The content of the latest Faith Magazine is now online. There is a good editorial on scripture and the hermeneutic of rupture, along with articles on Stanley Jaki, the epistle to the Hebrews, and moral theology.
The column by William Oddie, "Comment on the Comments" focuses on the Tablet's attack on my parish and summarises the issue very well.
In his sermon today for the Mass of Pentecost, the Holy Father mentioned that the Cathedral Choir and the Kammerorchester of Cologne sang Haydn's Harmoniemesse. He said that "the music and the singing which accompany this our liturgy, help us also to be united in prayer"
Here is a short clip from the beginning of the Gloria:
Fr Flanagan of Boys Town:
Speaking to a large audience at a public lecture in Cork’s Savoy Cinema he said, "You are the people who permit your children and the children of your communities to go into these institutions of punishment. You can do something about it." He called Ireland’s penal institutions "a disgrace to the nation," and later said "I do not believe that a child can be reformed by lock and key and bars, or that fear can ever develop a child’s character." However, his words fell on stony ground.(H/T Fr Ray Blake)
He wasn't simply ignored. He was taken to pieces by the Irish establishment. The then-Minister for Justice Gerald Boland said in the Dáil that he was “not disposed to take any notice of what ........... said while he was in this country, because his statements were so exaggerated that I did not think people would attach any importance to them.”
Indeed no one mentions, as Dr. Woods, a former minister for Education in Ireland pointed out, that corporal punishment, prohibited by Edmund Ignatius Rice was introduced after his death on the Insistence of the organs of state in Britain.H/T E F Pastor Emeritus
The other day I received my three copies of "A Pure Heart Create for Me: Theology of the Body Today, edited by Robert Colquhoun and published by Family Publications.
The book is a collection of the lectures given at St Patrick's Soho Square last year to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae. The first part of the book consists of lectures specifically on the Theology of the Body and the second part deals with "specific issues for today". There are contributions from Edmund Adamus, Fr Anthony Doe, Fr Richard Aladics, Nicole Parker, Teresa Klepacka and others - the book is well worth reading.
My own lecture ("A challenge to the culture") is included in the second part, along with the lecture by Fr Stephen Langridge on AIDS, Condoms and the Catholic Church. Fr Langridge generously acknowledges my own talk on the subject which I gave in his parish a while ago but I am happy to say that his paper is a very good summary of the relevant points with important new material on the statistical evidence.
I mentioned the book launch a couple of weeks ago so please do email St Patrick's if you are going so that they can get an idea of numbers attending.
On the question of the Theology of the Body in general, some correspondents have expressed concern about some of the statements of Christopher West. I would recommend Jimmy Akin's fair and balanced post on this subject.
Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, Secretary for the Congregation for the Clergy, has written to commend the Handbook for Parish Vocations teams produced by Fr Stephen Langridge, our Diocesan Vocations Director (pictured with Fr Benedict Groeschel.) Archbishop Piacenza writes that the Handbook:
"appears to have struck a healthy balance between the centrality of the universal vocation to holiness by virtue of our baptism and the indispensable vocations to priesthood and the consecrated life by which the Church worships God, proclaims the Gospel, and witnesses to the work of Grace in her members".He also praises the Handbook's emphasis on Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament:
"Indeed, the volume might serve as a useful resource within the apostolate of Eucharistic Adoration, fostering an awareness of the responsibility of every member of Christ's faithful to pray for and encourage vocations to the priesthood, and to faithfully understand its nature and place within the Church, particularly in view of the Year of the Priesthood recently announced by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI".Congratulations to Fr Langridge for this recognition of his excellent resources for promoting vocations to the sacred priesthood.
Havbe a loook at Neil Addison's Religion Law Blog and especially his excellent talk given recently at the London Oratory on the subject of Religious Freedom in England Today.
Helping me to catch up on one or two things I missed while away in Lourdes, a correspondent sent me links for the address of the Holy Father at the opening of the Pastoral Congress for the Diocese of Rome.
Here is the original Italian text; and here are a couple of quotations in English translation, thanks to Rorate Caeli and NLM:
As I had the occasion to clarify in the address to the Roman Curia of December 22, 2005, an interpretive current, appealing to a supposed "spirit of the Council", intended to establish a discontinuity and even a contraposition between the Church before and the Church after the Council, at times confusing the very objectively existing boundaries between the hierarchical ministry and the responsibility of the lay faithful in the Church.and on the manner of celebrating the Eucharist:
The notion of the "People of God, in particular, was interpreted by some according to a purely sociological vision, with an almost exclusively horizontal severance, which excluded the vertical reference to God. This position was in open contrast from the word and the spirit of the Council, which did not will a rupture, another Church, but a true and deep renewal, in continuity with the only subject, the Church, which grows in time and develops herself, yet remaining always the same...
The centre of the life of the parish is, as I said, the Eucharist, and especially the Sunday celebration. If the unity of the Church is born from the encounter with the Lord, it is not secondary then that the adoration and the celebration of the Eucharist be very elegant, giving way to who participates in it to experience the beauty of the mystery of Christ. Since the beauty of the liturgy "is not mere aestheticism, but the concrete way in which the truth of God's love in Christ encounters us, attracts us and delights us" (Sacramentum Caritatis n. 35), it is important that the Eucharistic celebration manifests, communicates through the sacramental signs, the divine life and reveals to men and women of this city the true face of the Church.Parish priests who celebrate both forms of the Roman rite may be criticised for allowing the older form of the rite to "dominate" in the sense that the celebrations of the newer form are seen as being influenced by the traditional liturgy, rather than being informal celebrations of a conversational nature in which all solemnity is eschewed. The Holy Father here encourages us to make the celebration of the Eucharist "very elegant" so that those who participate experience the beauty of the mystery of Christ.
My local Somerfield supermarket is open until 10pm and is usually quiet on a Saturday evening so I sometimes do some shopping after the evening Mass to avoid buying things on Sunday. The chap in front of me had four cans of butane gas for his barbecue. Saturday evenings in supermarkets tend to have more than the normal ratio of men to women. Hence it is possible for a little bloke-ish conversation at the till:
Me: "Blowin' up the 'ouses of Parliament then?"I suppose that is a fair enough picture of the opinion of the average bloke about politics and politicians. It's a rather dangerous mood; I don't claim that parliamentary democracy is an objectively perfect method of government but I do fear that if there is to be a change in how our country is governed, the godless secularism of England at the present is not a promising basis on which to construct an alternative.
Chap with butane gas: "'S been tried before - no harm 'avin another go."
Chap in front of him: "Bring back Guy Fawkes is what I say - all is forgiven"
Veilleurs Dans La Nuit ("Watchmen of the night") is a film showing a day in the life of the Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux from Matins at 3.30am to compline at 7.45pm. There are many vids, clips and photos around of lovely monasteries, glorious chant, and atmospheric photos of the consecration. "Veilleurs Dans La Nuit" has all these in abundance but also offers simple but outstandingly effective teaching on the monastic life in particular, much of it applicable to the Christian life in general.
For example, there is footage of a monk at his solemn profession singing the Suscipe:
Suscipe me, Domine, secundum eloquium tuum et vivam;This is followed by a monk explaining:
et non confundas me ab expectatione mea.
Accept me, O Lord, according to your word, and I shall live; and do not disappoint me in my hope. (Ps 119:116)
"What he sings then is a commitment for his entire future. Man's greatness and nobility lies in his being able to pledge himself by a word, to direct his whole life in an instant."This optimistic and confident understanding of the nature of man could also be applied to the vows of marriage.
The Abbot, Dom Louis Marie, explains that the Church is set aside for prayer: "Nothing else may be done there.""We don't serve a purpose. We serve someone. We serve God."At the conclusion of the film, there is a quotation from Dom Gérard Calvet, the founder:
“Monks built Europe, but they did not do so intentionally. Their adventure is primarily interior, its unique motivation is thirst for the absolute, thirst for another world. Before being academies of knowledge and crossroads of civilizations, monasteries are an obstinate reminder that there is another world, of which this world is but the image, the herald, and the prefiguration.”Thinking of the European elections in which we must vote on Thursday, the dreadful waste of money and institutionalised gravy train that makes our own recent sleaze look modest by comparison, it is amusing to ponder the monks building Europe as a side-effect of their life "hidden with Christ in God" and tragic to think of the enormous resources put into secularising it.
