Cardinal Burke's Low Mass in Oxford

No sooner was I back from Chartres, than I was able to attend this Mass in Oxford.

It was a very moving Mass. Low Mass, said by a Prelate, is most notably different in that the prelate is served by two priests - in this case, Fr John Saward, the Priest in Charge of the parish, and Fr Richard Biggerstaff - and in the prelate vesting and un-vesting in the sanctuary.



Like all bishops saying Mass, there is the odd difference to the words used, notably in the blessings he gives.

Video on mantillas

There are a good many videos like this, but this is new and nicely done by the Catholic News Service.

The young lady in the middle who says that women are special because unlike men they can be touched by God, when they conceive a baby, has been reading (or at least influenced by) Alice von Hildebrand. I'm not convinced by this argument, and I might address it on this blog at some point.

Right now I'm trying to catch up with normal life after the Chartres Pilgrimage! Photos and reports of that soon.



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More on segregated seating in Church

(A pre-scheduled post. Follow me on the Chartres Pilgrimage on Twitter: @LMSChairman )

Thanks to interactions on Twitter and in the comments of this blog, I've learnt a bit more on the history of seating in Catholic churches being segregated by sex. (For my previous post, see here.)

One of the things which has puzzled me about it is that, although recommended in the 1917 Code of Canon Law (Canon 1262.1), I've come across no literary references to segregated seating in churches. But I think that the practice was never re-established in Catholic churches in England after the Reformation; the disruption of having to worship in secret and so on caused the custom to disappear, and it was never something which people felt strongly enough about to make a special effort to restore. (I read in Archer's Two Catholic Churches that eyebrows were raised by some English Catholics at the restoration of such 'Italian' practices as the Asperges before Sunday Mass, in the early 19th century.)

As I've already mentioned, I myself have seen segregated congregations: in 1990, in the Cathedral of Tabora in Tanzania. At that time it wasn't practiced in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

I've now heard from several people in Ireland who can vouch for it surviving in rural districts up to the time of Vatican II, and even later: the 1980s and 1990s. It is worth noting, as several did, that it wasn't enforced: like mantillas today, it just happened, where it was a custom, with the odd person in the wrong part of the church either through ignorance or out of conscious defiance.

Here's a blog post talking about segregation in a church in Nova Scotia, Canada, up to the time of the Council.

Off to Chartres: Saturday to Monday

I have found by experience that live blogging from the Chartres Pilgrimage is almost impossible. But I will be live-tweeting, so follow me on Twitter:

@LMSChairman

Please pray for the pilgrims; we will be praying for you.

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The Traditional liturgy south of Oxford

Fr Philip Harris saying Mass a few years ago in Basingstoke

There have been some very positive developments south of where I live which deserve to be more widely known.

The series of Friday Low Masses in Holy Rood, Abingdon Road, which is in Oxford but in Portsmouth Diocese, which were started for Lent, have continued, thanks to Fr Daniel Lloyd of the Ordinariate. They are at 12:30 pm, in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of this this modern church.

Fr Philip Harris, who not long ago was assigned to the English Martyrs in Didcot, is now saying quite a few EF Low Masses in his church:

May:
Tuesday 26th, 8am
Wednesay 27th, 7.30pm

June:

Tueday 2nd 8am
Tueday 9th 7.30pm

Friday 12th 7.30pm

Wednesday 17th 7.30pm  
Wednesday 24th 7.30pm

July 

Wednesday 1st 7.30pm

Thursday 2nd 7.30pm

Friday 3rd 7.30pm

Fr Anthony Conlon, a former National Chaplain of the Latin Mass Society, is now Parish Priest of Our Lady & St John in Goring-on-Thames now has 1962 Vespers on the Third Sunday of each month at 4pm in the second church of his parish, Christ the King in Woodcote: South Stoke Road, Woodcote, Oxfordshire RG8 0PL.

More on events in the Portsmough Diocese part of this area (South or West of the Thames) from the blog of the local Representative for Reading and Portsmouth North, Adrian Dulston; I am the Rep for the South of Birmingham Diocese (North and East of the Thames), and my Mass listings page for that is here.

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LMS Confirmations and Annual Requiem with Cardinal Burke

Last year's Confirmations, with Bishop John Arnold

As a way of marking the Latin Mass Society's fiftieth anniversary, we have invited His Eminence Raymond, Cardinal Burke to England in November.

On Saturday 14th November, he will confer the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Extraordinary Form in St James', Spanish Place, at 11am.

He will go on to celebrate the Latin Mass Society's Annual Requiem in Westminster Cathedral, at 2pm.

These promise to be very splendid events, and naturally they are open to all. Candidates for confirmation - who don't need to be from Westminster Archdiocese, they can come from anywhere - need to get in touch with the LMS to register. They will need a baptismal certificate and a letter from a priest saying they are ready to be confirmed: details on the right here; here's an online form.

We are very grateful to our own Cardinal Nichols for his generous permission for both events.

Last year's Requiem, also celebrated by Bishop Arnold

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Juventutem London Mass, Friday 29th May

As usual the Mass takes place on the last Friday of the month at 7:30pm in St Mary Moorfields, Eldon Street, London EC2M 7LS. It will be High Mass for the Ember Friday which follows Pentecost.

See Juventutem London's Facebook page.

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