Green birettas

Fr Ray Blake has a most environmentally friendly post concerning the wearing of birettas. A priest friend has turned down the heating in his presbytery in order to reduce his carbon footprint. He has consequently taken to wearing a cassock and biretta to offset the effects of the lower ambient temperature.

Fr Ray speculates on the possibility of our Justice and Peace groups encouraging priests to wear birettas in order to enhance their green credentials. Perhaps I should raise this at the Deanery Meeting next Tuesday?

Holy Father's donation to Cambridge chaplaincy

If I wanted to be really churlish and follow the current English fashion for "equality", I could have headed this "Pope Discriminates against Oxford" :-)

What a very interesting gesture! Clearly the Holy Father is taking a keen interest in England.

The Pope has made an unprecedented personal donation of £2,000 to the Roman Catholic chaplaincy at the University of Cambridge to help it and the faith survive at one of Britain’s main centres of academic excellence.Pope Benedict XVI, who was a university teacher for many years, intended the donation to signal his “encouragement and support”.The two priests and the Dominican nun who work at the chaplaincy were stunned by the donation, which they believe is the first of its kind to come direct from the Pope. The Fisher House chaplaincy is appealing for £2 million to set up a foundation to ensure its survival. The Catholic academic community in Cambridge is dependent on the chaplaincy for its community life, and about 450 people attend Mass on Sundays.The chaplaincy, in the centre of Cambridge in a former public house, has two choirs who sing in English and Latin and averages eight conversions a year. There have been ten vocations to the priesthood coming out of Fisher House.

From The Times

H/T to The Cafeteria is Closed

Honouring Our Lady

The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Blackfen was founded in 1936 and was a chapel of ease, served by Welling parish. In 1945, it became a parish in its own right. Our beautiful resin statue of Our Lady of the Rosary was provided for the Church by Fr Adolph Koch, the first parish priest of Blackfen on the occasion of the silver jubilee of his ordination to the sacred priesthood. It is now housed in a side chapel that I erected, using the marble from a neighbouring parish that was no longer required after the re-ordering of their sanctuary. I have the good fortune to have a stonemason in the parish who carried out the work.

Maria, one of my parishioners, is an expert seamstress and has made several very fine altar cloths. Some time ago, I suggested to her that it would be a good thing if we could decorate the statue for feast days. Today, I was able to view the magnificent result of her efforts, just in time for the Day with Mary on Saturday. The picture below shows the statue flanked by Maria (left) and our indefatigable sacristan, Hilda (right).

Scots Catholics and SORs

This week's Scotland on Sunday carries an article titled: Church: we'll make gay rights martyrs. The report tells of a "spokesman" for the Catholic Church in Scotland who has said that they will not close down the Catholic adoption agencies as a result of the Sexual Orientation Regulations...

Instead, they will deliberately break the law in order to bring a case to court. The Church believes it could then challenge a guilty verdict through Article 9 of the Human Rights Act, which upholds the freedom of religious expression.

However, the article reports that Scottish legislation allows for the "sign-posting" compromise (cf. A Deal on SORs?) and they are hoping that the same will apply when the SORs come into force (they will apply in Scotland too.)

This "sign-posting" deal is a compromise in more ways than one. It is now compromising a possible fight-back.

FSSP in Urbe blog

The Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP) in Rome have started a new blog to keep their friends and benefactors abreast of liturgical happenings in Rome. This is great news! It is good to see that the restoration of the facade of the Church has now been completed.

If you want to find out more about the FSSP, here is a link to the main FSSP site. And here is a link to the FSSP Rome site.

UPDATE: I should also have spotted that there is a site for FSSP UK.

"KGB plotted to discredit Pius XII"

There is a most interesting article in National Review Online by Ion Mihai Pacepa, (Wikipedia article) the "highest ranking intelligence officer ever to have defected from the Soviet bloc." Entitled Moscow’s Assault on the Vatican, he tells the story of how the KGB set out to discredit Pope Pius XII and were behind the play The Deputy.

Amy Wellborn's post Is this for real? has a discussion in the combox. One point is worth mentioning - have you seen anything about this in the news? No, I didn't think so.

Compassion and sensitivity

A commenter "Just a confused Catholic" asked about Archbishop Vincent Nichols' admission on Newsnight that Catholic agencies were happy to place children with single gay people, but not couples. He suggested that this undermined any argument about gay adoption and lost credibility for the church's position

As I understand it, some agencies say that from their experience, some older children who have had long experience of dysfunctional families do better in long-term care of a single person. (I am not qualified to comment on whether this is the case or not.)

In such a situation, it might be that a Catholic agency would place a child or teenager with someone whom they knew (through confidential assessment procedures, perhaps) to have some homosexual temptations but who accepted the teaching of the Church and lived chastely.

However, I cannot see how it would be possible for a Catholic agency to place a child with someone who defined themseves publicly as "gay", was regularly part of the gay "scene", was involved in sexually active gay relationships, or opposed the teaching of the Church.

One of the ambiguities in the recent public debate is that everyone is ignoring the statement in the Catechism that the homosexual inclination is "objectively disordered." (n.2358) This means that it cannot be accepted by Catholics as a "good" or as just another way of being normal.

Without recognising this teaching, we are going to be trapped in a dialogue of the deaf because a person who regards being "gay" as "the way God made me" or as just another acceptable way of life will not be in the least bit placated by the Catechism's talk of "compassion and sensitivity" or of uniting their difficulties with the Lord's cross. Such talk will simply make them angry because they will see no need for anybody to be compassionate.

It seems to me that the way things are in England now, the "compassion and sensitivity" talk may not be as helpful as it is intended to be. Given the success of the gay movement in obtaining widespread acceptance in England, we are really in the position where we disagree about something fundamental to human nature. We might as well recognise that and debate it: there is no sense causing needless offence.

Where we are headed

Tablet attacks Rome. Pope Catholic. Bears etc.

In the midst of perhaps the most significant crisis in relations between the Catholic Church and the British Government in the past 100 years, the Tablet has, true to form, attacked the teaching of the Church on the central issue.

Its leader "Need for Compromise" refers to the document regarding homosexual civil unions issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2003 and signed by Cardinal Ratzinger as "ill-judged" and speaks of "the intemperate language of Rome."

Part of the argument runs as follows:

The Catholic Catechism says that Scripture describes homosexual acts as "grave depravity". This is far removed from the temper of the times, and probably no longer even reflects what a majority of practising Catholics believe about homosexuals. Many of them have gay friends and gay relatives; Catholic mothers have gay sons. Some of the most devout are gay themselves.

I am trying hard to imagine what it would be like to belong to a Church that tried to follow the "temper of the times" as perceived in a highly secularised country in the affluent West. The assertion about the "majority of practising Catholics" is, of course, dubious in the extreme. Those Catholics who practise their faith tend to do so because they believe the teaching of the Church. If they don't, there are plenty of alternative denominations, faiths and "philosophies".

Many of us, of course do have gay friends and relatives. I also have friends and relatives who are Muslims, members of the Socialist Worker Party, and the Freemasons - it doesn't make me the least bit embarrassed or offended by the Church's teaching as it applies to them and am happy for any chance to engage in a "frank and open exchange of views." Knowing me to be Catholic, they tend not to be overly surprised or upset to find that I believe the teaching of the Church in which I publicly profess my faith.

The leader makes the interesting point that if all homosexual acts are depraved, it would not be licit to refer homosexual couples to other agencies. They attempt to enlist the Cardinal onside by saying that "the implication is" that he does not believe in using this argument. As readers of this blog have pointed out, there is no small evidence to support this implication. A change of emphasis would be wise at this stage. Given the Cabinet's determination to rub the Church's nose in it, there seems little point in accepting any legal requirement to refer or "sign-post." It was always a questionable practice when done voluntarily.

The final paragraph has a classic Tablet attack on Rome and, by implication, Pope Benedict:

The higher up the hierarchical ladder of the Church one goes, the less responsive it is to movements in grass roots opinion.

(Those particular grass roots flourish especially in the manicured lawns of our leafier suburbs.) The article concludes by encouraging the Catholic Church in England and Wales to make more "progress" in the opposite direction from Rome.

In the same issue: "A love found wanting" by Martin Reynolds:

A gay Anglican priest, describes how he and his Catholic partner took on a child and why they wish to do so again.

Catholic Dilemmas

This week, I have become a columnist for the Catholic Herald. It is a short piece under the Leader called "Catholic Dilemmas." (People ask questions and I try to answer them.) The first one is about relics and what to do with them.

The Editor, Luke Coppen has given me a very kind notice in the Editor's Blog.

Belated Australia Day Greetings

I am sorry that I missed sending out a greeting to the southern blogosphere for yesterday which was Australia Day. I hope you all had a good time.

On YouTube I found the annual broadcast from Sam Kekovich of the Australian Lamb marketing board. As ever, he uses the opportunity to fire a broadside against tofu and other forms of un-Australianism.

This year, he launches the Australia Day Party, suggesting that tax cuts be taken off the table and lamb cuts be put on it instead. His answer to global warming is to use uranium as a green alternative for powering the barbie. He concludes:

I have a dream: - that lamb can unite Australians of all colours and creeds - even sandal-wearing hairy-legged lentil-eaters.

Married couples' tax allowance petition

Michael Wonham has set up a petition at the 10 Downing Street e-petitions site. It reads:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Reinstate the Married Couples Tax Allowance.

Further information:

It's agreed by many that one of the causes of 'problems' in our youth community is the difficulties that parents have on surviving on one income - forcing both parents to gain paid employment, leading to childcare difficulties. By reinstating the married couples of allowance, the couple can benefit from both tax allowances, even though only one is getting paid, increasing the possibility that mothers (or fathers) may be able to engage in more part-time work suitable for balancing income and childcare.

There are 275 signatures at the time of posting. Do add your name if you are eligible (you must be a British Citizen or resident to sign the petition.)
Sign the petition here.

Hymn to St John Fisher

Above the entrance to the John Fisher School Chapel, there is a new statue of the patron. He carries in his hand the Cardinal's hat which he never received. Pope Paul III thought that Henry VIII would not dare to execute a Cardinal. The King's reaction to the news is well known:

"Yea, is he yet so lusty? Let the Pope send him a hat when he will, but I shall provide that whensoever it cometh, he shall wear it on his shoulders, for head he shall have none to set it on."

St John Fisher is the only Cardinal Martyr.

Dan Cooper gave me a copy of the school hymn which was composed by the founder, Canon Byrne. I don't have a copy of the music but will try to get hold of it.

Sharing Christ’s Priesthood, high honour, dread burden,
Steadfast amid all its manifold cares,
Friend of the poor, of the aged, the dying,
Saint of the Priesthood, give ear to our prayers,
And pray for us now.

Patron of learning, enriching, ennobling,
The home of the scholar, inspirer of youth;
Through thy far vision, athwart the late ages,
The lamp of true wisdom, the torchlight of truth.
Illumine us now.

Counsellor of State, ever tireless in service,
Dauntless defender of faith without stain;
Alone thou didst see and rebuke the first heralds
Of heresy, liberty’s cloak – and its bane:
O counsel us now.

Alone of thy peers thou didst brook the displeasure
Of King and his court, God’s law to proclaim;
Loyal to England and Christ’s worthy vicar.
Death found thee fearless, despising the shame.
O strengthen us now.

Gentle yet stern, like John the beloved,
Aflame with the fire of the Baptist’s zeal;
England’s own Chrysostom, Saint of the Priesthood,
St John of England, before thee we kneel:
O plead for us now.

Yes, now would be a good time.

John Fisher Faith Group

I realised today that it is thirty years since I left the John Fisher School at 18. The school was founded by Canon Byrne in 1929, before the canonisation of Sts John Fisher and Thomas More. It has always retained its original name, without the "Saint."

I was there today to speak to the school's Faith Society. This is where the Faith Movement began. The Society was founded by Fr Roger Nesbitt who was then a teacher at the school, with guidance from Fr Edward Holloway. It still meets in what used to be Fr Nesbitt's study - I think it was Andrew Nash who coined the nicknamed "The Nesbitry." The room is in a house called "Takapuna." In the 70s, it was the home of several priests who taught at the school.

Inside, it is not at all as tidy as it was when Fr Nesbitt lived there - generations of boys have taken their toll on the paintwork and furnishings. However, the spirit of the place is clear enough from the walls:

I was invited by Dan Cooper ("Sir Dan of the Nesbitry") who retired from teaching several years ago but continues to run the Faith Society in the school.

The subject he gave me to speak on was "Blood of the Martyrs, seed of Christians." There were about 20 boys there, mainly from the lower forms although two sixth-formers came, including the School Captain. They all stay voluntarily after school on a Friday evening. I tried to give a quick rundown of the way that the Church grew in the first three centuries, the heroism and of the martyrs and the inspiration they gave to the Christians under persecution. Including a few gory details was also very much appreciated, of course.

These gatherings are always lively and good fun. The boys carry on asking questions afterwards over tea and toast. An innovation since my time is a pool table and chess board for those who don't go out to play football after the talk.

The Faith Society has been the seedbed of many priestly vocations over the past thirty years since mine was nurtured there. The picture at the top of the post shows the school chapel where we used to attend daily Mass. There is still Mass before school two days a week and there is always a good attendance of boys. Dan told me that they have fifteen servers for the weekly lunchtime Benediction, with one boy arranging rotas for all the different "jobs" that they have been able to give out. With that number, there must be competition for "spoon holder" or something.

Fr Michael Crowdy RIP

This from Fr Rupert McHardy of the London Oratory:

Fr Michael Crowdy was for many years a priest of the London Oratory & in some ways, juridically at least, stayed one all his life. He he kept in touch with a number of the fathers and remained devoted to St Philip. He died on 8 December 2006 aged 92 after many years of devoted work to further the cause of Tradition in this country.

The Provost of the Oratory, Fr Ignatius Harrison will offer a Requiem Mass (Missa Cantata) for the repose of his soul on Friday February 16 at 7pm. The Mass will be in the Little Oratory and served by the Brothers. This is particularly appropriate as Fr Crowdy was for a number of years Fr Prefect of the Brothers.

Cardinal's forthcoming interviews

This today from the Catholic Communications Network:

The Cardinal has been interviewed for the Sunday Times News Review section this Sunday.

He will also be interviewed for the Sunday Programme and then on a.m. Sunday (Andrew Marr show) at 9.05am.

In these interviews, he is talking more widely about Church and State; individual rights v the common good; legislation and freedom of conscience.