After the torchlight procession, we were able to look at everyone's photos thanks to a card reader and laptop. Thanks to Wendy, Mac and Greg for sharing theirs. Above is a photo from yesterday afternoon's picnic which was followed by a game of rounders and then the Rosary at the Grotto. After the Rosary, I was allowed to bring the group of children closer for a blessing.
Yesterday was also an opportunity to catch up with Fr George of Blogging Lourdes. Sadly, he is soon to be leaving. At his blog, there is a series of posts about the altars in the Rosary basilica. It is a pity that smaller groups (or individual priests) are not allowed to use the beautiful altars for Mass.
We have our Mass this morning in the St Gabriel Chapel and then a lunchtime departure for Toulouse airport and our flight home. Say a prayer for a safe journey.
Our Missa Cantata this morning in the crypt of the parish Church of Lourdes was assisted by the superb acoustic of the chapel. I hope to get some photos from Wendy later. We managed quite well with the portable kit that we brought along, including a lightweight self-assembly set of six candlesticks.
Afterwards, we spent some time at the statue of the parish priest of Lourdes at the time of St Bernadette. There was a girl of about St Bernadette's age for our reconstruction but as she is taller than I am, a younger girl played the part of St Bernadette while I played the part of Fr Peyramale. At first, he prudently rejected St Bernadette's story of the "beautiful lady": there were many such stories circulating at the time. He was converted when St Bernadette told him that the lady said "I am the Immaculate Conception." He knew that St Bernadette, who had very little formal instruction in the faith, could not have made this up.
Afterwards, the boys pinched my biretta to see if they could land it on the head of the Monsignore as he was later dignified. Mgr Peyramale is one of my heroes at Lourdes. He was a good and wise parish priest and once convinced of the truth of the apparitions, protected St Bernadette with determination.
Later we went to the Grotto for the Rosary in the afternoon and baked under the sun. I was able to give the children a special blessing at the Grotto. We're off now to the torchlight procession...
Above is a photo from of our "catechetical Mass" by Mulier Fortis (see her blog for other posts about our Lourdes trip.) Many of us went to the baths in the afternoon and others today. Several of the children told me today that this was their most important experience of Lourdes. 
After Mass, we did the Stations of the Cross - many thanks to Wendy for her photos. You can see above that one of our young pilgrims did the Stations barefoot - he remembered going barefoot for the Holy Mile at Walsingham and just took off his shoes and socks without any prompting; they were put on again to run down the hill at the end.
Here we are at the foot of the Stations, at the Celtic Cross - the parents wanted a photo of me and all the children:
One young server got a shoulder-carry from Mum for part of the torchlight procession in the evening:
At the end of the procession, I joined the clergy for the blessing, led by Bishop McGough, Auxiliary in Birmingham. Here is a view of the pilgrims over the shoulders of two fellow priests:
Today we had a quieter Mass in the morning, followed by various trips out. I joined the one going up the Pic du Jer via the funicular railway. There are good views of the Pyrenees from the summit, as well as an overview of Lourdes:
We also enjoyed enjoyed the "Petit Train" which manoeuvred expertly through the town to the foot of the hill.
Fr Briggs found the journey interesting despite his varied experience of foreign travel, including his attempt to extend the reconquista to North Africa which we recalled at the top of the hill.
This evening, to give the parents a rest, I led a session for the children at which we said the Rosary, interspersed with catechesis and questions about various doctrines of the faith. This was followed by various worksheets prepared by Mac. These included things called "Wordsearch". The children are used to these at school but I am not, so I amused them by blatantly copying Caitlin's work, and then hamming up the sentence completion exercise.
Tomorrow morning, we have Mass in the parish Church at 9.30am. This will be a sung Mass: perhaps a High Mass if we can persuade a further cleric to join us.
Today has been rather overcast in Lourdes with drizzle most of the day so I haven't tried to take a lot of photos. I said some office in the Crypt Chapel and then a private Mass while most of the group were doing the tour "In the footsteps of St Bernadette." The guides who run these walking tours are to be commended for their work which is always much appreciated by pilgrims.
In the afternoon, most of the group went to the baths before an afternoon "catechetical Mass" - Low Mass with hymns and some catechesis for the children at various points in the Mass. Plenty of silence too, of course. We followed this with a somewhat penitential Way of the Cross. The Stations at Lourdes are very striking with figures about twice lifesize. They were helpful in catechesis for the children at various points. I haven't got a photo of my own so here is one from Fr Lawrence Lew's Lourdes Flickr Set.
At various points in Lourdes, there are signs telling you not to do various things that you shouldn't do in a holy place. As you can see, most of them are fairly obvious:
However, Jonanthan suggested that one of them was at least ambiguous. Many people thought it prohibited begging (or giving to beggars?) but he suggested it was an interdiction against Communion in the hand:
And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail. (Rev 11.19)Well we didn't have an earthquake, thanks be to God, but on the road out of Toulouse, the coach was hit by golfball-sized hailstones. Having negotiated that, we arrived a little late for dinner at the Hotel D'Angleterre in Lourdes. Apparently the Gave has overflowed its banks in the last couple of days. I'll try to get some photos of the river in spate tomorrow.
George Weigel has published an article about L'Osservatore Romano in National Review Online. (See: Parsing the Vatican Newspaper. It doesn’t always speak for the pope.) Fr Z commented on the article a couple of days ago. (See: Weigel on L’Osservatore Romano’s “fideist credulity”)
Weigel takes the line that although the newspaper is published by the Holy See, it "does not speak authoritatively for the Church in matters of faith, morals, or public-policy judgment", and that it is middle and lower-level officials who are enamoured of Barack Obama. He also discusses "the Vatican", saying that it is a confused bureaucracy and that "what counts is what is said by the Bishop of Rome."
This is fair enough up to a point and I can only commend George Weigel's loyalty to the Holy Father which I entirely share. Nevertheless, I think that this series of pro-Obama articles show that there are serious problems at the Vatican. L'Osservatore is the official newspaper of the Holy See and falls, for practical purposes, under the direction of the Secretariat of State. If it is true, as Weigel says, (and I agree) that "several recent pieces on the Obama administration in L’Osservatore Romano have been both factually questionable and analytically dubious" then that reflects badly on the Holy Father who exercises his pastoral ministry through the various departments of the Vatican, including the Secretariat of State and - well yes - L'Osservatore Romano.
Recent controversies have been harmful to the ministry of the Holy Father: the Williamson affair, the furious reaction to his mild and reasonable questioning of the effectiveness of condoms in the fight against HIV, and the appointment at Linz. It could be that his enemies now feel that it is "open season" and that his authority is weakened.
If so, that is wholly foolish on their part. Soft negotiating with Obama (or Tony Blair for that matter) will not help the Church but will assist the secularists in ushering in a new age of persecution, laughing as they see no effective resistance from the one organisation that could challenge their worldly consensus.
We must pray for the Holy Father. In doing so, it is worth remembering that St Vincent Ferrer pointed out that prayer for the Pope is not the same as prayer for any other individual. In the case of the Vicar of Christ, prayer is an appeal to his immediate superior.
Yay! Congratulations to James and Ella Preece on the birth of Joanne Marie Preece the other day.
You can get the details of gas and air and things over at Catholic and Loving It
Firm, wise, and kindly advice from Fr Michael Mary FSSR to a commenter who has been attending a sedevacantist chapel. Father's advice includes the following:
[...] take a pen and a piece of paper, kneel down and write the following note:While you are over at the blog of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, have a look at the new ship that has arrived to help them transport a marble altar, church furnishings, sheep, cattle, stone chips, fuel, tractor, trailer and machinery.
“I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Apostle Peter, and today I fully accept Pope Benedict XVI as the true Pope of the Catholic Church and I submit myself to his authority in obedience to the same Jesus Christ who will come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire. Amen.”
