The Hermeneutic of Continuity

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II. Why is the Church not doing anything to mark this significant occasion? In fact, Pope Benedict has announced a “Year of Faith” to mark the 50th anniversary of the second Vatican Council. It will begin on 11 October, the day that the Council was formally opened by Blessed Pope John XXIII. The focus of the Year of Faith will be the new evangelisation: something very much in accord with the concerns of the Fathers of the Council. In his message for the opening of the Council, Pope John said that the Council wanted “to transmit doctrine, pure and whole, without attenuations or misrepresentations,” but also in a way that corresponds to the needs of our time. On the 20th anniversary of the closing of the Council, the Synod of Bishops (one of the fruits of the Council) called for a new Catechism as a sure point of reference for local catechisms. This new Catechism was completed in 1992, the 30th anniversary of the opening ...

Today is the anniversary of the death (some would say martyrdom) of King Charles I. This would have passed me by were it not for the Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley announcing that they have abandoned any normal liturgy for the day. Instead, they are remembering how the forces of nothing-being-much-fun won. Among other activities, they're having mince pies, Christmas cake and spaniel racing. Jolly sound - but that's just my view. A revered Archbishop with whom I studied many years ago was part of the King Charles I Society at Oxford. He was the Chairman. As he said to me "We didn't have a President , you understand."

The Latin Mass Society are planning a conference at Regent Hall on Oxford Street. This is an event for ordinary members of the LMS, and non-members will be welcome. Here (quoted from the publicity leaflet) is the line-up of rogues that they have prepared - I'm looking forward to being part of this team. Fr John Zuhlsdorf (aka the blogger ' Fr Z ') Fr Tim Finigan (blogger and columnist) Dr John Rao (of ' The Roman Forum ') John Hunwicke (of the Ordinariate ) Stuart McCullough ( Good Counsel Network ) This should be fun. Probably not the conference to go to if you are looking for complimentary copies of The Tablet. Tickets are available from the LMS (020 7404 7284 or see other contact information at the website .) Members £15, non-members £20. Buffet lunch and drinks £9 supplement. Regent Hall is opposite BHS, about five minutes walk from Oxford Circus tube station. Timing is not finalised yet but will probably be from 10am to 6pm. I'll be in the after...

Hungary has passed a new fundamental law which, among other things, protects the rights of the family and of the unborn child. The new law replaces the communist era constitution. I am grateful to C-Fam for their report on this:   Hungary Defies Critics With New Family Law . They give a link to the draft of 25 April 2011 which was passed, though I don't know whether amendments were made to it (some of the points in the C-Fam report can't be found in the draft.) In any case, there are some elements that look very good. The Fundamental Law establishes a national holiday on 20 August to commemorate the founding of the state and its founder, St Stephen, as well as 23 of October, to commemorate the 1956 uprising. Under the Basic Stipulations, Article M (1) states: (1) Hungary protects the institution of marriage between man and woman, a matrimonial relationship voluntarily established, as well as the family as the basis for the survival of the nation. (2) Hungary supports ...

SPUC are holding a conference on abortion and maternal health. This is a question that is often used by the culture of death to promote abortion, so it is an important issue to address. You can find all the details at the SPUC website: Abortion or maternal health . there are materials linked there to help prepare for the conference, and you can book for it online. The main speaker is Professor Robert Walley and he will be joined by legal expert Dr Roger Kiska of Alliance Defence Fund, consultant obstetrician gynaecologist Dr Obi Ideh from Nigeria, and maternal health campaigner Mrs Fiorella Nash. Fiorella has also written an article for the SPUC blog: Pro-abortion ideology is costing lives of women in developing countries . If there are any complications, childbirth can be risky both for mothers and for their babies. It is right that we should do all that we can to help mothers in developing countries. The pro-abortion lobby has muscled in on this issue with their false assert...

My good friend, Fr Andrew Wise, of the diocese of Sale in Victoria (Australia), together with Fr John Speekman, has drawn up a petition to the Holy Father which reads as follows: Your Holiness, We are convinced of the great spiritual harm inflicted on the Catholic faithful, and the profanation of the Blessed Sacrament that often occurs by the practice of Communion received on the hand. We implore Your Holiness to personally intervene to restore once again the normative practice of reception of Holy Communion on the tongue alone. There is also a blog in support of the petition . Andrew Rabel wrote a piece to give a little background to the petition, and Cardinal Arinze has written in support of the piece. Bishop Schneider has also written in support , and has signed the petition. I have also signed the petition. Many ordinary laity receive Holy Communion in the hand because that is what they were taught to do; in some cases they were told that it was the more proper, rever...

