In late October, one of my parishioners sent an email to various others, including myself, the Archbishop and the Area Bishop, complaining about various aspects of the Liturgy as celebrated at Blackfen. The discussion rather took off and many different points were raised over a lengthy exchange of emails that became difficult to keep track of.
Eventually, in the midst of preparations for Christmas, I circulated a paper ("Sacred and Great") that I wrote in an attempt to help people to understand the nature of the Liturgy and its development, and to counteract misunderstandings about the Liturgy.
Bishop Pat Lynch (the local area Bishop) was very helpful and, after Christmas, met with those who were unhappy as well as with a small group of those who like the usus antiquior and those who are neutral but don't see any problem in having it as part of parish life.
I had thought that things had calmed down a bit, but last Thursday, Elena Curti of the Tablet was waiting for me after Mass to speak to me about the "split" in my parish. That day, unfortunately, I had commitments all day until 10pm and was not able to talk at length but she went to meet some of those who were unhappy (and who had initiated this contact) and we arranged a phone call for Friday, when we spoke for half an hour or so. Elena asked me later for some contacts who might be sympathetic to the Liturgical practice in the parish.
So by Sunday, quite a lot of people now knew about the impending article. After Mass, I took off for a couple of days break I had planned a while back (first day off since Christmas) and by the time I got to my destination, there was a text message telling me that it had all "gone loud" as they say. See:
Damian Thompson (Holy Smoke) Is the Tablet planning a hatchet job on Fr Tim Finigan?
Fr Z (What Does the Prayer Really Say?) Is The Tablet declaring war?
Reading those posts and associated comments, I am deeply grateful for the expressions of kindness and support as well as the many emails that I have received from journalists and others round the world. Please pray for my parish and for all the parishioners that we can live peaceably with the different forms of the Liturgy that the Church allows.
(Just one small clarification: I do not say four Masses on Sunday; I have one Saturday evening Mass and three on Sunday. Therefore I can say all these Masses without infringing canon law. In fact, I usually have a supply priest to say one of the English Masses.)
The paper Sacred and Great, as is obvious from some of the particular refereces to Blackfen, was originally written for parishioners and therefore I have not made it publicly available before. I was intending to edit out some of the local references and expand it for publication as a small book - and will do this when time permits. However, now that others have gone to the press, (and indeed made my paper available to the Tablet) there is no longer any reason not to let my readers have it. I hope that you will like the paper and find it helpful. (Feel free to link to it, quote it etc.)
79 comments:
The horrid irony, of course, is that this "complaint" has moved the episcopal inertia. One can only imagine how many similar letters to the same authorities (or corresponding authorities elsewhere) have found their way quickly to the rubbish pile when documenting liturgical abuses in the Ordinary Form.
May the Oilskins of Salvation keep you sheltered from the Storm.
You must be doing something right, Father Tim. God bless the work.
Amette
I hope this didn't ruin your break.
You don't need me to tell you how much appreciation and support there is out there for you.
Conciliar charity rears it's ugly head again...
So much for the church of "tolerance" and "dialogue"!
Dear Fr. Tim,
As regular Latin Mass goers (in all its wonderful forms) as well as Novus Ordo Masses at Our Lady of the Rosary parish I can only say that on behalf of my family we will remain eternally grateful for the 'graces' that you have opened up for us all through your profound love and devotion to Our Blessed Lord and His Holy Mother Mary especially through your most reverent and devout celebration of Mass whether Latin or N.O.
Your paper 'Sacred and Great' is very readable indeed and goes a long way to an understanding of Liturgy. It is my feeling that those who have been most vociferous in this unfortunate and highly uncharitable action from within the parish have themselves little or no understanding of sacred liturgy and would do well to study the document carefully with an open heart.
As for The Tablet, frankly I can't believe for one that any serious Catholic reads that rubbish and secondly we cancelled our subscription years and years ago when we could see it was driving itself deeper and deeper into liberal theological la-la land and disseminating barking-mad ideas!!! We drove our point hard and got a refund on the remainder of the subscription which we donated to SPUC!
The 'pill' shouldn't even be for sale in Catholic Churches!
And what a crazy idea !!! There is no 'split' in the parish. This is typical media hype and hysteria trying to make a story out of nothing. Merely a few sad souls who seem to me to want to make-up and lead their own 'liturgy'. They belong to a bygone era and I'm sorry to say that it is likely their tambourines are all rusted up and the guitar strings have perished, kum-ba-ya tra-la-la!
The Latin Mass is well attended on Sundays and is the sweetest, holiest and most loving expression of the Holy Sacrifice of Calvary that you can imagine. It is without distraction, protestant hymns, lay ministers, and all that so-called participation of the faithful etc...