Congrats Matt, Wendy & Madeleine

Via Lacrimarum Valle:

Madeleine Jane Doyle was born at 2341hrs on Thursday, January 25th 2007 weighing in at 6lb 15oz!!!

Go over to Matt's blog for photos and details. Here's one of the proud father!

(Thank you for your wonderful response to the Spiritual Bouquet.)

How to greet a Bishop

An American student asked me how he should greet the Bishop when he visits.

Most Bishops nowadays are happy to be greeted as "Bishop "John" (or whatever his name is.) A more formal greeting which is still quite acceptable is "My Lord." For an Archbishop, this would be "Your Grace".

Many Bishops are a little embarrassed at you kissing their ring. However, they shouldn't be. This gesture is not meant to be some kind of fawning sycophancy. It is a recognition of his office as successor to the Apostles. Having said that, it is probably better not to kiss his ring if it makes him feel uncomfortable - unless you particularly want to make a point.

Occasionally, people from Catholic countries kiss my hand when they greet me after Mass. I don't try to stop them. It is not me they are respecting but the sacred priesthood. I'm not worthy of it and their reverence is a reminder to me of the need to try to live up to the grace of the priesthood.

My favourite example of the meaning of such reverence is in the film "Going My Way" - or it may have been "The Bells of St Mary's." Fr Chuck O'Malley (Bing Crosby) goes into the Bishop's study, kneels down and very formally kisses his ring. He then gets up and shakes his hand familiarly, saying something like "How are you John". He shows his reverence for the office first, then his personal friendship for the man.

By the Way, Bing Crosby got the Oscar for best actor for his performance in "Going My Way". The film got 7 Oscars all together. "The Bells of St Mary's" is also great - Ingrid Bergman stars in it too. Double DVD with both films £7.97 from Amazon.

News values

Hilary reports a most interesting media "non-event" in her post A Hypothetical Prize Fight. She sums it up thus:

Let me be clear: a famous leftist politician and a famous conservative expert debate on a subject that is interesting because people are getting killed over it around the world, in one of the most important cities in the western world; all the media is present and after it is over, there is no coverage.

It was Ken Livingstone and Daniel Pipes, debating "A World Civilisation or Clash of Civilisations?" Since there is no coverage elsewhere, let me help you out (courtesy of Hilary) just in case you want to supplement the rich diet of balanced and impartial information that is supplied by our mainstream media.

Adloyada: Daniel Pipes survives Livingstone's Lions' Den

Sharon Chadha: Clash of Civilisations?

David Pryce-Jones: Debating Clash

Oliver Kamm: Livingstone's Follies

Harry's Place: A very civilised clash

And someone who has a distaste for the politics of Pipes and thinks Livingstone the best of a bunch of bad choices:

Pickled Politics: The mayor, Daniel Pipes, Salma Yaqoob and others
(This guy has a button on his sidebar saying "I believe in the BBC"!)

As Hilary says,

If the media shows up prepared for a fight and at the end of it shrugs and goes home, who won the fight?

The wrong contender, obviously.

Well, we'll never know because if a thing has not been reported by the BBC, it never really happened anyway.

Be informed - ditch the telly! (Did I say that before somewhere?)

Yet another BBC anti-Catholic slander

Not having a TV (as you probably realise by now) I learned of this one via Bashing Secularism. Apparently, in the programme "Waking the Dead", a member of Opus Dei shoots dead a man and a woman while they are having sex.

The portrayal of Opus Dei is obviously derived from the Da Vinci Code. The Work have sent in a complaint that the programme contravenes the BBC’s Religion Editorial Guidelines which say the cooperation

“will ensure the religious views and beliefs of an individual, a religion or religious denomination are not misrepresented, abused or discriminated against, as judged against generally accepted standards.”

Youth Vigil

Just cleared up after the Youth Vigil. After exposing the Blessed Sacrament, I went into the Confessional while the young people led the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, and an impressive collection of various Catholic Prayers.

After Benediction, we watched The Scarlet and the Black starring Gregory Peck as Mgr O'Flaherty, running a network to assist Jews and allied servicemen on the run. It is very enjoyable and suitable for the whole family. The film is quite closely based on the true story of Mgr O'Flaherty's life. (The picture shows the real O'Flaherty.)

I was glad that I tried to over-estimate the amount of Pizza & extras needed from Domino's. Quite phenomenal amounts got consumed!

Amazon is currently selling the film on DVD for £3.97. (It is in stock. For some reason, it comes via "Amazon Jersey.")

Questions about Humanae Vitae

In the combox of the post "Family exasperated at Tablet & condoms, Seamus asked the following:

I always thought the Church taught that THE purpose of sexual intercourse was procreation? If one practices NFP the intention is not to reproduce, but to express one's love for one's partner. Is the problem of contraception not that it 'reduces' (big inverted commas here for emphasis) sexual intercourse to pleasure, or is it that it prevents the creation of human life?And another thing. What does one do about communion when one's partner who is not a Catholic uses contraception. Does this condemn the Catholic partner to never being able to take holy communion?

I will try to answer the two questions in turn.

1. The Church teaches that the two ends of the marriage act are the procreation of children and the unity of the couple, and that neither of these should be deliberately frustrated. With the use of artificial contraception, both the act itself and the intention are ordered to making procreation impossible. (As a matter of fact, those working in maternity wards and those who care for women in crisis pregnancies, offering alternatives to abortion, witness to the fact that a considerable proportion of pregnancies occur when the couple are using one or other method of contraception.)

The use of Natural Family Planning involves periodic abstinence from the marriage act. The Church teaches that this may be done if there are serious reasons for limiting the number of children. However, the act itself is exactly the same. The intention is indeed to limit the number of children but the Church's teaching does not require couples to intend to have children if there are serious reasons for them not wanting to have any more children for the time being.

Aside from this rather theoretical way of stating the matter, couples who use Natural Family Planning speak warmly of the benefits it brings to their marriage. As a matter of fact, the rate of breakdown of marriages in which the couple uses NFP is estimated at around a tenth of the normal figure.

One of the best writers on Humanae Vitae is Janet Smith. There are several articles by her on the internet; Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit, has a long list. (Some of them argue complex issues with other moralists.) The one Humanae Vitae: The Church's Best Kept Secret? has some personal testimonies.

2. If a non-Catholic spouse insists on using contraception, the Pontifical Council for the Family's Vademecum for Confessors allows that the co-operation of the Catholic spouse may be licit if the following three conditions are all met:

1. when the action of the cooperating spouse is not already illicit in itself;
2. when proportionally grave reasons exist for cooperating in the sin of the other spouse;
3. when one is seeking to help the other spouse to desist from such conduct (patiently, with prayer, charity and dialogue; although not necessarily in that moment, nor on every single occasion).

The first would be met if the Catholic spouse is not themselves using a condom or some other contraceptive. The second would be met if it was a matter of avoiding serious damage to the marriage. The third is the most important in practice and the qualifications set out seem to me to be very compassionate and pastoral.

However, the Vademecum continues:

Furthermore, it is necessary to carefully evaluate the question of cooperation in evil when recourse is made to means which can have an abortifacient effect.

This refers to the "Contraceptive Pill." The makers of this drug include in their notes to physicians, a statement that the action of the drug may be to prevent implantation of the fertilised ovum. This would mean that an action had been taken which might kill an embryo and therefore a more serious moral problem exists with regard to co-operation.

I hope that those are reasonable answers. Seamus raised these questions politely and in good faith so any comments should be in the same spirit, please.

'snow rest for the wicked

This is the sight that greeted me outside my window this morning:

Our outside statue of Our Lady of the Rosary became Our Lady of the Snows:

All very beautiful, of course but I am afraid snow is not really good news for me. Here is the front of the Church at first light:

We have a number of elderly people who walk to morning Mass so it is quite important that a few paths should be cleared. I think once again "I must go and get one of those broom-type snow-plough thingies as soon as the shops are re-stocked." I will probably forget again this year. Never mind - it didn't take too long with a broom; and a bit of manual work is surely a good thing now and again.

Then there is the salt and grit to put down. I took a crowbar to break up the compacted material and I found that the container had been used as a convenient rubbish bin: beer bottles, coke cans, confetti packets etc. (Memo to self: Get some rubbish bins for outside.) My Deacon arrived at this point and kindly got rid of the rubbish while I put down the grit. I expect this is all pretty small beer for those of you living with snow for several months each year. The trouble is that it is relatively uncommon here and always takes us by surprise. Anyway, here we are - strategically swept and gritted paths:

You could make up some chav jokes about this -

Salted! Safe!

Fr Charles Briggs - non blogging priest

The new non-blogging priestly guest of English Catholic blogs is Fr Charles Briggs, pictured above at one of our regular Sunday lunch meetings at the Chislehurst Golf Club of which he is an honorary member. He is given this honour on account of the Club House being the former home of Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie, and his being the parish priest of St Mary's, Chislehurst. In the background, you can see a painting of the Empress and the young Prince Imperial.

Below, he is pictured outside his not unpleasant Chislehurst presbytery.

Fr Briggs regularly writes for Living Liturgy in the Modern World magazine, expounding the thesis "Latin is a Barrier to Participation." He has a fine collection of hand-thrown pottery chalices, and Javan batik stoles in primary colours. He is a 9 on the enneagram.

Oh all right, then - Fr Briggs is a Church Historian, expert on Mgr Talbot, Jansenism, and Blessed Pius IX, and regularly celebrates the Classical Roman Rite. His living room features in pride of place a picture of Mere Angélique Arnauld, the Abbess of Port Royal:

Chislehurst graves and tombs

As I had my camera with me when I visited St Mary's, Chislehurst on Sunday, Fr Briggs made sure that I got photographs of some of the more significant monuments at his Church. First, there was the grave of Charles West, the Founder of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for children:

Nearby is the grave of Claude Sophie O'Shea who was born on 15 February 1882 and died on 21 April 1882. The inscription says "In memory of our lost darling [...] erected by her Mother and Father" Her father was Charles Stewart Parnell, described by Gladstone as the most remarkable person he had ever met. Parnell was an Irish MP for the Home Rule League. He organised the Irish Parliamentary Party, making it highly efficient. In the process, he invented the party whip system, enabling the party to work as a bloc in Parliament and hold the balance of power.

His Parliamentary career began to fall apart when he was cited as co-respondent in the divorce proceedings that Captain William O'Shea started against his wife Katherine O'Shea (Parnell used the nickname "Kitty" and this was seized on by his opponents: the name being not only a diminutive of Katherine but also a contemporary slang word for a prostitute.) The relationship began when Parnell started visiting the O'Shea's at Wonersh Lodge in Eltham.

Parnell refused to resign as leader of the party, and consequently, the party split into factions, eventually leading to his downfall. Joyce wrote an essay "the Shade of Parnell" which concluded:

In his final desperate appeal to his countrymen, he begged them not to throw him as a sop to the English wolves howling around them. It redounds to their honour that they did not fail this appeal. They did not throw him to the English wolves; they tore him to pieces themselves.

Apparently Charles and Kitty could be seen regularly on Sundays in Chislehurst, holding hands as they walked to place flowers on little Claude Sophie's grave which they had marked with a Celtic Cross.

Inside the Church, there is a monument to the Prince Imperial Eugène Louis John Joseph. He was the only child of Napoleon III and the empress Eugénie: the family fled to Chislehurst during the Franco-Prussian war. The Prince Imperial died fighting for the British in Zululand.

Napoleon III was himself buried for a time at Chislehurst but his remains were later moved to the new Abbey of Farnborough when the Empress could not realise her wish to extend St Mary's to provide an adequate mausoleum. Here is the monument in the side chapel of the Church:

And finally, a grave that is of great interest to Catholics today. Michael Davies, the author of Cranmer's Godly Order and several other books criticising the liturgical reforms carried out in the wake of Vatican II. As well as being a prolific author, Michael was a popular and effective primary school teacher. He was a great friend of my father and they used to campaign together in the 1970s against the "new catechetics" which was destroying the faith of teachers and children.

They campaigned successfully against the infamous "Corpus Christi College of Education" in London which disseminated the new catechetics among priests, sisters and RE teachers. Opened by the Bishops in 1967, the College was closed by Cardinal Heenan in 1972 after my father and Michael Davies went to see him to complain about the College, showing him the leaflet the College had produced, entitled "Never say Jesus is God full stop!"

I had the privilege of assisting as subdeacon at Michael's Requiem Mass at St Mary's.

Pray for Matt, Wendy and Madeleine

Matt Doyle (Lacrimarum Valle) and his wife Wendy are expecting their first baby (already named Madeleine) - like anytime now! Wendy has to go into hospital tomorrow for labour to be induced if it doesn't start properly tonight.

OK - an experiment. The combox for this post is a Spiritual Bouquet. Post a short comment to say what prayers you are going to say for them - like 1 Rosary, 1 holy Communion (i.e. offered for them), 10 Hail Mary's ... you get the picture. You can be anonymous if you like.

UPDATE: Thank you for your wonderful response to this request for prayers. Madeleine has now been born.

(Combox now closed - but that doesn't stop you adding prayers!)

A "deal" on SORs?

A student yesterday drew my attention to an article in the Daily Telegraph: Falconer refuses to exempt Catholics from new gay laws. Lord Falconer refuses to acknowledge the obvious conflict of "rights" that is at the heart of the widespread Christian opposition to these regulations. His approach seems to be deliberately confrontational and, if pursued, will place good and upright members of society on the wrong side of the law. All quite predictable so far.

However, I have just realised that there is a "deal" being brokered. The Telegraph reports:

"Downing Street has proposed a possible compromise under which Catholic agencies could refuse to accept gay couples but would have a duty to refer them to agencies that would accept them."

Yesterday, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor sent a letter to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. Here is the text of the letter. The Cardinal says that the Church is opposed to any unjust discrimination, summarises the relevant Catholic teaching on marriage, and says that it would be "unreasonable, unnecessary and unjust discrimination against Catholics" if Catholic adoption agencies were required to place children with homosexual couples. Then comes the crucial paragraph:

"Catholic adoption agencies have readily accepted their responsibility to provide an informative, sympathetic and helpful service to all those who enquire about adoption, whether or not they meet the agency's criteria for acceptance for assessment. Catholic adoption agencies welcome adoptive applicants from any or no religious background. Homosexual couples are referred to other agencies where their adoption application may be considered. This "sign-posting" responsibility is taken very seriously by all Catholic adoption agencies."

