The Hermeneutic of Continuity

The above video is a report from Rome Reports on a new website set up to support priests. EncouragePriests.org is to be launched this Sunday, Fathers' Day. It is an initiative of Catholics Come Home . As a priest, I do find this a great encouragement and I am very grateful to the organisers of this site and to all its users for their prayers and kind wishes.

The CTS is organising a Spiritual Bouquet to be presented to the Holy Father when he visits Britain. H/T Bara Brith

Thanks to Shawn Tribe of NLM for posting a translation of the Lorica or breastplate of St Patrick. Like most people, I had only really known this through a couple of metrical translations of parts of it. The full version is what might be called genuine Celtic spirituality: I arise today, through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the threeness, through confession of the oneness, of the Creator of Creation. I arise today, through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism, through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial, through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension, through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom. I arise today, through the strength of the love of the Cherubim, in obedience of angels, in the service of archangels, in the hope of the resurrection to meet with reward, in the prayers of patriarchs, in prediction of prophets, in preaching of apostles, in faith of confessors, in innocence of...

The Good Counsel Network writes: Please Pray and Fast for the defeat of the Children, Schools and Families Bill The Good Counsel Network is urgently asking you to pray and fast on Monday 15th March for the defeat of the Children, Schools and Families Bill which is continuing it’s passage through Parliament. If it becomes law, the Bill will means that children of Primary School Age will be taught explicit and immoral sex education by teachers who may be utterly at variance from the parents in their moral views. Unfortunately, the much publicised amendment to the Bill will not protect children in faith schools from the many dangers of this bill. For more info tel: 020 7723 1740

A priest friend of mine today made an amusing point. He referred to the various groups campaigning for women priests, the abolition of celibacy, opposing Summorum Pontificum , delaying the accurate translation of the Mass and so on. He wondered why they were not holding novenas, rosaries, and all-night vigils of adoration for these intentions.

Many thanks to Fr Jerabek of Huntsville, Alabama for collecting together various resources for Lenten meditation. Lenten Reading Plans has four collections of readings for every day in Lent. The Church Fathers plan has substantial readings taken from the Fathers. For this, you would need to set aside a significant (though not unreasonable) amount of time. There is also a "Lite" version with shorter readings. The readings in the Lives of the Saints plan are taken from the Wednesday General Audience addresses of Pope Benedict. There is a plan for the Year of the Priest with readings from St John Vianney , and a plan with readings from Father Faber and Cardinal Newman . The collections are made available in pdf files, except the Saints plan which links to the texts on the Vatican website. What I particularly like about the whole project is that it is a very simple use of the internet for an apostolic purpose that could have a significant effect on the life of any ordina...

"Behold the Lamb of God" is a collection of extracts from the speeches and writings of Pope Benedict on the Eucharist, selected by Fr Gerard Skinner. Most of the extracts are about three or four pages long. Back in the day, most people had to wait several weeks for the text of papal speeches. Enthusiasts would subscribe to the weekly English edition of L'Osservatore Romano and be ahead of the game. Now, if you are keen, you can go to the Vatican News service at about 11am and keep hitting the refresh button. Keen bloggers and readers might think that a book of extracts is not necessary for them because they saw it all when it first came out, we might assume that such a collection is really only for people who do not have access to the internet. I'm not so sure. Many of us try to take in impossibly vast amounts of information and end up reading a lot but in a superficial way. Some of what we read would reward closer and more careful attention. "Behold the La...

I have had a lot of very positive feedback from people who came to the 40 Hours devotion in the parish. This has all confirmed my own enthusiasm for it and I am sure we will be able to do even better next year. The Mulier Fortis has posted more photos, some of which I have pasted in below. The young people who stayed all through the second night had breakfast together in the Hall in the morning. The adult helpers deserve a pat on the back for their generosity too, in supervising and making sure that everyone was safe. The next photo of the consecration at the Mass of Reposition is unusual in that Mass is celebrated coram sanctissimo . During this form of Mass, the priest does quite a bit more genuflecting than usual and does not at any time turn his back on the Blessed Sacrament. After Mass, I had the incongruous thought of the scene in "Gladiator" where the gladiators are told to face the emperor "AND DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON HIM". At the incensations, the prie...

Christian Peschken runs the Our Catholic Faith blog which he has recently started to present video clips about our faith. In the combox, he has referred me to another recently started blog by Fr Michael Najim who is vocations director in Providence, Rhode Island. Live Holiness is dedicated to offering meditative posts to help us live the spiritual life. Two good new Catholic blogs following the encouragement of the Holy Father.

A correspondent regales me with an amusing instance of what might be termed a failure of completeness in the Liturgical reforms following the second Vatican Council. In the Motu Proprio Ecclesiae Sanctae of 1966, implementing various decrees of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI said: Although Religious who recite a duly approved Little Office perform the public prayer of the Church (cf. Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium , No. 98), it is nevertheless recommended to the institutes that in place of the Little Office they adopt the Divine Office either in part or in whole so that they may participate more intimately in the liturgical life of the Church. (n.20) The relevant part of Sacrosanctum Concilium 98 says: They too perform the public prayer of the Church who, in virtue of their constitutions, recite any short office, provided this is drawn up after the pattern of the divine office and is duly approved. My correspondent points out that therefore the Little Office remains part of the public...

