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Bishop John Jukes RIP

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Today the Archdiocese sent the sad news of the death of Bishop John Jukes OFM Conv who died this morning. Bishop Jukes ordained me to the priesthood in 1984. He kept in touch from time to time during his retirement with his robust and blunt approach to ecclesiastical matters. He was a man you could talk to straight from the shoulder. May God reward his many years of labour in the vineyard. Requiescat in pace .
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"Some more, some more, Summorum Pontificum!"

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Online busking trad blogger and friend of the homeless in Brighton, Laurence England of That The Bones You Have Crushed May Thrill  has just posted this Ballad of Summorum Pontificum . It has more than a whiff of John Hegley's style, and I'm sure that the refrain Some more, some more Summorum Pontificum! Some more, some more, gimme some more. will be sung in pubs and clubs up and down the land after traditional Masses and other traddie events. Go over to Laurence's post for the lyrics.
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The eternal truths and the threefold remorse of the damned

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CZAS UCIEKA WIECZNOŚĆ CZEKA (Time flies. Eternity waits.) Left footer reports on this  text on a sign near the sanctuary where he attended Mass. (H/T Mundabor ) The photo above is from the Cathedral at Trier - the inscription says "You do not know at what hour the Lord will come" and applies both to the second coming and to our own death. St Alphonsus Liguori used to quote St Augustine "God promises us His grace, He does not promise us tomorrow." At this time of year I devote four Sunday sermons to the four last things. It is easy to gloss over the eternal truths even though they are an obviously major part of the teaching of Jesus Christ in the gospels. St Alphonsus, in his Sermons for every Sunday of the year focussed mainly on the four last things. His sermons were what we would today call "talks" or "conferences" - they were not given during Mass but at a separate devotional service. His aim was to bring people back to the practice of...
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New online journal "Humanum"

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Stratford Caldecott sends me news of a new online journal, called Humanum which is a quarterly review of the Centre for Cultural and Pastoral Research at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, DC. The journal is free and there is no registration. There is an About page which gives more information but here is a snippet: As the name Humanum indicates, we are about “the human”: what makes us human, what keeps us human, and how to rescue our humanity when this is endangered. Our aim is to pick our way with discernment through the flood of publications (some good, some confused, some pernicious) that claim to tell us about ourselves, about family, marriage, love, children, health, and human life. The emphasis on the family is particularly strong in the present issue which is devoted to "The Child." It is encouraging to hear of this new apostolate which will help to bring academic articles on such vital matters to a wide au...
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Birmingham Oratory to make sung Mass EF

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From the first Sunday of Advent, the Birmingham Oratory will celebrate its sung 10.30am Mass as a High Mass in the extraordinary form or, as we prefer to call it here, the usus antiquior (an expression also used by Pope Benedict.) I think that this is a sensible development. People who want to go to a sung Latin Mass are better served by the old rite without the interactive "Fratres agnoscamus..." and having to wait until the Sanctus is finished before the priest begins the Canon. The singing of the Propers fits better in the usus antiquior and the possibility of a regular High Mass is only to be welcomed. There are, of course, those who would prefer to promote the celebration of the Novus Ordo ad orientem and in Latin. I respect such an agenda as it is one that I used to adhere to myself. We can agree to differ respectfully on such a question. Perhaps one day I should write a pale imitation of Newmans's "History of my religious opinions."
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Towards Advent Festival

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The  Towards Advent Festival  is happening this Saturday, 19 November at Westminster Cathedral Hall. The main speaker this year is Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham . His talk will be at 1.30pm. The Festival opens from 10am - there will be a formal opening 10.30am with the Gallery Choir of the Cathedral Choir School. The Hall is filled with stalls and displays from Catholic groups and organisations. Books, DVDs and various devotional items will be on sale - many of them suitable for Christmas. Refreshments are provided by the Association of Catholic Women , and both the Knights of St Columba and the Catenians help with practical matters. The day will end with a celebration of Blessed John Paul and a film about his life. Admission to the Festival is free but tickets for the talks are £2 each (pay at the door.) Auntie Joanna has written an  article about the festival  for Adoremus.
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CMA (Kent) hosting talk on Hippocratic Oath

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The Kent branch of the Catholic Medical Association are having their AGM and a talk in my parish on 29 November. I'll be going along myself to hear more about the Hippocratic Oath. Many years ago I visited Kos and brought back a T-shirt with the Hippocratic oath printed on it in Greek. My sister (a consultant geriatric psychiatrist used to wear it sometimes to medical conferences where her colleagues who did not know Greek twigged that there might be something suspicious about it. Here are the details of the conference: Catholic Medical Association (Kent Branch) www.catholicmedicalassociation.org.uk AGM and Meeting (with some food!) Tuesday 29th November 2011 7.30pm Our Lady of the Rosary, 330a Burnt Oak Lane, Blackfen, Kent. DA15 8LW The Hippocratic Oath  by Fr Bernard McNally Dear Friends, It was wonderful to see so many of you at the conference we held at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blacken earlier this year. Feedback from the day was very positive and we were r...
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Usus antiquior in Poland: a local story

