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Comic relief's policy

Red Nose Day each year is an occasion for local or regional newspapers to have a go at Catholic schools. It is an easy story to write; here's how it goes: Pupils want to raise money for Comic Relief because it has been on the telly. A good head teacher refuses, insisting that they promote other charities. Shock Horror! Catholic school meanly denies children the right to wear a red nose - for CHARIDDY! And you know why? Because they don't agree with condoms! Here is an example from this year's round (published yesterday in the Sussex local, the "Argus"): No Red Nose Day at school The argument about Red Nose Day has been running in the UK for several years now. This Catholic News Agency Report sums up the debate that reached an impasse a couple of years ago. Comic Relief insists that it does not give money to "fund abortions." But time and again it turns out that it supports agencies that promote such things as "reproductive health care" which i...
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"Red Box Day"

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Mrs Jackie Parkes ( Catholic Mom of 10 ) has posted a wonderful piece from the newsletter of the Birmingham Oratory: Red Nose Day? No Thanks! Instead of supporting some morally very dubious causes by giving your money to Red Nose Day on Friday, why not celebrate a RED BOX DAY instead? The Red Box is the recognised means of raising money for The APF, the Association or the Propagation of the Faith. It is the Pope's own missionary organisation which supports those who have the task of spreading knowledge of the Faith in so many difficult circumstances throughout the world. If you haven't got a red box, you can put some extra money in the APF box by the Sacristy Door, and sign up for a box on the list at the back of Church.' If you are from the US, the Red Nose Day website will give you an idea of what people who have televisions must put up with ad nauseam tomorrow. I wish I had known about the "Red Box Day" alternative earlier - I would have promoted the same in ...
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Magister on Sacramentum Caritatis

Along with the other recommended commentaries on Sacramentum Caritatis that I mentioned yesterday, I would like to add Sandro Magister's intelligent summary posted today: “Sacramentum Caritatis”: Everyone to Mass on Sunday . Many readers will be interested in this snippet related to the hermeneutic of continuity: THE MISSAL OF SAINT PIUS V Benedict XVI cites this in paragraph 3, recalling with admiration and gratitude "the orderly development of the ritual forms" in which the Mass was celebrated (and still is) until the liturgical reform of Vatican Council II, "whose riches are yet to be fully explored". And he observes: "Concretely, the changes which the Council called for need to be understood within the overall unity of the historical development of the rite itself, without the introduction of artificial discontinuities." The rejection of these “artificial discontinuities” – according to what the pope said to the Roman curia on December 22, 2005, i...
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Afternoon of Prayer this Saturday

Ken sends me details of a Lenten afternoon of prayer with consecration to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary at Westminster Cathedral, this Saturday 17 March, 2-4.30pm; led by Mgr Keith Barltrop and Fr Anthony Doe. If you have a chance to attend, I can promise you that these two excellent priests will provide you with some worthwhile and spiritually enriching input.
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Damien Thompson on Sacramentum Caritatis

Damien Thompson has drawn my attention in the combox to his Daily Telegraph blog in which he has commented on Sacramentum Caritatis ( Pope calls for Latin revival ). He is entertainingly disparaging about the "bloody press office – or "communications network", as they have the nerve to call it." He speaks of the document in a very positive tone: The Pope's document, by the way, is a dazzling summary of Catholic teaching on the Eucharist - and a warning to clapped-out liberals that they need to improve the standards of worship. Oh, and Benedict wants more Latin in services. Then comes something of a sting in the tail: Not what the Left-wing apparatchiks at the Bishop's Conference wanted to hear. Hence, presumably, no press release – something that Catholics might want to bear in mind next time the plate is passed round for "Communications Sunday". To be honest, there is nothing in the post with which I (and many other priests I know) could not hear...
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Sacramentum Caritatis

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The picture shows the Holy Father signing the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis which was presented at a Press Conference earlier today. For instant comment, I recommend: Amy Wellborn's Open Book Gerald Augustinus The Cafeteria is Closed What Does the Prayer Really Say by Fr John Zuhlsdorf who was present at the press conference. I'm away from home at the moment so I'll have to read it and digest it later.
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Charities Act and the secularist agenda

