Holy Mass at 11am on Corpus Christi in Chesham Bois

Holy Mass on the Feast of Corpus Christi, this Thursday 31 May, will be offered at 11am at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Church, Chesham Bois.

by Fr JM

LiveMass: Ordinations this Saturday, 4pm (London time)

 Click on the poster for a link to LiveMass.net

by Fr JM

Juventutem Meeting in Reading

Next Wednesday, 30th May at 7pm

in St John Fisher House, 17 Eastern Avenue, Reading, RG1 5RU

Starting with Holy Mass, followed by pizza and brief spiritual talk.

Juventutem is an international movement of young Catholic (ages 18 to 36) who are devoted to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. Its aim is to foster and strengthen relationships between young people at a national and international level, and to encourage and assist them in developing their faith.

by Fr PD

Chesham: Family Catechism Day–Saturday 26 May

Family Catechism Days 2018

Venue
Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Church
30 Amersham Road
Chesham Bois
HP6 5PE

Dates (on 4th Saturdays)
24 Feb, 24 March, 28 April, 26 May, 23 June 2018

* Approximate schedule for catechism sessions: fiirst the children under 7 years-old (for about 10 minutes); then children aged about 7 to 12 years-old (for about 20 minutes); then teenagers 13 to 18 years-old (for about 40 minutes); then altar server training until 4pm, followed by the Holy Rosary and Benediction.

Families are invited to stay for as much of the programme as they wish. Tea and coffee will be available in an adjacent room.

The themes for the five Saturdays will be as follows:

If you have a moment in advance, please practice this version of Ave Verum Corpus which we will sing during exposition:

…with audio…

by Fr JM

Young Adults Group–5pm, Saturday 19 May, Bedford–“The Principle of Everything”

Young Adults (18 to 35 years-old) are invited to join us for a social evening this Saturday, the Vigil of Pentecost. We will meet at 5pm in the parish room at the eastern end of the Church of Christ the King in Bedford (MK42 0SP). After a talk with Q & A entitled “The Blessed Trinity: Principle of Everything“, we will head to a local venue for dinner and drinks. Outline for the talk:

– Biblical Revelation of the Blessed Trinity

– Patristic & Scholastic theology: St Augustine & St Thomas

– Blessed Trinity and the person / marriage / life

– Blessed Trinity contra divorce / abortion / contraception

– Our final purpose, the beatific vision, is beholding the Blessed Trinity

As tomorrow’s weather is expected to be excellent, it may be we change venue for the talk to the north bank of the River Great Ouse–at a spot opposite the Longholme Boathouse, on the green strip between Russell Park and the river. There is free parking along The Embankment. Please email us here if you plan to join us, or else simply turn up.

by Fr JM

Dowry Mag now Online!

On this Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter is pleased to introduce the Summer issue of our quarterly magazine Dowry (Summer 2018, No38).

SPECIAL ISSUE ON HOLY MATRIMONY

The layout is designed to be looked at as a double page: make sure to select this display on your pdf reader.

Click on the cover of the magazine to open the 4.2Mo pdf file.

In this issue:

Editorial: Alfie’s Death Made Us All Orphans

R.I.P. – Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries

The Marriage of the Virgin by Raphael

Humanae Vitae and the Crisis of Faith

The Ends of Marriage

My Name Is Bond, Marriage Bond

Forthcoming Events

Pictures of Holy Week

Support our apostolate

Please share this link with your friends: this is a simple way of spreading good news and doctrine.

by Fr AM

Eucharistic Conferences 11-14 June

‘Ego Eimi – It is I’ (John 6:51)
A series of conferences on the Most Holy Eucharist

By Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP, Rector of St Mary’s Shrine
Given live at St Mary’s Shrine Church, Buttermarket Street, Warrington WA1 2NS, England

by Fr AM

Family Catechism Day in Bedford this Saturday 5th May

Reminder: First Saturday Fatima devotions & Family Catechism Day from 10am this Saturday.

Venue
Christ the King Roman Catholic Church
Harrowden Road, Bedford MK42 OSP

First Saturdays–All welcome
3 February, 3 March, 7 April, 5 May, 2 June 2018

Programme
10am        Fatima Devotions (Rosary & meditation, Confessions)
11am        Holy Mass
12noon     Lunch (bring packed lunch)
12:30pm   Catechism (for under-8s)
1pm          Catechism (for under-16s)
1:45pm     Catholicism in 2018 (presentation for adults)
2:30pm     Altar server training / Gregorian Chant practice

by Fr JM

On fatherhood, brotherhood and Alfie Evans

Homily by Fr Armand de Malleray at St Mary’s Warrington on the 4th Sunday after Easter – On Fatherhood, brotherhood and Alfie Evans. 29 April 2018.

