Blog Archives - THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY IN WREXHAM

Indulgences - All Saints and All Souls

31/10/2014

There are a number of indulgences that can be gained under the specified conditions during the feast of All Saints and also on All Souls Day, you will probably know them, but I thought it useful to publish them here just in case.

All Saints
After Noon on All Saints Day, and until Midnight the following day, a person who has been to confession and Communion can gain a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, for the poor souls in Purgatory (who will be commemorated tomorrow) each time he visits a church or public oratory and recites the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory be to the Father six times. This is a special exception to the ordinary law of the Church according to which a plenary indulgence for the same work can be gained only once a day. Some of the grave-visiting customs described on the entry for All Souls Day, then, may begin today in some places.

All Souls - [For the faithful departed]
§ 1. A plenary indulgence, applied exclusively to the souls in Purgatory, is granted to the Christian faithful who:

1° on each single day, from the first to the eighth day in November, devoutly visit a cemetery and, even if only mentally, pray for the faithful departed; [Note: one plenary indulgence for each day, if the usual conditions are met]

2° on the day of Commemoration of All Faithful Departed [November 2] (or, according to the Ordinary, on the preceding or subsequent Sunday, or on the day of the solemnity of All Saints) piously visit a church or oratory and there recite the Pater and the Credo.

Latest FIUV Positio [20] now available

28/10/2014

The twentieth in a series of Position papers has now been published by the International Federation Una Voce.

The purpose of these papers is "to stimulate and inform debate about the 1962 Missal among Catholics ‘attached to the ancient Latin liturgical tradition’, and others interested in the liturgical renewal of the Church."

Paper number 20 deals with some of unique features of the Extraordinary Form calendar, which as we know contains a number of features not found in the Ordinary Form, notably the season of Septuagesima, the number and treatment of vigils, and the number of octaves.

The full paper can be read here.

All the papers thus far, numbers 1 to 20 can be downloaded here.

All Saints' Day at Buckley

28/10/2014

A change to the usual schedule for November ....

The usual second Saturday Mass at Buckley will move to be one week earlier.

This is the 1st November - All Saints' Day.

The time of Mass is unchanged i.e. 1230pm

The church in Buckley is at Jubilee Road, CH7 2BF.

The Festival of All Saints, which Pope Boniface IV, after the dedication of the Pantheon, ordained to be kept generally and solemnly every year on the 13th of May, in the city of Rome, in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and of the holy martyrs. It was afterwards decreed by Gregory IV that this feast, which was then celebrated in many dioceses, but at different times, should be on this day kept by the whole Church in honour of all the saints.

Today, the whole Church keeps the solemnity of All Saints on the 1st November, which is a holy day of obligation in many countries (including England and Wales). On this day the Church calls to mind and begs the prayers of all those in Heaven – the canonised saints whom we know and also those who have attained Heaven whose names are unknown to us.

I am grateful for all those who assist in making the Mass happen in Wrexham, particularly Father Doyle for his continued assistance but above all the Divine inspiration given to all involved.

A summary of forthcoming celebrations of the Forma Extraordinaria can be viewed here.

Situations vacant

28/10/2014

LMS General Manager Mike Lord is leaving the Society shortly and it is sad to see him go, we have developed well with Mike on board and we wish him well in his career. As a consequence, the Latin Mass Society now seeks a replacement.

Additionally, we also now seek to recruit a Press and Publicity Officer:

Prayer and Fasting for Life - Tomorrow

26/10/2014

On Friday 27th October 1967, The Abortion Act received Royal accent and effectively became the law of the land.

Tomorrow, 47 years will have passed, there is nothing to celebrate however - countless and precious lives have been lost since. Using data for the period 1968 to 2011, 7,279,279 legal abortions under this Act have taken place.

During this 40 Days for Life period, The good people at The Good Counsel Network are promoting a day of prayer and fasting for life tomorrow, why not join them .....................

Our Lady of Good Counsel - pray for us!

DOMINI NOSTRI IESU CHRISTI REGIS

25/10/2014

A short reflection for the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King ....

