In Lewes this week...

...Mass at the usual time of 12.30 pm this Sunday, 1st January.

Also, Mass on the Feast of the Epiphany,

6th January, at 7.00pm.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

Fascinating, no?

I know it's only one less drop in their considerable ocean...

...but bye bye, Tesco...and farewell to their credit card.

Upcoming Christmas Mass news

Masses for Christmas Day:

Sung Mass at Steyning at 9.00 am

Low Mass at Lewes at 12.30 pm

Please see the sidebar for locations.

Mass at St Mary Magdalene, Bexhill, THIS SUNDAY

PLEASE try and support this Mass if you can, it's at St Mary Magdalene's, Sea Road, Bexhill-on-Sea East Sussex, TN40 1RH at 8.00 am, celebrant Fr Bruno Witchalls.

There is no Mass in Seaford this week.

The Feast of The Immaculate Conception

At St Mary Magdalen's Brighton, on Thursday, 8th of December at 7.30 pm, there will be a missa cantata for the Feast of The Immaculate Conception.

Benediction at North Stoke, 18th December

From Peter Cullinane:

"Deacon David will give Benediction at 3-30pm on Sunday December 18 in the delightful medieval church of St Mary's North Stoke.  For various reasons, this will be the only Catholic service to be held in the church this year and it would be wonderful if as many as possible would come so that the link with our Catholic heritage is not lost.

Benediction will include a period of silent adoration and the total service will not last more than 30 minutes.

As the church has neither heating nor lighting, just like the medieval times, please wrap up well and it would also be advisable to bring a torch for the short walk back to your car. Ample parking is available just outside the churchyard.
The hamlet of North Stoke is signposted from Houghton bridge and is just over a mile down the narrow lane by the Bridge pub. "

The Feast of St Nicholas

Here's a nice site all about St Nicholas. Have a browse!

And here's a picture from the site, of how he might have looked.

Advent

I love Advent. I just love it. I love the waiting, the preparation, the anticipation, the excitement. And of course, the solemnity of purple. The crib is up and ready (it takes over the whole sideboard even though it's not particularly big, because the sheep have to spread out), and the star is hanging above it. The Advent wreath is gloriously upstanding in pride of place on the dining table, and the calendars are waiting to be opened. No, they aren't chocolate ones. Although one day, some enterprising calendar producer is going to twig that it might be nice to have the right number of days on one, and not always start on 1st December, but that's a minor quibble.

Have a happy and holy Advent everyone!

Saturday and Sunday

I was up in the metropolis on Saturday for the reps meeting, and the Requiem in Westminster Cathedral.  The Mass was as moving as ever. There's nothing quite like a Requiem to bring home to you how the living and the dead remain dependent upon one another. Trying to explain this feeling of interconnectedness in words is almost impossible, I find, but it is something you can't help but understand at a Requiem.

So spoilt entirely this weekend with two Masses in a row, Mass at St Thomas More, Seaford, was celebrated by Fr Bruno Witchalls. He preached on the three essentials for staying true to the Faith when all about you is confusion.












The first is devotion to Our Lady, our Mother in Heaven.

                                                

The second, love for and fidelity to the Pope, the successor of St Peter.

The third, devotion to the Eucharist.














All in all a very good weekend.

IMPORTANT NEWS, a post of two halves.

Bad news first:

From St Thomas More, Seaford:

The Mass on 18th December at 3.00pm is cancelled, as the church is needed for the parish family reconciliation service.

But the good news:

Is from St Mary Magdalen, Brighton,

Where there will be weekly Low EF Mass on Sundays at 9am, beginning on 27th November. 

This is ad experimentum, so please, if you are in the area, try and get along!

So, the EF on the third Sunday of the month, 20^th November at 6pm will be the last.

Masses at Our Lady of Ransom, Eastbourne this week

There will be a Mass in the Extraordinary Form at OLR tomorrow, Wednesday 16th November, Feast of St Gertrude, and Thursday 17th November, St Gregory the Wonderworker.

Both Masses are at 10.30 am, the celebrant will be Fr Briggs.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY

14 November 2011

Recently Ordained Bishop Steps in at Last Moment to Enable Latin Mass Society Confirmations to Go Ahead

 

Rt Rev John Sherrington, newly installed auxiliary bishop of Westminster conferred Confirmations in the Traditional Rite on 31 candidates at a ceremony organised by the Latin Mass Society (LMS) at St James’s, Spanish Place in central London on Saturday, 12 November.

Originally, Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminster was intending to confer the Sacrament but had to withdraw at the very last moment owing to ill health. Bishop Sherrington stepped into the breach at less than 24 hours’ notice to ensure a very successful and happy event went ahead as scheduled. He was assisted by Fr Andrew Southwell, the LMS National Chaplain, Fr Tim Finigan and the rector of St James’s, Fr Christopher Colven.

