Our Lady of Ransom

Well. There was me, expecting Mass to be celebrated here at the Lady altar:



And we end up here:




Which was just as well, as although I'd hoped for ten people at most to assist at the 3.00pm Mass yesterday afternoon if we were lucky (as it wasn't advertised on the parish newsletter) we had 40. 40, the same number as last week at St Mary Magdalene's! No way would we have all fitted in the Lady Chapel.

It was an absolutely beautiful Mass, so peaceful and prayerful you could hear a pin drop. Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith preached most forcefully on the Epistle and the Gospel, and this might sound a bit odd, but it was so refreshing to hear hell actually mentioned.

For the first time at OLR I was at the front with the DH (I like to lurk, usually by a pillar) and ok, this'll probably sound a bit odd too, but I was so struck by the fact that this was the Mass OLR was built for, and it seemed so right. I'd never seen the communion rails in proper use either, and it was fantastic to have somewhere to kneel properly for communion!

It was also a great relief that the glass covered trench with spotlights in it that usually illuminates the front of the new altar (tacky tacky tacky!) and which had been covered with carpet for this Mass, was actually load bearing.

I also liked the fact that there wasn't a polyester spark-in-the-dark vestment to be seen, but that might just be me.




Here is a view from the pew across to the Lady Chapel:


And another across to the Sacred Heart Chapel:



I'll put up some better photos another time, as I didn't take many yesterday because it was a bit busy. And naturally, after chatting for a while outside, we all went to the pub.

It was a fantastic afternoon, thanks to everyone who made it possible, to Fr Tim Hunting for allowing the Mass to take place, to Fr Alexander, and to Dominic Scarborough, server extraordinaire, and everyone who came, especially to all those who travelled to be there, and those there in spirit, prayers for you all!

Low Mass at Our Lady of Ransom, Eastbourne

A reminder that Mass is at 3.00pm, this Sunday, details here. Spread the word!

This made my day!

I was browsing the blogosphere when this fab story popped up on Trail of Flowers about how a cuddle saved a baby's life.

Low Mass in Bexhill

A Low Mass at St Mary Magdalene's Bexhill had been long awaited by parishioners there, and they weren't disappointed! There was a tremendously good turn out for a mid afternoon Mass on a sunny Bank Holiday, and it was really great to see. Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith was the celebrant and preached a thought-provoking sermon on how charity and law are complimentary, not an either/or choice.

It was only the second time I'd been in St Mary Magdalene's, and took a few pictures.



Here's a photo of the impressive Pieta.



And one of the Lady Chapel.




Very many thanks to Fr Spain the parish priest, and to Fr Lucie-Smith.

Now I'm very much looking forward to the next one, next Sunday, 3.00pm at Our Lady of Ransom, Eastbourne!

I shall offend no more...

...Here, courtesy of John, a new all improved view of the High Altar at OLOC!

Sunday 30 August

A huge reminder that at St Mary Magdalene's, Bexhill there will be a Low Mass at 3.00pm. Details here.

Anniversary Mass

On Thursday 24 September at 7.30 at St Peter's Shoreham there will be a High Mass, celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Fr Sean Finnegan's ordination.

No Low Mass ...

...at St Peter's Shoreham Saturday 29 August as Fr Sean is away.

Low Mass at Our Lady of Consolation this afternoon

Another lovely summer afternoon, and a trip to West Grinstead for a prayerful Low Mass at Our Lady of Consolation. Grateful thanks to Fr Agley who celebrated.

Conversation over tea after Mass was as entertaining as ever, and also provided another opportunity to let people know (again!) about the upcoming Masses in Bexhill and Eastbourne - but more of that another time...

(About the photo: Yes, I know it's still the one with the mobile altar in front of the high altar, but cropped it looked wrong, so I'll take a better one next time!)

Low Mass at Our Lady of Ransom, Eastbourne

There will be a Low Mass on Sunday 6 September at OLR in Eastbourne at 3.00pm. The church is easily accessible from the station and there is a car park and on-road parking. It's opposite the Town Hall and you can't miss it! Here's a google map.

