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Showing posts from January, 2015

The Synod On The Family - A Mother's Perspective

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The January-February 2015 issue of Faith Magazine has been published. You can read the full articles online at the website or via issuu , or download a pdf of the Magazine. The editorial is on St Joseph, Model of Heroic Fatherhood , Joseph Estorninho has an article about Gregorian Chant in the GIRM , my regular column on the Liturgy tackles the question of The Scylla and Charybdis of Participation and there are many other items of interest including the question of science and religion which is at the heart of the Faith Movement's apostolate. I particularly recommend The Synod On The Family - A Mother's Perspective by Jacqueline Stewart. It is good to see her confidently billed as "a stay-at-home mum to five children whose ages range from 5 to 16." The article is an intelligent, direct, and critical appraisal of the Synod on the Family from the point of view of a mother trying to bring her children up in the Cathoilic faith. Se asks: What message was the C...
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British Government to crack down on meetings of intellectuals?

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Christian Concern alerts us to a worrying development in the push to enforce the teaching of "British Values" in the wake of the "Trojan Horse" scandal of Muslim infiltration of state schools. An Open Consultation has been published on draft guidance to be issued under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, for "specified authorities to have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism." This is itself a dangerous Trojan Horse. Christian concern particularly highlights the effect that this guidance would have on Christian Unions in universities and Colleges (See:  Protect gospel freedom in universities and colleges ) We share the concern of our non-Catholic brothers and sisters in this matter because the guidance would also effect Catholic Societies at Universities and Colleges. Essentially, such societies would need to provide, at least two weeks in advance, details of speakers and events that they are organising, includin...
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Confraternity of Catholic Clergy statement on marriage

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The British Province of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy has published a statement on Marriage in the teaching of the Catholic Church . Parish priests may wish to download the pdf version for distribution. This statement is a good summary of Catholic doctrine concerning marriage. Ordinarily, it might be considered simply a workmanlike pastoral document for sharing, to avoid different priests having to compose their own text. In the present circumstances, it has the character of a courageous statement of what we have always believed and continue to believe, despite the efforts of some to undermine Catholic teaching or compromise with the values of the world.
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A patron saint for rejecting the occult

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Sadly it is common in England today, to see advertisements for psychic fairs, shops selling occult paraphernalia, and booksellers displaying books of spells for young people. I recently called into a shop I thought might be interesting but walked out again smartly when I saw that there was a tarot card reading session taking place. Christians were blamed by superstitious Romans for natural misfortunes. Tertullian pokes fun at this. I quote him first in Latin, because lovers of his barrister's tour de force style will enjoy it. Si Tiberis ascendit in moenia, si Nilus non ascendit in arva, si caelum stetit, si terra movit, si fames, si lues, statim Christianos ad leonem! adclamatur. Tantos ad unum? ( Liber Apologeticus 40.1) The translation gets the meaning, but not the accelerating punch of the original: If the Tiber rises too high for the walls, or the Nile too low for the fields, if the heavens do not open, or the earth does, if there is famine, if there is plague, ins...
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Pegwell Bay, Vespers and the new Schola Augustini

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The number of fast trains from St Pancras to Margate was doubled shortly after Christmas to two each hour, each taking only an hour and a half. This will help to increase the number of visitors as well as those who realise that it is possible to commute to London and work on the train. Quite a few priests find their way down here on days off, and the attraction of the Shrine of St Augustine at Ramsgate brings many lay Catholics. Of course the senior Catholic parish here at Margate needs to be better known as well ;-) Last weekend was one of those on which many things and people came together. The new Schola Sancti Augustini , directed by Tom Neal is formed of local volunteers who wish to learn and sing Gregorian Chant. They plan to sing Vespers once a month at the Shrine of St Augustine and yesterday was the first occasion. Above you can see Fr Holden, the Rector of the Shrine, incensing the altar during the Magnificat . The Church, if you don't already know, was AW Pugin...
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The wonderful sacrament of anointing the sick

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Hospital chaplaincy was a part of the first five years of my priestly ministry 30 years ago. I must admit honestly that I was not looking forward to being on hospital call-out again after such a long time. A good priest friend (younger than me) brought me up sharply by saying simply "Well you get people into heaven." I should have re-read the section of my own sacramental theology notes where I observe that the doctrine of Trent was forgotten because of Jansenist rigour. I rely heavily on the manual of Fr Felix Cappello De Sacramentis published in 1945. He develops an interesting line of thought on the end or purpose of the sacrament of extreme unction and refers to the Council of Trent’s introduction to the sacrament where it teaches that By the sacrament of extreme unction, he [ viz . our most merciful Redeemer] strengthens the end of life with a most firm defence. (Session 14 " Doctrina de sacramento extremae unctionis " c.1 - Denzinger 1694/907) Cappello ...
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St Gregory and the Angles

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The Catholic primary school in my parish is called St Gregory's. In the reception area there is the above fine picture of their patron saint (also one of the principal patrons of the parish.) Here is a close-up of the scroll which the saintly Pope is holding. The scroll reads: Angelicum habent faciem et tales angelorum in caelis decet esse consortes They have an angelic face and it is fitting for such to be co-heirs of the angels in heaven. The text is a quotation from St Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People , Book II, chapter I. This is often abbreviated into a simplified account in which St Gregory is supposed to have said "Not Angles but Angels." Here is the fulller version of the episode as related by St Bede: Nor must we pass by in silence the story of the blessed Gregory, handed down to us by the tradition of our ancestors, which explains his earnest care for the salvation of our nation. It is said that one day, when some merchants ...
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Epiphany Mass at St Augustine's, Ramsgate

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This Tuesday at 6.30pm at the Shrine of St Augustine in Ramsgate , the Victoria Consort will be singing Palestrina's Missa O Rex Gloriae at an old rite Missa Cantata at which I have the good fortune to be the celebrant. I have not heard this Mass setting before (Palestrina did write 105) so I just listened to the Kyrie via YouTube. Having heard the Victoria Consort a couple of times now, I am very much looking forward to their rendition for the greater glory of God.
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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 .
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Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

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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...
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Saint Gabriel

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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...
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God bless America!

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I wish you all a very happy Fourth of July over there in the land of the free and the home of the brave. I thought I was a bit late but then realised that it is still early evening for you. I hope you had an enjoyable day. For the video this year, here is Kate Smith IN 1938 introducing the new composition "God Bless America."
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Saint Ignatius on heresy, and the capsizing boat

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On the feast of St Ignatius, I offer my prayers and good wishes to some great Jesuits. Just off the top of my head, I think of Fr Joseph Fessio SJ the founder of Ignatius Press which has not only published the English translations of various works of Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict, but has also given a break for good Catholic authors both of theology and of Catholic fiction. Then there is Fr Bob Spitzer SJ, with whom I studied in Rome many years ago, and Fr Paul Mankowski SJ who has written some superb articles over the years. Here in England, I recall Fr Anthony Meredith SJ, the great fatherly commentator on the Fathers of Cappadocia and in Rome, there is Fr Gilles Pelland SJ, the fierce French-Canadian patristics scholar was a bit harsh when I first arrived in the Holy City, but seemed to soften a bit when after 5 years he seeme satisfied that, though English, I was not a modernist. Many of my Jesuit priest friends and mentors have now reached “that night when no man can work”...
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