Sounds of Silence?

Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of Divine Worship, to Spanish religious news site Religión en Libertad:

-How to recover the sense of liturgy?

-At this time, we are working in a very silent manner in a whole series of themes related to projects of formation. It is the primary need: a good and true liturgical formation. The theme of liturgical formation is essential because not enough formation is really available. People believe that the liturgy is a matter of external forms and realities, yet what really is missing for us is to recover the sense of worship, that is, the sense of God as God. This sense of God can only be recovered through the liturgy. That is why the Pope has so much interest in accentuating the priority of the liturgy in the life of the Church.

From Rorate-Caeli

Gwynnville Patronal Feast

The Patronal Feast of St Brigid was observed last Sunday at Gwynnville (in the Wollongong Diocese) with a Missa Cantata at 3pm.

A Choir made up of local and imported (from Sydney) members under the direction of Stephen Smith rendered beautifully the proper and ordinary chants of the Mass (Missa XI - Orbis Factor). Additionally two motets were sung; Alma Redemptoris Mater of Palestrina at the Offertory and Ave Verum of Byrd at communion. The concluding hymn was "For all the saints" by R. Vaughan Williams - all the verses were sung at the instance of the celebrant Fr J. Stork!

The fledgling choir is scheduled to sing again on the first sunday of March and on every first Sunday thereafter.

The choir master is looking for new members - so if you are interested please contact;

Stephen Smith on Mobile No. 0423099131
or email: primicerius@gmail.com

Patronal Feast of Gwynneville - Missa Cantata - Sunday 1st of February 3.00pm, according to the "More Ancient Use"

Bridget (Brigid, Bride, Bridey) of Kildare was born around 450 into a Druid family, being the daughter of Dubhthach, court poet to King Loeghaire. At an early age, she decided to become a Christian, and she eventually took vows as a nun. Together with a group of other women, she established a nunnery at Kildare.

She was later joined by a community of monks led by Conlaed. Kildare had formerly been a pagan shrine where a sacred fire was kept perpetually burning.Rather than stamping out this pagan flame, Bridget and her nuns kept it burning as a Christian symbol. (This was in keeping with the general process whereby Druidism in Ireland gave way to Christianity with very little opposition, the Druids for the most part saying that their own beliefs were a partial and tentative insight into the nature of God, and that they recognized in Christianity what they had been looking for.)

As an abbess, Bridget participated in several Irish councils, and her influence on the policies of the Church in Ireland was considerable.Many stories of her younger days deal with her generosity.

TWO VERSIONS OF ST BRIGID'S PRAYER

"I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us.

I would like an abundance of peace.

I would like full vessels of charity.

I would like rich treasures of mercy.

I would like cheerfulness to preside over all.

I would like Jesus to be present.

I would like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us.

I would like the friends of Heaven to be gathered around us from all parts."

&

I wish I had a great lake of ale for the King of kings, and the family of heaven to drink it through time eternal.

I wish I had the meats of belief and genuine piety, the flails of penance, and the men of heaven in my house.

I would like keeves of peace to be at their disposal, vessels of charity for distribution, caves of mercy for their company, and cheerfulness to be in their drinking.

I would want Jesus also to be in their midst, together with the three Marys of illustrious renown, and the pople of heaven from all parts.

I would like to be a tenant to the Lord, so if I should suffer distress, He would confer on me a blessing. Amen

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE "USUS ANTIQUIOR" IN WOLLONGONG (PART I)

A brief history of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in the Diocese of Wollongong since 1970.

Wollongongensis understands that the TLM has had a presence in the Diocese of Wollongong (DOW) for a number of years. We are uncertain exactly when, and under what provisions the first TLM was offered, but certainly not under the limited provisions of Quattor abhinc annos in 1984. It is more likely that because of the lack of response to the previously named document and indeed the excommunication of Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988, the TLM probably re-emerged in the diocese, after an absence of nearly twenty years or so, under the provisions of the decree Ecclesia Dei adflicta issued in 1988.

Rebuild build my church
Shortly after the decree Eccelsia Dei in the late 1980's the new parish church of St Francis of Assisi at Warrawong was built. Its design had taken into account the possibility of ad orientem celebrations at the behest of the young Conventual Franciscan friar Fr. Terence Mary Naughtin. Within weeks of its opening a Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated according to the 1962 Missal. The TLM was then offered at regular intervals under a celebret which the young priest had received from the Ecclesia Dei Commission in Rome, the terms of which did not require permission from either local ordinary or superior. Needless to say the young priest was subjected to considerable pressure not to celebrate the TLM, particularly within his own Order.

Lion of the tribe of Judah
With Fr Terrence's departure in the early 1990's, Fr Leo Stevens celebrated the TLM at Villa Maria and then latter in Bulli, attracting up to a hundred people. It seems that Fr Stevens was a willing celebrant but plagued with ill health. The masses were not publicly advertised, and certainly not encouraged at a diocesan level and they were frequently cancelled at short notice due to illness. After his death there was a hiaties, and indeed a type of despair must fallen upon those who preferred the TLM.

In Exitu Israel...The wandering tribe
The DOW made no provision for what was effectively a stable community. A number were courted by the Society of St Pius X, and where indeed lost to them. Others travelled to attend approved masses in Sydney both at St Michael's College, Chapel of the Resurrection in Darlington and the Chapel of the Maternal Heart at Lewisham.

Benedictus qui venit...
With the coming of the new pope, Benedict the XVI and his desire to re-establish a "hermeneutic of continuity" the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum" has given both to the clergy and the laity the opportunity to request and celebrate the TLM with impunity. Due, perhaps to episcopal obfuscation, in regard the previous provisions, reference to the local ordinary is no longer necessary, and organisation may occur at a grass roots level.