Regular Traditional Sunday Mass in Aberdeen

UPDATE: The Mass time in 11:15am, not 11:00am as previously advertised

 We are very pleased to announce that, at the request of Bishop Hugh Gillbert, OSB of Aberdeen, we, the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, will now be offering a regular Sunday Traditional Mass once a month in Aberdeen.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered according to the 1962 Missale Romanum on the second Sunday of every month in Sacred Heart Church, Aberdeen.

 The Traditional Mass will be celebrated at 11:15am.

If you would like to attend the Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form, please feel free to come on the Second Sunday of every month to:

Sacred Heart
Roman Catholic Church
15 Grampian Road, Torry
Aberdeen
AB11 8ED

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Aberdeen Mass time Correction

Just a quick post to correct the previously announced time for the upcoming Mass in Aberdeen.  The Date is in fact the SATURDAY 16th NOVEMBER, at 11:00 am.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

Traditional Mass Celebrated in Aberdeen

On Saturday 19th of October, we had the pleasure of celebrating the first official Traditional Mass on the Aberdeen diocese mainland in recent years.  The Mass was celebrated by Very Rev Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R. in the chapel of Blairs College (St Mary's College) in Aberdeen.  The college was a junior seminary from 1829 to 1986.  The college chapel is very beautiful and provides a wonderful venue for the Traditional Mass.

Fr. Michael Mary sang the Mass, with Brs Jean Marie and Martin Mary serving.

Preaching on the Three Hail Marys.

We are happy to announce that the next Mass will be celebrated at Blairs College on Saturday 16th of November, the feast of St Margaret, secondary patron of Scotland.  All are most welcome to attend the location can be found here.

One year on

What a lot of anniversaries there have been during this month of August!  Today, the 15th August, Feast of Our Lady's Assumption into heaven, we celebrate our first anniversary as a canonically recognised Congregation within the Catholic Church.  The official decree can be seen below.

One year on we thank Bishop Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B. for his gracious act of receiving us into the church as an officialy recognised Religious Institute.  Thank you also to all those who have been a support to us over the last year, and indeed throughout the last 25 years.  May God bless you all!

Sweet Mother of Perseverance, obtain that we may all one day be with you in heaven!

Our Public Religious Professions.

The Public Profession of Vows

of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer.

The long awaited day arrived on the 

Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

22 August, 2012,

the day of

our individual incorporation into the 

canonically erected

Clerical Institute of Diocesan Right

under the title of the

Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer.

We were canonically erected by the Right Reverend

Dom Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B.

Here he is photographed in

Our Lady's Chapel, Stronsay,

during last night's public profession ceremony.

For this solemn occasion of
our union with the diocese and the Church

the episcopal throne was erected in the sanctuary.

Above the bishop is the Coat of Arms of the 

Diocese of Aberdeen

which can be seen in more detail  in the first image above.

May the monastic and missionary saints of our diocese
intercede for us.

In all, three Lessons from the Holy Scripture were chanted

followed by Tracts, 

then the Alleluia and Gospel of the Mass for 

the feast of the Most Holy Redeemer.

Brother Jean Marie chants the Second Lesson.

Following the chant of the Gospel the Bishop preached. 

Following the sermon the Litany of Loreto

completed the preparation for the public religious professions.

First Fr Michael Mary made public profession

into the hands of the Bishop.

This act was one of Ecclesial Communion through the Bishop 

to the Universal Church.

The vows are made to God

but the superior makes them through the Bishop to God.

Fr. Anthony Mary, F.SS.R. 
makes his public perpetual profession

into the hands of the appointed superior. 

The superior of the new religious order

having made his public profession into the hands of the Bishop

is then empowered to receive the public religious professions

of the members of the Congregation.

Br. Yousef Marie, F.SS.R. 
makes his public perpetual profession

into the hands of the Rector Major.

Br. Jean Marie, F.SS.R. 
makes his public perpetual profession of the 

vows of Poverty, Chastity, Obedience and Perseverance. 

Br. Magdala Maria, F.SS.R. 

makes public profession of the vows of religion.

The vow of Perseverance is attested with an oath.

Having made the oath of Perseverance

Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R. 
kisses the Gospel.

