De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Fr. Hugh Thwaites, S.J. I was struck this morning by this quote shared on Facebook by the wonderful Rhos Thomas . She is an inspirational young Catholic who is part of a growing number of young, faithful, traditionalists, who really impress me with their depth of knowledge and commitment. Rhos discovered this article by the much loved and respected priest Fr. Hugh Thwaites S.J. Rhos states: "Fr Thwaites had an amazing gift for explaining ideas in a way which anyone can understand. Please God, I hope I will get to heaven and meet him!"  Here is a particularly beautiful, yet simple explanation from the article: "There is nothing wrong with the new rite. Rome cannot feed her children with poison. But the new rite of Mass does not give us what we need. Michael Davies' analogy is helpful here. If a doctor tells a couple that their child need milk every day, and they give the child only water, the child may not live. There is nothing wrong with water. Bu...

Father Dom surprised me with a text from St. Peter's Square yesterday morning. He was in a "vast" queue for Wednesday's Udienza with Papa Francesco. I asked if it wouldn't have been easier to simply turned up for Mass at the Chapel in Casa Santa Marta, but apparently our intrepid Redemptorist said Mass at some ungodly hour in St. Peter's. Dom couldn't get over how many people were there, the square was heaving, Dom estimated between 200-250,000 people jostling in the hot sun to catch a glimpse of Papa Francesco. Here's a picture he took as the Pope went past. It is a powerful witness, I think, that so many want to meet this man. A good sign. I think Fr. Dom is planning to pop in and have tea with the Holy Father today. I hope he asks him for a good new bishop for Brentwood, and as he doesn't seem all that bothered about the Papal Tiara, I know a certain priest who would make excellent use of it!

Fr. Dominic O'Toole CSsR, Parish Priest at the beautiful church of St. Mary's , Clapham, is one of my dearest friends and God Father to my third son John Joseph. Regular readers may recall that he recently celebrated his first Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite ; the Usus Antiquior , Tridentine or 1962 Missal. With the help of my mendacious friend, Ben Travato , I put together some questions about the experience which I thought you, dear reader, might find to your delight and erudition: Me: How did you come up with this idea to celebrate the anniversary by saying the EF Mass? Fr. Dom: We were wondering how to mark our 160th anniversary in a special way. Someone suggested the idea to me, I thought about it, and spoke to the Parish Council about it. They were supportive of the idea. Me: How did you set about learning to say the EF? Who helped you and what was your experience? Fr. Dom: Fr Andrew Southwell, the former Chaplain to LMS, ministered in ...