The Hermeneutic of Continuity

Following my post Lay apostolate in the tradition of the CTS , a correspondent sent me a link to this page from Australia: Catholic Truth Society Pamphlets. From various countries. There are so far 270 clean pdfs of old pamphlets from Australia, England, and Ireland. It is quite a treasure trove. The illustration for this post is from Lux Occulta . If you go there you can click on the picture and read the whole pamphlet in a pdf. I think that it might be of interest to those who write on " The Art of Manliness ". The back cover is interesting too because it shows the CTS bookshop before the Piazza was cleared.

Thanks to Fr Stephen Boyle for this video of John Pridmore at the Church of the Good Shepherd, New Addington at a mission earlier this year, taken by one of his parishioners. John spoke in my parish a year and a half ago:

It was sad to hear that Family Publication had to cease trading. A resourceful priest bought up the copyright to several of their titles so as to facilitate republication. One important title is Dora Nash's "Jesus Comes to Me" which I mentioned when it was first published. Since many parishes use the book for their First Holy Communion course, it has been a cause of anxiety for some priests and catechists that it might now be out of print. I am therefore happy to report that St Pauls are now publishing the book and it is available from them at £6.95.

Many thanks to Andrew Cusack for this opportunity to see and hear a great speaker.

On Thursday 15 July at 8.15pm, Fr Michael Lang will be speaking to the London Oratory's "Call to Youth" meeting. His talk is titled "Introduction to the new English translation of the Missal". Fr Michael Lang is a priest of the London Oratory who is working in the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome. He will explain the reasons behind the changes in translation that are due to be made in the Missal. This is a great opportunity for young adults to meet Fr Lang and to hear him speak. It is a fairly safe bet that there will be no icebreaker games, you will not be "broken up" into small groups, and you will leave knowing more than you did when you arrived. The talk is at 8.15pm in St.Wilfrid's Hall. there will be drinks & sandwiches afterwards as usual. The group is for people aged 18-35. (A note from me: please don't gatecrash if you are outside this age range. These meetings are generally quite full and they are intended for youn...

Many Parish Priests or "Pastors" as they are called in the USA, write a short article each week for their parish newsletter. I do this myself, having got the idea from seeing newsletters from parishes in the US. In England we generally don't have as much space since we can't usually run to the 4 or 8 page folded large formats that they have in US parishes. Nevertheless, I think it is worthwhile for the parish priest to use the newsletter as an opportunity for catechesis. Now and again, there is an outstanding "From the Pastor" piece, and today I received one such. It is from Fr George Rutler at the Church of Our Saviour in Park Avenue New York City: FROM THE PASTOR June 27, 2010 by Fr. George W. Rutler Insecurity is characteristic of adolescence. Those formative years are a time of figuring out how the self relates to others, moving from self-absorption to self-awareness. There are those who live a lifelong adolescence, whose narcissism, like an orchi...

The Catholic Truth Society recently launched its latest batch of pamphlets; as ever, an excellent collection. I hope to write some more about some of the publications but I would like to single out first of all the new booklet by Fr Marcus Holden and Fr Andrew Pinsent, authors of Evangelium . Their new booklet is called Apologia: Catholic answers to today's Questions .Traditionally, apologetics focussed largely on the refutation of protestant errors. This is still needed but a more urgent task facing us now is to give a positive answer to the various challenges posed by secularists and atheists. Apologia addresses such questions concisely and effectively, following the structure of Catholic catechesis under the headings of Creed, Sacraments, Morals and Prayer - without neglecting those points raised by protestants or unformed Catholics such as "Why do I need to confess my sins to a priest?" or "Why can't we have women priests or married priests?" The v...