 Having kissed the Gospel

Br. Nicodemus Mary, F.SS.R. 
is received into the Congregation

bound by his vows and oath

according to the 

Rules of St. Alphonsus

(which were approved by 

Pope Benedict XIV in 1749)

and the

Constitutions of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer

(which were approved by 

the Holy See in 2011).

Br. Gerardo Maria, F.SS.R.

makes temporary public profession for three years.

 The public professions were followed by

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

 The opening prayer of St. Alphonsus
in his Visits to the Blessed Sacrament,

the antiphon to Our Lady
and the 

Prayer for the Pope
all followed.
Then...

 The Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
wass given by
Dom Hugh,
our Bishop of Aberdeen.

With full hearts and voices

the Divine Praises 

were chanted.

Blessed be God!

Blessed be His Holy Name!

Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man!

Our Festive Thanksgiving.

Our Festive Day.

 Fr. Anthony Mary and Fr. Michael Mary

Feast of the Assumption, 2012.

Dear Friends and Families,

The words that spring immediately to my mind in writing a response to yesterday's Canonical Recognition of the Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, are words that the priest prays every day at Mass, from Psalm 115:

"Quid retribuam Domino 
pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi?" 

"What return shall I make to the Lord 
for all He hath given to me?"

This is the question that we ask when we realise that what we have received from Our Lord through His Church is far beyond what we merit; His Mercies can never be repaid. On one hand we cannot survive without these Mercies, on the other hand, we do not deserve them nor have the means of repaying them ever at all. Caught between the necessity of the having a canonical recognition and our own indigence and unworthiness of which we are very conscious, what can we do except repeat the prayer from the psalm and cast ourselves before Him while awaiting the moment of rescue from our plight. Only prayer can save us!

And praying, I said: O Lord God, destroy not thy people, and thy inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.  Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: look not on the stubbornness of this people, nor on their wickedness and sin: Lest perhaps the inhabitants of the land, out of which thou hast brought us, say: The Lord could not bring them into the land that he promised them, and he hated them: therefore he brought them out, that he might kill them in the wilderness, Who are thy people and thy inheritance, whom thou hast brought out by thy great strength, and in thy stretched out arm. (Deut. 9: 26-29) The application of this text to our history is appropriate; but we did not have to wander for forty years, and we did not die in the wilderness: in any case, in monastic life, the wilderness is our chosen place of abode.

We are profoundly grateful to the many friends who have supported us over these last years; thank you! We have been mightily supported by our families and friends; holy prelates, priests and nuns.

On a personal note, I thank my own parents and family: For over twenty years they took the neighbourhood, clerical and other brunt of my commitment to the old Mass; and they lived through the 'wilderness of doubt' of the last five years. It  has all turned out fine in the end! But thank you Dad and Mum for bearing things that would have hurt you deeply. In the end all has been part of God's permissive Will. It has led to the canonical establishment of a Congregation of priests and monks, officially recognised by the Church to continue permanently offering the old Mass and to serve souls. You taught me that it is a good thing to have something to put up with and to offer to Our Lord and Our Lady! Quite right!   

We are equally grateful to the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, to Bishop Hugh of Aberdeen and Bishop Barry of Christchurch for their mercy and kindness towards us. The graces we needed flowed abundantly through them; they are our Fathers in God and each of them have had the right words and acts of solicitude for us. We come into Full Communion with the Church having a Pope who deeply cares for traditionalists and having been directed to two dioceses of choice by God's 'great strength and His stretched out arm'.

In fine, could we but rejoice? Of course not; and we do. Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum celebrantes sub honore beatae Mariae Virginis: Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary!   

Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R.

 

The Most Small Congregation

"Out of the Wilderness".

Gathered together about Our Lady's Funeral Couch

Feast of the Assumption, 2012.

(Absent are: Br. Paul Mary, Br. Dominic Mary, Br. Xavier Maria all in Christchurch

and Br. Alfonso Maria in the Philippines)

Decree of Erection

Text of the above Document.


Decree of erection
Of a
Religious institute of diocesan right



The Papa Stronsay community known as the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer was founded on 2nd August 1988 residing on the Isle of Sheppey in England.  In 1994 they moved to Joinville in France and from there in 1999 came to their present location on the Isle of Papa Stronsay within the archipelago of the Orkney Isles.

