The best post of the year

I often complain (or whinge) about the lack of Latin Masses in Menevia and the distance that the faithful have to travel to attend one.

       Not a Latin Mass in sight

Not any longer. I read the current post on the blog 'A Catholic Comes Home' and felt very privileged, spoilt even.

You see, we have the makings of a community here in West Wales, not many of us, probably about twenty or so all told (many more in the Confraternity of the Holy Cross but not all are local).

But twenty good souls and true count for a lot.

I do remember the bleak, dark days of 1988 when there was no EF Mass and no EF Mass Catholics to be had for 200 miles or so. And that lasted for over 12 years.

But ACCH lives in a pleasant county of England that is also a black hole as far as TLMs are concerned. There are good Dominican sisters nearby but they do not have the Latin Mass  in their chapel.

If you read A Catholic Comes Home's excellent post about attending an OF Mass in her parish you will see precisely what she is up against.

Say a prayer for the Diocese of Portsmouth that, with the aid of their new Bishop, the Mass of all Time will be restored.

Here is ACCH's post........A Catholic Comes Home

Sorry but I just can't stand noisy Masses

It's....the rustle of the vestments...deafening. And then when the priest opens the altar missal - aargh! my eardrums.

But if you really would like a noisy Mass, come tomorrow, on the Feast of The Assumption,  to The Church of The Sacred Heart in Morriston, just outside Swansea.

We are having a Sung Mass......but you won't need earplugs......we have The Newcastle Emlyn Schola and their angel voices.

Police "tread on" hosts at Mass

This is not a good story but it does have a moral.

A South Korean priest was celebrating Mass outside the site of a proposed new naval base (presumably, in protest).

Police moved in and, in a brutish sort of way, knocked the priest to the ground and then proceeded to trample over all and sundry including hosts.

We can assume that the hosts were consecrated as this violent act took place as communion was being distributed.

The Diocesan spokesman stated that to wilfully tread on the Eucharist was an insult to Catholics.
What he meant was that it is an act of sacrilege against Our Blessed Lord; an insult to God but not, per se, to Catholics.

This was a bad act, poor procedure on the part of the police.

The celebrant should not have been knocked to the ground but then......

.....Holy Mass should not have been celebrated on a makeshift altar in front of a building site; the proper place for the celebration of Mass is inside a church. 

The Body and Blood of Christ were put at risk needlessly.

What they should have done is either offer up a Mass in their local parish church (not so attractive to the media and subsequent publicity) or, recited the Rosary at the site.

I can remember my older siblings returning from a meeting outside the local town hall (I cannot recall the cause).

They had prayed the Rosary silently, yes, silently - even more effective (in terms of impact upon those around them) than saying the Rosary out loud.

Something to think on.
Silence often has more impact than words and it does not put at risk  the Blessed Sacrament.

A picture of the poor priest on the ground, trying to recover the hosts is here (UCA News). It is shocking.

Also shocking is the official police statement:

“There was no violent force throwing Father Mun to the ground or stepping on the Eucharist,” the police agency said in a statement.

Oh well, that's OK then.

News of a pilgrimage.....a Welsh one!

                           Pope Benedict in 2010 at Westminster Cathedral
                            with the statue of Our Lady of the Taper in the background

The Latin Mass Society is to hold its annual pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Wales, Our Lady of the Taper, Cardigan, on Sunday 2nd September commencing with devotions at 2pm and Latin Mass at 3pm.

That is not a great deal of notice, I know, but if you would like to visit Cardigan for a pleasant weekend of good Welsh food and hospitality AND combine it with a pilgrimage......that would be good all round.

The Cliff Hotel has a great position (as its name suggests) and nearby Newport, Pembrokeshire is well kitted out with boutique hotels and unboutique hotels and eating houses according to your fancy.


And more news........grateful thanks to the two donors who have raised Fr Z's travelling fund by $100 - please keep the donations coming, we are close to one third of the way there.

Applause.....at a funeral?....during Holy Mass?

This is one strictly for the mods and libs, how crass! Clapping at a funeral - but it appears to be the thing to do these days. What are they after? An encore, a curtain call? To me, this speaks volumes about the modern Church, the Church that I cannot associate myself with.