You have more support than you know Fr Tim and long may you lead your pilgrim Church at Blackfen (well, at least until you get that Red Hat of course!). God Bless you abundantly and thank you.
God bless you Father, and wishing you and your parish the best for the future.
Dear Father Tim
Just heard about all of this.
We just want to say thank you to you for all that you do to build up the Church and encourage the faithful - in your parish and via the internet.
May the Lord give you every blessing in your ministry to souls.
In Christ
Alan and Angeline
Yes, things are getting very nasty out there. I had discussed the possibility of becoming a priest in my diocese but unless you have a degree from a top university or well connected parents, you are pretty well stuffed. This point was made to me in no uncertain terms by the director of vocations.
The blog culture has increased the profile of you and Blake, you are also now visible targets. Blake is getting old and like O'Donaghue is doing his own thing. Your case is different as you are younger. With Benedict under pressue even a good background is no longer protection. The Tablet is now chancing its arm and taking you on.
I'll keep you and your parishioners in my prayers and indeed Ms Elena Curti.
Prayers, Father.
With Christianity as a whole facing enough oppositional forces in this increasingly secular age, we need to firstly bear greater strength of unity together, and secondly, we need to realise what are our strengths and weaknesses are as religious communities: this includes the practices evident around the altars of our churches.
Aesthetically, the Church in England and Wales has drooped into a lamentable state in recent years, and actions like yours, which provide Catholic people with the liturgies that they are rightly entitled to (and are firmly encouraged to receive by the guiding hand of Pope Benedict), may hopefully prove to be a turning point for others to aspire to in the future.
The so-called division spoken of ironically represents the opposite problem that many young, pious Catholics face elsewhere in the country: - that is, their inability to find a parish which caters for traditional tastes for neither love nor money.
The preference for traditional liturgy over newer forms (I cite the "Folk Mass" with a grimace - a form of worship that I very much doubt is going to suck any curious, passing agnostics into our churches) represent the triumph of the beautiful over the banal, the eternal over the transient and the sacred over the profane.
The traditional liturgy is a great benefit to the Church. It is not in any way a hindrance, and those who think so are stuck in a transient time warp that will not survive the modern age in the way that the more timeless and glorious liturgies have. In a fashion, we can liken some of the forms of the modern Mass to the music that we hear in them: and what, in terms of a fitting tribute to the majesty of God, is a "folk mass" compared to the musical settings of Palestrina, Bach, Mozart and Handel?
So well done for what you are doing! May God be with you and if I'm ever in the area I will certainly pay Our Lady of the Rosary a visit.
I much appreciated your excellent paper. Personally, I am very much at home with the Modern Roman Rite celebrated in English, but it saddens me that in most parishes it is offered on Sundays with such little variation. Many parishes will have 3 Sunday Masses, but none of them will have any degree of solemnity or majestic music. A number of options are available, and it seems good to me that your parish offers them. I think you have a model which others should attempt to follow. I think that Blackfen is very blessed having you as it's parish priest!
This is very unfortunate. I cannot see how any parishioner at Blackfen can have any cause for dissatisfaction.
As I understand it, Father celebrates three novus ordo Masses (including the Saturday evening Mass) and one "old" Mass every Sunday. Two of the novus ordo Masses are celebrated versus populum, one is celebrated ad orientem.
Thus, pastoral provision is made for all parishioners (lucky parishioners, I say,) while being totally in accord with Canon Law, the thinking of the Pope, and the provisions of Summorum Pontificum.
Fr. Tim has my unreserved support and my prayers.
Dear Father:
Thanks so much for everything you are doing. As I'm sure you know, it has a ripple effect even outside your parish and that's why people like me on the other side of the Atlantic can still be grateful for what you have done at your little parish.
NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, you have achieved a great deal, not just as a pastor, but as a Christian. May you come through all this unscathed, but even if it seems like a great ugly hand comes down from above and appears to wipe all your achievements away, the effect of them in the long term will remain. So I hope you won't let yourself get too rattled.
The Church is changing for the good. The Holy Spirit is here among us in your work and in a thousand other ways.
But there will be setbacks. Those who in good faith or in bad want to put on the brakes will have their days and their little triumphs.
But in the end, those whom God has foreordained will come through all the vicissitudes and be reunited in the Heavenly Banquet, at which solemnity and spontaneity will be fused into one.
Excellent, Father! In a relatively short space you "covered a multitude" - from earliest times to the present. This should be required reading in every seminary and parish.
Your charitable treatment of different views is admirable, given that not everyone has appreciated your faith-filled intentions and heartfelt appreciation of the Church's Liturgy.
God bless you and your efforts and may all come to see that diversity is not division and that there can be unity in diversity.