Then sign the paper and put the date beside your signature.
I advise you to make this act of submission to the Vicar of Christ. You will see the good that it will do for you.
The report of the Irish Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has dominated religious reporting in England over the past few days. Here are the key documents:
Executive Summary
Full Report
They make sickening and heartbreaking reading. I don't intend to try and say anything clever or original in the face of this evil. Have a look at the above pious representation of Our Lord's love for children. Or this one:
Our Lord said what needs to be said in the case of one who commits scandal against children, let alone sodomy:
It were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matt 18.6)I am reminded of the heartfelt words of Pope Benedict at his Homily at the Mass for bishops, Seminarians and Novices during his visit to Australia last year:
Here I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this country. Indeed, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured, and I assure them that, as their Pastor, I too share in their suffering. These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation. They have caused great pain and have damaged the Church’s witness. I ask all of you to support and assist your Bishops, and to work together with them in combating this evil. Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice. It is an urgent priority to promote a safer and more wholesome environment, especially for young people.It is worth watching the homily in the clip below for the emphasis he places on the words "unequivocal cnodemnation". The quotation above is at 08:23.
Pope2You is a new project from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications with links to the YouTube channel, WikiCath, and Facebook and iPhone apps.
I just got the item I need to fill up a space in this week's parish newsletter.
Taking my daily flick through the blogs, I find that NLM has various photos of the Installation, Vespers etc. from ... the Flickr photostream of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It even has a creative commons license.
Let's not be sniffy about this. Congratulations! Sincerely.
Here's a photo from Solemn Vespers:
And yep -
Photo credit: CCN/Marcin Mazur.
At a meeting of the Faith Movement a while back, people were calling Fr Luiz Ruscillo "Canon". I thought they were joking but they weren't. On Tuesday 12 May, Bishop Campbell of Lancaster (successor to Bishop O'Donoghue) installed Canon Ruscillo and Canon Watson as canons of the Cathedral Chapter.
Luiz came to the Venerable English College just after I had been elected "Senior Student." (Something of a surprise result, it would be fair to say.) I therefore had the task of inducting him and fellow first years into life at Rome. It is great to see his sterling work recognised by his diocese. Canon Ruscillo is head of the Diocesan Education Service and has assisted Bishop O'Donoghue with some of the "Fit for Mission" documents. Here is a photo that we were chuckling over the other day (Canon Luiz is on the left):
Congratulations, Canons! (I have instructed Canon Ruscillo to bring his new kit down to Blackfen for my Jubilee Mass.)
Fr Z has started a good game at his blog. (See: Weekend) Here are the rules:
You can invite EIGHT people to join you for a leisurely weekend. Call it a shooting party ala Gosford Park.Go over to Fr Z to see his list. Off the top of my head, here's mine for the party at the Hermeneutical Country House:
There will be slow and well-paced meals and, of course pre-prandials.
Since you are at the WDTPRS county manor (on my planet, that is), you will be able to talk into the night and continue the next day.
Who MUST be there?
ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST BE ALIVE (now).
The Bishop of Metuchen has appointed Father Guy Selvester (Shouts in the Piazza) as Rector of the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Raritan, New Jersey with effect from June 16 2009.
The Shrine, built in 1856, was made the home of the Diocesan Eucharistic League in 1989. In addition, the Shrine has been the home of the usus antiquior in the Diocese of Metuchen. Under the Ecclesia Dei indult, the old Mass was celebrated there on Sunday morning twice a month. Since Summorum Pontificum it has been celebrated daily in addition to a daily celebration of the ordinary form.
Fr Selvester has a post giving more information about the shrine.
My warmest congratulations to Fr Selvester. Please remember him in your prayers as he prepares to take up his new appointment.
Pro-Life vigils are a very good opportunity for priests to give support to active pro-lifers. The Helpers of God's Precious Infants often speak of how a prayerful presence outside an abortion clinic is a way of spiritually being present at Calvary. it may be that a life is saved, maybe not. What is important is to be there peacefully and prayerfully in union with Christ.
The Helpers always like to have a priest with them. It can be a little uncomfortable because sometimes there are hostile reactions - but sometimes it is painfully obvious that such reactions are themselves indicative of post-abortion trauma. I sometimes get over to the Maidstone vigils but I can't make the next one I was asked for. I suggested to Carole that I could make an appeal here for priest volunteers and she welcomed the idea.
So if you are a priest and can spare a couple of hours just once in a while to get over to Maidstone, please email Carole.
The relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux will be exposed for veneration in churches throughout England & Wales in the autumn of 2009. They will be in the Oratory in Oxford on 7th and 8th October and there is a blog giving news and updates concerning the visit. See: St Thérèse in Oxford. There is also a Brochure for the event.
L'Osservatore Romano recently published an article which was astonishingly favourable to President Obama. The other day, the Editor, Gian Maria Vian gave an interview to Paolo Rodari of Palazzo Apostolico, justifying the article. Catholic News Agency has a report in English. Vian astonishingly says that Obama "is not a pro-abortion president."
Concerning the commencement address, he says:
“His speech at Notre Dame has been respectful toward every position. He tried to engage the debate stepping out from every ideological position and outside every ‘confrontational mentality.’ To this extent his speech is to be appreciated.”Vian plays down the opposition of "a few bishops", simple faithful and pro-lifers, presenting them as though they were one of two sides in a debate which is observed impartialy by L'Osservatore Romano.
"Someone has to ask the question of whether we [as pro-life persons] can speak of a 'common ground' with those who believe that killing a baby in the womb is a right of women? That no authority, no human authority, can force a woman to respect the life of a child? From a logical perspective I cannot see how we can speak of a common ground."He accepts the importance of dialogue in order to slow the advance of Obama's anti-life policies but points out that our ability to negotiate depends on the commitment of Catholics who are ready to defend life.
The Catholic Herald has live update coverage of the Installation of Archbishop Nichols which is starting in a few minutes.
[UPDATE] Here are a few screen grabs from near the beginning of the ceremony as televised live on BBC2.
Saturday the 9th of May
"The 13th Day", a new film by Ian and Dominic Higgins, premiered last week at the Cannes Film Festival. The makers are currently negotiating for someone to handle the distribution and expect it to be available in North America in 6 months. I hope that they succeed and that it is also available for us over here. Here is the official trailer which looks good:
I am happy to pass on details of the Summer School for Young Catholics. I have known several young people who have attended this summer school and have gained great benefit from it.
This fascinating clip, first broadcast on 25 September 1960 by Radio Canada, shows the beginning of a Pontifical Low Mass for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost celebrated by Bishop Émilien Frenette, Bishop of Saint-Jérôme, in the Studio. The Mass is celebrated as a "Dialogue Mass" versus populum, and the populum confidently bellows out the various responses in Latin.
Everyone knows what to do - the maniple is ready for the end of the Indulgentiam, the servers assist the Bishop ascending the steps by holding the fringe of his alb in ceremonial deference to his office as "Pontifex" and the bugia (hand-held candle) is there right on time for the Introit Miserere mihi Domine. Within a decade, all of this will be rapidly disappearing from the rite.
H/T NLM
The blog for the Installation of Archbishop Nichols has some interesting updates. The music promises to be superb:
James MacMillan has been commissioned to write two pieces: one for choir, organ, brass and timps, the other for choir a cappella. Both are settings of texts from the pre-reformation rite of reception and installation of an Archbishop of Canterbury.The rite itself is to be the ancient Catholic rite used in similar circumstances for the Reception and Installation of the Archbishops of Canterbury prior to the Reformation.
Other music will include 2 specially composed fanfares by Colin Mawby, a former Master of Music, and his setting of Ave verum corpus. The mass setting is Palestrina's Missa Tu es Petrus, and the offertory motet is an 8-part Venetian setting of Iubilate Deo by Giovanni Gabrieli. The Te Deum is sung to gregorian chant alternating with a fauxbourdon by Victoria.
