Bishop Lopes' Visit to Victoria: FBJHN Website update.
The website of the Fellowship of Blessed John Henry Newman (Victoria, BC) has photos of the recent Confirmation Mass with His Excellency Steven J. Lopes, Bishop of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.
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In the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, the September Ember Days are the traditional Autumn Ember Days, observed on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14). They remain part of the Ordinariate's liturgical patrimony and are specifically encouraged for prayer, fasting, repentance, thanksgiving for the harvest, and prayers for vocations. For 2026, those days (Embertide) fall on: Wednesday, September 16 Friday, September 18 Saturday, September 19 The Ordinariate explains that the September Ember Days are associated with the grape harvest, directing our gratitude toward the wine that becomes the Precious Blood in the Holy Eucharist. They are also traditional times to pray for priests, deacons, and future vocations. Discipline Regarding discipline, the Ordinariate notes that Ember Friday is a day of obligatory abstinence from meat. The faithful are also encouraged to undertake additional fasting, prayer...
Yes to Virtue; No to Sin The history of salvation is the drama of two opposing kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. Every soul must choose between them. There is no neutrality in the spiritual life. Our Lord Jesus Christ calls His disciples to reject sin and pursue holiness, declaring, "No man can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24). The Christian life is therefore a continual and deliberate "yes" to virtue and a steadfast "no" to sin. Virtue is the beauty of a soul conformed to God. It is not merely the performance of isolated good actions but a stable disposition to choose the good with readiness and joy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines virtue as "a habitual and firm disposition to do the good."¹ St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that virtue perfects the powers of the soul, enabling man to act according to right reason illumined by grace.² Through the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, the Christian particip...
Screenshot | Artistic impression of Medieval Priory built beside the Holy House (Denny) The Foundation of the Chapel of Walsingham The Pynson Ballad, published by Richard Pynson circa A.D. 1485* https://www.walsinghamanglicanmedieval.org.uk/pynson.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20080725010750/http://www.walsinghamanglicanarchives.org.uk/pynsonballad.htm http://devotiontoourlady.com/shrine-of-walsingham.html Of this chapell se here the fundacyon, Bylded the yere of crystes incarnacyon, A thousande complete syxty and one, The tyme of sent Edward kyng of this region. Beholde and se, ye goostly folkes all, Which to this place have devocyon When ye to Our Lady askynge socoure call Desyrynge here hir helpe in your trybulacyon: Of this hir chapell ye may se the fundacyon. If ye wyll this table overse and rede Howe by myracle it was founded indede. A noble wydowe, somtyme lady of this towne, Called Rychold, in lyvynge full vertuous, Desyred of Oure Lady a petycyowne Hir to honoure with some w...
Attendees of the Ordinariate Mass habitually pray the Nicene Creed during the Sunday Mass. Since becoming a regular at the Ordinariate Mass, I am reminded every week how blessed we in the Ordinariate are by having a beautiful translation of the Creed to pray. While still a diocesan Catholic, I remember with joy and satisfaction the introduction of the revised (some might say a restored) English translation of the Creed for the Ordinary Form of the Mass. When I left diocesan precincts for the Ordinariate, I found the Credo as prayed in Divine Worship (DW), the Mass of the Ordinariate, to be awkward at first, though strangely attractive. The DW version motivated me to slow down and revisit each phrase. Having been exposed to and shaped by the Credo of Divine Worship for a few years now, I cannot imagine returning to even the improved English text of the Ordinary Form Liturgy. The Nicene Creed professed in the Ordinariate, in that older liturgical dialect, is lyrical, confide...
One of the quiet strengths of Divine Worship, the Mass of the Ordinariates, is precisely its preservation of a kind of liturgical literacy through gesture. Many contemporary Christians can read words on a page, but fewer can "read" the language of worship enacted by the body. The Ordinariate tradition tends to retain a richer grammar of bodily signs than is commonly encountered in many parishes. By "literacy with gestures" is meant the ability of the faithful to recognize and understand actions such as: making the sign of the cross in acknowledgement and adoration at particular moments, e.g., as the Body of Christ is elevated and when the Precious Blood (chalice) is elevated bowing at the Holy Name of Jesus bowing in reverence toward the cross (the sign of our salvation) and priest (who acts in the person of Christ, in persona Christi ) as the procession passes striking the breast in humility during the Confiteor, Agnus Dei, and the Domine, non sum dignus genuflect...
St John the Evangelist Church, Calgary AB The saying, “Without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the clergy are merely bureaucrats,” is intentionally provocative, but it expresses an important truth about the nature of the Church and the priesthood. At its heart lies the conviction that the Church is not fundamentally an institution of administration, but a sacramental communion whose life flows from the Eucharistic sacrifice. The priest certainly has many responsibilities beyond the altar. He teaches the faith, preaches the Gospel, cares for souls, comforts the suffering, and guides the Christian community. These are not bureaucratic tasks but genuine expressions of pastoral and spiritual fatherhood. Yet all of these ministries find their deepest meaning in their relationship to the Eucharist, which the Church calls the source and summit of the Christian life (CCC 1324). When the Mass is forgotten or marginalized, the remaining administrative duties of the clergy can easily come to domi...
POPE LEO XIV Magnifica Humanitas
Even in the darkest nights, the Lord raises up men and women who refuse to give up, who persevere in doing good, who protect the vulnerable and open pathways to reconciliation. The memory of the saints, righteous people and the oft-forgotten peacemakers, show us that grace does not magically eliminate conflict, but instead it inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good” (paragraph 211).
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
I doubt not then but innocence shall make false accusation blush, and tyranny tremble at patience.
WORDS TO THE WHYS
You cannot subsidize irresponsibility and expect people to become more responsible. Thomas Sowell
EPICTETUS
If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."
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