Mass at Hedon

There will be a Latin Mass at the Church of St Mary & St Joseph in Hedon on Sunday 11th November at 5pm.  My apologies for not posting this earlier

Institute of Christ the King Continues to Attract Seminarians

Six young men (four Englishmen and two Irishmen) are discerning their vocation at the House of Formation belonging to the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, in Preston.  They will spend a year there before deciding whether to apply to join the Institute's International Seminary in Gricigliano, near Florence.   Last year, there were four young men in the house, and two of them are now at Gricigliano and one has decided to become an Oblate of the Institute.  In addition another young man was accepted into the seminary without the need to attend the House of Discernment. 

There are now five seminarians (two in their third year and three in their first year) studying at Gricigliano who joined  as a result of attending the Institute's missions in England.  There could be a further six next year. 

One must pray that all (or at least most) of these young men are eventually ordained and that the Institute will continue to prosper in these islands.

Feasts of All Saints and All Souls

There will be sung Latin Masses at 6pm in St Wilfrid's Church, York on both these Feasts.  The Feast of All Saints (1st November) is, of course, a Holyday of Obligation.  On the Feast of All Souls (2nd November) we remember the faithful departed with a Requiem Mass.  On this occasion, I understand that the choral scholars will be enhanced by members of the University choir, so we can expect some first class singing.

Archbishop Vigano's Third Testimony

Archbishop Vigano has issued a third document, in which he responds to Cardinal Oulett, and refutes some of Cardinal Oullet's assertions.  The full text of Archbishop Vigano's third testimony can be found on Life Site News and elsewhere, and is well worth reading.

A particularly useful feature of this latest disclosure is that it contains a concise summary of the Archbishop's original evidence, and I reproduce it here for the convenience of anyone who does not wish to wade through the original 11 page document.

• In November 2000 the U.S. nuncio, Archbishop Montalvo, informed the Holy See of Cardinal McCarrick’s homosexual behavior with seminarians and priests.
• In December 2006 the new U.S. nuncio, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, informed the Holy See of Cardinal McCarrick’s homosexual  behavior with yet another priest.
• In December of 2006 I myself wrote a memo to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, and personally delivered it to the Substitute for General Affairs, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, calling for the Pope to bring extraordinary disciplinary measures against McCarrick to forestall future crimes and scandal. This memo received no response.
• In April 2008 an open letter to Pope Benedict by Richard Sipe was relayed by the Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Levada, to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, containing further accusations of McCarrick’s sleeping with seminarians and priests. I received this a month later, and in May 2008 I myself delivered a second memo to the then Substitute for General Affairs, Archbishop Fernando Filoni, reporting the claims against McCarrick and calling for sanctions against him. This second memo also received no response.
• In 2009 or 2010 I learned from Cardinal Re, prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, that Pope Benedict had ordered McCarrick to cease public ministry and begin a life of prayer and penance.  The nuncio Sambi communicated the Pope’s orders to McCarrick in a voice heard down the corridor of the nunciature.
• In November 2011 Cardinal Ouellet, the new Prefect of Bishops, repeated to me, the new nuncio to the U.S., the Pope’s restrictions on McCarrick, and I myself communicated them to McCarrick face-to-face.
• On June 21, 2013, toward the end of an official assembly of nuncios at the Vatican, Pope Francis spoke cryptic words to me criticizing the U.S. episcopacy.
• On June 23, 2013, I met Pope Francis face-to-face in his apartment to ask for clarification, and the Pope asked me, “il cardinale McCarrick, com'è (Cardinal McCarrick -- what do you make of him)?”-- which I can only interpret as a feigning of curiosity in order to discover whether or not I was an ally of McCarrick. I told him that McCarrick had sexually corrupted generations of priests and seminarians, and had been ordered by Pope Benedict to confine himself to a life of prayer and penance.
• Instead, McCarrick continued to enjoy the special regard of Pope Francis and was given new responsibilities and missions by him.
• McCarrick was part of a network of bishops promoting homosexuality who, exploiting their favor with Pope Francis, manipulated episcopal appointments so as to protect themselves from justice and to strengthen the homosexual network in the hierarchy and in the Church at large.
• Pope Francis himself has either colluded in this corruption, or, knowing what he does, is gravely negligent in failing to oppose it and uproot it. 

