Vigil of the Purification

For the feast of the Purification of Our Lady tomorrow, there will be a sung Mass and blessing of candles at Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane in London at 6.30 PM. On another subject, I recently finished reading The idea of the Oratory by Father Raleigh Addington, and thought this might interest you. In 1848 on this day at Solemn Vespers (First Vespers of the Purification), Father John Henry Newman admitted nine men to the Oratorian habit, and the English Oratory was officially founded the next day - Deo Gratias.

Conversi ad Dominum

Fr Ray Blake has a rather encouraging post about the celebration of the Novus Ordo Missae ad orientem (facing the East). Catholics often assume (wrongly) that the Novus Ordo (New rite) can only be celebrated versus populum (facing the people). To explain this, I can offer no better answer than to look at a short pamphlet on the subject by Michael Davies. There are extracts from his book The Catholic Sanctuary and Vatican II on the Latin Mass Society website. More recently, an excellent book was written by Fr Uwe Michael Lang, entitled Turning towards the Lord. In this book, Fr Lang explains that the celebration of the Novus Ordo ad orientem is not forbidden, and that the celebration of the Mass in this orientation was in fact the norm for the early Church. In some Catholic churches, the celebration of the Novus Ordo ad orientem (for instance, the Brompton Oratory) is not unknown, but still remains an unusual practice in most Roman rite churches. Yet signs that this practice is growing appeared last year, when Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith (the secretary for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments) gave a very favourable address at the presentation of the Italian translation of the book. What is particularly encouraging however, is that a parish priest has taken the favourable decision to celebrate Mass ad orientem in his own church. Let us pray that more parish priests will be willing to do so.

Ecce sacerdos magnus

Fr Tim Finigan has a rather helpful post on how to greet a Bishop. This may be helpful when on Thursday the 22nd of February, Bishop Alan Hopes maybe addressing young people at the Brompton Oratory. Anyone aged between 18 and 35 is welcome (you do not have to be a Catholic to attend). Stay tuned for details.

Call to youth!

Just to let the young Catholics of Britain know that there will be a talk for young people on Thursday 25th November at 8PM in St Wildrid's Hall at the Brompton Oratory (follow the link at the top for details on getting there). Father Julian Large will speak on "Who or what is the Devil?". If you are able to attend, then I strongly recommend you do so, as Fr Large is a very gifted and witty speaker, and this is a wonderful opportunity to meet people. Please also try and bring some friends along. It does not matter whether they are Catholic or not, as long as they are aged between 18 and 35. Spread the word!