In 2008 in response to the Apostolic Letter, Summorum Pontificum, of his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, given Motu Proprio at St Peter’s on 7th July 2007, three priests of the community sought regularisation of their situation and a majority of the community signed a Formula of Adherence, which ended the schismatic state and brought them into full communion with the Catholic Church.

In September 2011, I as Bishop of Aberdeen and accompanied by Rev. Stuart P. Chalmers, Vicar General of the Diocese, made a pastoral visit to the community.  After further consultation with the Holy See it was agreed to begin the course of action leading to the canonical recognition of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer.

Beginning on 23rd April 2012 a Canonical Visitation took place undertaken by myself as Bishop of Aberdeen and accompanied by Dom Benedict Hardy, O.S.B. Prior of the Abbey of Pluscarden; the results of which were duly reported to Cardinal William Levada President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.  Consequently, in accord with the letter dated 12th June 2012, Prot. N. 27/2006, from Mons Guido Pozzo, secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei and after consulting the Council of Priests of the diocese of Aberdeen:

I, Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B, by the grace of God Bishop of Aberdeen, decree that the community known as the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, be erected as a Religious Institute of Diocesan right in accordance with c 579 of the Code of Canon Law 1983.  The Institute will be subject to all other applicable norms of the said code and governed by the statutes of the said community previously approved by the Holy See.

Given this day 15th August in the year of Our Lord 2012

................................................
Rt Rev. Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B.
Bishop of Aberdeen

Prot No. 01/2012 L.S.
............................................
Rev. Deacon John J. Wire
Chancellor

Official Statement

Official Statement

from the

Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer

On this festive solemnity of the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God body and soul into Heaven our spiritual joy and fraternal rejoicing is great indeed:

Beneath Her mantle and on this occasion of Her solemn feast, today, 15 August, 2012, our community, The Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, has been granted canonical recognition as a Clerical Institute of Diocesan Right by His Lordship the Right Reverend Dom Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B., Bishop of Aberdeen.

We invite you to rejoice with us on this solemn feast of Our Lady through Whose Perpetual Succour, we have received a great favour from Our Lord. 

We also announce the community’s public profession of vows that will take place in Our Lady’s Chapel (at the head of the pier) Stronsay, on 22 August, feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at 18.15 (6.15 p.m.). 

The profession will be celebrated by His Lordship, the Right Reverend Dom Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B., Bishop of Aberdeen. 

(Limited overnight accommodation is available. The ferry leaves Kirkwall at 16.00 and arrives in Stronsay at 18.05).

"It is just a fact of life" - Bishop Hugh, O.S.B.

As a monk and a priest, I don't marry. This doesn't make me better or worse than married people. It is just a fact of life. Someone out there has been deprived of the privilege of having me as a husband; it just is not my role.

Rt. Rev. Dom Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B.

Bishop of Aberdeen

There are hundreds of married people in the pews every Sunday and they do not celebrate Mass or hear Sacramental confessions. That doesn't mean that God loves them more or less than He loves me. It is just a fact of life. It is not their role to be priests.

In the Church it is not possible for a priest to marry. This is a matter of Church law. It could conceivably change. In our society, it is not possible for two men or two women to marry. That is not discrimination. It is not just a human law which can be changed. It is a fact of life.

Someone swimming the English Channel.

Saying that everybody should have the right to marry is like saying that everybody should have the right to swim the Channel. The fact is that not everybody can do it, or should even try. It is simply not possible.

It seems to me that the government has looked at civil partnerships and decided that they are so similar in every way to civil marriages that we might as well simply change the name. You might think that is fair enough and there is no difference. The truth is that a government can pass any legislation it likes, it can legislate to say that everything with four legs is a table, even when it is a dog and not a horse, but that won't make it so.

A Wedding in the East.

People have understood the meaning of marriage for thousands of years. Crucially, it has three limits. It is limited by number - you can only marry one person at a time. It is limited by relationships, a man cannot marry his niece, for example. And it is limited by gender - only men and women can marry.

A Wedding in the West.