Ut unum sint!
Oh Father, you must be doing something right to have satan sending his demons out to battle at Our Lady of the Rosary Church.
The Catholic faith is something that is given from Christ to the Church. It is not something that we create on or own, or re-create to conform to the "spirit of the age".
G.K. Chesterton said it well when he stated "Tradition means giving votes to that most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around"
Father, thank you for the reverence shown at our parish. Our children love coming to the Masses and they range in age from 12 to 30
There is only one way to fight this battle and that is for us to pray, in a way we have never done before, the Lord's Prayer, "But deliver us from the evil one" We also need to recite Pope Leo XIII's prayer to the Archangel Michael as our Holy Father Pope John Paul 11 encouraged us to do "to obtain help in the battle against the forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world."
Father you are in our family prayers every evening and we know that God is allowing this to happen so that good may come from it.
For, even though at present, it seems as if "the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One" Jesus has said and continues to assure us: "But be brave: I have conquered the world" (Jn 16:33).
Ave Maria!
You have friends and supporters even in Finland!
Prayers for you and for your parishioners!
Marko + Pilvi + children
See also (in Finnish): http://summorum.blogspot.com/2009/02/talvisotaa-ei-aloittanut-suomi.html
In the short text, I argue that many times the progressives attack one ad personam just because they know they could not defend their viewpoints with arguments from the Catholic Faith or the Magisterium of the Church. That is uncharitable behaviour.
A very impressive paper, and it is impossible not to admire the spirit of "unity in diversity" that you are promoting at Blackfen.
One question: in discussing Pope Benedict's reading of the Second Vatican Council you write that
-----
In his December 2005 address to the Roman Curia, Pope Benedict directly criticised this way of understanding Vatican II, referring to it as a “hermeneutic of rupture”. He proposed instead that we should follow a “hermeneutic of continuity”.
-----
If I am reading the address correctly, he referred not to a "hermeneutic of continuity" but a "hermeneutic of reform", of "renewal in continuity":
----
On the one hand, there is an interpretation that I would call "a hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture"; it has frequently availed itself of the sympathies of the mass media, and also one trend of modern theology. On the other, there is the "hermeneutic of reform", of renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Lord has given to us. She is a subject which increases in time and develops, yet always remaining the same, the one subject of the journeying People of God.
-----
I hope you don't read this as a quibbling point. Some who would rule out the Novus Ordo entirely -- and I know this isn't where you stand -- claim that the Mass should be preserved in amber, frozen and unchanging. I don't think this is what the Holy Father is leading us to do. Of course a "hermeneutic of reform" shouldn't imply liturgical abuse. We need a liturgical equivalent of Cardinal Newman's tests for valid development of doctrine!
Keep up the good work, Father!
And thank you for publishing "Sacred & Great". I will read it with interest.
Thank you for making your paper available, Father - may I commend you on it, it is most wonderfully written and very helpful in setting out all the issues with great clarity. I do hope that you are able to get this published formally.
Good luck against the Tablet - but tbh I doubt that Elena Curti will achieve a great deal with her piece.
May I finally ask you, to what extent do you hope for the older form to eventually supplant the newer?
I had always understood that part of BXVI's provision was for the sake of enriching the newer form. It is to be hoped that that happens rather than, as seems to me to be the case, that the two are celebrated often in the same church in completely different ways. How I would love to go to an NO English Mass said ad orientem, for example, especially when the new translations are used.
Fr Tim
I think that your parishoners are very fortunate indeed to have such ample provision, which seems to cater to all liturgical tastes. I also thought your paper extremely good: a thorough, intelligent and intelligible exposition of a complex subject.
I will keep you and your parish in my prayers.
Thomas
Dear Fr,
Several people have said you must be doing the right thing otherwise Satan would not be bothering with you. He's busy about our dear Pope too and for the same reason.
You have been increasingly in my prayers ever since I first heard about this business, and together with the Pope and all priests and faithful who know what it is to be Catholic, will remain there.
Fr Tim,
Your parish are very lucky to have you.
The "it's divisive" spin that some people are attempting to attach to the Extraordinary Form belongs, I believe, to the indomitable 1970s school - those who think they know better than Mother Church.
The E.F. belongs to the whole Church and should not be viewed as the property of any movement or group. There is no division, this is all of our heritage. We don't want an 'us' and 'them' Anglican-type split. We should kill these ill intentions with love and charity.
God bless you Fr Tim.
I'm bemused. What are people unhappy with? If they don't like the Latin, they don't have to go - you provide plenty of opportunities for different styles of Mass in English.
Or is it that they don't like a reverent Mass in any language?
Or that they don't think anyone should be allowed the Latin even if they don't have to go themselves?
