Young People's Gift

Young people from Charlbury in Oxfordshire recently travelled to Sri Lanka where they donated monies raised in their parish of St Teresa.  Encouraged by their Parish Priest, Chaplain of the Order, Fr Aldo Tapparo, they were keen to see the work of SUROL for themselves and present the funds they had raised.  The latest SUROL Newsletter includes the piece above thanking the young people for their efforts and for what they hope to do in the future.

SUROL's own site is HERE

And you can find their Facebook Page HERE.

Fr Aldo Tapparo, Parish Priest and Chaplain of the Order.

 The entrance to SUROL's headquarters.

Presentation to Fr Neil.

Our Chaplain in Rome with Cardinal Piacenza

Cardinal Piacenza and Fr Damien McCaughan (far right) with other friends of the Sisters.

One of the Chaplains of the Order for Great Britain, Fr Damien McCaughan of the Diocese of Down and Connor, was in Rome recently for the celebration of perpetual vows for the Sisters of the Missionaries of Divine Revelation. (You can read more about them, and the appearances of Our Lady of Divine Revelation HERE and HERE.)   Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, Penitentiary Major of the Apostolic Penitentiary, celebrated the Mass. He is well-know and respected throughout the clerical world for his inspiring letters to clergy from his time as throughout the world from his time as Prefect for the Congregation for Clergy. (Here, for example.)

 The Sisters prostrate themselves in prayer

 And offer themselves to the service of Almighty God.

 Congratulations to Sr Emmanuela - originally from Wigan in Lancashire.

 After Mass all went in procession to the new chapel for the novices.  His Eminence brought the Blessed Sacrament up and placed it in the tabernacle for the first time.  The altar was designed by the cardinal himself (complete with damask panelling!) and built by the sisters.

Afterwards there was a celebratory lunch followed by a cake with a picture of the shrine of Our Lady of Divine Revelation.  That Sunday was the feast of Our Lady of Divine Revelation (as well as Divine Mercy!).  There were gifts of rosary beads for everyone and here we see our Chaplain blessing them.  

Chapter meeting 2015

The Grand Priory of Great Britain held its annual Chapter Meeting at St Teresa's Church in Charlbury this weekend, hosted by Chaplain to the Order and parish priest, Fr Aldo Tapparo.  This is the "annual general meeting" of the Priory (to put it in secular terms) when the Council reports to members the state of the Order and decisions are made for the coming year. We were very pleased to hear that the the Grand Master, HE Jan Count Dobrzenský z Dobrzenicz, will be joining us for our Investiture later this year, when he will receive several new postulants into our ranks.

It was also wonderful to learn that, through the auspices of SUROL, we have so far given £56,000 to those affected by leprosy in Sri Lanka. Indeed, young parishioners from Fr Tapparo's parish have recently been in Sri Lanka where they handed over a cheque for £200 that they had raised.

To add to that good news, we adopted three new charities here in Great Britain:

- Assisting those on pilgrimage to Lourdes through the Royal Navy Catholic Chaplaincy.

- The St Thomas More Legal Centre - assisting Christians with legal advice and support.

- BLESMA - the Limbless Veterans Association - in particular, the Elizabeth Frankland More Home in Blackpool.

 Heythrop Park 

The Grand Prior hosted a splendid dinner for members and friends the evening before the Chapter meeting in the very pleasant setting of Heythrop Park. Originally built for the First Duke of Shrewsbury, it was a Jesuit Training College from 1922 - 1999 but is now an hotel with some very fine rooms.  We dined by candlelight in the Churchill room - the former library. 

Catholic Life Magazine article on the Order of St Lazarus

There is a very good article in Catholic Life Magazine - April/May issue, pages 4,5,and 6 - on the Order, written by Alan Frost, who attended our Investiture in Hassop, Derbyshire last year. It features an historical perspective on the Order and the work of the Grand Priory of Great Britain today, with photographs from our Mass in St Patrick's Soho Square, London in 2013 and the Carol Concert in Lancashire last Christmas.

The magazine is available via many local parishes or alternatively; by subscription via their website; or on-line and other e-devices at www.exacteditions.com/read/catholiclife; or search for catholic Life on iTunes for a single issue at £1.99.

Easter Message

Dear Brethren,

When I wrote at the beginning of Lent, we were at the time when Our Lord, through His Church, challenges us, through prayer and penance, to see more clearly the most basic and most important aspects of our human lives: the love of God and love of neighbour - the response to which leads either towards or away from eternal bliss with Him.  Now that we have come to the end of Lent, let us reflect on how we did. Did I persevere with my promises? Did I ask for God’s grace when I failed? Did I give up completely and le the effort lapse?

