It was a busy day yesterday!

I’ve never been a fan of blogs – or worst yet, Facebook denizens – who post every bit of mind-numbing minutia that occurs in their day.  Hey, I cooked rice for dinner!  Hey, I went to the bathroom!  Hey, I shot a stray dog with an Uzi!  Ok, the last one might merit some attention…….

But yesterday was remarkable on a couple of fronts and I think there might be enough general interest here for you, my gentle readers. After Mass at Mater Dei, we drove over to Arlington to meet an old priest friend of ours who was in town for the day.  The priest is Fr. John McHugh, who is one of the two founders of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity.  Fr. McHugh is now 90 but still very active.  He is the priest from whom our two oldest daughters received First Communion several years ago, before the TLM wormed its way into our collective souls, never to depart.  Fr. McHugh has led a very storied life – WWII airman and combat veteran, POW, priest, co-founder of SOLT, missionary to Belize and a number of other countries, and a very good man.  As I said, he is still quite active even though he is now 90!  Even though our girl’s First Communion was 5+ years ago, my wife has stayed in touch, and he remembered the girls quite well.  He had never met Benedict before.

It was great to see Father McHugh, and Fr. Dale ———- whose last name I did not get!  We met them at St. Mary the Virgin parish in Arlington. I had never heard of this small parish before, and we had a bit of trouble finding it.  But as we walked into the church we could smell the incense, and noted that the 10:30 Mass was not quite concluded at noon.  So, not your average 50 minute in and out Sunday Mass.  It turns out St. Mary the Virgin is an Anglican-use parish which appears to be fairly traditional. They were doing some prayers to Our Lady at the conclusion of the Mass, and they apparently offer Mass Ad Orientem.  There were a number of chapel veils present. My prior experience of Anglican Use Mass is that the Blessed Sacrament is distributed kneeling and on the tongue, although I cannot confirm that this particular parish observes that ancient practice. But, if you’re in Arlington for some reason and are looking for a Mass with better than average reverence/practice of Tradition, you might consider St. Mary the Virgin.

We had a nice luncheon with the two priests and then we had to part ways as they were returning to SOLT’s Corpus Christi home base that night.  God bless Fr. McHugh, still at it after well over 50 years!  He is such a nice man.  Just very pleasant to be around, and with the wealth of stories his age and experience would suggest. One interesting thought he had, that I will leave you with, is that the Church in Ireland is in such a deplorable state because the Irish Catholics, in general, have never forgiven the English for the numerous, horrendous depridations they committed against the Church and Ireland in general.  He cited a number of examples to support his supposition, and I have to admit, it’s an interesting argument.

So, discuss, in 500 words or less, the efficacy of this supposition.

Dominus vobiscum!