Thursday, March 15, 2007

Something in the Water?

Today I was at ( alas not the whole of) the day of recollection for priests given by the bishop at Ushaw. I`ve always thought it would be a good idea for a bishop to give a recollection to his priests and this is the first time I can recall it happening in our diocese. The bishop reflected on the Pope`s letter for Lent. In the break before sext, I went for a walk with some fellow priests. We talked happily about Luzar vestments and interesting websites we had found. I was curious to know whether anyone had heard of the Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church which claims to have a bishop of Sunderland based in Stockton. I had come across it following a link on the Hermeneutic of Continuity to the Obnoxiously Pious blog which looks good and which I`ll add to my links. No-one had heard of the church but I suppose Stockton and Sunderland might be breeding grounds for this church as there is at present no Sunday traditional Mass in those places. The Fathers spoke about the spread of twig worship as featured on the Catholic Church Conservation blog and the fascinating Evil Traditionalist blog with its unusual range of gift items.

During the conversation one of my confreres reminded me that his home parish was Forest Hall. He is a convert Anglican clergyman. Another of our group was an Anglican convert and his parish was also .... Forest Hall. Another young priest of our diocese, an Anglican convert is also a former parishioner of Forest Hall. Recently John, an Anglican, has made contact with the idea of becoming a Catholic and is expressing an interest in becoming a Catholic priest. At the minute I have two Anglicans taking instruction to become Catholics with another two in the pipeline. What is it about Forest Hall that drives people to seek refuge in the arms of Holy Mother Church and fling themselves across the Tiber?

9 comments:

Monica said...

"The Holy, Roman, Catholic Apostolic Church" - looks like a one-man band with pretty vestments and a website. They need our prayers.

By any chance, did the Apostolic Exhortation get mentioned by the bishop at the Study Day? Fr Ray Blake has a number of posts prompted by something from Damian Thompson's on-line site, about the distinct lack of publicity given to the EA by the Bishops and their Communications quango.

It's also become clear that the English translation is...how shall we put it.... deficient in a number of key respects. Wonder why.

No doubt there'll be a letter in the Catholic Times about it soon from Grange-over-Sands.

Steve said...

I'm humbled that you and the other good fathers found time to speak about my blog.

I was discussing with my wife upon reading your comments that the world is truly on its ear when Roman Catholic priests are spending time at a day of recollection talking about anything written by a buffoon like me.

Thanks so much for the mention, and I hope I can continue to be deserving of the compliment.

Catholic Conclave said...

"I'm humbled that you and the other good fathers found time to speak about my blog."

Likewise myself

Fr Michael Brown said...

Augustinus, I didn`t hear a reference to the AE but I arrived late. The Lenten letter was thoroughly explored however.

Fr Michael Brown said...

Steve and Gillibrand, I`m amazed that you both found my comment about your blogs so quickly and take the time to look at this one!

Anonymous said...

It's good to see that somthing has now been put on the H and N website about the new papal EA (particularly in view of the criticisms levelled at the Bishops' Conference Communications service).

What is not good is the fact that H and N has put only one aspect of the EA into its summary - an aspect with little or nothing to do with the main thrust of what the Holy Father was writing about: "the relationship between the Eucharist and "the protection of creation."

This is what is on the website (albeit with a link to the document itself):

"New papal document on the Eucharist

This new document covers a full range of theological, liturgical and pastoral issues including commenting on The Pope says "the world is not something indifferent, raw material to be utilised simply as we see fit." Rather, "it is part of God's good plan which commits us to working responsibly for the protection of creation"

Well at least they're still 'green' up there in the north east.

Anonymous said...

Many thanks for the link!

Fr Michael Brown said...

Thomasso, I`ve just had a quick look around most of the websites of the dioceses of England and Wales and couldn`t find a mention apart ours, Westminister`s and Northampton. Hexham and Newcastle must be a hotbed of ultramontanism!

Anonymous said...

Well, God created the mountains, and the green hills in your lovely diocese are superb - so I guess that's why they're so supportive in an ultramontatist way. Wonder if they realise that!