 My only consolation is that Our Lord would not be clapping.....He would be waiting to receive the soul of that person. I believe that He would wish that we pray for the salvation of that soul, not that we "honour them" by giving them a round of applause. Cheap and nasty. Ugh!

Something for the bird file

I am a committed feeder of garden birds. We have a good variety of the humdrum here in our orchard garden; blue tits, robins, blackbirds, yawn......you get the picture?

But now...we have......a sparrow.......a white sparrow.....yes, really!

I think that's pretty good for the UK.....almost as good as Virginian Cardinals, American Goldfinches and Yellow Bellied Sap Suckers!

At least....I think that it's a sparrow....what do you think? Ttony is a bit of an expert here I believe.

Keep the pledges coming (please)

The plan to provide Fr John Zuhsldorf with funds to buy his airline ticket so that he may join the Guild of Blessed Titus Catholic Bloggers Mass, meeting and blognic, is working!

We have already received pledges totalling £135.00, only £465.00 to go.

With your aid we can make it.

                                          There is also an incentive scheme for pledges

Why is this important?  Don't we have a goodly supply of blogging priests in this country?

Indeed we do and we are blessed to have several as members of the Guild (Fr Medley and Fr Boyle - I think that's all, always room for more) and we have the great Fr Tim Finigan as our Chaplain.

But we are the Church in England, not the Church of England and we are Universal! We are Catholic!

So that means it doesn't matter if you come from Honolulu or Haverfordwest, whether you are black or slightly off-white, or all shades in between - we are one!

And to have such a great blogging priest as Fr Z at our Blognic would be both a joy and a privilege - and, by the way, any other priest reading this is more than welcome to join us and the same applies to lay bloggers, commentators and new technology users.

Now the moment you have been waiting for (roll of drums)......you may still contribute by making a payment, no matter how small (or large) on Fr Z's site...here it is WDTPRS - the  'Donate' button is on the rh side (I'm not clever enough to link direct).

But...please remember to let me know the amount you send so that we can keep tabs on how near or far we have to strive. Drop me a line on r.collinsassoc@btinternet.com and keep it as anonymous as you wish, no use will be made of names or contacts.

If you oppose the world, this is what you can expect

A brave Catholic priest recites his Rosary surrounded by a mob vilely taunting and abusing him.

The link back to the Via Dolorosa is profound indeed and this priest carries his cross as Christ carried His; alone and surrounded by detractors.

If you pray with the Forty Days for Life group or, if you oppose homosexual "marriage" or, if you stand up for the freedom to live your spiritual life without State intervention, you can expect to receive this treatment.

It is violent, nasty and cowardly.....par for the course.

Remember this priest in your prayers, he is a beacon and we need more like him.

H/T The Eponymous Flower

Ebay and the Faith

There are times, in the recent past, when items offered on Ebay, well......shouldn't have been. I'm thinking of the alleged consecrated hosts that, thankfully, have long had a block put on their sale by the administrators.

But, there are good things offered from time to time; the odd piece of altar furniture, sanctuary bells and, even, vestments (both old and new old if you see what I mean).

A couple of years ago I put in a bid for a crucifix and duly won the pitch buying the item for £14 or thereabouts.

I like it a lot. It is a bronze sort of metal and it stands on a wooden 'Calvary' base intended to accommodate a candle. I guess it is French in origin, it has that aura about it.

We say our Rosary before it. What do you think?

It should really have a 'nightlight' candle but a normal one

gives a dramatic effect

Would you like to support Fr Z in joining the Guild meeting?

I stress that this is an initiative undertaken without Fr Z's permission so I hope all is well as far as he is concerned.

                              
                              Dollars, Pounds or Dongs......all are acceptable!


We do know that he would like to join the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma and others at the blognic that will be held on Saturday 15th September commencing with an EF Mass at St Wilfred's Chapel in the London Oratory.

A Reluctant Sinner has started the fund with a donation and I have followed suit.

At this stage it is a pledge and if you would like to send me the amount you would wish to contribute, I will log it and keep a running tally - if it looks likely that Fr Z is going to buy his ticket (the airline one I mean), then I will call in the pledges or, it may be easier to pay on the WDTPRS site (much easier).

By my reckoning the air fare alone is around £600 so we have a bit of a hill to climb.

