The Hermeneutic of Continuity

Congratulations to Fr Gregory Carling who was ordained today at St Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster. This is the first ordination at Parkminster for many years. God willing there will be some more ordinations and solemn professions over the next few years. The local Ordinary, Bishop Kieran Conry, celebrated the Mass, assisted by Bishop Richard Moth, a long-time friend of the Charterhouse. There were more than a dozen others concelebrating: it was rather a tight squeeze on the small sanctuary of the extern chapel. The plainchant was a trap for unwary priests accustomed to the Roman chant. The Carthusian chant is sometimes quite similar but you can be caught out by minor differences. After Mass, there was a reception in the external guest house and time to chat until a lunch held for the bishops, and a few close family and friends. It was great to catch up with the three monks who had come from Pluscarden - Fr Gregory had been a member of their community before joining the Carth...

The USA district of the Society of Saint Pius X has replied to a news report implying that the SSPX promotes geocentrism as a Catholic teaching based upon the Bible. As well as pointing out that the SSPX holds no such position, the SSPX has issued a sensible statement on the relative competence of the scientist and the theologian: As declared by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus , science cannot contradict the Faith: There can never… be any real discrepancy between the theologian and the physicist, as long as each confines himself within his own lines, and both are careful, as St. Augustine warns us, " not to make rash assertions, or to assert what is not known as known. ” Even today, many commonly-held tenets of natural science are merely theories, not certainties. This is not the case with the Catholic Faith, which is a certainty. The Church’s magisterium authoritatively teaches on the correct interpretation of Sacred Scripture. As Pope Pius XII taught in Divino Afflatu...

Sometimes English is used as a sign of chic on continental Europe. Sometimes that doesn't quite work. I dread to think what you might be served up with at a place offering Second-Hand food and drink. Here is Fr Briggs outside a Brasserie that seems to promise more fun: In fact we ate a light breakfast at a place with a sign whose subtitle indicated a quality which suited us:

Recently I read Michael Rose's "Ugly as Sin" and was struck by the comments in that book about Church doors. Many modern Churches have doors with glass in them as a way of expressing openness to the world or something. The fact is that if it is daylight when you look through a door that has glazed panels, you see a relatively dark interior and probably a lobby first of all. I hadn't realised before how important it was that so many doors of fine Churches evangelise through their imagery. Above you can see the entrance of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Luxembourg with a crowned statue of Our Lady, flanked by St Peter and St Paul. Below, St Ignatius and St Francis show the Jesuit influence in Luxembourg. Sadly, the High altar has been denuded and the principal altar is now an uninspiring block. Nevertheless, the sanctuary is still dominated by the statue of Our Lady, Consoler of the Afflicted who has been the object of honour in the city since 1624 when the Jesuits...

I don't look at FB much nowadays and had forgotten that my young parishioners would have put up their WYD photos there. The above one shows the firemen spraying the crowd. Below you can see how one lad got a better vantage point for his photos with the help of a few mates and an unused pallet.

Rome Reports compiled this great video of some of the best pictures from the World Youth Day and, of course, plenty of others have given great accounts of their experiences. The Catholic Herald has done a fine job - many of the articles are online but there is more in the print edition. I spent time today reading some of the Holy Father's addresses . My own sermon this weekend is going to include this passage from the sermon at the Mass (though there were many others to choose from): I ask you, dear friends, to love the Church which brought you to birth in the faith, which helped you to grow in the knowledge of Christ and which led you to discover the beauty of his love. Growing in friendship with Christ necessarily means recognizing the importance of joyful participation in the life of your parishes, communities and movements, as well as the celebration of Sunday Mass, frequent reception of the sacrament of Reconciliation, and the cultivation of personal prayer and meditati...

Fr Z has a poll running called QR Code and You . After checking on Google, I realised that they were those funny square things with dots that I had never got round to finding out about. I now have a new poster to advertise the parish website, complete with QR code: Now - must get a mobile version set up for the website... ... that's done now. So you can scan the QR code, jump slightly as whatever funny notification sound tells you that it is recognised, then watch your mobile screen take you to Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen mobile version. We have just had some excellent news of a better than ever World Youth Day so please excuse me for a temporary lapse but this is way too cool.

Photo credit: Berthold Werner Wikimedia Commons Just 45 minutes on the train (with a fare of 8.40 euro) from Luxembourg City is Trier, the oldest city in Germany, and the birthplace of St Ambrose. We entered via the Porta Nigra , reckoned to be the best preserved Roman city gate, walked down to the the Hauptmarkt and visited the Cathedral Church of St Peter. Unfortunately, the Liebfrauenkirche is currently closed for works. I have some photos, but unfortunately the (massively annoying) internet connection here in Luxembourg will not let me upload them to flickr so I have found the above at Wikimedia. An amazing building is the Aula Palatina or Basilica of Constantine which is well preserved and is now used for the Evangelical Church Community. Again, here is an image from Wikimedia: Trier is on the Moselle river: during the train journey, we passed many vineyards. For lunch we both chose Wiener Schnitzel and shared a bottle of very reasonably priced local wine at a pleasant ...

People have asked me "why are you going on holiday to Luxembourg?" As a joke I have said that it is because Luxembourg has more Michelin starred restaurants per capita than any other city in the world. In fact, Luxembourg is a beautiful city and well worth visiting for its Churches and stunning topography. I haven't been able to post many photos because of a slow connection at the hotel, but you can see a glimpse of the scenery in the photo above. Below is the glorious baroque interior,

Everyone who is not an active follower of the Catholic blogosphere seems to know the one mainstream news item about the World Youth Day: there was a protest and the excuse for the protest was the cost of the visit. Michael Voris deals with it quite well. I would add that this demonstrates the values of the mainstream media which focusses on a protest by 150 people (a generous estimate) as opposed to the faith of the million or so who are gathering for the Pope's visit. (And in fact, the visit will cost the Spanish government nothing, but will bring in around 100 million euro to the Spanish economy.) As I mentioned in June, Michael Voris is coming to London next Wednesday 24 August. I'm disappointed that I won't be able to get there myself, as I am away. If you are in reach of London, this promises to be an entertaining and inspiring event. You don't have to agree with everything Michael Voris says, or the way he says it - he's a guy open to debate and discussio...

So why is the seal of confession inviolable? Why does the seal bind under such a grave obligation that the Church excommunicates any confessor who directly violates it? (See:  The seal of confession: some basics ) There are two principal reasons why the priest must preserve the seal: the virtue of justice and the virtue of religion. The motive of justice is evident because the penitent, by the very fact of entering the confessional, or asking the priest to hear his confession (we’ll deal with “reconciliation rooms” another day) rightly expects that the priest will observe the seal. This is a contract entered into by the fact of the priest agreeing to hear a person’s confession. To mandate the violation of the seal is in effect to prohibit the celebration of the sacrament of Penance. Much more grave than the obligation of justice towards the penitent is the obligation of religion due to the sacrament. The Catholic Encyclopaedia give a brief explanation of the virtue of religion...