The Hermeneutic of Continuity

I just received notice of an event which is being organised by the Latin Mass Society of Ireland . They are holding a Seminar for Priests who wish to learn to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite or who would like to do a revision course in the basics of liturgical Latin and formation in the rubrics. The seminary will be conducted by Fr Simon Leworthy FSSP at the Ards Capuchin Friary, Cresslough, Co Donegal. The friary is located in superb surroundings on the Atlantic coast. Wednesday 20th October to Friday 22nd October 2010 Cost 110 euro including full board It is still possible to book. Contact Pronsias 074 97 37 307

The All-Ireland Rally for Life which was held a week ago in Belfast, was a great success with large crowds, a youthful upbeat feel, and powerful speeches in defence of human life. Organised by a coalition of pro-life groups including Precious Life , Youth Defence and the Life Institute, the rally attracted about 4000 people. Speaker Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute told the rally that the most immediate threat to life in Ireland was the proposal to allow experimentation on human embryos which is being proposed by Health Minister Mary Harney. Other speakers at the rally were Fr Sylvester Mann from Priests for Life Ireland and the Reverend George Hargreaves of the UK Christian Party. The Rally also received support from several Bishops. Bishop Boyce of Raphoe said, "Life is our most precious gift. The ‘All-Ireland Rally for Life’ is a celebration of life. To attend or take part in it in any way is a worthwhile endeavour to pursue as Catholics. We stand up for God's ...

Anna-Marie Treloar, one of my young parishioner ( left in the photo ) went to the Invocation 2010 weekend. At my request, she kindly wrote this report: Invocation 2010 The event, probably best described as a youth festival celebrating and promoting religious vocations, was billed by the organizers as ‘the first of its kind in England and Wales’. The weekend was structured around basic liturgy of Divine Office and Daily Mass, with talks from keynote speakers and a selection of workshops. For me, the talks were the highlight of the event. The first speaker, Abbot Christopher Jamison, spoke about the theology behind the idea of vocation, setting the tone for the weekend. The second talk by Dr Andrew O’Connell was a brilliantly delivered, energetic and encouraging look at the need for vocations today, and how fulfillment can never ultimately be found in a digital age of instant gratification, but only in Christ. The last speaker I heard was Sr Gabriel Davison, who gave a very personal...

This coming Wednesday (30 June) there will be a conference/debate on assisted suicide at the Royal Society of Medicine. See: The ethics of assisted suicide for details. The following day, Thursday 1 July, the British Medical Association will be discussing ethics at their AGM. The pro-euthanasia lobby are trying to stack the Wednesday debate and generate publicity on Thursday morning ahead of the BMA discussion. It would help if some well-informed pro-lifers were at the RSM on Wednesday to ensure that there is some balance in the discussion. You have to register at the website and the cost is £10. (Medical professionals can get 5 CPD credits for attending.)

The Latin Mass Society sends news of its forthcoming Training Conference for priests. The Society of St Tarcisius is running a training course for servers to run concurrently. Here is the information from the LMS: LMS Residential Training Conference for Priests Wishing to Learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Downside Abbey, Somerset. 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 Downside Abbey, one of England’s most prestigious monasteries. The conference will run from Tuesday 10 to Friday 13 August 2010 and will feature Traditional liturgies in Downside’s beautiful chapel together with a Gregorian Chant schola and polyphonic choir. Expert tuition in the celebration of Mass in the Usus Antiquior will be provided on a small group basis. There will be tuition in Low Mass, Missa Cantata and Mis...

Michael Cowie writes to me of an event to be held by Aid to the Church in Need at the Birmingham Oratory on Sunday week. Here are the details: The Light of the World Sunday, 27th June at 2:00pm, followed by Mass at 5:30pm The Oratory, Hagley Road, Birmingham B16 8UE An opportunity to hear first-hand accounts of the challenges facing Christians around the world – and how you are helping. Talks begin at 2:00pm, followed by Mass at 5:30pm. We are delighted to welcome Father Samir Khalil Samir SJ as our guest of honour, speaking on Christianity and Islam in the Middle East. Father Samir is an Islamic scholar, Semitologist, orientalist and Catholic theologian based in Lebanon. Xavier Legorreta, Aid to the Church in Need’s Latin America Projects Head, will report on how your generous support has helped victims of the earthquake which struck Haiti in January. Fresh from project trips, UK Director Neville Kyrke-Smith will speak about the Faith in Ukraine, while Head of Press and In...

