The Hermeneutic of Continuity

A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful under the usual conditions who devoutly assist at the singing or recition of: The Te Deum on the lst day of the year to give thanks to God for benefits received during the past year. The Veni Creator on 1 January to implore divine help during the coming year. As ever, do see my post Plenary Indulgences not impossible if you are worried about the conditions In my parish, we have a Vigil from 11pm tonight. The Blessed Sacrament is exposed; we say the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary and then the Office of Readings (in English) from the Liturgia Horarum , concluding with the Te Deum sung in Latin. Tomorrow, we will sing the Veni Creator in Latin after Mass. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year.

Many thanks to Lee in the combox for the link to this post on Kansas City Catholic which has an obituary of Monsignor Heliodore Mejak, 1909-2007 . Father Mejak ("he disdained any title except Father") was the world's longest-serving pastor (that would be "parish priest" in the UK), 63 years in the same parish: Holy Family, Kansas. At age 98, he continued to say Mass every day in the Church. He died on Christmas morning. He loved his parishioners and his parishioners loved him. May God now give him the reward of his labours and say to him "Euge serve bone, et fidelis: quia super pauca fuisti fidelis, super multa te constituam; intra in gaudium domini tui." Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many: enter into the joy of your Lord. Of course, he would want us all to pray for him as well, that God may forgive any sins he committed through human frailty. Among the many good things in th...

I'll be honest: I have only watched the first half of this video. YouTube seems to be interminably slow at the moment. The first half was good, though, and we haven't had a video here for a while. H/T Catholic Tube

Some time ago I was hearing confessions after Mass and there was so much noise in the Church from people talking that I could not actually hear the penitent clearly. I decided it was really time I exercised some pastoral authority in the matter. I hope that I was reasonably kindly in explaining to people over many weeks about the importance of respectful quiet in the Church. I reminded people that Our Lord is present in the Blessed Sacrament and that the Church is the House of God. Everywhere else in Blackfen, including nowadays the local library, we can talk to each other. In the Church we should be talking to God. Whilst it is good for us to meet and greet each other and make friends before and after Mass outside the Church, in the Hall or the Social Club, the Church is the one place that is set aside for prayer. I said that conversations held in the Church make it difficult for others to pray, that is was a good thing to make a preparation before and thanksgiving after Mass and that...

For the Feast of the Holy Family today, I spoke about a theme from the Message of Pope Benedict for the World Day of Peace . The Holy Father said that: Indeed, in a healthy family life we experience some of the fundamental elements of peace: justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role of authority expressed by parents, loving concern for the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness or old age, mutual help in the necessities of life, readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive them. For this reason, the family is the first and indispensable teacher of peace. As a priest who regularly hears the confessions of children, I know that children often fight with each other and argue with their parents: this might seem to contradict the Holy Father's optimism. But I think he is absolutely right. One simple way that parents exercise their authority and teach peace is to tell children "No!" or "Stop that!" From parental correction, childre...

Many people have heard of Kathy's Story, "The True Story of a Childhood Hell Inside Ireland's Magdalen Laundries" which alleged that she was abused by her father, experimented upon in a psychiatric hospital, raped by priests and then slammed up in a Magdalene Laundry where she had a baby at 14. Investigative journalist, Hermann Kelly has now written Kathy's Real Story which claims to cast light on the "destructive culture of false allegations hurting innocent people in Ireland." The publisher's information continues: This book examines some of the most notorious accusations against lay and religious people in both Ireland and Britain, and explores if they stand up to close scrutiny and police investigation; it also looks at what effect a €1bn Government compensation scheme has had. The book rounds off with a quick-paced ride through global best-sellers which have turned out to be literary frauds. Well I'll certainly want to read a copy of that. ...

On the question of Tony Blair's reception into the Church, there is a standard response which comes up from time to time in comboxes. A friend rang me today to talk about a sermon he had heard along the same lines. Are we not being ungenerous with Tony Blair? Should we not respect his conscience? Are we not all sinners and didn't Jesus eat with tax collectors and prostitutes? Etc. The word "pharisee" is quite often bandied about in the context. Jesus did indeed sharply criticise the scribes and pharisees of his day for their hypocrisy. He particularly focussed on their failure to act in practice in accord with what they said they believed. The pharisees said one thing and did another. The sinners, on the other hand, were honest about their lives. What they said and did were in accord. Zacchaeus, for example, publicly promised to make amends for the wrong that he had done in the past. When a person is received into the Catholic Church, they say solemnly and publicly th...