I have grave misgivings about the Church accepting this utterly unnecessary and pointless compromise. If Catholic adoption agencies are exempted from the Regulations, and it is publicly known that they do not place children with homosexual couples, that is a clear enough "sign-post" and no homosexual couple would bother with them. They will know of other adoption agencies without having to be "sign-posted" by the Catholic Children's Society.

I cannot see that the compromise is anything other than an attempt by the Government to humiliate the Church by forcing it to be involved in material co-operation with homosexual adoption. If the argument is made that homosexual couples would in some cases not be able to find an adoption agency without the help of the Catholic Children's Society, then it would be formal co-operation and illicit in any case.

Sex-ed study in the BMJ

There is an editorial article by Trevor Stammers in the current issue of the British Medical Journal entitled "Sexual Health in Adolescents". This link gives you the first 150 words of the article. (A reader kindly sent me the whole article.)
UPDATE: Joee has the whole article on his blog.

Stammers comments on a research report (available free online), published in the same issue by Henderson et al., looking at the impact of a sex-ed programme on "registered conceptions and terminations." The study found that the sex-ed had no measurable impact on these outcomes. Stammers comments:

Henderson and colleagues stress the need for more comprehensive approaches that incorporate the influence of parents on sexual experience in teenagers, and to improve the future life opportunities for vulnerable young people. The false assumption that “young teens will have sex anyway” is an insult to many young people who have the capacity to rise to a far more effective challenge than just “use a condom every time.”

He also makes the pertinent observation:

Blanket assertions that abstinence programmes “don’t work” abound.w10 Ironically, however, the only randomised trial of school sex education identified by the SHARE team to use clinical data on pregnancies was of an abstinence only programme that resulted in a significant reduction of pregnancies.

(Reference: Cabezon C, Vigil P, Rojas I, Leiva ME, Riquelme R, Aranda W, et al. Adolescent pregnancy prevention: an abstinence-centred randomized controlled intervention in a Chilean public high school. J Adolesc Health 2005;36:64-9.)

The statement of "competing interests", tells us that Stammers is a trustee of Family Education Trust and Challenge Teams UK; charities that provide abstinence centred sex education packages to secondary schools in the UK. He is also a (volunteer) web doctor for Love for Life, the largest provider of abstinence centred sex education to schools in Northern Ireland.

What a great bloke!

1549 BCP on Holy Communion

I am very grateful to an Australian correspondent who sent me this quotation from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer; the first edition to be produced by Cranmer. Concerning the distribution of Holy Communion, it says:

And although it bee redde in aunciente writers, that the people many yeares past received at the priestes handes the Sacrament of the body of Christ in theyr owne handes, and no commaundement of Christ to the contrary: Yet forasmuche as they many tymes conveyghed the same secretelye awaye, kept it with them, and diversly abused it to supersticion and wickednes: lest any suche thynge hereafter should be attempted, and that an uniformitie might be used, throughoute the whole Realme: it is thought convenient the people commonly receive the Sacrament of Christes body, in their mouthes, at the Priestes hande.

The history of the Book of Common Prayer illustrates in a fascinating way the changes of doctrine that took place in the Church of England from the reign of Henry VIII to that of Charles II. The various texts can be found at this Book of Common Prayer page. It also has a page on the Sarum Missal, giving the texts in Latin and English.

St Mary's Chislehurst

Yesterday, in between duties, I called over to Chislehurst for lunch with Fr Charles Briggs. He is parish priest of St Mary's:

Usually in England, a Church looking like this would be an Anglican Church. This one is an early (1852) foundation of the diocese of Southwark after the restoration of the hierarchy in 1850. Here is a view from the north:



Fr Charles Briggs is set to become the new priestly non-blogging guest of English Catholic blogs. He has alread appeared on Forest Murmurs. Expect some more sightings here soon!

Old Mass responses in mp3

I have two boys in my parish learning to serve the Classical Roman Rite of Mass. I was thinking that I should get round to using my little memo recorder to make an mp3 file for them to listen to the responses on their ipod or whatever.

Thankfully, the Latin Mass Society in Ireland has already done the jog. On their page Text of the Mass - Audio Download, you can download parts of the Mass or the whole lot.

Biretta tip to the ever excellent New Liturgical Movement.

Excellent "Ditch the TV" rant

Fr Julian Green has posted an excellent rant entitled "Be Radical: Ditch the Telly"

Your home will be destroyed and your cows taken away if you don't abort

After my post about the Pope's forthcoming letter to Chinese Catholics, a reader sent me an email with a link to the Laogai Research Foundation. The site itself is worth a browse but the particular page that I was alerted to was a disturbing display of photographs of slogans painted on walls in China, supporting the "One Child Policy." The photos show some of the more horrific slogans, e.g.

- Better blood flowing like a river than one extra birth.
- Abort whether early or late, abort using any method!
- Your home will be destroyed and your cows taken away if you don't abort.

There is a list of others such as:

- One sterilization honors the whole family! (Shandong Province)
- One excess birth, whole village sterilized! (Chuxiong, Yunnan Province)
- Sterilization dodgers wanted! (Sichuan Province)

The site gives information about the word "Laogai":

The Laogai was created by the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong, yet it still serves the one-party dictatorship as the primary instrument for detaining political dissidents and penal criminals. The two major aims of the Laogai are to use all prisoners as a source of cheap labor for the communist regime and to "reform criminals" through hard labor and compulsory political indoctrination.

Please pray earnestly for the Catholics in China and for all people of goodwill in that wonderful country.

Priestly work

I have not been able to post yesterday and most of today because of saying the three Sunday Masses, going to Chislehurst for lunch with my good friend Fr Briggs (more later), marking a couple of essays from my students, driving round to Wonersh, lecturing on the Sacrament of Penance, checking over the marking of several essays with Fr Dingley, attending the beginning of the Board of Studies meeting, seeing a student for Spiritual Direction, finishing an article for the Catholic Herald, and visiting my sister to celebrate her son Joe's eleventh birthday.

This week, I have to conduct the funeral of a baby who was stillborn (please pray for the parents), start off the Confirmation classes, give a talk at the John Fisher School Faith Group and lead a wonderful initiative of one of the sixth formers in my parish who asked spontaneously if we could have a Youth Vigil with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Confessions. Naturally, I agreed to this wholeheartedly. I offered to lay on a film and a pizza afterwards as well - last time we watched Molokai (about Fr Damien and his work with lepers); this time, I think "The Scarlet and the Black" would be a good choice.

Papal letter to be sent to Chinese Catholics

Thanks to Amy Wellborn for posting on this very interesting prospect: the Holy Father will send a letter to the Catholics in China. This will be the most wonderful news for the Chinese Church. Our Lady of China. Pray for us.

Yesterday and today, at the Apostolic Palace, there was a meeting of various Bishops and others concerned with the situation of the Church in China. The Vatican press office communique included the following (my translation):

In the light of the troubled history of the Church in China and of the principal events of recent years, the more serious and urgent ecclesial problems were examined, problems which await adequate solutions in relation to fundamental principles of the divine constitution of the church and of religious freedom. Note was taken of the shining witness, offered by Bishops, priests and faithful who, without giving in to compromises, have maintained their fidelity to the See of Peter, sometimes at the price of grave suffering. It was further established, with great joy, that today almost the totality of the Bishops and of the priests are in communion with the Supreme Pontiff.

There is also an informative article on Asia News.

Looking around for information about the Church in China, I came across the website of the pro-Government People's Daily and the article Chinese Catholics Denounce Vatican's Planned Canonization of "Saints". I hope I am not being too unkind here but I really did have the impression that I was reading something produced by the BBC.

Spiritual Reading - a great find!

Browsing in the CTS bookshop the other day, I found "The Spiritual Combat" by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli published by the most excellent TAN books.

In this edition (a reprint of the 1945 edition), the preface is by Fr B F Marcetteau, SS, the spiritual director of the theological college of the Catholic University of America. He tells us that the authorship of the book is in fact disputed; there were several 17th century editions published under the name of John of Castanzia, a Spanish Benedictine. Some Jesuits claimed that it was written by one of their own, Achilles Gagliardi. However, "most critics" now consider the book to have been written by Scupoli who was a Theatine.

This is significant since the Jesuits were modelled to some degree on the Theatines who came to regard the Jesuits as a rival group. One of their co-founders was Giovanni Pietro Carafa. When Carafa became Pope Paul IV, St Ignatius was distraught and went to spend his famous 15 minutes before the Blessed Sacrament to reconcile himself to what he thought was the certain suppression of the Company of Jesus.

I am mortified that I have never heard of this book before. It is a practical, down to earth, and uncompromising manual for the spiritual life and was the favourite book of St Francis de Sales who carried a copy in his pocket for 18 years. It was this recommendation on the back cover which made me decide to buy it. I heartily recommend it.

In fact, I am so taken with the book that I have interrupted my re-reading of Trochu's life of the Curé D'Ars (also published by TAN). St Ignatius (and doubtless Scupoli, would probably regard this as a fault.

Another book I picked up at the CTS was "The Prayer of Love and Silence" by that most prolific contemplative "A Carthusian." It was first published in French in 1948 and in English translation in 1951. The slim volume (145 pages) comprises three parts: the work "An Introduction to the Interior Life", a collection of sermons delivered in chapter, and a work called "The Blessed Trinity and the Supernatural Life". This one will have to wait until I have finished Dom Guillerand. (There is also a quote in this post.)

Cicero and Genghis Khan

For light reading, I enjoy historical novels. I found Robert Harris's Pompeii a good read, so his latest title Imperium caught my eye in Waterstones a week or two ago. When I read the blurb and found that it told the story of Cicero's rise to become Consul, I could not resist it. The narrative is put in the mouth of Tiro, Cicero's amanuensis. I recommend it if you like this sort of thing.

One I have just started is Conn Iggulden's Wolf of the Plains. Apparently this is the first in what is to be a series of books about Temujin, better known as Genghis Khan. My detractors might want to suggest that I would find the protagonist a bit left-wing for my tastes - in return I upbraid them for their lack of due cultural relativism. (I was amused to discover that in addition to his historical novels, Iggulden is the co-author of the best-selling "Dangerous Book for Boys.")

One niggle about Imperium: as with most best-selling hardbacks, the pages are glued rather than sewn. Hutchinson have managed to produce a real turkey with this one - the pages fall out all over the place.

Harper Collins, the publisher of Iggulden's book have done a better job. It is not properly bound but the pages do not drop into your soup when you try to to read and eat your lunch at the same time.

BBC experiments on children

I just found this story on the blog Against All Heresies (which is a good read, by the way.)

Mary has picked up on the news of a reality-TV show which the BBC recently broadcast, in which five "couples" aged between 16 and 19 were filmed attempting to look after children who were loaned to them for a few days.

Here is the BBC3 information about the programme. They tell us:

Britain's teenagers are breeding like rabbits - can they be convinced to wait? We tool up five teenage couples for the toughest job of all - parenting.

Our series is packed with tears and tantrums as the teens get to grips with the reality of being 'grown-ups'. How will they cope with childcare and, more importantly, each other? Will they take to parenthood and adult life like a duck to water or run home to mum? Find out, when you meet the 'parents' in this unique social experiment.

The Daily Mail reports on the story in an article titled Fury as TV teenagers play house with REAL babies. They point out:

Local authority officials were so concerned about the 'very real risk' of physical and psychological damage to the children that they urged the BBC to cancel the series.

In her excellent post on this experiment, Talk is cheap and so is life, Mary asks,

Relationship? What kind of a "relationship" do children aged 16-19 have anyway? Certainly it is devoid of commitment which is supposed to be the basis of a relationship. And why ever didn't law enforcement get involved and charge the parents and production company with child labor, or neglect or something?

In the Catholic Church in England and Wales, current practice for safeguarding children means that grandmothers who have worked in the parish for decades will be run through Criminal Record Bureau checks, interviewed, and have references taken up. We're planning some more training to make sure everyone knows and agrees to some common basics of good practice for keeping children safe.

I am more than happy to get all this done if it means that we close all the loopholes we can, and make sure that our work with children and young people is of the best possible quality. My parishioners take a generous and responsible attitude to the personal inconvenience involved, and I have had help from some excellent people (retired Headteacher, police officer with experience in child protection, social workers etc.) who have given their time to this important work.

But it is increasingly obvious that where safeguarding children is concerned, there is one rule for the Church and another for the media.

Cambridge Faith Forum

This term's series examines

What Catholics believe about...

Death
Fr David Standen, 22nd January

The Eucharist
Fr Stephen Dingley, 5th February

Confession
Fr Scott Deeley, 19th February

Mary
Fr Roger Nesbitt, 5th March

All talks begin at 8pm and take place in the Buckingham Room, Magdalene College.

For more information, contact Fiorella at fiorella@cantab.net

Above are the College Arms. The College website informs us that the motto means "Keep your faith", not as it is sometimes misconstrued, "Watch your Liver."

The College was re-founded in 1542 by Lord Audley who had presided over the trials of St John Fisher and St Thomas More and obtained the property as part of the dissolution of the monasteries. (More information) It is rather good to think of the Faith talks taking place there now.

Enforcement ministers

A thought-provoking post from Tim, the Lapped Catholic the other day speculated on the question of lay ministry. He was taking up the suggestion of Fr Erich Richtsteig that we should reintroduce the ministry of Beadle:

... a minor official in medieval and some Protestant churches. His badge of office was a good, long stick used to smack people misbehaving in church. Not only could he take care of the clappers, but also unrepentant cellphone users.

This reminds me of a story from my elder sister's parish one Christmas Midnight Mass. Some local Jack-the-Lad had a bit too much lemonade and thought he would come along and disrupt the Catholic Mass. He encountered two of my nephews in the porch:

Austin (medical student) who was then in full training as a boxer. (He had to give it up when the consultant told him he couldn't do ward rounds with a black eye.)

Declan - a short, unassuming, mild-mannered sort of chap who happened to be in the British National Judo Squad, gave it up to study but was persuaded to join the team at Oxford, earning himself a blue. (He now teaches philosophy in Ohio.)

Awww! How was the poor guy to know? (They did help him back up onto his feet.) Shouldn't they have had had a sash or a badge or something. What about the Ministry of "Come back tomorrow when you've slept it off, Son"?

Photos of Pluscarden

There are some great pictures of Pluscarden over at Joee Blogs.

Jesse's prayers

This week,
Oi 'aave been mostly prayin' fer
Christian Unity.



If you are not familiar with the Fast Show, here is a sample of "Jesse's Diets":

"If she were a dog ..."