The Thomas More Institute exists to promote a more informed ethical engagement in public and professional life. Last evening, James MacMillan addressed the institute on the subject of "The Musical Search for the Sacred in Modernity". Here is the summary from the STI website: When John Paul II wrote his Letter To Artists in 1999 he said: ‘Even beyond its typically religious expressions, true art has a close affinity with the world of faith, so that, even in situations where culture and the Church are far apart, art remains a kind of bridge to religious experience’. Art music in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has seen an astonishing resistance to the anti-religious consensus found elsewhere in the modern art world. The search for the sacred still seems to be central to the work of composers, even in unexpected ways. On the way home, I had the satisfied feeling that this had been an evening very well spent. To my lasting dissatisfaction, I have never continued the ...

The Faith Theological Symposium at Ampleforth got underway last evening with a talk from Fr Stephen Dingley on the incarnation and the Church, followed after supper by Fr Chris Findlay-Wilson's talk on Teresa Higginson and devotion to the Sacred Head of Jesus. Teresa was an English mystic whose cause was introduced at Rome. It came to a halt because of a " non expedit " from the Holy Office, related to the devotion to the Sacred Head. Given the fact that the Divine Mercy devotion has been rehabilitated, it would be possible to get the cause going again if there is enough interest. To find out more about her, see the Teresa Higginson website. Devotion to the Sacred Head is a complement to the Sacred Heart devotion. Just as jansenism was countered by devotion to the human and divine love of Christ, so the intellectual assault of modernism is countered by devotion to the human and divine wisdom of Christ. Not much time to blog, obviously, though the IT Dept at Amplefor...

Sr Valery Walker is organising another Study Weekend for young adults from Friday evening 12 March to midday on Sunday 14 March. This will be a reflective study on the subject of Calvary and the Mass, with special reference to the work of St Thomas Aquinas. Talks will be given by Fr Thomas Crean OP and discussion with Sr Valery Walker OP. The weekend will be held at St Dominic's Convent, Station Road, Stone, Stafforshire, ST15 8EN. The suggested donation is £25. To book a place, email Sr Valery Walker . (There will be a similar weekend after Easter, April 16th-18th. Priest and topic to be arranged.)

Photo by Chris Light Jeffrey Tucker, Sacred Music correspondent for the New Liturgical Movement, is understandably thrilled to see that the Archabbey of St Meinrad in Indiana is making its music available in pdf form free of charge on the internet with an explicit Creative Commons licence. If you wish to buy a printed copy of one of the books, you can do so. St Meinrad have chosen to publish their books via Lulu . There you can see that some works are still only available as e-books (with a small charge) but the monks are committed to making them all available for free download in due course as and when they are able to prepare them. The music that St Meinrad is offering is properly liturgical music - Gregorian chant - adapted for the English texts. I know that some musicians would argue that Gregorian chant is not suited for the English language and that other styles of sacred music might be better - or some other way of adapting Gregorian chant, or something. I'm not qualified...

Dominic Sullivan sends the following notice : Holy Mass will offered by Fr Nicholas Schofield for the repose of the souls of David and Dora Foster at 1245 on Tuesday 29th December in the Little Oratory. David Foster was the founder of the International Summer School for Young Catholics (now renamed Christ the King Summer School). The 29th December is the first anniversary of his death. The Mass of the feast of St Thomas à Becket will be said in the Extraordinary Form.

John Pridmore is visiting England again in the New Year. He will be speaking at Westminster Cathedral Hall on 6 January at 7.30pm. John spoke at my parish last January: his witness to the Catholic faith was compelling (see Stirring stories for a packed Church ). People of all ages will find his presentation of great interest but I do recommend it especially for boys and young men. If you manage to cajole one such to go along with you, I promise you that he will not be quite so lippy on the way home. Below are Amazon links to his two books. "From Gangland to Promised Land" would be suitable for any would-be hardnut who thinks that religion is rubbish. "The Gangster's Guide to God" is for more suitable for people who have already discovered the faith. I'll be in Rome on 6 January so if anyone is going to John's talk, I'd be grateful for a couple of photos and a brief report - let me know if you want me to publish your name or refer to you as "a ...