SERMON OF SAINT AUGUSTINE
Tract. 51 in Joann. 12-13; Tract 117 in Joann. 19-21
“What great matter was it for the King of all worlds to become King of men? For Christ was not King of Israel for exacting of tribute, or arming a host with the sword, and visibly subduing enemies: but King of Israel that He should rule minds, that He should counsel for eternity, that He should bring unto the kingdom of heaven them that believe, hope, and love. Being then, Son of God, the Word by whom all things were made, that it should be His will to be King of Israel is condescension, not preferment, a betokening of mercy, not an increasing of power. For He who was called on earth King of the Jews is in heaven Lord of the Angels. But is Christ King of the Jews only, or also King of the Gentiles? Yea, of the Gentiles also. For when He said in the prophecy: But I am set by Him as King upon Sion His holy mountain, preaching the precepts of the Lord, lest on account of the Mount Sion, any should say that He was set as King only of the Jews, He hath straightway subjoined: The Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son: this day I have begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.”

QUAS PRIMAS OF POPE PIUS XI
‘It has long been a common custom to give to Christ the metaphorical title of "King," because of the high degree of perfection whereby he excels all creatures. So he is said to reign "in the hearts of men," both by reason of the keenness of his intellect and the extent of his knowledge, and also be-cause he is very truth, and it is from him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind. He reigns, too, in the wills of men, for in him the human will was perfectly and entirely obedient to the Holy Will of God, and further by his grace and inspiration he so subjects our free-will as to incite us to the most noble endeavors. He is King of hearts, too, by reason of his "charity which exceedeth all knowledge." And his mercy and kindness [Ephesians 3: 9] which draw all men to him, for never has it been known, nor will it ever be, that man be loved so much and so universally as Jesus Christ.’

Mass for Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

19/10/2014

Traditional Latin Mass for Christ the King

St Winefride's Roman Catholic Church
Well Street
Holywell
Flintshire
CH8 7PL

1130am
Sunday 26th October 2014

Celebrant : Father Francis Doyle

All are most welcome to come and experience the timeless beauty of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.

Holy Father's speech at conclusion of Synod

18/10/2014

(Vatican Radio) At the conclusion of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, Pope Francis addressed the assembled Fathers.

Below, please find Vatican Radio's provisional translation of Pope Francis' address to the Synod Fathers:

Dear Eminences, Beatitudes, Excellencies, Brothers and Sisters,

With a heart full of appreciation and gratitude I want to thank, along with you, the Lord who has accompanied and guided us in the past days, with the light of the Holy Spirit.

From the heart I thank Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod, Bishop Fabio Fabene, under-secretary, and with them I thank the Relators, Cardinal Peter Erdo, who has worked so much in these days of family mourning, and the Special Secretary Bishop Bruno Forte, the three President delegates, the transcribers, the consultors, the translators and the unknown workers, all those who have worked with true fidelity and total dedication behind the scenes and without rest. Thank you so much from the heart.

I thank all of you as well, dear Synod fathers, Fraternal Delegates, Auditors, and Assessors, for your active and fruitful participation. I will keep you in prayer asking the Lord to reward you with the abundance of His gifts of grace!

I can happily say that – with a spirit of collegiality and of synodality – we have truly lived the experience of “Synod,” a path of solidarity, a “journey together.”

And it has been “a journey” – and like every journey there were moments of running fast, as if wanting to conquer time and reach the goal as soon as possible; other moments of fatigue, as if wanting to say “enough”; other moments of enthusiasm and ardour. There were moments of profound consolation listening to the testimony of true pastors, who wisely carry in their hearts the joys and the tears of their faithful people. Moments of consolation and grace and comfort hearing the testimonies of the families who have participated in the Synod and have shared with us the beauty and the joy of their married life. A journey where the stronger feel compelled to help the less strong, where the more experienced are led to serve others, even through confrontations. And since it is a journey of human beings, with the consolations there were also moments of desolation, of tensions and temptations, of which a few possibilities could be mentioned:

- One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today – “traditionalists” and also of the intellectuals.

- The temptation to a destructive tendency to goodness [it. buonismo], that in the name of a deceptive mercy binds the wounds without first curing them and treating them; that treats the symptoms and not the causes and the roots. It is the temptation of the “do-gooders,” of the fearful, and also of the so-called “progressives and liberals.”

