Special Offerings of the Latin Mass for Thursday, August 15, 2019: The Feast of the Assumption of Mary Into Heaven

(source: https://lourdesprayerrequest.com/prayer___assumption_of_the_blessed_virgin_mary)

Hello everyone, I realize I have been away for a long while, but my family duties take first priority right now in my life alongside my full-time work. It doesn’t leave you much time for other pursuits unfortunately including the spiritual realm.

However, allow me to take this brief opportunity to announce some special offerings of the Latin mass in the archdiocese of Toronto this coming Thursday, August 15, for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven.

Normal offerings of the Latin mass of the Archdiocese of Toronto parishes can be found, at the tab at the top of this web page called “Known Latin Mass Listings in the Archdiocese of Toronto and External Dioceses in Ontario”

As for the special offerings, there are two offerings being held at diocesan parishes this Thursday evening.

The first offering, with credit due to Mr Paul Alexander Griffiths on Facebook for informing me, is as follows, At one of the normal parishes who hold daily Latin Mass:

1) Holy family Catholic Church, (1372 King St. W., Toronto Ontario.)

• Mass start time is 6 PM, 
• Confessions starting at least 5:45 PM, maybe earlier (NB, if long lineups persist, the Oratorians do not shy from doing confession in the first part of the Mass if needed!)
• The Mass is advertised as a Solemn High Mass aka Missa Solemnis in the parish bulletin.

The second offering, is at a parish known to the Latin Mass and polish communities, one I endorse for being open to all parties looking for assistance/worship space for holding Latin Masses, in addition to holding their own weekly offering Saturday 9am, and on special feast days. The details are as follows:
2) St. Mary’s Polish Catholic Church, (1996 Davenport Rd., Toronto Ontario.)

• Mass start time is 7 PM.
• Unknown if the priest will be available for confessions. There might only be one priest around, the one carrying out the sacrifice of the Holy Mass. 
• This mass will be a Missa Canatata, as I've been informed a choirmaster from a lay organization will be assisting to provide Gregorian Chant

I hope you will pass on word to your family/friends and attend one of these offerings. I especially encourage you to attend and support these parishes that hold the Latin Mass as in the current situation in our Archdiocese, it is these parishes whom are taking leadership for holding the bulk of Latin Mass offerings outside of normal scheduled times.

Should I not have family or other important duties, I will likely attend the Holy Family offering with a close friend of mine, as it would allow me an hour earlier to get home to my wife and 17 month year old son, especially after waking up at 430am to begin the day and travel to my work.

So hopefully I will see you there, but don’t let my choice discourage you attending St Mary’s. The pastors and community there are excellent and have the correct approach to the Latin Mass in terms of charity and navigating the current political and liturgical climate in the Church.

Regardless, support your closest community, or any holding these special offerings, and may the sacred liturgy that fed the Saints these past few centuries, feed your soul too and inspire you to be better disciples of Christ.

Pax, Julian.

Two Special Latin Mass Offerings for the Feast of Candlemas this Saturday, Feb 2nd!

Hello Everyone,

In the Archdiocese of Toronto, we have been blessed with not only one, but TWO special Latin Mass offerings for this coming Saturday, February 2, 2019! Both offerings will be Missa Cantata/Sung High Mass, whereas normally at these parishes only a low Mass/Missa Lecta is offered at these times!

1) HOLY FAMILY, TORONTO: The first is at Holy Family Parish, served by the Oratorians of St Phillip Neri. The Oratorian Parishes are only one of two parishes (I count them as one, despite having two actual parishes,) who offer daily Latin amass in Toronto including SUNDAY OBLIGATION Masses. The details are as follows:

Date: Sat, Feb 2, 2018
Time: 8:30 am
Location: Holy Family Church
Address: 1372 King St W., Toronto ON
Confessions prior to Mass? YES (minimum 15 Min before Mass)


2) ST. MARY's POLISH CATHOLIC CHURCH, TORONTO: The second offering was one that I received by word of mouth and phone texting, thanks to a good colleague of mine in the Latin Masses here in Toronto. This will be at St Mary’s Polish Catholic Church near Davenport and Ossington.

This offering at St Mary’s is being allowed under the excellent pastorship of Fr Kazimirez Brzozowski, whom is open to hosting offerings of the Latin Mass from ALL lay organizations and choirs in the Archdiocese. He also is Celebrant for his own parish Latin Masses. This has included my colleagues of St Patrick’s Gregorian Choir and I last year for Christ the King 2018. Out of respect and admiration for the good and Holy Father and his parish, I announce the following offering:

Date: Sat, Feb 2, 2018
Time: 9:00 am

Location: St. Mary’s Polish Catholic Church

Address: 1996 Davenport Road, Toronto, ON
Confessions prior to Mass? No, no priest set aside for communion time (unless perhaps you ask Fr. Kazimirez in emergency, in good time prior to Mass.)