New: direct link to the 14:58 min video here.

“Every perfect gift is coming from above, coming down from the Father of lights… for of His own will has He begotten us in the word of truth… You know, my dearest brethren.”

Dear Friends,
What is a parent? What is a father? What are brethren? I would like to reflect with you today on parenthood, fatherhood and brotherhood. On the link between fatherhood and brotherhood. Essentially, there can be no brethren unless there is a father.

Today, like millions of people of every faith and none, you may feel that our little brother Alfie Evans was unjustly treated. He died yesterday in Liverpool. Adults in power said that Alfie should die where and in the manner they decided. They prevented Alfie’s parents from taking him to another hospital, or even to die at home in their arms. They refused to provide basic support such as oxygen, and for a while, water.

An innocent child died. The point is not to accuse anyone. Perhaps, Alfie would have died soon anyway, perhaps. Although, nobody can assure that. What has been put to death though, is parenthood. Parenthood has been killed. Alfie’s parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, were denied the most fundamental right. The right to secure basic support for their child, such as oxygen, and the right to choose where he would die; if death was near.

If parents failed to meet their child’s basic needs, such as oxygen and water, then the State or some other institution could intervene, and takeover the responsibility from them. But not the other way round. When parents want their child to breathe and drink, no one has any right to prevent them. Oxygen and water are not a medical treatment. They are basics of life. If you invite a friend to stay in your home (not in a hospital), and you don’t provide oxygen and water, your friend is not going to enjoy his stay very long. It has nothing to do with illness. It is good manners.

Parents have an inalienable natural right to protect the life of their children, body and soul. Such a right is not granted by the State. Parents have this right by the very fact that they gave life to that new human being, their child. The Alfie Evans ruling denied this obvious truth. Lord David Alton of Liverpool, wrote about it: “Every parent has a fundamental right – and I would say duty – to fight for and care for the child to whom they gave life.” Pope Francis surely agreed, actively supporting Alfie’s evacuation to Italy.

But the legal and medical establishment have ruled otherwise, against immense pressure from all over the world. By doing so, the legal and medical establishment have killed the natural understanding of parenthood. That is, a father and a mother who share primary responsibility for the life of their child, because they have given him life.

Not without significance, the judge at the centre of the Alfie Evans case, Justice Hayden, has co-authored a book titled Children and Same-Sex Families, a legal handbook described as a guide for those “who provide advice and support to same-sex families.” With the best of intentions, how could Justice Hayden understand that the natural right of Alfie’s parents upon their child takes precedence? The very word proves it: “parent” comes from the present participle of “parere”, that is, “to bring forth, to give birth to”. Whatever their good intentions, two men (or two women) never did conceive and give birth to a child. They are not “parents.”

Against natural evidence, “parents” in modern Britain have become a social and legal construct, not a natural reality anymore. Like marriage, family, gender and personhood, parenthood is now defined by the State, not by nature anymore. If the interests of the State change, then the definition of parenthood will change as well. But when any institution ignores God’s law as embedded in nature, the tendency is to claim always more control over bodies and souls.

The truth is, there are no parents left in modern Britain. But if there are no parents, how can there be any brethren? Living in peace together, with mutual respect, in a brotherly way, is possible only if all acknowledge a common father, whether at home, or in town, or as a people. The State may not call itself father, yet, but the Alfie Evans tragedy should make everyone understand that the State has taken the place of the natural parents. George Orwell’s Big Brother is not a fiction anymore.

The cruel irony is that, on St George’s day, when Alfie’s parents were denied the right to take him out of hospital, another young couple, William and Kate, walked out of another hospital, with their little boy. The entire nation rejoiced when watching the happy Cambridge family. It would have been a beautiful statement if the Royal baby had been called Alfie, as one of his several names. Why was the nation rejoicing for Prince Louis? Many newborn boys were taken home by their parents that day. What about him? Because a dynastic birth embodies filiation and the natural transmission of life, and we humans love it! Prince Louis is son of William, son of Charles, son of Elizabeth, daughter of George, etc.

“Every perfect gift is coming from above, coming down from the Father of lights… for of His own will has He begotten us in the word of truth… You know, my dearest brethren.”

