently the next in the series will be less idyllic but this programme was a joy to watch and can be found once again on the BBC iplayer for a few weeks.