Now a combination of misplaced kindness, fashion and a commitment to equality are leading the government to propose removing one of those three pillars. Why not the other two? Why is it alright for a man to marry another man, but not alright for him to marry two women? If we really want equality, why does that equality not extend to nieces who genuinely, truly love their uncles? And, if you say that such things do not happen, that they are mere freaks of nature, extreme examples dreamed up for the sake of argument, I say you need to spend more time in the parish.

And do you really want your little boy being taught that when he grows up he can marry another boy if he wants?

Fifty years ago nobody would have believed we could seriously be discussing gay 'marriage.' Fifty years from now will we be discussing multi-marriages in the same way?

The God I try to serve does not condemn. He did not condemn the woman taken in adultery but, if she had asked him to conduct a wedding service with her lover, he would have refused. It would simply have been impossible.

As Bishop of Aberdeen, I know there are gay people amongst the community of the Church. I promise I will always respect and love them and uphold them in their relationship with the God who loves them. But I won't marry them. It just cannot be done.

Bishop Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B.

Bishop of Aberdeen

Feast of the Diocese

Not every diocese can claim its own Marian feast, but we are lucky enough to live in one that can.  Today, 9th July, we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Aberdeen. The statue, which is now in Belgium, is known in that country as Our Lady of Good Succour.

The miraculous statue of Our Lady of Aberdeen.

The Holy Mass of Our Lady of Good Succour, celebrated before the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.

Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. - John 6:54

For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God? - Hebrews 9:13-14

Official Statement

With the Bishop Hugh, O.S.B.and Fr. Benedict, O.S.B.
26th April, 2012,
Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Official Statement

 

From 23rd to 26th April, 2012

a Canonical Visitation of the community at Papa Stronsay

was undertaken by the local Ordinary

Rt. Rev. Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B.

accompanied by

V. Rev. Benedict Hardy, O.S.B.

The Visitation was positively received by the community.

Its outcome will be formally announced in due course,

pending canonically required consultations.

A pastoral letter unlike any I have read before.

Today we read the Pastoral Letter of Bishop Hugh, O.S.B.
It was a delight!

I invite you to read it too!

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We live in a noisy world. Our towns and cities are full of noise. There is noise in the skies and on the roads. There is noise in our homes, and even in our churches. And most of all there is noise in our minds and hearts.

The Danish philosopher Kierkegaard once wrote: ‘The present state of the world and the whole of life is diseased. If I were a doctor and I were asked for my advice, I should reply: “Create silence! Bring people to silence!” The Word of God cannot be heard in the noisy world of today. And even if it were trumpeted forth with all the panoply of noise so that it could be heard in the midst of all the other noise, then it would no longer be the Word of God. Therefore, create silence!’

‘Create silence!’ There’s a challenge here. Surely speaking is a good and healthy thing? Yes indeed. Surely there are bad kinds of silence? Yes again. But still Kierkegaard is on to something.

There is a simple truth at stake. There can be no real relationship with God, there can be no real meeting with God, without silence. Silence prepares for that meeting and silence follows it. An early Christian wrote, ‘To someone who has experienced Christ himself, silence is more precious than anything else.’ For us God has the first word, and our silence opens our hearts to hear him. Only then will our own words really be words, echoes of God’s, and not just more litter on the rubbish dump of noise.

‘How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given.’ So the carol goes. For all the noise, rush and rowdiness of contemporary Christmasses, we all know there is a link between Advent and silence, Christmas and silence. Our cribs are silent places. Who can imagine Mary as a noisy person? In the Gospels, St Joseph never says a word; he simply obeys the words brought him by angels. And when John the Baptist later comes out with words of fire, it is after years of silence in the desert. Add to this the silence of our long northern nights, and the silence that follows the snow. Isn’t all this asking us to still ourselves?

