Douai Abbey Weekend for 18-35 Year Olds

If you are in the 18-35ish age range, there will also be a retreat led by Fr. de Malleray FSSP (head of the international Juventutem Federation) at Douai Abbey 18-20th September 2009.

How to Book for the retreat

From as little as 25 pounds for students (or 48-88 pounds for non students) for more details, please see www.youngcatholicadults.co.uk/news.htm or email juventutemcatholicam at yahoo.co.uk, or ring 07908105787.

* Douai Abbey has excellent transport links to London and its environs with a train station (Midgham – just past Reading) just 15 minutes walk away; and the A4 and M4 just down the road. Please see www.youngcatholicadults.co.uk/news.htm for directions.

Ambulance at the Foot of a Cliff

Dr Lyndsey Myskow, an Edinburgh sexual health expert argued in the Scottish Herald that the morning after pill should be available free of charge in Scotland’s schools. A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland answered that "the morning after pill has been progressively distributed over the past five years. At every step the availability has been mirrored by a rise in sexually transmitted diseases, a rise in conceptions and a rise in abortions. "The morning after pill is like the equivalent of putting an ambulance at the foot of a cliff instead of putting a fence at the top."

(more here)

Better to resign

James MacMillan, the Scottish composer who is one of the Catholic world’s leading creative artists, has requested Catherine Pepinster, the editor of the Tablet, and Elena Curti, her deputy to resign. The Tablet crisis is caused by its misrepresentation of Catholic teaching on abortion and Archbishop Nichols’ views on the Latin Mass in successive editorials.

(more here)

Nanny Wanted

FULL TIME NANNY REQUIRED

Weekdays Only
Glasgow Area

Non Smoker, Driving License

Email CV to:
scoadvert at googlemail dot com

This is a really lovely young family, in urgent need of a nanny. It would be great if other bloggers could pick this up and people could spread the word. Thank you and God bless!

Spiritual Mothers of Priests

by Fr Tim Finigan

In 2007, the Congregation for the Clergy published a document entitled Eucharistic Adoration for the Sanctification of Priests and Spiritual Maternity. It is largely a collection of reflections on the example of women who prayed particularly for priests.

Jane, who writes the blog Thoughts from an Oasis in French Catholicism, has taken up the idea of promoting Spiritual Maternity for priests with a dedicated blog Spiritual Mothers of Priests. She has been helped particularly by the advice and encouragement of Fr Mark of Vultus Christi who lives in the diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma and spends his time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, interceding for his brother priests. He has a helpful post: What can I do for the Year of the Priest?

It is a great source of joy and encouragement for priests to know that others are praying for them. It also motivates us to try to live a holy life in response to the generosity of others in their prayers and sacrifices. My warmest thanks, which I am sure will be echoed by brother priests, for all those who pray for priests.

(reproduced from The Heremeneutic of Continuity)

Sisters Appeal...

by Mulier Fortis

The wonderful Sisters of the Gospel of Life are in need of baby stuff, as they're running very low on supplies. They don't need baby wipes, but they are asking for other baby toiletries, buggies, cots, baths and high-chairs. The Sisters run the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative, and have saved countless babies from being aborted by offering care, counselling and practical support to young mothers who feel they have no other option but to abort. This practical support extends to helping to find accommodation for young mothers, providing cots, prams, baby clothes and so on.

On their blog, they asked for stuff from anyone in the Glasgow area, but we know from previous experience that Amazon (UK) and Amazon are able to deliver these items, however small the order. The delivery address, if you use this option is:

Sisters of the Gospel of Life
106 Dixon Ave
Glasgow
G42 8EL

It is also possible to make a donation via PayPal. The button is on the Sisters' sidebar.

Finally, the Sisters are aware that times are hard, and so they ask for those who cannot afford to send anything to keep them in their prayers. So pop over and tell them that you are praying for them and the work that they do.

(reproduced from Mulier Fortis)

Clergy Retreat for the Year for Priests

by Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP

Clergy pilgrimage to Ars and Lyons, 8-12 February 2010, led by Fr de Malleray FSSP - for the Year for Priests

On August 8th, 2009, Feast (EF calendar) of St John Marie Vianney, Patron of Priests:

Reverend and dear Fathers,

On this feast of our common Patron, please accept my heartfelt wishes of peace and joy in your priestly life.

To meet among priests and ask for the intercession of the holy Curé, I have the pleasure of inviting you to a pilgrimage to Ars next year (in exactly six months) from February 8 to 12, 2010 (i.e. the week before Ash Wednesday – 17 February 2010).

(image: the shrine of the Curé of Ars)

Dates:

• Depart Monday morning 8 February 2010 from the UK, arriving in the afternoon in Lyon and reach Francheville (FSSP house on the outskirt of Lyons).
• Return Friday morning 12 February 2010 from Lyons.
• Our pilgrimage will be under the special protection of Our Blessed Lady, the Mother of God and the Mother of priests as the anniversary of Her Apparitions in Lourdes will occur while we are still in Lyons. (Feb. 11th).
  