Any ideas, father?
Be assured of our prayers!
Commenter with "not for publication comment" - you can email me at rosary@freeuk.com
Anything is acceptable except Catholicism I see, not so liberal are they after all.
So much for tolerance and diversity.
God bless you Father, God sees all this and will give all what they deserve.
If only there were more, generous priests like you Fr., who are able and willing to offer Mass in both forms, thus depriving none of their wish to attend either.
God Bless you and your very well catered for parish.
Fr. Tim,
"If you're not getting flak, you're not over the target." You may have a few malcontents in the parish, but you have thousands and thousands of fans and admirers all over the world which amounts to a formidable intercessory network, and which has now been activated on a global basis.
I really like your "Sacred and Great" pamphlet - it ranks alongside the "Fit for Mission" documents brought out by Bishop O'Donoghue. Before you finalize the text, can I suggest that you extend your discussion of "what Vatican II really says" to cover the part of "Lumen Gentium" which is being wilfully misinterpreted and misused by certain individuals in many places, including South-West London:
"The laity have the right, as do all Christians, to receive in abundance from their spiritual shepherds the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the assistance of the word of God and of the sacraments. They should openly reveal to them their needs and desires with that freedom and confidence which is fitting for children of God and brothers in Christ. They are, by virtue of the knowledge, competence or outstanding ability which they may enjoy, permitted and sometimes even obliged to express their opinion on those things which concern the good of the Church. When occasions arise, let this be done through the organs erected by the Church for this purpose. Let it always be done in truth, in courage and in prudence, with reverence and charity toward those who by reason of their sacred office represent the person of Christ."
This is the letter of what the Council said - NOT "the laity have the right" "to openly reveal their desires with freedom" given their "outstanding ability" which "obliges them to express their opinion", whenever they feel like it, regardless of what it is.
I thought it was amazing that such beauty could be found in a little suburban church. May God bless you, your parish and all that you are trying to do.
God bless you Fr. Tim and your parish.
It is ironic that liberals are all for diversity so long as it involves diversity of abuses, but are against it when it means offering orthodox options!
Thank you for releasing the paper -a very useful resource indeed - and our prayers are with you and your parish.
God Bless you Father!
I'm from across the pond, but I enjoy reading your blog and wish you the best. I hope that God will bring unity to your parish and all your parishioners continue to grow in grace. We need priests like you over here!
Father, if indeed you, celebrate(s) three novus ordo Masses (including the Saturday evening Mass) and one "old" Mass every Sunday. Two of the novus ordo Masses are celebrated versus populum, one is celebrated ad orientem.
I, like a number of posters can't see what some parishioners have to complain about. What exactly is the basis of their complaint?
I live in Australia and have no access to the Tablet article.
I was confused when I heard of the rumour. I just don't understand it. Anyway, Father, you and your parishoners can be assured of my daily prayers.
God bless you.
HAH!
The tabletistas will be befuddled when Father Tim becomes the next Cardinal Archbishop.
HAH!
Father George bloggingLOURDES
God bless you Fr. Tim.
God bless you Father! I am a young Catholic who loves the Mass and I pray that more priests will follow your wonderful example. Please don't let these nay-sayers discourage you.
Dear Fr Finigan
our family's prayers are with you and your parish. God Bless you and your work.
Reading these comments to your post Fr., shows quite categorically the 'overwhelming blogroll' of support for what you are doing.
Clearly the Mission Statement is now cast in stone, "Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faithful and renew the face of Your Church"!.
And I am NOT talking about the 'spirit of V11'. The reform of the reform is now unstoppable. May the celebration of the EF sanctify and unify the Church worldwide for surely that is Pope Benedict's greatest wish.
As an Anglican priest, it would be indecorous for me to meddle in the affairs of a RC parish. But if any of the Blackfen malcontents were to use an "ecumenical argument" - "The EF would divide us further from our Anglican brethren" - I would appreciate the oportunity of being able to give a different perspective to theirs, and to explain the ecumenical potential of the Extraordinary Form!
PS I don't know whether you've noticed, but your 'Summorum Pontificum' video has had more than 100,000 viewings on YouTube. Even supposing that some people have looked at it more than once, that's still more than the population of Bath!
Dear Father Finigan
In my opinion you have got a nice balance between the 'Classic and Contemporary' forms of worship in Blackfen."Jam lucis orto sidere" and "The morning star has risen" for Christian England 2009.
Psycholically your ministry goes as deep as it gets,and I will be eternally grateful for your prison visit to the Cat 'AA' jail HMP High Down in 2002,which sustained me through a spell in the Segregation Unit,and which was instrumental in forcing the Prison Authority to bring Holy Communion to my Seg Unit cell,after they had banned me from attending Chapel and speaking to other Catholic prisoners about Human & Civil rights abuses.