I'm happy to pass on news of next year's Training Conference, run by the Latin Mass Society , for priests wishing to learn how to celebrate Mass according to the usus antiquior . As well as the tuition, these conferences offer a good opportunity for priests to meet together and offer support to one another. LMS Residential Training Conference for Priests Wishing to Learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Ushaw College, Durham. The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales (LMS) is organising a residential training conference for priests wishing to learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Ushaw College, Durham, one of England’s most prestigious seminaries. The conference will run from Monday 12 April to Friday 16 April 2010 (i.e. Low Week) and will feature Traditional liturgies in Ushaw’s magnificent neo-Gothic St Cuthbert’s Chapel together with a Gregorian Chant schola and polyphonic choir. Expert tuition in the...

Nearly two years ago, I blogged about a Visit to Chis 'n Sid , the popular nickname for our local non-denominational school, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar. For non-UK readers, I should explain that a "grammar school" in the UK is a school where pupils are selected by academic ability. Today, I was at the school again, at the invitation of one of the senior pupils who is a parishioner at Blackfen. The subject was the same: "Science and Religion", and I received a warm welcome at the voluntary lunchtime "Christian Union" meeting. The turnout was very impressive - and included at least half a dozen members of staff, mostly from the science department. The school includes pupils of all religions and none, so I had no idea what the makeup of the audience would be. My young parishioner made the wise decision of advertising the talk without specifying that it was organised by the Christian Union, so that people did not have to wonder whether they had to be C...

Dowry is the quarterly publication of the FSSP in England . The Autumn edition is just out and has articles on various matters of interest. You can download a pdf or read the periodical online .

A correspondent sent me a link to a pastoral letter of the Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless, Bishop of Sioux City: Ecclesia Semper Reformanda . It is excellent. The letter is over 8,800 words (excluding the 46 footnotes), so all I can do here is give an outline and a few quotations that almost jumped onto the clipboard. I see that Fr Z has already picked this up and is also very enthusiastic about it. The letter begins with a lucid explanation of the "hermeneutic of continuity" as applied to the Second Vatican Council, including the following passage: My brothers and sisters, let me say this clearly: The “hermeneutic of discontinuity” is a false interpretation and implementation of the Council and the Catholic Faith. It emphasizes the “engagement with the world” to the exclusion of the deposit of faith. This has wreaked havoc on the Church, systematically dismantling the Catholic Faith to please the world, watering down what is distinctively Catholic, and ironically becoming...

I was just delighted to see this YouTube video clip of Reggie Foster in classic form, filmed by his nephew, greeting his students. It is so heartening to see him in such good humour. Looking at the whole video, I am struck by Fr Foster's transparently genuine and charity and concern for his students. He just wants to be back in Rome helping them to know and love the Latin language.

Earlier this month I wrote about the Evangelium Conference which I attended for the Saturday afternoon. Here is the News Release from the organisers: Second Evangelium Conference – ‘Inspirational’ The Second Evangelium Summer Conference has been an astounding success, filled to capacity with young people who described it as ‘a wonderful blend of the head and heart’, ‘inspirational’ and giving them ‘great hope for the future’. The recent attacks of the ‘new atheists’, and others hostile to Catholic faith and morals, has made it more important than ever to equip young people, intellectually and spiritually, to proclaim and defend the Gospel in the modern world. Over the weekend 7th-9th August, the Evangelium Conference brought world-class, seasoned campaigners, philosophers and theologians together to share their experience with over 150 young people at the beautiful Reading Oratory School in Berkshire. Expert insights were given on a vast range of issues, including answering the milita...

The Catholic Certificate in Religious Education (CCRS) is a qualification especially for teachers who wish to teach RE in a Catholic School but is also valued for other purposes, for example other RE or catechetical posts in dioceses. The Diocese of Lancaster now offers the CCRS online . The course is based on the scriptures and the Catechism of the Catholic Church and has been written and prepared by people within the Lancaster Diocese. From the homepage, you can have a look round some sample material. This impressive venture into online education was the brainchild of Bishop O'Donoghue to help encourage good standards of RE in schools and it continues as part of the Education Service of the Diocese of Lancaster which is headed by Canon Luiz Ruscillo.