The media today is full of one of those sad stories that are used to confuse everyone, muddy the waters and promote euthanasia.

Here is the BBC version: Vegetative State Drug Review Call

And here is an example from the print media (Daily Telegraph) 'Lazarus' husband demands drug inquiry

The basic story: "Jessica" (not her real name) was a PVS patient. Her family, in the words of the Telegraph, "asked for her feeding to be withdrawn so that she could be allowed to die." The Official Solicitor obtained a High Court order that she should be treated with the anti-insomnia drug Zolpiden which has, in some cases, led to PVS patients recoving some consciousness. It didn't work. The family are angry and demanding an enquiry.

It would be morally acceptable for the family to refuse the drug on behalf of an incapacitated relative if it was agreed that the drug was an "extraordinary means" - as it may well be if the drug is still unproven. (Medics feel free to chip in on this question.)

But notice how the withdrawal of food has been slipped in quietly. The reporting of the case seems to be taking this practice as normal nowadays. Feeding is not an extraordinary means of keeping someone alive. To withdraw food is to withdraw basic care - and the intent of hastening death is clear enough in this case. The obvious inhumanity of this process of starving someone to death is not lost on "Jessica"'s husband. The BBC reports:

After his wife's nutritional support was withdrawn, it took 14 days for her to die, which he said was not a dignified death.

"If she was a dog and we said it was incurable and we said I'm going to lock it in its kennel and not feed it, I think the RSPCA would be knocking at your door."

As we said in the first newsletter of the Association of Priests for the Gospel of Life when the debate was raging over the Mental Capacity Bill (passed into law in April 2005 and coming into effect this year.)

It must be remembered that the euthanasia movement regards the legalisation of euthanasia by neglect as a crucial step in the campaign to legalise active euthanasia. In 1984, Dr Helgha Kuhse, president of the World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies, said: “If we can get people to accept the removal of all treatment and care – especially the removal of food and fluids – they will see what a painful way this is to die and then, in the patient’s best interests, they will accept the lethal injection.”

After this widely publicised case, expect more calls for lethal injections, and much justifying of the Mental Capacity Act.

And very importantly: say a prayer for the happy repose of the soul of "Jessica."

Visit to Good Counsel Network

After my parish Mass today and a few bits of paperwork, I took the Jubilee Line from North Greenwich (I have found a new place to park near there) to Baker Street and then a short hop on to the "Women's Centre" of the Good Counsel Network." They invite me in to say Mass from time to time and it is always great to swap pro-life news with Clare and Stuart and the others there.

The GCN advertises in the same places as Abortion providers and Pregnancy Testing Services. Their work involves giving accurate information about abortion and offering practical alternatives. They have saved very many babies.

They told me a good story today. After the Panorama programme about condoms and AIDS, attacking the Catholic Church in general and Cardinal Trujillo in particular, the GCN sent a letter to all the Bishops of England and Wales, accompanied with a picture of 300 babies that they had helped to survive. All of these were conceived in cases where the man had used a condom.

I also had the chance to chat with Araceli about the film Guadalupe. She is from Mexico herself and was quite pleased with the film. Anyone know when (if ever) it will be shown in England? Is there a DVD available?

Family exasperated at Tablet & condoms

The other day, Daphne McLeod forwarded me a letter a couple recently wrote to the Cardinal. I am happy to publish it here (with permission) because I believe that it reflects the concerns of many parents - especially those who have "more children than is usual in England and Wales today."

---

Dear Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor,

We are a Catholic married couple who feel concerned that in recent weeks the letters page of the Tablet has been running a campaign in favour of artificial contraception following a letter from Terry Prendagast of Marriage Care. Examples include:

Contraception and Marriage
Elizabeth Price (2 Dec 2006)

Laity's Instinct for Doctrinal Truth
Brendan Farrow (9 Dec 2006)

Laity's Instinct for Truth
Fr Sean Fagan (16/23 Dec 2006)

Where the Truth Leads
Shane Reese (6/1/07)

Instincts for Truth
Kevin Deane (13/1/07)

The authors are from an organisation called Catholics for a Changing Church but the titles are provided by the editor of the Tablet who is clearly suggesting that the Church is in error in its current teaching. We are greatly disappointed that not a single Bishop, priest or pastoral leader concerned with Catholic family life has replied in support of the teachings of the Church. Unless the Tablet is refusing to publish such replies.

Some of these letters have referred to the fact that many married Catholics ignore the teaching of the Church on contraception. This is only true because the teaching of the Church is rarely promoted at parish level and many Catholics believe that the use of contraception is subject to personal circumstances and therefore optional. This situation can only be rectified by strong leadership.

The belief by Catholics that use of contraception is an acceptable option has an immediate impact on Catholic couples who are following the teachings of the Church; these couples are often ridiculed by other Catholics for having more children than is usual in England and Wales today. Furthermore, since contraception is not seen to be seriously sinful, there is no urgency to provide pastoral care in the form of aid and advice on the practice of natural methods of family planning.

It may well be that the teaching is not promoted because few priests have sufficient grasp of the rich theology of Catholic marriage which justifies the teaching on contraception and clearly demonstrates its use to be seriously sinful. Furthermore, for many priests and pastoral leaders the Tablet is their main source of information. Its bias in favour of artificial contraception inclines many priests to disregard their calling to inspire married Catholics to embrace the teachings of the Church and lead holy lives.

The situation for Faithful Catholics is made worse by the fact that very few parents of children attending Catholic schools are Catholic or even Christian and they openly mock parents who unexpectedly conceive. We are currently expecting our 7th child and following the experience of carrying the 6th, less than two years ago, were filled with dread at the prospect of having to face the derision shown in our local Catholic community again.

We ask you and all Bishops and priest to voice your opposition to the views of the Tablet and withdraw it from circulation until it shows less biased reporting.

With our family prayers for your ministry,

Steve and Catriona

Going to another parish

Fr Edward McNamara made an interesting point yesterday in his regular column for Zenit. The question was about Attending Sunday Mass at Other Parishes. Apparently, the new code (can 1247 & 1248) does not specify that people should attend Mass in their own parishes as the old code did.

Father goes on to make as much of a case as possible for going to one's own parish (it emphasises communion, promotes the growth of the Church, enables one to support one's pastors...) but he admits that there may be circumstances where defective practice and doctrine meant that a person could have no alternative. He says,

If the objective defects constitute a danger to the Christian's faith, or to that of his or her children, or cause serious spiritual turbulence, then the person would be more than justified in worshipping somewhere else.

Personally, I would not be as cautious as Fr Edward. If people are going to Mass, that is fine. Sometimes the objection is made that this will make us like the Anglican Church with "High" and "Low" parishes. Of course this should not be so, but in fact good Catholics can be tortured in some places because of what goes on at Sunday Mass. If they are able to pray better, to be more recollected, to offer themselves in union with the divine victim without being distracted by "Good morning everyone!" and all that follows, so much the better.

In places like Blackfen, and even more with inner city parishes like Camberwell (my first appointment) the boundaries do not necessarily reflect where people feel they belong. I'm quite happy if people want to go next door and my neighbouring parish priest and I have always had a standing agreement that we can baptise each others' parishioners without worrying about obtaining permission for each other.

Distractions and sacrifice

A very common worry among people who try to pray regularly and live a devout life is that of being distracted at prayer.

Tanquerey gives some wise advice. He says that

We must [...] strive seriously to repel promptly the distractions that present themselves to our mind;

He also says:

We must, likewise reduce the number of such distractions by a vigorous fight against their causes: habitual dissipation of mind, the habit of day-dreaming, the preoccupations and attachments that absorb the mind and the heart."

It is important to bear these things in mind first because such faults are easy to fall into and very common. Channel-hopping through useless things on television, or surfing idly and without purpose on the internet are examples of what he means by "dissipation." However, once we have seriously tried to take the steps that he recommends, he says,

[...] there is no cause for worry concerning such involuntary distractions as run through our minds or disturb our imagination. These are but trials, not faults, and once we have learned to profit by them, they but increase our merit and the value of our prayers.

The principal means of "profiting" from such distractions is to understand them as a cross and to embrace the cross humbly in union with Our Lord, recognising our unworthiness to be speaking to him, and thanking him for purifying us in this way.

I think that also we can offer the time that we give in our prayers as a sacrifice. It is of the nature of the holocaust sacrifice of the scriptures. We take some time that is ours: we can spend it in various ways. Rather than waste it on something useless ("dissipation") we make it over to God without reserve. It becomes His time to do with as he pleases. We may then be sure that he will act in our soul in the way that He sees fit, to draw us closer to Him. This will be true even if our prayers do not seem to us to be very devout - sometimes even because we do not feel very pious. "Our Lord does not ask us to be successful, he asks us to be faithful."

St Thomas Aquinas Study Weekend

Just received notice of this by email.

St Thomas Aquinas Study Weekend
January 26 -28 2007
at St.Dominic’s Convent,
Station Rd, Stone, Staffordshire ST15 8EN

GOODNESS – IT’S GOD !
An opportunity for study and discussion concerning God, goodness and evil, with Fr Peter Hunter OP, Sr Valery Walker OP, and Sr Ann Catherine Swailes OP

Email: Sr Valery Walker

Arrivals Friday from 6.30 pm

by rail to Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent or Stone
by coach to Stafford (railway station)
buses run from outside the stations to Stone

Departures from Sunday 1 pm (after lunch)

ICEL example

The other day, I posted a parody, poking fun at the old-style ICEL way of translating. Fr Sean Finnegan has posted Translations: an analysis of the real life example we had last Sunday.

Pro-Life call to African-Americans

Priests for Life has published an article about the pro-life witness of Alveda King. Quote:

"It’s amazing how the African-American community can know what’s right" and not speak out, King said. "Abortion is socially and spiritually irresponsible. A baby has the same civil rights we all do. African-Americans should be more sensitive to the plight of a person."

Who is Alveda King to be speaking like this to African-Americans? She is the niece of Martin Luther King.

H/T to Ma Beck at the Ward Wide Web.

ePilgrimage Newsletter for WYD08

The website for World Youth Day 2008 has published its January 2007 newsletter. It begins with an excellent introduction from Bishop Anthony Fisher and is devoted to Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body.

The Evil Attack Squirrel of Death

Funny story passed on by Drell's Descants. True? Who knows? It's a good story anyway :-)

From the same source:



Moral: Don't be caught out preaching in a Protestant Church at the second coming!

On the threshold of heaven

Today was the day for my fortnightly visit to Parkminster. One of the community gave me a couple of photos from the entirely unusual (once a year) Party at Parkminster. (I did check with him that it was OK to put them on the Internet.) The quality is reduced because they are scans of the prints that he gave me. He offered to give me better quality ones but I did not want to trouble him.

(L-R) A Carthusian, Fr Finigan, A Carthusian, A Carthusian
(Photo credit: A Carthusian)

(L-R) A Carthusian, Fr Finigan, A Carthusian
(Photo credit: A Carthusian)

Now we are back to normal with the class on Sacramental Theology after which I stay for Vespers. In the Choir, I am given a place next to the Prior: I have discovered that this is a great honour. I can now usually set up the books with the markers in the correct places and arranged according to the custom of the Order. Increasingly I thirst for this 45 minute sojourn on the threshold of heaven. It struck me today how much I have come love their austere version of the Lucis Creator Optime and the beautiful Salve Regina with its slight differences even in wording from the one used in the Roman Rite.

A commenter on this blog very kindly sent me a copy of "An Infinity of Little Hours" which I have found compulsive reading. I mentioned today that I was reading it and it caused a frisson of excitement. The book is about Parkminster and is quite controversial - "it has caused some discussion" was the way the Novice Master put it. I'll probably find time to finish it tomorrow. On my next visit to the Charterhouse, I'll share my thoughts on it with the Novice Master and let you know what I think after reflecting on his comments.

Confession Lite

The Curt Jester discusses an important question today in his post Pick a sin, any sin. The title is a good parody of "Confession Lite" where a priest invites the congregation at a Communal Penance service to go to an individual priest but says that people only need to confess one sin.

The website of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops gave a good short answer to this one. The text reads:

[Question] When the Reconciliation of Several Penitents is celebrated, is it allowable for each penitent to confess just one sin?

[Answer] No. In recent years the practice has grown in which, in consideration of a large number of penitents, each penitent is asked to approach a priest and confess only one sin. Such a practice does not allow for an integral confession as required by the Rite of Penance. In order for a valid confession to take place, a full and integral confession must be provided for in every instance. Canon 988 §1 refers to the obligation to confess all serious sins in “kind and in number.”

Jeff also mentions the question of General Absolution. In this connection, it is worth recalling that it is the defined doctrine of the Council of Trent that the three acts of the penitent: confession, contrition and satisfaction are essential to the sacrament. The Church simply does not have the power to dispense from one of these. In the case of General Absolution, the obligation to confess any mortal sins remains. This is made quite clear in the preamble to the new rite of Penance:

Those for whom grave sins are remitted by general absolution should go to auricular confession before they receive another absolution of this sort unless they are impeded by a just cause. Unless impeded by a moral impossibility, they are entirely obliged to go to confession within the year. For the precept is also in force for them, by which all the Christian faithful must confess alone, to the priest, once a year, all their sins (that is, grave sins) which have not yet been singly confessed. (Ordo Paenitentiae 1974 Praenotanda n.34)

The easiest way to understand what is going on in General Absolution is to think of it as an alteration in the order in which the essential parts of the sacrament are celebrated. In the ancient celebration of public Penance, the order was

Confession (and contrition)
Penance (or "satisfaction")
Absolution

In private confession which developed from the missionary activity of the Celtic monks, the order was (and still is)

Confession (and contrition)
Absolution
Penance

In General Absolution, the order is

(contrition and) Absolution
Penance
then - when possible - Confession

General Absolution was given by chaplains during the first World War before a battle in which it was very likely that a large number would be killed. That was appropriate. The occasion of a Penance Service and "Oh my, aren't there a lot of you today!" is not. Rome has spoken on this. The case should be finished. Sadly it is not.

Tour of the Apostolic Palace

How do you get to take a photo of St Peter's Square from this angle?

Only if you get to go on a tour of parts of the Apostolic Palace that ordinary tourguides cannot reach. Have a look at the series of illustrated posts by Fr Nicholas Schofield on Roman Miscellany.