After celebrating Pontifical Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament the bishop joined candidates and their families and friends in the Parish Social Centre for a buffet lunch where he also cut one of two celebratory cakes.

LMS General Manager Mike Lord said: ‘We were delighted to have the chance to meet Bishop Sherrington for the first time since his installation and grateful that he was able to help us out at such short notice. It was a joyful occasion for all involved. I understand this was the first time that the bishop had administered Confirmations in the Traditional Rite, but it was a seamless performance, drawing complimentary remarks from the clergy who assisted him, all of whom are experienced hands in the Extraordinary Form. We were very happy that Bishop Sherrington spent time chatting to the candidates and their families afterwards, even delaying his departure for another appointment to ensure he had had the opportunity of speaking to everyone. Westminster archdiocese is fortunate to have acquired an auxiliary so pastorally attuned to the needs of ordinary Catholics, whatever form of the liturgy they are attached to.’

More photos can be seen by clicking HERE,

For further information, please contact Michael Lord, General Manager, on (T) 020 7404 7284; (F) 020 7831 5585; (E mail) michael@lms.org.uk

Calendars, calendars, who wants a calendar?

Tired of boring calendars?

Need to know which Sunday you're on for the EF Mass because your local parish runs on a different set of Sunday readings?

Like to have feast days clearly visible AND have space to write the dentist appointment and reminder for the dog's flea treatment?

Then look no further.

The 2012 LMS Calendar is now available from the LMS website! Click HERE for details.

You can also obtain an Ordo for 2012, by clicking HERE for details.

The Holy Souls and the Cathedral

It was a very atmospheric, murky, and cold day on Saturday when we drove to Arundel for the Requiem for the Holy Souls. Fr Sean Finnegan was the Celebrant, Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith, Deacon, and Deacon Seamus Mahon was Sub Deacon. Many thanks to them.

Fr Lucie-Smith preached on a topic that doesn't get much time from an ordinary parish pulpit, that grief is part of life, and the Church gives you the hope, and the tools in the form of prayers and Masses for dead loved ones, to enable you to cope with it and also help the dead. He also reminded us that prayers for the dead are as old as the Church, quoting one of my favourites from St Monica, about being buried anywhere, but begging to be remembered at the altar of God.



The choir of St Mary Magdalen, Brighton, led by Clare, came along too and sang beautifully, the Dies Irae always makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, and they really did on Saturday. Clare also took some photos, which you can find HERE. Andrew and his serving team, also from St Mary Magdalen, were as polished as ever.
Thank you, Team Brighton!

Thanks also to the sacristans at the Cathedral, who were very helpful in making sure we had everything we needed.








And of course, thank you also to everyone who came! I hope you found the Mass as beautiful as I did.

It is a real privilege and a real comfort to help our deceased family and friends by praying for them. It must be truly awful to believe that when you have lost someone, that's it, the end, gone forever. So I also love cemeteries. I visited ours last week, it was grey, murky and cold then too, but wandering about reading the headstones, I felt so peaceful.

Hope to see you...

at Arundel Cathedral tomorrow.

The next Mass at Our Lady of Consolation, West Grinstead...

...isn't.

It's at 3.00pm, second Sunday, as usual, but is returning to Henfield temporarily while the underfloor heating is completed at OLOC!

So please click HERE for location and link to a map.

All Saints

Happy Feast Day Everyone!

Just in case you had forgotten...

...There is a Requiem Mass this Saturday, 5th November at noon in the Cathedral in Arundel....Just thought I'd mention it...

Mass in Arundel Cathedral this Saturday

Clare has asked for a couple of good singers to help out with the choir this Saturday, if you or anyone you know would like to participate, let me know.

MASSES FOR ALL SOULS

There will be a Missa Cantata at St Mary Magdalen, Brighton, this Wednesday at 7.00 pm. SEE HERE for details.

There is also a Low Mass at St Pancras, Lewes, at 7.00 pm. SEE HERE for details.

Steyning Masses begin this coming weekend, 23rd October...

...and every fourth Sunday of the month,

at Christ the King, Steyning, BN44 3PB  at 9.00am.

Petitions

Telly, love it or loathe it? I have a love/hate relationship with the telly. Mostly it's love, but then I'm very very picky picky about what I watch and think 75% of all programmes pander to the most basic levels of intellect, concentration, and worse, the lowest common denominator, Jeremy Kyle. His is a colosseum mentality,  and it's one of the most appalling programmes on TV, it's like gladiatorial combat but nobody wins...except perhaps Jeremy.




So when I was reading the Catholic Herald, this totally splendiferous petition was mentioned by William Oddie. It's asking the Government to slap health warnings on TV programmes directed at children. And what a good idea. I'm supporting the great idea of health warnings.

