Laetare Sunday at Carshalton

Yesterday I had another of my serving visits to Holy Cross at Carshalton to act as thurifer at a Missa Cantata for Laetare Sunday. Once again we had a full team of servers, and this monthly Mass is clearly becoming established in people's diaries. The congregation ranged in age from eighteen months to 88 years, so it has wide appeal. Once again the celebrant was Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith. 

The altar and tabernacle were vested in violet but Fr Alexander had brought a handsome rose pink chasuble appropriate to the custom for the Sunday and to indicate the joyful mood of the Mass. As on previous occasions we had fine music from Matthew Schellhorn and Cantus Magnus to accompany the liturgy. 

The next Extraordinary Form Mass at Carshalton is scheduled for Sunday April 14th at 5pm. The church is adjacent to the railway station, and close to the centre of the town, lying just to the north of the ponds which make such a distinctive feature in the middle of old Carshalton. If you are interested in worshipping in the Extraordinary Form and can get to the church you will be assured of a warm welcome as well as spiritual nourishment - not to mention tea and biscuits afterwards.

Carshalton Revisited

Yesterday there was another of the Extraordinary Form Masses at Holy Cross Carshalton about which I have written before. David Forster and I drove up to south-west London along the A40, M40 and so via Heathrow to Carshalton through driving rain and motorway spray - well, David did the driving and I did a bit of map-reading.

We set off, and arrived earlier than previously so that we could have a traing session with other servers, and this time we had a full set of servers. This bodes well for the provision of this form of the Mass in the area, and despite the dreadful weather we had a decent number in the congregation.

As it was Quinquagesima Sunday we had to change the hangings and vestments for violet rather than the novus ordo green, and, of course, change them back afterwards. The parish are very welcoming and the sacristan very obliging on these occasions, and those of us who go as helpers from outside feel both appreciated and also that  we are getting familiar with the church and its furnishings.

The celebrant, as in November, was Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith, the Parish Priest of Knaphill in Surrey, and who is a columnist for The Catholic Herald. 

Excellent music was again provided by Cantus Magnus, who sang music by the Franco-Flemish Renaissance composer Heinrich Isaac (c. 1450 – 1517).They are led by the organiser of the Mass Matthew Schellhorn, who is the LMS Diocesan Representative for Southwark North.

Over refreshments afterwards we were able to plan for future occasions and have a sense that there is here indeed a stable group and that these Masses are becoming an established part of the Catholic life of the area.

The rain, which was only drizzle in Carshalton, seemed to return in full force with driving sleet when we reached the motorway system - it must have been waiting for us - and it accompanied us all the way back to the outskirts of Oxford. Nevertheless we got back safe and sound and had supper before going off to our own homes. A satisfying day.

The next EF Mass at Holy Cross is scheduled for Laetare Sunday, March 10th at 5pm.

Serving Mass at Carshalton

Yesterday afternoon I travelled with my friend David Forster up to Carshalton to serve a Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the church of Holy Cross. We did a similar trip in November, and, as I posted recently, a monthly Mass in this Form has now been arranged at the church.

The attendance was larger than last time, and the congregation had in some cases travelled a fair distance to get there. The celebrant was Canon Peter Newby, of St Mary Moorfields in London, and formerly Catholic Chaplain to Oxford University.

David and I, together with a parishioner from Holy Cross, made up the serving team, with me doing my fairly usual performance as thurifer. We hope to hold a servers training session before the Mass on February 10th as there are men interested in assisting. 

Matthew Schellhorn, the local LMS representitive, brought his schola, Cantus Magnus, who provided an excellent polyphonic setting for the Mass by Orlando Lassus - the acoustic worked very well in the church. 

Afterwards there was an opportunity to meet up with friends and acquaintances and make plans for the future. Over tea and biscuits the intriguing idea was expressed that for many seminarians of the early 1980s the television production of Brideshead Revisited in 1981-82 was important in giving them a vision of Catholicism before the liturgical and presentational changes occurred, and making them more aware of traditional thought and practice . Given the generational shift and the advent of Pope John Paul II in 1978 I can see there may be something in the argument. If such is the case then I am sure Evelyn Waugh would be pleased.

After that we had time for a visit to a nearby pub with a friend before driving back for supper in Oxford. Quite a long session, especially for David with the driving, but well worthwhile.

 

EF Masses at Carshalton 2013

Following on from the Mass in the Extraordinary Form at Carshalton last November about which I posted four more have been arranged for the coming months:

Sunday 13th January

Holy Family Jesus, Mary & Joseph

(I Sunday after Epiphany)

Canon Peter Newby of St Mary Moorfields will be the celebrant. 

Sunday 10th February

Quinquagesima Sunday

Sunday 10th March

IV Sunday in Lent (Laetare Sunday)

Sunday 14th April

II Sunday after Easter

All the Masses will be offered at Holy Cross, 46 North Street, Carshalton, Surrey, SM5 2JD at 5.00pm.

Mass at Carshalton

Last week my friend David Forster, Secretary of the Latin Mass Society, asked if I could help serve as thurifer at an EF Mass at Carshalton in Surrey that was being arranged for yesterday afternoon. Fortunately I was free and I was very happy to assist.

By the time we got  away from Oxford with our cassocks, lace cottas, an altar missal,  a set of altar cards and the all-important maniple packed into David's car it had turned into a mini tatmobile* and off we went on the M40 and M25 into what was terra incognita for both of us. I was navigating from a series of maps downloaded from the internet, and, with only one overshooting of a junction in Carshalton and a bit of lucky backtracking, we got there. I was particularly interested to find that en route we travelled round the perimeter of Nonsuch Park, the site of King Henry VIII's spectacular Nonsuch Palace - but I will put up a separate post about that.

The reredos in Holy Cross

Image: rc.net/southwark/carshalton

The Mass was celebrated in Holy Cross church in Carshalton, and was, I gathered, the first one there using the 1962 Missal since 1969. The organiser had a fine schola to sing the Missa cantata and the celebrant was Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith.

The congregation was a good number of people, and drawn from a wide age range. I was told afterwards that some of them were people who had not been to the church for a considerable while and who had come back specially for the Mass. Over coffee afterwards it was clear that there was genuine enthusiasm for such an EF Mass at Carshalton, and that our part in making it happen was greatly appreciated.

* A private joke some readers will appreciate