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Piotr Bednarski sent me this encouraging story from Poland, of the ordinary faithful trying to build "brick by brick" an awareness and appreciation of the usus antiquior . For those of us who have the blessing of the usus antiquior regularly for some time now, it is a reminder of the patient work needed to bring about the re-sacralisation of the Liturgy especially through the enrichment that the old Mass can bring. Missa Cantata celebrated in the Extraordinary Form of Roman Rite (EF) with Master of Ceremonies, Incense, and blessing for a wedding anniversary: how to make parishioners familiar with the EF when the pastor does not envision the possibility of the EF, at least in the short term Even in a parish where only the Novus Ordo (NO) is celebrated, and some churchgoers are vocal against Latin and the traditional Mass (perhaps due to lack of understanding the EF and church documents), still there is a window of opportunity to offer an experience of the “ancient Mas...
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Decline and Fall for 72p

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I have been using a Kindle for a while now, mainly for reading documents and articles published on the internet that are too long to print off. Until the other day, I hadn't used it to buy books from Amazon. I was drawn to do so because I wanted to read the new edition of A Bitter Trial edited by Alcuin Reid which is not available on Amazon in the print version. That rather overcame my reluctance to read real books on the Kindle. I heartily recommend A Bitter Trial , by the way: it shows Evelyn Waugh as astonishingly prescient. Whenever you speak of ebooks, people say that they prefer the feel of a real book and I have great sympathy with that view. I started seriously collecting books when I was 17 and have some wonderful volumes on my shelves that are increasing in value and interest over the decades. In fact, I have too many books and need to do another purge of my shelves. For some time now, I have discarded any fictional books that I buy to read when on holiday or, like...
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Quite a good endorsement

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I suppose this must be one of the best pictures a composer might hope for. Richly deserved as well!
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Faith Magazine latest issue online

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The November-December issue of Faith Magazine is online. The editorial examines the eclipse of authority with reference to the summer riots and the current ecclesial compromise. Fr Hugh MacKenzie looks at some serious problems with the EdExcel GCSE religion course and its textbook Roman Catholic Christianity. The Letters page has contributions on the article by Dylan James in the last issue, on contraception and natural family planning. I have a book review of The Council in Question. A Dialogue with Catholic Traditionalism (Moyra Doorly and Fr Aidan Nichols) together with Liturgical Reflections of a Papal Master of Ceremonies (Mgr Guido Marini.) There is a lot more good material and I recommend it to you. If you want to subscribe to get a nice shiny printed copy, here is a link to the subscriptions page .
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Popular posts from this blog

Plenary indulgences not impossible

Dilexit Prior in Letters from a Young Catholic asked some useful questions today about indulgences. I thought it would be best to do a post here especially to cover the controversial question of detachment from venial sin. But first the other questions: The conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence Pope Paul VI set down a number of norms relating to indulgences at the end of Indulgentiarum Doctrina . Norm 7 states: To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfil three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial, except for the provisions contained in n.11 for those who are “impeded.” It is worth reading the other norms bec...
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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 eternal truths and the threefold remorse of the damned

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CZAS UCIEKA WIECZNOŚĆ CZEKA (Time flies. Eternity waits.) Left footer reports on this  text on a sign near the sanctuary where he attended Mass. (H/T Mundabor ) The photo above is from the Cathedral at Trier - the inscription says "You do not know at what hour the Lord will come" and applies both to the second coming and to our own death. St Alphonsus Liguori used to quote St Augustine "God promises us His grace, He does not promise us tomorrow." At this time of year I devote four Sunday sermons to the four last things. It is easy to gloss over the eternal truths even though they are an obviously major part of the teaching of Jesus Christ in the gospels. St Alphonsus, in his Sermons for every Sunday of the year focussed mainly on the four last things. His sermons were what we would today call "talks" or "conferences" - they were not given during Mass but at a separate devotional service. His aim was to bring people back to the practice of...
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Responding to the Tablet

CENSORED! The Tablet have asked me to remove this post because it is a breach of copyright for me to quote their article in full while commenting on it. A new copyright-compliant version is available at the post: Responding to the Tablet - legally compliant version It is hilarious to see the Tablet failing utterly to grasp the concept of publishing on the internet.
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Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

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A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
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