In a similar vein, round about now, with all the (bleurchh) Xmas advertising cranking up, we're going to be innundated with even more faux sex on every channel with ads, from M&S selling its knickers to those really dodgy perfume ads. Joop anyone? No, I thought not. Even an advert for shopping at your local Co-Op suggested that doing so left you more time for umm, well, you know, on a Saturday morning. Puh-leese! This kind of thing's so, well, tacky and almost subliminal in that we're all so oblivious to it most of the time. We can tune it out, but kids can't and don't, being little sponges when it comes to picking up information and behaviour from whatever source. Even if a programme seems ok, it might be diced up by some seriously inappropriate advertising. A slight tangent, even the cinema isn't immune. Off I trot to watch Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and before we get to the opening credits, there's an ad (which seemed to go on forever) by a well known contraceptive manufacturer who seems to be expanding its range, and comprehensively told us about it, illustrated by a series of smiling bed-head couples. Now, ok, the film was a 15 (!) but this is just another example of how low things have got.

Remember, Remember

SATURDAY, 5th NOVEMBER, SOLEMN HIGH MASS,

ARUNDEL CATHEDRAL,

AT NOON.

The old ones are always the best...

16 October, Mass at St Joseph's, Guildford

There will be a Mass at St Joseph's, Guildford on Sunday, 16 October at 3.00pm. The celebrant will be Dom Andrew Southwell. Tea and coffee afterwards.

See here for details of the November Mass.

And don't forget the Requiem in Arundel on 5th November at noon

Change of location this coming Sunday...

...from Our Lady of Consolation, West Grinstead,

to Corpus Christi, Tanyard, Henfield, BN5 9PE.

Mass is still at 3.00pm.

(I have it on good authority that thermals will no longer be de rigueur at OLOC from October to April on completion of the work)

Michaelmas

A Guildford Mass

There will be an Extraordinary Form Mass at

 

St Joseph's, Eastgate Gardens on Sunday, 6th November at 3.00pm

Celebrant Fr De Malleray

Remember, Remember...

...that noon on Saturday the 5th of November is the

REQUIEM AT ARUNDEL CATHEDRAL

Let's pray for the Holy Souls

and champion the cause of the beautiful Extraordinary Form!

I will be bothering you all silly about this, because I think it's a really important.

All Souls in Lewes

Fr Jonathan Martin will say Mass at St Pancras at 7.00 pm on All Souls Day.

There will also be a  Low Mass at 12.30 pm on Christmas Day.

Please see the sidebar for details of regular Masses.

One door closes...two open.

Fr Tony Churchill has confirmed two more Masses at Our Lady of Sorrows, Bognor Regis:

All Souls Day, 2nd November at 7.00 am 

 and

Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8th December at 7.00 pm

More to come!

And what is the second door, I hear you ask.

Well, following Fr Sean Finnegan's return home to Shoreham, there will be EF Masses:

Every fourth Sunday of the month at Christ the King, Steyning from 23rd October at 9.00am,

and every Wednesday morning at 9.30am at St Peter's Shoreham from now.

Marvellous news, isn't it! Many thanks to Fr Tony and to Fr Sean.

Not that it has to be fish, of course...

The Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Have a look at ...

...THIS if you haven't already. It's great.

There's been a bit of talk in the combox on Fr Ray's blog about the music that goes with it.
If you are of a genteel musical disposition, have the sound off.
If you aren't, like me most of the time, pump it up.

Mike sent me these thoughts on our greatest treasure

"The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!"
~Pope Paul VI~

For each Mass we hear with devotion, Our Lord sends a saint to comfort us at death.
~revelation of Christ to St. Gertrude the Great~

Once, St. Teresa was overwhelmed with God's Goodness and asked Our Lord "How can I thank you?" Our Lord replied, "ATTEND ONE MASS."

The Blessed Virgin Mary once told Her faithful servant Alain: "My Son so loves those who assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that, if it were necessary He would die for them as many times as they've heard Masses." 

"The Holy Mass would be of greater profit if people had it offered in their lifetime, rather than having it celebrated for the relief of their souls after death."
~Pope Benedict XV~

A great doctor of the Church, St. Anselm, declares that a single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death. St. Leonard of Port Maurice supports this statement by saying that one Mass before death may be more profitable than many after it.