After getting a certain amount of paperwork done in the parish today, I took the underground from North Greenwich to Waterloo, the overground from Waterloo to Clapham Junction, and then the 337 bus to join Fr Martin Edwards, the parish priest of St Mary Magdalen's, and a number of other clergy and students for a Christmas Octave reception kindly hosted in the presbytery. Among the guests were Fr Stephen Langridge from Balham, Fr John O'Toole from the Christian Education Centre, Fr Michael Branch from Plumstead, Fr Peter Gee from Stockwell, and Deacon Fidelis Chukwu, one of my former students. Pictured above to the left are Frs Christopher Basden, parish priest of Clapham Park, and Fr Ignatius Harrison, Provost of the London Oratory. To the right is a picture of the two parish priests of Wandsworth, Fr Gerry Ewing from St Thomas a Becket parish in East Hill (Happy feast day for tomorrow!) together with Fr Edwards of West Hill. Fr Gerry Ewing is explaining to Fr Edwards that he i...

It was sad to hear just before Christmas, of the death of Denis Riches, a great campaigner for the family who, together with his wife, Valerie, founded Family Publications to publish and distribute good books. Denis's campaigning work was conducted through Family and Youth Concern . The regular newsletter of FYC is always helpful with well-documented articles that can be quoted with references in response to the moral challenges that our secular society presents. Some months ago, I referred briefly to the joint biography of Denis and his wife, Valerie ( Women, Cardinals, supporting the family ). Looking through this again, I am struck by the vehemence of the reaction to the "Responsible Society" which was shortly renamed "Family and Youth Concern". Denis tells of how speakers were pelted with eggs, he was described as a "third rate drag artist" (which he found amusing) and family campaigners were labelled "cranks and killjoys". As he said ...

It has often struck me that places such as Bluewater shopping centre and Gym-spa-health clubs are rather like modern pagan temples. Sad then, to see plans for a real Church to become a temple to the new religion. The Irish Times reports on the sale of the Sacred Heart Church, Limerick, to developer John O'Dolan for 4 million euros. ( Roman baths: new plan for former Jesuit church ). An application for purchase was also lodged by a tradionalist group who wished to use the Church as a centre for the Traditional Latin Mass. The article outlines Architect John Kennedy's plans for the Church. They will involve "very little alteration to the church" and "virtually all of the fabric of the existing structure" will be retained, including all five altars. The nave of the Church will become a swimming pool surrounded by a glass wall so that people can still see the High Altar. also at ground level will be a restaurant and juice bar. The gym itself will be on a ne...

NLM has some text from an Interview with Msgr. Guido Marini , the Papal MC who took over from his homonymous predecessor recently. The interview gives some thoughtful background to the beautiful photographs that have been circulating the Catholic blogosphere recently. At this blog, we were particularly moved to read the following extract: Let's get back to the symbolic aspects. What vestments will the Pope wear? Above all, it must be underscored that the vestments chosen, like some details of the rites themselves, are meant to underscore the continuity of the present liturgy with that which characterized the traditional liturgy of the Church. The hermeneutic of continuity is always the right criterion for interpreting the course of the Church in time. This goes for the liturgy as well. Just as a Pope cites his predecessors in his documents, to show the continuity of the magisterium, a Pope also does the same in the liturgical sense when he uses the vestments and sacred accessories...

From another Italian news source, Petrus, comes the speculation that the Holy Father will issue and instruction obliging Diocesan Bishops to appoint exorcists. ( Prossima un'istruzione del Papa per aumentare il numero degli esorcisti? ) Thanks to Rorate Caeli for the notice of this and for their translation of this section of the article: ...Benedict XVI ... would intend to providentially deal [with the problem of diabolic forces] with an instruction, which could be published in the first months of the next year, which would determine that Diocesan Bishops...all over he world to confer the mandate to perform exorcisms to a stable number of their priests. There have not been official confimations by the Vatican, being just a rumor for the time being. One commenter asked whether it would take 50 priests to constitute a stable group. surely there is no need to specify numbers - just specify that there must be the same number of exorcists in the diocese as the number that need to ask ...

