The Hermeneutic of Continuity

I was pleased to see that there were many celebrations yesterday for the feast of the Blessed John Duns Scotus, the Subtle Doctor, son of Scotland, Oxford Alumnus, defender of the Franciscan thesis on the Incarnation and champion of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. In the video above, Fr Maximilian Mary Dean FI gives an introduction to the key idea of the Franciscan thesis, namely the absolute primacy of Christ. (search result for other videos on the Primacy of Christ ) Pope Benedict spoke about Scotus at the General Audience of 7 July 2010 . The Holy Father summarised one of the Subtle Doctor's great contributions to theological debate: First of all he meditated on the Mystery of the Incarnation and, unlike many Christian thinkers of the time, held that the Son of God would have been made man even if humanity had not sinned. He says in his "Reportatio Parisiensis": "To think that God would have given up such a task had Adam not sinned would be quite...

There are many more photographs of Saturday's Requiem Mass at the flickr page of Joseph Shaw, the LMS Chairman. Do also take a look at the shiny new website of the Latin Mass Society . Blackfen was well represented both in the congregation and on the sanctuary. Four of the servers in this photo server regularly at Our Lady of the Rosary.

The big news today is of course the announcement that five Anglican bishops have tendered their resignation to the Archbishop of Canterbury with the intention of joining the Ordinariate envisaged by Anglicanorum Coetibus as soon as it is established. They are Bishops Andrew Burnham, Keith Newton, John Broadhurst, Edwin Barnes and David Silk. Anna Arco has a good report on the Catholic Herald's website today. The report includes the full statement of the five Bishops and the statement of Bishop Alan Hopes who is the Catholic bishop responsible for liaison regarding the Ordinariate. The Catholic News Service has a couple of brief quotations from Fr Lombardi, Director of the Vatican Press Office confirming the announcement. Speaking to the BBC, Bishop Andrew Burnham explained the important point that it is not simply a question of the ordination of women bishops: Women bishops is a presenting issue, but it’s the question of whether the Anglican church is, as it says it is, is...

The Latin Mass Society annual requiem was very well attended yesterday. Bishop John Arnold was celebrant, assisted by Fr Nicholas Schofield. Fr Andrew Southwell, the LMS chaplain was Deacon and Fr David Irwin Subdeacon. The choir of the Cathedral sang with customary skill and I was pleased that several servers from Our Lady of the Rosary were assisting. I expect that there will be some more photos at Joseph Shaw's photostream soon. After Mass I had the chance to meet some people at the Towards Advent Festival which was just finishing. Joanna Bogle works very hard each year to get good Catholic groups to come and display items related to their work. Aid to the Church in Need managed to sell a lot of things in support of their work, I met the people from the Association for Latin Liturgy , some Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and many others. There was a certain buzz after the Holy Father's visit. Considering the ferocious opposition to the visit beforehand, my suggestion...

I just got this via Facebook: Juventutem London are meeting for Mass in the Extraordinary Form (organised by Good Counsel Network) at Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane on Friday 12 November at 6.30pm, and then going on afterwards for a meal at Paradiso Inferno , a nearby Italian restaurant. For people aged 18-35. There is a Facebook event set up if you want to sign up and add as friends others who are going.

On Saturday, 13 November, there will be a Family Day at the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen. The theme will be "Angels, Saints and Nations sing 'Praised be Jesus Christ Our King'." We begin at 12noon with prayers during and after Benediction. (There is also Mass (Latin EF) at 10.30am followed by adoration and confessions until noon.) There will then be a 'Shared Table' lunch: bring some food to share if you can. Tea, coffee and squash will be provided. There will be Activities for parents, teenagers and children including catechetical talks as well as fun and games. The Day will finish at 4pm but families are welcome to stay on for 6pm Mass if they wish. Families all welcome. The Family Day is completely child-friendly. If babies or toddlers cry, are sick, feed at the breast, hide under the table or throw their toys out of the pram, nobody will glare or tut. Well, if they do, nobody else will take a blind bit of notice anyway ;-) Here are d...

The Overbrook Seminary of Philadelphia began yesterday a novena in honor of Blessed Pius IX that God might be glorified through the illness of a second year seminarian, Philip Gerard Johnson. Philip has helped at Lourdes for many years as a day pilgrim guide as one of those guiding the torchlight Rosary Procession throughout these Summers. He blogs at In Caritate non Ficta . The photo above is one I took of the statue of Blessed Pius IX in the Salesian Church of the Sacred Heart in Rome. Do join the Novena if you can. Here are the prayers: Novena In Honor 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 ...

Rinascimento Sacra has been busy posting photos from a couple of beautiful Churches in Italy where the traditional Mass has been celebrated recently. Above is from All Souls day when Mgr Giancarlo Scalvini celebrated Mass in the Church of St Zeno al Foro at Brescia. ( Full slideshow ) And here is one from the Abbey of San Sisto at Piacensa where the parish priest, Don Giuseppe Formaleoni celebrated Mass on the Feast of All Saints. Before retiring, he wanted to use the Missal which he used at his first Mass, forty years ago. ( Full slideshow ) c

Last night I was speaking to the young adults group at the Birmingham Oratory on the subject of conscience, drawing on the writings of Newman and Cardinal Ratzinger. The group is thriving under the chaplaincy of Fr Anton Guziel and is an important part of the apostolate of the Oratory. This morning I was able to celebrate Mass at the new shrine chapel for the Blessed John Henry Newman. Brother Richard Duncan was kind enough to serve my Mass which was a votive Mass of the Beatus in the usus antiquior . (I used the Mass Os iusti but with the proper collect since it was actually in the shrine itself.) The renovation of the chapel has been carried out very well: in addition to the changes made to the reredos, and the sympathetic redecoration, there is a new cupboard at the back for the magnificent collection of relics of various saints, as well as a display case for the artefacts related to Bl John Henry himself, including a splendid mitre. The photo above was was taken by James Br...

Fr Ray Blake's post What has happened to the Offertory? struck a chord with me (or perhaps prompted a melisma or something.) The Offertorium is a part of the "ordinary form" but is rarely sung outside monasteries. It is included in the revised Graduale Romanum and is a part of the Mass. Unfortunately it has never been included in the Missal of Pope Paul VI either in the Latin editio typica or in the English translation. In my parish, a small choir of children sing at the 9am English Mass. At the beginning of Mass, they sing the Introit to a simple psalm tone: I am talking about children of six to eight years old. It would not be a problem for them to sing the Offertorium in English and follow it with a hymn; but we simply do not have the texts. It would be a good service for the Sacred Liturgy if someone had the time to translate the Offertories from the Graduale Romanum and post them in a file on the internet. Since we do not appear to have an official translati...

While in Rome last week, I met several of the participants in the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops which had just finished its business. Various Patriarchs, Archbishops and Bishops, together with prelates and priests who assisted them, were staying around in Rome either to continue talking to people in the Holy See, or to prepare for journeys in Europe or America that would be be economical after their having travelled to Rome. For many of us, the synod of middle-eastern bishops will have been a little obscure. While there have been many reports at the Vatican website and especially on the Bolletino and VIS, it has perhaps been something we have passed over, thinking that we do not really understand this gathering. Since meeting some of the participants, I have felt that I should do something to make good this lack on our part in the West by highlighting some features of the synod - though others will be better able to understand the full import of this...