Pledges will be gladly received from all nationalities, not just Brits, so please have a go and let me have the amount you would be prepared to donate.
Contact me please on: r.collinsassoc@btinternet.com

And after the Feastday Mass - a feast!

I was prompted, by Fr Tim Finigan's post (see HERE) to remind all about the Latin Mass in England for the great feast of The Assumption, that we, here in wild and woolly Wales, also have a Latin Mass on that great day.

                                                       Source: The Hermeneutic of Continuity

It is, in fact, the ONLY EF Mass to be celebrated in Wales on 15th August.....shame on you Cardiff and Wrexham.
What are you thinking of? A country of an estimated 250,000 Catholics and it can only lay claim to one TLM on this great feast of Our Blessed Mother?

It's a real SP failure, I mean, of course, a Supremely Pathetic failure.

Cardiff has a relatively new Archbishop and Wrexham a very new Bishop, time for them to follow the lead of the Bishop of Menevia (Thomas Burns) and extractum digiti (or whatever).


But...I nearly forgot the good news......Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the parish of the Sacred Heart, Morriston, just outside Swansea at 12 noon...to be followed by a bunfight feast of decorous proportions.

All solvent and insolvent Catholics and those interested in the Catholic Faith are welcome...but bring a pork pie or something in the way of a provender contribution.

You will meet an array of interesting folk from all walks of life and also have the chance of kicking a Catholic blogger in the shins!

Of course, you may also wish to bring what in Somerset they used to call a bit of "O be joyful" - whatever that may mean.

* Please note: I have been informed that there will be a 7pm EF Mass at Abergavenny on 15th August but, sorry to appear ungrateful, that is not an appropriate time for families with children.

Church to close in 10 days time

An 800 year old church, once Catholic, is to close due to a dwindling  congregation.

The church of St Thomas a Becket, in Haverfordwest is one of three Anglican churches in the small town, population c. 13,000 and it shows clearly some of the beauty inherited from its Catholic past (although, undoubtedly, it was all vandalised by Henry VIII's hooligans, it was restored, in Protestant hands to a little of its former glory).

Built in 1225 it is mentioned in one of King Edward III's charters and its boundaries are described as:

".....and also of the land from the West gate of the cemetery of St Thomas as the main road leads to the market as far as the Lepers Land and thence as far as Little Haverford" (now known as St Thomas's Green).

At that stage, in the 13th century, Haverfordwest was a hub of commerce and seatrade and boasted two monastic communities, the Dominicans, God bless them and the Augustinians, and God bless them also.
You see, Wales was a Catholic country then and the Faith percolated through the social world and touched the hearts and souls of all - from the diseased leper to the Lord of the Manor.

For 700 years, Catholics were baptised, wed and buried at this beautiful church although no historian these days will admit to its Catholic heritage, such is the way of the world in Protestant Britain today.

And now? Now it looks like this fine building is redundant.

What will happen to it?

Here is my forecast. It will be boarded up and left for a few years so that the Pembrokeshire wind and rain gradually penetrates further into its fabric.
Then a few drug addicts will migrate from the churchyard and set up their hideous practice there until, in time, it has become such a shambles that the Council steps in and launches a plan to save this historic 'monument'.

Then funds will be sought from the Welsh heritage organisation, CADW, to restore the building sympathetically (but incorporating a block of apartments for the well off in Pembrokeshire society).

And that will be its inglorious end.

But....I have a cunning plan. In fact, it is not so much cunning as eminently sensible, feasible and economically sound.

If the Catholic Church, in the form of Menevia Diocese, was to purchase this church and relocate its current parish church of St David and St Patrick there (not very good architecturally, one half of the church is faux gothic and the other half faux car park) then we would have gone a little way to bringing the Catholic Faith and all its richness, back to this corner of Wales. Huzzah! We would all say.

The Diocese could sell off the old church site for it to become the mandatory block of apartments and, with the money, restore St Thomas's Church which, I guess it could purchase from the Church of Wales for round about 50 pence.

And of course, if the Bishop of Menevia would really like to respond to Summorum Pontificum as all good Bishops should, then he might consider 'gifting' this fine old church to the FSSP or the Institute of Christ the King - what a triumph that would be.

 The Mass of all Time restored to its rightful place after a 500 year absence.

"To blog perchance to dream"