Location:

We will be based in the beautiful St Padre Pio House run by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter in Francheville (Lyons), less than an hour drive from Ars. Single room accommodation. Garden.

Scheduled:

• A full day in Ars, the climax of our stay. Possibility of offering Holy Mass in Ars. Visit of the Curé’s presbytery. Veneration of his relics.
• One day in Lyons, original Episcopal See of St Iraeneus: visit of the Basilica of Fourvières; prayer at the place of death of St Francis de Sales; visit of the Roman amphitheatre where the protomartyrs of Gaul SS. Polycarp, Blandina, Pothinus and others suffered in 117 a.D. On a lighter note, meal in a ‘bouchon’ (traditional Lyonnais restaurant; see here).
• We will also have conferences on priestly spirituality, including the theology of the Mass, the EF Roman liturgy and prayer life.
  

Price (estimate):

• About £150 for return train ticket London St Pancras-Lyons-London St Pancras (reduction possible if we travel as a group).
• Alternatively: Easyjet direct return flight Stansted-Lyons-Gatwick: minimum price £51 (for group ticket of 15 passengers).
• Accommodation will be very affordable in the FSSP house - rough estimate: £30/day with breakfast + 1 main meal at least, i.e. £120 for 4 full days (4 nights).
• To be added: transport in Lyons and to Ars. Meals outside of the house (at least twice).
  

Liturgy:

Possibility of offering private Mass daily in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite (please bring only your alb, biretta, cingulum and linens). Compline (or one other Hour per day) in the EF of the Roman rite (please bring EF Breviary if you possess one).

Booking:

please send a £120 cheque made payable to ‘FSSP ENGLAND’, posted to : Fr de Malleray, FSSP, 179 Elgar Rd, RG2 0DH, Reading, Berkshire, UK. Please include your complete contact details in the booking.

Number of places available as of today: 13.

I am looking forward to meeting you again soon and I wish you a blessed Year for Priests. With my prayer,

Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP

Link:

• pictures of Francheville and FSSP in Lyons

(image below: Priests in the Padre Pio House Chapel)

upcoming events - August [updated]

Tuesday 4 - Thursday 6 August 2009
Vocation retreat with Fr de Malleray, FSSP
Axminster, Devon (more info)

Wednesday 5 August 2009
Holy Hour - Prayer for Priests
7.00 - 8.00pm, St Mary's RC Cathedral, Broughton Street, Edinburgh

Thursday 6 August 2009
Solemn Vespers and Benediction for the Transfiguration of Our Lord
6.15pm, St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh

Friday 14 August 2009
All Night Prayer Vigil
6pm onwards, St Lucy's Church, Abronhill, Cumbernauld (more info)

Saturday 15 August 2009
Missa Cantata for the Assumption
12.00 noon, St Andrew's Church, Belford Road, Ravelston, Edinburgh

Saturday 15 August 2009
Solemn Vespers for the Assumption of the B.V.M.
4pm, St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh

~~*~~

Please comment with details of further events, or if you would like to know more.

upcoming events - July

Wednesday 1 July 2009
Holy Hour - Prayer for Priests
7.00 - 8.00pm, St Mary's RC Cathedral, Broughton Street, Edinburgh

Sunday 5 July 2009
Mass of thanksgiving
4pm, Old College of Scalan, nr Tomintoul

~~*~~

Please comment with details of further events, or if you would like to know more.

Cappa Magna in use again

by Gregor Kollmorgen

From the Scottish Catholic Observer comes this interesting report:

Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien received a great welcome as he arrived as the Papal Legate of Pope Benedict XVI at St Columba’s Church Long Tower on the feast of St Columba and the centenary of Long Tower.
Cardinal O’Brien arrived in cappa magna, seen in Derry for the first time since Vatican II. The particular cappa magna worn by the cardinal initially belonged to Cardinal Heard, the first Scots-born Cardinal appointed since the Reformation. The cappa magna then passed on to Cardinal Gray — then to Cardinal Winning — and now is in the possession of Cardinal O’Brien with this solemn event being the first occasion on which he has worn it.
Rev Thomas Philip Donnelly (senior priest of the diocese), Pontifical Mission to the Papal Legate, and Rev Michael Canny (Administrator, St Eugene’s Cathedral) accompanied the cardinal.

(Read the entire report at the site of the Scottish Catholic Observer here)

While the cappa magna is not a strictly liturgical vestment, it is still a part of the prelatial choir dress, and perhaps the one that most vividly typified the prelatial dignity. That its use has been taken up again by Cardinal O’Brien may be taken to show the ongoing influence of the re-assertion of a hermeneutic of continuity in the Church, which is also shown by a passage of the Cardinal's homily, reported by the observer:

Cardinal O’Brien said that the centenary celebrations were part of the ‘great river of Christianity of which the late Pope John Paul II spoke in the Year of Columba 1997.
That river of Christianity began with the birth of Jesus Christ; it has continued through the centuries with the ministry of men like St Columba in Ireland and Scotland; and continues right up to our own time.’

(reproduced from The New Liturgical Movement)