De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

The wonderful School of the Annunciation, at Buckfast Abbey in Devon, UK, are now booking students in for their Autumn Courses in the faith.  The School affords an unprecedented opportunity to study in a beautiful, prayerful, Catholic environment, experiencing the ebb and flow of the liturgical day with the monks as well as their legendary Benedictine hospitality.  Book now to avoid disappointment!

Since first experiencing the Extraordinary Form of the Mass a few years ago, I have developed a sort of a craving for it. It's a bit of an itch that's hard to scratch, because provision is not great. We have the EF once a month in my own Parish and our 11:30 Novus Ordo is beautiful liturgy, so it's not a huge issue. However, I do feel really drawn to the beauty and transcendence of the EF and will go whenever I can. This love affair drew me to St. James', Spanish Place a few weeks ago as I reported here  for a first Mass of a newly ordained FSSP priest, Fr. Ian Verrier. It was heavenly liturgy; stupefyingly beautiful music, a Mass in which I felt I could really raise my heart and mind to God. But the homily by Fr. Armand de Malleray was the really electrifying and extraordinarily different experience for me. It really sparked my interest in the FSSP. I spotted this interesting interview in the Catholic World Report  from last month. There is a lot of current ...

Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos I was very pleased to read in Catholic World News , a report that Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, former prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, has recently received assurances from Pope Francis that he has no problem with Traditionalist Catholics or the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. Meeting with The General Assembly of the International Una Voce Federation ( FIUV ), he said: “I met Pope Francis very recently and he told me that he has no problem with the old rite, and neither does he have any problem with lay groups and associations like yours that promote it,” This has been confirmed by His Excellency Bishop Rifan, of the Apostolic Administration of St. John Vianney, Campos, who recently wrote to The President of the FIUV, and the Chairman of the Latin Mass Society thus: Dear friends of LMS and UNAVOCE, I send you the photos of my last visit to the Pope Francis, may 22th 2013. I introduced myself saying who I am, explaining...

Revd. Dominic O'Toole CSsR celebrates the Usus Antiquior There is a wonderful little video here which I think speaks to the heart of the experience of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. I first discovered this only a few years ago, when my Parish Priest began saying it, once a month, in our Church. I was very interested to see it, at first as some sort of historical curiosity I think; because, born in the seventies, I had never experienced the Mass my Mother spoke about growing up with. The Mass which my fore-bearers experienced. My initial reaction was one of almost complete confusion, although I was struck by how much more reverent it was. I was fascinated, and wanted to go back to better understand this part of our history. I found that the music was certainly something I enjoyed. I picked up the Latin really quickly and started to prefer it, to feel more at home with it, more connected to the history of my faith. Now I go whenever it is available...

After the heterodox dissent group ' A Call to Action ' organised a series of poorly attended meetings across the country, I posted a blog  exposing the misdirection and ignorance on their website. I have been looking at the forum there (which is poorly designed and doesn't get much interest) and feeling increasingly frustrated that this group claim to be about dialogue and being an "effective sign of the Kingdom of God" whilst their website and dialogue seems to be about nurturing and promoting ideas and theories which clearly contradict Church teaching, and doing so within a closed circle of self-affirmation. It almost seems that any idea can gain a platform there, as long as it contradicts the Magisterium, from ordination of women to criticising the new translation of the Missal, from supporting dissident priests, to promoting ideas about human sexuality which contradict the teaching of the Church. I found this post by the leader of this group in my own dioc...

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 ...

Last week my Parish Priest took a brief break and we had a retired local priest stand in at daily Mass. I don't make Mass every day- though I wish I did- work makes it difficult. But I have made a commitment to attend every Tuesday. As regular readers will know, I was away last Tuesday, travelling back from Ireland , but it was reported back to me (by my mum) that the stand in priest (who is generally a good old chap and preaches solidly at every Mass he says) spoke in his homily about the use of Latin and Vatican II (a little sense of creeping dread gripped my stomach as soon as I heard that). Basically, I was told that he said, in the context of the year of faith, that the re-introduction of Latin into the liturgy is going backwards and we have to go forwards. That is what Vatican II was all about. This brought to mind Father Tim Finnigan's recent blog post Laity! For heaven's sake don't read the texts of Vatican II  which is a rather amusing look at the way prev...

On Saturday it was my great pleasure to take part in a very special Mass. It was Father Kevin's 28th anniversary of ordination. He was travelling to France for someone else's ordination and had asked me if I would drop him off at the airport. As he wouldn't get another chance to say Mass that day, he suggested we meet at the Church at 7am for Mass and leave after that. I love Mass, I think there's no better way to start the day, and God knows, I have lots to pray about. So, of course I jumped at the opportunity. Clearly this was an opportunity for Father to, liturgically speaking, please himself, and in doing so, please God, by offering the most perfect Mass he could. He used the altar in the Lady chapel, which necessitates ad orientum , and said the Novus Ordo in Latin. This presented somewhat of a challenge to me as the only respondent! I am, by now, fairly conversant with the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, and where all the parts are. I am less familiar with...