The Assumption

Today we tootled off to Shoreham to Fr Sean's parish of St Peter for the Assumption. We didn't get lost this time, but the traffic was awful (when isn't it?). I love this feast, it's so full of hope and happiness, puts a real smile on my face.

I've been tagged by Jane from the Oasis...

...to think of seven favourite things. A mere seven! Well, after considerable deep thought, they became broad categories. So:

1. All things Catholic
2. Family and friends, of course
3. Music, from chant and motets to industrial
4. Our brilliant weather and countryside, especially the sea
5. Imagination
6. The internet/computers
7. Fruit (but not bananas)

The tough part now is to tag seven other people who haven't been tagged already, but as I don't know who has and who hasn't, here are 7 anyway! So, OTSOTA , Bernadette, Philip, Ukok, Jane, Seraphic, and Pastor in Valle, you're tagged.

Better still, any readers who would care to share, put your Big 7 in the combox, and I'll post them!

Today at West Grinstead

The traffic was so awful getting to Our Lady of Consolation this afternoon I wondered if we'd get there before the Gospel. Luckily, we arrived just before Mass started. Today the celebrant was Fr Ray Blake, who gave a thought-provoking sermon on how we are all called to sainthood. I can't possibly say it as well as he did, but briefly, however sinful and unworthy we may feel, in all humility we have to rely on and trust the graces God gives us, and that it isn't impossible for us to be Saints because, after all, that is what we are called to be.

EF at St Mary Magdalene's, Bexhill

There will be an EF at St Mary Magdalene's, Sea Road, Bexhill, TN40 1RH, on Sunday 30 August at 3.00pm.
Grateful thanks to Fr Spain.


Parking can be challenging, but the station is opposite the church if you fancy the train, there are side roads near the station and the seafront is not far if you are coming by car. Parking on the seafront is free. A google map can be found here.

It's a start!

There will hopefully be two one-off EF Masses in the very near future coming to a parish near you, if you are in the east of the Diocese. Watch this space for confirmation!

Today, the Feast of the Transfiguration at St Pancras, Lewes

Well. Wow. Sung Mass. Incense. Latin. Fr Andrew Southwell. And a huge number of servers.
Yes, it was the St Catherine's Trust Summer School. A church -and sanctuary- full of kids. If anyone ever tells me again that young people can't 'do' long masses, or that they get nothing out of them (admittedly that's harder to gauge, but as none of them were fidgeting particularly and it was so hot in church, I think that's saying something), I shall tell them not to be so patronising.

Bayham and Scotney Revisited

I forgot my camera the last time we went to Bayham and Scotney, but I remembered this time. Talk about the perfect summer day, it was just beautiful. First to Scotney.


A view across the moat towards a ruined doorway and the house. The water looked very inviting and swimmable today, unlike the middle of winter when St Richard Blount escaped across it.



Here's one of the house from the bridge across the moat. It has to be the most fairytale building in the most fairytale setting I have ever been to (and of course, at this time of year the horrible rhododendrons are merely looming and brooding greenery).


Once inside the house, you climb the stairs and on the highest landing there is a cupboard in the wall, behind which is this hiding space.



As I had nothing for scale, you'll have to take my word for it that the snug space beneath the wire grill is very small indeed.




There is a lovely shady walk around the moat, and here's a view from the other side of the house.




And so to the Norbertine Bayham Abbey. We again had the place entirely to ourselves and like Scotney, it's so photogenic you could get carried away, as I did: the camera died on me!
It's an extraordinarily peaceful and poignant place to visit. It's very Romantic and Gothic in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century poetic way - there are two babies from the family who came to own it buried in the chapel off the quire (something I find quite incomprehensible), and some added buttresses to the cloister. It's very beautiful. But it makes me uneasy, because it's not actually a 'gothic ruin', nor is it the amusing folly at the bottom of the garden which it became.



Towards the Abbey church and cloister from the Kent (north) gate. The high wall in the centre is the nave, and to the far left the north transept. On the right, the low wall is all that remains of what was probably a guest house or the abbot's quarters.







