Posts

Showing posts from June, 2013

Ascending by steps

Image
Today at St John's Seminary Wonersh the following students received the ministry of Lector: Ansel D'Mello (Portsmouth) Dominik Lau (Portsmouth) Robert Stuwart (Portsmouth) Eamonn Hyde (Brentwood) Peter Littleton (Southwark) Louie Kitt (Southwark) Andrew Saunders (Wrexham) and Mark Wharton (Southwark) received the ministry of Acolyte. Please remember these fine young men in your prayers. May they continue to listen to the words inscribed over the entrance to the chapel: Magister adest et vocat te . (The Master is here and he is calling you.) The picture shows Rev Sam Davey who is to be ordained to the sacred priesthood on 20 July, with Eamonn Hyde.
Read more

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard ousted

Image
I suppose that most of us tend to be parochial in our interest in politics. Before my trip to Australia, I had not heard much of Julia Gillard. In Melbourne, the forthcoming Labour Party leadership election was a hot topic. Yesterday, my chosen source for daily news over breakfast, The Week , featured her removal in their most useful "10 things you need to know today" as well as in a couple of customarily succinct feature articles so I would have finally caught up. An important reason for the interest of orthodox Australian priests in the contest is Gillard's strong advocacy of abortion as a "woman's right", most recently expressed in her "blue tie" speech earlier this month. Lifesite news has a video and commentary on their article Radical pro-abortion Australian Prime Minister ousted after strident gender/abortion speech . The upshot is that Australians are, generally speaking, more pro-life and pro-family than the English but also that Kevin R...
Read more

A couple of hours in China

Image
Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Hence I am in a communist country for a couple of hours, though only in the airside area of Hong Kong International Airport. My return journey started at Melbourne airport yesterday night at 2340 Aussie time (9 hours ahead of UK). The flight took nine hours and we got to Hong Kong at 0645 Hong Kong time (7 hours ahead of UK). At 1005, I will be on a thirteen hour flight and get to London at 1600 UK time. It's all rather confusing but I was blessedly free of jet-lag in Australia and the East-West journey is supposed to be better from that point of view. There was a breakfast served on the aeroplane but it was only a little more appetising than one expects such meals to be. When I get on the next flight we will be served dinner after an hour or so. Therefore I decided on having a hobbit-like second breakfast while waiting at the airport and have just had a delicious bowl of Won Ton soup with shri...
Read more

Homecoming present

Image
Zephyrinus has posted the news that my kind parishioners have arranged for a homecoming present for me on my return from Australia. Now that I have a more sophisticated knowledge of Australia than I had from Monty Python, Barry MacKenzie and Crocodile Dundee, I think it is appropriate to say that I have been in Melbourne, not Queensland. (I hope this does not offend readers from Queensland.)
Read more

Bishop Meeking's Diamond Jubilee

Image
This morning one of the seminarians drove me to the Church of St Aloysius in Caulfield where Bishop Meeking  celebrated Pontifical High Mass, arranged by the parish in anticipation of the diamond jubilee of his priestly ordination on the 19th of July 1953. Fr Tattersall, the parish priest, was Assistant Priest, Fr Marshall was Deacon, I was Subdeacon and seminarians were (very competent) first and second MCs. In my case, they needed to be competent since I'm not very familiar with the ceremonies and have to be guided quite a bit. Fr Tattersall preached a fine sermon on the priesthood with particular reference to St Maximilian Kolbe who went to begin his slow martyrdom at Auschwitz with the words "I am a Catholic priest." There will be some photographs of the Mass posted in due course on the website of the Catholic Community of Blessed John Henry Newman . In the meantime, here is a photo of the cake: The interior of the Church: The shrine of Blessed J...
Read more

Evangelium Day in Melbourne

Image
The Evangelium  project, put together by Fr Marcus Holden and Fr Andrew Pinsent, and published by the CTS , has reached Melbourne. A couple of years ago, Fr Marcus Holden visited to speak to the ACCC  and introduced Evangelium. Evangelium in Australia , organised by Fr Nicholas Pearce ( on the left in the photo ) has a summer school in January, and yesterday there was a one day winter conference on the topic "How to defend your faith without raising your voice. I spoke in the morning and got to meet many of the sixty or so enthusiastic young adults who came. It was an impressive day with quite a packed programme. In addition to the talks, there was the divine office, rosary, Mass with Archbishop Hart and a holy hour with Benediction. From Friday 13 September to Sunday 15 September, there are retreats for men and women aged 18-35. The women will be at the Amberly Retreat Centre in Sydney with the Dominican Sisters of Nashville (Sydney) and the men will be at ...
Read more