The following e-mail sent last Saturday (Blackfen's Day for Mary)brings you 100% up to speed with my City Challenge development case.
Robert F Quick QPM MBA
Metropolitan Police Service
Assistant Commissioner
Specialist Operations
New Scotland Yard
Broadway
London SW1H OBG
Dear Assistant Commissioner Quick
Thank you for your letter dated 13th February 2009 which I received today.
I have provided your investigation with hard Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) evidence 1991-2009 in relation to the NF/BNP related perjury issues,which Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur chose to completely ignore following the confession obtained from Old Addeyans FC by Lucy Faulkner,the FA's Ethics and Sports Equity Manager.
You state that you have been informed that the Metropolitan Police Authority Professional Standards Committee considered your report on the 11th February 2009,and that they will be writing to inform me of their decision.
I have not read 'your report' or heard from you since you first wrote to me on the 6th May 2008 so I cannot comment further until the MPA release details of 'your report' and give me their 'decision'.
I pray that the 'decision' will not be yet another unjust decision for London,such as the legal decision made earlier this week,that continues to deny the family of Jean Charles de Menezes justice and closure following the lethal incident on 22nd July 2005 when 27 year old Jean Charles was shot 7 times in the head by police officers at Stockwell tube station as part of a pre-planned anti-terrorism operation.
If the MPA's decision is unjust I will seek a final Judicial Review at the Royal Courts of Justice.
The hermeneutic of continuity has kindly published an update of my professional work which as you can see has now reached a critical legal juncture here in London : vesper has left a new comment on the post "Mass at St Peter's".
Hard evidence relating to my high profile FARE JUSTICE NOT VENGEANCE FOCUS 1991-2009 :MPS ref PC/2571/07 case for the defence against NF/BNP entry-ism into London's Sporting/Planning Arena,which was originally backed up by a malevolent prosecution by CID Greenwich after a phone call made by Steve Taylor of the TSG,has been handed to MPS Assistant Commissioner Robert Quick MBA by DS Ian Coleman of the MPS Directorate of Professional Standards,Internal Investigations Command.
Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us in Richard Barnbrook's NF/BNP/GLA/LDA/ODA NEO-NAZI DEVELOPMENT TIMES Amen
Yours sincerely
Roy Hobson aka Our Lady's Vesper ON-LINE +
More from:www.spreadtheword.org.uk 's
cityofsharedstories
YouTube - Roy Hobson (From Dark to Light Too)
8 Badlow Close,
Erith,
Kent DA8 3SA
ROY HOBSON FCES1990,FRICS1984,Grad Dipl QS
Dear Fr. Tim, Our Lord never said it would be easy to follow Him but that we should take up out cross and follow Him and that it would be a hard and narrow way. It seems only to add to the cross when the suffering comes from our own people. The lives of the saints give us all too many examples of well-intentioned Catholics who caused great pain to saints and prophets. The saints won out and so will you. Do not let them get to you - the publicity will bring blessings and draw more people to worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth. You are nor alone, you are in our prayers and the best of all, the LORD is with you.
wow, you just keep getting famouser and famouser.
What's your secret?
Father Tim,
Your 'Sacred and Great' is most helpful. Since I discovered it, I have found your blog encouraging and formative with regard to the celebration of the Holy Mass. (Filipinos nearly always refer to 'the Holy Mass'. I notice too that even Catholic writers often write 'mass' instead of 'Mass').
I too am puzzled as to why people would object to the variety of celebrations of Mass in Blackfen, all of which are faithful to the mind of the Church.
Be assured of my prayers for you and your people.
Well, you know you have my support... as well as the support of the vast majority of your parishioners, some of whom don't actually like the EF themselves, but think it's great that those who do like it have the opportunity to attend it in the parish.
God bless you for being such a considerate PP.
I look forward to the expansion and publication of "Sacred and Great". You did a wonderful job in laying out and addressing the issues. The correction of the mis-understanding of liturgical history is particularly well done.
As I am experiencing a very minor version of the same dynamic in my own parish, I suspect that this conflict will become more and more common as the Benedictine Reform proceeds. It will take some time to undo more than 40 years of mis-catechesis.
Courage my brother! Your pastoral, in the very best sense of the word, response is a great example to all of us.
Dear Father,
You and your parishioners are in my deepest prayers.
People need to have some humility and practice a little mortification.
I can never get my head round the belief that says "not only do I personally not wish to attend the traditional Mass I am also offended that other people have the opportunity to do so." It is insane and completely contrary to Christian charity.
Your parishioners are blessed to have a degree of choice that would be the envy of so many Catholics around the world. They and you are in my prayers.
