Happy Easter!

Holy Saturday

Good Friday

Maundy Thursday

Spy Wednesday

Ladies (and gentlemen)

Please have a look at this new blog, Catholic Women Rising, twitch of the mantilla to Fr Z for advertising it or I most definitely would have missed it. It's now on my blog roll on the sidebar for your edification and mine.

(I would have left a message in the combox registering my support, but for some reason I wasn't able to log in as myself!)



A response to the Liebster Award.

As I like to get ahead and strike while any iron is hot, I cracked on with the instructions which accompanied the reception of the award over a cup of tea, warming up after the dog walk. I thought they might be a bit arduous, but they weren't. So, as per Mac's instructions, here goes *ahem* :

I would like to thank Mulier Fortis for this award.




Eleven  *fun* facts about myself. The *fun* bit is debatable. But I can vouch for them as facts. In no particular order:
 
1. I really like gloves.
2. I will never go shopping unless it’s absolutely unavoidable. Shopping is not fun.
3. Won’t watch a chick flick or bromance movie unless guaranteed to be a laugh for all the wrong reasons.
4. Invariably come out as Spock when doing the ‘which Star Trek character are you’ quizzes. Make of that what you will.
5. I quilt. And embroider.
6. Mine’s a vodka and tonic.
7. Do not like board games.
8. Thanks God for the gift of the internet.
9. Is allergic to cats. No, really, I am, wheezing, rashes, everything.
10. I am not allergic to dogs.
11. Baking, I like baking.


Part Deux , the questions Mac asked:
 
1. What inspired the title of your blog?
No inspiration was thankfully required, it’s descriptive.

2.Why did you start to blog?

To spread the word about the wonder and beauty and timelessness of the Latin Mass, to which I am extraordinarily attached, and to show the work of the Latin Mass Society.

3.What is your personal favourite post on your blog?

I don’t really have one. I quite enjoy writing the rants though.

4.What has been the most popular (most viewed) post on your blog?

One about the appalling attitude in this country to anyone having children.

5.Which post on your blog has attracted most comments?

One about an EF in Bexhill. You'll have to trust me on that.

6.What other hobbies or interests (beyond blogging) are you prepared to admit to?

Ummm…

7.What has been your closest brush with death?

I have to choose just the one?

8.Where is your favourite place of pilgrimage, and why?

Walsingham, because it feels like home.

9.Who is your favourite spiritual author, and why?

You’ll have to have three. St Therese, because of her beautiful Little Way. Julian of Norwich, because she is a wonderful read, and Pope Benedict.

10.Have you ever experienced a miracle?

Yes.

11.Which of these questions did you find it most difficult to answer

All the personal ones!
 

Part Three...

...I have questions, and here are some bloggers I would like to Liebster Award:

The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley
Hilaire Belloc Blog

And here are your questions:

1.      Why did you start blogging?

2.      What maintains your blogging motivation?

3.      Are you easily inspired?

4.      Have you ever received a comment on the blog that made it all worthwhile?

5.      Name your favourite poem and give your reasons for choosing it.

6.      Have you ever engaged in talking like a pirate on Talk Like A Pirate Day?

7.      Where is you favourite place in the world?

8.      Who is your greatest spiritual influence?

9.      If you had to recommend one book, what would it be?

10.   Singing in the bath, yes or no?

11.   Kirk or Spock?

Holy Week

This is the best time of year without a doubt, and there is no better way to begin Holy Week than with Confession.

I'm not a great fan of the reconciliation service, which is de rigeuer in my neck of the woods. I know we're all supposed really enjoy the old gather and share, but I prefer something a bit less public. I can't see that being in a large crowd of people and having to wait rather a long time, listening to taize chants whether you want to or not, is really going to encourage anyone who hasn't been for a while to overcome their trepidation and sit on that chair in full view and audibility of everyone else. And of course the queues for the confessional (just the one now, you understand) are the longest. Call me old fashioned, but there's nothing nicer than a discreet confessional, and regular slots available for confession, and a proper absolution. So it was lucky that there was a Latin Mass in Lewes and the opportunity to do it the old fashioned way on Saturday. Now I can enjoy the rest of Holy Week and Easter, without having to worry!


 In other news, I have been awarded an award by Mulier Fortis herself. Yes, it's the Liebster Award. It involves answering a series of questions, and posing questions for the blogs you then tag. So, have a look at Mac's blog, and I'll get my lists done and post here when they're complete. Now who shall I tag...will there be anyone left by the time I get round to it??

Press Release From The Latin Mass Society

 

A Spiritual Bouquet for Pope Francis

The Latin Mass Society is gathering together a Spiritual Bouquet for our new Holy Father, Pope Francis I.

We are asking you, our members, supporters and friends, to help us with this.

We are encouraging everyone to ask priests that they know to celebrate Masses in the Extraordinary Form for the new Pope, that he may receive the graces necessary to fulfil the duties of his new office (you should pay the priest a stipend for this - suggested minimum offering £10). We are also asking you to offer up rosaries and other prayers and devotions for the Pope. In particular, offer up your Communion for the Pope.

The Pope has asked for our prayers to help him in his new office. Let us respond generously to his call. As Catholics, the Church has always asked us to pray, in charity, for others, living and dead, but one of the people She has always specifically requested the faithful to pray for is the Pope. This is a good and holy Catholic tradition. Let us live up to that tradition. Offer a priest that you know a stipend to celebrate a Traditional Mass for the Pope, or offer your daily rosary for Pope Francis, or add him to your intentions in your daily prayers, or offer a novena for him. The choice is up to you.

