Will the SSPX come to West Wales?

                                                                    

Despite discussions taking place (or, so I am led to believe), I am not certain that the SSPX would find a large enough congregation here in West Wales.
As far as I am concerned, they would be most welcome; I'm afraid that, under Bishop Burns, West Walians struggle to fulfil their Sunday duties with an EF Mass.
There is  a sizeable potential cohort in Aberystwyth, thanks to the University and the same applies to Swansea. But, in between, there's only a handful of the faithful and a few hundred thousand sheep (real sheep, not metaphorical ones).
This must typify the Society's problem really; how to function properly with limited priests and resources. Next Sunday we shall be in South London and the most convenient Mass is at the SSPX HQ in Wimbledon. We shall attend Mass there and wallow in the comfort of a church (chapel, really) that has no plastic posters, no pot plants, no tacky "He has risen" signs, just a simple ad orientum altar, cut flowers and statues - Catholic culture at its best.
But the priest there is likely to rush off immediately after Mass and drive some 100 miles to celebrate Mass elsewhere. So no pastoral care and no chance for spiritual advice, pity -  but that's how it is.


Another problem faced by the Society is their slide towards a more Calvinistic form of Catholicism. Separation from Rome over too many years has caused this bias which has taken place almost imperceptibly. That will not do. I do not want priests haranguing from the pulpit about the length of women's dresses when all present are perfectly modestly attired or grinding on about Catholics who attend EF Masses within the Church are in error, that's not on, but they are slipping into that mode.
And, finally, Bishop Fellay really needs to put and end to the shenanigans of Bishop Williamson; he should be expelled from the Society pdq. Why has he not already been shown the exit? I suspect that the reason is that among the members of the Society are a number of Sedevacantists who will vote with their feet and go with Bishop Richard down the road of extreme Protestantism. Bishop Fellay, currently in talks with Rome, needs as strong a hand as possible and cannot afford to lose 20% of his following. This man deserves our prayers. I have heard him preach and he is the most saintly man that I have met or listened to.


Some time ago the SSPX published their 62 reasons against the (then) Novus Ordo Mass. I do not go along with them in believing that all OF Masses are invalid but I do believe that many of them are not normally (in the UK at any rate) reverent or fitting vehicles for the worship of Almighty God and the celebration of the Supreme Sacrifice and Eucharist.
I cannot feature the 62 reasons due to copywright issues but they may be found here; I do appreciate that, to many they will be disturbing but they do illustrate that the Society of St Pius X has worked hard and logically to produce a very sound argument. I am not trying to sway readers one way or the other, merely to provide a little solid thinking behind what is normally dealt with in a fairly emotional and abrupt manner.

Meanwhile, Menevia languishes and we find ourselves not so much moving forward in 'brick by brick' mode, more like reversing backwards close to the position we were in in 1989.
Such is progress - but we do have prayer on our side!



God save the poor West!

I mean, the West of Wales where I reside. It is a fairly remote region where sheep far outnumber the human population and where the chief industries, such as they are, are tourism and farming. Neither of which is particularly good for the working man or woman.
But while it is economically disadvantaged it is now spiritually between a rock and a hard place.

Sheep in Menevia Diocese - looking for a good shepherd!

We have no priest willing to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of Mass within 70 miles of us - a mere hop and a skip if you are Canadian or Australian but a big journey for us Brits!

What to do? Well the LMS is trying hard but you cannot magic up a Mass when all the odds are stacked against you.
A small group of laity and a priest have established (embryonically) a Confraternity to work alongside the LMS to jointly promote the Latin Mass and, to their credit, they are working towards raising funds to pay for a priest to go on one of the Latin Mass Society's training programmes. So far we have £155 of the £250 needed. Good. Well done even. But there the story looks to end as there is not a priest in West Wales (the western part of Menevia Diocese) who wishes to say the old Mass.

Without a distinct directive from Rome I would not be for coercing a priest to do something that he inherently does not wish to do. What sort of Mass would be the result? And it is not as though we have rich pickings to work on. Most parishes have either an elderly native priest (too long in the tooth for the double somersault), one from India or the Phillipines (culturally all at sea) or a young native who dresses in grubby trainers, sweat stained t-shirt and jogging pants. The latter can barely manage to order a Big Mac let alone celebrate a reverent Latin Mass.

So, when we have our £250 what do we do? Maybe find a seminarian from the Diocese who is willing. But then, his card will be marked and the forces of 'you know who' will be brought to bear on him.

The only thing we can do is pray and ask for your prayers also. Compared with some regions in the world we are well off, I know that. But it should not prevent us from trying.

Any ideas (Christian ones) greatly appreciated.