Fabulous photos from Mary in Monmouth

Thought I'd let you know about a fab blog that has really excellent photos of ancient churches. The most recent post is of a 13th century church rebuilt and reconstructed using original materials at St Fagans Museum of Welsh Life. It can be found here.

Sunday at West Grinstead

Fr Agley celebrated a Low Mass for the Second Sunday of Easter, grateful thanks to Father.


It was such a beautiful afternoon we had tea outside following Mass, where Peter Cullinane spoke of the challenges facing the LMS following the MP/SP.

Chatting with people afterwards brought up a load of questions relating to how to square the EF and the ordinary rite. Not just to mantilla or not to mantilla, but how do you receive Holy Communion, do you genuflect, cross yourself, or bow, and what about Extraordinary Ministers. Some really interesting questions.


The next Mass at OLOC will be a 3.00 pm Missa Cantata, so if you've never been to one, or have never been to an EF Mass at all and you can make West Grinstead, give it a try, the more the merrier!

FSSP Newsletters

Now available online, and an extremely good read, Dowry, the FSSP newsletter.

Dates for the Diary

23rd May

Guild of St Gregory and Ramsgate parish Pilgrimage and Pontifical High Mass at W Grinstead at 2.30 pm. The pilgrimage will be led by the Abbot of Farnborough. If you would like to go, please contact Mr. Franklin-Rye on 01843 852232.

20th June

LMS AGM at the RHS Conference Centre, Greycoat Street, London SW1P 2QD

Pontifical High Mass at 2.00pm at Westminster Cathedral, celebrated by Bishop John Arnold.

21st June


Father Matthew Goddard FSSP will be saying Mass at 3.30 pm at W Grinstead on 21st June.

2nd to 9th August

St Catherine's Trust Summer School (ages 11-18) at Ardingly School, W Sussex

Sunday 26th April at West Grinstead

As Peter Cullinane said in his newsletter, there will be a get together after the 3 pm Mass at OLOC tomorrow.

Of blogs and blogging, a personal view.

There's been a good deal of chit chat about the efficacy of blogs and even the motives of those who undertake them. I could go on for ages, so here's my very brief take on why they are invaluable, why they are necessary, and why they're often perceived as an itch you just can't scratch.

Just as time and tide and buttered eggs wait for no man, so it is in the wide world of blogging, news and information move really rather fast, at least on the blogs I read.
Essentially I'm a blog reader, not a blog writer. I really like to read what other people think. I particularly like Catholic blogs (see blog roll) because they aren't mediated by the press and they don't for one thing have to be cringe-makingly PC before they are ready for a readership. There's already a common understanding. You can learn an awful lot from blogs, and can be reassured by them, as well as challenged.

While I knew intellectually there were people like me who loved the EF (the LMS proved that), I learned from blogs that I wasn't actually weirdly eccentric or alone as I thought in liking the EF - and having an affection for it can certainly and quite wrongly make you feel alone. I also learned that I am not retro, yearning for the romanticized days of the 1940s and 50s, of perms, pinnies, and Bing Crosby, of which I know absolutely nothing at all about, beyond watching 'The Bells of St Mary' on a wet weekend. I was reassured again that what I had been longing for was something legitimate, a true pearl beyond price. Blogs I think, can be invaluable resources in telling people about the EF.


Blogs put ideas -and facts- to the widest possible web audience which is part of the reason they are also an itch that can't be scratched, they are under no editorial pressure except that of upholding the Catholic faith so they allow what might by some be perceived as a dissenting view: The MP was all over the blogosphere when it was mentioned nowhere else. It's such an invaluable means of communication which isn't possible in any other medium, it's instantaneous and personal, and like buttered eggs, it's good.

PS, The Vatican has its own youtube channel well worth having a look at.

Traditional Rite Confirmations for 2009

This from the LMS website:

'Bishop George Stack, auxiliary bishop in Westminster, will administer Confirmations in the Traditional Latin Rite at St James’s Church, Spanish Place, London W1 on Saturday, 7 November at 11.00 am at the request of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster. This will be the sixth consecutive year that Westminster auxiliary bishops will have conferred Confirmation in the Traditional Rite. Last year in November 2008, 44 candidates received the sacrament at the hands of Bishop George Stack – including 3 adults.

John Medlin, General Manager of the Latin Mass Society, said, “Our Traditional Rite Confirmations have themselves become a traditional part of the Westminster calendar of events. The numbers are very encouraging every year and I expect this will continue in the new situation brought about by Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio. Those attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite are very grateful to Cardinal Cormac and the Westminster auxiliary bishops for making provision for the Traditional Mass and Sacraments.”