Fr Z puts us onto a most interesting blog, Palazzo Apostolico.it , the Vatican diary of Paolo Rodari. Today's article speaks of a new year for the Holy Father, both in terms of theology and appointments ( Un nuovo anno per il Papa: tra teologia e nomine ). Rodari raises the question of whether Archbishop Ranjith has made too many enemies among those curial monsignori who are "still close to the dictates of Anninbale Bugnini" to be made Prefect of the CDW. To be honest, I don't mind which office he eventually gets - imagine if the great Archbishop were in charge of Bishops or the CDF! When reading speculation from Italian journalists, you have to remember that they are light years ahead of most English-speaking colleagues in terms of their knowledge of the Church in general and the Vatican in particular. That doesn't mean that they are always right but they are often enough spot on - months ahead of events. Their speculation is still speculation; but it is of a ve...

Last Friday, the Holy Father gave his Christmas address to the Roman Curia. Reviewing the year, he spoke at some length about his visit to Brazil. He used the reflection as an opportunity to answer the question of whether the visit to Aparecida (a pilgrimage site where a miraculous statue of Our Lady is venerated) was an excessive retreat into interiority when we should be occupied with questions of justice. He also dealt with the question of whether we should evangelise today instead of simply working with other faiths for peace. Sandro Magister has a translation of the relevant sections of the address. ( Surprise: The Pope Takes the Curia to Brazil ) After speaking more briefly of his other pastoral visits during the year, he concluded ( my translation ): We must not deceive ourselves, certainly: the secularism of our times and the pressure of the ideological presumptions to which the secularist conscience tends, with its exclusive claim to definitive rationality, pose no small probl...

Our Mass on the feast of St Stephen is always one in which we pay special attention to the altar servers. The Guild of St Stephen has a serious and solemn enrolment ceremony which I use each year, awarding servers with their Guild medals to mark the fact that they have served well and regularly. The material for my sermon was provided by Elizabeth Wang's book "The Purpose of the Priesthood: A Message from Christ", available from Radiant Light . The book is very much from the perspective of a lay woman inviting priests to reflect on the needs of the laity - to receive the teaching of the magisterium faithfully preached, to be given sound moral and spiritual advice, and to be helped to understand the real presence of Christ and the sacrifice of the Mass. At the end of the book, she proposes three faults that priests should correct: resentment, grumbling (particularly grumbling at God to the detriment of our adoration of him) and irreverence, particularly in Church. I spoke ...

Having spent an enjoyable afternoon at Parkminster, it is time to look at the latest Papal Liturgy photos. Fr Z noticed a detail in his post Jingle keys, jingle keys, jingle all the way . Having restored the big six and the large crucifix to the altar when celebrating versus populum , the Holy Father has now added the seventh candlestick: I'll let Fr Z explain: "But Father! But Father!", some of you are no doubt saying, "What’s with that seventh candle thing anyway? Big deal!" Yes, it is a big deal. It is a signal to a watching world. Indeed the whole world was watching, too: this was the televised Midnight Mass. The seventh candle could be used for Pontifical High Mass when celebrated by an Ordinary in his diocese (or by the Pope anywhere, of course). The seventh candle, placed in the middle and in line with the other six, but it should be a little higher. This pushes the crucifix a little out of line… which also emphasizes it, in my opinion. Pope Benedict is a...

OK, that's enough for Christmas Eve. Time to say the Office and prepare for Midnight Mass which I am really looking forward to. After the morning Masses tomorrow, I'll be driving over to my sister, Mary, for lunch, games, and presents with her family. I'll be posting again on St Stephen's Day after visiting the Carthusians at Parkminster for what I boast is the most exclusive of all Christmas parties. I wish you all a very Happy Christmas. May God bless you and your families and loved ones. If you have lost someone dear to you and miss them at this time, remember that you are closest to them when you are at Mass. If they still need your prayers, they are helped greatly by them and are full of grateful joy for you remembering them at the Christmas Mass. If they are already in heaven, they rejoice that you are praying and they pray for you.

