Vespers and Benediction (from LMS Chairman)
Private Mass being said in a side chapel that, only last year, was being used to store a drum kit! (From LMS Chairman)
From Mr. Leo Darroch, President of Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce:
Latin Mass Society Priest Training Conference: 12 – 16 April 2010.
Between 12th to 16th April the Latin Mass Society in England and Wales (LMS) hosted a conference to train priests in the celebration of the Extraordinary form of Mass and traditional liturgy. The conference was held in Ushaw College, the seminary for the dioceses of the north of England. This is the second year that this conference has been held in Ushaw College and, like the previous one held in April 2009, was also a great success.
This year’s conference also included tuition for laymen who wished to become more proficient at serving, especially for the more complex duties of MC at Solemn High Mass. In all, the total number of participants - priests, servers, and choristers - numbered 44. Among the clergy who enrolled for the course were two young priests from the Archdiocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka, who had been sent by Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith. There was also a priest from South Africa who was grateful to be sponsored by a benefactor. The two young priests from Colombo were partly sponsored by the Una Voce Federation, and the Federation is always pleased to receive donations to assist with this important aspect of its work.
The training provided was quite comprehensive; expert tuition from experienced priests, Latin classes, Lauds, Compline, Vespers, Missa Cantata, Solemn High Mass, Solemn Requiem, Benediction and Devotions, and lectures. Each morning it was wonderful to see the priests saying their private Masses in the numerous, and exquisite, tiny chapels intended for this purpose.
It was a week of great activity but one of enjoyment and fulfilment. The priests taught at this conference will go back to their parishes to help in the restoration of the traditional liturgy and in obedience to the wishes of our Holy Father.
At the conference dinner on the Thursday evening, the organiser of the conference, LMS Treasurer Paul Waddington, read out a letter of support and encouragement from Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith. His Grace declared his unlimited sense of loyalty to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in the most prophetic decision he took to restore to its dignity the ‘Mass of Ages’. He encouraged the LMS in implementing the motu proprio and helping priests learn the extraordinary form of Mass and he congratulated the society ‘in this beautiful undertaking in the name of the Church’s tradition and orthodoxy which is our need and the need of the time.’ His Grace ended his letter by personally thanking the LMS and the International Federation Una Voce for inviting two of his priests for the training programme.
One of the tutors, Father Wilfrid Elkin, who had been a student in Ushaw in the late 1940s and up to his ordination in 1959, gave a very entertaining account of life for a seminarian in those days. For anyone who would like to know about seminary life just before the Second Vatican Council please check out his blog Let the Welkin Ring. Father Elkins’ final comment was a rallying call that our future lies in our past. Further reports and photographs can be found on Forest Murmurs and LMS Chairman.
On the final morning there was an Open Forum for discussion on how these conferences should be developed and how the LMS can help priests who wish to learn the traditional liturgy. Leo Darroch, the President of the International Federation Una Voce, gave a talk on the history and work of the Federation; and Joseph Shaw, the Chairman of the LMS, spoke about the forthcoming events that the LMS is arranging for the benefits of the clergy and the laity. The LMS was grateful to Father Armand de Malleray, FSSP, for his participation and expertise during the conference.
It is clear that these conferences are appreciated both for the knowledge they impart and also for the social aspect. They are a great boost to the morale of priests who often feel isolated in their dioceses and it is though the conferences that they are establishing a network of like-minded priests. With the grace of God may this work improve and expand.
More pictures can be found here.
This year’s conference also included tuition for laymen who wished to become more proficient at serving, especially for the more complex duties of MC at Solemn High Mass. In all, the total number of participants - priests, servers, and choristers - numbered 44. Among the clergy who enrolled for the course were two young priests from the Archdiocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka, who had been sent by Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith. There was also a priest from South Africa who was grateful to be sponsored by a benefactor. The two young priests from Colombo were partly sponsored by the Una Voce Federation, and the Federation is always pleased to receive donations to assist with this important aspect of its work.
The training provided was quite comprehensive; expert tuition from experienced priests, Latin classes, Lauds, Compline, Vespers, Missa Cantata, Solemn High Mass, Solemn Requiem, Benediction and Devotions, and lectures. Each morning it was wonderful to see the priests saying their private Masses in the numerous, and exquisite, tiny chapels intended for this purpose.
It was a week of great activity but one of enjoyment and fulfilment. The priests taught at this conference will go back to their parishes to help in the restoration of the traditional liturgy and in obedience to the wishes of our Holy Father.
At the conference dinner on the Thursday evening, the organiser of the conference, LMS Treasurer Paul Waddington, read out a letter of support and encouragement from Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith. His Grace declared his unlimited sense of loyalty to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in the most prophetic decision he took to restore to its dignity the ‘Mass of Ages’. He encouraged the LMS in implementing the motu proprio and helping priests learn the extraordinary form of Mass and he congratulated the society ‘in this beautiful undertaking in the name of the Church’s tradition and orthodoxy which is our need and the need of the time.’ His Grace ended his letter by personally thanking the LMS and the International Federation Una Voce for inviting two of his priests for the training programme.
One of the tutors, Father Wilfrid Elkin, who had been a student in Ushaw in the late 1940s and up to his ordination in 1959, gave a very entertaining account of life for a seminarian in those days. For anyone who would like to know about seminary life just before the Second Vatican Council please check out his blog Let the Welkin Ring. Father Elkins’ final comment was a rallying call that our future lies in our past. Further reports and photographs can be found on Forest Murmurs and LMS Chairman.
On the final morning there was an Open Forum for discussion on how these conferences should be developed and how the LMS can help priests who wish to learn the traditional liturgy. Leo Darroch, the President of the International Federation Una Voce, gave a talk on the history and work of the Federation; and Joseph Shaw, the Chairman of the LMS, spoke about the forthcoming events that the LMS is arranging for the benefits of the clergy and the laity. The LMS was grateful to Father Armand de Malleray, FSSP, for his participation and expertise during the conference.
It is clear that these conferences are appreciated both for the knowledge they impart and also for the social aspect. They are a great boost to the morale of priests who often feel isolated in their dioceses and it is though the conferences that they are establishing a network of like-minded priests. With the grace of God may this work improve and expand.
More pictures can be found here.
