Monday 18 May 2015

YCA National Weekend at Aylesford - 31st Oct 1st Nov 2015. Bookings Now Being Taken


2015 Theme: “One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, Our Lady will save the world.”
Attributed to Saint Dominic.

YCA National Weekend at Aylesford -in Association with the Scola Gregoriana of Cambridge

Set in the heart of Kent, England, The Friars - Aylesford Priory - is an ancient religious house of the Order of Carmelites dating back to the 13th Century. Over the centuries and now today The Friars has become the destination for thousands of visitors. Fr. Gregory Pearson and noted author Donel Foley will be giving talks.

At the 2015 Young Catholic Adult Weekend Pilgrimage, there will be:

  • Sung/High Masses, 
  • Gregorian Chant Workshops, 
  • Talks, 
  • Rosaries, 
  • Confessions, 
  • Marian Procession, 
  • Socials.

To book on to the weekend please go to the automated booking system at:- 

 
For more details please see:- http://www.youngcatholicadults.co.uk/events.htm .
*Please note Aylesford Priory have a booking deadline of 18th September, otherwise they reserve the right to release rooms for sale to other guests as required. Also they do not allow last minute refunds so  any non-arrivals and/or cancellations made up to 3 days before the event will be non-refundable.



Sunday 26 April 2015

Prinknash Sunday Latin Mass Cancelled - Indefinitely



Some very sad news from Gloucestershire, the longest running Sunday EF Mass in Gloucestershire has been stopped, an announcement was made, after the Saturday Low Mass on 18th April.

No official reason has been given.The weekly Saturday Low Mass continues, for the moment; however, it should be noted that it no longer appears on the offical weekly notices (although it remains on the main Prinknash website).

Sunday 5 April 2015

HAPPY EASTER!

'Noli me tangere'
Appearance of Jesus Christ to Mary Magdalene
by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov
 
Christus resurrexit! Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia!
 A very happy Easter! May God bless you abundantly today and always!

Thursday 2 April 2015

Maundy Thursday: please now sign the petition 'Support our Priests'

Image result for support our priests 
This is the petition which is separate to the letter to the press which many have signed in support of our courageous and faithful priests: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/support-our-priests. Please do sign it if you haven't already.

[In case you didn't know, these priests signed a letter asking the Synod members to uphold Church teaching on marriage. And this was printed in the Catholic Herald: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/03/24/nearly-500-priests-in-england-and-wales-urge-synod-to-stand-firm-on-communion-for-the-remarried.]

And, if you still haven't signed the letter to the press, you may do so here: http://marklambert.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/in-support-of-our-priests-our-families.html.

Please do sign and then encourage others who'd be interested in signing too.

What a wonderful thing to do on Maundy Thursday, the day that Christ instituted the Priesthood!

Monday 30 March 2015

In support of our faithful priests, our families, and our Church


You may have seen the recent letter from more than 450 faithful priests in support of the Church’s teaching on marriage.
We would like to invite you to sign the letter below, to be sent to the press in support of them, and to encourage others to sign it.
To sign, please leave your name and your diocese, with the coordinators: Mark Lambert (mark@landbtechnical.com) and/or Andrew Plasom-Scott (andrewplasom_scott@me.com).

 
The Letter:

Dear Sir,

We, the undersigned, wish to endorse and support the letter signed by over 450 priests in the recent edition of the Catholic Herald.

As laity, we all know from our own family experiences, or those of our friends and neighbours, the harrowing trauma of divorce and separation, and we sympathise with all those in such situations.

It is precisely for that reason that we believe that the Church must continue to proclaim the truth about marriage, given us by Christ in the Gospels, with clarity and charity in a world that struggles to understand it.

For the sake of those in irregular unions, for the sake of those abandoned and living in accordance with the teachings of the Church, and above all for the sake of the next generation, it is essential that the Church continues to make it quite clear that sacramental marriage is indissoluble until death.