Thankfully, far above the blindness of many, and above the malice of some, there is a Father indeed. It is God the Father “Of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named” (Eph 3:15). Fatherhood is the main relationship which shapes our identity. Fatherhood expresses our origin and guarantees our identity. The original sin committed by Adam and Eve was a denial of God’s fatherhood. They denied that God was willing or competent to foster their best interests. By turning away from God, they fell under the power of created beings.

Denying God’s fatherhood brought about three consequences.

1. Divorce between Adam and Eve: mutual trust turns into accusation. Tenderness turns into domination.

2. Divorce between mankind and nature: Adam and Eve lost their peaceful dominion over nature. No more stewards of the material world, men must sweat and fight against nature, against viruses, against tsunamis, earthquakes and tornados to keep alive. Nature is not a divine gift anymore; it has become man’s chaotic re-creation.

3. Divorce within man, between his two main faculties. Our intellect designed by God to know the truth turns blind to truth and imagines deadly fictions and lies. Our will-power designed by God to desire the good is allured by selfish interests, sensuality and pride. Intellect and will do not work in harmony anymore, but ignore each other or compete with each other.

So, dear friends, what can we do?

Practically, we can try and get better laws. We should also commit more actively to the pro-life cause. But supernaturally, the only way to secure peace as among brethren, in modern Britain as in all times, is to come back to God the Father. Because our filial relation to God as common Father conditions our mutual relationship as brethren, as fellow citizens. If we truly care for what happened to Alfie and his parents, then we should examine how we do as children of God. If we wished the British medical and legal establishment acted as brothers to us citizens, and to natural families and natural parents in particular, then we must become better sons, daughters, children of God, of the Father of lights.

If we wished oxygen, water and food had been given to our little brother Alfie, then let us check that we make good use of God’s grace, the oxygen and water of our souls. Let us become more hungry for the divine food God offers us, that is, His Body, in the Holy Eucharist. Let us revive our filial connection with our loving Father God, through sacramental absolution for our sins.

Lastly, let us offer our difficulties and sufferings, small and big, in sacrifice for all our fellow citizens – with and without the establishment – to discover the joy of being children of light. We ask this, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of all men, but especially of the more vulnerable ones.

[You can watch this homily on http://livemass.net/ > Warrington > Sunday – Starts 35:00 – ends 49:00]

by Fr AM

RC Academies: combining the advantages of home-education with schools

Last Saturday over two dozen families gathered in Bedford to hear about a new opportunity for their children’s education. For parents who are worried about the corruption in mainstream education but who are not prepared for full-time home-schooling, Regina Caeli offers “classical hybrid education in the Catholic tradition”. This system involves children following a solidly Catholic curriculum by gathering at an academy on Mondays and Thursdays while home-schooling for the other days. The benefits of this approach include:

• Regina Caeli’s excellent curriculum, media policy and modesty policy
• Avoiding destructive agendas of atheism / materialism / gender which are corrupting even Catholic schools
• Socialisation: human beings complete their development in a society much wider than their own family, so it is an inestimable good for children to meet regularly at an academy with their peers, with older and younger children and with trusted adults. Moreover there are few goods as high as friendships, and naturally the hybrid system offers more opportunities for these to develop than pure home-schooling.

If you are interested in such an educational system for your children, and wish to be put in touch with like-minded families in the Bedfordshire area, contact us here and we will pass your details on to them. Annual fees are being calculated, and will depend partly on the scale of interest.

The presentations given by Regina Caeli’s Executive Director Kari Beckman and Director of Education Erika Ahern on Saturday were well received. Besides the goods one would hope for from any educational system (religious formation, academic learning, sports, drama etc), there are advantages which set Regina Cael above what are widely counted as the best schools in England. For example, it was exciting to note how the realism of Aristotle and St Thomas Aquinas thoroughly inform the practical running of Regina Caeli. Specifically:

• Man is made for God. Beyond serving temporal goals (like qualifications to secure a good job), education should serve our ultimate end which is to reach Heaven.
• Developing the whole person: man is composed of body & soul.
  • the intellect is fulfilled by knowing the true; the will is fulfilled in desiring the beautiful and enacting the good. An education which serves our human nature in these ways is literally life-giving.
  • media policy: all electronic devices such as phones and computers are prohibited from the campus (except for administrators). This protects children from the psychological devastation of pornography.
  • modesty policy: uniforms for students and faculty uphold the dignity of the person.

And everyone learns Latin!

Sancta Maria, Regina Caeli, ora pro nobis.

by Fr JM