sur le blog de <reluctant sinner>: Le nouveau Nonce à Londres n'a pas hésité à rompre le "cercle magique" des promotions à l'épiscopat Outre-Manche et - pour succéder au siège d'ABERDEEN - à chercher sur les rives du Moray le Rev Hugh Gilbert un abbé bénédictin partisan affiché de la 'réforme de la réforme' et de l'accueil bienveillant des tradis! Parallèlement, pour la prochaine année liturgique nos voisins vont retrouver une traduction rectifiée de l'ordinaire de la messe, l'obligation du maigre le vendredi, et la célébration à leurs dates exactes des fêtes qui tombent en semaine!
L'abbaye écossaise de Pluscarden se montre florissante en rayonnement et en vocations, y compris en célébrant en latin et en grégorien tous les jours (à l'occasion au moins selon l'usus antiquior). Le précédent évêque, Mgr MORAN, était un adversaire affiché de Summorum Pontificum, et a même procrastiné d'incardiner comme congrégation diocésaine les Transalpine Redemptorists de l'île de Papa Stronsay dans les Orcades, qui s'étaient en corps (sauf deux) régularisés avec Rome il y a bien deux ans.

the new Bishop of Aberdeen
It has been announced by the Vatican that Pope Benedict XVI has nominated Rt Rev Hugh Gilbert OSB, Abbot of Pluscarden Abbey in Moray, to succeed Rt Rev Peter Moran as Bishop of Aberdeen. Many Catholics are already familiar with Abbot Hugh and his writings on spirituality. He is known for his orthodoxy and for his abilities to successfully marry "old" and "new" within the Church's monastic traditions. Under his leadership Pluscarden Abbey, which celebrates the entire liturgy in Latin, has greatly flourished and has encouraged many vocations to the religious life.

___As Damian Thompson reported last May, Bishop Moran unwisely (some would say "infamously") blocked the celebration of Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in his diocese last year. Like many other Scottish bishops, the former Bishop of Aberdeen seemed to have been too slow in coming to terms with the ending of the Church's "days of rupture." It is therefore wonderful to see that, at the recommendation of the new Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, Aberdeen will soon have a pastor known for his understanding of liturgy and the "reform of the reform" currently sweeping through the Universal Church. The Divine Office and the Mass are both sung in Latin (using Gregorian chant) at Pluscarden, and devotees of the Extraordinary Form and traditional Catholicism have always been made to feel welcome there.
___According to the BBC, Hugh Gilbert entered the Benedictine monastery of Pluscarden Abbey [a daughter-house of Prinknash Abbey] in 1974, and was elected Abbot in 1992. He was born in Hampshire, and originally named Edward - receiving his present name upon entering the religious life. Abbot Hugh was baptised in the Church of England and converted to the Catholic Church as an 18 year-old. He was educated at St Paul's School and King's College, London, where he gained a 1st class degree in history.

.... special reference to the important role played by Hugh Gilbert in creating the "thriving centre of spirituality" at Pluscarden, as well as its "success story" as an ever-growing monastic house.

Like many others, I have been really pleased to see how quickly things have recently been changing for the better within the Catholic Church in Britain. Last Sunday saw the reading of a prophetic Pastoral Letter in all the churches in England and Wales, which welcomed the new translation of the Mass (to be used from September). We've also been given back the Friday Penance and it seems more than likely that the Bishops of England and Wales will soon allow holy days of obligation to be celebrated on their proper days once more. It has also been noticed that Pope Benedict XVI has become a bit more "muscular" recently, especially in leading his reform of the Church in matters of clerical discipline and the liturgy.

Now that we seem to have a Papal Nuncio who is not afraid to recommend as bishop a man who stands firmly within the "hermeneutic of continuity" - as does the Rt Rev Hugh Gilbert - could it be that orthodox and faithful Catholics can, at last, sing along with D:Ream... Things can only get better?

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