Stem cells from amniotic fluid - a question

A short while ago, Mac wrote a post New Source of Stem Cells? raising some doubts over the widely welcomed prospect of obtaining stem cells from amniotic fluid without harming either mother or baby. She said:

Hmmn. If it's true, then that sounds very encouraging. But I worry that the fluid will be obtained from the amniotic sacs around aborted foetuses, and because everyone's heard that "it's alright, it's not foetal tissue" then distinctions wil be blurred and people won't differentiate. And abortions will be carried out as a way of harvesting the amniotic fluid...

You might also be interested in the article Foetal Tissue Transplantation which she wrote for Faith Magazine in July 1996.

Vocations Discernment website

A new website Youth Discernment aims to help young people in discerning their vocation to the priesthood or the religious life. Not quite finished yet, but you can sign up to the forum to ask questions.

Posties help the hospices

Some heartwarming news today:

Royal Mail Group employees have raised over £250,000 for Help the Hospices, triggering a £250,000 match-funding donation from Royal Mail Group, as part of the organisation’s three-year partnership with the national charity for the hospice movement.

(UK Fundraising News)Apparently hospices are the largest single beneficiary of payroll giving by the posties.

There are a number of postmen in my parish and it was interesting recently to chat to a couple in the Parish Club. They sort their own mail first and then have to go back to the Sorting Office three or four times. The job is physically demanding. If you apply to do the Marathon, you only have to say "I'm a postman" and they drop the rest of the questions about your fitness to do it. One postman I knew just went and did the Marathon (in a respectable time) with virtually no training.

Ratzi forum goes green-eyed

A gem found on the Papa Ratzinger Forum. The section for pictures of Pope Benedict is populated by adoring females. This set of photos caused some tears, I think.





Lady Ratzinger comments:

BENNY NON CI PUOI TRADIRE COSì!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Scherzi a parte ragazze,io sono seriamente gelosa!Non posso vedere cose simili!!!

Benny, don't betray us like this!!! Joking apart, girls - I am seriously jealous. I can't look at things like this!!!

Hmmm. Maybe I would like to be Pope after all :-)

Cardinal Bacci

Talking of inscriptions, (and while I am at my Latin shelves), there is a blog called Antonio Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day. I will sheepishly admit that I didn't know that he wrote meditations; I only knew that he was regarded as a really superb Latinist by those whose judgement was worth hearing on the subject. But then I heard about him from Fr Reginald Foster, Rome's renowned teacher of Latin. Somehow or another, during my time in Rome, I managed to pick up a copy of his Varia Latinitatis Scripta, published by the Vatican Press in 1944. It contains Inscriptions, Orations and Letters composed by him in beautiful Latin. He was also one of the first to compile a lexicon of modern words that are difficult to render in Latin.

There is plenty of serious material in the book and he offers many good models for composing inscriptions. But I will share with you one of the items of trivia that he includes: an insciption on the side of a pipe - or, as he heads it, infumibulo incisa, ex quo nicotianum suffimentum sugitur.

DUM NICOTIANUM FUMUM
EX ME SUAVITER PER ARUNDINEM HAURIS
MOLESTIAS ARCE
OMNESQUE OBLIVISCERE CURAS
A. MDCCCCXXXVI

While you softly draw nicotine smoke from me through the reed, put away troubles and forget all cares. 1936

First Latin plaque?

I found this on that unfailing source of all things papal, the Papa Ratzinger Forum

The text reads:

SEMPER MEMORIA SERVETUR
FAUSTI DIEI XII ANTE KAL NOVEMBRIS MMVI
QUO
BENEDICTUS XVI PONTIFEX MAXIMUS
DECESSORUM SUORUM VESTIGIA SECUTUS
ACADEMICA COMMUNITATE SUMMA LAETITIA RECEPTUS
PONTIFICIAM UNIVERSITATEM LATERANENSEM INVISIT
NOVAM BIBLIOTHECAM
UTI STUDIORUM ET INVESTIGATIONIS SEDEM
AD SACRAM TRADITIONEM ALENDAM BENEDIXIT
AULAM MAGNAM SIBI DICATAM INAUGURAVIT
COMITANTIBUS
CAMILLO S.R.E. CARDINALE RUINI MAGNO CANCELLARIO
ET RINO FISICHELLA
EPISCOPO TIT VICOHABENTINO MAGNIFICO RECTORE
QUI OPUS SUSCIPIENDUM AC PERFICIENDUM CURAVIT

Which might be translated as:

May the memory always be preserved of the auspicious day of 21 October 2006 on which Benedict XVI, Pontifex Maximus, following the footsteps of his predecessors, and having been received with greatest joy by the academic community, visited the Pontifical Lateran University, blessed the new library as a seat of studies and research to foster sacred tradition, and inaugurated the Great Hall dedicated to himself. Accompanying him were Camillo Ruini, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, the Grand Chancellor, and Rino Fisichella, titular bishop of Voghenza, the Magnificent Rector, who saw to it that the work was begun and completed.

ICEL translation for those who feel excluded by all this:

One day last year, the Pope came to our school. He made us all very happy when he said a prayer for the new bookcases and a big room with his name on it. Cardinal Ruini (who is very important) was there and so was Bishop Rino who got it all done.

I needed a book for this one - Circonscrizioni Ecclesiastiche. Nomi Latini De Curia. (published by the Vatican) which gives the vernacular names for all the sees in the world: including Vicohabentia.

Communion in the hand

In 1969, the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship issued the instruction Memoriale Domini on the manner of distributing Holy Communion. Speaking of the custom of receiving Holy Communion onto the tongue, it said:

This method of distributing holy communion must be retained, taking the present situation of the Church in the entire world into account, not merely because it has many centuries of-tradition behind it, but especially because it expresses the faithful's reverence for the Eucharist. The custom does not detract in any way from the personal dignity of those who approach this great sacrament: it is part of that preparation that is needed for the most fruitful reception of the Body of the Lord.

At the same time, in many parts of the world, especially in "Masses for special groups", there was a more or less open defiance of this instruction. As a result, Pope Paul VI gradually gave permission to one Bishops' Conference after another for the introduction of the practice of Holy Communion in the hand. Permission was granted in England on 6 March 1976. One widely used justification of the permission was that it would take away the scandal of disobedience. This did not work - people continued to be disobedient to other liturgical norms, witness the series of condemnations of liturgical abuses that have been published since then.

Some time ago, I posted about early evidence for communion on the tongue. More recently, in response to the post Dancing, Football, and Communion in the Hand, a commenter asked me what my own views were on the subject.

I believe that the introduction of Communion in the hand was a mistake and that it has contributed to the lessening of belief in the real presence and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. I am also concerned that the risk of sacrilege is increased.

Toddlers give unerring signals of the way that Communion in the hand tends to lessen belief. Frequently, if a mother brings her toddler to the Communion rail for a blessing, the little one says "Mummy, can I have some?" Giving Communion into the hand appears to the toddler as though the priest is handing out sweeties. Putting Communion onto someone's tongue does not have the same appearance. Someone might say "Oh but the Eucharist is our food." The answer to that is found in St Justin's early description of the Mass where he said that we do not receive the Eucharist as "common food." The Last Supper was not a normal meal, it was a ritual meal and all the elements of it were special. Holy Communion is not common food and it is fitting that it is received in a special way. Communion on the tongue places that little bit more of an obstacle to the idea that we are going to "get the bread."

Communion in the hand can also lead to sacrilege. People can walk away from the altar rail (or the queue) with the sacred host in their hand and then put it in their pocket on the way back to the bench. This rarely happens in my parish now, but only because people know I take this sort of thing seriously. At school Masses, it is always a danger. Some schools post teachers on a kind of "sentry duty" to prevent it happening. Communion on the tongue would largely solve the problem. Not wholly, I know - those who are determined on sacrilege have always found ways to remove the host from their mouth secretly. But it would prevent casual sacrilege done out of ignorance or silliness.

I have also found that dropping the host is more frequent with Communion in the hand. People will put their hands into all sorts of strange formations to receive Holy Communion. If they swing their hands away, the protection of the communion-plate is circumvented.

Then there is the question of visible fragments. Just as a reminder in case anyone is unsure about this, Our Lord is present in any fragment of the host that has the appearance of bread - rule of thumb is that if it is visible to the naked eye, Our Lord is present.

Excursus: We know that there will be molecules of the Eucharistic host invisibly present all over the place - Catholic doctrine is that Christ is present under the appearances of bread and wine. If, for example, a negligent priest allowed hosts in the tabernacle to decay, Our Lord would cease to be present once the Eucharist no longer had the appearance of bread. Our Lord ceases to be present in his Eucharistic presence once the host is broken down in the digestive system - he continues to be present spiritually in the person's soul, of course.

Giving Communion on the tongue, using a communion-plate, I find that even with "sealed edge" wafers that are advertised as being crumb-free, there are usually some fragments visible on the communion-plate after giving Communion at a Sunday Mass. It is reasonable to expect that there will be fragments left behind in people's hands, then desecrated by being dropped randomly.

So what can a parish priest do? I try to reflect the canonical status of the two ways of receiving Communion. Communion on the tongue is allowed universally. Communion in the hand is permitted by indult. The two do not have equal status. So I talk to people about the care necessary when receiving Communion in the hand and then say that of course they can always receive Communion on the tongue.

In my parish, over the past two years, the children preparing for first Holy Communion are taught to receive Communion on the tongue. One girl who had been taught earlier, saw a film of Mother Teresa of Calcutta where she received Holy Communion on the tongue and then told her mother "That is how I want to receive Communion."

That lovely story gave me the courage to mention from time to time Blessed Teresa's famous statement when asked "What is the worst problem in the world today?" She could have picked any one of a number of answers. What she said was:

"Wherever I go in the whole world, the thing that makes me the saddest is watching people receive Communion in the hand."

Checking that quote, I found a very good article by Jude Huntz from the March 1997 issue of The Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Rethinking Communion in the Hand. (Instead of writing all the above, I could have just referred you to the article!)

Frs Whinder & Schofield meet Fr Zuhlsdorf

Fr Schofield and Fr Whinder are back from their gita to Rome. The ubiquitous non-blogging priest of other blogs was recognised in the street by Fr Zuhlsdorf (What does the prayer really say?) and they were able to join him for a drink. Fr Z has a picture of them using his computer to hack into the Vatican network to get the text of the Motu Proprio :-)

Watch the Roman Miscellany over the next few days for some pictures from the Eternal City.

Wielgus and repercussions

Sandro Magister has a lengthy and informative article about the affair of Archbishop Wielgus: The Wielgus Case: The Reasons for His Resignation. These Italian commentators are often very well informed. I know of Sandro Magister's Italian blog. If there are any other blogs in Italian by journalists interested in the Vatican, I'd be grateful to hear in the combox.

Magister discusses the situation in Poland, and the polarisation that has arisen there. He also looks at the question from the point of view of Rome. He says,

The current director of “Tygodnik,” Fr. Adam Boniecki, once a personal friend of Wojtyla’s and head of the Polish edition of “L’Osservatore Romano,” has said:

“I don’t know who, but someone has misled pope Joseph Ratzinger. This is a serious matter, and someone must pay for it, in Poland or in the Vatican.”

These words, given in an interview with the Italian newspaper “la Repubblica” on the day of Wielgus’ resignation, were reprinted with great emphasis in “Avvenire,” the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, which has a direct link to the Vatican secretary of state, cardinal Tarcisio Bertone: this is a sign of strong displeasure and irritation on the part of Church leadership over how that matter came to a conclusion.

In effect, the final curtain of this drama – the resignation of Wielgus just 40 hours after he had formally taken his post as archbishop of Warsaw – can be explained only by an authoritative decision by Benedict XVI himself.

If by ordering his resignation the pope finally decided to reverse his position of constant support for Wielgus as head of the most important diocese in Poland, it must be because he was convinced by very serious facts.

Bashing Secularism blog

Richard Marsden, known to those who go to the Faith Movement Conferences, has started a blog called Bashing Secularism. Good title!

New St Philip Neri Statue

Fr Rupert McHardy of the London Oratory, has sent round information about a statue of St Philip Neri that can now be purchased at the Oratory shop for £34.95. It is part of a series designed by the sculptor David Cope and sold by Devotum. The statues are approximately 8½ inches tall and made of reconstituted stone.

I think I'll have to get the one of St Philip Neri. I don't yet have a statue of a saint wearing a biretta.

Dawn Eden takes on the bearpit

A while back, I posted Dawn Eden's promo video for The Thrill of the Chaste. Here is the video from a recent debate on chastity in "the long basement room of Lower East Side bar Lolita."



Now I don't want any snippy comments on this one. This is a bearpit and this lady is one "helluva" feisty apostle for chastity. This kind of encounter is tough, tough, tough. Good on yer, Dawn! Great stuff!

Have a look at some other videos at her blog The Dawn Patrol.

US March for Life

Preparations are hotting up for the US March for Life. This annual event has taken place since 1974 in protest against the Roe v Wade decision that legalised abortion in the USA. I am sure that many fellow bloggers and readers of this blog will be on the March so God bless you all and may your action in the public square change the hearts and minds of many Americans. The Rally begins at 12noon on the Mall, which is the large park on the west side of the Capitol. Be sure to be there by 11.30am so that you can be counted.

Do have a look at the Life Principles which are the foundation of this act of public witness.

Pro-Life Vigils

Helpers of God's Precious Infants
Two vigils coming up later this month. These Vigils are prayerful and peaceful. They are undertaken with full police co-operation

20 January at Brixton
Led by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

Meet at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, 6 Knowle Close SW9 6AB
9am Mass
9.45am Prayerful and peaceful procession to Marie Stopes Brixton Centre, processing with image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Holy Rosary and hymns
11.30am Return Procession with prayer and hymns
12noon Break for tea and get-together. Please bring packed lunch.

25 January at Maidstone
Led by Fr Luke Smith

Meet at St Francis Church, Week Street ME14 1RH
10am Mass
10.45am Prayerful and peaceful procession to Marie Stopes Abortion Facility, processing with image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Holy Rosary and hymns
11.45am Return Procession with prayer and hymns
12noon Break for tea and get-together. Please bring packed lunch.

NHS dehydration charge - hospital staff cleared

Last August, I wrote a post called NHS and Dehydration Charge which told of a widow who had asked for an inquest into the death of her husband, Harold Speed, believing that he had been dehydrated to death. The case of other patients was also raised, including that of Olive Nockels.

In the case of Olive Nockels, the hospital staff have been exonerated by the coroner who said that her death was due to natural causes. I am grateful to a commenter who sent me this information for the sake of balance and I am happy to publish the links that were sent.

