Will you walk to Walsingham?

 

"When England returns to Walsingham Our Lady will return to England" ~ Pope Leo XIII

You are invited to the fourth Latin Mass Society (LMS) walking pilgrimage to Walsingham. We will be walking from Ely to Walsingham from 23 to 25 August 2013. This is a bank-holiday weekend. You can book online today on the LMS website (www.lms.org.uk), or call the office and book over the phone: (+44) (0)20 7404 7284

 

In total the walk is about 55 miles. On the way there will be:

* Solemn High Mass each day

* Mass in the private chapel of historic Oxburgh Hall

* Confession available throughout the pilgrimage

* Traditional Pilgrims Blessing at departure

* Pilgrim's booklet with all prayers, hymns, devotions and Masses

* Camping or indoor accommodation (contact the LMS for details)

* Support vehicles throughout the route (water, first aid, pick up)

 

There will also be a coach going from London to Walsingham on the Sunday for the final Mass of the pilgrimage and the Holy Mile. Contact the LMS for details.

Full details for the pilgrimage and frequently asked questions at the following link: http://www.lms.org.uk/news-and-events/2013-walsingham-walking-pilgrimage 

 

Priests or religious interested in attending do not need to book online and should contact the LMS directly.

Ancient Walsingham Prayer

 

O alone of all women, Mother and Virgin, Mother most happy, Virgin most pure, now we sinful as we are, come to see thee who are all pure, we salute thee, we honour thee as how we may with our humble offerings; may thy Son grant us, that imitating thy most holy manners, we also, by the grace of the Holy Ghost may deserve spiritually to conceive the Lord Jesus in our inmost soul, and once conceived never to lose him. Amen

Because today is Our Lady's day in Wales......

........and because I couldn't find a Cardigan hymn

National Welsh Pilgrimage begins today at 2pm, Church of Our Lady of the Taper, Cardigan.

News of a pilgrimage.....a Welsh one!

                           Pope Benedict in 2010 at Westminster Cathedral
                            with the statue of Our Lady of the Taper in the background

The Latin Mass Society is to hold its annual pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Wales, Our Lady of the Taper, Cardigan, on Sunday 2nd September commencing with devotions at 2pm and Latin Mass at 3pm.

That is not a great deal of notice, I know, but if you would like to visit Cardigan for a pleasant weekend of good Welsh food and hospitality AND combine it with a pilgrimage......that would be good all round.

The Cliff Hotel has a great position (as its name suggests) and nearby Newport, Pembrokeshire is well kitted out with boutique hotels and unboutique hotels and eating houses according to your fancy.


And more news........grateful thanks to the two donors who have raised Fr Z's travelling fund by $100 - please keep the donations coming, we are close to one third of the way there.

Holywell - a step closer to heaven

    The Shrine of St Winefride - Virgin and Martyr

Last Sunday's pilgrimage to the Shrine of St Winefride in North Wales was, as well as being a spiritual journey in the manner of all good pilgrimages, a profound and uplifting experience.

Organised by the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales it attracted an estimated 400 people whom, as well as attending to their duties as pilgrims also wished to attend the Pontifical High Mass offered by 62 year old Bishop Fernando Areas Rifan, Apostolic Administrator of the Personal Apostolic Administration of St Jean Marie Vianney, from Campos, Brazil.                                                                                      
An interesting choice of celebrant as Bishop Rifan was, at one time, "separated" from Holy Mother Church and aligned with the SSPX. He and his Diocese returned to the fold (some might say that he had never left it) in or around the year 2004 and he was then subjected to cries of "traitor" from Bishop Fellay and others within the Society.
The Bishop remains a controversial figure as far as traditionalists are concerned but, after witnessing his devout manner and mellifluous voice and hearing his beautifully articulated sermon, there could be few who would doubt his loyalty to Rome and to tradition.

A great and holy man - Bishop Rifan

In a packed church and on a sanctuary jam packed with Canons, Monsignors, Priests and altar servers, the Mass began.
The Manchester Mozart Schola sang Wolfgang's Coronation Mass and it was rich and beautiful to the extreme; indeed, so much so that it actually became a distraction from the all important proceedings. But a magnificent distraction for all of that.