We pray, and expect, that our hierarchy will represent us, and the Church’s unwavering teaching, at the Synod this autumn.

 
Yours faithfully,

Saturday 21 March 2015

'Faithfull Films etc.' Film reviews from a Christian perspective… and the odd other thing.

Faithfull Films etc.’ is live!
So what’s it about?
 
Corinna Turner
 
Corinna Turner, the author of the ‘I Am Margaret’ books, a dystopian series for Young Adults with a strong Christian theme (Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com), has just launched a blog, reviewing films from a Christian perspective.

Corinna has been writing since the age of 14 and likes strong protagonists with plenty of integrity. She has an MA in English from Oxford University. She is a Catholic with roots in the Methodist and Anglican churches, and is editor of her award-winning parish magazine. A keen cinema-goer, she lives in the UK with her Giant African Land Snail, Peter, who has a six inch long shell and an even larger foot!

Corinna has started this blog in order to post film reviews from a Christian perspective. She says she likes to know what she's letting herself in for when she goes to see a film ie whether it will be compatible with her Christian faith. Although the Catholic Bishops of the United States have an excellent website on which they review every major film that is released in the US, we don’t have the equivalent in the UK and so we are thankful to her for starting up this initiative.

So, don’t forget to check Faithfull Films etc. when you’re thinking of going to the cinema…

Her first post is a review of the recent film version of Suite Française, starring Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, which Corinna navigates through quite adeptly.


Suite_Francaise_poster

 

Monday 19 January 2015

I Am Margaret by Corinna Turner

Young Adult Fiction for Catholics
 


 
 
Corinna Turner has been writing since the age of 14 and has an MA in English from Oxford University. She has recently been admitted into the Dominican Order as a Lay Dominican at Oxford Blackfriars. She is the Editor of the award-winning Caritas parish magazine of the Catholic churches of St Gregory the Great and St Thomas More in Cheltenham. 
 
 
To give us a taster of what the novel has in store, I quote the back cover of her first book I Am Margaret: 'In Margo's world, if you don't pass your sorting at 18 you are recycled. Literally. Margaret Verrall dreams of marrying the boy she loves and spending her life with him. But she's part of the underground network of Believers - and that carries the death penalty. And there's just one other problem. She's going to fail her Sorting. But a chance to take on the system ups the stakes beyond mere survival. Now she has to break out of the Facility - or face the worst punishment of all. Conscious Dismantlement.'
 
 

 
 
 
Despite only being published in June, Corinna already has had some great reviews. Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl, declares the following: "Great style ... like The Hunger Games." And Stewart Ross, author of The Soterion Mission, has this to say: "An intelligent, well-written and enjoyable debut from a young writer with a bright future." And a review from someone not so famous - my husband - which he left on Amazon: "Something about this story manages to be both thought-provoking and utterly gripping. I think it's the strength of the main character which really drives the whole thing forward - I liked her straight away and never stopped caring about what she does, how she thinks and where she ends up. Loved it."

In the summer, Corinna was interviewed by the Catholic Truth Society's Catholic Compass Blog and we share some of the interview here.
 


CTS Compass: How did the idea for writing this come about?

Corinna: It started with a growing dissatisfaction with mainstream fiction. The mainstream fiction I was reading – and writing – seemed to have to obey an unwritten rule, ‘we don’t do God’. Especially ‘we don’t do Christianity’. As someone whose faith is central to their life, this was making mainstream fiction increasingly unsatisfying, to say nothing of it feeling very unrealistic. When the idea for ‘I Am Margaret’ stormed into my head in a dream during a retreat I decided I would go right ahead and write it just as I would write a mainstream novel – but with a Catholic heroine whose faith was integral to the story.

‘I Am Margaret’ has a certain thematic and stylistic similarity to mainstream novels such as ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘Divergent’, but it takes a very different attitude to morality and faith plays an integral role in the book. The tone and pace of a mainstream Young Adult novel are combined with a totally Catholic attitude to life and to the challenges the characters face.