Just a reminder on this holy night of that passage from the great Dom Prosper Guéranger regarding the silent canon: After these words [ viz . the Sanctus ] commences the Canon, that mysterious prayer in the midst of which heaven bows down to earth, and God descends unto us. The voice of the Priest is no longer heard; yea, even at the Altar, all is silence. It was thus, says the Book of Wisdom, in the quiet of silence, and while the night was in the midst of her course, that the Almighty Word came down from his royal throne (Wis 18.14-15). Let us await him in a like silence, and respectfully fix our eyes on what the Priest does in the holy place. I wrote previously about Ratzinger and Guéranger on the silent Canon

"Typical man", I needed to buy some Christmas presents today as I have not got round to putting in an order on Amazon. So I went up to town after hearing confessions this morning to get some good books that I hope my immediate family will like. I also got some chocolate just in case they don't like them. It was quite spooky visiting London the day before Christmas. Everywhere I went, people were talking about some "Festive season". On the tube, canned announcements advised us at regular intervals to look at the "Festive Travel" leaflet. In MacDonalds, I was going to order the "Festive Wrap" from the "Festive Menu" and ask what it was all about, but thought better of it. Then a nice young African lady behind the counter greeted me with "Happy Christmas". I thanked her and asked what this "Festival" was that everyone seemed to be talking about. I'm not sure if I went a bit far when I added that Christianity was...

Many thanks to Londiniensis, a regular commenter, for a link to this article from New Biscuit: Pope converts to new Labour . Reporting that the Pope was now convinced of Tony Blair's infallibility, the article does admit that... ... others were more sceptical; ‘There are those who might think that the Pope’s childhood membership of the Hitler Youth would make him unacceptable to New Labour’, said Tony Benn, ‘But then everyone is more left wing when they are young.’ What you won't find on the internet is the follow-up story in the colour supplement " Have Your Cake and Eat It ". A representative from a leading gay lobbying group was quoted: We would, of course, be delighted if the Pope of Rome had genuinely converted to New Labour. However, this man has been on record several times asserting that homosexual acts are a "grave sin". We can find no reason to suppose that he has changed his views and we can only presume that the Pope wants to be a new-Labourite o...

In the parish we had our Crib Service with the children this afternoon. This photo brings to my mind the words of Pope John Paul in his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae To recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ.

The former Prime Minister, Tony Blair has been received into the Catholic Church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor in the Cardinal's private chapel at Archbishop's House, Westminster. Secular papers could be forgive for referring to this as a "private ceremony" because it was held (understandably) in a context where members of the general public were not freely admitted. However, as Catholics know, every liturgical service is a part of the public worship of the whole Church. This includes the part where Mr Blair (as with anyone being received into full communion with the Catholic Church) was asked to say: "I believe and profess all that the Holy Catholic Church believes, teaches and proclaims to be revealed by God" In response to the news of Mr Blair's reception into the Catholic Church, John Smeaton, the National Director of SPUC said: "During his premiership Tony Blair became one of the world's most significant architects of of the cultu...

Zenit has a little background explanation of this year's Vatican Nativity Scene . The article by Carrie Gress's quotes Elizabeth Lev, art expert and Zenit columnist. After explaining that the scene represents St Joseph's experience, Lev explains: "In the Nativity accounts, a mother figure is always there, but this Nativity makes present the importance of the father figure and the fact that he is essential. It's a reminder that he wasn't born only to a mother, while providing a source of meditation during this time when we are faced with the battle against marriage and the family. It is a good way for the Church, in nonaggressive and nonpolitical way, to remind us of the basis of our understanding of family through the Holy Family. "This is a Nativity very much of Joseph Ratzinger, a teaching Nativity. Instead of complacently laying out the characters, this year they are being laid out in a way so we have to think about what this momentous birthday means, t...

The other day, I was told about the Colwich Novitiate Blog . I am sorry to say that I had not heard of Colwich Abbey before; it is a Benedictine community of women near Stafford and seems to be thriving. There is also a Colwich Abbey website. The blog has news of daily life at the Abbey and photos of various events, as well as questions and answers about the life of the community in particular and Benedictine life in general.

Blogger now allows people to use something called " Open ID ". This means that you can log in to comment using any open ID, including Typekey and Wordpress. The Blogger website has more information . I have now turned on the option that means you have to use an ID when commenting. You can still make one up, of course, but you have to give yourself a name and not just anonymous. It was always annoying to have four different anonymouses commenting on the same post.