The nave is long and narrow. The High Altar has a very large tree growing in the wall just behind it.





A view across from the south, with the warming house on the far right, the parlour and slype in the centre and the undercroft to the left. Through the slype and ahead is the cloister, and the high wall of the nave.

I have a couple more photos of Bayham which I might add in a bit. If you're in the area, have a visit, it's lovely.

The Curé d'Ars

I have been thinking about the Year for Priests of late. In our Diocese, every priest is being prayed for throughout the year (thanks to the Bevans for the idea and organisation and the internet and facebook etc for making it possible! Where would we be without the web?). So I was browsing my favourite blogs for inspiration, and over the last three days Fr Mark of Vultus Christi has been putting up the most wonderful reflections on the priesthood and St John Mary Vianney leading up to the 150th anniversary of his death. Here are the links to the first, second, and third evenings of the Triduum. This quote from the Curé is just amazing: "Oh, how great is the priest!" he said. "...God obeys him: he utters a few words and the Lord descends from heaven at his voice, to be contained within a small host." I also have a lovely book about St John Mary Vianney, full of quotes and prayers, and I particularly like this one: "We do not have to talk very much to pray well." There are times when there is so much to pray about I don't even know where to start, and find this so encouraging. Please, though, follow the links above for a really good and inspiring read!

Mass at Lewes this Thursday!

Just a reminder about the Mass at St Pancras, this Thursday at noon.
I know with work and kids etc and the extraordinarily atrocious parking, Lewes can be a bit of a haul, but please try and make it. If any reader knows folk who would be interested, but are not blog readers, would they be kind and let them know as I don't have phone numbers or e-mail addresses for everyone (which is actually a real bind).

W Grinstead (and the Feast of St Anne)

Once again today at Our Lady of Consolation, we were privileged to assist at the Extraordinary Form. The sermon was a real heartener - it was such a battery recharge! We were lucky to have Fr Talbot, Chaplain at Chavagnes, as the celebrant, thank you very much Father! Chavagnes International College, as some of you may already know, is a Catholic school for boys in France, which follows a fantastic and unapologetically Catholic line. It was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary some time ago, you may have seen it, which was infamous not for Catholic education, the boys, staff or even for being run by English in France, but because of the staged bunny send-off which had not happened before, or happened since, C4's departure.

There was of course lots of chat following Mass, and a couple of things cropped up in conversation. One of which was how to encourage families to come to the EF. Now, this is one of my big moans, because 3.00pm on a Sunday afternoon, or 7.30pm on a weekday evening, or midday on a Saturday can be totally unchild-friendly times to have a Mass. Not that I'm ungrateful, far from it! I grab an EF whenever I can, family committments permitting. But not many young families fancy an hour's drive to Mass on a fine Sunday afternoon if there's a 9.00am just up the road (all the EFs available in the Diocese are 45 minutes to an hour+ away from me). Mass at any time with children -even locally- requires an amount of logistical planning Winston Churchill would have been proud of. In my experience mid-afternoon/mealtimes/bedtimes are when most kids/toddlers/babies are at their most bad tempered, tired and recalcitrant. It can also make doing anything as, or with, your family almost impossible, especially if Sunday is the only day of the week you have off work.

This means there is no opportunity to introduce the EF to people. A cynic would say that that's the ultimate plan: To keep people from it in the hope that the EF will just die out. Well, sorry, but given the MP, and being one of those who never knew the Old Rite being a post VII-er, but fell in love with it anyway, I can't see that happening!

So what am I saying? I think I'm saying that if we're serious about the EF, we have to encourage/beg/plead for Mass times that are more family friendly. There are many churches on Sundays in my far east part of the Diocese which may only have an 11.00 am. What's wrong with an EF at one of those at 9.00am? And if we do get more convenient Mass times, even just once a month? Well, I don't think they would be bursting at the seams at first as the EF is a completely different liturgical kettle of fish to the NO. But to be honest, I don't think that matters: brick by brick.

Which of course brings us to the supply side of things. I touched on the demand in my last rant. I'm not going to say anything particular about supply at the mo, as I haven't got time, I'll just say that supply isn't necessarily the problem.