The carving of Our Lady of the Rosary which adorned the Christian flagship, the Galera Real at the battle of Lepanto has been recovered and is being restored. Fr Z advised me of this news earlier today as it is of particular interest for a parish dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. Father has himself posted about it: Statue of Our Lady at 1571 Battle of Lepanto comes to light! ABC Salud has an article in Spanish  which highlights the importance of the find. For a brief account of the battle of Lepanto, there was a good post on the feast day last year at Roman Christendom . (An additional point that I like to emphasise is that 12,000 Christian galley slaves were freed as a result of the victory.) This evening, after speaking to the candidates for Confirmation, I was struck by the position of the crescent moon over our statue of Our Lady. An antiphon used in the Office, and for the Catena of the Legion of Mary is: Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising, fair a...

I enjoy interacting with other people on Twitter but find that sometimes I get into rather uncharitable arguments with atheists and even with fellow Catholics. I wonder if it is too much of a temptation. As with all social media, Twitter can be used for good or evil. It is an effective way for people to share information, views and arguments. At its best, it can be a part of Pope Benedict’s vision of co-workers for the truth engaging in evangelisation. At its worst, it can be used as a form of cyber-bullying. People can also bully others by writing nasty letters on paper, so there is nothing new under the sun. It is not the means of communication that is the problem but our use of it. The immediacy of exchanges on Twitter does mean that it can be tempting to try to be sharp or witty, and sometimes to be unkind to others. On the other hand, people who engage in exchanges such as these generally know the territory and, within reasonable limits, can take the rough with the smooth. We ...

Each week I write an article of roughly 350 words for the Catholic Herald which has the title Catholic Dilemmas . This is a good writing discipline since at that length you can't afford to waste words, and it is a challenge to answer some of the questions in the limit. I don't have the option to waffle on longer. In correspondence with the Editor, Luke Coppen, I discovered that I had been too coy about posting the articles here. Since I am paid a fee for them, I felt that it was not my business just to publish them at will. However publishing is changing fast and the editor is happy for me to post my articles - and indeed to have a link to the Herald to boot. So you'll be getting my CDs, as we call them, regularly from now on - after the print edition of the paper is out. You might also be able to help by submitting dilemmas. Remember that I have to answer them in 350 words. I do make a point of limiting liturgical articles - I do some, but want to keep a balance bet...

The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma will be holding its next meeting at Blackfen on Saturday 18 February 2012. Here are the details: 10:30am Low Mass (Our Lady’s Saturday) 11:00am Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with Confession, followed by Benediction 12:00pm Talk by Fr Sam Medley SOLT: “Blogging as an instrument of ecclesial communion” 1:00pm Lunch (donations welcome) 2:30pm Informal meeting of the Guild 3.30pm Final prayers and departure All Catholics who use the new media, either as bloggers or users of social networking sites, are welcome to attend the Guild meeting and/or join the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma. Address: 330a Burnt Oak Lane, Sidcup, Kent DA15 8LW Directions are here We had a bit of a discussion about whether to have the meeting at Blackfen again. Some were worried that it might be imposing on our hospitality. That is certainly not a problem: I am more than happy to host such a group and there are plenty of people here who are willing to help ou...

Simcha Fisher who writes for the National Catholic Register is always worth reading. Today she speaks To the mother with only one child . Her advice is drawn from her own experience of being a mother of one child - but also from her present experience of being a mother of nine. (Mothers of nine were all at one time mothers of one.) Her article is a master-class of what the Fathers of Vatican II referred to as the lay apostolate. This was not invented in the 1960s; before then there was a thriving lay apostolate in the Church. Unfortunately, for various reasons, it was, to a large degree, emasculated after the council, in favour of lay ministry. The difference is this: as a priest, I can distribute Holy Communion, I can read out the scriptures, I can celebrate the Liturgy. If lay people do these things, they are essentially helping the priest. As a priest, I cannot campaign in a trade union for the social teaching of the Church, I cannot gather employees of a bank to say the Ro...