The BBC report Patient did not die of starvation simply tells of the coroner's decision. There is a more detailed article on EDP24: Hospital Staff Cleared Over Pensioner's Death. This gives the text of a statement by Ivy West, the daughter of Olive Nockels:

We are glad that our very real concerns about my mother's treatment have been raised and heard in public. We hope this will give families of stroke victims the confidence to ask for adequate nutrition and hydration for those who have suffered a stroke. We are seeking legal advice about whether the coroner's comments on the GMC guidance were legally correct.”

I do understand that the reputation of professional medical staff is at stake in this case and I am happy to correct the record with this further information. Unfortunately, such distressing cases are likely to be more frequent as a result of the Bland judgement and the Mental Capacity Act - the actions of medical staff who are acting ethically will be called into question because of the legal possibility of starving or dehydrating someone to death.

CDF collection

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has published a volume collecting all the documents it has issued since the Second Vatican Council. The work is 662 pages and most of the documents are in Latin. The title is "Documenta Inde a Concilio Vaticano Secundo Expleto Edita (1966-2005)" (Documents Published Since the Second Vatican Council). It is published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana and is available online from Pax Book.

According to Cardinal Levada, the congregation seeks "to again propose elements that are not taken into account, but are indispensable for the elaboration of a healthy Catholic theology."

Of course, a trip to paxbook is always alluring. I have also ordered "The human embryo in its pre-implantation phase. Scientific aspects and bioethical considerations." published by the Pontifical Academy for Life last November.

H/T to Zenit. This news service is consistently good. I have found since starting to look at blogs that I have already seen a lot of the "news" but there are often items like this which mean that the service is still of great value.

Opportunity for ecumenism

An anonymous commenter said in connection with the SOR demo

Our new breed of Catholic is more interested in discussing the Latin Mass than taking part in something useful like this. This strikes me as a real ecumenical venture what a shame there wasn't a Catholic presence.

The first sentence is, I think, quite unfair. Traditionalists usually form quite a high percentage of the Catholics who attend such demos - this was true last night. Others will just be pro-family, pro-life people, and those from the new movements and religious communities. The common factor is a love for the Church and a loyalty to her moral teaching. Devotees of the old Mass are also very well represented among the supporters of pro-life groups, vigils and charitable work.

But it would be a pity to miss the important point that the commenter makes. This kind of activity is indeed an opportunity for genuine ecumenism. The Peniel Pentecostal Church is thoroughly evangelical protestant in doctrine and practice. They have set us an example by their courageous opposition to the SORs and, for example, to the showing of Jerry Springer the Opera. We need to let them know that whatever our differences, we are one with them on this issue. Perhaps I should also go round and have a chat with my local (strict and particular) Baptist Minister...

Humiliation of Archbishop Wielgus

You have probably heard about the resignation of Archbishop Wielgus. This video shows the dramatic scenes in St John's Cathedral, Warsaw. (If you don't speak Polish, move the video on to about 2'30" for the shots from the Cathedral.)



Wielgus reads his statement [correction:] as people say "No, please don't go!" According to the Wikipedia article on Wielgus, he said after "deep reflection and consideration of [his] personal situation" that he had decided to put his office "in the hands of the Holy Father."

If you watch for a further minute or so further, you see Cardinal Glemp reading out something which attracts applause.

Polish speakers especially welcome in the combox to enlighten us further.

SOR - the problem

Under the Equality Act (2006), the Government gave itself the power to make regulations affecting the provision of goods and services. These regulations take the form of the "Sexual Orientation Regulations" (SOR). They have already been pushed through in Northern Ireland and it is intended that they should come into force in England next April. (Here is the text of The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006.

The SORs make it illegal to discriminate against someone on the grounds of their sexual orientation when offering "goods, facilities or services".

There is a good summary at the website of Christian Concern for our Nation. The gay lobbyng group Stonewall, has been one of the leading groups campaigning for this legislation. As they say:

Stonewall lobbied extremely hard for these important protections and many individuals and organisations were involved in securing this massive step forward. The government bowed to pressure in the House of Lords and accepted Stonewall's amendments to the Equality Bill. Consequently, it will become illegal to discriminate against lesbians and gay men in the provision of goods and services - from NHS care through to hotels and restaurants.

A Christian person operating a bed and breakfast will break the law if they refuse to allow a gay couple to share a bed in their house. If a Church hires out its hall to other groups, it will not be lawful to refuse a gay group who wish to hire the hall. Schools would also be required to remove any "bias" in favour of heterosexuality and thus would fall foul of the law by assuming or teaching that marriage or heterosexual relationships are more normal than homosexual relationships.

In a worrying development, the Northern Ireland Regulations have actually widened the scope of the Regulations. As the Christian Concern for our Nation site points out on its page about concerning development in Northern Ireland:

The NI consultation expressly stated that no law on harassment would be brought in, and yet only 6 weeks later, the published final Regulations do make it illegal to harass someone on the basis of their sexual orientation. This is extremely concerning because the definition of harassment relies largely on the perception of the person who claims they were harassed: all they need do is allege that someone has ‘violated their dignity’ or that someone created a ‘hostile or insulting environment’ for them, and they can take legal action.

Indeed, related to schools, current Government Guidance Stand up for us. Challenging homophobia in Schools, tells schools that as part of their action to prevent homophobia, they should avoid "heterosexism" a new word which the Department helpfully defines for us:

HETEROSEXISM describes the presumption that everyone is heterosexual. It refers to a culture in which individuals, families and their lifestyles are categorised according to a heterosexual model. Examples include the assumption that a male pupil will have, or be looking for, a girlfriend; or that a female parent, when talking about her partner, is referring to a male. Such a culture can make LGB pupils and staff feel marginalised, and not valued or understood within the school community.

In another part of the document, the advice is given:

"Do not use generic language that assumes parents and staff always have opposite sex partners"

Currently, this has the status of "Guidance" from the DfES. If the SORs make "harrassment" illegal, a claim could be made against a Catholic school for assuming that the normal model of family is one with a married mother and father, let alone for teaching it to be God's will.

The basic problem with the legislation is that there are two conflicting claims to rights. The SORs give precedence to the claim of homosexuals to live and work in an environment where nobody is allowed to make the assumption that heterosexuality is the norm. Many Christians claim the right to live according to traditional Christian teaching which sees marriage as a created reality, the family as the fundamental unit of society, and homosexual acts as gravely sinful.

Stonewall give a helpful example of what they mean by harrassment. The "canteen culture" assumption that people all agree with a comment (about homosexuality) would make for a hostile environment for a gay person.

What seems to have escaped the notice of the Government and equality campaigners is that Christians have suffered from exactly this kind of "harrassment" for years. Comments about the Church, the Pope, Catholic teaching, bible-bashers, and indeed "homophobia" can make Christians uncomfortable at work. People routinely pool their ignorance derived from The Da Vinci Code, their blasphemy based on the Life of Brian, their prejudice taken from last nights edition of a soap opera. We don't actually claim the right not to be harrassed in this way: simply a level playing-field in which we are allowed to live what we believe and to speak about it.

This new legislation presents an extremely serious danger. We are on the threshold of becoming the first western "democracy" to make it illegal to live and proclaim the Christian faith.

SOR demo report

A young woman in my parish told me yesterday in a rather bemused tone that her parents had gone up to London for a demo; "They never go on demos!"

It was, of course, the Rally held to protest against the proposed new Sexual Orientation Regulations. Fr Andrew Pinsent was there, (many thanks to him for the photo), and has commented:

As far as I could tell, most of the protesters at the anti-SOR demonstration were from Evangelical or Pentecostal groups. I saw one Anglican bishop, but I did not see any Catholic clergy I recognized. It is a great pity more Catholics were not there, but apart from a few blogs such as this one there did not seem to be much publicity. It is incredible to me that the legal noose is being drawn around the Church with so little protest. As one banner at the demonstration put it, "Christians wake up!"

Fr Dermot Fenlon of the Birmingham Oratory was also there. The Peniel Pentecostal Church brought along children from their school; there was singing and chanting ("S-O-R. No! No! No!"), meeting of old and new friends. I'll work on a post today to give further information about the SORs themselves and the problems they will create.

The House of Lords voted by 199 to 68 in support of the SOR which are already in force in Northern Ireland. I'll read up Hansard and post some quotes from the debate.

Dust-up over SOR Regs on Sky

On Sky news today, there was a Heated Debate between Bishop Michael Reid and Peter Tatchell. Peter Tatchell is the founder of Outrage!, a gay campaigning group. Bishop Michael Reid is the founder of the Peniel Church in Essex ("Miracles, Healing, Faith") which has a strongly evangelical ethos. They campaigned vigorously against the showing of Jerry Springer, The Opera.

The "debate" became heated with both parties accusing each other of lying. It finished with the presenter having to interrupt a shouting match. Bishop Reid made some very good points. Tatchell was annoyed at his bringing in the matter of Government guidance to schools.

Perhaps the most interesting point is Peter Tatchell's claim that no mainstream religious organisations have supported the campaign against the proposed Sexual Orientation Regulations. Bishop Reid was able to list a number of Anglican Bishops who were attending tonight's demonstration. I would be happy to publicise the attendance of any of our Bishops. If anyone who was there has any information. I would be glad to receive it.

Good Counsel Thanksgiving Masses

In thanksgiving for 10 years of pro-life counselling and support offered to women by the Good Counsel Network throughout the UK, the following Masses will be offered this week:

A solemn sung Mass in the Classical Rite at Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane this Friday (12 Jan) at 6.30pm.

Mass in the new Rite at St James's, Spanish Place this Saturday (13 Jan) at 12.30pm.

The Mission of the Good Counsel Network is:

Through and with Mary, the Mediatrix of All Graces, to Mediate the Mission of Motherhood, in order to save as many babies as possible from abortion, using the most effective, morally acceptable means, to reach, inform and help women.

Humanae Vitae "prophetic" say IRLF

I received this press statement today.

STUDY PROPHETIC CATHOLIC TEACHING ON BIRTH REGULATION, SAY INTERNATIONAL PRO-LIFE LEADERS IN MANILA

International Right to Life Federation (IRLF) leaders meeting in Manila have issued a statement calling on “citizens throughout the world to study the prophetic message of "Humanae Vitae", Catholic church teaching on the regulation of births published in 1968.

Dr Jack Willke, President of International Right to Life Federation, said: “Worldwide, we are witnessing the sexualization of our children – in particular, the sexual indoctrination of children with a view to subsequent provision of abortion and birth control drugs and devices to them without parental knowledge and consent, including in faith schools. We are also witnessing growing pressure from United Nations bodies on developing countries to legalise abortion.”

The IRLF statement says: “We call on citizens throughout the world to demand that innocent human life, from conception until natural death, be protected from intentional killing in their nations’ laws; we call on citizens throughout the world to demand that only marriage between a man and a woman be recognized in their nations’ laws; we call on citizens throughout the world to demand that the inalienable rights of parents as primary educators and protectors be respected in their nations’ laws.”

The statement from the pro-life leaders concluded: “We consider that the depth of the crisis is so great we call on government leaders, politicians and citizens throughout the world to study the prophetic message* of Humanae Vitae, as its 40th anniversary approaches in July 2008, in the light of worldwide experience”.

International Right to Life is meeting at the Shangri-la Hotel in Manila and their board members are also speaking at the international conference on bioethics and the family, addressed by Bishop Sgreccia, President of the Pontifical Academy for life, and organized by the Catholic bishops’ conference of the Philippines on 9th and 10th January.

For further information please contact:
Dr Jack Willke, IRLF President at +63 2 633 8888 Room number 709 or
Jim Hughes, IRLF Vice-President, at +63 2 633 8888 Room number 1402,
& +1416 204 9749 or
John Smeaton, IRLF Vice-President, +63 2 633 8888 Room number 1426 & +447785 325808

* "Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife." Humanae Vitae, 17

A whiff of temporal power

Arriving back this evening from Wonersh, there were various C5 envelopes awaiting my arrival; no doubt offering me unbeatable offers on candles, paper, credit cards, and the opportunity to win a luxury villa by ringing a premium-rate number. I will attend to those tomorrow. What caught my eye was a small packet with a customs sticker...

Momentarily puzzled, I thought that perhaps it was a belated Christmas present This made me slightly nervous. I don't encourage people to buy me cologne - sends out the wrong sort of message, you understand. Turning the packet over, I remembered that I had ordered it myself...

It is, of course, The Pope's Cologne about which I blogged just over a week ago. It is made from the private formula of Pope Pius IX, passed on by the commander of the Papal Guard.

I am not a connoisseur of cologne but I must say that it smelt a little strange. To begin with, it gives a warm and friendly fragrance, inviting all to understand that the wearer is nothing to be afraid of. Then, as it matures, former friends become enemies, foment revolution and anti-clericalism, and then steal the wearer's property, causing him to crack down on dissenting theologians and political liberals.

Finally, some of those attracted and repelled at the same time by the mysterious scent declare that it is inopportune to wear it. At this point, amid peals of thunder, the wearer's infallibility is solemnly declared, the forces of anti-clericalism finally take the remainder of the wearer's property and force him to become a prisoner in his own home. Dangerous stuff.

Papal Audience 2006 statistics

One of the early Liturgical Encounters of 2007

The Vatican website give the statistical data for the participation of the faithful at the General Audiences and other meetings at the Vatican with the Holy Father during 2006. The columns are General Audiences, special Audiences, Liturgical Celebrations and Angelus. The overall total is 3,222,820. during December alone, 260,000 people were present at the Angelus addresses.

H/T Settimio Cielo (Sandro Magister's blog)

Epiphany Declaration

The New Liturgical Movement has posted a

Declaration

Supporting any Papal Initiative

to Allow the Freer Use

of the 1962 Missale Romanum.

Here is the link where you can sign up.

Creation leads to Christ

I don't often post sermons but as one of my parishioners was kind enough to email me saying that he found today's interesting, I thought it might be worth an airing. My decision to preach on this subject was partly prompted by the depressing sight of Richard Dawkins' latest book The God Delusion on the best-seller shelves in WH Smith and Waterstones.

---

We have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him. (Matt 2.2)
The Magi, or wise men, represent the “gentiles” of the world, that is to say, the people who had not had the benefit of God’s divine revelation through the law and the prophets as we have written in the Old Testament of our Bible.

They were led to Christ by a star, that is to say, through something created. The same is true for many people today. People can observe the beauty and complexity of creation, in the natural sciences, whether through the study of the living cell, the study of the human genome, the study of the mechanism of evolution in the natural world, or the study of the formation of the galaxies, the behaviour of the fundamental particles of the universe and the laws which govern them.