CTS Compass: What are your hopes for the book?

Corinna: I hope this novel will allow ‘churched’ teenagers who are reading (often spiritually and morally unwholesome) mainstream novels due to the lack of compelling Catholic alternatives to enjoy a gripping, page-turning read that actually reflects their world view rather than that of the secular world, and thus to nourish their faith whilst entertaining them to the same – if not greater! – degree.

CTS Compass: Do you think your title will appeal to wider audiences too?

Corinna: From the feedback I’ve had from non-Christian readers, I think those who find any mention of faith uncomfortable are never going to enjoy it, but I have had very positive feedback from people who are open to faith and to other people’s world views. So there definitely seems to be a wider appeal.

CTS Compass: Tell us a little about how you came to the Catholic Faith and what it has meant for your writing?

Corinna: I was raised in the Methodist church, confirmed as a teenager in the Anglican church and finally received into full communion with the Catholic Church just over four years ago. In the years leading up to my reception (and since then) I had tremendous growth in my spiritual life and began to develop a genuine relationship with God for the first time in my life. This had a direct influence on my reading and writing habits. The lack of faith in mainstream fiction began to really trouble and frustrate me, and I also became much pickier about what I read (or watched) – I’m now much less prepared to put up with gratuitous violence and offensive material. However, Richard Atkins from BBC Radio Gloucestershire remarked in a recent interview that ‘Christian Fiction can be rather twee… but there’s not a twee-ness about ‘I Am Margaret’, is there?’ – and there are certainly a number of scenes in ‘I Am Margaret’ that readers find quite challenging. Because personally, I don’t think people find ‘twee’ satisfying or stimulating – but the scenes are not excessively graphic. A scene can be gritty without being gory!

CTS Compass: In Margaret’s world why is it so important to be Catholic?

Corinna: For the same reason that it is so important to be a Catholic today. Because God loved us so much he died for us – Jesus is the way to God, the truth about everything and the life eternal! In the future world of ‘I Am Margaret’ the ‘Underground’ (the network of religious believers) does essentially have a monopoly on non-violent opposition to the status quo, but I don’t think many people would join them just for this reason because the punishments are too severe. [14th August 2014]



Although I Am Margaret is predominantly written for the young Catholic adult, the book and its subject have far wider appeal. It is suitable for readers from the age of 14 upwards. To find out more about the I Am Margaret series, to read the first chapter or watch the trailer video, go to www.IAmMargaret.co.uk. The first two books are available to purchase as a paperback or as an ebook from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Kobo, Barnes and Noble or any bookseller. The next book in the series to be published is the third book, Liberation, which is due out on the 15th March 2015.

Monday 5 January 2015

40 DAYS FOR LIFE GLOUCESTER


Take a stand for life during Lent
 
From 18th February to 29th March, our community will take part in 40 Days for Life: a groundbreaking, coordinated international mobilization. We pray that, with God’s help, this will mark the beginning of the end of abortion in Gloucestershire and beyond.
 
Vigil Location: 

Outside Hope House
Western Entrance
Royal Gloucester Hospital
Great Western Road
Gloucester

If you are interested in supporting this life-saving campaign, please go to
http://40daysforlife.com/local-campaigns/gloucester/ to sign up for vigil hours between 8am and 8pm, or contact the Campaign Director, James Tranter, directly by email 40daysforlifegloucester@gmail.com or phone 07796 511375.

 

If you can't make the Gloucester vigil, please keep this important cause in your prayers.

Monday 8 December 2014

8th December is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Click here to hear a young friar chant
Tota pulchra es Maria
before a statue of Our Lady.
 
La Purísima Inmaculada Concepción
by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1678)
in the Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain.