At Aylesford there is a reliquary containing the skull of St Simon Stock whose feast was celebrated last Saturday in the Archdiocese of Southwark. Here is the proper collect for his feast as found in the Southwark supplement to my old breviary:
Plebs tibi, Domine, Virginique Matri dicata, beati Simonis solemnitate laetetur: et sicut per eum tantae protectionis signum obtinuit, ita praedestinationis aeternae munera consequatur.The "sign of such great protection" is a reference to the brown scapular. When Our Lady appeared to St Simon, giving him this distinctive Carmelite clothing, she said that whoever died devoutly wearing it would not suffer the fire. Promises such as these are never intended to be a "get out of jail free" card but an assistance to those who devoutly use such sacramentals. Hence the prayer asking humbly for the blessings of eternal predestination, not a presumptuous claim.
O Lord, may the community dedicated to You and to the Virgin Mary rejoice at the solemnity of blessed Simon: and just as it obtained through Him a sign of such great protection, so may it gain possession of the gifts of eternal predestination.
A petition has been posted regarding the celebration of Holydays:
We would like Archbishop Vincent Nichols to reinstate the celebration of Ascension, Corpus Christi and Epiphany to their correct days.It runs until the eve of Corpus Christi.
Since Cláudio Cardinal Hummes became Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, I have occasionally received emails from the Congregation in the form of circular letters to priests. These are always encouraging and today's is no exception.
Cardinal Hummes has written to us concerning the Year of Priesthood. Here is the page for the letter. (You can either read it online or download it.) Here is a quotation:
The announcement of the Year of Priesthood has been very warmly received, especially amongst priests themselves. Everyone wants to commit themselves with determination, sincerity and fervour so that it may be a year amply celebrated in the whole world – in the Dioceses, parishes and in every local community – with the warm participation of our Catholic people who undoubtedly love their priests and want to see them happy, holy and joyous in their daily apostolic labours.During the Jubilee Year, the Congregation for the Clergy collected a number of articles for its section of the Vatican Website. See: Jubilee for Priests.
The Pantheon is one of the most impressive buildings of ancient Rome which still survives intact. Built in 31 BC by Marcus Vispanius Agrippa in the aftermath of the Battle of Actium, it was destroyed by fire in 80AD and then rebuilt by Hadrian in 126AD. The inscription across the facade reads:
It is very heartening to receive news of so many different retreats and events, especially for young people. Organisers frequently tell me that they receive many bookings after a notice has been posted here, so I am happy to help.
Young Catholic Adults Douai Abbey Retreat
During the weekend of the 18-20 September 2009. Young Catholic Adults (YCA are part of the International Juventutem Federation) will be running a Traditional Retreat at Douai Abbey in the south of England. The weekend will be led by Juventutem Ecclesiastical Assistant Fr de Malleray.
Here are some particularly encouraging points to note: they show that Summorum Pontificum is working - as Fr Z says - "brick by brick."
This video was produced by the "New Moment New Ideas Company" for the Government of the Republic of Macedonia's, Ministry of Education and Science. It is one of a series of commercials in a social campaign aimed at promoting education. The campaign headline is "Knowledge is Power"; the headline of the commercial is "Religion is knowledge, too. Bringing religion back to school."
The ProLife Alliance currently have two petitions running; one concerns the right to life of the human embryo, and the second calls for the rejection of abortion adverts on TV and radio.
(Don't forget the 10 Downing Street Petition against abortion advertising.)
This is an amazing video of the elderly and frail Father Norman Weslin of Omaha, NE, former army colonel and founder of the Lambs of Christ, being plasticuffed and arrested for his pro-life protest at Notre Shame University. They have to load him on a stretcher to take him away.
He is one of a number who have been arrested. As the Catholic Online story puts it:
This week probably marks the first time in the history of the University when individuals have been arrested on campus for exercising their Catholic convictions and praying a prayer that has been recited in their chapel millions of times since its founding in 1842.Pity the Police. If they had the laws we have in the UK, they could have arrested people for taking the photos.
The other day I wrote about the High Mass in honour of the Carthusian Martyrs on the occasion of Fr Ray Blake's silver jubilee. Here is a video made by Budaev with shots from the Mass:
Just in case there is any confusion: the video has been compiled with music from the Mass and various sequences but the music is not synchronised with the liturgical actions. The choir were the parish schola and the Brighton Chamber Choir, directed by Jane Money.
You can also read the excellent sermon given by Fr Sean Finnegan.
There is an important talk by Neil Addison at the next meeting of the London Oratory’s Call to Youth (for 18 - 35 year olds) this Wednesday 20 May at 8pm in St Wilfrid’s Hall, The Oratory, Brompton Road.
Neil Addison, a Catholic barrister, and author of the book "Religious Discrimination and Hatred Law" will be speaking on "Religious Freedom in Britain", especially addressing the threats to religious freedom today and the way in which we can use the law to protect our liberty.
The talk is important because although British Catholics have, in recent times, enjoyed relative freedom in the practice of their Faith, this is not something that can be taken for granted.
There will be refreshments afterwards and you can contribute to the discussion with your own questions.
Another lovely first Holy Communion Mass today gives me an opportunity to post photographs of the celebration of Mass in the ordinary form, usus recentior, Novus Ordo, Missal of Paul VI at Blackfen. It is in fact the form of Mass that is used for the vast majority of our Masses at Our Lady of the Rosary.
Here is the Offertory Procession:
One of the standard photos of the usus antiquior is when the priest genuflects after the consecration. The photo doesn't quite work in the newer form because the priest disappears, apart from his bald patch:
Here is a good photo of the special moment itself:
Please remember the children and their families in your prayers.
The other evening at Blackfen, Raymond De Souza gave an excellent talk on "Jesus Presence in the Eucharist - real or just symbolic." The talk was excellent, demonstrating that Jesus used both literal and figurative language in his teaching, and that when he spoke of giving us his flesh and blood in John 6, he was clearly speaking literally and not figuratively. We finished off, appropriately, with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
You can find out more about Raymond at the website of Saint Gabriel Communications. He is well-known across the world from his various series on EWTN.
Bernadette and Gary Bevans of Mary's Dowry Productions kindly brought Raymond along and it was good to meet them too.
Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP will be giving a retreat for Clergy from Monday 13 July (3pm) to Thursday 16 July (12noon) at Douai Abbey in Berkshire, on the theme ”The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and our priestly identification to Christ.” The retreat celebrates the Year of the priesthood with St John Mary Vianney, Curé of Ars.
This will be a silent retreat with reading at meals related to the theme of the retreat. There are full details at the website for the FSSP in Great Britain.
Donations are invited to help clergy attend the retreat: cheques should be payable to ”FSSP England” and sent to Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP, 179 Elgar Rd, Reading RG2 0DH, Berks. (Please mention ”Retreat Sponsoring”.)
The Friends of the Suffering Souls is a Catholic Lay Association which conducts a perpetual novena of Masses for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. It was inspired by the 100 consecutive Masses offered for the Holy Souls by the Venerable Archdeacon Cavanagh, Parish Priest of Knock prior to the appearance there of Our Blessed Mother in 1879.
The basic idea is that once a year, members ask a priest to say Mass for the Holy Souls. At the website you can read lots about why this is a good idea.
If you are a lay person, I encourage you to join the Association. If you are a priest, you may be able to help in a particular way. The Association needs priests who will be happy to accept requests for Masses for the Holy Souls. Unfortunately, I cannot put my name down because I have so many Masses already requested in my parish that I am unable to invite more from elsewhere. However I know that many priests do not receive many requests for Mass intentions. You can put your name down for the ordinary or extraordinary form, or both.
Email foss@knocknovena.com to join or (if a priest) to make yourself available to accept requests for Masses. Priests are especially needed from the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand.
Family Publications will shortly be publising "A Pure Heart Create for Me". This is a collection of the various talks on "Love and Responsibility" given at Soho Square last year, (including my own talk.)
The launch of the book will be at St Patrick's, Soho Square on Thursday 18 June from 6-9pm in the presence of Bishop Alan Hopes. Guest speakers will be Fr Philip Egan on "The Authority of Humanae Vitae" and Fr Anthony doe on "The Grace of Self Gift in Humanae Vitae."
