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Cardinal Ranjith calls for return of Vetus Ordo

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NLM has published the text of a  letter written by Cardinal Ranjith  to the General Assembly of the International Federation Una Voce in which His Eminence invites us to encourage the return of the older form of the Roman Rite as a part of the renewal of the Church desired by the Fathers of Vatican II: Liturgy for this reason can never be what man creates. For if we worship the way we want and fix the rules ourselves, then we run the risk of recreating Aaron's golden calf. We ought to constantly insist on worship as participation in what God Himself does, else we run the risk of engaging in idolatry. Liturgical symbolism helps us to rise above what is human to what is divine. In this, it is my firm conviction that the Vetus Ordo represents to a great extent and in the most fulfilling way that mystical and transcendent call to an encounter with God in the liturgy. Hence the time has come for us to not only renew through radical changes the content of the new Liturgy, but...
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Responsible drinking advice Fail

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At a restaurant I visited recently, the above card was on the table. I was amused by the advice to "Enjoy Alcohol Responsibly" after the offer of an extra free bottle of wine if you purchase four.
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A milestone in the decline in Latin?

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Perhaps readers may be able to help with this query from Hughie in the combox of my previous post : I understand that in view of the concerns expressed by the Council Fathers, Pope Paul VI set up a commission of three cardinals to examine the question of whether the particular Churches should be allowed to communicate with the dicasteries of the Roman Curia in languages other than Latin. It is my understanding that Scotland’s William Theodore Cardinal Heard was one of the three. I believe that Cardinal Roberti MAY have been one of the others. The problem is, I have never been able to locate anything about the report of the commission or anything about what Pope Paul VI decided, although it is obvious that they recommended, and the Pope accepted, that it was unreasonable/unadvisable (sic) to insist on the local Churches communicating in Latin.  I wondered if, bearing in mind your expertise in the Latin, you knew anything about this. I am afraid that I don't know anything ab...
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Finally listening to Blessed John XXIII?

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Blessed Pope John XXIII, in the Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia  of 1962, strongly mandated the study and use of Latin in ecclesiastical studies, theology, the Liturgy, and as a prerequisite for priestly formation. This February, there is to be an International Convention  in Rome to mark the 50th anniversary of Veterum Sapientia . I can't help thinking that after 50 years we are perhaps finally prepared to take the document of the Blessed Pope seriously. Here is one passage from the standard translation that you can find in various places on the internet: Of its very nature Latin is most suitable for promoting every form of culture among peoples. It gives rise to no jealousies. It does not favor any one nation, but presents itself with equal impartiality to all and is equally acceptable to all. And here is the  Latin original : Suae enim sponte naturae lingua Latina ad provehendum apud populos quoslibet omnem humanitatis cultum est peraccommodata: cum...
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Happy Christmas

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Happy Christmas to all of you. Thank you for your witness to the faith, thank you for making the world a better place by raising your families, by being priests, by living the evangelical counsels, by being an apostolic single people in the world, and by all the other things that you do for the glory of God. And thank you for reading my blog. May God bless you and all your loved ones on this glorious feast.
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Christ the embryo recognised

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Youth Defence , the upbeat Irish pro-life group, produced this video to help promote the pro-life message for Christmas. In recent years we have come to know more than our forbears about the process of life in the womb; it is right that we apply this to the growth of Jesus Christ from a single-celled embryo. Remember that after Our Lady conceived Our Lord in her womb, she went with haste to the hill country of Judea to visit St Elizabeth who asked why she should be honoured with a visit from the mother of her Lord. The twenty-four week foetus, St John the Baptist leapt in the womb in recognition of Christ. Both of them recognised their Saviour when he was perhaps a five day old embryo.
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Chen Guangchen and further shame on the Chinese government

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 In 2006 , 2009 and earlier this year I posted on the courageous blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng who exposed and spoke out against the policy of forced abortion and sterilisation in the Shandong Province in China. Thanks to Batman star Christian Bale, his case has been given worldwide publicity via  CNN . LifeSite News has the story; it was also reported in the Daily Telegraph , the Sun , and many other news outlets throughout the world; though both the Telegraph and the Sun fail to mention just exactly what human rights Chen was campaigning for - namely the right of women not to be subject to forced sterilisation and the right of women and babies not to be subjected to the process of forced abortion. John Smeaton has highlighted a campaign which originated as a gesture of support for Chen on his 40th birthday on 12 November - but I'm sure further contributions would be welcome (they do say that the campaign will only end when Chen is free.) Chen is blind and the ...
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CCC meetings forthcoming

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Just picked up from the feed of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy that there are meetings for the Western Chapter on 23 January and 6 March, and there is a meeting for the Southern Chapter at St Patrick's, Soho Square on Thursday 9 February. Details at the CCC website . I should be able to make the February meeting in London so look forward to seeing some confreres there.
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Taking it on the chin

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In his book "The Stripping of the Altars", Eamonn Duffy tells of how the priest would quiz parishioners at their Easter shriving on whether they had carried out the works of mercy. One of those works is to visit people in prison. The other day, our Holy Father did this, going to see the prisoners at Rebbibia in Rome. He did a Q&A session in which one exchange went: Q. My name is Federico. ... What can sick and HIV-positive prisoners ask of the Pope? ... We are barely mentioned, but, when we are, in aggressive terms, as if seeking to have us eliminated from society. This makes us feel subhuman. A. "We have to endure the fact that people speak about us 'aggressively'. They also speak 'aggressively' about the Pope, yet nonetheless we move on. I think it is important to encourage everyone to think positively, to understand your sufferings, to understand the need to help you rise again. I will do my part, inviting everyone to think in the right way, ...
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Christmas at Blackfen

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For a couple of years, we were the only place in England to have solemn High Mass at midnight for Christmas. Now, I think there are one or two others but it is still quite a rarity. So if you want to join us, you would be most welcome. The Church is open from 11pm, there are some carols before Mass, blessing of the crib and Mass at midnight. We also have 9am and 10.30am masses sung in English with the tones given in the new (corrected) translation of the Missal. For New Year's Eve, we have adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from 11pm, with the Te Deum and Benediction at midnight (accompanied by fireworks, set off by our neighbours.) You can see the full list of our Christmas and New Year services at the parish website .
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Congratulations to new Deacons for Southwark

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St John's Seminary at Wonersh was in festive mood today as Rev Oladele Craig and Rev Kurt Barragan were ordained as Deacons. God willing, they will be ordained to the sacred priesthood this coming summer. The celebration of the Liturgy was dignified and reverent, co-ordinated with discreet expertise by the Seminary MC, Simon Dray. The music was unmistakeably sacred music: the Missa Orbis Factor was used for the ordinary, and the English chants for Mass drew on both Eastern and Western traditions. The Schola gave a fine rendition of Tallis's If ye love me . An impressive number of clergy from the diocese participated, so it was a good opportunity to catch up with friends afterwards over lunch.  The ordinati both went through my Sacramental Theology class last academic year. I am beginning to wonder whether it is a kind of hurdle before ordination (i.e. if you can survive that, you can survive anything!) Here is a photo of myself with Rev Oladele Craig:   And her...
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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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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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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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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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