The Hermeneutic of Continuity

The fire-starters are outside loading up the oil drum with kindling. The MC is making final preparations and the choir are settling in to make sure that they have firmly in their minds how all the bits of the modern rite of the Easter Vigil fit together (not easy) and I have done the last edit for my sermon. We have four catechumens to be baptised and I have heard 75 confessions during the Great Week to prepare to rejoice in the resurrection of Christ. A great festival is almost upon us. There has been much to ponder over the past few days and I have been reading many blogs, ruminating on various opinions expressed, and forming some thoughts in my own mind which may mature enough for me to think they might be worth sharing in due course. In the meantime, let us rejoice because Christ is risen indeed. We have life in Him through our Baptism, the "bath of regeneration" (Titus 3.5) and continually through our communion with the Church of Rome founded on the rock which is ...

My daughter is preparing for her first Confession and I was explaining to her about the seal. I thought you would be amused by her question “Can the priest tell the Pope your sins?” I am glad that you knew the answer to your daughter’s question and that you were able to explain to her that the priest is not allowed to reveal anyone’s sins, even to the Pope. As so often, the simple questions of young children take us deeper than we might think at first. The Pope is the supreme legislator in the Church. If the confessional seal were a matter of ecclesiastical law, he would be able to dispense from it. Catholics know instinctively that there would be something wrong with that. Their instinct is right because the confessional seal binds the priest by divine law, not Church law. The only person who can give a priest permission to speak about a confessed sin is the penitent himself. If the priest, in the context of sacramental confession, comes to know of a grave evil that could threaten ...

I know that some of you in the Midwest or Alaska or somewhere like that, bravely endure temperatures of 30 below for much of the winter, but here in South East England we don't expect to be freezing in the last week of March. We had the Palm Sunday procession accompanied by a light dusting of snow, for goodness sake! Normally placid and enduring friends of mine who will put up with rain at Wimbledon or the Oval, and think nothing of the occasional unseasonal gale are beginning to lose patience with the weather. We have run out of variants on "Oof! It's chilly." If the temperature of "not much above zero with a windchill of -5 degrees" continues for much longer there is a real danger of some losing control and becoming "Just a Bit Fed Up."

The four gospels often describe the same episode in slightly different ways: a good example is the entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem. The analysis of these differences is called "redaction criticism" in scripture studies, focussing on the distinct contributions of the different authors. What is not studied so much is the way in which the texts of the sacred liturgy often give us a ready-made reconciliation of the gospels. In the case of the traditional sung texts, this composite picture is an important source in itself. In the sung texts of the traditional Roman rite, the first part of today's Palm Sunday liturgy gives greater emphasis to the children than we might otherwise take from a reading of the gospel texts themselves. Particular weight is given to the mention of children in St Matthew's gospel: And the chief priests and scribes, seeing the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying: Hosanna to the son of David; were m...

The parish Confirmations are always a most enjoyable occasion for me. Seeing twenty-five young people come before the successor of the apostles to be anointed and receive the Holy Spirit's grace for strengthening is a sign of hope for the Church and a joy to the parish priest. Today I also received two converts into full communion with the Catholic Church and we have four more to be baptised at the Easter Vigil next Saturday. It is wonderful to welcome people into communion with the See of Peter and through that bond into communion with every Catholic Church throughout the world. On Wednesday evening I visited the Priory of St Philip at Chelmsford to give a talk on Lumen Gentium and the theology of the Church. On a cold evening it was impressive to see a full hall. The Norbertines are running a healthy large parish in Essex with fine Liturgy, including their own traditional rite. I had the chance for a chat with some of the Fathers afterwards. This morning, looking at the ne...

For people in reach of central London there are always many beautiful liturgical celebrations during Holy Week at various Churches. This year the Ordinariate will have a full programme in the Church which they have recently begun to take care of, Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory in Warwick Street, Soho. The poster above gives the details. I have posted the full resolution file so if you click it, you can see it full size.

Fr Julian Large, Provost of the London Oratory, was himself a journalist before becoming a priest. His schooling in this field is evident in the quality of writing in his public Letters from the Provost and never more so than in his latest superb piece on the election of Pope Francis. This is genuinely pastoral writing at its very best. In looking for a couple of quotes to pull out, I was spoilt for choice, so let me just take what I think is the core of Father's message to his people, while urging you to read the whole letter, especially if you are a bit nervous or confused at the moment: Whatever personal feelings – euphoric, neutral or negative – an individual might experience towards the person of any particular pope are neither here nor there as far as being a good Catholic is concerned. There is, however, a very definite and proper Catholic response to the election of a new Pope. We receive the Successor of St Peter into our hearts with love, and we support him with our...

I was thinking of writing something about our duty as Catholics to be loyal to the Pope. I am grateful that Bishop Mark Davies has saved me the trouble by writing a fine pastoral letter on the theme, calling inter alia for prayer and penance:: Pastoral Letter To be read at Mass in all the churches and chapels of the Diocese on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, 16th / 17th March 2013 My dear brothers and sisters, “I announce a great joy to you: we have a Pope!” This announcement first made from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome has echoed across the world. I write this Sunday to share with you the joy of welcoming Pope Francis as St Peter’s Successor, as Bishop of Rome and so as our Pope. During the past two weeks the Chair of St Peter has stood empty and the Pope’s name has poignantly been absent from the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass. We have felt this absence and today share a great joy that in Pope Francis we once more have a Holy Father, a successor in our time of the Ap...

One day earlier this week I saw a mother about the baptism of her baby, a grieving family about the funeral of a fine father and grandfather, schoolchildren about singing the texts of the Mass, teenagers about their forthcoming Confirmation and then a couple to rehearse their marriage ceremony. Today I heard the confessions of some children in the school and later some children making their first Confession after our evening service of Rosary, Benediction and Novena. Tomorrow I will be celebrating a funeral and on Saturday a wedding. All of these things bring joy to me as a priest. Baptisms and Weddings obviously, but also funerals because the rites of the Church enable us to overcome the world's attitude to death as meaningless, and in the sacrament of Penance we rejoice in the Lord's compassion and mercy. I have several funerals to celebrate in the next two weeks and it is most consoling if I have also given the Sacraments to the person during their time of dying so that...

My post on the Old Rite Mass in Argentina was in response to several comments I read in various places stating that there is no provision for the usus antiquior in Argentina. I did not intend to make any criticism of the Rorate Caeli blog (which did not make that assertion) and I apologise if that impression was given. I am also happy to link to NC's post How Summorum Pontificum was blocked and trampled on in Buenos Aires: facts, not fantasy and disinformation . So although Cardinal Bergoglio did initially arrange for a Mass according to the norms of Summorum Pontificum , it was such that the readings were from the modern lectionary in the vernacular - so far in accord with a possible first reading of SP (though Universae Ecclesiae  n.26 made clear that the readings should be from the 1962 lectionary) - but also with lay readers which is not provided for in SP. Attendance at the Mass dwindled and it was discontinued. Just to be clear also, the Masses which are on the google ...

Just by the way ...