Books for the Catholic Apologist

Image
This is a post for the young adults who are attending my talk in Melbourne on "Defending Your Catholic Faith." Rather than hand out a book list, I thought it would be more efficient to post some links here. I suggested that you should have a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a basic reference book for Catholic doctrine. You can get this for $11 from St Pauls . You can also read the text online at the Vatican website . As I said, there is a vast number of books on apologetics. Here is a list of some good ones:  Popular Catholic Apologetics Books . Here is a good introduction by Carl Olsen: Be a Catholic Apologist Without Apology Many books written in the USA are aimed at apologetics in the face of Protestant objections to the faith. This is something that Americans have to do more than we do in England or Australia where we will more often face objections to the faith from a secularist point of view. An excellent short pamphlet is  Apologia by Fr M...
Read more

St Francis Church, Melbourne

Image
Yesterday afternoon, the ACCC had their business meeting and so I went for a walk in the centre of Melbourne. I was dropped off at the corner of Lonsdale Street and Elizabeth Street, the site of the Church of St Francis . Built betweem 1841 and 1845, it is the oldest Church in Victoria and the place where St Mary of the Cross (St Mary MacKillop) was baptised and received her first Holy Communion. After talking to the clergy here in Australia, I am determined to find a good life of this saint to read. St Francis was the Cathedral Church of Melbourne until St Patrick's Cathedral was opened for worship in the late 1860s. It is in the care of the Blessed Sacrament Congregation and there is adoration each day from 6.45am to 5.30pm. Here is a view of the interior of the Church: The Ladye Chapel is beautiful:
Read more

Visit to St Patrick's Cathedral

Image
On Wednesday evening, Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett celebrated a low Requiem Mass for the deceased members and associates of the ACCC in the Blessed Sacrament chapel of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne. After that, I gave a public lecture on the theme of the Church and Lumen Gentium at the Cardinal Knox Centre next door. This was the opportunity for a photo of x with Z-swag in the wild:
Read more

A wombat

Image
The other day I mentioned that I did not get to see a wombat. A parishioner from home sent me a picture of one. It is the L6 Wombat (Weapon Of Magnesium, Battalion, Anti-Tank), a 120 mm calibre recoilless anti-tank rifle used by the British Army before the invention of guided anti-tank missiles, though it was retained until the late 1980's for possible shoot and scoot attacks in built-up areas in case of attack by the Warsaw Pact. I can't think why the Healsville Wildlife Sanctuary would need a collection of these. Perhaps there are occasional riots by psychotic emus or something.
Read more

Nerves overcome

Image
The Apostolic Nuncio, five Bishops and some very learned clergy are present at the ACCC conference here in Melbourne. I was getting increasingly nervous last night and this morning before the first of the lectures which I am giving. I was speaking about the background, history and aftermath of Vatican II. On the programme I discovered that Bishop Meeking is giving an after-dinner speech this evening on Vatican II. He was there and so knows a lot more than I do about it. Thanks be to God the talk seemed to have gone down well and I am now feeling a little more relaxed about the remaining talks. Tomorrow I am giving a lecture in the morning called "Vatican II and Trent Compared" - you can add "not contrasted" in brackets. Then in the evening there is the public lecture in  which I am looking at Lumen Gentium and the theology of the Church. This evening I will get to see some more of Melbourne since I will be walking from Corpus Christi College to the Savage Cl...
Read more

ACCC Conference starts today

Image
After a most pleasant and restful few days at Mentone, today my Australia trip moves into a higher gear with the start of the annual conference of the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy . We are meeting in the centre of Melbourne at Corpus Christi College , the regional seminary for Victoria and Tasmania. As I said to my hosts last night, it is pleasant to be in a place where people are proud to call themselves Victorians. The Conference Brochure  has the full programme. There are about 60 priests attending, and several Bishops. I am looking forward to the Conference Dinner tomorrow evening at the Savage Club . Bishop Meeking will be giving an address at the dinner, on his experiences in Rome during the second Vatican Council. On the other hand, I am getting a little nervous about delivering my own lectures, and fiddling around with last-minute edits. Do send up a prayer to the Holy Spirit.
Read more

Emus, Kangaroos, Wallabys and Dingos ...

