James and Ella's new baby boy

New Baby!

Congratulations to James and Ella Preece on the birth of their new baby boy. (Photo from James's blog Catholic and Loving It.)

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Interesting parallels in Jewish customs

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Some time ago, at an academic conference on Liturgy that featured contributions from people of various different faiths, I was interested to chat to a Reformed (or Liberal) Rabbi who was frank about some similarities between the controversy within Judaism over liturgy and some of the things he had heard about the reaction to traditional Catholic liturgy. He also lamented wistfully that it was his younger worshippers who wanted him to offer the prayers in Hebrew and face the same way as them when praying.

More recently, I found this guide on Judaism 101: Jewish Liturgy setting out the differences in worship that a visitor might find between the various movements within Judaism
In Orthodox synagogues, women and men are seated separately; in Reform and Conservative, all sit together. See The Role of Women in the Synagogue.In Orthodox and usually Conservative, everything is in Hebrew. In Reform, most is done in English, though they are increasingly using Hebrew.In Orthodox, the person lea…
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How to listen to the sermon tomorrow

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There are plenty of criticisms you could make of the sermons that you hear at Mass. Moving on from "boring", you might say that the priest did not prepare well, or that he read out an essay, that he was too serious, or too light-hearted, that he ignored current events, or talked about news items, that he was too theatrical, or lacked rhetorical skill.

You may well be right: priests are not always great communicators, but did you know that a sermon is a sacramental? That is to say that a sermon signifies spiritual effects which may be obtained through the intercession of the Church. By sacramentals, we are disposed to receive the grace of the sacraments.

So we can use a sermon, as a sacramental, to increase in grace - but we have to use it properly. Simply finding fault with the delivery, the rhetorical skill or the erudition of the priest isn't going to get us nearer heaven. What we need to do is to ask the Holy Spirit what He wishes to give us here and now through this…
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The folly of shortening the Mass with Eucharistic Prayer 2

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When altar servers ask me how long Mass will be, my stock answer is that we will carry on until we have said or sung all the prescribed prayers. I do usually relent and then tell them roughly how long it will be, but I think it is good to teach that we are not governed by the clock.

In the matter of influencing how long Mass will take, there is a significant difference between the celebration of the modern rite and the usus antiquior. On the Pray Tell blog there was recently a discussion of the question of "Trimming Time", asking specifically whether it is better to use a shorter Eucharistic Prayer or to omit the sign of peace. Some of the suggestions, such as omitting the Gloria or Creed, or saying rather than singing some of the proper texts would not be considered in the older form of the Mass. In the modern rite, the selection of options can affect the duration of Mass in a way that is not possible in the traditional Mass.

Aside from any such question, it is true that t…
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Fundamentalist integralism or sensible co-operation?

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Like the French with Gallicanism, the Americans have been unfortunate enough to have a heresy named after them. Americanism was the name given to a loose collection of erroneous opinions related to minimising authority, in teaching, spiritual direction and religious life, and in cultivating a too radical separation of Church and State. In his encyclical letter Longinqua Oceani of 1895, Pope Leo XIII condemned the view “that it would be universally lawful or expedient for State and Church to be, as in America, dissevered and divorced.” (n.6) and went on to say that “[the Church] would bring forth more abundant fruits if, in addition to liberty, she enjoyed the favor of the laws and the patronage of the public authority.”

Recently, in La Civiltà Cattolica, Fr Antonio Spadaro and Marcelo Figueroa have criticised American Catholics in a way very different from Pope Leo XIII's: Evangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism in the USA: A Surprising Ecumenism.

There have been many…
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5 ways to keep Friday special

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“I thought it was Sunday we were supposed to keep special” I hear you say. Well, Friday is also a special day because it is the day that Jesus died for us, thereby meriting the grace of all the sacraments, our eternal life, the forgiveness of all our sins – you know, that sort of thing. So Catholics have developed various ways to keep Friday special.

And remember: just rolling along to Mass on Sunday is a minimum to avoid falling into mortal sin. If we love Our Lord, we don’t just want to avoid participating in His scourging by refraining from mortal sin. In these times more than ever, we should be consoling His Sacred Heart by our devotion.

So here is a simple and, I hope, unoriginal list, a simple reminder of some Catholic things:

1. Abstain from meat
In England and Wales, and in many other countries, this is obligatory. In some countries it may be replaced by some other penance. Yeah right! Who actually does that? Abstaining from meat is a simple witness to the passion of the Lord …
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