Father, Father, wherefore art thou?

We are looking for a priest and, get this, he must be a modern priest, not one who celebrates the Tridentine Latin Mass.



Sorry Romeo, I was actually
looking for a Catholic priest!


The poor old boy has finally cracked I hear you say: He's a few beads short of a decade, but please hear me out.

Here in dry old Menevialand we only have two brace (or less) of priests who are able to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Now, I don't know the square mileage of the Diocese but it must run into something like a modest 5,000 square miles...that means we only have .00001 of a Latin Mass priest per acre (don't try to check the maths!).

So, in the aftermath of our good Bishop Thomas Burns appointing Fr Jason Jones as EF Mass Coordinator for the Diocese, a most wise move, we now have a lay group called The Confraternity of the Holy Cross whose aim it is in life to support the few priests we have, pray on behalf of the Bishop and to aid the development of the Latin Mass in the Diocese.

Some in the CHC have been very busy and aided the recent and magnificent Corpus Christi Mass and procession, others support with the daily Fraternity prayer (We adore Thee O Christ and we praise Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the World) and some, great souls have even chipped in a few pounds (quite a few in some instances) to a special fund to help priests in the Diocese learn how to celebrate the EF Mass. This does not cut across Latin Mass Society work, in fact, it complements it as we plan to assign priests on to the LMS Training Programme. In fact, LMS members might be more forthcoming with donations to the training fund if they knew that the money they raised would go towards supporting a priest from their own Diocese, but I digress.

So far we have raised the sum of £305 - Huzzah! That means we can send 1.24 priests for training, although we might wait until we have a round £500 and send two whole ones!

Now we hit the rockface - are there any priests out there who wish to put themselves forward? It would be especially good if we had one from the Western boundaries of the Diocese as this is Indian country (literally) as far as the old Mass is concerned. We have Mass in the Syro-Malabar rite and we have it in Polish, Tagalog and even Welsh (attended by 2 people and one sheepdog) - I jest - please don't burn me out! But we do not have, or at least only on a wobbly once a month basis, the Latin Mass.

It is a big problem......some priests just do not wish to go down that route and I respect their wishes but believe them to be wrong; some are too immersed in their Indian or Phillipino culture and some, I suspect, would like to do it but are a bit concerned about how they will be perceived by their fellow priests, Deans (especially the Deans) and, possibly, the Bish.

That leaves us up whatsit creek without a paddle - so please pray that we find a priest who will shoulder the cross and go forward to be trained.
Would you please offer a Rosary for this cause?

It will, as my mother used to say when one of us had to undertake some chore or other: "Put another jewel in your crown in Heaven"

With 200 hundred priests like this man we could bring Europe back to the Faith!

Let me first do a little scene setting for those of you unfamiliar with this Italian priest. First of all he is fictional (sadly). Secondly, he lived (if a character in a book can be said to have 'lived') in post war Italy and never ever set foot in Great Britain. Thirdly, he has characteristics that, perhaps are part of all of us. He is a passionate defender of the faith, he gets things wrong occasionally, he converses with the crucified Christ, he is a shade hot tempered and liable to bash his opponents about the ears and, deep down he loves his enemies. But, above all else, he loves the crucified Christ.

He battles daily with the devil (mainly in the stylised form of Communist Mayor Peppone) who is really someone whom he loves as one of Christ's own (Peppone that is, not the devil). This is post war Italy, still a country split by violent factions, ex Partisans, Reds, Christian Politicos and even a few fascists still lying around all contribute to a volatile existence for a country parish priest.

But Don Camillo, aided by the Lord on the cross, bashes his way to keeping the faith uppermost in people's minds. In this clip he is about to lead a procession for the annual blessing of the River Po when he learns that the communist mob, led by Peppone, is out to wreak havoc on his parishioners and his plans.

What does he do? He does not cancel the procession, he sends the altar servers and his parishioners home to safety. He is a good shepherd.

And then he realises that he has to undertake the procession alone, except for the crucified Christ. The symbolism is heavy here. He picks up the cross and commences the slow march to the river......the rest you may see for yourself!



This form of action is what we lack today. But then, of course, one could argue that we in the western world at least, are not called to fight our corner in the way that Don Camillo had to except.......maybe we are; not with flailing fists but with reasoned logic and a fearless approach to standing up to an authority that wishes to destroy life in the womb, dispose of the homeless, aged and incapacitated and fragment the family unit.

I find strong comparisons between Don Camillo and our blogging priests who, metaphorically, at least, are not afraid to knock a few heads together!

* The Don Camillo series is written by Giovanni Guareschi. Several films were made in the 1950s starring Fernandel as Don Camillo, an inspired choice.