Ultimately, scientists are looking for a simple explanation of complex realities, they search for order, a way of explaining how things are in the universe, or in the natural world on earth.

When we realise that the whole universe itself can be studied terms of the fundamental laws of physics such as Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, or the field of quantum mechanics, and that there are a small number of constants which can be used to give a mathematical description of the most basic and universal laws which operate in the universe, we have to ask “Why?” We can explain things in the universe, but we are still led to seek an explanation of the universe itself – a universe which is a cosmos, not a chaos.

It is important to realise that we do not worship a “God of the gaps.” We do not say “science cannot explain, say, the human eye, or the tiny structures within the living cell; and therefore we must invoke God to explain it. No! Such an approach is doomed to failure if science subsequently finds out “This is how it works.” Richard Dawkins is perhaps the best known exponent of this particular “demolition job” on weak arguments for the existence of God.

We do not rely on what science cannot explain; on the contrary, we should say “science can explain this – why?” The very fact that our universe is subject to scientific enquiry leads us to seek a further explanation outside of the material universe itself. Why is the universe an ordered cosmos? Why can we find these answers?

The modern sciences arose within a Christian context. The Christian doctrine of creation gives us a motive for enquiring into the natural world. We believe that creation is good, made by God, and ordered. Therefore we can investigate it; such a project in itself gives glory to God and can help us to make the world a better place.

As Christianity fades from our society, we are likely to see more and more “anti-science” movements based upon scepticism about the human mind’s ability to know, and one form or another of superstition and anti-rational belief. To go along with such movements of thought would be to return to the great mistake that was made in the case of Galileo. We should never be frightened of the facts, of the evidence. Rather, we should follow it with our God-given minds and human intelligence to find the wonders that God has built into this universe.

The revelation of God takes us beyond the natural sciences to a supernatural knowledge of the ultimate purpose of creation. It does not and cannot contradict the data of reason. God is truth and his creation does not contradict what he has told us by revelation.

Quite the opposite. St Paul said, speaking of Jesus Christ, “all things were created through him and for him, and in him all things hold together.” Everything in this wonderful universe that God created was made through his Wisdom and for his glory. Our sinful misuse of some aspects of science is, in a way, a blasphemy against our creator. Our use of science for the common good is, in a way, a prayer, allied to an act of charity.

The magi were led by creation to worship Christ. Today, at this Mass on the feast of the Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ, the eternal Wisdom, we join those wise men in spirit as we bow down in adoration before the Lord of the cosmos and the Lord of history.

BBC poll on hybrid embryos

The BBC are running a poll on hybrid embryos.

Should the creation of hybrid embryos be allowed?

Pop along and vote "No."

Comments and answers

The number of comments to this blog has increased quite a bit over recent weeks. Thank you all very much for your interest. I'm pleased to say also that I don't often have to reject comments. (For my policy, see the two links at the bottom of the sidebar.)

However, I feel that I should say that I am going to find it increasingly difficult to spend time replying to comments. There is snail-mail, email, and voice-mail as well and I don't keep up with those very well. So please don't be offended if I don't reply to a question or supply information that you ask for. There is only a limited time at my disposal - I have to run a parish and teach as well. My first priority here will be to post regularly with a variety of items.

SOR Rally on Tuesday

I received this by email. Unfortunately, I can't be there myself because of our opening Confirmation class in the parish. If you are working in London and can get there, I do recommend it.

PLEASE JOIN US outside Parliament for a torch-lit rally on Tuesday, January 9th, from 5.30-8.00pm. This protest rally is set to coincide with a crucial debate on the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) which will take place in the House of Lords at around 7:30pm. We will be meeting in Old Palace Yard, opposite the St Stephen's (Peers') entrance. Please bring a torch. The Northern Ireland SORs which are being debated in the House of Lords can only be annulled by Parliament within the next month. This is therefore probably the only opportunity to demonstrate publicly the strength of Christian feeling about the Northern Ireland SORs, at the same time challenging the Government to think again about the drafting of the Regulations for England, Wales and Scotland. That drafting is happening now. Please encourage all Christians to attend this important event. There has already been significant media coverage of the rally. Page 2 of the Daily Telegraph (2nd Jan 2007) carried an article. The Daily Mail also featured the petition and forthcoming demonstration on page 29 of its 2nd January edition. If the Sexual Orientation Regulations go through, it might well be illegal for us to hold any similar rally in the future …

This link goes to the article in the Daily Mail Christian lawyers to petition Queen to block gay rights bill.

PC Carols

I really must get rid of that stupid hymnbook (people's edition (plastic)). Oh, the list of hymns looked find and dandy - a few really bad ones but it had most of the good ones and some proper liturgical music as well. But you don't get the chance to see what they have done with the words of the hymns. Mac (Grrr!) points out how even the Christmas ones have been "mucked about with by the politically-correct brigade."

Really - does any woman feel empowered when we sing "Then why should we on earth be so sad"? I suspect quite a few would have this reaction:

Godzdogz blog

Sorry I am rather late in the day with this one (launched on the 1st Sunday of Advent), but I must draw your attention to Godzdogz, the blog of the English Dominican Studentate. I understand that Fra Lawrence Lew, formerly of Contemplata Aliis Tradere, may be one of the regular contributors.

The name of the blog refers to a pun on the word "Dominican" which could be stretched to "Domini canes" (="God's dogs"):

This was itself based on a dream which St Dominic's mother, Blessed Juana de Aza, had in 1170 when she was pregnant: she saw a black and white dog with a torch in its mouth setting the world ablaze. This was interpreted to refer to St Dominic and his spiritual children, the Dominican Order - in their black and white habits - whose preaching brings the light of Gospel truth to shine upon and inflame the world with divine love.

Trying to genuflect in Malaysia

Poor Andrew, over in Malaysia, not only has to put up with an Government that Kow-Tows to Islamic body-snatchers until the international community makes them too embarrassed; he also has to suffer from the kind of liturgist about whom all those jokes were composed.

See his post More liturgical rants...genuflecting before receiving Holy Communion is a sin. Some of the language is a little intemperate but this is frankly understandable given the nonsense up with which he has had to put. As he summarises neatly:

When I teach that Jesus Christ, Our Lord is present, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament and that the worship and adoration of latria is due to Him and the priest comes out and says genuflection before Our Lord is a sin, I have a problem with that.

Yes, Andrew, this is unacceptable. Complain to your Bishop. If that fails, take the complaint to Rome. If that fails... take the video, post it on YouTube, and ...

Unleash the power of the Blog!

Glenairley

Looking around for information about the enneagram, I chanced upon Glenairley - Centre for Earth and Spirit in Vancouver Island which is:

a non-profit ecological learning centre committed to the protection and healing of Earth through fostering a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship. It provides resources, programs and retreats focusing on an Emerging Cosmology, Earth Literacy, Sustainability and Spirituality, The Great Turning, and the Earth Charter.

You can book now ($245-275) for the workshop on Circle Dance (June 8-10).

This is a learn-by-doing workshop. Many of the dances symbolize the union of Earth and Spirit. Our bodies become the site for this sacred union.

I'd join you but this just doesn't suit my learning style.

The enneagram

A couple of people at the Faith Winter Conference asked me if I could post some further information about the enneagram. This is a "new age" type of personality analysis. By self-observation, the user assigns himself to one of nine personality types. From a scientific point of view, it is worthless. From the religious point of view, it can be harmful because it derives from religious ideas that are incompatible with the Catholic faith. Expressions such as "sin", "fruits of the spirit", "redemption", and "prayer" are used in ways that are quite different from the way that they are used in Catholic teaching. It would therefore be easy for someone to be misled.

There is online the text of a draft from the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices entitled "A brief report on the origins of the enneagram." I don't know whether this ever got into a final version. Part of the conclusion reads:

An examination of the origins of enneagram teaching reveals that it does not have credibility as an instrument of scientific psychology and that the philosophical and religious ideas of its creators are out of keeping with basic elements of Christian faith on several points. Consequently, the attempt to adapt the enneagram to Christianity as a tool for personal spiritual development shows little promise of providing substantial benefit to the Christian community. [...]

In conclusion, those who are looking for an aid for personal and psychological development should be aware that enneagram teaching lacks a scientific foundation for its assertion and that the enneagram is of questionable value as a scientific tool for the understanding of human psychology. Moreover, Christians who are looking for an aid for spiritual growth should be aware that the enneagram has its origins in a non-Christian worldview and remains connected to a complex of philosophical and religious ideas that do not accord with Christian belief.

Further reading

Fr Mitch Pacwa Tell Me Who I Am, O Enneagram

Rick Kephart Enneagram versus the Catholic Church

Bruce Sabalaskey The Enneagram

Michael Rose The Enneagram Theory of Personality. Why it's use is incompatible with Christianity

Mary Jo Anderson Enneagram: Psychic Babble, The

For a "neutral" view, you could try the Wikipedia article, Enneagram. Also interesting is the discussion that has been raging about whether it is neutral enough. A contributor said "This article appears to be written from the point of view that the enneagram concepts are valid and widely accepted."

Names for Motu Proprio

Fr John Zuhlsdorf has a very good idea to while away the time before the Motu Proprio comes out. He asks readers to suggest possible names for the document. Why not go over to his post What will the Motu Proprio be called? and join in? I've put in my twopence-worth.

(You may find the master list of encyclicals useful for ideas.)

Hehe. Optata Iamdudum.
That's a good one!

First four centuries - introduction

At the Faith Winter Conference, I promised to post here a list of books that might be helpful for students wishing to become acquainted with the early Fathers of the Church and to learn something about the early Councils.

It should first of all be said that there is an immense amount of information available and there is an increasing amount of good material on the internet. These are only given as a few examples to get you started.

The Catholic Answers website has a good introductory article by Marcellino D'Ambrosio called Getting Started with the Fathers of the Church. The same author, at the Crossroads Initiative, has an Early Church Fathers Overview and a brief summary of the first seven Ecumenical Councils.

The New Advent website has the text of the Catholic Encyclopaedia online, and some works of some of the Church Fathers - including many of the most important works. In some cases, scholarship has superseded the encyclopaedia, and the translations (made by non-Catholics) are sometimes misleading. But by and large, this resource is an immense help to the student.

Catechetics online, as I mentioned a while back, has the texts of the Ecumenical Councils and the Fathers. (The patristic texts are the same as those on New Advent.)

Now some books:

Pier Franco Beatrice Introduction to the Fathers of the Church (Edizione Istituto S. Gaetano. Vicenza. 1987)
This is an excellent introductory book with helpful illustrations. There are two copies offered for sale on the UK Amazon marketplace - but at very high prices (£30 and £83 - this is a 350 page paperback which I bought for £4.25 a few years back!) so if you see one going for sale anywhere, snap it up. There are a couple of copies at Abebooks for £10.52 and £13.15 so it would be worth snapping those up. The sellers are both in the US so British buyers will have to pay a bit more postage.

Mike Aquilina The Fathers of the Church: An Introduction to the First Christian Teachers (Our Sunday Visitor)
I haven't seen this myself but list it here because Mike Aquilina is a good guy, a regular on EWTN. I am sure the book will be trustworthy as regards Catholic doctrine. Furthermore, it is available on Amazon UK. (If anyone has read this book and would like to offer comments, please do.)

Ludwig Ott The Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma (republished by Tan Books. Illinois 1974)
You can look up in Ott the various doctrines related to the Trinity. He gives quotations from scripture, the Fathers, the Councils and the Popes to support the various doctrines that he states. Ott is a great reference book to have if you want to check up on Catholic doctrine generally.

John Henry Newman's Development of Christian Doctrine
Newman was steeped in the study of the Church Fathers. The Development not only makes the case for the truth of the Catholic Church but is also shot through with references to the Fathers and the early Church. This is available at a reasonable price at Amazon thanks to the University of Notre Dame which published a new edition. (There is a first edition going on Abebooks for £40.)

Mediawatch anti-porn petition

John Beyer, Director of the excellent Mediawatch UK, has posted a petition at the 10 Downing Street e-petitions site. It reads:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to steadfastly proceed with plans announced in the Queen's Speech to make possession of extreme pornography illegal and to include a much wider range of pornographic imagery, such as R18 material, within the scope of the Criminal Justice Bill.

There are 2127 signatures at the time of posting. Do add your name if you are eligible (you must be a British Citizen or resident to sign the petition.)
Sign the petition here

Whindering along

The Dúnadan has an amusing post A Whinderful Man in which he defines the verb to whinder as "To achieve fame by means of absolutely no effort on the part of oneself", a reference to the ubiquitous non-blogging guest of Catholic blogs.

A post such as this would not be complete without a photograph so here is one from the Boston Herald in the 1950s when Fr Whinder was engaged in ferocious debate with Fr Feeney over the doctrine of extra ecclesiam nulla salus.

The ultimate vocations video?

H/T to Southwark Vocations

Experimenting on human persons is simply wrong

Jeff Miller (The Curt Jester) quotes Dr. Markus Grompe, director of Oregon Health & Science University's Stem Cell Center. The good Doctor is a Catholic and insists that ethical principles should be paramount in his work. He accepts that embryonic stem cells might have some advantages: they can be "grown" in unlimited quantities, for example. However, he says

As Catholics, we need to stick to the facts and the truth. The reason we object to embryonic stem-cell research is not because the cells are not good or the adult cells are better. The real reason is that we have moral and ethical objections. We have to stick to our guns. Just because a medical procedure is immoral doesn't mean it will not work.

As Jeff says:

The main point should be that it is simply wrong to use a human person in experiments. Though you can easily understand by the ineffectiveness of ESCR so far has been much touted since it is an easy point to make. Much harder in the current culture to speak of the personhood of the human embryo. It is quite unlikely that in a sound bite society that arguments made by Peter Kreeft in his excellent article Human Personhood Begins at Conception are likely to be heard.

You can read the full article at the following post: I support the church's view on protection of embryonic life.

Feature in the Catholic Herald

Sir Dan of the Nesbitry left a message for me today with one of his classic lines "Have you seen the Herald?" He tells me that Joanna Bogle (Auntie Joanna) has an article about Catholic blogs in this week's Catholic Herald, mentioning this one in very complimentary terms. (Many thanks, Joanna!) I will probably see the article tomorrow if the papers arrive on time.