As part of the exercise of implementing the new "public benefit" test for charities, the Charities Commission commissioned Opinion Leader to conduct research reported in Public Perceptions of Public Benefit . Under the heading "Approach", we are told, The chosen method was a one-day Citizens’ Forum involving 51 people. A Citizens’ Forum is a unique approach which combines qualitative techniques with deliberation to enable citizens to give informed opinions and recommendations on complex issues. While this is not a quantitative exercise, and the findings are indicative rather than conclusive, there were a number of common themes coming from different table discussions and a high level of consensus and consistency which lends weight to the findings and provide a firm foundation for the conclusions reached in this report. That sounds a whole lot like the "discussion group" approach that is so tried and tested as a means of "modernising" institution...
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Prayer no longer charitable in the UK

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Last weekend's Catholic Herald has an interesting article about the changes that have recently been made to Charities Law in the UK and a recent Consultation on Draft Public Benefit Guidance that has been criticised by Neville Kyrke Smith of Aid to the Church in Need . The principal change to the law (given Royal Assent last November, and coming into force in early 2008) was described succinctly by the Chair of the Charities Commission, Suzi Leather, in an article for the Guardian, " Running with the hares " viz. "For the first time in 400 years of charity legislation, the law will explicitly require those charities that advance education, religion or relieve poverty to demonstrate that they deliver public benefit." The Herald article referred to her recent remarks on Radio 4's Sunday programme: "For completely closed religious communities which have no contact with the outside world, it will be very difficult for them to retain charitable status"...
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Obnoxiously Pious

I did laugh out loud when I saw the link to this blog in my sitemeter stats: Obnoxiously Pious It's a new trad English blog - worth a heads-up for the title alone but also looking like a good addition to the Catholic UK blogosphere.
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More on global warming "hysteria"

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LifeSite News reports today on a speech given by the Czech President. The article begins: The general appreciation for taking care of the earth's resources, of being stewards of creation is being exploited to drive a political and even mythological system of environmentalism. The President of the Czech Republic spoke at the Cato Institute Friday calling "environmentalism" a "religion", and warning against the hysteria being generated by 'global warming' enthusiasts. "All of us are very much in favour of maximum environmental protection and protection of nature," said President Vaclav Klaus during a follow-up interview for a Cato podcast. "But it has nothing in common with environmentalism, which is ideological and practically attacking our freedom." Read the full article There was also an article in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph, Scientists threatened for 'climate denial' , reporting on death threats issued to global war...
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Addai and Mari - more

A couple of people have asked for more information about the article by Fr Lang on the Anaphora of Addai and Mari. The article was entitled "Eucharist without institution narrative? The anaphora of Addai and Mari revisited" and was written in the 2004 edition of the journal Divinitas published at the Vatican. ( Source and online ordering information .) There was a notice about the article in the German kreuz.net: Das Rätsel der Liturgie von Addai und Mari . I understand that Fr Lang may be intending to publish this material more widely in due course.
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Popular posts from this blog

Baptism water rosary photo

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This photo is doing the rounds at the moment. Here is the accompanying text: This was taken at the baptism of Valentino Mora, son of Erica, a single mom of 21 who asked the photographer to take a picture of her son for free. The photo of the baptism of Valentino Mora is sweeping the Internet, because at the time the priest pours the Holy water over his head, the water flows in the shape of a rosary. This story began at the Parish of the Assumption of Our Lady in Cordova, Spain, where the baptism of a one month baby took place. At the time that Valentino came to the baptismal font for the sacrament of baptism, Erica asked the photographer Maria Silvana Salles, who was hired by other parents baptizing their babies, to take a photo of her son as a favor, since the young mother had no way of paying for it. The photographer, moved by Erica's request, agreed to take a photo of Valentino. Maria Silvana works with a traditional camera and had to send the film to be developed to a shop in ...
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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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