All are welcome but please email St Patrick's if you are going so that they can get an idea of numbers attending.
In the class that I teach at St Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster, we are now doing the tract De Verbo Incarnato. Having looked at the divinity of Christ in the scriptures and the pre-nicene Fathers, we'll be going on next time to begin looking at the Council of Ephesus and the Nestorian heresy. (We covered the Council of Nicea in the De Deo Uno et Trino.)
I was glad to tell the Carthusians that I was going on from there to the Church of St Mary Magdalen in Brighton to be subdeacon at the Mass celebrated by Fr Ray Blake for his 25th anniversary of ordination, and that he had chosen to celebrate Mass in honour of the Carthusian martyrs. The picture above is from the Chapter House at Parkminster; a post of mine from August 2006 has a few more. The novice master tells me that the pictures have been cleaned so one of these days, I must take my camera down.
The drive from Parkminster to Brighton was fairly easy and I was glad to be reasonably early and meet the other priests who came along. Fr Sean Finnegan (of Valle Adurni) was Deacon and preached an excellent sermon. He focussed particularly on the martyrdom of St John Houghton, Prior of the London Charterhouse, who was cut down from the scaffold while still alive and had his body ripped open. Henry VIII had insisted that the Carthusians were to be executed in their habits and St John still had his hair shirt on, which proved a problem for the executioners trying to hack through it.
His heart was torn out while he was still alive and St John said "Sweet Jesus! What will you do with my heart?" Fr Sean admitted that this exclamation was not easy to interpret. He suggested that it was a prayer always in the mind of St John Houghton and finally answered with the glorious crown of a courageous martyr's final triumph. It is also a prayer that we can all make, and recommend especially to the young searching for their vocation.
The Mass was sublime, bringing to mind Fr Faber's words characterising the solemn High Mass as "the most beautiful thing this side of heaven." Two choirs sang - one doing the Gregorian Chant and another singing Victoria's Mass "O Quam Gloriosum." I felt I made a reasonable job of being subdeacon; I'm getting more familiar all the time with High Mass and ironing out mistakes and panicky looks towards the MC. Today's MC, Dominic Scarborough, was very competent but my own MC from Blackfen was in the congregation making mental notes to help me in the virtue of humility.
The vestments belong to the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. They are difficult to photograph well. I have taken one of Fr Ray's photos, cropped it, removed the colour cast, and bumped up the contrast a little - the result is a reasonable showing on my monitor. Canon Tim Madeley, who assisted in choir, was on hand to ensure that the vestments were returned safely!
Several bloggers were there and I expect there will be more photos in the near future as well as some video footage. It was great to meet Laurence England whom Fr Ray referred to as "Bones" because his blog is called "That the bones you have crushed may thrill." (It would be a worthy addition to your blogroll.)
All in all, a wonderful evening to celebrate an ordination jubilee of a friend and fellow priest. I was impressed that so many local came. I expect that several were not by any means "traditionalist" or particularly keen on the usus antiquior but came just to celebrate with one of their brothers.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols - Installation Blog has added some more information, including some photos of the new vestments being made.
The tickets for the Mass have now all been allocated. The blog has also focussed on the sung Vespers to be celebrated on 20 May at 7pm. (I would quite like to have attended Vespers but unfortunately have a meeting that evening.)
The sidebar has a link to Fr Selvester's blog Shouts in the Piazza. Fr Selvester has a particular interest (and expertise) in heraldry and has posted on Archbishop Nichols' Coat of Arms
It is very good to see the Archdiocese of Westminster using a blog in this way. It is an efficient way to get out good news and make it for others to publicise. (Unfortunately there is no "permalink" to the individual posts so you just have to go to the blog and scroll. Maybe the techies at rcdow could look at that?)
Nuno Álvares Pereira fought against the Castilians for the independence of Portugal, later entering the Carmelites as Brother Nuno of Saint Mary. He was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on 26 April this year.
H/T Alfonso Miguel at Tribuna
The Italian blog Cantuale Antonianum has news of a building in Foligno Indovina che cos'è ("Guess what it is") It is, in fact, the Church of ... (sorry, I couldn't find that anywhere), a symbol of the rebirth of Foligno after the earthquake. Apparently, its cubic dimension refers to the book of Revelation (Rev 21.16) although there is no jasper, emerald, amethyst, pearl etc. The light which comes in vertically and horizontally reminds of the light of Christ, you see. 
What a tragedy that Churches like this are still being built!
Here is the official site: Nuova Chiesa di Foligno
H/T Ponte Sisto
Camilla Cavendish had a good article in the Times: Children are safer with their natural families. In the wake of the torture and death of baby Peter, this is a well-balanced and sensible appeal to stop turning a blind eye to the danger posed to children by family breakdown. Cavendish observes:
In Britain, NSPCC research has found that children living with biological parents are between 20 and 33 times safer than those living in any other type of household - despite the NSPCC being inclined to play down family breakdown.And she comments:
If the statistics are right, by far the most effective check on abuse is the family. The real family, where the vast majority of real fathers see their first duty as protecting their children. Yet these are the people we have made afraid. We have institutionalised shamelessness among people with no notion of family, some of whom have killed children. Simultaneously we have sown widespread fear of decent, well-meaning professionals among the innocent, the majority of whom who do not move on from baby to baby and man to man.This is an important point. I have often been told by social work and child protection professionals that "most child abuse happens in the family" but there is never any attempt to distinguish between different types of "family" or, it seems, to assess the relative risk of different arrangements in order to encourage the safety of the children involved.
The Tyburn Pilgrimage this afternoon started opposite the Old Bailey at the Church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, a 13th century foundation. The Church still has the hand bell that was rung at midnight outside the condemned cell; several of our martyrs would have heard it. From here the martyrs were dragged on the hurdle through London to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn.
The first station was at St Etheldreda's, Ely Place, built in 1276 by the Bishop of Ely as the private chapel for his London house. Restored the Catholic worship in 1876, the Church is the one modern London link with medieval Catholic England.
Next was St Anselm and St Cecilia's, Kingsway. This Church was built in 1909 to replace the old St Cecilia's which, as Chapel of the Sardinian Embassy, was the first public Catholic chapel to be opened in London after the reformation, during a period of partial toleration under Charles II. The parish priest, Fr David Barnes kindly gave me a copy of a beautiful new booklet for the centenary celebration with pictures and articles including one by Fr Nicholas Schofield on Catholic Holborn.
Before entering St Anselm and St Cecilia's, we paused to take note of the Ship Tavern nearby. Bishop Challoner used to meet his priests here and Mass was sometimes said at the public bar with the congregation having tankards of ale ready so that if there was a raid, they could pretend simply to be having a drink together. Although Challoner lived to see the first Catholic Relief Act of 1778, he also had the sadness of seeing St Cecilia's virtually destroyed in the Gordon Riots two years later.
After the dissolution under Henry VIII, the Church of St Giles-in-the-fields became the Parish Church for Tyburn. Many of the earlier Catholic martyrs had their quartered body parts thrown into a common pit but later martyrs were given Christian burial at St Giles. Many criminals were also executed at Tyburn and we said the De profundis for them outside the Church.
A short walk then took us to St Patrick's, Soho Square where we were able to venerate the relics of St Cuthbert Mayne and St Oliver Plunkett. Fr Alexander Sherbrooke, the parish priest, also showed us two chasubles that had belonged to the chaplain of the chapel of Queen Catherine of Aragon. After the Queen's death, the vestments were lovingly preserved in Catholic hands and finally given to St Patrick's in the late 19th century. They were recently restored by the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court. Cardinal Pell wore one of the vestments for Mass on a visit to the Church.
The Pligrimage concluded with the Litany of the London Martyrs and Benediction at Tyburn Convent.
I was pleased to find out that the plaque marking the place of the Tyburn tree has now been restored in the pedestrian refuge at the south end of Edgeware Road. Doughty pilgrim Sir Dan of the Blogosphere posed by the plaque, shielding it from the London bus advert for the film "Angels and Demons."