I have been re-reading Pope Benedict XVI’s homily at the Easter Vigil from 2012. He reminds us that:

 “Easter is the feast of the new creation.
Jesus is risen and dies no more.
He has opened the door to a new life.” 

It is precisely because we have experience of failure, of conflict with one another, of sin, of death, that the resurrection of the Lord calls to us so powerfully.  Easter makes us realise that the new life we long for - in our faith, in our work and vocation, in our relationships - can only come by uniting ourselves to the Lord.  The suffering Lord who carries His cross and the triumphant Lord who brings new life.

Again, from Pope Benedict: 

“Easter Day ushers in a new creation, but that is precisely why the Church starts the liturgy of the Easter Vigil with the old creation, so that we can learn to understand the new one aright.”

We can only appreciate the light of the new life when we realise the darkness of the old.  The journey we must all make if we are to be faithful Christians.

As part of our journey, our vocation is as sons and daughters of St Lazarus - the first exemplar of the resurrection in the ministry of Jesus. To fight for the Christian Faith we must aim to recreate our sorry world in the image of the New Jerusalem - beginning, as always, with ourselves. This is not to say that our human flesh is evil or that the world is evil. Pope Benedict proclaimed: 

“Matter is fundamentally good, being itself is good. And evil does not come from God… rather, it comes into existence through denial. It is a "no".

Through our companionship with one another and through our work in the Order of St Lazarus we want to say “Yes” to the Lord. “Yes” to the Faith. “Yes” to recreating with Our Lord, the new life he promises for those who will believe in Him.  By the strength which comes from His grace we fight the good fight to protect the Faith that frees each person from the tyranny of the Fall; we do it by relying on our Great Tradition - ultimately, that which Our Lord first handed on to the Apostles. 

To take but one example, our work with SUROL assisting those affected by leprosy, helps people to recreate their broken lives and begin to make them into something whole again. We may justly rejoice that we have raised £56,000 in the few short years since we began supporting their work. It is our way of taking up arms and showing the world how to battle the forces that afflict our lives.

Our work - and sometimes our struggles - within the Order remind us the need for self-sacrifice.  We defend and encourage the growth of the Faith by fighting for it and by keeping ourselves rooted in what the Lord has handed on to us: Atavis et Armis. That challenge is something else Pope Benedict proclaimed in that Easter Homily:

“On Easter night, the night of the new creation, the Church presents the mystery of light using a unique and very humble symbol: the Paschal candle."
This is a light that lives from sacrifice. The candle shines inasmuch as it is burnt up. It gives light, inasmuch as it gives itself. Thus the Church presents most beautifully the paschal mystery of Christ, who gives himself and so bestows the great light.
We should remember that the light of the candle is a fire. Fire is the power that shapes the world, the force of transformation. And fire gives warmth.
Here too the mystery of Christ is made newly visible.
Christ, the light, is fire, flame, burning up evil and so reshaping both the world and ourselves.Let us pray to the Lord at this time that he may grant us to experience the joy of his light; let us pray that we ourselves may become bearers of his light, and that through the Church, Christ’s radiant face may enter our world. Amen.”

May the Risen Lord bless you and yours in this Eastertide.

Fr Simon Henry.

Chaplain General. Great Britain.

 

Mass fit for a King

Yesterday evening, on the same day that the mortal remains of King Richard III, last of the Plantagenets, was re-interred at Leicester Cathedral, the Order offered a Requiem Mass for the repose of his soul.  The events surrounding the finding of the King's remains in what was once the Fransiscan Friary in Leicester, has certainly caught the popular imagination and the great turnout of people at the Mass bore witness to that wide interest. 

     

After Mass - with full Umph! from eminent local organist David-Scott-Thomas - we all thoroughly enjoyed singing a rousing rendition of Jerusalem! Followed by a themed buffet with such tasty morsels as Yorkshire pudding with venison sausage or duck in port sauce, Pye of pork meat made with paest royall, Ribbes of beef, Quail eggs and roasted chicken calf. So together with Traditional Latin Mass and good food and wine, we felt that we gave King Richard a proper send off. 

The Mass was celebrated in the Parish Church of the Chaplain General, St Catheine Labouré in Leyland, Lancashire.The whole evening was made possible by the generous support of friends and members of the Order.

We offered the Traditional Form of the Roman Rite (what we now call the Extraordinary Form) to be a little closer in context to the sort of Mass King Richard might have experienced in his day.  Recent scholarship has questioned whether there really is any evidence to portray him as the wicked hunchback of Shakespeare's play and found that such evidence is wanting in so far as being able to convict him of the crimes attributed to him by the Tudor dynasty that defeated him at the battle of Bosworth. In any case, the whole purpose of a Requiem Mass is to pray for the forgiveness of sins, so there was no real conflict there.