Tota pulchra es, Maria.
Tota pulchra es, Maria.
Et macula originalis non est in te.
Et macula originalis non est in te.
Tu gloria Ierusalem.
Tu laetitia Israel.
Tu honorificentia populi nostri.
Tu advocata peccatorum.
O Maria.
O Maria.
Virgo prudentissima.
Mater clementissima.
Ora pro nobis.
Intercede pro nobis ad Dominum Jesum Christum.

Thou art all fair, O Mary.
Thou art all fair, O Mary.
And the original stain is not in thee.
And the original stain is not in thee.
Thou art the glory of Jerusalem.
Thou, the joy of Israel.
Thou art the honour of our people.
Thou art the advocate of sinners.
O Mary.
O Mary.
Virgin most prudent.
Mother most tender.
Pray for us.
Intercede for us with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Friday 28 November 2014

There's no need for Black Friday! The Saviour is here!

 
 
This Friday don't worship
at the temples and altars of Mammon.
Worship the one, true, living God
and get to Mass instead!
 

Monday 27 October 2014

Pope Benedict Speaks - Can dialogue substitute for mission?


 
Message of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
for the naming of the reformed Aula Magna
of the Pontifical Urbaniana University

October 21, 2014
"The Risen Lord gave this task to his Apostles, and through them disciples of every time, to carry his Word to the ends of the earth and to make all men his disciples. ... But is this still possible? Many ask this question, both inside and outside the Church. Is this mission really possible in the world as it is today? Would it not be more appropriate that all religions get together and work together for the cause of peace in the world? The counter-question is: Can dialogue substitute for mission? Today many have the idea, in effect, that religions should respect each other, and, in dialogue with each other, become a common force for peace. ...

This is, however, lethal to faith. In fact, faith loses its binding character and seriousness, if everything is reduced to symbols that are at the end interchangeable, capable of referring only from afar to the inaccessible mystery of the divine."
H/t:- [Translation by Fr. Richard G. Cipolla, DPhil]

 

Monday 13 October 2014

The Greatest Persecution of the Church Comes not from Her Enemies Without, but Arises from...Within



On the journey to Fatima in 2010,  Pope Benedict noted that the message of Fatima is still ongoing and that the greatest threat to the Church comes from not from outside but from within the Church: he stated:-

 " Consequently, I would say that, here too, beyond this great vision of the suffering of the Pope, which we can in the first place refer to Pope John Paul II, an indication is given of realities involving the future of the Church, which are gradually taking shape and becoming evident. So it is true that, in addition to moment indicated in the vision, there is mention of, there is seen, the need for a passion of the Church.... As for the new things which we can find in this message today, there is also the fact that attacks on....the Church come not only from without, but the sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church, from the sin existing within the Church. This too is something that we have always known, but today we are seeing it in a really terrifying way: that the greatest persecution of the Church comes not from her enemies without, but arises from...within the Church, and that the Church thus has a deep need to relearn penance, to accept purification, to learn forgiveness on the one hand, but also the need for justice.

 Forgiveness does not replace justice. In a word, we need to relearn precisely this essential: conversion, prayer, penance and the theological virtues. This is our response, we are realists in expecting that evil always attacks, attacks from within and without, yet that the forces of good are also ever present and that, in the end, the Lord is more powerful than evil and Our Lady is for us the visible, motherly guarantee of God’s goodness, which is always the last word in history."

Taken from http://www.vatican.va.

Saturday 27 September 2014

Young Catholic Adults Douai Weekend 2014 - Photographs




                                    Solemn High Mass of Our Lady
 

Dominican Rite Vespers with
the Scola Gregoriana of Cambridge
Fr. Goddard FSSP  - Talk
 

Dominican Rite Sung Mass 


Dominican Rite Sung Mass - Communion
                                                                                 
Fr Pearson OP - Talk

                              


For more photos please see Flikr


   







Wednesday 17 September 2014

Young Catholic Adult 2014 Weekend at Douai Consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

A Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
                                             

Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of Your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to You, all the people of our country and all the world.

Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as You wish to accomplish Your designs in the world.

O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully.

We come with confidence to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with your rule, triumph in every heart and home.

Amen.

--Venerable Pope Pius XII

Sunday 14 September 2014

The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel





The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel has been in existence for approximately 700 years. It is said that , Saint Simon Stock, General of the Carmelite Order in the thirteenth century, saw Our Lady in a vision in 1251 and presented him with the well-known brown scapular, a garment, reaching from the shoulders to the knees. It was given as a guarantee, for all who died wearing it, of Her heavenly protection from eternal damnation.

Devotion to the Scapular spread post haste throughout the Christendom. Pope after successive Pope enriched it with various indulgences, and there were many miracles associated with it .

In 1858 at Lourdes, Bernadette said that the Virgin appeared on July 16th, the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (which was the very day the Church commemorates Her appearance to Saint Simon Stock). On October 13, 1917, at Fatima the three Shepard children – Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco stated that Mary appeared to them as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In a general sense, wearing the Scapular is a sign of someone’s commitment and devotion to Our Lady.

Individuals can be enrolled in the Scapular after the YCA High Mass and Marian Procession on Saturday 20th September 2014 in the Parish Church at Douai Abbey. 

Our Lady of Mount Carmel – pray for us.

Timetable for Young Catholic Adults/Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge Douai Weekend 19-21 Sept 2014

 
 
 



Timetable for Young Catholic Adults/Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge
 Douai Weekend 19-21 Sept 2014
 

Theme of the Weekend

True conversion of the Soul :-“We undertake to convert our hearts to the horizons of grace,” - Pope Benedict XVI.

Friday - Feast of St. Januarius 3rd  Class - Red

5-6pm Arrival
6:55pm Supper
8pm-8.30pm Rosary or Chant Workshop -
8:40 Sung Dominican Compline after Workshop
9pm: Social


Saturday – Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday 4th Class - White

8-9am Breakfast
9-9:40am - Chant workshop followed by practice
9:45am 1st Talk
John Pridmore –“ Gangland to the Promised Land” hear John’s conversion story.
11am: High Mass in the Parish Church
( EF Roman Rite Gregorian Chant )
12.00pm: Marian Procession in honour of Our Lady of Fatima around the extensive grounds  of Douai Abbey, followed by enrolment into the Brown Scapular and a sung Litiya
1-2pm: Lunch
2-3pm: 2nd Talk
Fr. Matthew Goddard– “Striving for Holiness”
3-4pm: Chant workshop
[4-4.30pm: Chant rehearsal for Schola Gregoriana]
4.30-5.30 pm: 3rd Talk – Fr. Gregory Pearson OP
– “Initial conversion”
5:30-6pm Free time

6-6.30pm: Vespers in Dominican Rite
6:55pm Supper
7.30-8:30pm: Rosary Adoration, Bedediction and Confessions
8.30pm: Social

Sunday 15th Sunday after Pentecost - Green

8-9am Breakfast
9am-9:45am: Schola Gregoriana rehearsal
10:30am: Sung/High Mass
( EF Dominican Rite, Gregorian Chant)
11:45am-12:40pm: 4th Talk – Fr. Gregory Pearson – “Ongoing Conversion”
12:45-1pm Rosary
1pm: Lunch
2pm: Finish

 

 

Thursday 11 September 2014

Young Catholic Adults Weekend 2014 Latest -There have been a COUPLE of cancellations so booking has recommenced temporarily



(There have been a COUPLE of cancellations so booking has recommenced temporarily).

Cottages (student style dormitory accommodation) ARE NOW FULLY BOOKED.

Guest House (mostly single rooms - hotel style accommodation) £60 per person per night (incl. food). It's possible to stay just for the Saturday night.

Day Guests. For those wishing to come for the day on Saturday or Sunday - please bring a packed lunch. It will not be possible to provide food in the Guest Refectory for people coming for the day.