- The temptation to transform stones into bread to break the long, heavy, and painful fast (cf. Lk 4:1-4); and also to transform the bread into a stone and cast it against the sinners, the weak, and the sick (cf Jn 8:7), that is, to transform it into unbearable burdens (Lk 11:46).

- The temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God.

- The temptation to neglect the “depositum fidei” [the deposit of faith], not thinking of themselves as guardians but as owners or masters [of it]; or, on the other hand, the temptation to neglect reality, making use of meticulous language and a language of smoothing to say so many things and to say nothing! They call them “byzantinisms,” I think, these things…

Dear brothers and sisters, the temptations must not frighten or disconcert us, or even discourage us, because no disciple is greater than his master; so if Jesus Himself was tempted – and even called Beelzebul (cf. Mt 12:24) – His disciples should not expect better treatment.

Personally I would be very worried and saddened if it were not for these temptations and these animated discussions; this movement of the spirits, as St Ignatius called it (Spiritual Exercises, 6), if all were in a state of agreement, or silent in a false and quietist peace. Instead, I have seen and I have heard – with joy and appreciation – speeches and interventions full of faith, of pastoral and doctrinal zeal, of wisdom, of frankness and of courage: and of parresia. And I have felt that what was set before our eyes was the good of the Church, of families, and the “supreme law,” the “good of souls” (cf. Can. 1752). And this always – we have said it here, in the Hall – without ever putting into question the fundamental truths of the Sacrament of marriage: the indissolubility, the unity, the faithfulness, the fruitfulness, that openness to life (cf. Cann. 1055, 1056; and Gaudium et spes, 48).

And this is the Church, the vineyard of the Lord, the fertile Mother and the caring Teacher, who is not afraid to roll up her sleeves to pour oil and wine on people’s wound; who doesn’t see humanity as a house of glass to judge or categorize people. This is the Church, One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and composed of sinners, needful of God’s mercy. This is the Church, the true bride of Christ, who seeks to be faithful to her spouse and to her doctrine. It is the Church that is not afraid to eat and drink with prostitutes and publicans. The Church that has the doors wide open to receive the needy, the penitent, and not only the just or those who believe they are perfect! The Church that is not ashamed of the fallen brother and pretends not to see him, but on the contrary feels involved and almost obliged to lift him up and to encourage him to take up the journey again and accompany him toward a definitive encounter with her Spouse, in the heavenly Jerusalem.

The is the Church, our Mother! And when the Church, in the variety of her charisms, expresses herself in communion, she cannot err: it is the beauty and the strength of the sensus fidei, of that supernatural sense of the faith which is bestowed by the Holy Spirit so that, together, we can all enter into the heart of the Gospel and learn to follow Jesus in our life. And this should never be seen as a source of confusion and discord.

Many commentators, or people who talk, have imagined that they see a disputatious Church where one part is against the other, doubting even the Holy Spirit, the true promoter and guarantor of the unity and harmony of the Church – the Holy Spirit who throughout history has always guided the barque, through her Ministers, even when the sea was rough and choppy, and the ministers unfaithful and sinners.

And, as I have dared to tell you , [as] I told you from the beginning of the Synod, it was necessary to live through all this with tranquillity, and with interior peace, so that the Synod would take place cum Petro and sub Petro (with Peter and under Peter), and the presence of the Pope is the guarantee of it all.

We will speak a little bit about the Pope, now, in relation to the Bishops [laughing]. So, the duty of the Pope is that of guaranteeing the unity of the Church; it is that of reminding the faithful of their duty to faithfully follow the Gospel of Christ; it is that of reminding the pastors that their first duty is to nourish the flock – to nourish the flock – that the Lord has entrusted to them, and to seek to welcome – with fatherly care and mercy, and without false fears – the lost sheep. I made a mistake here. I said welcome: [rather] to go out and find them.