A special mention must be made of the music - the singing Quartet was excellent. The music and musicians were overseen by Chev. Anthony Dickinson, KLJ.

The rest of the photos below are of the Absolutions and procession out. In the Traditional Form of the Roman Rite, the body of the deceased can be represented by a catafalque, over which the priest chants the words of absolution, as if the body were present. This pastoral practice dates back many centuries, presumably born out of necessity to allow those who had lost loved ones - for example, in battle or abroad or at sea - to have a concrete experience of witnessing the act of forgiveness for the souls they were praying for. The catafalque is blest with holy water and incensed.

Cons. Margaret Lawler and Conf. Daniel Lawler in the procession.

King Richard III Mass

A reminder that we are offering High Mass (Requiem) for King Richard III this Thursday - the day of his interment at Leicester. While it is styled as being “in the manner of his day”, the intention is not to create an historically accurate re-enactment, like some set piece of theatre preserved forever in aspic. We are the living Church, not an historical re-enactment society, praying for one who was baptised into that Church. 

Not that I would be adverse to wearing a Sarum vestment loaned by the V & A or Sir Harry Christophers turning up with the Sixteen but we will manage a good showing, none the less.  In fact, I'm very pleased that the singing and chant is now being provided by a new young singing group based in Manchester - the Manchester Singers - an exciting new a cappella vocal ensemble whose members include talented young artists just embarking on their professional careers. The evening is being sponsored by members and friends of the Order, including music, food and other assistance. I'm delighted that the three sacred ministers are all Chaplains of the Order. 

There is a buffet and wine afterwards - again with a Ricardian theme, although I can't guarantee there might not be some more prosaic fare amongst the swan stuffed with widgeon!

Cardinal Vincent Nichols said at his Mass for King Richard this week:

"We know that Richard was a man of anxious devotion who kept and marked his own book of prayers and who must have attended Mass throughout his life.
During this week, Mass is being offered in many Catholic Churches for the repose of the soul of King Richard III. Rightly so. That is exactly what he would have wished."

So, its the intention to offer King Richard Catholic rites that more closely resemble what he might have expected on the day of his death. Those we hope the Fransiscans at Leicester gave him, no matter what the defeated and unceremonious arrival at their gates.  Our intention is to offer the grace of Christ’s sacrifice that every soul would surely wish for and stands in need of in approaching the Gates of Heaven and the Judgement Seat of the Creator.

Thursday 26th March

7.30pm

At St Catherine’s Church

Stanifield Lane

Farington - Leyland - PR25 4QG

(Off Junction 1 M65 or Junction 28 / 29 on M6

& between Farington Park & Kew Gardens locally)

A Requiem Mass in the style and manner of his day.

Sung High Latin Mass

with the Manchester Singers.

A light Buffet with wine will be served afterwards.

All Welcome.

For any further details 

Telephone 01772 421174   

E-mail: simonphenry@hotmail.co.uk

Cardinal Burke

His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke is in the UK at the moment popping up all over the country. This morning he Offered Low Mass with motets at the Shrine Church of Ss Peter and Paul & St Philomena in New Brighton, my home parish where I made my First Holy Communion. It was good to see the rather vast church pretty full of parishioners and visitors. 

It was great to meet Cardinal Burke. He's very serious in saying Mass but warm and charming in person.  I was explaining a little to him about the work of the Order of St Lazarus in the UK and our associations with his brother Cardinals in Prague and Sri Lanka.

A few more photos of the Mass at Offerimus tibi Domine.

Letter for Lent

Dear Brethren,  This Sunday is the first in the Lenten Season. As a Christian Order, we are called to renew our commitments to spiritual practices like Fasting, Prayer, and Alms giving. The season is intended as a time for personal conversion leading up to Easter. Our belief is that our consistent participation in these practices — like exercise we do for our physical health, or the rigours of a military training — are a form of purification that improves our spiritual well-being by stripping away all that is unnecessary and by becoming more mindful of our ultimate dependence on God in our lives. Lent is an annual opportunity to grow in our faith, which means it’s about much more than giving up unhealthy foods or treats, as you may have done when you were a child. It is about abstaining from whatever is unhealthy in our lives — gossip, laziness, lack of social conscience, the influence of secular ideas — and, most importantly, taking concrete steps to do something more. Challenge yourself this year, and go beyond the clichés of “giving up” something. Now is a great time to take stock of your spiritual life, and to grow in it. 

May I suggest that your alms giving, if it is not already focused elsewhere, 

could be directed to the work of the Order. 