Image
... as well as tasmanian devils, koala bears, an eastern bearded bragon, and lots of platypus (I will not go for the possible platypuses, the erroneous platypi or the pedantic platypodes (cf. the same argument over the plural of octopus.) I got to see all of these animals today, thanks to my kind hosts who took me to the Healsville Wildlife Sanctuary , about 40 miles north-east of Melbourne. They understood that a visit to Australia would not be complete without seeing a kangaroo. Unfortunately I didn't get to see a wombat: they were hiding. So here is a photo of a kangaroo: I nearly got to eat kangaroo yesterday evening but unfortunately kangaroo was off and had been replaced by venison. One of the kind priests who took me out advised that wallaby is actually nicer. Here's a kangaroo doing its stuff: A tasmanian devil doing its stuff: A koala bear and another one As you can see from the above, although Koalas look cute, they have claws that ca...
Read more

Enjoying Australian hospitality

Image
St Patrick's Church in Mentone is a fine example of the period of 1950s Church building (the Foundation Stone was laid in 1957). I am the guest of Fr John Walshe who is the parish priest and a great host. Here is the inside of the Church: This morning I celebrated the parish's regular usus antiquior Mass at the High Altar which can be used for Mass ad orientem as well as versus populum . Mentone is a Bayside suburb of Melbourne with its own station (above) and a small area of shops including several coffee shops for which Melbourne is renowned. I am staying here for a few days before the Colloquium of the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy which starts on Monday. Archbishop Hart is visiting this evening. I have just assisted at the parish evening Mass which he celebrated, showing great warmth to the people and their parish priest, and preaching a fine sermon on sin and forgiveness, actually mentioning mortal sin and the importance of sacramental conf...
Read more

Adoring God and warding off evil

Image
Encouraging people to true discipleship of Christ is a challenge for every parish priest. Many people come to Mass on Sunday and no more. It is a struggle persuading people to come to extra devotions, weekday Mass, prayer groups or even parish social events. We are all familiar with the hardy and faithful parishioners who support everything, and the majority who somehow do not find the time. I don't berate people for this - after all the ones who actually come to Mass are the good guys, there are plenty who should be there and are not. However we do want to try to introduce people to a deeper life of faith. In some circles this might be referred to as a personal relationship with Jesus, in others true devotion or some other more traditional term. The language does not matter so much: we want people to make the step from formal attendance at Sunday Mass to a living faith which transforms their lives. For the past few years, we have had the Forty Hours devotion at Blackfen and...
Read more

When it is not fashionable to mention someone's religious motivation

Image
The suffragettes are in the news at the moment because of the centenary of Emily Wilding Davison's death when she stepped in front of the King's horse at the Derby. There is room for discussion about the tactics of the suffragettes but it is not my purpose to enter into this discussion here. What interested me was an article at Lapidomedia, : Faith and feminism: Channel 4 accused of blind spot . The point is that the Christian faith was a strong motivating factor for social reformers of the 19th and early 20th century, definitely including Emily Davison and many of the suffragettes. Yet this is rarely examined or even noted in popular documentaries in the media. When Davison threw stones at a car carrying Lloyd George to a meeting at Newcastle, she wrapped them in paper carrying the message "Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God." She was an advocate of violent action and, again, we might want to discuss the morality of this. However, she believed strongly...
Read more

Bishop Egan inspires gathering of priests

Image
St Patrick's, Soho is always a joy to visit both because of the warm welcome always extended by Fr Alexander Sherbrooke, the parish priest, and because of the opportunity to marvel again at the beauty of the Church after his ambitious and successful restoration. ( More photos here ) Today I was there with the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy  to hear Bishop Philip Egan speak on The Priest in a Secular Culture . He gave a thoughtful analysis of secularism and some sound practical advice for priests. I was going to attempt an outline of some of the points that he made, but Fr James Bradley of the Ordinariate has saved me the effort by quickly posting posted a good summary and reflection on the talk at his own blog Priest in a Secular Culture  which I recommend to you. As well as the high quality content that is on offer, these are also great occasions to catch up with priest friends over lunch and, to spend some together before the Blessed Sacrament. I do encourage priests...
Read more

