Archbishops Nichols puts the boot in on the LMS!

As reported in the current issue of the Latin Mass Society's magazine, 'Mass of Ages', Archbishop Vincent Nichols declined to give permission for a Mass of Thanksgiving for the Holy Father's visit, scheduled to take place on October 2nd.
The Extraordinary Form Mass (of course) had been carefully planned by LMS officers and members but, just 24 hours before it was due to take place, the Archbishop pulled the rug out from under the Society and all had to be called off.
Now, the LMS has always maintained a dignified silence when faced with opposition from within the Faith, be it at Parish level or Archbishop level, and they are doing precisely that on this occasion.

I have never been a fan of  appeasement policy; it is not good Catholicism to stand by and be trampled over when one has a legitimate claim to something. It has not produced results in terms of development of the Latin Mass over the past 50 or so years; all of that has been due to Pope Benedict XVI.

According to my sources, the reasons given by the Archbishop were that,  a Mass of Thanksgiving would be covered by him at a later date and that Westminster Cathedral, had a previous booking for a Mass on 2nd October. Neither of these are valid reasons; why on earth would anyone block the celebration of a Mass? Followers of the LMS, would not appreciate an Ordinary Form Mass and, in the spirit of Summorum Pontificum, permission should have been granted.

As far as a double booking for the Cathedral is concerned, that smacks of something else. From memory, the Cathedral is a pretty big place with one or two chapels around the sides. Are the Cathedral authorities telling us that there was no room for the LMS, at a side chapel? At another time during the day?

Any organisation, be it secular or religious, that has an ounce of pride in its operation, will always make alternative arrangements when the need arises.

This is another signal from the Archbishop that he does not fully support the Holy Father (remember his recent lack lustre responses on issues of women priests and homosexuality on Radio 4 and BBC Television?). He has does not appear in the media as a strong opposer of such issues.

I am a member of the LMS myself but regard my membership in a passive sense, that is, I broadly support the work that they do; some of their works are truly excellent (St Catherine's Trust and the EF Mass tutorials) but, very often they appear to be stuck in amber. Take a look at their website http://www.latin-mass-society.org/ for a prehistoric and unhelpful website format or Mass of Ages in which illustrations appear as if  potato printing is back in vogue.

However, I plan to write to Archbishop Nichols, as a private individual, expressing my concern for the cancellation and a copy will go to Rome.

for those interested, here's the Archbishop's address:-

Archbishop's House

Ambrosden Avenue

London

SW1P 1QJ