The ever trustworthy and excellent Family Publications have recently published " Jesus Comes to Me ", by Dora Nash, a book to help parents, catechists, and teachers prepare children to receive their first Holy Communion. This is a really good resource for first Communion catechesis. The text is simple and straightforward, completely orthodox and child-friendly. Dora is an experienced teacher and her expertise shows through in the details of this book. There are exercises for the children to complete and even a cut-out-n-vest priest. I heartily recommend this for parishes. Jesus Comes to Me is available priced £6.50 from Family Publications . (Bulk quantity discount are available for schools and parishes.)

Hilary put me onto A Tangled Web which now goes onto the "political" section of my blogroll. Just to be clear: I do not endorse such blogs, just find them interesting and occasionally helpful. Have a look at the post " The Great Manmade Global Warming Hoax Unravels " with the email from the President of the American Council On Renewable Energy threatening to campaign against the professional integrity of someone who dared to question current orthodoxy regarding global warming. There is more information at the website of the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. So what has this to do with a religious blog? Well, as Pope Benedict sensibly advised us in his Regensburg address, threats and violence should not be used in the service of religious proselytism. And global warming hysteria increasingly looks like religious proselytism.

The Manna Society is an excellent organisation working in the Diocese of Southwark to provide food, clothing, medical advice, and a hot shower for people who are homeless. You can even get your toenails cut. Anyone who has been on a walking pilgrimage for any length of time will appreciate the importance of this service. My parish supports them a little by sending up clothes and food and the proceeds of fundraising events from time to time. I must check whether we have sent anything recently because their Christmas newsletter (pdf 278Kb) which I read today, reminded me of the importance of their work. On page three, there is an article by the Campaigns Worker, Bandi Mbubi with some disturbing news. Apparently, the London Borough Councils are preparing a Bill to set up designated areas where the distribution of food and refreshments will be banned. Exemptions would be made for sporting events or for companies giving out free samples to advertise their products. Thus the Bill is aimed ...

The Vatican has announced that the creche in St Peter's will show Jesus at home in Nazareth rather than the customary Bethlehem scene. This is commented on in a not very good article in the Telegraph which presents it as a sort of policy change. (See: Vatican nativity does away with the manger ) The article also makes the odd claim that "it is Matthew's gospel which forms the basis for the Angelus prayer." Fr Bosco at the New Zealand Liturgy site has written a good critique of this coverage. (See: Vatican has Jesus born in Nazareth? ) As he says, [...] the Vatican is certainly not shifting Jesus’ birthplace from Bethlehem to Nazareth. It is shifting from imagery drawn primarily from St. Luke’s Gospel to this year presenting imagery drawn primarily from St. Matthew’s Gospel. As Corporal Jones would say, "Don't panic! Don't panic!"

I said back in May that the Life of St Gemma Galgani had jumped the queue of books to be read. I didn't get very far - something else must have supervened - but have got into the book now. I wrote about her after my last visit to Rome ( post: St Gemma Galgani ) The author of the book, Fr Germanus CP, was her spiritual director for a few years. He describes in detail the physical manifestation of her union with the Passion of Christ. This included not only the stigmata but the sweat of blood, the crowning with thorns and the scourging, as well as a wound on the shoulder from carrying the cross. These wounds would only appear for a time, shed copious amounts of blood, and then heal up completely. They were usually present from Thursday evening to Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. These quite extraordinary physical signs do not make a saint, of course. Her holiness consisted, as it does for all saints, in her heroic virtue, and conformity with the will of God. When her confessor a...

The other day, the Passionist Publishers Ovada Books sent me a copy of "To Heal the Broken Hearted. The Life of Saint Charles of Mount Argus." St Charles was canonised a year ago by Pope Benedict and this is a new edition of the book by Paul Francis Spencer CP. I confess that I did not know about St Charles before and I look forward to reading the book as soon as I have finished the life of St Gemma Galgani which is occupying my attention at the moment. The Vatican website has a summary of his life . Other sources of information include the website of the Passionists of Mount Argus and the blog Laus Crucis has a number of links to material on St Charles in the sidebar. "To Heal the Broken Hearted" is available to read online which is, in my view, an excellent idea - I am sure this will increase, rather than compete with sales of the book and, in any case, it will help to make St Charles better known. The printed book is available (£9.50 or 13.95 euros) from: Ovad...

