Rorate Caeli

You Report: Pontifical Mass with the Oxford University Newman Society


We have received the following report from Mr. Yaqoob Bangash who served as MC of the Mass described here.

The Oxford University Newman Society arranged for a Pontifical High Mass at the Faldstool in the Extraordinary Form on March 8, 2010. The celebrant was The Rt. Rev. Dom Cuthbert Brogan OSB, Lord Abbot of S. Michael's Abbey, Farnborough, UK. The Deacon was Rev. Fr. Anton Webb Cong. Orat. of the Oxford Oratory and the subdeacon was Br. Lawrence Lew OP of Blackfriars, Oxford. Fr. Tim Finigan, Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen, (and Past President) was the Assistant Priest.

The Mass was of the Lenten feria and with two choirs: one was a liturgical schola which chanted the Propers of Mass, arranged by the Chairman of the
Latin Mass Society, The Hon. Dr. Joseph Shaw (the LMS also sponsored the Mass), and the other was composed of members of the Keble College Choir which sang the Ordinary of Mass. The music setting was Monteverdi's Messa a 4 voci da capella. Fr. Tim Finigan later spoke at the Termly Dinner which was held in S. Benet's Hall (owned by Ampleforth Abbey and a Hall of the University of Oxford).

This was the first time since the reform that a Pontifical Mass had been celebrated in the Extraordinary Form in the Oratory Church of S.Aloysius Gozanga and only the second time the Newman Society had arranged a Pontifical Mass in the
Usus Antiquior.

The aim of the Newman Society, following the impetus given by the Pope, is to celebrate both Forms of the
Roman Rite in a fitting manner and so we have the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite every alternate term. The Oxford Oratory has generously implemented Summorum Pontificum and now the Church has public Extraordinary Form Masses on every Holy Day (many of them sung), while the Fathers say Extraordinary Form private Masses almost every day. The newly restored sanctuary of the Oratory (a result of the Oxford Oratory's Reaffirmation & Renewal campaign) formed the perfect setting for the Termly Mass of the premier Catholic student society in the Universityof Oxford.

As a
student society, the Newman Society is striving to do its bit in the intellectual and liturgical reform spearheaded by Pope Behedict XVI.

Pictures can be found here: link.

Further posts on this event can be found here and here.