Although this was the last Pilgrimage to be organised by Mgr Stark on behalf of the Guild of Ransom, there are sure to be other events in the future to venerate the London martyrs. Miles Jesu are likely to continue their tradition of a Martyrs Walk. This is a longer event, taking in Tower Hill and other stops, and with guest speakers along the way.
I just found at AirMaria this video of my lecture last September at the Co-redemption Conference held by the Franciscans of the Immaculate at Grey College, University of Durham, entitled "Scotistic Mariology from Scotus to the definition of 1854". (pdf of the lecture here)
This follows on from a previous lecture about the Blessed John Duns Scotus on the Immaculate Conception. (pdf of the lecture here)
The monks of Saint Joseph de Clairval Abbey in Flavigny will be giving a a five-day (silent) retreat for men this July, following the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius.
The retreat will be from 26-31 July this year at Cold Ash, Berkshire. (The monks have a preference for Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite.)
Here is a link to register an interest and get in contact to find out more details.
Take a look at the Vatican Website's layout of the programme. This would be a punishing schedule for a man in his prime giving talks to easy audiences. For the Holy Father to undertake this series of events in the highly-charged atmosphere of the Holy Land, knowing that any slip will be mercilessly punished by the world's media, is heroic indeed.
Yesterday and today, he has spoken at a welcoming ceremony at the Queen Alia airport in Amman, and then given an address while visiting the Regina Pacis centre, paid a courtesy visit to the King and Queen of Jordan, given an address while visiting the basilica of the memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo, spoken again at the blessing of the cornerstone of Madaba University of the Latin Patriarchate, visited the Hashemite museum and the Al-Hussein Bin Talal Mosque in Amman, and given an address at a meeting with Muslim religious leaders, members of the Diplomatic Corps and Rectors of universities in Jordan in front of the mosque al-Hussein bin Talal in Amman. This evening he gave another address at the celebration of Vespers with priests and religious, seminarians and ecclesial movements in the Greek-Melkite Cathedral of Saint-Georges in Amman.
Deep breath! Two days down, only six more to go.
Some quotations:
On a favourite theme of the Holy Father, the search for truth:
In fact, belief in God does not suppress the search for truth; on the contrary it encourages it. Saint Paul exhorted the early Christians to open their minds to “all that is true, all that is noble, all that is good and pure, all that we love and honor, all that is considered excellent or worthy of praise” (Phil 4:8). (Address at the blessing of the cornerstone of Madaba University)On religion and the family:
Our love and duty before the Almighty is expressed not only in our worship but also in our love and concern for children and young people – your families – and for all Jordanians. It is for them that you labor and it is they who motivate you to place the good of every human person at the heart of institutions, laws and the workings of society. May reason, ennobled and humbled by the grandeur of God’s truth, continue to shape the life and institutions of this nation, in order that families may flourish and that all may live in peace, contributing to and drawing upon the culture that unifies this great Kingdom! (Address at the meeting with Muslim religious leaders, members of the diplomatic corps and rectors of universities in Jordan)Warm recognition of the work of Christian priests and religious:
From kindergartens to places of higher education, from orphanages to homes for the elderly, from work with refugees to a music academy, medical clinics and hospitals, interreligious dialogue and cultural initiatives, your presence in this society is a marvellous sign of the hope that defines us as Christian. (Address at Vespers in the Greek-Melkite Cathedral of Saint-Georges, Amman)The Vatican's Pilgrimage Programme page has regular updates with links to his addresses.
One interesting snippet is that Queen Rania of Jordan has been posting on Twitter and has her own YouTube channel.
A good idea for prospective graduates of Notre Dame from Father George at blogging Lourdes:
[...] to graduate, no one needs to actually show up and walk the walk on stage to receive their sheepskin and, at the same time, be force fed with obamanation smiles and agreements with everything and everyone, except for the unborn and just born.Rather than boycott the ceremony, the suggestion is to hold an alternative "do" for pro-lifers, and invite Mary Ann Glendon to be the speaker.
A correspondent sent me a link to a great picture on the site of the Cukierski Family Apostolate. I was a bit slow in following up and now I can't find the picture. Nevertheless, the site is one of those "goldmine" Catholic sites put together out of love and full of good things.
The Cukierskis (Walt and Wendy) have thirteen children and say:
Children truly are a blessing from the Lord. When we cooperate with the Lord and allow new life to be created, we have actually given our Lord a gift, too...another soul for eternity! How awesome is that?!They educate their children at home and raise chickens and cows and do organic and hydroponic gardening (don't ask in the combox, look up "hydroponic" on google - I had to!) I liked this bit:
Don't worry, you won't find us hugging trees...we worship the CREATOR not the creation! Just good ol' Simple Catholic Living.The site's speciality is hard-to-find sacramentals and there seems to be something for everyone there.
The Westminster diocese website's Archbishop Vincent Nichols - Installation Blog has some interesting news. New vestments have been commissioned by the friends of Westminster Cathedral for the Installation Mass. They will be made by the respected firm Watts & Co. Here is the description:
The vestments are inspired by the Neo-Byzantine architecture of the Cathedral and in accordance with Francis Bentley's ideas.The main fabric is Cloth of Gold, woven in the UK, with a design of Griffins, emblems of the dual nature of Our Lord, enriched with plain gold fabric. All the vestments will be entirely hand made in the great tradition of sacred vestment making.Some photos of the new vestments being made should be up on the blog early next week. They are to be used for Christmas, Easter and other major feasts.
Twenty-eight more children in the parish made their first Holy Communion Mass today. Well prepared by our excellent team of catechists, they were a credit to their families. Next Saturday we have another group.
Here is a photo of the families outside the Church after Mass. Thanks be to God we had fine weather for the photos.
One family were keenly following the Milwall-Leeds match by mobile phone once Mass had finished. I was able to show them into the Club where some of the lads had discreetly set up the match on the big screen. The Lions won 1-0 with a goal from Neil Harris after 70 minutes. Happy faces in this part of the world anyway...
Yesterday evening Bishop Malcolm McMahon celebrated Pontifical High Mass at the conventual chapel of the Knights of Malta at the hospital of St John and St Elizabeth. I assisted as subdeacon at the Mass and was grateful for the expert and discreet direction of Dr Alcuin Reid who was MC.
The Choir of the London Oratory School came to sing, and treated us to a superb rendition of Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli.
The above photo is from the Catholic with Attitude blog and there are a couple more photos there. Mulier Fortis also took some photos which you can see at her post.
If anyone is trying to ring the parish number at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen, please be aware that the line is not working. I'm told that an engineer will contact me later today.
UPDATE: Phone line restored now.
Hal Colebatch, writing in The Australian, has a good summary of the way in which Britain is evolving into "the first modern soft totalitarian state." (See: Thought police muscle up in Britain.) The examples he quotes are familiar and I have publicised several of them here. Nevertheless, it is useful to put them together as a summary of the way that such totalitarianism is increasing in Britain. As Colebatch says:
Any one of these incidents might be dismissed as an aberration, but taken together - and I have only mentioned a tiny sample; more are reported almost every day - they add up to a pretty clear picture.
News is released today of what promises to be an excellent Conference for clergy in Rome next January. I am hoping to attend myself and have been asked by the organisers to help publicise the Conference in England.
8 May 2009 – On this 223rd birthday of St John Baptiste-Marie Vianney, patron of parish priests, the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy and the (American) Confraternity of Catholic Clergy have announced a joint conference of their two associations for a special seminar in Rome, January 4 – 8, 2010.
This historic combined meeting of priests and deacons is in response to the Holy Father’s designation of 2010 as the Year for Priests and invoking the patronage of the Cure of Ars, Saint John Vianney. Both groups were established to foster and promote ongoing formation (spiritual, theological, pastoral and human) of the clergy in a fraternal setting, which was called for by the Second Vatican Council and highly encouraged in Canon Law.
One facet is an annual national gathering whereby lectures and conference talks are given by reputable speakers known for their orthodoxy and loyalty to the Magisterium. The 2010 meeting in the Eternal City is the first joint assembly for both confraternities and will be conveniently located near the Vatican at the Casa Pastor Bonus.