Mass at Hedon

On Sunday 14th October (it being the second Sunday of the month)  there will be a Latin Mass at the Church of St Mary and St Joseph, Hedon.  It will be at 5pm and a Low Mass celebrated by Fr Mark Drew.  Please give it your support.

Rosary before the Cross

As part of a national campaign, the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary will be recited for Faith, Life and Peace at 3pm  next Sunday 7th October, in St Wilfrid's Church, York.  This sits nicely between the Sung Latin Mass Mass at noon, and Vespers at 6pm.  So anyone wanting to combine a pious afternoon with a little sightseeing should find the occasion convenient.

According to the website, Rosary on the Coast, the Sorrowful Mysteries will be recited simultaneously in a hundred or more locations throughout Britain.  It follows a similar project some months ago, when the rosary was recited at a large number of coastal locations.

More on Pope Francis

The latest revelation concerning Pope Francis, and his apparent practice of denying or covering up abuse by senior clergy brings the action much closer to home.  Life Site News has carried a story, as yet unproven, detailing how Pope Francis is alleged to have halted an investigation into Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor.  I must emphasise that nothing is proven yet, but the story contains sufficient details, not only to plausible, but to be highly convincing.  Details are given that an investigative journalist could almost certainly check out and determine the truth of the story.  I imagine it will only be a matter of time before this is done.

Anyone who wants to study the evidence in more detail should go to Life Site News.

Institute of Christ the King in Shrewsbury

The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is to have a foundation in Shrewsbury.  It has been announced that Bishop Davies has invited the Institute to have a second permanent presence in his diocese.  Canon Smith, who comes from Arcansas in the USA, along with a seminarian will be taking up residence at St Winefride's Church, which is part of the Cathedral parish in Shrewsbury.  Besides celebrating Sunday and weekday Masses at St Wilfrede's, Canon Smith will have some duties at the cathedral. 

Although the Institute of Christ the King already has charge of three churches in England (one at New Brighton and two in Preston), it is a new development for any traditional order of priests to have  regular duties at a cathedral.  This is further evidence of the integration of the Latin Mass into Catholic life in this country.

Canon Smith will be arriving in England before the end of September.

Is This Why We are Short of Priests?

The recent revelations about abusing clergy in the United States are immensely disturbing.  What makes matters worse is the emergence of similar stories in Germany, Australia, South America and elsewhere.  A common thread to all these stories is that many of the depraved acts took place in seminaries often by superiors of the seminary.

If this behaviour is as widespread as it seems to be in several countries,  one would expect most decent seminarians attending such a depraved institution would soon leave, and probably not continue their priestly vocation.  This could well be an explanation of why so many seminaries have had to close, and indeed for the diminishing number of ordinations in recent decades.  One wonders how many young men have been put off pursuing a priestly vocation specifically because of experiencing depraved activities at their seminary.

Most of us, who are disgusted and depressed after reading the recent revelations, would probably think that such behaviour does not go on in this country.  We tend to think that all the priests that we know, or have ever met, are fine men who would never indulge in such bad behaviour.  However, anyone who reads the newspapers also knows that unsuitable men have been ordained to the priesthood in the past, and it is likely that some of these are still around today.  It also seems to be the case that a disproportionate number of these people find their way into positions in seminaries. This prompts the question: Have any of the seminaries serving England and Wales been infiltrated by such undesirables?  Of course we all hope that the answer is no, but we should allow for the possibility that there are some. 

The likelihood is that such infiltration has occurred in the past and this could be a reason for the current shortage of priests.

Pope Francis

On 31st August, I wrote a short piece about the  Testimony of Archbishop Vigano, and his allegations against Pope Francis and other high ranking clergy.  I was reluctant to say categorically that the Archbishop had proved the case against Pope Francis,  as there were one or two gaps in the evidence; although I did say that I found the testimony convincing,  and all the counter evidence rather defensive.

I have now seen a short video that is totally convincing, and which puts Pope Francis at the centre of the cover up of abuse cases in Argentina.  I believe that no one seeing this video can have any doubt about the matter.    The video was reproduced on Fr Zuhlsdorf's blog on 17th September.  Have a look at it there.