Mrs Linen and 3 of our group 

In his Sermon, the Bishop uttered the immortal words: "It is not our Mass it is the Lord's Mass" Another way of saying "Don't mess with this it is not within your remit". I am sure the LMS will be publishing the full text so I will not attempt to recall the full homily, suffice to say that it was brief and to the point; two essentials for a sermon that few observe.

The mini bus carrying the bulk (13 of us all told) of the Confraternity of the Holy Cross from Menevia Diocese made an arduous journey from the Shrine of Our Lady of the Taper in Cardigan to the Shrine of St Winefride in Holywell. From the West of Wales to the North.

To those unfamiliar with the geography of Wales let me say that it is not a great distance; maybe 130 or possibly, 140 miles. But the route or routes are winding and up hill and down dale and it took us the best part of 6 hours including a break for a most unhealthy intake of junk food.

Destined for greater glory - 2 deacons and 1 seminarian. Ranaldo
from Brazil and Francisco and Gustavo from Mexico

Some five or six other members of the Confraternity travelled independently so our numbers rose to just about 5% of the assembly.

After Mass we processed from the church down the hill towards the medieval holy well and the actual shrine. As we went we recited the Rosary and crammed (those of us in the forefront) into the well house where the shrine is located.

The Rosary procession to the Shrine

There, beneath the shrine we were able to sing a  hymn to St Winefride (a somewhat modern one I believe but none the worse for that) and individually venerate the relic of the holy saint.

And what pilgrimage would be
complete without  white doves?

Then, as we filed past after the veneration we were able to kneel and kiss His Lordship's ring, an act designed to cause any modernist to have an attack of the vapours.

Bishop Rifan chatting to Joe Shaw of the LMS

Some observations on the day: it was well organised by the LMS and full credit to them. It would have been good if the Mass pamphlet that was issued had carried details of the schola and some attention to proof reading would have been worthwhile, especially as "God" was misspelt. But these are niggles viewed within the full framework of the day.

All in all there cannot have been many (or any) who wound their weary way home without feeling that they had taken part in one of the Church's great events and were one step closer to heaven as a result.

I remembered all of you collectively in my prayers and intentions and, as many as my shrinking brain would allow, I remembered by name.

And thank you to Brian of Umblepie blog for the words and music to a slightly more traditional version of a hymn to St Winefride; it would be good to restore it to the hymn sheets for future pilgrimages. When I learn how to save and copy it I will reproduce it.

Afterwards, pilgrims flocked to the healing waters
of the holy well

Traditional Misconceptions

Fr Pat Brennan: 'Avoid' blogs by 'some' Catholics

I've been following a blog discussion taking place between Fr Ray Blake and Juventutem's Sean Wright concerning the rise of what Fr Blake described in his comment on the blog as "the Benedictine generation" - an apt phrase - since it is really the excitement generated by Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate and the release of Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae that has unleashed upon the Church a new breed of traditionally minded Catholics who are willing to wear Catholicism on their hearts and sleeves while challenging heresy and tragic liberal wooliness in the Church.

I think that the discussion raises some very interesting questions and ends up challenging some prejudices that presumably many in the Church have against those, especially in the blogging community, who hold fast to the Magisterium of the Church, hold onto tradition, love the beauty of the traditional Rite and who are willing to stand up and be counted as Catholic while not dishing out condoms, advocating contraception, promoting or defending horrific liturgical abuse or abortion or setting up gay meeting venues in Catholic Churches.

Fr Blake asks whether those loyal to Tradition in the blogging community are redefining in any sense what it means to be a Catholic. I personally do not think they/we are. I do believe that Catholicism is, perhaps rapidly and frighteningly for some, being reclaimed from the new definitions which flourished in the wake of the Second Vatican Council - when Catholicism began to be viewed as everything and yet nothing. I see Juventutem and the Latin Mass Society as exemplars of Catholicism that is profoundly satisfying because it is challenging - rather than profoundly self-satisfying and unchallenging. This is because both Juventutem and the LMS tend towards, if not necessarily the ascetic, then at least towards the bold proclamation of the Catholic Faith rooted in love for Christ in the Sacraments, especially Confession and Blessed Sacrament, Our Blessed Lady and loyalty to the Holy Father, rather than a new brand of Catholicism which really seems to be all about wavering in the changing winds of modern times and thought and embracing nearly any opinion as worthy of being called 'Catholic' even if it turns out to be objectively Buddhist.

Yesterday, a blogging Catholic Priest called Fr Patrick Brennan of Humble Piety, in commenting on one of his own posts said of 'some' Catholic bloggers...

