The Hermeneutic of Continuity

I am just trying to catch up with the blogosphere having had a couple of more than usually busy weeks. As a parish priest, I do like to see what my parishioners are blogging about and hence Bara Brith was a port of call. This led me on an to a post by Clare , Director of the St Mary Magdalen Choir at Brighton about a music conference in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton (clue: not much like the music that we have at Blackfen and Brighton.) If you watched more than a few seconds of the truly gruesome video with which Clare illustrated her post, you might like to cleanse the palate with her three minute video of the Mass at Brighton for the Association of Latin Liturgy. Watching it was an almost psychedelic experience: I just spent two days at the Confraternity Colloquium with most of the clergy in the film, including the parish priest, Fr Ray Blake ; at one point Bones wafts across as thurifer, my parish’s Director of Music is there, together with some wonderful people one c...

Sixty priests gathered over the past two damp autumnal days for the inaugural Colloquium of the British Province of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy at the Oratory School at Reading . Secular clergy from all over the country were joined by two bishops, and brother priests from the Dominicans, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, the Franciscans of the Immaculate, the Fraternity of St Peter, the Society of Our Lady of the Trinity, and (with a profound bow to their greater antiquity) the Order of St Benedict. Without prejudice to the other excellent elements of the Colloquium, I think that many of the clergy would agree with me that the highlight was the address given by Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury on Loving and Living the Catholic Priesthood Today . He spoke simply, warmly, lucidly and with great humour about the priestly vocation and life. I wondered whether I was being over-emotional but afterwards found that several other wizened old footsloggers like me also felt...

I heartily agree with the principles put forward by Shawn Tribe of the New Liturgical Movement in the Proposal for the Internal Design and Layout of the Roman Missal of the Ordinary Form . You can see example pages at the Scribd file . Double columns, drop caps, page borders, line art headings - all good - and why on earth not? Well one answer to that is the imposition of "sense lines" - which gives me the opportunity to absolve the CTS of any fault. In this post, I mean no criticism of the beautiful book that they have produced and which I have enthusiastically purchased. But the CTS are bound by the demands of some body (ICEL? the Bishops? the CDW?) and must print all the prayers out in a way that someone who does not read very well can follow with his finger, even if there are as many as forty-three words in the sentence, and say the prayer into the radio microphone like a badly-formed haiku. Amen. Apart from the obviously infantilising nature of ...

This week I had a golden opportunity to visit my Alma Mater since my niece has just started as an undergraduate at Oxford. I was able to have lunch with her and a couple of friends and to visit Lincoln College ( above ) which is a gem that I never really got to know as a student. On my next visit, I'm bringing my gown as I understand that they still have formal Hall every day and that the chef earned a Michelin star. On my last visit, I was challenged a couple of times on visiting the Oxford Union so I resolved to get myself a new fancy electronic membership card this time. I have to say that the Term Card is a significant improvement on the late 1970s. The classic debates are still the mainstay, but there are far more social events and visiting speakers than I remember. The Union is able to attract major figures, and this term includes debates on education, Russia, Israel, democracy and the regulation of the press. The last debate of the term is still the silly one where und...

The Friary of Aylesford , home of the Carmelites, was dissolved by Henry VIII but recovered in the 20th century. Part was restored and some new chapels built, many of them decorated with ceramics by Adam Kossowski. The Relic Chapel houses the reliquary for the skull of St Simon Stock to whom Our Lady appeared, granting the brown scapular as a sign of her prayers and protection. Since my childhood I have frequently visited the shrine and still love to go around the different chapels. It is one of those places that has a holiness that seems to seep through the stones. You could go there blindfold and know that it was hallowed by centuries of devotion. The Relic Chapel has a side chapel in honour of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970, and a Carmelite Chapel which includes some unhaloed images of saints since beatified or canonised, such as Blessed Titus Brandsma and St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Last Saturday I celebrated Mass there for th...

The British Province of St Gregory the Great of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy is holding a colloquium for priests from 27-28 October at the Oratory School in Reading. This will be a chance to hear and to meet Bishop Mark Davies. Another distinguished speaker will be Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett of Lismore Australia, a former chairman of the Australian CCC, who will be speaking on Liturgy and Evangelisation. As if that were not enough, Mgr Andrew Wadsworth, the Executive Director of ICEL will also be speaking on "The Priest, the Parish and the New Translation." This Colloquium is set to be of historic importance for the Church in Britain so if any of you brother priests is free, even to attend part of the event, it would be worthwhile. Bookings can still be taken up until Sunday evening. Any priests who would like to attend should email Fr Richard Whinder , ring 020 8876 1326 or write to St Mary Magdalen’s Presbytery, 61 North Worple Way, Mortlake, London SW14 8PR. I ...