Dear Fr.,
I share in Ben Trovato's bemusement.
Prayers going up for you and your ministry.
Carry on London was a cry we used to hear during the war so I say now
"Carry on Tim" I am with you all the way. They will try and stop your blog next.
It is very unfortunate that a Catholic newspaper or journal is seeking to intrude into a dispute between a parish priest and a few parishioners especially where the Bishop is involved and is trying to mediate in the dispute.
Perhaps the journalist does not realise that such an intrusion is likely to make things worse rather than better.
Further, when there is such a shortage of vocations and of priests, does publicity of such a small dispute do the Catholic cause much good ?
All one can say about the journal is that it must be a very slow newsday or week or month if it sends someone out to investigate what normally would be written off as very slim pickings.
Whatever happens I do hope that you do not get discouraged or dejected by what seems to be a very tawdry episode.
Most Catholics would regard you as a very hard working and conscientious priest and I hope you will continue on the path which you have set especially in your Apostolate.
You have all our prayers in this very difficult time.
Dear Fr. Tim,
There will always be some people who complain! It's always the way. Keep up the good work.
With Prayers and God Bless,
Damian.
Hi Fr. Tim,
Don't worry about the complainers, there will always be someone. Keep up the great work, everyone really appreciates what you do!
God bless and with many prayers,
Damian,
Dear Father Finigan,
May Our LORD and His Mother bless you abundantly for your hard work in His vineyard.
David
Toronto, Canada
Sacred and Great would make a great little CTS booklet methinks ;-)
May God and His Blessed Mother bless you and abide with you and your parishioners throughout this trial. Let us pray to St Michael that he will release those poor people from the grip of Satan.
God bless you Father Tim - keep up the fantastic work.
Why, oh why, are there these people who will tolerate, even condone, all manner of liturgical novelties and abuses but show nothing but open hostility and bigotry towards the form of Mass which edified the Church for centuries, and which, I will wager, they give neither the time or effort to appreciate or understand?
One regular Usus Antiquior Sunday Mass in three deanaries is hardly over-egging the pudding! I would agree with Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos in that it would be far from unreasonable to see one Sunday Mass in this form in every parish!
Surely the mission of the parish is to provide as many people as possible with the opprtunity to worship our Lord as best they can. My own personal experience since I have been attending the 10.30 Mass at Blackfen on a regular basis is one of being able to leave the church after Mass feeling fulfilled, inspired and at peace, haveing experienced a short break from the mundane, and a chnace to be focussed on God. This is in contrast to the way things were where I was previously worshipping, where I often left feeling distracted or irritated by the apparently careless attitude of the priest and the way he seemed only to want to 'get things over with' as quickly as possible. Attending Sunday Mass is now again something I look forward to,rather than just something I am obliged to do. Surely it would be at the least churlish (if not verging on the immoral) to deny this experience to me and the many others who feel similarly.
I am not against the Ordinary Form of Mass; indeed, this can be very beautiful, when it is celebrated with dignity and reverence, and without too much of the 'faffing around' mentioned in other posts on this blogsite. However, for me (and I know for many others) the Extraordinary Form offers an even greater opportunity to focus heart and mind on God. Why are there still those who seem so keen to deny us this?
The catholicity of the Church demands that she not only reaches out to everyone, but also brings them together and unites them not only with her present members but with all those who have gone before. This is what the Communion of the Saints means, after all, and what better way to express this than by including the traditional form of Mass in regular worship?
Father Tim, I would echo the general sentiment of the comments on this item: you are doing a good job, and are in my prayers.
Dominus Tecum!
It seems to me sometimes that whenever someone tries to do something really good in the Church they will always get stick for it. Don't worry about it - the Devil is clearly getting rattled!
I shall enjoy reading "Sacred and Great" - I have only read the first two pages so far and can readily identify with the common misconceptions over the Liturgy and Vatican II. We have all heard this liberal, distorted garbage over the years, some of us to the point where we actually started to believe it. We get this kind of teaching which is at best wishy-washy and at worst downright heretical at our local churches to say nothing of litrugical abuses too numerous to mention. My wife eventually persuaded me that we should drive nearly 20 miles into Central London every Sunday to attend Mass at the London Oratory mainly on the grounds that we'd get some decent sermons with orthodox teaching. We soon discovered that they celebrated the TLM and now we go to it almost every Sunday.
Despite the fact that I have been a practising Catholic for all of my 45 years it is only now that I feel that I am really beginning to understand what the Mass is really about. Anyone who wants to take their faith seriously should at least be aware of this alternative form of the Mass and should endeavour to learn something about it (I recommend the excellent DVD by the Fraternity of St Peter as a great teaching aid). Only then can they make any informed comment. To be hostile to the provision of the TLM without understanding what it is about is just plain ignorance.