Any and all Catholic priests and deacons from any English speaking country of the world are cordially invited even if not a member of either the A.C.C.C. or C.C.C. National Chairman, Rev. Michael Kennedy, PP, (Australia) and President, Rev. John Trigilio, Jr, PhD, (U.S.A.) enthusiastically urge their members to honor Pope Benedict’s Year for Priests by coming to Rome in January 2010 to spend time in prayer, study, and sacerdotal fraternity.
More information will be made available at www.yearforpriests-clergyconferencerome2010.org and at the respective websites: www.australianccc.org and at www.catholic-clergy.org or by contacting the media spokesman in Australia, Reverend father Nicholas Dillon on (03) 979 24422.
At the Westminster Archdiocesan website, there is a new Archbishop Vincent Nichols - Installation Blog which has some details of the preparations for the ceremony.
The raised wooden platform on the sanctuary has been removed and the forward-facing altar has been moved back, allowing for a much larger area on the sanctuary in front of the altar. Some raised flooring has been added around the High Altar to make room for Archbishop Nichols and the Westminster Auxiliary Bishops to stand during the Mass.
Of course, many of us would love it if the Mass were actually celebrated at the High Altar ad orientem but it is very encouraging to see that there is a willingness to question the liturgical status quo and to make better use of the sanctuary for such a celebration.
The Mass of Installation will be on Thursday 21 May at 12noon and will be televised.
The important book by Fr Nicola Bux, "The Reform of Benedict XVI" has been translated into Spanish and the new edition has a foreword by Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship. The preface itself is noteworthy and Gregor Kollmorgen has kindly provided a translation at NLM.
In one place, His Eminence speaks of the way in which the term "preconciliar" has been used as an insult "as if an abyss should be created between the "before" and the "after" the Council" and then says:
Today, thanks to the Motu Proprio, this situation is changing notably. And it is doing so in large part because intention of the Pope has not only been to satisfy the followers of Monsignor Lefevbre, nor to confine himself to respond to the just wishes of the faithful who feel attached, for various reasons, to the liturgical heritage represented by the Roman rite, but also, and in a special way, to open the liturgical richness of the Church to all the faithful, thus making possible the discovery of the treasures of the liturgical patrimony of the Church to those who still do not know it. How many times is the attitude of those who disdain them not due to anything other than this ignorance! Therefore, considered from this last aspect, the Motu Proprio makes sense beyond the presence or absence of conflicts: even if there were not a single "traditionalist" whom to satisfy, this "discovery" would have been enough to justify the provisions of the Pope.It is so heartening to hear such encouragement from the highest authority on the Liturgy besides the Holy Father himself, that the opening of the liturgical richness of the Church to the faithful by the celebration of the classical Roman Rite is something to be valued in itself for the good of souls, even aside from the provision of this form for those who legitimately ask for it.
How many priests have been called "backward" or "anticonciliar" because of the mere fact of celebrating in a solemn or pious manner or simply for fully obeying the rubrics! It is imperative to get out of this dialectic.I hope that Fr Bux's excellent book (which I have read in Italian) will soon be translated into English.
"The Hunt For Gollum is a 40 minute fan film, inspired by the appendicies of JRR Tolkien's classic trilogy, 'The Lord of the Rings', and made for less than $5,000."
H/T Fr Z
One thing that small boys from Catholic families sometimes do is to play at saying Mass. One of my sisters actually managed to get a boy's Mass kit from somewhere in the US complete with vestments so I must find the link for whoever supplies those things. Our Father's House has a couple of kits and a few months ago the Curt Jester posted on a Mass Kit thoughtfully made of foam so as not to disturb reverent environments.
I'm wondering if there are any advanced versions because a mother told me this morning that she went up to the boys' bedroom to check on them and found a lot of their Mass things on the floor; when she asked them why, they said "It's all right Mummy, we're setting up for Low Mass." Last Sunday, apparently, they were agreeing on who should be Deacon and Subdeacon. My MC and I got a little carried away in wondering mischievously whether we should try to obtain folded chasubles for them in time for Advent :-)
Before you ask, let us not forget the girls. Where can we get some small versions of the habit of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate?
In response to my post about Salisbury Cathedral, Steven sent information about the Society of St Justin which has an apostolate to pray at places that were once used for Catholic worship. An extract:
On visiting a church, monastery, shrine, even if ruined, which had previously been used for Catholic worship recite the following [viz. Pater, Ave, Gloria] for the repose of the souls of all who have worshipped there in the past, especially the priests who faithfully offered the holy sacrifice of the Mass and in reparation for all wrongs committed there. Pray also for the unity of Christ’s church around the See of Peter and for the intentions of our Holy Father
A few days ago I mentioned the chant sheets for celebrants made available by the The Windsor Tridentine Mass Community.
Another very useful resource for priests is provided by Fr Mark Withoos who posts a podcast each week with the chants for the Mass - collect, Epistle, Gospel, and postcommunion. Father started last November with the 25th Sunday after Pentecost. He posts a podcast each week with the chants for the next Sunday. There is also a podcast with the basic chants to know.
The other day I took the train down to Salisbury for a quiet day and to view the magnificent Cathedral which was built very rapidly by medieval standards. The spire (the tallest decorated Gothic spire in Europe) was added later and still leans significantly about 30 inches to the South West. The Tower weighs about 6400 tons. Apparently, present day structural engineers would be allowed to use the columns to support only about a tenth of that weight.
In the photo above, you can see how different such Churches look from different angles. From the West door, the Cathedral looks squat and massive whereas from almost any other angle it is graceful and perfectly proportioned.
Inside, the limestone is contrasted with the slender Purbeck marble shafts creating an austere beauty uplifting the gaze.
The odd living-water style font in the centre of the nave shows that no matter how beautiful a Cathedral may be, the 20th century would find something to disrupt it. 
In the south aisle, there is a magnificent cope chest. Sadly, we haven't room for such an item of furniture at Blackfen so the copes have to be hung in a wardrobe.
In the market square, I took the above photo for the benefit of North American readers from the Salisburys in North Carolina and Maryland. Apologies for the concession to Euro-correctness. We don't think in Kilometres here either.
I attended Choral Evensong in the Cathedral, particularly attracted by the promise of the Byrd responses, and the Tallis Nunc Dimittis. In a distraction I began to muse on what our Sacred Liturgy would be like if the Reformation had not effectively extinguished the Sarum Use. Perhaps it would be a good project to get permission for a High Mass in the Sarum Use at Salisbury itself...
Last month I posted one of the photos from the Ushaw training conference for priests. The Latin Mass Society has now sent out some more, together with some more details of the conference. (See LMS website for a report)
Above you can see the beginning of Missa Cantata in the magnificent St Cuthbert's Chapel. Below, some of the side altars are being used by priests for Low Mass first thing in the morning.
Canon Stephen Shields was celebrant for some of the liturgies and spoke at the gala dinner at the end of the Conference. Fr Thomas Crean OP spoke on the pastoral use of the older form of the sacrament of anointing, Viaticum and the Commendation of the Dying.
At 5pm tomorrow, the Feast of St Pius V, Fr Vincenzo M. Nuara OP will celebrate Mass in the usus antiquior at the Cappella Cesi of the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome for the intentions of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.
I look forward to seeing some photos from somewhere or another. (If you spot any, a link in the combox would be appreciated.)
The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers, have recorded three new choral settings of the prayer of St Pio of Pietrelcina "Stay with Me, Lord" by the composers James MacMillan, Roxanna Panufnik and Will Todd. The CD includes a number of other works:
TRACK LISTThe tracks marked with a * were commissioned by the Genesis Foundation
MacMillan Padre Pio’s Prayer *
MacMillan The Lamb has come for us from the House of David
Todd Among Angels *
Fear not
Find only joy
Seek out light
MacMillan On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin
Todd Stay with me (Padre Pio’s Prayer)*
Panufnik Prayer
MacMillan A New Song
Panufnik Stay with me (Padre Pio’s Prayer)*
The openness with which MacMillan declares his religious beliefs in so much of his music is very refreshing in this age of reticence and has rightly gained the respect of believers and non-believers alike.The CD can be ordered from www.thesixteen.com priced £12
Bishop Kenney, Auxiliary in Birmingham, has sensibly criticised a scheme which will allow underage girls to get the morning-after pill by text messaging a nurse. (See: Telegraph article).
