England: Confraternity of Catholic Clergy formed and now active!

Some time ago I mentioned in these electronic pages that in England some good, loyal, faithful, holy priests were forming a Confraternity of Catholic Clergy.

Here is an update received from one of their organizers.

British Confraternity of Priests Meets to Pledge Fidelity to Pope
Benedict

The First Colloquium of the British Confraternity of Catholic Clergy
was held on Thursday/Friday at the Reading Oratory School.

More than sixty of a rapidly growing number of the Confraternity
priest members were present along with Bishop Mark Davies of
Shrewsbury and Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett of Lismore, Australia. Two
former Anglican bishops, Mgrs Andrew Burnham and Edwin Barns, along
with several new priests of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham,
also attended.

At a time when priests in some countries are gathering in opposition
to Church discipline and traditional doctrine, a broad cross section
of priests from Britain are rallying around a call of fidelity to the
Pope and the Magisterium.

Bishop Davies spoke about authentic priestly identity using the
example of the Cure d’Ars. He reminded priests of their awesome
vocation of making Jesus Christ present in their lives and ministry.
He encouraged priests to live lives of deep prayer and penance, and a
patient zeal in bringing about true reform and renewal in the Church.
He received rapturous applause from the priests. Bishop Jarrett
brought the good wishes of the Australian Confraternity of Catholic
Clergy and spoke encouragingly of how that Confraternity, over
twenty-five years, had played a very significant role in supporting
clergy and even providing new bishops. Mgr Andrew Wadsworth, director
of ICEL and prominent member of the Confraternity, spoke of the need
to seize the moment of new translation of the Roman Missal as an
opportunity for liturgical renewal.

The time together was fuelled by prayerful and dignified liturgy, with
daily Mass, the Divine Office, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and
the opportunity for confessions.

The Confraternity, set up in Britain very recently, has already
attracted very large numbers of priest members, and these continue to
grow. A spokesman for the Confraternity said, ‘The mood here is
different to that found in other new priestly associations. Priests
here want to be in the orthodox mainstream, faithful to Scripture,
Tradition and the Magisterium. Other things have been tried and
failed. The only thing these priests are rebelling against is
infidelity’.

The Confraternity meets several times each year in local chapters
around the country. It exits to promote formation, fraternity and
fidelity amongst the clergy. It is hoped that the Colloquium will be
an annual event and that an annual retreat will also be offered.
Members in Britain are united with well over a thousand priests in
Australia and the US. There is a general gathering of the
Confraternities in Rome every five years.

More information on the Confraternity and future events can be found
on the web-site: www.confraternityccb.org.uk

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

6 Comments

  1. Supertradmum says:

    This is fantastic and in the news on several blogs from England. God bless these priests, and what a difference from some of the Irish clergy.

  2. Bryan Boyle says:

    May their numbers increase exponentially!

  3. pelerin says:

    Yes it does sound like an excellent idea and I am pleased to say that my own Parish Priest was present at the Colloquium and told us that it was wonderful to hear a Bishop speak who had faith. There are ten Catholic parishes in my town but he was the only Priest who attended and there were only three from the whole diocese who attended so there is a long way to go yet.

  4. Sixupman says:

    The elevation of +Davies was from ‘nowhere’ and what an enlightened elevation it has been. Perhaps he had kept his light under a bushell’? Certainly, one for BXVI and one down for the E&W Bishops’ Conference!

  5. irishgirl says:

    This is wonderful to hear!
    Bishop Davies is really making himself visible! Bravo to His Excellency!
    Sixupman-Bishop Davies, before his elevation to Shrewsbury, was the Vicar General of Salford Diocese-so I wouldn’t call it exactly ‘nowhere’. I have a priest-friend from Salford diocese who knew him well.

  6. Stephen D says:

    I hope that someone forms an Irish equivalent in order to counteract the activities of the ‘Association of Catholic ?? Priests’ .

Comments are closed.