A passage from the Old Testament Book of Wisdom describes the night of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt as a night full of silence. It is used by the liturgy of the night of Jesus’ birth:
‘When a deep silence covered all things and night was in the middle of its course, your all-powerful Word, O Lord, leapt from heaven’s royal throne’ (Wis 18:14-15).
‘Holy night, silent night!’ So we sing. The outward silence of Christmas night invites us to make silence within us. Then the Word can leap into us as well, as a wise man wrote: ‘If deep silence has a hold on what is inside us, then into us too the all-powerful Word will slip quietly from the Father’s throne.’
This is the Word who proceeds from the silence of the Father. He became an infant, and ‘infant’ means literally ‘one who doesn’t speak.’ The child Jesus would have cried - for air and drink and food - but he didn’t speak. ‘Let him who has ears to hear, hear what this loving and mysterious silence of the eternal Word says to us.’ We need to listen to this quietness of Jesus, and allow it to make its home in our minds and hearts.

‘Create silence!’ How much we need this! The world needs places, oases, sanctuaries, of silence.
And here comes a difficult question: what has happened to silence in our churches? Many people ask this. When the late Canon Duncan Stone, as a young priest in the 1940s, visited a parish in the Highlands, he was struck to often find thirty or forty people kneeling there in silent prayer. Now often there is talking up to the very beginning of Mass, and it starts again immediately afterwards. But what is a church for, and why do we go there? We go to meet the Lord and the Lord comes to meet us. ‘The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him!’ said the prophet Habakkuk. Surely the silent sacramental presence of the Lord in the tabernacle should lead us to silence? We need to focus ourselves and put aside distractions before the Mass begins. We want to prepare to hear the word of the Lord in the readings and homily. Surely we need a quiet mind to connect to the great Eucharistic Prayer? And when we receive Holy Communion, surely we want to listen to what the Lord God has to say, ‘the voice that speaks of peace’? Being together in this way can make us one – the Body of Christ - quite as effectively as words.
A wise elderly priest of the diocese said recently, ‘Two people talking stop forty people praying.’
‘Create silence!’ I don’t want to be misunderstood. We all understand about babies. Nor are we meant to come and go from church as cold isolated individuals, uninterested in one another. We want our parishes to be warm and welcoming places. We want to meet and greet and speak with one another. There are arrangements to be made, items of news to be shared, messages to be passed. A good word is above the best gift, says the Bible. But it is a question of where and when. Better in the porch than at the back of the church. Better after the Mass in a hall or a room. There is a time and place for speaking and a time and place for silence. In the church itself, so far as possible, silence should prevail. It should be the norm before and after Mass, and at other times as well. When there is a real need to say something, let it be done as quietly as can be. At the very least, such silence is a courtesy towards those who want to pray. It signals our reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. It respects the longing of the Holy Spirit to prepare us to celebrate the sacred mysteries. And then the Mass, with its words and music and movement and its own moments of silence, will become more real. It will unite us at a deeper level, and those who visit our churches will sense the Holy One amongst us.

‘Create silence!’ It is an imperative. May the Word coming forth from silence find our silence waiting for him like a crib! ‘The devil’, said St Ambrose, ‘loves noise; Christ looks for silence.’

Yours sincerely in Him,

+ Hugh, O. S. B.
Bishop of Aberdeen


7 December 2011.

Sharing 26,000 words of gratitude to God and spiritual joy.

Photos on the occasion
of
the clerical tonsure of Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R.
with the seminarians
of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary
Nebraska, USA.

A picture paints a thousand words.

Thus do we then present 26,000 words of
gratitude to God
and spiritual joy
upon the clerical tonsure of our confrère.

In this ceremony
Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R. took a first step
for our whole community.

Papa Stronsay rejoices.

Special thanks to:

His Lordship Bishop Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B.
Bishop of Aberdeen.

His Lordship Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz,
Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Very Reverend Father John Berg,
Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

Very Reverend Father Josef Bisig,
Rector of the Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Lincoln, Nebraska.

Procession to the Seminary Chapel.

Candidates for the Tonsure.

Celebrant His Lordship Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz,
Bishop of Lincoln,
Nebraska.

To the right of the Bishop in cope is the
Very Reverend Fr. Josef Bisig,
Rector of the Seminary.

Br. Martin Mary stands in his religious habit
the other candidates hold the cassocks they will receive.

Having put on their the cassocks the seminarians return to the chapel.

The moment of Tonsure has arrived.

The hair is cut in on the four side of the head:
the points of the Cross.

The reception of the Surplice.

The incensing of the Gospel.

The newly tonsured offers the Pontiff a lighted candle.

The Offertory of the Mass.