Dome of Home

The other day I came across a copy of the Lent edition of the Dome of Home, the illustrated bulletin of the ICKSP foundation at SS Peter and Paul and St Philomena in New Brighton. The shrine church has also now has an excellent website which can be viewed at http://domeofhome.org/ and which I have added to the list on the left hand side of this blog. 

On the website one can sign up, as I have, for their regular electronic bulletins as well as viewing pictures of the restoration work that has already been carried out and of work that is still in progress, as well as plenty of other information about the church. ICKSP is clearly making things happen in New Brighton, and are a cause well worth supporting by prayer and financial aid.

Progress at Preston

I see from a post on Rorate Caeli that the good work is progressing at the church of St Walberge in Preston - recently transferred to the ICKSP by the Bishop of Lancaster to be a centre for Eucharistic devotion and for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form.

I have posted about the church and this initiative before in Good news from Preston, Inauguration of St Walburge Preston as an ICKSP church and The Inaugural Mass at St Walburge's Preston

St Walberge, Preston
The tallest free standing tower and spire in England

Image: Rorate Caeli

The latest news is contained in an article by one of the clergy which was published in Regina Magazine. It is very positive about what is happening at St Walberge's, and has some splendid illustrations of the church and the liturgy, and can be accessed here.

The Inaugural Mass at St Walburge's Preston

Yesterday the New Liturgical Movement website had an article about the inaugural High Mass last Saturday at St Walburge's Preston for its new role as a shrine for Eucharistic Adoration under the care of ICKSP.

The Mass was celebrated in the presence of the Bishop of Lancaster, who preached, and the whole occasions appears to have been both splendid (in all senses of the word) and also well-attended, which bodes well for this initiative.

The NLM report, which has a link to a set of sumptuous photographs of the whole day, can be seen at News from the ICKSP in England.

I really want to visit Preston - and that is something I would never have imagined myself saying hitherto (notwithstanding the presence of second cousins in the town).

Inauguration of St Walburge Preston as an ICKSP church

There is post from the New Liturgical Movement about the inauguration today of the very impressive church of St Walburge Preston as a shrine for Eucharistic devotion under the care of ICKSP at the invitation of the Bishop of Lancaster. The NLM post can be seen at Inaugural Mass of New ICKSP Apostolate in Preston, England - Saturday, Sept. 27

I posted about this initiative earlier this year in Good news from Preston.

Good news from Preston

I was heartened to see from Fr Blake's blog post  So why 'Traddies' at Preston? that, at the invitation of the Bishop of Lancaster, the Institute of Christ the King are to take on the church of St Walburge in Preston. This will mean that the church will become a centre for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of Mass, with provision for Sunday celebrations of the novus ordo.

St Walburge's from the east

Image:myweb.tiscali.co.uk

This announcement lifts the threat to the survival of this spectacular building by J.A.Hansom. Founded as a parish in 1847, the church was initially built in 1850-54, with the addition in 1873 of the sanctuary, and then the addition of what is the  third tallest spire in the realm - exceeded in height only by the medieval spires of the cathedrals at Salisbury and Norwich - at 309 feet in 1886. There is an online history of the church here, and another article about the building here. There is a report on these latest developments in the life of the church and parish here

St Walburge's has been considered a building at risk for several years, so this is a welcome move on architectural heritage grounds alone.

 

The west front of the church

Image:Wikipedia 

The Institute appear to becoming something of an architectural rescue mission in the North West, having successfully taken on the "Dome of Hope", the early twentieth century church of SS Peter and Paul in New Brighton in the Wirral, in recent years. From pictures of St Walburge's - I have never visited Preston, though the images tempt one to want to go to look at the church - it is a very impressive building, both externally and internally, and does not appear to have suffered wrecknovation.

The interior of the church

 Image: Fr Ray Blake blog

The High Altar and apse

Image: rorate caeli

This really does appear to be good news all round - good news for preserving both the physical and spiritual heritage of Cathplic Preston, good news for the Institute in establishing a second foundation in England, good news for those who love the traditional liturgy, good news for devotional life in Preston and the North West.

 

The Institute of Christ the King at New Brighton

There have been handsomely illustrated reports on both the New Liturgical Movement with The ICRSS and the Shrine Church of Ss Peter & Paul and Philomena and on the Hermeneutic of Continuity with both Celebrations at New Brighton and a background article here Indulgence for Grand Opening of new ICKSP shrine in England about the dedication last Saturday of the reopened church of SS Peter and Paul and St Philomena at New Brighton on the Wirral by the Bishop of Shrewsbury.

The church was was built in 1935, and is a great landmark. It was closed in 2008, but Bishop Davies has offered it to the Institute of Christ the King, who have taken it on and carried out the necessary maintainence and repairs. This is the first parish to be given into their care in this country and looks to be a very promising development. The occasion was clearly well attended and also, clearly, of considerable splendour.

The Diocese of Shrewsbury website has three articles about the occasion: Thousand people attend opening of Wirral shrine church, and there is also Bishop Davies’s homily in New Brighton: the full text as well as details of the indulgence granted to mark the reopening in Papal blessing at New Brighton shrine church.

The Shrine Church of SS Peter and Paul and St Philomena

Image: Forest Murmurs

The main website for the Institute can be seen at Institute of Christ the King Sovereign High Priest andthe US version at Institute of Christ the King.

This is a splendid initiative which is to be welcomed and applauded, and kept in one's prayers.

Cardinal Burke ordains at the Institute of Christ the King

The New Liturgical Movement has a post with illustrations of Cardinal Burke leading a pilgrimage to the heart of St Francis de Sales and a diaconal Ordination he celebrated for the Institute of Christ the King in January. You can view it here. From the post there are links to other photographs of both occasions.

Following on from my previous post about the new English translation of the Novus Ordo and its opponants it is so positive to look at the renewed tradition that Cardinal Burke and the Institute both represent and practice.

Almost twenty five years ago I recall looking at the famous photograph from the 1920s of an enthroned Cardinal Mercier of Malines (d.1926) in full pontifical vestments and being told by an Anglican religious that I would never see such a thing in my lifetime (nor, by implication, would anyone else ever do so). Yet here in 2011 is Cardinal Burke in a very similar pose:

Not only that but the whole liturgy was celebrated with the all traditional vestures for the Cardinal and his attendants, as is discussed in the comments on the post. Thus, for example, he wore the winter cappa magna, with the traditional galero, and wore the tunicle was well as the dalmatic under the chasuble. This is what I mean by liturgical renewal - restoring those things that are gone to decay, and making all things new in Christ.