Goodbye Bishop Budd, a happy retirement....

Mgr Mark O'Toole - new Bishop of Plymouth

Picture: Catholic News

....and welcome Monsignor Mark O'Toole, please the Lord that you will be more charitable to those who love the Latin Mass than your predecessor.

At last Bishop Budd has gone. I wish him well in retirement but he was no friend of traditionalism and appeared to allegedly (cautious, you see) not manage his parishes with a firm hand.

Bishop Mark II, as I shall call him, will inherit one gem of a church from Bishop Budd, that of Our Lady and the English Martyrs at Chideock, a pleasant village on the Dorset coast.

This little church is steeped in the history of the Faith in England and has something like five martyrs associated with it.

During the Reformation it was a barn where Mass was celebrated illegally according to the laws at the time.

If you can gain access to the first floor (the old sacristy) you may still see faded frescoes dating from that period.

After the Reformation, some time after, the barn was converted to a chapel, much of the funding coming from the famous recusant family, the Welds.

Faded glory, frescoes in the sacristy at Chideock

It is now one of the most beautiful churches in the country, rich baroque, statues, an air of piety and reverence so intense that you could almost believe that England was still a Catholic country.

But this little church lies idle for most of the time.

Other than a very healthy trade in tourists, there are few Masses offered here.

It is served, I think, from Beaminster, and therein lies a tale (which I cannot repeat for fear of spreading scandal and of possible litigation) but Bishop Mark would do many a great favour by looking into the management of Chideock to restore the Mass in the Extraordinary Form as have his brother Bishops,  Davies and Egan.

Our Lady and the Martyr's Church should, by rights, be the flagship of those who love the Latin Mass, a place of pilgrimage remembering the martyrs of both England and Wales and, a parish in its own right.

But, back to Bishop Emeritus of Plymouth, Bishop Budd.

The West Country faithful have endured his writ for a long time. I am sure some will be raising a glass or two of fermented apple juice in joy at his retirement.

Here is an extract of a report on Bishop Budd's retirement taken from the Plymouth Herald:-

Re Vatican II....(my comments in red)

".....Some commentators say changes made by the Second Vatican Council went too far – especially in allowing the local language to be used during Mass, rather than the traditional Latin.

Bishop Budd said Plymouth diocese has remained free of such liturgical in-fighting (hardly surprising as this diocese must have the smallest number of Latin Masses in the UK - and I know why) but the rise of conservative priests is a concern (Why so?).

He said: "The reinstatement of the Latin Mass has not been a huge issue here – although I have not been promoting it, I must admit.(But weren't you supposed to be promoting it Bishop? What about Summorum Pontificum?) What is interesting is that a lot of younger priests want to go back to that clerical rite where the participation of the people is minimal. The reformed liturgy we practise now is the one changed by Vatican II – it gives the congregation a vocal and active part to play."(Ah, so that's it, a "vocal and an active part to play" - what tosh).