As reported here previously ( A reform which still "challenges" ), Archbishop Marini was invited to launch his new book "A Challenging Reform" in the throne room at Westminster. There is an interesting article by the widely respected commentator John Allen Marini's book on liturgy: The future of the liturgy is the future of Christianity . Here is a part of the article: When I’m on the lecture circuit, there’s a story I like to tell to illustrate the sometimes surprising diversity inside the Vatican. It’s set in the summer of 2002, when Pope John Paul II was in Mexico City to canonize Juan Diego, the Aztec visionary in the Our Lady of Guadalupe devotion. At the moment in the canonization Mass when John Paul read out the Latin formula declaring Juan Diego a saint, pandemonium broke out in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Confetti fell from the ceiling, drums beat and horns blared, and a knot of indigenous dancers began to gyrate down a catwalk. Inside, it fe...

Yesterday I took the train from Waterloo to Poole to visit my sister and her daughter and baptise my relatively new great nephew, Jack David. The Baptism was scheduled in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Bournemouth, just inside the Portsmouth Diocese. The sacristan was most helpful and welcoming and I was impressed by the Victorian Gothic Church which was originally run by the Jesuits. My sister, her husband and her daughter are part of the bell-ringing group at the Church which boasts a rare collection of bells for a Catholic Church. One day, perhaps, I will be able to make another visit, encouraged by my brother-in-law, Chris, to celebrate Mass at the Lady altar: Naturally, at the Baptism of a baby, it is important that a slightly older sibling is not left out. Lucy is great at singing and dancing and was allowed to perform under the watchful eye of Grandma and Dad: The adults were treated to Champagne afterwards, courtesy of Jack's Great-Grandfather who is a retired judge. Acc...

A friend of mine who is studying for a Doctorate in Rome at the moment rang this evening and told me of the Catholic life of the Pontifical North American College (NAC) in Rome. the photo above is from the collection on their website on the occasion of the feast of the Immaculate Conception this year. It is an important detail that the students are in clerical dress (as required by the Vicariate of Rome). A few years back, clerical dress was a casus belli in many seminaries, with opponents decrying "clericalism". This does seem a self-defeating cause in an institution which exists for the formation of clerics. My friend tells me that the NAC is thriving, full of students and priests making the very best of their time in the Eternal City. I think that Bishop Tim Dolan did a great job there as Rector and his work must be continuing in his successors. A book I recommend to seminarians and priests is Bishop Dolan's "Priests for the Third Millennium" which consists...

Take a look at the photos of various Carthusian houses on this Liturgy site from New Zealand.

A few weeks ago, I went for a couple of days to Bruges. It is easy for me to get to: an hour or so to Dover, lunch on the ferry, an hour's drive to Bruges. You can cut half an hour or so by using the Channel Tunnel. The train is not a good idea - from Brussells it is another hour to Bruges. (If you look at the map, you can see that you are going back on yourself.) Bruges is one of the most photogenic cities in Europe. Here are a few of my efforts. First a classic view of the Church of Our Lady across the Minnewater: One of the little bridges over the canals: The end of the Minnewater with the bridge to the Beguinehof on the left: Some typical Bruges houses along the canal: The central part of the City is illuminated at night offering the opportunity for photos with reflections in the canal. The tower of the Markt is in the centre here:

Sorry, that was a lie. But there is free Church music of good quality and that is better than free beer, especially if your parish has had to pay for a licence to sing some of the most dreadful hymns ever written. Jeffrey Tucker at the New Liturgical Movement reports that the Chabanel Responsorial Psalms site has become "a portal for every kind of new composition for use in OF and EF Masses." Have a look at the page for Year A and the wedding music page.

Last year, a local independent undertaker asked me to host a memorial carol service. This took place just a week before our parish carol service which made things rather busy for our organist, so this year I suggested that we combine the two. The service took place this afternoon and was a great success. There were about 300 people, more than half of whom were non-Catholics. The Choir and our annual ad-hoc children's choir sang beautifully. I preached briefly and said some prayers for the dead. The Union of Catholic Mothers put on a magnificent spread in the hall afterwards and it was an opportunity for local non-Catholics to come to the Church, sing Christmas carols, listen to the choir and, in many cases, I'm sure, fulfil the natural instinct to worship God. A form of evangelisation, I hope.