Transformation at Southwark Vocations Centre a symbol of a new culture of vocation

Image
Fr Stephen Langridge runs the Archdiocese of Southwark Vocations Centre at Whitstable. Today he posted Before and After Photographs: the Garden . Before: After: Read the post by Fr Langridge for more information. Students who are preparing to apply to the Archdiocese are able to stay at the Centre and, along with occasional help from seminarians already in training, have been doing a lot of the basic spade work to bring the Centre up to scratch. The garden is one thing - it certainly makes for a lovely area for visitors to relax in during the summer. However, if you look through the Southwark Vocations blog you can see that there has also been a lot of work going on in the house itself with guest rooms being painted and re-fitted, and the communal areas being set up for purpose so that the Centre can host events for students and for clergy. I'm arranging for my own deanery clergy to pay a visit and to hear from Fr Langridge on how to promote vocations. One of my ow...
Read more

Change at NLM

Image
As he announced a couple of weeks ago , Shawn Tribe yesterday stepped down as Editor of the New Liturgical Movement blog. Shawn has been one of the true gentlemen of the Catholic blogosphere, unfailingly courteous, exercising true moderation and temperance in his writing, and providing us all with a "blog of record" for liturgical matters, aided, of course, by the magnificent team that he has gathered. It is sad to see him go, and I wish him every blessing in the "other projects and pursuits" that he now intends to engage in. The baton has been handed on to Jeffrey Tucker as Editor and Publisher, and Gregory DiPippo as Managing Editor. Long-time readers of NLM will know that these are safe hands and that we can look forward to more excellent content in the years to come. Ad multos annos!
Read more

Fr Marcus Holden on 4Thought.tv

Image
Fr Marcus Holden, parish priest of Ramsgate, who has greatly raised the profile of St Augustine's Church in Ramsgate, appeared a while back on Channel 4's "open-mic" programme 4Thought.tv arguing in favour of priestly celibacy. He made some excellent points in the short time allotted. This clip seems to have re-surfaced recently, perhaps because of an increased interest in the question of priestly celibacy. Do go over and click "like" and/or join in the comments.
Read more

Popular posts from this blog

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

Image
A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

Downloadable booklets for Vespers

Image
Gregorian Chant Hymns is a most helpful website that I mentioned in a post just over a year ago. As I said then, the site "[...] promotes the learning of Gregorian Chant by making sheet music, recordings, translations, and instructions. There is a short guide to Gregorian Notation (those square notes) and to Latin pronunciation. Everything is available free of charge, in line with other great traditional music websites." Work has continued at the site and there is now a section which makes available pdf (or .docx format) booklets for Vespers for every Sunday of the Year and a few major feasts. There is the basic booklet for ordinary Sunday Vespers which is supplemented by separate files for the Sundays after Pentecost which contain the Magnificat and Collect. Then there are booklets, for example for Advent and Lent, where the office is different from the regular Sunday Vespers with its antiphons. All of the booklets have texts and notation for Benediction and the Maria...
Read more

Our Easter Faith: Not a Pious Crème Fraiche

Image
In public life, some basically well-meaning figures have the graciousness to wish us well at Easter and to recognise the importance of the Christian feast day. Perhaps they might assure us that their thoughts are with us at this time. That is kind of them and in Christian charity we should thank them for their kindness, but Easter should be a great deal more than that for us. We must believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the grave, in the flesh, and lives for eternity. We cannot treat Easter as a jolly holiday that heralds spring, or the remembrance of a significant event from the past. It must change us today and every day, change who we are and what we do. The Christian faith cannot be a mild custard or blancmange of religiosity. (I am showing my age. Nowadays, I should say that it cannot be reduced to a pious crème fraiche .) We bow down and adore the King of Kings, risen from the tomb, who, “[…] continues for ever,...
Read more