Walsingham Pilgrimage 2023: photos

Photo by John Aron

The Latin Mass Society's annual Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham continues its post-Traditionis Custodes rapid growth: whereas before Covid we were treading water at 80-90 pilgrims, this year we have 200, and are bursting out of various churches and venues.

Photo by John Aron

I'm grateful for a charming write-up by Thomas Colsey of the Catholic Herald which can be seen here. Here are some photos.

Photo by John Aron

Many thanks to the more than 30 volunteers and all the pilgrims who made this such a success.

Photo by John Aron

Iota Unum talks in London this autumn

After a break for the summer, we resume the Iota Unum series with three talks for the autumn.

They take place in the basement of Our Lady of the Assumption; please enter by the back entrance into the basement: 24 Golden Square, W1F 9JR near Piccadilly Tube Station (click for a map)

Doors open at 6:30pm; the talk will start at 7pm.

There will be a charge of £5 on the door to cover refreshments and other expenses.

28th Sept (Thurs), Joseph Shaw: Clericalism and Clerical Abuse

19th October (Thurs), Fr Thomas Crean OP: Can a Christian be a restorationist?

24th Nov (Fri) Henry Sire: Pope Francis: how much lower can we go? A personal view.

Fr Thomas Crean OP at a Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat

Henry Sire

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On liturgical abuses: for Catholic Answers

Fr Alan Robinson of Corpus Christi Maiden Lane. Note what he's doing 
with his fingers: he has to hold forfinger and thumb together from the
Consecration to the washing of his fingers after Communion.

My latest for Catholic Answers is about liturgical abuses. It is an interesting and important topic and one to which I have devoted a fair amount of time to over the years. But I also feel a bit detached from it, since this debate is all about the Novus Ordo. Attending the Traditional Mass provides an opportunity to worship God without worrying about this issue, except on very rare occasions.

People sometimes say: surely liturgical abuses are possible in the TLM too? In one sense they are actually easier, as there are more rules to break. There was an old joke about how many mortal sins a priest could commit while saying Mass. Many of these things would be invisible to the people, however, and the rule-defined nature of it inculcated, and continues to inculcate, a very different attitude to the liturgy from that characteristic of the Novus Ordo. It is more likely that a priest will break the rules that do exist, if he is trained up to use his own words in numerous places, and to experiment with countless options. The Novus Ordo has a distinct spirit and liturgical culture: everyone knows this. And this culture is not about strict adherence to the rules.

St Catherine's Trust Summer School 2023

We held our annual Summer School last week at St Cassian's Centre, Kintbury, in Berkshire, with the largest ever number of children: 62. Three others dropped out at the last minute, but apart from that we were at the capacity of the venue.

These Summer Schools are supported by the Latin Mass Society. They are not Summer 'camps': it is not just fun activities, or sleeping in tents, but lessons, designed to support the children in their education and expand their horizons of Catholic thought and culture. We do a bit of Latin, introduce them to Greek, explain a bit of Gregorian Chant, look at some sacred art, and Catholic history; this year I taught some lessons on the Problem of Evil. The children answered questions on all their subjects in the quiz we had with great enthusiasm.

St Walburge's, Preston, with the ICKSP

By good fortune I was in St Walburge's, Preston, yesterday, for Sung Mass, a church that is in the care of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. It is a magnificent edifice, gradually being fixed up by the ever-active Institute. Water penetration to the sacristy and the nave of the church has been stopped, so decoration and restoration of the interior can be addressed.

LMS AGM 2023: photos

Our Annual General Meeting took place yesterday, and as always it was a jolly occasion, a chance for members to meet the Society's Officers and staff and spend some time together. This year, as well as a rather good cold lunch there was a book stall.

We were addressed this year by John Smeaton, who recently honoured by taking up the position of Patron--one of several we currently have. His talk and my own will soon be available in video and podcast format.

'Sacred and Great': booklet introducing the TLM by Joseph Shaw

I'm delighted to announce the launch of a revised edition of my booklet introducing the Traditional Latin Mass. Non-polemical and informative, this is a booklet you can safely give to your non-traditional friends, priests and bishops, or have on sale in churches and bookstalls.

In 2019 I wrote a booklet for the Catholic Truth Society, 'How to Attend the Extraordinary Form'. This is a revised version of this booklet for the American market: a little shorter, a little updated, and with fewer references to the situation in the UK.

I am very grateful to the Catholic Truth Society for giving permission for this new edition, and for Peter Kwasniewski for seeing it through the press.

Bulk discounts are available directly from the publisher:

https://osjustipress.com/products/sacred-and-great

The discount is applied automatically at checkout:

6-10 copies - 10% off
11-15 copies - 15% off
16-20 copies - 20% off
21-25 copies - 25% off
26+ copies - 30% off

US customers may do all this at the website. Customers outside the US who are interested in placing a bulk order should contact the publisher's email [info(at)osjustipress.com] for details.

Also available from Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk and so on, but without bulk discount option. 

You can still buy the CTS version, from them and from the Latin Mass Society.

Here's Peter Kwasniewski's 'unboxing video'.

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