If you signed up to receive Contra Mundum by mail, you should receive your copy soon. You can also read this and all of the back issues on our website.

In adddtion to notes for our parish and news of upcoming events, July’s issue features the following:

• “Siding with the Lord,” a sermon preached by Father Bradford based on Mark 5:21-43
• “A Prayer for Our Country” by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York
• “Running Along the Way” by Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
• “The Fount of Joy” by Father Servais Pinckaers, OP, and Professor of Moral Theology at Freiburg
• “To Believe What God Has Revealed” by the Provost, from The Oratory Magazine, the parish paper of the Brompton (London) Oratory
• “The Climate Change Debate” by Simon Caldwell, published in The Daily Mail

The archives of all of the issues back to the first issue in 1998 are here.

To receive Contra Mundum by mail, send an email with you address to Steve Cavanaugh.

Since we have been joined by the members of the Ordinariate Community of Saint Gregory the Great, we have been using as our pew Missal, Divine Worship: The Missal. 

Bishop Steven Lopes, First Bishop of the Prersonal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, recently presented the Hillenbrand lecture on the origins of this Missal at the Liturgical Institute at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. You can read the text of his lecture here and view our pew Missal here.

With Fr. Bradford away, we welcomed our good friend, Fr. Jurgen Liias, as our celebrant and preacher at Mass for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on Sunday, June 18, 2018. Fr. Liias was the founding pastor of our sister congregation of St. Gregory the Great. It was good to catch up with Fr. Liias at the coffee hour after Mass.

With Fr. Bradford away, we welcome our good friend, Fr. Jurgen Liias, as our celebrant and preacher at Mass for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi at 11:30 am at St. Lawrence Church in Chestnut Hill (directions).

Fr. Liias was the founding pastor of our sister congregation of St. Gregory the Great.

Mass will be followed by coffee hour with fellowship and refreshments.

Pentecost this year was especially meaningful to the Community of St Gregory the Great and the Congregation of Saint Athanasius.  We celebrated the Rite of Welcome for Jeremy. An evangelical and the son of a pastor, Jeremy made the decision to become Catholic and join through the Ordinariate.

The Rite of Welcome goes back to the early church. An early Christian treatise entitled Apostolic Tradition dating back to Hippolytus of Rome (235 AD) gives instructions for those coming in the Church. Jeremy has now completed the first of three phases. In the presence of his two sponsors and the Community of St Gregory the Great and the Congregation of Saint Athanasius, Father Bradford traced the sign of the cross with consecrated oil on Jeremy’s forehead. Prayers were said and the kiss of peace was given after Jeremy made his commitment of intent to become Catholic.

Between now and when he is received, Jeremy will grow in his understanding of the teachings of the Catholic Church. It will be a time of instruction and self-reflection, with the aid of his two sponsors, as he discovers the wonder and joy that exist within Catholicism. Our commitment to him (and his family) is to uphold him in prayer during this special period. Welcome, Jeremy!

Our sign-up for summer altar flowers begins on Memorial Day weekend, with flowers needed for Sundays in June through September. You may bring arrangements from your garden or a florist. We require two larger arrangements for the high altar, or one or two smaller vases for the Marian altar, whichever you prefer. But be sure to sign up for a summer Sunday.

Yesterday, Pentecost Sunday, was a busy day for our congregation.

Our 11:30 am Mass featured readings of Acts 2:1-11 by various members of the congregation in English, Greek, Irish, Spanish, Japanese, German, and Latin.

We also celebrated the Rite of Welcoming a Candidate, Jeremy Kappenman, for Reception into the Catholic Church.

At 3:00 pm we joined with Saint Paul’s Anglican Church in Brockton, Mass. for Solemn Evensong. Bishop Hiles invited Father Bradford to be the officiant at this service and members of our schola joined the St. Paul’s Choir to sing evensong. This service was the last event in a weekend celebration at St. Paul’s dedicating a new church building.