'Some "Catholic" blogs present a very narrow interpretation of the Catholic faith, with a hint of elitism, a pinch of snobbery, a modicum of intolerance for other views, sprinkled with a air of smug superiority, some try questionable humour to mask their lack of charity. All in all quite disappointing! But I have come to learn to take them for what they are opinions... not fact! Some are so far up their own backsides they are quite funny without intending it! My advice is to avoid those blogs that do not help the spiritual life to flourish.(or read them for what they are opinions not fact) It is rather tedius all this which side are you on business are you liberal or Trad! As if that is what Christ came for! There is an incredible amount of insecurity out there!'

Paul Priest took the Priest in question to task on just whom, he wonders, Fr Brennan is referring in his mini diatribe. Having spent quite a long time with members of Juventutem and the LMS rather recently (though I know we are still unsure of which blogs the blogging Priest is talking) I must say that I did not and do not consider any to be particularly proud, conceited, wrapped up in themselves, superior, smug, vicious or any of those things - I can only say that because I know them.

Personally, I can be one, some, if not all of those things at times, but I really do think that the greater conceit lies within those who embrace dissent within the Church as valid 'opinion', when the Holy Father himself has said that one of the things that strikes at the heart of the modern Church and weakens Her message is an inability or unwillingness by important figures in the Church to 'recognise dissent for what it is and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate'.

This unwillingness to call out heresy, error and falsehood is particularly weakening for the Church when especially Clergy and senior Hierarchy fail in their duty to do so. It just so happens to be one of the driving forces behind men like Michael Voris and notable Catholic bloggers. Liberals therefore must take their share of the blame for the creation of this monster. Not only that, but a Church in which senior figures and leaders appointed by Christ to be teachers for Him are unable to differentiate between 'opinion' and outright dissent leaves the Church's evangelical mission stunted and debilitated. The problem is that while some opinions are personal opinions that Catholic bloggers offer, many, perhaps most, are expressions of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and are in tune, so to speak, with the thought, writings and expressed desires of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. Many of these opinions are only reiterating, or re-presenting that which the Church has already defined to be true and unalterable. These are not opinions - these are truths of the Faith, so it is disturbing that a Catholic Priest should be so offended by so many 'traditional' Catholic blogs.

How teddyfying...

For me, the exciting thing about the traditional Catholic World is not that I am in any sense hanging around with 'Super Catholics' who are high performance religious people who do Catholicism in hyperdrive. The exciting thing is that they all seem to place their hope and trust firmly in Christ, His Blessed Mother, are supportive of and loyal to, the Pope, pray to the Saints, and believe everything that the Church teaches to be true and to have been revealed by God. They are recognisably Catholic. Most, if not all, are only too aware of their weaknesses and need for God's mercy. I don't find Catholics loyal to tradition to be conceited at all, but then that's just my 'opinion'. I guess it is only 'fact' when the slur is made by a blogging Catholic Priest. The one thing that I have noticed is that 'traddy' Catholics are usually hopping mad to get to Confession because they have a huge respect for the Blessed Sacrament and are as likely be seen impatiently waiting for the Sacrament of Reconciliation as they will be seen kneeling to receive Our Lord because they are aware of their need for Him.

In some respects traditional Catholics can be like John and James, 'sons of Thunder' - but this is because many are impatient and zealous and really believe in Salvation and the necessity for the Church for Salvation. Many, like myself, have discovered the beauty and reverence of the ancient rite and believe that wider exposure to it will increase the Faith and Love of the Church. Theirs is distinctively the message of the Church whereas others are, if not blithely oblivious to the true mission of the Church, woefully inept at communicating it. It is that message which will win souls to the Church and no other message will satisfy human hearts.

I doubt very much that my blog is particularly edifying for readers striving towards the spiritual life.  At the end of the day, I'm not a Benedictine monk. I know of certain blogs which I do find edifying. At the end of the day I'm just a rather sinful Catholic writing about matters pertaining to the Faith but I have looked at Fr Patrick Brennan's blog and I don't find his blog particularly edifying either. The Pope Benedict XVI teddy bear is cute, mind, if you like that kind of thing. His comments yesterday seem a little rash and a little contradictory in terms of his blog description, which reads, "Don't ride roughshod over the piety of the Faithful".

