Happy St Lawrences day!

I love the truths behind the stories of Saint Lawrence, "Behold, O Emperor, the riches of the Church of Rome", Lawrence said as he showed the murderous Dictator, the poor, the widows and orphans those cared for by the Church.

I am not exactly sure how reliable is the "turn me over, I am done this side", which Lawrence is supposed to have said whist being grilled to death. It reminds us to accept the Cross cheerfully, and perhaps more importantly, that God gives us strength to bear suffering with good humour.

Now, I must go and get a venison burger -£2.30 - for two, to grill for lunch and supper today.

Priest's Pilgrimage to Ars

Fr de Malleray of the Society of St Peter is organising a pilgrimage to Ars and Lyons for English priests.

February 8 to 12, 2010 (i.e. the week before Ash Wednesday – 17 February 2010).
Depart Monday morning 8 February 2010 from the UK, arriving in the afternoon in Lyon and reach Francheville (FSSP house on the outskirt of Lyons).
Return Friday morning 12 February 2010 from Lyons.
Our pilgrimage will be under the special protection of Our Blessed Lady, the Mother of God and the Mother of priests as the anniversary of Her Apparitions in Lourdes will occur while we are still in Lyons. (Feb. 11th).

Location:
We will be based in the beautiful St Padre Pio House run by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter in Francheville (Lyons), less than an hour drive from Ars. Single room accommodation. Garden.

Scheduled:
A full day in Ars, the climax of our stay. Possibility of offering Holy Mass in Ars. Visit of the Curé’s presbytery. Veneration of his relics.
One day in Lyons, original Episcopal See of St Iraeneus: visit of the Basilica of Fourvières; prayer at the place of death of St Francis de Sales; visit of the Roman amphitheatre where the protomartyrs of Gaul SS. Polycarp, Blandina, Pothinus and others suffered in 117 a.D. On a lighter note, meal in a ‘bouchon’ (traditional Lyonnais restaurant cf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouchon).
We will also have conferences on priestly spirituality, including the theology of the Mass, the EF Roman liturgy and prayer life.

Price (estimate):
About £150 for return train ticket London St Pancras-Lyons-London St Pancras (reduction possible if we travel as a group).
Alternatively: Easyjet direct return flight Stansted-Lyons-Gatwick: minimum price £51 (for group ticket of 15 passengers).
Accommodation will be very affordable in the FSSP house - rough estimate: £30/day with breakfast + 1 main meal at least, i.e. £120 for 4 full days (4 nights).
To be added: transport in Lyons and to Ars. Meals outside of the house (at least twice).

Liturgy: Possibility of offering private Mass daily in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite.

For further details and booking contact Fr de Malleray, FSSP

The Future?

Now if we don't pray for and encourage vocations this could be the future.

Deirdre digs a hole

Diedre Waddington, our architect and Peter, pictured here prepare to dig hole, in the sanctuary!

They are searching for piers, to support the steel girder construction which will form the base for our altar. It is technically not possible to put in stone foundation.

We drilled a hole in one of the legs of our existing altar and discover it was plastered breeze block, that nasty cheap cinder composite building material, not very worthy. We are going to remove the legs and make a wooden support for the mensa and use that until such time as we can afford to build a proper stone altar, I know that doesn't sound much more worthy but it is all we can do at the moment. At least wood is a natural substance.

(Canon Joe Flannagan and Fr John O'Sullivan flanking the then Bishop Bowen at the consecration of the present altar)

It seems so extraordinary that a bishop would consecrate such an altar - made out of cinder breeze block! I know that the definition of a fixed or permanent altar is simply that it is fixed or permanent, is something made out of cinder breeze block permanent? The stone mensa was consecrated but can you actually consecrate breeze block - does it work?

Mass this evening sounded strange, the absence of the lino made a real difference to the acoustic, and the Church was full of dust.

Behind the Tablet

If you don't click on the links this will be as clear as mud.

That wretched Tablet is at it again, it appears to be to pitching Archbishop Nichols againts the Pope. Fr Z does one of his critiques of the editorial, as does this article here. The editorial is the normal yawningly inept tosh, rightly ridiculed elsewhere. I wonder what influence the Archbishop could bring to repace the editor, who presumably wrote the editorial.

However, the real story is most probably to found here, in another Tablet article. I suspect that this is what my visitor was referring to here.

Now is the time for unity not factionalism!

Trouble with Anglicans

Fr Dwight who I knew of as Vicar in Bexhill, when I was in nearby St Leonards on Sea, writes about an encounter with the saintly Abbot Leo of Quarr, Fr Dwight had decided he wanted to be a Catholic but in the C of E:

"You know, I think it's marvelous that you want to be Catholic, but we Catholics define what being a Catholic is rather differently than you do."
"Yes?" I replied.
"Well, we think that at the heart of being Catholic is obedience to the teaching of the Holy Father."
"But I am obedient to the teachings of the Holy Father!" I protested. "In fact, it seems that I am more of a faithful Catholic than most Catholics I know! I follow the Pope's teaching in my marriage, I follow the teachings of the Catholic church in my celebration of the liturgy, in my prayer life and in my doctrinal and moral beliefs. I am obedient to the teachings of the Pope."
Abbot Leo smiled, "Yes, but what about the teaching of the Pope that to really obey the teachings of the Pope you have to be in full communion with him?"
Well, if Peter was the Rock, then I was between a Rock and a hard place.

I have a great affection for so many Anglicans, but I have both a sympathy but also a strong frustration with those who profess "a degree communion" with the Catholic Church, doing Catholic things, even praying for the Pope and yet are content with not being recognised by him, the Vicar of Christ, as being in communion with him.

There is a story of Archbishop Amigo of Southwark meeting an Anglican clergyman in the 1930s who said, "I pray for you everyday in the Canon of the Mass, in fact I regard as my lawful and rightful bishop". The Archbishop replied, "Lawful and rightful bishop, eh? In that case I suspend you!"

Transfiguration in the Builders Yard

The Church is bit horrible at the moment bare floorboards benches in the process of being sanded down, a third "in the white", waiting to be varnished, dust every where. It is a builders yard, it is going to get worst. Next week the organ console is going to be moved to the gallery and the pipes will have to be sealed in a dustproof "tent", so we can sand the floor, we'll have to close the Church and say Mass in the Community Centre. Ugh!

But yesterday evening amidst all the mess we celebrated, most of the congregation came in the morning, the rain was sheeting down, so hardly anyone came, except for the schola. I celebrated the Usus Recentior in the vernacular versus contra populum, the schola sang the Propers and Orbis Factor from their new Gregorian Missals. I love that Alleluia, the music shimmers, they didn't attempt the Gradual, it is too difficult, instead the sang the responsorial in Latin. I must admit it, I can't see the point of the responsorial psalm.