I received today the new booklet from the Catholic Truth Society "Prayer Book for Spouses" to which I contributed in a small way. I am impressed by the range of prayers and reflections that the editors have managed to gather together. The section headings give some idea: Prayer of Engaged Couples Recalling our Promises Open to Life Together Prayers of a Married Couple Prayers for your Children Prayers for your Family Some Favourite Prayers Available from the CTS priced £1.95

In 2007, the Congregation for the Clergy published a document entitled Eucharistic Adoration for the Sanctification of Priests and Spiritual Maternity . It is largely a collection of reflections on the example of women who prayed particularly for priests. Jane, who writes the blog Thoughts from an Oasis in French Catholicism , has taken up the idea of promoting Spiritual Maternity for priests with a dedicated blog Spiritual Mothers of Priests . She has been helped particularly by the advice and encouragement of Fr Mark of Vultus Christi who lives in the diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma and spends his time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, interceding for his brother priests. He has a helpful post: What can I do for the Year of the Priest? It is a great source of joy and encouragement for priests to know that others are praying for them. It also motivates us to try to live a holy life in response to the generosity of others in their prayers and sacrifices. My warmest thanks, which I am ...

Family Publications have produced another fine prayerbook, this time to celebrate the Year of Priests and the 150th anniversary of the death of St John Vianney. The Curé of Ars Prayer Book is a collection of passages from St John Vianney. Each passage is on a facing page with a colour illustration and a short quotation. Underneath each passage is a prayer. This is an excellent book for priests to use at their daily meditation, and indeed for lay people who wish to intercede especially for priests and to reflect on the priesthood in the life of the Church. The booklet also includes a passage from Pope John XXIII's Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia , a Litany in honour of St John Vianney, and information about the indulgences granted for the Year for Priests. As ever, the quality is very fine - glossy stock, well-chosen photos and clean, uncluttered typesetting. 64 pages £4.50. You could perhaps buy one as a gift for your local priest.

In response to my post about Salisbury Cathedral, Steven sent information about the Society of St Justin which has an apostolate to pray at places that were once used for Catholic worship. An extract: On visiting a church, monastery, shrine, even if ruined, which had previously been used for Catholic worship recite the following [ viz. Pater, Ave, Gloria ] for the repose of the souls of all who have worshipped there in the past, especially the priests who faithfully offered the holy sacrifice of the Mass and in reparation for all wrongs committed there. Pray also for the unity of Christ’s church around the See of Peter and for the intentions of our Holy Father

Family Publications have published "A Walsingham prayer Book" to mark the 75th anniversary of the declaration of the Slipper Chapel in Walsingham as the National Shrine to Our Lady in England. The Walsingham Prayer Book includes traditional prayers and hymns to Our Lady with a particular but not exclusive focus on Walsingham, making it an excellent companion for pilgrim groups. The 64 page glossy booklet is illustrated with colour photographs throughout. It is available from Family Publications at £4.50

Elizabeth from East Sussex (a sensibly restricted internet profile) has a blog called Prayers for the Bishop . No political slant, no polemics, just a request for prayers. What a great idea!

Gotcha! You all thought I was going to say earnestly that Lent is not about giving things up but about doing something positive. I'm glad to say that this mantra is now becoming part of the recognisably tired corpus of the "reform that has to be reformed." Every year on Ash Wednesday I try to work the point in somewhere that nothing stops us from doing both . Celebrating Septuagesimatide gives a neat opportunity to preach for three weeks on prayer, fasting, and alsmgiving - these topics can also be related easily enough to the scriptures read in the usus recentior and provide a good lead-in to Lent. Today, I had three Masses. 10am is our normal time for weekday Mass and there was a good attendance. We also have a 4.15pm Mass on Holydays (although there are none to be celebrated in the week this year according to the "ordinary" calendar) and I do the same on Ash Wednesday; it is a convenient time for parents and children to attend after school. In the evening, w...

Climbing up a step-ladder in a cope is one of the more challenging liturgical feats but it was necessary today in order to crown the statue of Our Lady of Fatima brought by the "Day With Mary" team. After processing round the streets saying the Rosary, we returned to the Church for Mass. The policy of the "Day With Mary" is to accept the direction of the local parish priest as to whichform the Mass is in - Saturday morning is one of our two regular weekly Masses in teh  usus antiquior and the Sisters of the Immaculate were happy to sing the Salve Sancta Parens Mass together with the Missa cum Iubilo . We borrowed a fine set of Marian vestments for the day. Fr Agnellus FI took care of the Blessed Sacrament Procession and Benediction in the afternoon - I assisted him for Benediction, climbing the step-ladder to fetch down the monstrance only without cope this time. Today's Day With Mary was our best attended ever, with a full Church for much of the Day. It is a ...

Fr Jean-Claude Selvini has kindly drawn my attention to the Novena of Prayer for Pope Benedict, published (in French) at the website of the FSSP in France. Father has also done a translation and a leaflet for his parishioners which I will also be making available. Here is a link to it on Scribd: Novena of Prayer for Pope Benedict XVI

In its note the other day, the Vatican Secretariat of State said: The Holy Father asks to be joined by the prayers of all the faithful, so that the Lord may enlighten the path of the Church. In response, Fr George Byers at Blogging Lourdes has started a prayer pledge for the Holy Father. It is very easy to join in - just tick the boxes and click "Vote". (And say the prayers, of course.)