Please go to https://v1.bookwhen.com/yca-douai-2014 to book!

Monday 8 September 2014

Beautiful song to Our Lady on her feast day

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
 
 
For something truly angelic to celebrate this beautiful feast of Our Lady, please take the time to listen to this Russian/Armenian 11 year old, Viktoria (Vika) Oganisyan, sing Ave Maria by Giulio Caccini (1551-1618).
 
 
May Our Blessed Mother bless you this day and always!

Wednesday 3 September 2014

Just a Few Places Left for YCA Douai Weekend 2014!

Book now!


 
 
 Just a few Guest House places left - see below for photo's of the rooms!
















Booking Deadline For YCA Weekend 2014 now FRIDAY 5TH SEPT go to https://v1.bookwhen.com/yca-douai-2014.




 

Monday 1 September 2014

Young Catholic Adults Retreat at Douai Abbey 2014 and the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge


 Photo: Credit http://www.scholagregoriana.org/  
                                         

The Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge will be assisting in the 2014 Young Catholic Adults weekend in Douai Abbey. They will be providing Gregorian Chant Workshops among other things. Christopher Hodgkinson will be leading the Schola at this event.

The Schola website states that:- it was "founded in 1975 by Dr Mary Berry, a Cambridge musician and musicologist, in order to ensure that the chant should continue to be taught, and that all those who wished to sing and study this profoundly spiritual and ancient music should be able to do so. It became a registered charity in 1984.The Schola aims to promote the teaching and singing of Gregorian chant and, whenever possible, to foster its study and research."

For more details about the Schola  please see http://www.scholagregoriana.org/ 






 

The absolute Booking Deadline For YCA Weekend 2014 now FRIDAY 5TH SEPT 2014.



(The Abbey have allowed us to book a few extra rooms) - the absolute deadline is now  FRIDAY 5TH SEPT 2014.

Thank-you Douai!!!!

Monday 18 August 2014

John Pridmore at YCA Weekend at Douai Abbey


Come and hear the conversion story John Pridmore and listen to him describe his early chaotic life of  despair. A life changing calamity made John decide that  he needed to change direction and re-convert back to the Catholic faith of his childhood.

 His talk starts at 9:45am on Saturday 20th September 2014 , this will be followed by Sung/High Mass and then a Marian procession through the grounds of the Abbey.

If you are in  the 18-35 AGE RANGE:-  come and meet like minded individuals at the Young Catholic Adults Weekend (19th-21st September 2014) .

 To book please go to:- https://v1.bookwhen.com/yca-douai-2014. For more details please see:- http://www.youngcatholicadults.co.uk/events.htm.

Wednesday 6 August 2014

BOOK NOW FOR YOUNG CATHOLIC ADULTS NATIONAL EVENT 2014

BOOK NOW FOR YOUNG CATHOLIC ADULTS NATIONAL EVENT 2014



BOOK NOW FOR YOUNG CATHOLIC ADULTS NATIONAL EVENT 2014

Guest Speakers - John Pridmore, Fr. Gregory Pearson OP, Fr. Matthew Goddard FSSP

There will be:-
Sung/High Masses
Talks
Rosaries
Confessions
Marian Procession
Socials

Cottages (student style dormitory accommodation) £18 per person per night (incl. food).

Guest House (mostly single rooms - hotel style accommodation) £60 per person per night (incl. food).

Day Guests. For those wishing to come for the day on Saturday or Sunday - please bring a packed lunch. It will not be possible to provide food in the Guest Refectory for people coming for the day.

-Please note to guarantee your place this year Douai Abbey have requested that everyone books in 3 weeks before the start of the weekend i.e. 29th August 2014.

How to book

For more details, please see:- http://www.youngcatholicadults.co.uk/events.htm



Or use the online booking system at: https://bookwhen.com/yca-douai-2014
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