It will be most interesting to observe the site meter during the coming week. Over the past couple of days, Jeff Miller at the Curt Jester, Gerald Augustinus at the Cafeteria is Closed, and Fr John Zuhlsdorf at What does the prayer really say? have been kind enough to mention this blog with a link, causing the number of daily visitors to soar to more than twice their normal level. (see graphic) How will a mention in the print compare with a mention on two great American blogs and on a blog that is a major source of solid information on the Liturgy?

BTW, Fr Zuhlsdorf warns:

When you see Fr. F and Fr. Z con-presiding liturgy with liturgical dance set to tunes by Haas, Haugen and the rest, start saying your prayers, for the end of the world is near.

Brian asks in the combox

Is ‘con-presiding’ a word? I know there is concelebrating. Shouldn’t it be co-presiding?

Fr Zuhlsdorf's reply:

Brian: What difference could it possibly make?
o{]:¬

Priceless!
(And cop the birettamoticon.)

Roman Miscellany on Die Grosse Stille

Sorry, I forgot to post a link to Fr Nicholas Schofield's review of Die Grosse Stille which he also saw at the Barbican. It is well worth reading.

Classical Rite Epiphany Mass at the BO

Matt Doyle reports on a Traditional High Mass for Epiphany at the Birmingham Oratory. It is at 11am (Sat 6 January), followed by refreshments and party.

Into Great Silence - the cinema experience

I was very glad to have gone to see Into Great Silence at the cinema, even though I have a copy of the DVD (Italian version) at home. It was quite remarkable that at the end of the film, after the credits had run and the lights had come up, the whole place was still silent. People left the theatre in silence.

The Barbican is a place where more "minority interest" films are shown. The theatre was fairly modest, holding about 250 people. Last night it was probably 80-90% full. I prayed hard that some of the people will have been converted by the experience of seeing the film.

Personally, I was much more critical after a second viewing (first thoughts here). For anyone who was finding it challenging, the long, lingering cinematic cliché of the raindrops could have been the last straw (after lingering shots of blue sky, lingering shots of snow, lingering shots of grass, etc. etc.) The film would have benefited from the skill of a sympathetic editor.

I also felt that the choice of scriptural texts was limited. Why "Lord you have seduced me..." three times? What about "it is good to wait in silence for the Lord to save", "the prayer of the humble pierces the clouds", "Lord, how I love your law, it is ever in my heart"?

However there are really just quibbles. This is a most powerful film and it has been stunning audiences into silence. Do watch it at the cinema if you can, or failing that, get the DVD. At the moment, I could find two possible sources:

German Amazon

IBS (Italian)

Further thoughts on the telly

Do have a look at the combox for the post Chuck the telly! as there are some very thoughtful comments there.

Last night, Fr John Boyle passed on an interesting point that he had picked up from somewhere. Television has pushed families into seculsion in their homes. Prior to TV, children would play outside, an older family member would often be sitting outside, people would walk in the streets more. When one person in the street had a television, everyone would go to their house. When everyone had a television, they would all go to their own houses. I know it wasn't a golden age but it had not occurred to me before how much television has contributed to the lack of "community cohesion".

Off to see The Great Silence

In November, I posted my thoughts on viewing the Italian DVD of Die Grosse Stille. This evening, I am meeting Fr John Boyle (South Ashford Priest) and Fr Mark Swires at the Barbican to see the film on the big screen. This week is fairly quiet and I am glad to be able to join them. I haven't been to the Barbican for ages.

Since seeing the DVD, I have spoken to the Prior of Parkminster who was not very enthusiastic about the film. He felt that it failed to capture the beauty of the scenery at the Grande Chartreuse where he spent many years. Nevertheless, I think the film is a very striking portrayal of Carthusian life for anyone who is interested.

Dictators' Homes

Over at Chislehurst today for lunch with a priest friend. Today we were fortunate to get the table next to the log fire at the Tiger's Head. My friend's brother gave him a book for Christmas that I found very amusing: Dictators' Homes. Lifestyles of the World's Most Colourful Despots. This is a sure-fire conversation-piece coffee table book with lavish colour photographs illustrating the generally execrable taste of the average megalomaniac. The text is witty, referring to various examples of "tyrant kitsch."

Chuck the telly!

At the Fullness of Faith, David has posted Throw away your Television, quoting a song by "Red Hot Chilli Peppers." He says

"Not only is the telly full of mindless junk, not only does it eat into spare time that could be used for prayer, study, family and Blogging...it is also largely inimical to all that our Catholic Faith stands for. Why do we pay to watch it in the first place?"

Well, I sold my presbytery's television in January 2003 and have not had one since. I thought this would be a sacrifice but actually, I never missed it, even slightly. I watch films occasionally, using a DVD player and a projector. Sometimes, I look at EWTN on the internet, especially if I want to get a good Catholic version of a major news story. It was great to see some of their coverage of the election of Pope Benedict. Again, very occasionally, I check an item on the BBC website for information; I am always pleased when there is a transcript available because reading through the text is so much quicker than having to watch the footage.

This issue is problematic for families. Their children are made fun of at (Catholic) school and I have often heard people involved at various levels in (Catholic) education speak as though the absence of a television makes a family abnormal so the peer-level comments are never effectively challenged. Yet families without a television (or where its use is very strictly regulated) do have a much richer life. It is natural that this should be so: they have so many more hours to do interesting things, visit interesting places, grow plants, look after animals, play sports, read books - and of course pray together.

A couple of good websites in connection with this are White Dot and The Center for Screen Time Awareness.

There is a story that St Elizabeth Ann Seton had a vision of the future in which she saw a mysterious black box in every home in America. In one version I heard, the devil was coming out of the box. In another, it had two wires, leading down to hell. She did not understand the vision at the time...

If anyone can confirm this or let me have a link or a reference, I'd be most grateful.

Northampton seminarian blog

Michael Patey, a second year seminarian for the Diocese of Nothampton, studying at the English College in Rome, is writing a blog called Nothampton Seminarian. I hope that he can add to the stock of photos from Rome - these are always eagerly sought after!

Difference when saying Mass as a Catholic

Dwight Longenecker has posted a thoughtful reflection Now and Then on his experience of saying Mass as a Catholic priest compared to his experience as an Anglican. He sensibly puts "feelings" in their proper place but recognises that

they often help to validate and hammer home the truth to our hearts, but they're not reliable enough to use as dogma construction materials.

He then gives three ways in which saying Mass as a Catholic feels different. A most interesting read.

St Charles Borromeo and Church Architecture

Over at In Illo Tempore, a helpful question was raised regarding a comment I made about confessionals in my post The Poor Clares at Krakow. I mentioned the "immediate post-Tridentine reform" relating to Church architecture. As In Illo Tempore points out, the decrees of the Council of Trent contain little that directly concerns Church architecture.

The driving force of the reform of Church architecture was St Charles Borromeo. He participated in the Council of Trent and his life was largely devoted to the faithful implementation of the Council in his own diocese of Milan. He wrote a work called Instructiones Fabricae Et Supellectilis Ecclesiasticae which was intended to apply the teaching of the council of Trent to Church architecture:

... this only has been our principle, that we have shown that the norm and form of building, ornamentation and ecclesiastical furnishing are precise and in agreement with the thinking of the Fathers

Borromeo was also the principal author of the directives in the Roman Missal on "The Church and its furnishings" and the "Instructions for Consecrating a Church" in the Roman Pontifical. Hence, his influence extended worldwide and continued until publication of the new Missale Romanum in 1969.

Perhaps the most disruptive innovation has been the removal of the Blessed Sacrament from the centre of many parish Churches. Borromeo stipulated that the tabernacle should be on the High Altar of the Church in a parish Church, and on the altar of a Blessed Sacrament chapel in the case of a Cathedral. In recently constructed or "re-ordered" Churches, absurdly, the Blessed Sacrament is often not even in the centre of the Blessed Sacrament chapel.

If you would like to read a summary of the Instructiones, there is a good article by Matthew E. Gallegos in the journal Sacred Architecture: Charles Borromeo and Catholic tradition regarding the design of Catholic Churches.

I would very much like to read the text itself. Searching Abebooks, unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a copy for sale. I am hoping that I will be able to find one lurking somewhere in the dark recesses of the library at Wonersh.

It would also be interesting to see Evelyn C. Voelker's PhD thesis which was a translation of the Instructiones with commentary and analysis. In an email to the Lion and the Cardinal blog (which seems to be down at the moment), Dr Voelker was awaiting a publisher to take up the thesis.

Another good place for articles about Church architecture is Michael Rose's dellachiesa. (You have to pay $20 to read all the articles but I thought "Heck! it's still Christmas time, Finigan, you skinflint!") Rose is the author of "Ugly as Sin" and "In Tiers of Glory: The Organic Development of Catholic Church Architecture Through the Ages." Annoyingly, this is not listed on Amazon UK.

Dancing, Football, and Communion in the hand

A good blog I found from the trackbacks is For God, For Country and For Yale. (There is indeed no "Oxford comma.") The author, Stephen, is at Yale University and plays (American) football. He also reports on the fortunes of the team of his former school: the "Lancaster Catholic Crusaders." While trying to make sure that I got my facts right about this, I came across a post about his Alma Mater. They sent the following note about school dances:

We are pleased that our dances have been very well attended and that our students have enjoyed themselves at these events. Security has been increased by searching bags and out clothing, and by screening guests very carefully.

There are two concerns that need to be addressed: standard of dress and over-hyped intimate dancing. At our last dance, there were far too many girls whose clothing was overly revealing. Female chaperones will be on hand to examine girls’ clothing and to contact parents of students who are not properly dressed.

There are certain styles of modern dancing which look like animals copulating. Students should be advised that overly familiar and sexually-hyped dancing will result in their being expelled form the dance and parents picking them up.

Both of the above matters are difficult for chaperones to deal with. We urge parents to be preemptive in these matters.

Stephen also has a very thoughtful post In the Hand? No thanks. in which he explains why he has changed to receiving Holy Communion on the tongue.

Faith Winter Conference post

Liam O'Hara, over at The Hyper-Text Markup Language Experiment has a post up called Faith Conference and wisdom teeth.

Mary Meets Dolly blog

Just before Christmas, I mentioned Mary Meets Dolly, a good pro-life site. Rebecca has written to let me know that she also runs a blog of the same name. Here's the link: Mary Meets Dolly blog

Things that are not going to happen in 2007

Here is my blogger's guide to what is not going to happen in the coming year.

JANUARY
Gerald Augustinus decides to have a day on which the Cafeteria is open. Fr Stephanos celebrates a creative liturgy using the Prayer of the Frog composed by Paulinus. The sense of warmness created by this event causes Gerald to embrace militant Isalamicists and insist that "We all worship the same God."

FEBRUARY
Following the Motu Proprio issued by Pope Benedict, HE Cormac Cardinal Murphy O’Connor decides that the classical Roman Rite is, after all, a means of encouraging the faithful to step out On the Way to Life. He proposes that we should use our Catholic Sacramental Imagination to rediscover the transcendent values of traditional liturgy as an aid to the active participation of the faithful. He models this idea of participation after the example of Pope John Paul II by saying the Rosay during Mass at which he pontficates at the throne.

MARCH
Auntie Joanna discovers her hidden oppression within, and proclaims that wimmin have been subjected down the centuries to the male domination of the institutional Church. Writing in the New Zealand Sisters’ Quarterly, she offers an apology for blatantly sending them up with an account of a spoof feminist conference and vows henceforth to say loudly “for the good of all God’s Church” in the response to the Orate Fratres in order to avoid using a masculine pronoun. Sir Dan of the Nesbitry comes out in sympathy, declaring himself to be “new man” with a rediscovered sense of his own femininity.

APRIL
The Bishops’ Conference of English and Wales consults a few close friends and decide that New Year’s Day should henceforth be a Holyday of Obligation – transferred to the nearest Sunday.

MAY
Mulier Fortis is ordained womynpriest on a rowing boat in the middle of the River Shuttle in Blackfen. Principal Consecrator is Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori with Archbishop Michael Nazir-Ali and Bishop Jonathan Blake as co-consecrators. The Opening Hymn for the deeply moving liturgy is “Faith of our Carers (or other responsible adult) living still / in spite of male-dominated worship-space, global warming and gender-exclusive language.”

JUNE
Tony Blair and Cherie see the light. New-new Labour wake up to the fact that the distribution of condoms has actually caused the rise in teenage pregnancies and STIs. The DfES issues guidance promoting Education for Chastity in schools, monogamy and different-sexed “partners.” Barbara McGuigan is invited to 10 Downing Street to give a presentation on “God or the Zeitgeist” to the members of the Cabinet.

JULY
Joee Blogs and Andrew Swampillai team up to demonstrate how Latin is a barrier to participation in the Liturgy. Wagamama’s at London Bridge is the venue at which sympathetic young people can celebrate a new programme of Holistic Indian Head Massage, the Prayer of the Frog, and Halloween Masses.

AUGUST
The BBC finally repents, sees the error of its ways and institutes programming that will fulfil the Reith Charter. Big Brother gives way to Holy Father: a daily roundup of Apostolic Acts, sourced from the Vatican Website. Soap Operas are ditched in favour of features on the Lives of the Saints. Scary news items about the weather, crime, or scandal are prefixed with a disclaimer saying “This is an extreme case and should not be taken as typical of the progress of events in your own locality.” And they voluntarily decide to give up the Television Licence Fee.

SEPTEMBER
The Curt Jester gets serious. In a sensitive analysis of the latest University Professor’s musings on the human condition, he accepts that the "Call to Action" has some profound things to say about homosexual love and non-violence. In response, he agrees to display a rainbow banner over all his posts during the month of September.

OCTOBER
The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales agrees that the idea of “Planning for a Church with fewer priests” is, in fact, a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Department of Christian Citizenship launches a new initiative in which Bishops will visit youth groups and persuade them that loyalty to the teaching of the Magisterium, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary will do more to solve our problems than any number of meetings, discussion groups, or feedback sessions.

NOVEMBER
Ma Beck decides that although St John Cantius Church in Chicago gets thousands of people there each week, and has had 100 vocations over the past 10 years, it is still a reactionary force in the modern Church. She opts instead to attend a Church where the Gather Hymnal is the principal liturgical source, so that she can experience the loneliness of the prophet.

DECEMBER
Fr John Zuhlsdorf has a damascene conversion in which he accepts that ICEL have really captured the meaning of the prayers of the Roman Missal. "The Hermeneutic of Continuity" becomes a focus for continuity with a golden age in which the “early Church” said Mass facing the people, with a warm and fuzzy “it’s all about me” liturgy that allowed the actuosa participatio of the faithful.