Jeffrey Tucker today posted  on the NLM the above video comparing two ways of singing the same communion antiphon ( Aufer a me. ) One is the Solesmes method and the other is the "Rhetorical method" which I have not come across before. When I visited Talinn a couple of years ago, I experienced chant sung by a group that was enthusiastic for ancient music and interpreted the chant in a way that seemed to have a universal quality in that it would remind anyone of Jewish, Islamic or other sacred music that probably has similar roots. Since then, I have discovered the work of Ensemble Organum and others who also try to recover ancient ways of singing the text. Here is my favourite, the Kyrie Cunctipotens : Without in any way denigrating the work of Solesmes, I think that in these times when Gregorian chant is being revived in many places throughout the world, it is useful to discuss how it can be interpreted and executed in the sacred liturgy.

Since Fr Z often features fine looking meals on his blog, I suggested that he might like to rustle up something at Blackfen since I am not really much of a cook. He very graciously obliged with a superb meal. Fr Briggs came over and we were treated to a splendid spaghetti al ragu followed by pork medallions and various nourishing additions. We drank Chateauneuf du Pape which was right for the occasion but it was Fr Z who noticed that Tesco had chosen to illustrate the bottle with the coat of arms of Pope Paul VI. Thinking back to seminary days during the reign of Montini, I regaled the brothers with various songs that were sung at Mass in those days in place of the Introit, the Offertory or the Communion. In England we were much worse off than seminarians in the US: the music of the St Louis Jesuits, David Haas, and Marty Haugen was actually a great improvement on "Moses I know you're the man", "Yahweh is the God of my salvation", and various others from ...

Although I happily celebrated the feast day Mass of St Edward the Confessor this morning, a correspondent reminded me that today is also the feast day of Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa. Here is some basic information about her: Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa of Balasar, Portugal (1904 – 1955), one of the great mystics of modern times, was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004. A ‘victim soul', chosen by Christ to suffer in atonement for the sins of humanity, she was bedridden for life from the age of twenty after sustaining injuries while escaping from an attacker. She mystically underwent the Passion of Christ on Fridays and her sufferings helped to shorten World War II. Her astounding life has many connections to the events of Fatima and she is known in Portugal as ‘ the fourth seer of Fatima '. She urged all to “ Do penance, sin no more, pray the Rosary, receive the Eucharist ”. For the last thirteen years of her life she miraculously lived on the Holy Eucharist a...

Environmental Graffiti has some stunning pictures of the 10 tallest sand dunes on earth which I found courtesy of Jennifer's Favourite Links which is well worth having on your blogroll. The pictures and narrative are all fascinating but I was particularly struck by the Cerro Medanoso ( above ) which is the second tallest dune in the world at 1,805 feet. The desert in which it lies is also the driest place on the planet. Apparently NASA has tested instruments here for future missions to Mars. What caught my interest was the statement that some areas are thought to have had no rain to speak of between 1570 and 1971. Make of that what you will. Advocates of the modern liturgy might say that it was dry as dust from Quo Primum to the introduction of the Novus Ordo when the Spirit came down "like the dewfall". I prefer to think that perhaps there was a disturbance to the natural order and the rainfall indicated a certain discontinuity. Feel free to offer other suggest...

Fr John Boyle has a post on Bishop Sample sharing his Vision and Program for the New Evangelisation in which the renewal of the Sacred Liturgy has pride of place. Regarding evangelisation itself, he said that the programme is, well, the gospels. He also set out some pastoral priorities: The call to holiness Prayer in the Church Sunday Mass Penance/Confession The primacy of grace (not just our own efforts) Listening to the Word Proclaiming the Word I was especially struck by this point in Fr Boyle's report of the recent convocation of priests of the Diocese of Marquette: The bishop confided to the priests that he prays and offers sacrifice for each priest in the diocese. His Friday Mass, fast, prayer, abstinence are all offered for the priests of the diocese. He asks Our Lady to pour out the Precious Blood and Water that flowed from her Son's side upon all the priests and that she would hold us close to her Immaculate Heart. It is very good of His Excellency not only t...