Looking around this evening to see whether the CDF Doctrinal Note on Evangelisaiton was available in a more helpful form than a page image pdf, I followed Rorate Caeli's link to the text on Papal Encyclicals Online . this is a good looking site with a well-organised directory of magisterial documents (with much more than just papal encyclicals). This was a site I have not seen before, at least in its present form. the " About this site " section was an interesting read. Most of the documents were originally on the Catholic Resources Network (CRNET) which became EWTN online. I remember the great pioneering work of CRNET and I think I gave them some small financial support in the early days. It reminds me of the time that I announced with some excitement in my "Faith Online" column that the Vatican now had a website...

Every Mass that is offered is of infinite value in that the Mass gives adoration and thanksgiving to God. Every Mass is also offered for the propitiation of our sins, and to gain God's gifts for us. In these respects, the fruits of the Mass is limited by our capacity to receive these benefits. The sacrifice that is offered is the once and for all perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Mass is primarily the actio Dei , the work of God himself. However the priest is called by God to participate in this one perfect sacrifice by worthily celebrating the sacred rites. The priest offers the Mass ministerially and the Church generally. The faithful also offer the Mass by participating in it: by requesting the celebration, by making an offering for that purpose, by providing the material requisites for offering the Mass, and, most of all, by attending the Mass and uniting themselves spiritually to the sacrifice. These actions of the faithful constitute their " actuosa participatio ...

Priests are often asked to remember a particular intention in their prayers. When people do this, I always say a Hail Mary there and then if possible and try to include such prayers in the general intention of saying the Divine Office. But people do like to be remembered "at the altar". I have a little book Clericus Devotus which I found in an old prie-dieu at school years ago and was allowed to keep. It belonged to a priest who had died: inside, it is inscribed in pencil "Rev W Evans, Ist Infantry Brigade, 1st Division BEF". Inside the rear cover, the Leonine Prayers (the prayers said after Low Mass) are written in pencil - the book was published in 1910 and I suppose the editors had not got round to including this relatively recent innovation. It is a wonderful vademecum with prayers in preparation and thanksgiving for Mass, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, various prayers for priests, schemes of devotional morning and night prayers, and short meditations, espec...

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith today published a Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelisation . To be fair, after the trenchant criticism of Damien Thompson ( endorsed here ) of the failure of the CBCEW website to publicise the encyclical Spe Salvi , the Bishops Conference of England and Wales has, as far as I can see at the moment, the only online copy of the full text of the doctrinal note. It is a page image pdf (1.67Mb) and the pages were not quite straight in the scanner, but fair play to the guys for getting it on the web even before the Vatican website. Everyone else has had to make do with Cardinal Levada's summary . I expect the Vatican will have the text up soon so we can paste quotes from it. The doctrinal note asserts the fundamental right and duty of the Church to evangelise. Its missionary activity is a work of love, to bring to others the truth and the person of Christ. This does not offend against the liberty of the individual but in fact brings...

Fr John Trigilio is well known in the States for his work with EWTN. He has a blog called The Black Biretta and yesterday posted What Hollywood will NEVER produce , the synopsis of a fictional fantasy film which satirises Judaism and Islam and shows Catholicism in a good light. As he says, "Hollywood should either attack ALL religions (not a good choice) or NO religions (best option)."

Alfons Maria Cardinal Stickler SDB died yesterday, aged 97. Earlier this year, he celebrated the 70th anniversary of his priestly ordination. Gillibrand at Catholic Church Conservation has a translation of his obituary in Der Standard ( Cardinal Stickler, one of the all time great cardinals has died ). The Cardinal was always a friend of the traditional liturgy. Here is a link to an address that he gave to the Latin Mass Society at its annual meeting in 1992. Summorum Pontificum was a vindication of his consistently held position that the old rite of Mass had never been abrogated. His book The Case for Clerical Celibacy , published by Ignatius, was an accessible summary of the conclusions reached by the research of Cochini, Cholij and others on the question. He made the telling point: These studies have either not yet penetrated the general consciousness or they have been hushed up if they were capable of influencing that consciousness in undesirable ways Here is the announcement of ...