Now, St Anne! It's her feast and my name day (I also have two others, lucky me!), and I would like to thank her for taking such great care of me over the years - I don't know how I'd manage without her, and now I'm going to celebrate with a nice glass of red and then some cake!

EF Mass at St Pancras, Lewes

There will be an EF Mass celebrated at St Pancras, Irelands Lane, Lewes, at Noon on Thursday, 6 August (Feast of the Transfiguration). This has been requested by St.Catherine's Trust. The parish website can be found here.

Many thanks to Mr Cattermole for letting me know!

For a good read...

...can I recommend that you try the Summer edition of Dowry, the FSSP newsletter! It's out now, and can be read here.

If you feel you would like to offer support to the great work done by the FSSP in England, a form can be found here.

The Woman I Love

I was browsing youtube like I do, well, it's wet and windy, that's my excuse, and up popped some more videos. Of Fulton Sheen. So I thought I'd put them on the blog.


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Prayers for His Holiness

Hope the wrist gets better soon!

Yesterday at W Grinstead

We always seem to leave the house in a rush on OLOC Sundays, and as the traffic can be heavy at the best of times, we have to leave in plenty of time so I always forget to take my camera. But one of these weeks I will remember, and I'll even make sure the battery's charged!



It was another very prayerful Mass this week. Following in my missal, the depth and richness of it never ceases to amaze me, there's always something new to find. I don't always use my missal, sometimes if I just can't clear my mind to concentrate, I go with the flow, other times I concentrate better without turning pages. I find within the structure of the EF more freedom and more challenge. It's a bit like a certain beer advert from a while back, the usus antiquior simply refreshes the parts other forms can't reach.
Many thanks to Father for celebrating Mass, and giving an interesting and thought provoking sermon.

You know, if you haven't tried an EF Mass yet, you should, they're really rather good!

E-mails

It would seem that some of my e-mails are thought to be spam! The cheek!
If you are expecting one from me, can you check your spam because there's a possibility that's where it might have ended up.

I know October is a long way off...

...but it's not too early for me to start plugging the Missa Cantata at Arundel Cathedral on Sunday 11 October at 3.00 pm.

Please put the date in you diaries!

John Henry Cardinal Newman

This is great news, His Holiness has approved Cardinal Newman's Beatification, read all about it here.

The painfully obvious

I know it's bad form to moan, but sometimes I've just got to get things off my chest. Today's one of those days. I would blame the heat, but I can't today as it's currently overcast and there's a coolish breeze. I've just received another questionnaire from another disappointed lover of the EF. I've got a whole stack of replies now, and they all say more or less the same thing: We want to have the EF.

Now don't get me wrong, while this information is tremendously good news, it does make me feel a tad peevish.

So I'm going to state what is to me the blindingly obvious in no particular order, just thinking about the demand side of things:

-To attend an EF Mass, unavoidably, you currently have to travel quite long distances unless you're a resident of a lucky town. If you are unable to get there for whatever reason, you can't attend. Non-attendance doesn't mean you don't want it, it means you can't get there.


-To attend an EF Mass to fulfil your Sunday obligation, you have to travel quite long distances at usually really inconvenient times (if you are lucky enough to find one at all). Non-attendance doesn't mean you don't want it, it means you can't get there.



-To attend an EF Mass does not make you any more a nutter than people who actively seek out Family Masses. It's just people get the opportunity to choose to go to a Family Mass.

*Rant Ends*


I feel better now. Thanks for reading.

Diocesan Questionnaire

Some of the chat last Sunday was about the expansion of the east A&B questionnaire to the rest of the Diocese, which I think on reflection would be a good idea. The return postage would, however, be a bit steep, so I'm going to be doing things a bit differently for this one.

The questions will be exactly the same, but you will have to leave a not-for-publication request in the combox (along with your own e-address of course), so I can send you an e-questionnaire as an attachment. Then you can send it straight back to me. If, though, you know a member of the LMS in A&B who has no internet access but would like to answer one, let me have the person's name and then I can post one.

The more feedback the better!