At St James’s, Spanish Place, in November 2008, a packed congregation of 600 family and friends were led by the St James’s choir in singing the Veni Creator Spiritus and other traditional hymns. During the anointing, the choir sang polyphony and plain chant. After the anointing, Bishop Stack conferred Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and led the congregation in the Divine Praises.

Parents who require Traditional Confirmation for their children in November 2009 should contact the LMS office for full details of how to register.'

There are some lovely pics of traditional Confirmation at Philip Johnson's blog

Happy Birthday

The Holy Father celebrates his birthday today, long may he reign!

Easter Monday

I experienced a most prayerful and beautiful Low Mass at West Grinstead yesterday afternoon. Fr Bruno Witchalls spoke most movingly of Mary at the homily, and of the wonderful tradition that Our Lord first appeared to His Blessed Mother. While not in the Gospels, Our Lady isn't mentioned going to the tomb with the other women to anoint His body, it makes such perfect sense that He would first go to her, the most blessed. I love to think it was like that.

On a more frivolous note, I love the story of Matilda who lied and was fried, and you can't possibly go to West Grinstead and not produce a photo of the Belloc family grave (or the bedhead, as we call it) so here it is:

Have a Holy and Happy Easter!

Here's the final part of Archbishop Sheen's talk.




I'm very much looking forward to the West Grinstead Mass. Photos to come, I hope.

Holy Saturday

The second of the three parts of Archbishop Sheen's explanation of the Mass. Part three tomorrow.

A quick reminder...

...that a full list of Easter Masses can be found here Latin Mass Society

In A&B, Our Lady of Consolation at Park Lane, West Grinstead has Low Mass at 3.00pm on Sunday.

Good Friday

One of my heroes is Archbishop Fulton Sheen. I love this video of him explaining the Mass. I hope you enjoy it!

The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate

The Mass of Ages magazine ran a great article in the February 2009 edition on the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate. Based at Lanherne in Cornwall, the Sisters use the 1962 Mass daily. If you would like to send a donation to them, (cheques payable to Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate) the address is:

The Reverend Mother, Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, Lanherne, Newquay, Cornwall, TR8 4ER

‘To veil or not to veil, that is the question…’

It’s controversial and an often emotive subject, and one that’s quite close to my heart, so I thought I’d write some very brief thoughts down on the subject.

Nailing my courage and my least favourite mantilla to the sticking place, I’ll at once admit that I think veiling is a lovely thing to do, and wouldn’t dream of not wearing one when I’m at an EF Mass. I’ll also admit that I’m inconsistent, and I don’t wear one when I’m at an OF Mass, but I wish I did. So why do I, and why don’t I?

There are many great articles about why a woman should cover her head, and about why it’s no longer required and I read these articles many times over, one in particular from Fish Eaters. Being a bolshie sort it takes a lot to convince me of anything, but I came to the conclusion that far from being demeaning, or implying women to be second class Catholics, the very opposite was true.

So why do I? Most unspiritually, because it’s always been the Catholic thing to do and what’s so wrong with a two thousand year old tradition? It’s part of our Catholic heritage which I believe we ought to claw back, along with other Catholic traditions that I wasn’t brought up with. More spiritually speaking, putting on a mantilla in the narthex makes me reflect on where I am, and Our Lord, who I am about to meet. It’s something I can physically do to show respect, it’s something I do nowhere else and for no-one else, it’s just for God.

Why don’t I then at the OF, if I feel it’s so important and meaningful? Number one, I suppose I’m a coward who doesn’t want to stand out from the crowd. I’m very conscious that wearing distinctive headgear (however flat and lacy) can be considered to be distracting to others when it’s perceived to be ‘out of context’, or even anachronistic. It can smack of the holier than thou, although it really isn’t and isn’t meant to be. I’m still grappling with this one, one day hopefully I’ll be brave enough, although I do sometimes wear a hat, but usually only when it’s raining!

So, ladies and gentlemen, what do you think?

Update: I started veiling at NO Masses shortly after writing this post, no longer able to cope with my own double standard!

Holy Wednesday

Today after the lunchtime Mass, the second confessional had to be opened because of the length of the queue. I thought that was rather good!

His Holiness

I don't believe you can have too many pictures of Pope Benedict, so to get this blog off to a good start, here's one of my favourites:



The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not to the will of his enemies.


Coming soon, the lacy problem: 'To veil or not to veil...'

Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter Masses

This is the new blog for the LMS in Arundel and Brighton, aiming to introduce more people to the beauty of the Extraordinary Form, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass.

A list of Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter Masses can be found here at the Latin Mass Society web site.

In Arundel & Brighton there is a Low Mass on Easter Sunday, 12 April, at Our Lady of Consolation, Park Lane, West Grinstead at 3.00pm. (Thanks, Clare, for the photo of the Secret Chapel)