"When we receive Holy Communion, we experience something extraordinary - a joy, a fragrance, a well being that thrills the whole body and causes it to exalt."
~ Saint Jean Vianney~

"The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross."
~Saint Thomas Aquinas~

"If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy."
~ Saint Jean Vianney~

"There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us."
~ Saint Jean Vianney~

"It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass. "
~St. Pio of Pietrelcina~

"When we have been to Holy Communion, the balm of love envelops the soul as the flower envelops the bee."
~ Saint Jean Vianney~

"The heavens open and multitudes of angels come to assist in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. "
~Saint Gregory~

"The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass."
~ St. Augustine ~

"When Mass is being celebrated, the sanctuary is filled with countless angels who adore the Divine Victim immolated on the altar."
~ St. John Chrysostom~

And two more from Mike:

"The Mass is the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven"
~Father Frederick Faber~

"I could attend Mass forever and never grow weary"
~John, Cardinal Newman~

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate at Lanherne

When I read about the possible end of the convent, I had a sudden urge to rush out and buy a lottery ticket in the vain hope I could come up with a miraculous million or two. There's still time, so I might yet. In the mean time, if anyone has a million or so lying around, watch this. If you haven't, watch this. Their address is at the end. I found it on In Caritate Non Ficta. The sisters are so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.

Masses in Bognor Regis

Unfortunately due to busy parish schedules in Bognor Regis, Masses are CANCELLED at Our Lady of Sorrows for the time being, so there will be NOT be a Mass on Sunday, 25th of September.

But nil desperandum!

This isn't a sign that they are disappearing forever from Bognor, Fr Tony is trying to find a time to fit one in as the parish now has two priests instead of three (Fr Jonathan has moved to Lewes where, DG, EFs are continuing usual time usual Sunday of the month).

To recap, NO Masses in the Extraordinary Form at present in Bognor.

SO PLEASE

Guildford Masses

There will be an Extraordinary Form Mass at

St Joseph's, Eastgate Gardens, Guildford on Sunday, 25th September at 3.00pm

Watch this space for notification of future Guildford Masses.

(Brick by brick, as Fr Z says...)

Response from the Biased British Corporation

 'Dear Audience Member

Reference CAS-952009-PF1XYL

Thanks for contacting the BBC.

I understand that you feel there was insufficient coverage of the Pope's visit to Spain and World Youth Day in comparison to the protests in Madrid against the visit.

Whilst I appreciate your concerns, choosing the stories to include in our bulletins and programmes; the order in which they appear and the length of time devoted to them is a subjective matter and one which we know not every viewer and listener will feel we get right every time. However we are confident that we also provided coverage across the BBC of the Pope's visit in a number of reports, including online reports such as those below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14568707

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14606335

Nevertheless, we’re guided by the feedback we receive and I can assure you I've registered your complaint on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's made available to all BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers.

The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.

Thanks for taking the time to contact us.

Kind Regards

Mark Roberts
BBC Complaintswww.bbc.co.uk/complaints '

As I said, bleurchh.


Unfortunately, he didn't seem to register my contempt for the TV Tax...never mind...Still, they do log complaints, so complain away if you feel so moved!

A Poll From Fr Z - Vote!

As you might have gathered from some comments I've made in the past, I'm not entirely comfortable with girl altar servers!

Fr Z is running a poll at the moment, asking for your opinion. Please go over and vote.

WYD, The Horrible BBC, Michael Voris, and How I Cheered Up

I'm going to be complaining to the BBC about it's lamentable coverage of the events of WYD along with other people. I watch virtually no BBC programmes, but still, mea culpa, catch the news, even if it can make me froth at the mouth.
It is a bit much to expect balance from our supposedly impartial compulsorily funded (if you want to watch any TV at all) broadcasting corporation, but I had hoped for better, all the while knowing that good news, especially Catholic good news, is no news. Watching a load of angry old faces is much more telegenic than young peaceful and happy ones.

Given how taken the media were with youth rioting in the UK and how awful it was, it would have been nice to see some youth behaving beautifully in contrast, woudn't it? The Beeb do like youth after all (anyone else notice Dr Who is becoming progressively younger? If he regenerates another couple of times, he'll be an eight year old).

So I thank God for EWTN and Catholic media in general and was lucky to be able to catch most of the coverage of WYD on EWTN. Weren't those Stations of the Cross beautiful? It was brilliant to see so many young people so happy, to see the Holy Father so happy, even during the storm. Everything the Holy Father said was great. I especially loved his address to the disabled, all life has value and is of infinite worth. Again, not very newsworthy is it, to affirm all life as good?

Which brings me to Michael Voris, who is in the UK and speaking in London tomorrow.  I'm really sorry I can't get to hear him, but I have the net to make up for it. I'll be frank: I like what he says. He can be a bit, er, confrontational, in style as well as in content (and what is it with that pencil?) but that's not always a bad thing. Sometimes it's quite nice to hear something less fleecy and cuddly.

And so to me, a viewer, participating remotely, miffed to the nth degree by the failures of the above mentioned, I decided the only way to cheer myself up, and in honour of Madrid, was to buy a Spanish mantilla. So I have. I've tracked it eagerly from Spain to Germany, and await its delivery some time today, and I only ordered it on Saturday. How's that for service?

Update: Mantilla arrived and is beautiful.
Update part deux: I have also had a really good rant on a BBC complaint form. I can recommend it as highly cathartic.