Bishop Kenney said of the scheme:
"It goes against the very central idea the Catholic church has on human life. It is sending out the message that it was better to deal with the aftermath of what people do, rather than the causes. I don't think this will help solve the teenage pregnancy rate and is taking away responsibility from parents."A striking feature in the Telegraph report is the assertion that the Primary Care Trust will get involved if any child aged between 11 and 13 asked for contraception.
The website of the Archdiocese of Westminster has posted the arrangements for the installation of Archbishop Nichols as Archbishop of Westminster on Thursday 21 May at Westminster Cathedral.
There will be solemn Vespers at 7pm on Wednesday 20 May. At 12noon on Thursday 21 May, the main West Door of the Cathedral will open and the Archbishop will make his first solemn entry into his Cathedral, before processing to the sanctuary. The Chancellor of the Diocese of Westminster, Bishop John Arnold, will then read out the Apostolic Letter of Authority from Pope Benedict XVI, which denotes the official appointment of Archbishop Vincent Nichols as the 11th Archbishop of Westminster.
The website predicts that about 4,000 people are expected to attend the Mass of Installation and the Service of Solemn Vespers. It notes that a number of high profile guests are also expected to attend, including all of the Bishops of England and Wales, Catholic Peers and MPs.
I was rather surprised to see that the only guest from abroad that is mentioned is Cardinal Mahoney, Archbishop of Los Angeles.
You will be able to watch the Mass of Installation live on BBC 2 from 11.45am.
Today was the first of our first Holy Communion Masses in the parish. As it is the first Saturday of the month, there was the option for children to receive their first Communion at the Missa Cantata. I hope to have some good pictures of the Mass courtesy of the professional photographer who was pleased to give me permission to publish one or two photos in exchange for a link. Watch this space!
After Mass, we had a reception in the Hall with a game that involved hitting a box of sweets with a stick whilst blindfolded. (I have forgotten the Spanish name for this.) It is an excellent way to keep children (and adults) amused for a while.
Mid-afternoon, we went to the Church to sing solemn Vespers, followed by Benediction. Our new first communicants were eager to serve.
We were able to field a full complement of six torch beareres.
After Benediction, we sang the solemn Regina Caeli at the Lady Altar. Some children still enthusiastic an hour into the afternoon devotions makes me think that we may have some more candidates for serving over the next few years.
Last night I travelled into Waterloo and out again to New Malden for the celebration of the feast of St Joseph. The Parish Priest, Fr Peter Edwards, generously recognises the pastoral potential of the usus antiquior, and the assistant priest, Fr Richard Whinder, is happy to arrange occasional Masses.
I was invited to be celebrant for the Mass with Fr Nicholas Schofield as Deacon, and Fr Richard Whinder as Subdeacon. Fr Whinder preached an excellent sermon on St Joseph.
H/T Diogenes who reminds us that these are the "highlights".
See also: General Decree regarding the delict of attempted sacred ordination of a woman
Only the other day, a young priest was asking me whether there was a resource for priests to "mug up" on the chants that need to sung at Missa Cantata or High Mass. I said that I felt sure that somebody would have provided something on the internet.
Well they have! The Windsor Tridentine Mass Community has developed a resource to help priests sing the Orations and Readings of the Mass. Mr. Michel Ozorak has created sets of Chant Sheets to assist priests, deacons, and subdeacons.
See: Chant sheets for celebrants
The project is still in progress but I am sure that this will develop into a complete resource for priests wishing to sing the collects, epistles and gospels.
The Times has a fine obituary of Edward Schofield, the father of Fr Nicholas Schofield archvist of the Archdiocese of Westminster and author of Roman Miscellany.
It is a great accolade to have an obituary in the Times or the Telegraph; these articles are among the best pieces of journalism in the mainstream press. Edward Schofield was a medievalist, an expert on conciliar history, a member of the Royal Historical Society and a lover of the traditional Liturgy of the Church.
Please pray for the repose of his soul.
"Brick by brick". This image from Orbis Catholicus in Rome.
NOTICE
Starting from Eastertide, from Monday to Saturday, the Holy Mass at 7.00 will be celebrated according to the "old use" of the Roman Rite according to that which was made possible by the Holy Father Benedict XVI (in the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum 7/7/2007) - Fr Rector.
(H/T Fr Z)
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has issued a press release at the end of the meeting which has taken place this week.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols was elected President of the Conference unanimously and by acclamation. The post which he formerly held as chair of the department for Catholic education and formation will now be filled by Bishop Malcolm McMahon. I will be able to congratulate Bishop McMahon personally as I will be assisting him as subdeacon at Pontifical High Mass next week at the chapel of the Knights of Malta at the hospital of St John and St Elizabeth
I was also delighted to hear that Fr Marcus Stock has been appointed as General Secretary to the Bishops' Conference.
I just found the RSS feed for Anna Arco's Diary so I'm very glad to put it on the blogroll (it is under "Journalists"). Anna writes for the Catholic Herald. She picked up this photo the other day via Deacon Greg Kandra.
Francis Davis and Nathan Koblintz of the Las Casas Institute on Ethics, Governance and Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford have published a paper called Mutual Futures. Ed Balls, Michael Gove And The Challenge To Faith Schools. The paper looks at various current threats to Catholic education and makes some important suggestions for policy in response to Michael Gove's proposals for mutual schools.
The paper summarises three current regulatory and legislative threats that have "slipped under the radar" in recent concerns about secularisation. First, although the "Building Schools for the Future" programme has provided for 100% of capital costs, the new (and compulsory) Primary Capital Programme will require a 10% contribution. If dioceses are unable to meet this cost, schools may be forced into "controlled" status.
The second challenge is the reduction in insurance cover for voluntary aided schools that could end up costing the Church up to £20 million. Thirdly, there is the problem of ring fencing of funds by local authorities that could prevent dioceses from re-allocating resources in response to changing needs within an area that covers several local authorities.
Davis and Koblintz argue that the Church in England and Wales should lobby in favour of Catholic schools being in the first wave of the new mutual schools movement if the Conservative party is elected or if Labour extends its present pilot.
In such a scenario we want to suggest the creation of a national Catholic educational mutual comprising a network of 22 mutual societies based on the Dioceses: an institutional development that will open up a huge vista for innovation and freedom within Catholic education. The assets of all Catholic and other voluntary aided schools could be transferred into these mutuals in an asset transfer that is underpinned by secure long-term funding.See also coverage on the front page of the Catholic Herald this week: Ed Balls asks Catholics to foot £100m school bill.
Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen
The first post on this blog gives an introduction to the concept of the hermeneutic of reform and continuity in the words of Pope Benedict XVI.
Yes, but please give me a link, and please credit people that I have credited. For details, see the licence below:
Parish priest of Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen
Trustee of The Faith Movement
Founder of the Association of Priests for the Gospel of Life
Visiting lecturer in Sacramental Theology at St John's Seminary, Wonersh
Uncle to 10 nephews and 7 nieces, and great-uncle to 2 great nieces and a great nephew
Bible version - Clementine Vulgate
Spiritual Classic - Introduction to the Devout Life
Church Father - St Hilary of Poitiers
Theologian - Blessed John Duns Scotus
Period - The Counter Reformation
English Martyr - St John Fisher
Mass setting - Lux et Origo
The television
ICEL "translations"
The hermeneutic of discontinuity
Anti-life, anti-family policy masquerading as "equality"
Creative liturgy
Ceterum autem censeo Tabulam esse delendam
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Furthermore, this blog is a purely personal endeavour: the thoughts and opinions expresed are those of the author and should not be construed as representing the policy of his parish, the Archdiocese of Southwark, the Vatican, the Holy Spirit or anyone else. To quote Fr Jim Tucker, "All of this should go without saying, but common sense is surprisingly uncommon."
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