Moving on

Blog continues here!

Goodbye and Hello

This will be the last post on Forest Murmurs. I`ve been in Gateshead two weeks now and the dust is finally beginning to settle enough to let me find my way here. I wouldn`t say everything is sorted out here. There`s still some stuff in boxes I can`t find a home for and I am in need of an electrician and plumber amongst others. This morning I took my cats out for a walk around their new garden which they seemed to find interesting and more importantly they both ran back into the presbytery of their own accord. Dizzy loves company and has had only mine for the most part so once he gets his bearings I expect he will be trying to get into Mass every day as he did at Forest Hall. If he gets into the day care centre for dementia sufferers on the ground floor I expect I`ll not see him for long stretches. 

I could write more about my new situation but I think that it would be more appropriate to do so on my new blog Gateshead Revisited which is here but still very much under construction. So farewell to FM and on to GR.

So simple

Thanks to Latin Mass in Clifton for drawing attention to Fr Tomlinson`s (of the Ordinariate)  simple explanation of ad orientem celebration. Makes sense to me.

Feast of the Assumption

With  all the controversial changes that were made to Holy Days of Obligation in England and Wales a few years ago I never cease to be amazed that it was considererd a good idea to keep the Assumption as a Holy Day and on the day given that it is in the middle of the holiday season.

There will be an Extraoardinary Form Low Mass at St Mary`s, Forest Hall on Thursday 15th August at 12 noon.

Sunday Afternoon Extraordinary Form Mass

I had forgotten to mention in advance last weekend on the newsletter ( and have forgotten to put it on the newsletter this weeekend too) that there will be the first Sunday of the month EF Mass at St Mary`s, Forest Hall, this Sunday, August 4th, at 5pm. This will be the last of these Masses, which have proved more popular than I thought. The last EF Mass at St Mary`s, I expect, will be on Saturday 24th August.

Very alarming.

It`s always difficult to comment on a story without knowing the full background but it is fact that a decree has gone out forbidding the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate celebrating the Extraordinary Form either in public or private from  August 11th. Very worrying as this is in contravention of Summorum Pontificum. The founder Fr Manelli has been replaced as superior by a Capuchin too.

The FI are a thriving and young congregation. This is very depressing. Read about it here and here.Also Sandro Magister has an article entitled For the First Time Francis Contradicts Benedict. (H/t to Valle Adurni)

Good News for York

I was delighted to read today that the Oratorians are setting up a house at St Wilfrid`s in York. It`s a beautiful church although there was quite a controversy a number of years ago when the altar rails were removed. Having celebrated a Solemn Mass coram episcopo last year for the LMS pilgrimage and having been in choir for the hugely successful Missa Cantata in York Minster the year before there does appear to be a constituency for something more traditional in York and so I hope, Deo volente, it is a huge success.

I was celebrant last year I think because I rejoice in the position of LMS chaplain for the north of England. I wasn`t needed this year and suspect that will continue to be the case once the Oratory arrive. Above is a picture of the sanctuary from the 2012 Mass.