His duty is to remind everyone that authority in the Church is a service, as Pope Benedict XVI clearly explained, with words I cite verbatim: “The Church is called and commits herself to exercise this kind of authority which is service and exercises it not in her own name, but in the name of Jesus Christ… through the Pastors of the Church, in fact: it is he who guides, protects and corrects them, because he loves them deeply. But the Lord Jesus, the supreme Shepherd of our souls, has willed that the Apostolic College, today the Bishops, in communion with the Successor of Peter… to participate in his mission of taking care of God's People, of educating them in the faith and of guiding, inspiring and sustaining the Christian community, or, as the Council puts it, ‘to see to it... that each member of the faithful shall be led in the Holy Spirit to the full development of his own vocation in accordance with Gospel preaching, and to sincere and active charity’ and to exercise that liberty with which Christ has set us free (cf. Presbyterorum Ordinis, 6)… and it is through us,” Pope Benedict continues, “that the Lord reaches souls, instructs, guards and guides them. St Augustine, in his Commentary on the Gospel of St John, says: ‘let it therefore be a commitment of love to feed the flock of the Lord’ (cf. 123, 5); this is the supreme rule of conduct for the ministers of God, an unconditional love, like that of the Good Shepherd, full of joy, given to all, attentive to those close to us and solicitous for those who are distant (cf. St Augustine, Discourse 340, 1; Discourse 46, 15), gentle towards the weakest, the little ones, the simple, the sinners, to manifest the infinite mercy of God with the reassuring words of hope (cf. ibid., Epistle, 95, 1).”

So, the Church is Christ’s – she is His bride – and all the bishops, in communion with the Successor of Peter, have the task and the duty of guarding her and serving her, not as masters but as servants. The Pope, in this context, is not the supreme lord but rather the supreme servant – the “servant of the servants of God”; the guarantor of the obedience and the conformity of the Church to the will of God, to the Gospel of Christ, and to the Tradition of the Church, putting aside every personal whim, despite being – by the will of Christ Himself – the “supreme Pastor and Teacher of all the faithful” (Can. 749) and despite enjoying “supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church” (cf. Cann. 331-334).

Dear brothers and sisters, now we still have one year to mature, with true spiritual discernment, the proposed ideas and to find concrete solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront; to give answers to the many discouragements that surround and suffocate families.

One year to work on the “Synodal Relatio” which is the faithful and clear summary of everything that has been said and discussed in this hall and in the small groups. It is presented to the Episcopal Conferences as “lineamenta” [guidelines].

May the Lord accompany us, and guide us in this journey for the glory of His Name, with the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of Saint Joseph. And please, do not forget to pray for me! Thank you!

[The hymn Te Deum was sung, and Benediction given.]

Et veritas Domini manet in aeternum.

18/10/2014

As the Extraordinary Synod comes to a close .... and the news trickles out of Rome that Truth and teaching prevails (for now!) :

Laudate Dominum omnes gentes
Laudate eum, omnes populi
Quoniam confirmata est
Super nos misericordia eius,
Et veritas Domini manet in aeternum.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.

Praise the Lord, all nations;
Praise Him, all people.
For He has bestowed
His mercy upon us,
And the truth of the Lord endures forever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son:and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Of your charity ....

17/10/2014

Please offer your prayers for Monsignor Wach (pictured right), Superior General of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

As recently as the 7th September, Mrs Simone Wach, his Mother, passed away peacefully.

I have now learned that his Father, Mr Jacques Wach was also called home in the last Monday.

Also in the past week, another Canon of the Institute, Canon Kunkel also lost his Father. In the past, Canon Kunkel provided support to the Traditional Catholics in this area well before a permanent dedicated Institute house was envisioned.

I would like to assure Monsignor Gilles Wach and Canon Marcus Kunkel and their families of our sincere condolences and of our prayers.

Requiem Aeternam dona eis, Domine et lux perpetua luceat eis: Requiescant in pace. Amen.

Requiem at Seaforth

12/10/2014

Bashing the Biretta Brigade

11/10/2014

An excellent interview with Daphne McLeod in The Catholic Herald this week (10th October).

However, turning to the letters page and your 'traddie' brow may drop at the comments made by Father Julian Shurgold from Sutton, Surrey.

You can read the letter for yourself here.