I am happy to pass on details of a Gregorian Chant workshop to be held next month at Portsmouth Cathedral: GREGORIAN CHANT WORKSHOP and Vespers & Benediction SATURDAY 12 JUNE 2010 10.00 – 16.00 St John’s Catholic Cathedral Portsmouth Jointly led by the Abbot of Farnborough Abbey and a Director of the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge 09.30 Registration 16.00 Vespers and Benediction Music materials provided Tea/Coffee available Fee - £15 All Welcome – Beginners & Experienced Contact: chantnetwork@gmail.com or Tel: 023 92862384

I am happy to pass on information about a forthcoming Family Values Conference to be held in London: Family Values Conference Baden-Powell House, Cromwell Road. 2nd – 3rd June Our Bishops pointed out in their pre-election document “Choosing the Common Good” that a healthy democracy depends upon much more than the politics at the top. It also rests upon sound values and strong family life reviving society. The Family Values conference is being held as part of National Family Week under the aegis of The World Congress of Families. Those who have already been to one of these big family events will know how impressive it is to hear speakers from different faiths, different disciplines and different countries talking with a united voice on the importance of family. This event is actually being organised by a game woman from the Church of Latter Day Saints who was so taken by the WCF event in Amsterdam last summer that she determined to hold a London event as part of National Family Week...

The Annual High Mass and One-day Conference of CIEL UK will be on Saturday 29 May at the London Oratory. There will be solemn High Mass at 11am. (The photo above is from last year's Mass, taken by Brother Edward of the London Oratory.) In a departure from previous annual Masses, the Mass setting will be Gregorian chant rather than polyphony. It is also hoped to include a motet composed by James MacMillan. The choir will be directed by Patrick Patrick Russill, the highly distinguished Director of Music at the London Oratory. The Conference will then take place at 2.30pm in St Wilfrid’s Hall at the Oratory, chaired by Lord Gill. (Entry £5.) The speakers are Dr James MacMillan CBE, and the Very Rev Richard Duffield. I wrote recently about an excellent address given by James MacMillan to the Thomas More Institute. His lecture at the CIEL Conference is sure to be of great interest as he is speaking about Liturgical Music pre- and post-Vatican II. Fr Duffield, Provost of the Bir...

The Linacre Centre sends news of its forthcoming conference in Maynooth. The line-up of speakers is very impressive but I hope the others won't mind if I single out the presence of Fr Paul Mankowski SJ. It is a rare opportunity to hear this learned, powerful, and witty speaker on this side of the Atlantic. Here is the press release: Sexual and reproductive issues are very much in the news, and high on the political agenda. The Linacre Centre in Oxford ( www.linacre.org ) is bringing a diverse panel of expert speakers to Maynooth this summer from 16-18 June for a conference on Fertility, Infertility and Gender. The interdisciplinary conference will explore a range of topics including marriage and celibacy, homosexuality, contraception and STD prevention, IVF and alternative forms of assisted conception. The conference will be opened by the Australian bishop/bioethicist Bishop Anthony Fisher OP; other international speakers include Fr Paul Mankowski SJ, Elizabeth Marquardt, Pro...

There will be a chant Workshop at St Alphonsus' Church in Middlesbrough on Saturday 8 May from 9.30am to 5pm. I mentioned St Alphonsus before in connection with their outstanding liturgical programme for Christmas . Here is some information from the organisers about the day: In this full-day workshop we will learn and sing some of the most beautiful chants in the repertory of Gregorian Chant, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and based around the context of a Sung Mass. We will immerse ourselves in the sound, technique and language of this ancient musical style, working toward an authentic and beautiful performance at the end of the day. We will also discover the links between Chant and Polyphony. The music we will study in the workshop will include: Mass IX (Cum Iubilo) The Propers of the BVM Marian Processionals Gregorian Hymnody Marian Polyphonic Motets All materials (an introduction to Gregorian Chant, scores, helpful resources and Tea and Coffee) are included ...

Roxanna Panufnik has composed a new setting based on the Missa de Angelis , with her own distinctive harmonisation. The work will be premiered by the Schola of the London Oratory School with Lee Ward as Director and David Terry playing the organ. The setting is accompanied by a brass octet which includes a piccolo trumpet doubled by the principal player. Here is an extract from the press information giving some details of the musical characteristics of the setting: As with many of Roxanna Panufnik’s works she brings the text to life vividly in her own harmonic voice. Abounding are echo effects, vocal and instrumental portamenti, uneven groupings of notes, juxtapositioning of major and minor triads and regularly shifting metre. All combine to give the piece an ethereal quality with translucent, shimmering effects at times (the piccolo trumpet in the final Kyrie, for example extends the full unison choral texture with heavy lower brass to create an unusual warmth and celestial feel, ec...

I'm very happy to pass on this information regarding an excellent annual event for young Catholics (this year's Summer School runs from 24 – 31 July 2010 at the Oratory School in Reading): The International Summer School for Young Catholics was started in 1982 by the late David Foster. His intention was to present all subjects in the light of right reason and the Faith. The course aims to teach as wide a range of subjects as possible in a week within a Catholic framework as well provide classes in religious doctrine and the spiritual life. The authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ over all human activities is the central principle of the summer school, as reflected in our new name. The Summer School is open to students aged 13 to 19 years old. For further information please see the website or email Dominic Sullivan .

