De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Fr. Dominic O'Toole CSsR, Parish Priest at the beautiful church of St. Mary's , Clapham, is one of my dearest friends and God Father to my third son John Joseph. Regular readers may recall that he recently celebrated his first Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite ; the Usus Antiquior , Tridentine or 1962 Missal. With the help of my mendacious friend, Ben Travato , I put together some questions about the experience which I thought you, dear reader, might find to your delight and erudition: Me: How did you come up with this idea to celebrate the anniversary by saying the EF Mass? Fr. Dom: We were wondering how to mark our 160th anniversary in a special way. Someone suggested the idea to me, I thought about it, and spoke to the Parish Council about it. They were supportive of the idea. Me: How did you set about learning to say the EF? Who helped you and what was your experience? Fr. Dom: Fr Andrew Southwell, the former Chaplain to LMS, ministered in ...

There are some great pictures over at the New Liturgical Movement website of the beautiful solemn High Mass said by Father Dominic O'Toole C.Ss.R., at Clapham on Saturday to mark the 160th anniversary of the church's consecration as I informed you in my post of 3rd October : Fr. Dominic was assisted by Fr. Peter Gee and Br. Gerry Carroll, C.Ss.R. Music was provided by the St. George's Cathedral Choir, Southwark, under the direction of Nick Gale.  I was a bit worried he'd nicked the curtains to fashion a suitable chasuble, but it does all seem to have been very colour coordinated. I did speak to Fr. Dominic on Sunday afternoon, as I was scrambling from the back of a mini-bus in Westport as part of my cousin's stag party, so I didn't get much of an opportunity to find out how it went. I look forward to sharing a full report with you in due course!

St. Mary's from Clapham Park Road. Fr. Dominic O'Toole is Parish Priest at the beautiful St. Mary's Clapham , the foundation stone of which was laid in 1849. The church was designed in a Gothic style by William Wardell and was solemnly opened and blessed by Cardinal Wiseman on May 14th 1851 during a service beginning at 5.30am to avoid local unrest due to the growing influence of what was deemed the menace of Roman Popery! Fr. Dominic is one of my dearest friends and I have been deeply privileged to have been invited to his first and, some years later, his final profession and his ordination by Cardinal Keith O'Brien. Dominic is God Father to my son John and is the person I have to thank for encouraging me and supporting me to study the faith at Maryvale . On Saturday 13th October 2012, Fr. Dominic is going to say a Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form, with some beautiful music, to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the consecration of the Church. ...