As a note, there is no large-scale parking available for St. Mary's, one will have to park in the neighboring side streets surrounding the parish.

I do hope that you will be inspired to attend and spread the word. I will, circumstances permitting, be attending one of the offerings. Perhaps I'll see you there.

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.

One extra EF Mass for Candlemas Tomorrow

Hello Everyone,

There will only be one special offering outside of the normal parish (read: daily, regularly scheduled) offerings in the Archdiocese of Toronto for the Feast of the Purification/Candlemas in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

There is also a Sung English, Novus Ordo 5:30pm Mass at Holy Family, run by the Oratorians. However, the candles will NOT be blessed using the blessings from the Rituale Romanum, or the EF blessing rite contained in the Ordo for the Mass in the EF. 

For more information, please click on the Sources of Information for Special offerings tab above, or just click here: http://torontotlmserving.blogspot.ca/p/sources-of-information-for-latin-mass.html.

Pax, Julian.

St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir Sacred Heart Mass This Friday June 27th, 2014 at 7pm! Also other little Latin Mass Tidbits.

Hello Everyone!

I come as a bearer of good news! I have today for all of you one major announcement this week for the Latin Mass in the Archdiocese of Toronto, as well as other related tidbits that caught my eye this week.

1) St. Patrick`s Gregorian Choir is organizing it`s annual Sacred Heart Mass for 2014 this week. This choir, headed under the graceful direction of choirmaster Surinder S. Mundra, has been in existence since 2006 when it formed on the EF feast for Christ the King in 2006. Since then, the choir has striven to bring grace and reverence to the EF in the Archdiocese of Toronto, bring much inspiration to the EF.

What I love about working with the choir (at the serving end of things), and have witnessed when observing some of the choir practices, prior to my serving instruction, its how its members are committed to singing properly and with excellence, Gregorian Chant. The choir consists of clearly committed Catholics, not striving for glory, fame, or to exceed all others in their work in the EF, but to pour their hearts out to Christ through the sacred Gregorian Chant and other works sung at the Latin Masses. Some of them even contribute to the Saturday 5pm Novus Ordo at St. Patrick`s Catholic Church downtown, singing the major sung parts of the Mass.

Enough of my praises for my colleagues in Faith. Here are all the details, as per my initial Summer 2014 special offerings page:

Friday June 27, 2014 - Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir

• When? Friday, June 27, 2014
• What time? 7pm EST
• Where: St. Lawrence the Martyr Catholic Church
• Location: 2210 Lawrence Avenue East, Scarborough, ON
• Level of Mass: Solemn (Missa Solemnis)
• Parish Website:  http://stlawrencethemartyr.com/
• Parish Contact Info: 416-759-9359 & Fax: 416-759-6725. Request Fr. Steven Szakaczki the Latin Mass Chaplain for any specific inquires unanswerable by clerical staff of the parish. 
• Information/Enquiries/Want to Assist in serving, singing, or other ways? 416-731-4485 to reach the SPGC choirmaster.
• Poster:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/444773692334037/permalink/466502263494513/

As a minor note, I will be serving in the role as boat bearer, alongside my familiar colleagues in the Mass, and some new people too. Can`t wait. 

2) Other offerings in our Archdiocese: For those whom are unable to travel the distance to Scarborough for our Mass in the evening, or are unavailable in evening hours for whatever reason, there are other EF Masses being held in the Archdiocese on the EF Feast day. 

The first offering during the day, is the usual daily offering at Holy Family Church at 1130am (weekdays) under the Oratorians of St. Phillip Neri in Toronto, in the Parkdale neighbourhood. Please see here for more information as to their location and usual times.

The second offering is westward, at St. Joseph`s Catholic Church in Streetsville/Mississauga, Ontario. This offering is being done with the assistance of the Toronto Traditional Mass Society. See more details in my Summer 2014 post under Friday's date and Feast of the Sacred Heart. 

3) The Latin Mass Society of Canada: I would like to introduce one of the newest members to the Federation International Una Voce (FIUV) in my wonderful country, The Latin Mass Society of Canada (LMSC). For those who don`t know, FIUV is a lay organization which was started after the Second Vatican Council, whose aims revolve around the preservation and promotion of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. They are represented in a number of countries and are one of the longest running organizations who have been vocal in their aims and in ensuring the EF is respected and promoted. You may look up more information on their website, here. 

