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Rose vestment time

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Yesterday was, of course, Laetare Sunday and therefore the occasion for the wearing of Rose vestments. Since we have a full set at Blackfen, I try to make sure that we have High Mass on this day. Dr Alcuin Reid assisted as Deacon, and Rev John Harrison from St Mary's Chislehurst was Subdeacon. I think we managed to avoid any serious liturgical abuses. Many thanks as ever to Damian Thompson and Fr John Zuhlsdorf who kindly enabled Blackfen to unite in Christian joy with these vestments by encouraging their readers to fund them - and many thanks to all our benefactors. Photo credit Mulier Fortis (more photos there).
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Hilarious scandal story from "Bones"

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I posted recently about the spoof billboard created by Laurence England of That The Bones You Have Crushed May Thrill with the sensationalist news "Crackpot Priest Keeps God in Church Cupboard". This has now been followed up with a loopily entertaining parody detailing the action of Brighton and Hove Social Services in response to this act neglect. It gets better all the way through with Ed Balls and the CES drafted in for comment.
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Petition closing

Amanda Lewin's Petition against Government-Led Sex Education in Catholic Schools reads: To: Bishops of England and Wales We, the undersigned, call upon the Bishops of England and Wales and the Catholic Education Service to fulfil their duty as guardians of our Catholic Faith and unequivocally reject recent Government measures forcing Catholic schools to teach what is explicitly condemned by the Church, viz: presenting active homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, and providing information on the nature - and provision - of contraception and abortion services. Compliance on the part of the Bishops and the CES in such measures would effectively render our schools no longer Catholic in any meaningful sense, and would place the faith and moral life of our children in jeopardy. As Catholic parents, teachers and pastors, we earnestly beg of you, our Shepherds in Christ, that you do not allow this to happen. Sincerely, The petition closes on the Feast of St Joseph, 19...
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Disgraceful attack on the Holy Father in the Times

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Damian Thompson has drawn attention to the headline in the Times erroneously and unjustifiably attacking the Holy Father. See: Catholic fury over The Times's coverage of Pope Benedict XVI . While writing this, I also received Damian's Tweet with a link to the Facebook Group Catholics Who Condemn the Times' Treatment of the Pope which you may like to join if you are on FB. The Times article has a sidebar quote from Ruth Gledhill which includes the words: The Pope is pretty unassailable. He is not elected ... The Times should not be allowed to forget that it highlighted that as an "Expert view" from its "Religion Correspondent". The mainstream media are clearly gearing up for an all-out attack on the Holy Father when he visits Britain in September. This is a good time to pray earnestly for the Pope: one way of remembering to do this is to gain as many plenary indulgences as you can, since one of the conditions is to pray for the intentions of the Ho...
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CSF doubletalk opportunity for election candidates

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A priest friend of mine has come up with the following questions to be put to candidates in advance of the General Election It is currently legal to abort certain handicapped babies up to birth, and to abort healthy babies up to 24 weeks of gestation. Would you vote for any restrictions upon this? If so, could you briefly suggest what type of restrictions. Ed Balls intends that Catholic schools be required to inform their children “how to access abortion” by virtue of the Children, Schools and Families Bill, if enacted. Do you agree with him? Would you vote against the legalization of euthanasia? Do you accept that faith schools have the right to teach as the truth matters of human sexuality and relationships according to the principles of their religion? There is a target to increase overseas aid to 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product by 2013. Do you think this is broadly correct, or should be more or less? One Labour candidate who, on abortion, took the Bill Clinton "safe lega...
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Pope Benedict reaffirms Hermeneutic of Continuity

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The Pontifical Lateran University has been holding an international theological conference promoted by the Congregation for the Clergy on the them of "Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of the Priest." Today, the Holy Father gave an address to the conference in which he said: Just as the hermeneutic of continuity is revealing itself to be ever more important for an adequate understanding of the texts of Vatican Council II, in the same way we see the need for a hermeneutic we could describe as 'of priestly continuity', one which, starting from Jesus of Nazareth, Lord and Christ, and over the two thousand years of history, greatness, sanctity, culture and piety which the Priesthood has given the world, comes down to our own day. Sometimes people say that the phrase "hermeneutic of continuity" is not to be attributed to the Holy Father. That position has just become a little more difficult to sustain.
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American College of Pediatricians endorses abstinence education

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Here is some good news. The American College of Pediatricians has issued an excellent statement on Abstinence Education . The statement begins: The American College of Pediatricians strongly endorses abstinence-until-marriage sex education and recommends adoption by all school systems in lieu of “comprehensive sex education". This position is based on “the public health principle of primary prevention – risk avoidance in lieu of risk reduction,” upholding the “human right to the highest attainable standard of health.”1 By every measure, adolescent sexual activity is detrimental to the well-being of all involved, especially young women, and society at large. The statement addresses not only physical but also psychological and societal concerns related to early sexual activity and emphasises the importance of the role of parents. As Catholics we would want to promote not only education for abstinence but the positive virtue of chastity. Nevertheless, I think that such a concern...
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St Andrews street view

View Larger Map This is a rather special addition to Google street view: the beautiful university town of St Andrews in Scotland. Click to view the larger map and then drag the little yellow man around to look at The Scores, Shorehead, South Street and, especially, the old St Andrew's Cathedral. H/T BriFili Stating
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Fr Ray in t' papers

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Good Father Ray Blake has been in the papers recently. First of all he made mention of the "hedonistic gay lobby" which resulted in coverage in the Brighton Argus. His response Anger in the Lobby is well worth reading for an insight into the work of a compassionate and pastoral priest in Brighton. Then he wrote about Feeling Sorry for Jon Venables which created something of a media frenzy with a BBC cameraman sent down on a doorstep mission (unsuccessful since Father was doing some pastoral work at the time.) Laurence "Bones" England has an account of this in which he has a photo of the local paper's bill for that day. (Do read Fr Ray's actual post before jumping to conclusions.) I did enjoy one of Laurence's suggestions for a future billboard:
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Mother's shock at Channel 4 sex-ed programme

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The Daily Mail has picked up the story of Lisa Bullivant , from Legbourne, Lincolnshire, whose daughter was subjected to the Channel 4 sex education programme "Living and Growing". Fr John Fleming's research in Australia has shown that although many parents will say that they are in favour of sex education in school, they often have no idea of the actual content of the programmes. This case is fairly typical. Lisa Bullivant said: 'We had faith in the head teacher and the school that all they would be learning would be basic puberty. It should have said in the letter children would learn how to have sexual intercourse.' Predictably, some of the children started copying what they had seen in the film. This relates to the problem of sexual assault in schools which is obviously exacerbated by explicit sex-education. In addition to graphic cartoons of people having sexual intercourse, the Channel 4 programme also teaches children all about masturbation. Having learne...
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More roman malaria

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A couple of weeks back, Sandro Magister reported on the controversy inside the Pontifical Academy for Life - The Pontifical Academy of Nonstop Fighting . This referred to fallout from the article written for L'Osservatore Romano by Archbishop Fisichella concerning the Recife case (see: Recife case and roman malaria ). Five members of the Academy, including our own Luke Gormally and Tom Ward, called for the resignation of Archbishop Fisichella because the article (in addition to being unjust to the Bishop of Recife) seemed to compromise the Church's teaching on abortion. Therefore the authors said: There is credible information that Fisichella is widely perceived in the Curia to be an inappropriate President of Pontifical Academy for Life and there is a reasonable hope that the Holy Father will recognise the need to provide him with an occupation better suited to his abilities. The Italian blog of the great Magister ( Settimo Cielo ) has carried several related articles recentl...
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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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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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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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