The Tablet quotes Mass of Ages

Not for the first time, I think. They've picked up the article wrtitten by the FSSP seminarian James Mawdelsy about World Youth Day (see cover photo). As I noted in the blog post below, James was a pro-democracy activist in Burma and was imprisoned; he was subdeacon at the Midnight Mass in Reading I attended. I'm not sure The Tablet can quite get its head around someone moving from political activism to a Traditional Seminary...

It has taken them a few weeks to get their hands on a copy of Mass of Ages. LMS members got it at the beginning of November. Don't get left behind!

You can buy your copy of Mass of Ages here!

Midnight Mass in Reading

We had a splendid and very well-attended Solemn Mass in Reading for Midnight Mass. Fr Simon Leworthy FSSP was celebrant, Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP deacon and the FSSP Seminarian James Mawdsley subdeacon.


By coincidence I was given a copy of James Mawdsley's extraordinary book, 'The Heart Must Break', for Christmas. It is about his experiences campaigning for democracy in Burma. It is written from a rather different perspective to that of the seminarian of today - it was published in 2001 and he has naturally moved on - but it is very interesting none the less. How many seminarians have been tortured and kept in solitory confinement under a brutal dictatorship?

Some Christmas humbug

The Introit for Midnight Mass, widely known as one of the most beautiful in the repertoire, has the surprising psalm verse: Quare fremuerunt gentes? Why did the pagans rage?

The verb fremo suggests roaring and growling as well as rage. The birth of Our Lord was not met with universal rejoicing. Good people rejoiced. The wicked were besides themselves with rage. In the Gospel story the wicked have their representative in Herod. But this is a cosmic thing. The same contrasting reactions will be on display when Our Lord comes the second time. The good will rejoice. The wicked will feel very differently. The events which bring God into the world are divisive (Matthew 10.34.)

Down in New Zealand, it seems there are militant liberal Anglicans. It seems they are in the camp of the enraged, and want to destroy the Christmas message. They put up an enormous poster of Our Lady looking, with horror, at a pregnancy test kit. The purpose of this blasphemous image is, I assume, to turn the Christmas story into some boring fable of modern life, but it is motivated by the same hatred of Christ that prompted Communists in the Spanish Civil War to shoot at statues of Our Lord. Only the means used differ: the hoped for result, the destruction of an image of transcendental value and redemption, is the same.

A Catholic layman has cut away the lower part of the image. The Reluctant Sinner, for whom I am indebted for the story, isn't sure if this was morally justified, and wonders if we should turn the other cheek. But tolerating an injustice done to God, and to Our Lady, is not an example of turning our other cheek. It turns the other cheek of the whole of society.

The question remains of what means should be employed to oppose such images. The reaction of secular commentators to this 'direct action' (or can only lefties use that term?) is to condemn Catholics in general as intolerant. I don't think that the reaction of the secularists would be any different whatever means had been used: if a Catholic had invoked religious hatred laws, for example, or picketed the Anglicans, or organised a letter-writing campaign. When Catholics criticise the actions of others they are being intolerant.

If a Catholic church had put up a huge poster attacking, with similar lack of taste, the beliefs or actions of non-Catholics, they would also have been accused, naturally, of intolerance, intolerance of others' beliefs or actions. When Catholics criticise this kind attack on Catholics, they are accused of intolerance: intolerance of the anti-Catholic views of others. So Catholic protests against intolerance are intolerant. In fact, Catholic speech of any kind is intolerant, if it reflects in any way the Christian message, because the Christian message is itself intolerant. Attacks on the Christian message cannot be intolerant, since they are attacks on intolerance. You follow me?

This looks like double standards, and it is. Using the language of tolerance here is humbug. But it is a humbug to which everyone who uses that kind of language contributes, when they try to use it to defend 'religious freedom'. The notion of everyone tolerating everyone else, of a big happy family of diverse opinions, only works as long as there are unspoken limits to the tolerance based on Christian assumptions: incest, paedophilia, Satanism, the latest crazy cult. Twenty years ago these limits were enforced not by reasoned argument but by shared assumption. Everyone just took for granted that we didn't tolerate those things, and that obvious Christian activities (nativity plays in school, street preachers) were ok, and that obvious Christian sensibilities (against blasphemy) should be respected. That's not true any more, and the incoherence of the notion of tolerance is being laid bare. What we are being left with is an official cult of secularism, which cannot tolerate Catholicism, because Catholicism has heavy things to say about right and wrong.

Herod couldn't kill the Christ child, and Christmas comes round again whether the secularists like it or not. Christ comes into the world, and demands our adoration, an adoration which has cost countless Catholics their lives. We may be required to put up with some intolerance ourselves.

