Latin Motto from Mass of Ages

In the current and recent edition of Mass of Ages I challenge readers to provide a pithy translation of a the motto of the medieval Cluniac Benedictine Priory of St Pancras (yes, like the railway station), in Lewes.

Unfortunately the Latin was afflicted by a typo -- probably introduced by an autocorrection function at some stage of the process.

It should read

Dulcis agonista tibi convertit domus ista Pancrati memorum precibus memor esto tuorum

It was the 'r' on 'memor' which got lost.

I heartily recommend the book in which this motto is quoted: The King's Acheivent by Monsignor Benson, made available in a new printing from Silverstream Priory. You can read my review in the Autumn Mass of Ages and buy it from the LMS shop.

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What does pastoral care look like?

The Traditional Mass behind bars: so to speak. The Oxford Oratory.

It has become clear that the Dicastery of Divine Worship, which alone has the authority to permit priests ordained after Traditionis custodes to celebrate the Traditional Mass, is systematically refusing to do so, even though requests are coming not from individual priests, but their bishops.

What reasons are being given? I have been given sight of a letter of refusal, and I suspect the others are substantially identical.

The Morning After Pill: abortion or contraception?

Annual Mass of reparation for abortion at England's
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe organised by the Latin Mass Society.
The next one will be on 12 noon, Saturday 12th November;
St Joseph's, Bedford MK40 1HU

My latest on Catholic Answers wades into some of the complexities about the 'Morning After Pill', aka 'Emergency Contraception'.

It begins:

Recently, a spokesman for the bishops of Louisiana suggested that the use of so-called “emergency contraception” is compatible with Catholic teaching in cases of rape. The news article reporting this connected it with the explicit exception made for “emergency contraception” in the restriction of abortion by new Louisiana abortion laws, made possible by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. There are, however, a tangle of issues here that I will try to separate.

The Catholic Church teaches that human life is worthy of protection from the moment of conception—the moment when the genetic material of an ovum and of a sperm are united to form a new human (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2270 and following). The Church, further, demands that this life be protected by law (2273).

Read the whole thing there.

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SCT Summer School: Classes and activities

The St Catherine's Trust Summer School has always been concerned not only to give the children a pleasant time, but with education: to convey something to them, not just a bit of catechism but a range of lessons on Catholic history, art, philosophy, Latin and Greek, and so on. There is a limit to what we can do in a week, but we want to give the children at least a taste of a range of things connected with our beautiful Faith.

To this end we have five 40-minute lessons most days, as well as Sung Mass, Rosary, Compline, and activities. Most of one day was dedicated to a trip to Oxford, where we had Mass in the Oratory and a tour of some sites of particular Catholic interest.

SCT Summer School photos: liturgy

We have just concluded our annual Summer School, organised by the St Catherine's Trust: a small charity I set up for this purpose in 2004. It took place this year (for the first time) at the St Cassian's Retreat Centre, Kintbury. The Chaplain was Fr Andrew Southwell, a priest of Southwark Archdiocese. This was the first Summer School since 2019, due to Covid, and ran from 31st July to 6th August.

On the Wednesday of the week, we had a day-trip to Oxford, with Mass at the Oratory--thanks to the hospitality of the Fathers.

These are photos of our liturgies: Mass in St Cassian's, in a temporary chapel (the permanent one was too small for us); in the Oxford Oratory; Compline, Benediction, Stations of the Cross outside, and veneration of a relic of St Pius X which has been given to the Latin Mass Society.

LMS AGM Mass: photos

I didn't have time to post these photos until now, but here they are: from Saturday 30th July, in St Mary Moorfields. The celebrant was Canon Amaury Montjean ICKSP, the deacon Fr Michael Cullinan, and the subdeacon Fr John Scott.

My address to the Annual General Meeting, which followed this Mass, can be heard here.