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An evening at Kingsland

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If you have read the Roman Miscellany or Cally's Kitchen , you will have seen that I was at Our Lady and St Joseph in Kingsland ( left ) last night, speaking on Richard Dawkins and the Existence of God. There is a page at my parish website on Dawkins, Evolution and Atheism if you are interested. The Mulier Fortis kindly gave me lift over to Kingsland which is "the other side of the river" (insert scary chords here.) We arrived in time for the fifth Station of the Way of the Cross led by Fr Nicholas Schofield. There were about 100 people there for the Stations; a commendable turnout for a Friday night. Here is Father at the eighth station: There were some good questions after the talk and, as so very often, I found myself revising some opinions in the light of them. The local headmaster picked up on my comment near the beginning of the talk that I had a great respect for Dawkins. This was in reference to Dawkins' undoubted ability to explain scientific concepts in a...
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Faith Symposium - evolution and intelligent design

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The lecture on Wednesday evening was given by Edmund Nash, a PhD student at the Molecular Evolution laboratory at the Department of Biochemistry in Cambridge University. Edmund is a recently married Catholic and a very active pro-lifer. The first part of his lecture was a critical evaluation of Intelligent Design theory. For those not familiar with this debate, I should make it clear that he was referring particularly to the work of Michael Behe; Edmund, along with all of us, believes that the universe was intelligently designed. He took issue with the idea that certain organelles (for example the bacterial flagellum) are examples of "irreducible complexity" - that is to say that they cannot be produced by gradual evolution because the precursor would be non-functional. He outlined how in fact the individual parts of the flagellum do in fact have other functions. He also examined the old saw "evolution is a theory, not a fact." The second part of the lecture took us...
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Popular posts from this blog

Is your alb back to front?

Fr Z has initiated a roaring discussion by asking the simple question whether maniples can be used in the Novus Ordo Mass. ( What Does The Prayer Really Say?: Maniples ) One commenter has referred to an important source for the question that has proved popular among modern liturgists. An answer in Notitiae of 1978 said: "When the rubrics of the Missal of Paul VI say nothing or say little on particulars in some places, it is not to be inferred that the former rite should be observed. Therefore, the multiple and complex gestures for incensation as prescribed in the former Missal are not to be resumed." This is, of course, a strange answer. Saying that it must not be inferred that a rite should be used does not imply that it must not be used. We need to check the Latin of this text. (If anyone with access to a library can check it, I have seen the reference given elsewhere as Notitiae 14 (1978) 301-302, no. 2) Let us in any case take the more restrictive interpretation, bel...
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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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The blessing of a chariot

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When I studied Latin in Rome with Fr Reginald Foster, he used to suggest that a good word for a car was autorhaeda , a word in fact used in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis of 1965 when speaking of a visit made by Pope Paul VI to the Basilica of St Chrysogonus in Trastevere. The word raeda (without the "h") was used by Caesar, Cicero and Horace for a travelling wagon with four wheels and the addition of "auto" does not make for too awful a neologism. In the Rituale Romanum , the blessing for a motor vehicle is the Benedictio vehiculi seu currus . The word currus is normally translated as chariot and reflects the way that people often view their car. Since one's motor vehicle is more likely to be the locus of one's death or injury than many other artefacts, it does make sense to have it blessed. Above you can see us striding purposefully past the Georgian houses of Victoria Road and here is the blessing of the classic mini: The blessing given in the ...
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Downloadable booklets for Vespers

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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...
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Litany of Syrian Saints

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In response to my post yesterday about Praying to St Ephrem and the Syrian Saints a reader sent me this Litany of Syrian Saints which he composed himself last night. Let us pray for peace in Syria and in the Middle East. Litany of Syrian Saints For private use only Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison, Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison. Christe audi nos, Christe audi nos. Christe exaudi nos. Christe exaudi nos. God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, God the Holy Ghost, Holy Trinity, one God, Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of Virgins, St Michael, St Gabriel, St Raphael, All ye Holy Angels and Archangels, St John the Baptist, St Joseph, All ye Holy Patriarchs and Prophets, pray for us. Blessed Peter the Apostle, and first Patriarch of Antioch, Blessed Paul the Apostle, born in Tarsus, Blessed Paul the Apostle, blinded and converted on the way to Damascus, Blessed Pau...
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