This could be done simply by sending your Lenten offering to the Treasurer via cheque or the usual electronic payment suitably annotated.

Not sure where to start? Check out these 20 ideas:

1) Instead of chocolate, alcohol, or tobacco, what if people thought of fasting, prayer, and alms giving in a broader context? What if those disciplines involved practices like reducing your dependence on electronic devices for 24 hours (fast); contemplating the 1.6 billion people in the world who have no access to electricity for a few moments (pray); and spending the extra time you’ve saved on personal interaction with someone important to you (give)? 

2) Make a commitment to reading the Sunday readings before you go to Mass. In the same way that reading up on football players, opposing teams, and coaching strategies will help you experience a game more fully, familiarising yourself with the readings ahead of time can allow you to experience them in a deeper way on Sunday. 

3) Don’t have time to read all the readings? Then just read the Gospel.

4) Make a commitment to trying something new spiritually. Never tried Stations of the Cross? Never been to the Traditional Form of the Mass?  Give it a try.

5) Think about what you usually spend your money on. Do you buy a few too many clothes? Spend a few too many £££’s on iTunes? Eating out? Pick one type of expenditure that you’ll “fast” from during Lent, and give the money you would usually spend to a great Catholic charity.  Challenge yourself this year, and go beyond the clichés of “giving up” something. Now is a great time to take stock of your spiritual life, and to grow in it.

6)When you first sit down in front of your computer at work, or at home, try a prayer when you start. 

7) Go to a weekday Mass one day during the week. Daily Masses are often more quieter & less busy than Sunday Mass.

8) If you don’t have a Crucifix, statue or religious picture, in your house, buy one and put it in your home.

9) Read the entire Gospel of Mark in one sitting. As the shortest Gospel, it is the most concise story of Jesus’ life, and the cross, a central Lenten symbol, plays an even more prominent role than in the other Gospels.

10) Attend the Stations of the Cross. Seek out a devotional Service near you, such as Stations of the Cross. Plan now to attend all the Holy Week Services.

11) Remember to fast and abstain from meat on Fridays. 3pm - the time of Our Lord’s death - is a good time to pray.

12) Turn off your iPod or your car radio on your commute. The silence may be jarring at first, but you may find that you are able to concentrate better and will be more observant of your surroundings. Pray for someone you see.

13) Buy a book that will help you to pray each day, or that will teach you more about the Faith or the lives of the Saints.

14) During Lent, we’re called to fast not only from food but from other things as well.

15) Make a commitment to “fast” from cruel comments about others. So, no gossiping or reading celebrity tabloids.

16) Pray for somebody. As you’re walking the streets, driving, sitting in your cubicle at work, or going to a film, pick out a person who appears to be in need, and pray for that person. Be mindful of the words of Philo of Alexandria, who said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.” Pray the Rosary. Give time to reflective meditation.

17) As you are waiting to fall asleep at night, pray the Jesus Prayer silently as a mantra: “Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” 

18) Read the Works of Mercy as Jesus describes them in Matthew 25. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink…in prison and you visited me.” There are plenty of opportunities available in your own community to put this teaching into practice. Choose an act of service you can perform throughout Lent.

19) Make a list of all the excesses in your life. Think about which ones you could do without. Use the time gained to do something at Church.

20) Celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Go to Confession.

Fr Simon Henry

Chaplain General - Great Britain

Burns' Night Charity Supper

The skirl of the pipes!

Thank you to members and friends who travelled to Leyland in Lancashire from far and wide for a Burns' Night Supper recently. It is a great reflection on the growth of the Order here in Great Britain that although this was only a "local" event, members and friends gathered from London, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Yorkshire and Glasgow - including a number of candidates for admission to the Order later this year. 

We were raising funds for Cardinal Ranjith's Charity SUROL for those affected by leprosy in Sri Lanka.  A great time was had, drawing on the talents and skills of members to provide the evening and its entertainment.  After our running costs, we are pleased that the evening raised £550.

Chev. Anthony Dickinson and H.E. Chev. Matthew Jackson sipping a Bellini on arrival.

Not quite in keeping with the Scottish theme but nobody seemed to mind!

Thanks to local piper Mr Bob Wilson, who did the honours escorting in the Haggis!

 

 

 The Haggis is traditionally clapped in to the accompaniment of pipes. 

 The Chancellor - as he hails originally from Scotland, addressed the Haggis.

 

 The Pipes laid aside, we could get down to eating.  Thanks to members Daniel and Margaret Lawler who were the cooks for the evening - just glimpsed here through the kitchen door!

 Chev. Anthony Dickinson KLJ entertains us with a few Scottish ballads.