Keep up the good work Father - we wish we had you in our parish!
Father, I wish we lived in Blackfen. I would love to have a parish priest like you. I might not even attend the EF Mass (it comes down to kids and schedule for us) but I would just love having a priest who cared about these things and understood them. You strike me as a very kind and patient kind of guy - that is the impression I have always gotten of you from your blog. I hope that you aren't discouraged by all of this. I will include you and your parish in my rosary intentions!
Just what are these people complaining about? It beats me; but I'm not surprised to see the egregious Miss Curti getting into the act. How her appalling rag has the gall to describe itself as Catholic is beyond belief.
But God bless you, Father! I really wish there were a thousand Fr Tim Finigans abroad in the Catholic parishes of Britain; if there were we might actually have something like a real Catholic church instead of a pseudo-protestant mess.
You and your parish are in my prayers.
I shall pray for Miss Curti, too - and ask St Jude to do the same.
Dear Fr. Tim.,
You are in my prayers daily.
I have a great admiration for all you do.
God bless and keep you.
JARay
Sorry, Father, for my emails of late; I had no idea you were so busy with such awful matters.
If it's any small encouragement, following that one Sunday I came over to your EF Mass (also to discuss concert), my wife and I are moving partly to be nearer to your church.
The good shepherd knows his sheep, and Father Tim is surely devoting all his energies to them, in order to accommodate them all. We cannot blame sheep for being unreasonable, but perhaps some of them could try harder to love their shepherd as he loves them.
On further reflection, I wonder on what grounds these people are objecting to Fr Tim's expansion of the Mass options in his parish?
In Taunton we now have a Polish mass every week - so should I, in the spirit of the Blackfen whingers, throw my toys out of the pram, go to Mass in another parish, and invite the Tablet to report on the "split" in our parish because of this?
Rest assured that the knees are being polished for you, Fr Tim, and that you are being held tenderly in prayer.
Your paper "Sacred and Great" is elegantly argued, profoundly moving and *utterly compelling*.
You must feel that you are on the rack right now. Courage! You will be vindicated.
What is wrong with some people?
Do they not realise that a parish priest/pastor has an obligation to provide only one Sunday Mass.
"The following functions are especially entrusted to the pastor (parish priest)....7.the more solemn celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays and holy days of obligation".(Canon 530).
"It is not licit for a priest to celebrate the Eucharist more than once a day except for certain instances..." Canon 905.1 "..the local ordinary may permit priests...if pastoral needs requires it to celebrate three times on Sunday and holy days of obligation." Canon 905.2
To celebrate one Mass on Sunday satisfies the obligation of the parish priest to his people; to provide two is very generous and three extremely generous.
In order for a priest to trinate on Sundays or holy days, there must be a genuine pastoral necessity. Usually the necessity is that the church building would not acccommodate at one Mass all the people who attend on Sundays. And thank God so many attend that there is a pastoral necessity to provide more than one Mass.
Priests respond generously to the pastoral need rather than merely satisfy the minimum obligation of their office as pastors. Yet that is not always appreciated.
How fortunate the people of Blackfen are.
Anyone: I keep trying to open Sacred and Great and only get a blank .pdf. Help! I want to read this.
Father, I'm afraid that with all this ruckus I see little alternative but for you to leave Blackfen for some other work in the Church.
Where would they assign you?
I understand that the throne of Westminster will soon need a new occupant.
I usually just lurk here Father, but I feel the need to make my support of your endeavors known as well. Prayers for you and your parish. God bless.
Good Lord! Just left what I hoped would be an encouraging -- not that you need it --comment but then had to figure out google. Which lost the comment, so please know that you are in my prayers and thank you so much for your richly diverse blog, which I have admired for years.
In Christ
Thank you Fr Tim for this excellent Paper which you have written and which has great value for the whole Church in the UK. However, even greater thanks are due for the leadership which you are giving in initiating/enabling a genuine process of understanding of and renewal of the Liturgy. In many parishes in the UK the situation regarding the Liturgy is stymied and even disfuntional. You are at the forefront of leading many to really engage with the Liturgy, and even challenging some to move on from a weak or false vision of what takes place in the Mass. You are at the cutting edge and you are paving the way for renewal.
It's a sad day when following the directives and the liturgical books of the Church can earn you complaints from fellow Catholics.
I think it's clear who has demonstrated true liberality in all this.
I'll pray for you & your parish - and for true liturgical renewal for the whole Church. A.
Fr. Tim,
You have many friends and admirers. What you have done in your parish is a shining example of industry, commitment and loyalty to the Holy Father and Holy Church.