Problems with the Reform of the Reform, again

Fr Ray Blake's encounter with a green-ink correspondant, about his extremely cautious experiment with saying Mass ad orientem, illustrates the point I made in this post perfectly: it is usually easier for a priest concerned about increasing the sacrality of parish liturgy to introduce a new Mass in the Extraordinary Form, or even to make one of his existing Masses an EF one, than to raise the standard of the existing Masses along 'Reform of the Reform' lines.

Fr Blake has already done the EF bit, so I'm not criticising him. On the contrary,I think he's being heroic; I also think that, ultimately, this is a necessary thing, even in the OF. No Catholic can read the Holy Father's criticism of worship versus populum in his 'The Spirit of the Liturgy' and then just carry on as normal. The relevant chapter is available to read here; here's a short quote:

The turning of the priest toward the people has turned the community into a self-enclosed circle. In its outward form, it no longer opens out on what lies ahead and above, but is locked into itself. 

Let us pray for Fr Ray, the parish of St Mary Magdalen, and the anonymous letter-writer.

FIUV General Assembly

With my full set of photos now available, I thought I'd attampt to give a brief taste of the Una Voce Federation's 'General Assembly' in November. Above are the delegates of the Federation's member associations, with a number of guests, including Cardinal Burke. Below are most of speakers at the conference.

Leo Darroch, President of the Federation, re-elected unopposed at the General Assembly

Monika Rheinschmitt, Treasure, also re-elected.

Don Giuseppe Vallauri, FDP
Don Giuseppe Vallauri then gave a talk upon the ‘private prayers’ of the Priest during Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite

Don Stefano Carusi, IBP
Don Stefano Carusi addressed the Open Forum on the specificity of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, its spirit, and its progress since being erected in 2006.

H.E., Dr. Helmut Ruckriegel
As a member of the FIUV since the very early days, Dr. Ruckriegel was particularly well placed to give a brief history of the foundation, the struggles, the ideals and the future of the FIUV, especially for the benefit of new members of the Federation.

Right Reverend Monsignor Valentín Miserachs Grau.
The Right Reverend Monsignor Valentín Miserachs Grau, President of the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music, addressed the Open Forum on the subject of Sacred Music and the Centenary of the Pontifical Institute which was founded by St. Pius X in 1911.

Fr Joseph Kramer, FSSP
Fr Joseph Kramer, FSSP, Parish Priest of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, the personal parish for the usus antiquior in Rome, spoke about the present state of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

Rev. Canon Luzuy, ICRSP
The final guest speaker at the Open Forum was Canon Joseph Luzuy, ICRSP, who spoke about the recent developments in the Institute of Christ de King Sovereign Priest, including his own Roman apostolate in the Church of Gesu e Maria on the Via del Corso, and the Basilica of Saint Mary Major and that has now extended into the Diocese of Livorno.

Centre, Mr. Oleg-Michael Martynov (Una Voce Russia), with a number of delegates from his part of the world, including new members of the Federation.

FIUV General Assembly photos: Solemn and Low Mass on Sunday

On the Sunday of the FIUV General Assembly, we went (as we did in 2009) to the church of the Fraternity of St Peter, Sta Trinita. This is a very lovely church, of which Fr Kramer FSSP is the Parish Priest, and Fr William Barker FSSP his deputy. Although I've already referred to the Solemn Mass we all attended on Sunday morning, and the Low Mass said by Fr Barker I attended the same evening, since I have finally processed my photographs of these Masses here is a small selection. The church was packed for the morning Mass.

More photos of Solemn Mass here. Low Mass, which was preceeded by Benediction and followed by the blessing of a very beautiful catafalque, with the singing of the Libera me.
More photos of the Low Mass here.

FIUV General Assembly photos: Pontifical Low Mass in St Peters

I returned from the Una Voce Federation gathering in Rome in November unable to process my photos, so here, finally, they are, first, for the wonderful Pontifical Low Mass was had in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in St Peter's, celebrated by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, Prefect Emeritus of the Pontifical Council Ecclesia Dei.

It was the first such Mass I have attended. The first thing to notice is that the celebrant vests in the sanctuary, as at Pontifical Solemn Mass.

You can't see it, but the server next to the Missal for the Gospel had a hand candle (ie in a silver candlestick with a handle) to illuminate the Gospel (again as at Pontifical Solemn Mass).


Cardinal Castrillon preaching.

The choir loft was occupied by some superb singers, who usually sing for the FSSP at Sta Trinita. Although this was a Low Mass, they sang some motets.


Note the cardinal's folded cappa and red biretta left on a prie dieu outside the sanctuary.


The 'Second Confiteor': Cardinal Castrillon gives the absolution.


The Cardinal's red zuchetto (skull cap) is made ready, on a silver tray. They also used a ewer, rather than a little cruet, for the water.


The final blessing.


Having remonved his vestments, the Cardinal is again in his 'day clothes', as it were.

The nave of St Peter's in the late morning is a sea of tourists and pilgrims, taking photos with various electronic devices. The Una Voce delegates returned to our hotel for lunch: with Cardinal Burke.