The LMSC is the latest addition in Canada, who is a fully affiliated National Chapter of the FIUV. According to their Facebook Page: ``The Latin Mass Society of Canada, a Member of Una Voce International FIUV, endeavours to promote the Traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments among the laity and clergy throughout Canada, in accordance with the provisions of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI. We do this through a network of autonomous chapters and members who support the aims of Federatio Internationalis Una Voce.``

I highly encourage you to contact them and to support their work. They currently have chapters in various spots in Canada. Furthermore, the president of LMSC, Paul Fournier, had been elected to the executive of FIUV as one of its vice-presidents. 

The secretary of the LMSC, Donna O`Connor, had left her business card at St. Lawrence the Martyr, and so, I reproduce it here so you can get in contact with LMSC, though the email is latinmass.canada@gmail.com:

4) This is what you use side altars for in a Church: Have you ever gone to one of the non-wreckovated or non-modern Churches in a parish and wondered about those little long tables at the side, if "that is an altar, aside from the one in front of me?" The answer is likely, yes. Sadly, with the widespread promotion of the Novus Ordo, and hatred towards Ad Orientem, the usage of these altars died for the most part. These days, with the return of the EF, priests are now starting to use them again, even saying an EF Low Mass at the same time as the Novus Ordo Mass on the main altar. In fact, that's what the side altars are for, so other priests can say their own private, or daily Masses, should the main altar be used. 

Well, I had never witnessed this phenomenon happen in any modern church, just pictures on the internet. If any of you are in the know in the EF in Toronto, one of the most reverent and longest serving EF priests in our diocese is Father Liam Gavigan. Every weekend, he travels in from Ottawa in order to assist St. Lawrence in its EF Mass duties, by saying the Friday Evening, and Saturday Morning Masses at St. Lawrence the Martyr. He also does the Eucharistic Benediction and Adoration when he can stay longer on the weekend at SLTM. I caught him doing this Sunday before the 7pm Novus Ordo. 

So, what`s the story? After my practice, I got to catch a certain Holy Father of Christ setting up something to my right. Here's what it looked like from my viewpoint:

What's that, a Chalice, Mass Cards, and such to the right??? Uh shouldn't they be on the Center???

So naturally, I took a closer view, and sure enough, Father Gavigan had set up the side altar for Mass the following morning, likely before he would go back to Ottawa or because the main altar would be in use (likely for the Novus Ordo as SLTM's Monday Latin Mass is 11am).

While I have never gotten to witness a Mass with an altar for side usage yet, seeing it set up for the first time like this is so cool. 

And that's all she wrote for today folks! Please attend the Latin Mass on Friday, whether it be the day or the evening at one of the special offerings. If you attend the SPGC organized Mass, you will see me serving at brief points (boat bearer is only needed a few times), and I am happy to meet you after Mass if you like. 

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin. 

Some, Like, Whoa points: Holy Family and other little chestnuts

Hello Everyone,

I waited till after the Latin Mass of Sacred Heart to post this, because I wanted the Mass left up to promote the EF on my blog and Society of Canadian of Catholic Bloggers. So, here's some cool things that happened with me and on the Catholic Blogosphere recently:

1) I went to Holy Family Parkdale, Toronto, for the EF High Mass at 11am last Sunday (2nd after Pentecost at SPN HF, Corpus Christi in the Novus Ordo). This is a parish that is staffed by the Oratorian Fathers (of St. Phillip Neri, the title being SPN at the end of a priest's name). The parishes of Holy Family and St. Vincent De Paul are the parishes under their governance and is the home of the EF for the West/Central Toronto in the core of the Archdiocese. Fun fact: SVDP was holding the Latin Masses under special privilege called an indult, granted specifically by John Paul II himself under his papacy!

 It was a Missa Cantata with a full complement of servers and a small choir of all men. While there:

• It was the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel: Luke 14: 16-24. The main message in the homily: Don't forsake Jesus for all other things. Your eternal salvation is priority! Even little urgent tasks here and there add up till you just don't care about the Lord. To paraphrase McDonalds (TM) before they used "I'm lovin' it", Christ was saying to us "Have you cared about Me today?" 
• There was more than a few families with more than 2 children, and there were decently dressed, as well as the young ladies were wearing mantillas! The youth are with the Latin Mass!
• It's been a while since I did Sunday TLM there, great to be back!
• Got to see old acquaintances and some of the Oratorian students there. Met a new face or two. I even saw one of my U of T Newman Center friends! 
• Out of the full complement of altar servers, there was only one St. Phillip Neri Oratory student who was boat bearer/MC. The other servers were young boys/men! Great to see so many young servers!