Be assured you have my prayers every day.
A parishioner of St. Mary Magdalen, Wandsworth (where the Tablet hasn't been yet).
Fr. Tim,
You have many friends and admirers. What you have done in your parish is a shining example of industry, commitment and loyalty to the Holy Father and Holy Church.
Be assured you have my prayers every day.
A parishioner of St. Mary Magdalen, Wandsworth (where the Tablet hasn't been yet).
Praying for you Father, keep up the good work (when you start taking flak you know you are over the target)!
Keep on truckin' Father! You're doing a fantastic job. I'm ploughing through "Sacred and Great" 1/3 way through - it's absolutely brilliant.
There is a reason for all this trouble you are going through - it's that you are a great instrument in bringing the faith back to the people - God Bless you and all the people of Blackfen
Thank you Father, for putting up with us the Church of the critical and ungrateful complaining flock. We are so grateful for everything you do in our parish.
'Go lead the people...my Angel will go before you..'
Thank you for leading us to the promised land, despite the fact that we all think we know the way better than you do.
You are in our prayers.
Dear Father Finigan
Fr Richard Aladics concludes his post with the following sentence..'You are at the cutting edge and you are paving the way for renewal.'
I concur.
In the 1969/70 I played at the heart of the defence for the English Martyrs team that won the under-14 Dominic Savio Football (Soccer) League here in Millwall's South East London.The winners medal is adorned with the "Chi-Rho" or "sigla": the letters "X" and "P" representing the first letters of the title "Christos," were eventually put together to form this symbol for Christ ("Chi" is pronounced "Kie").It is this form of the Cross that Constantine saw in his vision along with the Greek words,TOUTO NIKA,which are rendered in Latin as "In hoc signo vinces" and which mean "in this sign thou shalt conquer.
In the 2008/9 season my FARE Millwall + supporters legal case has found it's way on to The hermeneutic of continuity where vesper has left a new comment on the post "Stirring stories for a packed Church".
The following e-mail sent today to the MPA brings you and all your readers 100% up to speed with my qualified suveyor's London City Challenge development case.
Alix Rejman
Acting Professional Standards & Legal Officer
Metropolitan Police Authority
1st Floor,10 Dean Farrar Street,
London SW1H ONY
Dear Alix Rejman
Thank you for your letter dated 17th February 2009 which I received today.
I find your half hearted apology for the excessive and stress inducing delay to be insulting in the extreme.
I totally disagree with both the politically manufactured findings of Assistant Commissioner Robert Quick's investigation dated 28th May 2008,and the MPA's conveniently delayed decision made by Members of the Professional Standards Committee on the 11th February 2009.
Football is a 'SACRED AND GREAT' game linked to Churches + throughout the world.It deserves to be treated with RESPECT.
Could Catherine Crawford,the MPA's Chief Executive explain to me,John Austin MP,the FA, KICK IT OUT etc,how could a high profile Football Against Racism in Europe case,involving Sir Ian Blair,Andrea Cunningham,the IPCC,Guido Liguori and the Honourable Mr Justice Goldring,be buried alive in her office since 27-29th May 2008?
I shall be contacting the IPCC to lodge an appeal within 28 days of your letter,and if necessary I will challenge their decision in the Royal Courts of Justice as I was forced to do on the 28th February 2007 when the Government last tried to cover up the wickedness exposed by my FARE JUSTICE NOT VENGEANCE FOCUS 1991-2009:IPCC REF 2005/005639:COURT REF CO/8897/2006:MPS REF PC/2571/07 legal case.
The hermeneutic of continuity has kindly published an update of my professional work which as you can see has now reached a critical legal juncture here in London : vesper has left a new comment on the post "Mass at St Peter's".
Hard evidence relating to my high profile FARE JUSTICE NOT VENGEANCE FOCUS 1991-2009 :MPS ref PC/2571/07 case for the defence against NF/BNP entry-ism into London's Sporting/Planning Arena,which was originally backed up by a malevolent prosecution by CID Greenwich after a phone call made by Steve Taylor of the TSG,has been handed to MPS Assistant Commissioner Robert Quick MBA by DS Ian Coleman of the MPS Directorate of Professional Standards,Internal Investigations Command.
Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us in Richard Barnbrook's NF/BNP/GLA/LDA/ODA NEO-NAZI DEVELOPMENT TIMES Amen
Yours sincerely
Roy Hobson aka Our Lady's Vesper ON-LINE +
More from:www.spreadtheword.org.uk 's cityofsharedstories YouTube - Roy Hobson (From Dark to Light Too)
8 Badlow Close,
Erith,
Kent DA8 3SA
ROY HOBSON FCES1990,FRICS1984,Grad Dipl QS
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