Now, this blog is not about Bishop Conry and his reasons for resigning. It is not for me to judge him. Clearly, Bishop Conry tendered his resignation to the Holy Father for reasons known fully to himself and those reasons have been aired elsewhere. Additionally, it is well reported that Bishop Conry was not a proponent of Traditional Liturgy.

But, in what he cites as "partisan" reporting of the issues in A&B at this time, surely in his letter, Father Shurgold achieves the same result. A blatant expression of a partisan anti-trad opinion in the guise of support for Bishop Conry.

Does he consider the "biretta brigade" as being somehow implicit in the Bishop's demise from office? If not, then why use the letter to be so anti-trad?

If Father wishes to support Bishop Conry then that is his prerogative. I chose to support the Bishop and the people of Arundel and Brighton through prayer and petition rather than through bashing the biretta brigade!

Traditional Masses in Wrexham Diocese this weekend

8/10/2014

Saturday 11th October
at 1230pm

Our Lady of the Rosary Church
Jubilee Road
Buckley
Flintshire

Sung Mass:
The Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sunday 12th October
at 1230pm

St Francis of Assisi Church
Llay Chain
Llay
Near Wrexham

Low Mass:
XVIII Sunday after Pentecost

The Feast of the Holy Rosary

7/10/2014

St Dominic is handed the Holy Rosary by Our Lady

A great concession of the 1962 Missale Romanum allows celebration of the Mass of the Most Holy Rosary today with a commemoration of the XVII Sunday after Pentecost.

It is customary for a Rosary to be said prior to each Mass in every church and chapel during the month of October. Additionally, the prayer Ad te, beate Ioseph is recited after Masses or the Rosary is said again.

The Rosary is a powerful weapon against the forces of Satan.

How can one hope to turn away the forces of Satan, behind all evil and unrest in the world, without the help of Jesus and the Blessed Mother?

The feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary was originally called Our Lady of Victory, for on the 7th of October 1571, the naval forces of a Holy League, consisting of several maritime Catholic countries, met the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto. The Ottoman Turks were on the warpath in eastern Europe, and their ships had the run of the Mediterranean.

Pope Pius V organized the league to challenge Ottoman naval supremacy. The Holy League had a total of 208 ships to the Ottoman 251, and they were vastly outnumbered in terms of manpower, which on the Ottoman side included Christian slaves as oarsmen. The Spanish, who provided the bulk of the Christian naval forces, put the fleet under the command of the son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the famous Don Juan de Austria.

As the two fleets sought each other in the eastern Mediterranean, the Pope called for all Christian Europe to pray the Rosary for victory against the Ottomans.

The Battle of Lepanto was a decisive victory for the Holy League. Some ten thousand Christian slaves were freed, and Ottoman naval power was broken forever. It was the beginning of the end of the Ottoman military advance in Europe. The Church, and indeed the victorious fleet commanders themselves, attributed the victory at Lepanto to God through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Feast of Our Lady of Victory was established for this day in grateful thanksgiving. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII altered the title of the feast to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. It was Pope Clement XI who extended the feast to the whole of the Latin Rite by inserting it into the General Roman Calendar in 1716.

Secularism, terrorism, atheism, and moral confusion, instigated by the enemies of Christ, can also be tuned back through the regular reciting of the Rosary.

Tradition holds that the Holy Rosary was given to Saint Dominic in 1214 by the Blessed Virgin Mary. This year, 2014, marks the 800th anniversary of the Holy Rosary.

Francis, The Pope's Calling - BBC Radio 4

2/10/2014

Like many, I don't always relish BBC coverage of the Catholic Church. Some suggest that a Catholic bashing agenda exists and I have to say that I do find myself grimmacing at poorly researched and sensationalist journalism.

However, BBC Radio 4's 'The Report' (8pm, 02/10/2014) managed to give a balanced synopsis of the current Papacy ahead of the Extraordinary Synod.

With views from the left, right and centre of the church, I thought that it was a half decent half hour - LMS chair, Dr Joseph Shaw featured in the running order and he made a valuable trad contribution albeit not long enough!

You can listen to the programme again here.