2) I wanted to pray the rosary, but couldn't find a seat at the back of their 1230pm Novus Ordo mass. So I stood. Today was the Corpus Christi Sunday in the Ordinary Form (it is this past Thursday May 30 in the EF). While I didn't get to pray in the body of the Church, the priest there had some bang on things in his Homily! And there were numerous young children in the pews with their families. Here's what I, and those fortunate young children got to hear:

• Number one thing: You cannot take the Eucharist in Mortal Sin! It is compounding Mortal Sin on Mortal Sin! Yes, I realize the Oratory is like the gold standard of Novus Ordo Masses, but honestly, how many Novus Ordo priests have the guts to talk to children about Mortal Sin??? Not many at all!!!
• He quoted from Vatican II which lists the Eucharist as the source and summit of our Faith. Great to hear that. 
• He also mentioned that all the other sacraments tie into the Eucharist in the Mass. 
• He spoke about Eucharistic Adoration briefly! It's becoming quite popular among the youth of my, and the generation below me, so kudos to the priest for adding that in.

3) Here's something that requires ATTENTION. It crosses over to both the Novus Ordo and EF realms, and should be directed to all music ministers, parish priests, and liturgists: MARTY HAUGEN IS NOT A CATHOLIC AND PURPOSELY HAS ANTI-CATHOLIC SENTIMENTS IN HIS HYMNS!!! I did not say it. Please see THIS! revelation and why parish music as a whole for lack of a better word "sucks." (Hint: it was NOT VATICAN II!) More importantly, spread this like the plague on the internet and among your friends and parishes!

4) GREAT NEWS!!!! The Vatican has heard the requests of the faithful for the Pope's powerful "Fervorinos"/weeday homilies when he does not do his audiences or Sunday Masses. These homilies have tackled everything from Faith without works, being joyful on one's faith and not a sourpuss or hypocrite, and even calling out the Evil One himself by name!!! THEY HAVE LISTENED!!!! They now have the summaries of the Pope's Fervorinos when he does Mass in the Sanctae Domae Chapel on the following page on the Vatican Website: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/cotidie/2013/index_en.htm/. The summaries are printed in L'osservatore Romano and reposted on the Vatican website. ADMG! One note: The Vatican is slower to update their page vs. Vatican Radio and News.Va. If you want everything right after the day of the homily, then go there. Still this is a big improvement for the Vatican!!!

5) I'd like to promote something Novus Ordo. If you have read my "About" page, I feel it is highly critical as part of the New Evangelization and my mandate to be a voice of my generation and the one below it, and we should be highly ministering to those generations and reaching out to them. Youth Ministry, done with respect to the Magisterium and orthodox Catholic teaching, can really make a difference in the faith life of young people. Examples are in parish structured youth ministries (e.g. EDGE, LIFETEEN), and other initiatives like Totus Tuus, which is held in the Summer in the Archdiocese of Toronto. Further, these programs are also producing teachers who are not false in their faith who apply to our separate school system/Private Catholic schools.

However, starting out in youth ministry, or achieving said orthodoxy, might not work without the necessary tools and experience (or for that matter, you might need something to merit getting said initial experience). Therefore, I am promoting a youth ministry course called the Canadian Certificate for Youth Ministry Studies, co-sponsored by the Redemptorist Fathers and the University of St. Michael's College School with University of Toronto. It is an 8-course certification program requiring a combination of 2-day seminars and accompanying assignments (with a 5 month period due to practical components) per course. The link for this summer's courses in Toronto are here. It would be a great opportunity to begin the CCYMS program as the courses offered are the first two in the logical order of the 8 courses (first 4 are foundations courses in ideally the first year, the last 4 are specific facets of ministry in ideally the 2nd year of the courses). I personally might take this program myself, though that will depend on a possible future employment opportunity I applied for.

6) Most importantly, please see my Post-Latin Mass Report of the St. Pat's Sacred Heart Mass from Last Friday the 6th June, which was held at St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish, Scarborough, ON. Here. It's similar in structure as last time, but I do them as a labour of love and because these Masses DESERVE to be reported on. All efforts deserve recognition in the EF of the Roman Rite.

Pax, Julian.