Once you have done this, or decided that you will do this, email or write to us at the LMS to tell us how many Masses, Communions, Rosaries or other prayers and devotions you have offered, or will offer, for Pope Francis. Please let us know as soon as possible. In fact, why not do it today?

These will then be gathered together and presented to the Holy Father on behalf of the Latin Mass Society and its supporters and friends. You don't have to be an LMS member to take part in this spiritual initiative.

Contact details

Email us at info@lms.org.uk

Write to us at: LMS, 11-13 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NH

Stay at home mothers don't work

Cameron says so. The government's view of the importance of the family couldn't get any lower.

I can think of little else, except abortion, that demeans mothers and their vocation more than a Government telling them they don't want to 'work hard and get on' by bringing up their own children.

Women are damned if they do and damned if they don't.  If they do go out to work and they have children, they are often penalised in the workplace for not being focused enough on the job to do it properly. If they stay at home they are work shy potential scroungers who are after a free ride.

Having stayed at home, there's no denying it can be lonely, frustrating, and boring, especially when everyone else you know with children is out at work after putting their kids in day care. Financially it's not always great either. But there is nothing natural about separating small children/babies from their mothers and herding them together with a dozen or so other small children.

A nursery is not a home, a childminder, however kind, is not a parent.

Mothers who stay at home to look after their children want THEM to get on.

The Shroud of Turin

If you, like me, have a fascination and love of the Holy Shroud of Turin, can I point you in the direction of a TV programme authorised by our Pope Emeritus before his resignation.

On Holy Saturday, 30 March, the cameras will be permitted to film the Shroud, '[for] special prayer from the Cathedral of Turin, to give the whole world the opportunity to contemplate the Shroud.'

Details can be found by following the links above.

Habemus papam! And St Francis was no hippy

Yesterday, I was glued to EWTN. So much so that the roast kind of got forgotten and everything else got cold. But that's what the microwave's for isn't it, the reheated meal.

After we had toasted the new Pope, this time in left over Xmas vodka (well there was no wine in the house, it is Lent), it was time for the *other* news providers. I always say that I shall eschew and ignore the secular media, but I sometimes can't. Mea culpa. I do like to see what the enemy's up to. Sometimes.

It was as iffy as usual. They found the usual soundbite Catholics to extrapolate the secular party line of same sex marriage etc etc from, made the usual trite modernisation comments and of course, this new Pope is going to be a mover and a shaker, he's a Jesuit, he'll change things, he's from South America, he's taken the name Francis, Francis, friend of mother earth and all creatures, cool!

So...he'll have a special ministry to wine turbines? Have they ever read about St Francis? He wasn't exactly PC. Neither were any of the other saints named Francis. And neither, I suspect, will Pope Francis be.

I thought it really most amusing when they emphasised the fact that our new Holy Father took the bus to work and cooked his own meals.

Benedict XVI used to use a bike I believe before he was elected, but that didn't get any air time then or since.


I can't wait to see the headlines in the next few weeks though. Just as Pope Benedict XVI was a 'nazi' Pope, we'll probably see Pope Francis dubbed the 'junta' Pope. And don't mention the Falklands.

Plus ca change...

However, all that present and pending press silliness aside, I am so happy to have a new Holy Father!

God bless Pope Francis!

Low Sunday Mass in Lewes

There will be a Low Sunday Mass at St Pancras, Lewes, at 5.00 pm.

More details on the sidebar.

Mass time change in Seaford for one Sunday

Mass at St Thomas More, Seaford, will be at 1.30 pm next Sunday, 17th March, for one Sunday only, not at 3.00 pm as is usual.

Press Release from the Latin Mass Society

7 March 2013

 LMS Campaigning Results in Two New Sunday EF Masses in Westminster Archdiocese

 

 

 

We are delighted to announce that there will be weekly Sunday Masses in the Extraordinary Form at two new venues in the Archdiocese of Westminster in the near future.

The Masses will take place in St Albans in the parish of St Bartholomew’s, 47 Vesta Avenue, St Albans, AL1 2PE,

 














and in Willesden, north-west London, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden, Nicoll Road, London NW10 9AX.















In both cases, the parish priests have been asked by the archdiocese to learn and celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

Neither Fr Tim Edgar of St Albans nor Fr Stephen Willis of Willesden has previously celebrated the Extraordinary Form, but both are approaching the opportunity of offering the ancient form of Mass with a very positive and pastoral attitude. It will obviously take some time for them to reach the necessary level of proficiency to start offering Masses publicly. Nevertheless, training has begun and regular weekly Masses on Sundays will start later this year on dates and at times yet to be announced. Their parishioners have already been consulted and informed about the introduction of the Extraordinary Form in their parishes and the reaction has been positive.

This very good news follows meetings between the LMS and the archdiocese over a period of a year or more, in which LMS Chairman Dr Joseph Shaw, Local Representative for Hertfordshire Mike Mason, and LMS General Manager Mike Lord met with Bishop Alan Hopes and Bishop John Sherrington a number of times to discuss wider provision of the Extraordinary Form.

The LMS would like to thank Bishop Hopes, Bishop Sherrington and Archbishop Vincent Nichols for their work in helping to make the Traditional Mass available in these areas of the Archdiocese of Westminster.

LMS General Manager Mike Lord commented: ‘We are very pleased at this positive response from the archdiocese to what has been something of a pastoral crisis in Hertfordshire and north-west London in recent years for Catholics attached to the Extraordinary Form of Mass.

'It is doubly pleasing that the parish priest in each case has been asked to be the principal celebrant. The Traditional Mass needs to become a full and accepted part of parish life in dioceses across the country with an important role to play in drawing the faithful closer to Christ, especially in this Year of Faith. In the cases of St Albans and Willesden, the Extraordinary Form is set to do just that.’