The piety for many of the Faithful is still devotional and traditional, indeed of a kind which 'has been held sacred for generations' and is still held by many to be sacred today, so let's hope that Fr Brennan is charitable and humble enough to heed some of his own good advice. I expect that, deep down, the greatest fear of some Priests and Bishops is that in turning back towards the Lord and celebrating Mass towards the East and distributing Holy Communion on the tongue, kneeling, it would be like a total admission of past failure, an admission of their own neglect of their custodianship of the Holy Eucharist and a public admission that their ministry for the last 20,30,40 years was far from perfect and that what they have been teaching has been, if not wrong, then incomplete or impaired truth. They were only following orders after all. I hope and pray that all Priests and Bishops will be open to the renewal of the liturgy undertaken by Pope Benedict XVI, but, so far, apart from a minority of brave Priests the response has been...'all in all quite disappointing'.

Fr Brennan has updated his blog and depicted me as some kind of a sinister judge. Well, Father, I'm not the one telling readers to 'avoid' any blogs. His response is interesting, especially his own sarcastic judgement upon "brave" Priests who have "turned their backs on the people for Mass". He says of his own preference to celebrate facing the people, which is perfectly licit, "I know the people are grateful for this."

Of course, because the celebration of the Mass is all about the Priest and the people, isn't it? Surely, in every Priest's ministry, there must come a time when knowing that the people are "grateful" and considering what makes the Lord Jesus "grateful" conflict with each other. If Mass is really all about the people and the priest congratulating each other and affirming each other, then at what point is the Mass about the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ? This is what is really at the heart of the liturgical rewewal. Pope Benedict XVI's writings address this explicitly. As I say, Fr Brennan's response is well worth reading. Let us now draw a line under it and 'bear' with one another charitably.
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Post-Pilgrimage Blues

Well, the damp rats (though not as damp as New Yorkers) have returned to their daily routines. I've finally got time in which to blog about the LMS Pilgrimage to Walsingham, so I will endeavour to cram as much as I can in. I must say that I am suffering something of a post-pilgrimage 'come down' - more depressed than aching. I met so many wonderful brothers and sisters in the Faith, as we made our way praying and singing the Rosary from Ely to Walsingham and felt very much a part of something big and quite beautiful, even if at times it was painful on the old feet and legs.

Thirty of us met at a farm in Ely where we pitched up our tents. I had travelled down on a minibus driven by the untiring John Tennant of the SPUC, with Sean Wright of Juventutem and Paul Smeaton and others, having enjoyed a day in London with Michael Voris the previous day (I'll get onto him later). When we arrived I met other pilgrims, among whom were Fr Bede Roe, Chaplain and leader of the pack, a very intelligent, sharp and side-splittingly witty Priest with boundless energy and a truly pastoral heart.

Latin Mass at St Etheledra Church, Ely

Fr Bede offered Mass the following day after we had been awoken at around 5am to take down our tents in the pouring rain. Every Latin Mass was accompanied by beautiful Gregorian Chant which was rehearsed by Dr Joseph Shaw (e-pilgrim and blogging LMS Chairman) and a crack squad of altar servers.

The pilgrims made our way from St Etheledra's to Ely Cathedral where we were able to skip the entrance fee (I jest not - they charge you to see the Church) because we were there to pray (for their conversion). We walked around the Cathedral too, of course, and all of us were pretty shocked by the damage done by Henry VIII's men to statues of Our Lady and the Saints. They seemed to really enjoy chopping their heads off, something to which St Thomas More will attest.

Our Lady of the Liturgical Dance

Most pilgrims paid a visit to the Lady Chapel, complete with more statues of headless Saints and this astonishing modern statue (right) of Our Blessed Lady. I have named her Our Lady of the Liturgical Dance, complete with skin tight blue dress, golden hair and a beguiling cleavage. She looks like she's about to impale herself on the altar that once was the place of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

One can only presume that the stained glass that once furnished the Lady Chapel was removed and replaced, because they are now transparent, each dedicated to a different local corporation. One was dedicated to National Westminster Bank and another to Lloyds TSB. Quite bizarre! I thought Our Lord, having driven the money changers from out of the temple, might be a little irritated that they advertise them on their stained glass, but then that is not as irritating as killing His servants and dishonouring His Blessed Mother and an exact replica of her Holy House.

From here, began the first stage of our walk. More plus videos will be posted later.