This year's Family Life International Conference will take place at Westminster Cathedral Hall on Saturday 8 May. At the FLI website there is more information . The line-up of talks is: Why Catholics Don't Contracept : Steven W. Mosher (USA) Changing Hearts and Minds Through Education : Jo Tolck (USA) The Church and social action (Same sex attraction) : James Parker (UK) Sexuality and Equality: Catholicism; its Alternative Vision : Simon Dames (UK) The Demographic Impacts of Abortion : Brian Clowes (USA) The Dash to Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia : James Bogle (UK) The page linked above does not give times but there is also a brochure which gives the full programme. (9am-6.30pm)

Linacre Ethics Forum Presents a chance for junior healthcare professionals and students (medics, nurses, pharmacists and those interested inethics are welcome!) to explore and discuss Catholic healthcare ethics: Recovering a virtue ethics in bioethics Rev Nicanor Austriaco OP Tuesday 2nd March 2010 - 6.30pm for 7 The Forum is held at Vaughan House, SW1P 1QN (Just behind Westminster Cathedral) Rev Nicanor Austriaco OP is on a short visit to the UK and is a highly recommended speaker. See the Linacre website for information about the International Conference on Fertility, Infertility & Gender, to be held at Maynooth (near Dublin) from 16-18 June, and for details of the latest Linacre publication: Incapacity and Care , by Helen Watt

This week, the seminary has a half-term break so I am not required to lecture today. Instead, I am on my way up to North Yorkshire, to the Abbey of Ampleforth, for the Faith Movement's annual theological symposium. This year, the papers are focussed mainly on topics in ecclesiology and the theology of the Eucharist. An exception is the paper this evening in which Fr Chris Findlay-Wilson will speak about Theresa Higginson and Devotion to the Sacred Head. (The papers are usually published separately as articles in Faith Magazine.)

The Duke Humphrey Society announces that the annual Requiem Mass for Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, will be celebrated in Blackfriars Priory Church at Oxford, on Saturday 20 February 2010 at 2pm in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. All welcome. Duke Humphrey was the youngest son of King Henry IV, brother of Henry V and uncle to Henry VI. He was a patron of learning and of the arts, he enclosed Greenwich Park, and is remembered at Oxford where the Sir Thomas Bodley restored the library founded by Duke Humphrey in 1602, and added to it, creating the beginnings of the University's Bodleian Library.

The Catholic Union is holding a Drinks Reception at St Wilfrid’s Hall, the London Oratory 19 November 2009, from 7-9pm. The Reception will be preceded by Mass in the Little Oratory at 6:30pm in the extraordinary form. From the Catholic Union website: The Union exists in England and Wales and Scotland to advocate, express and uphold, by all proper and legitimate means, Catholic moral and spiritual principles and interests, and to promote Christian standpoint in public affairs, regardless of political parties and affiliations. The Catholic Union has taken on a new lease of life in recent years. For more information about the Union, see the website . The Catholic Union is actively recruiting new members to ensure that the Catholic voice continues to be heard at Westminster on issues such as euthanasia, abortion and adoption. The ticket price of £25 for the Drinks Reception includes one year’s free membership of the Catholic Union (usually £30). Applications for tickets, including the name...

The TriaLogos Festival has been held in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, each year since 1998. I will be attending the Festival from Wednesday to Friday this week. I have been asked to celebrate a sung Mass in the usus antiquior in the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, Tallinn ( picture below ). This will not be an unusual thing since the Cathedral has Mass in the usus antiquor twice a month. I'll also celebrate another usus antiquior Mass on the Thursday in the Chapel of the Conference Centre. On Thursday morning, I am giving a paper on the life and work of Fr Adrian Fortescue, and in the afternoon I'll be speaking at the launch of the Estonian translation of Cardinal Ratzinger's book "On Conscience" which is published by the Institute for the Culture of Life [ Elukultuuri Instituut ]. I have never been to Estonia before, so I am very much looking forward to the trip. It is surprisingly easy to get there: the budget airline EasyJet has a daily flight from S...

I received news of this event today and thought that some of you might like to go along. You can find out more information about the pictures at the Radiant Light website. Afternoon of reflection and worship An afternoon of reflection and worship, including talk by artist Elizabeth Wang and Holy Mass. Saturday 31 October 2009, 2pm - 4pm, Carmelite Church, 41 Kensington Church Street, Kensington, London, W8 4BB 'The Mystery of Faith' an exhibition of new and rarely seen pictures by Elizabeth Wang has been on display since the summer in Kensington. On Saturday 31 October, the last day of the exhibition, there will be an afternoon of reflection and worship in the Carmelite Church where the exhibition is taking place. This includes a talk by artist Elizabeth Wang at 2pm on the exhibition theme 'The Mystery of Faith', together with time for prayer and meditation; Holy Mass at 3pm, followed by refreshments in the parish hall. All are welcome, it will be nice to have a chance...