The Hermeneutic of Continuity

Along with many other people, I do enjoy Simcha Fisher's writing. She is a fine example of the thoroughly modern orthodox Catholic woman: witheringly sceptical about feminism but also a woman to steer clear of if you have any thought of patronising women. Today she has a typically trenchant post on modesty in dress for women as the summer heat draws upon us. She lacerates the practice of wearing "look at me" flesh-exposing outfits while also being practical on the difficulty of choosing what to wear when it is hot (she ends up in the living room wearing a paper bag.) A good taster quote: If we're old enough to be choosing our own outfits, then we're old enough to choose something that doesn't look like it was dreamed up by a twelve-year-old boy who doesn't have a reliable father figure in the home. See: Why I'm Wearing This .

Family and Youth Concern has produced A Brief History of Marriage as a free online resource for schools. Many adults would find it a useful overview. Here is the summary from Family and Youth Concern: In twelve short chapters, experienced educator John de Waal traces the history of marriage from the ancient world of Egypt, Greece and Rome down to the present day. Along the way, he interacts with the disciplines of literature, theology, philosophy, psychology, politics and sociology in clear and accessible prose. Wide-ranging and varied in style, A Brief History of Marriage includes references to marriage customs, laws and policies through the ages, alongside extracts from love letters and quaint and homely tips given to husbands and wives in bygone days. Attractively produced and well-illustrated, this online resource is suitable for use in PSHE, history or Religious Education classes. Each chapter concludes with several questions which will stimulate further thought and p...

We are under pressure at work to achieve targets and our results are made public as a way of encouraging us. This can give rise to some bad feelings between us: can my faith be of any help in this? Competition is not a bad thing in itself and can be a way of encouraging people to work hard, but the intense atmosphere of some workplaces with public comparisons has an obvious downside in tempting people to deceit, jealousy and disloyalty to colleagues. Certainly our Christian way of life can be of help. First of all, at a management level, whilst competition is a motivator, the cohesiveness of a team is also crucial to overall effectiveness and better results. Backbiting in the office is not going to have a positive effect on the balance sheet. If you are not in a position to change the overall ethos at management level, you can still try to promote a better work atmosphere by living the virtues opposite to the vices which harm relationships in your own team. Integrity, honesty, trust...

At St George's Cathedral last night, Auntie Joanna was invested as a Dame of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St Gregory the Great , founded by Pope Gregory XVI in 1831. Mgr Keith Newton celebrated Mass and Archbishop Peter Smith presented the decoration. Fr Stephen Langridge of the Vocations Centre preached an excellent sermon. Aid to the Church in Need  recommended Joanna for the Order but Joanna's charitable and campaigning work extends far and wide over many years and through a wide variety of apostolic works and organisations. It was a lovely occasion and a great opportunity to meet up with many friends in the Amigo Hall afterwards. At one point there was a bit of a John Fisher Old Boys Reunion - "old" being the operative word since we are all, ahem, getting more "senior" now. Here is a close-up of the cross: And the citation: And a photo of Dame Joanna with Sir Dan of the Blogosphere: The above photos are all from the Flickr S...

Fr Z has the translated text of a great sermon by the Most Rev Luigi Negri , Archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio at a Mass according to the usus antiquior which he celebrated at the Marian shrine of Poggetto. He says that Pope Benedict "overcame that spurious distinction between “old” and “new” which is made by the followers of the hermeneutic of discontinuity" but there is so much good sense in this sermon concerning the place of the usus antiquior that I encourage you to read it all. The people of his diocese are fortunate indeed to have such a Bishop.

Many thanks to a commenter for pointing me to the article on the Eponymous flower blog: Why Pope Won't Fire Marini: "Put the Treasure of Tradition to Use . This has a translation of an article by Guiseppe Nardi with material supplementary to the article in Il Foglio which I mentioned yesterday . Tancred posted the translation earlier in the day and I missed it. (Note to self - put Eponymous Flower in higher category on Feedly.) As was also rightly commented, there is another important point in the episode worth noting, as well as the Holy Father's insistence that we should treasure tradition: some of the Italian Bishops have been putting pressure on the Holy Father to sack Mgr Guido Marini. He has refused, saying that he wants to benefit from Mgr Marini's traditional formation and to allow Mgr Marini also to be formed by him. Some may say "Oh what does Pope Francis mean by 'my emancipated formation'?" Well I think we just need to see how that...

The Bishops of the region of Tavoliere met recently with Pope Francis on an ad limina visit. On their return home, one has given a fascinating glimpse of the attitude of Pope Francis to those who are seeking to use the opportunity of his papacy to attack the traditional Mass. This is reported in the Italian paper Il Foglio , in the article: La messa antica non si tocca, il Papa gesuita spiazza ancora tutti ("The old mass is not to be touched, the Jesuit Pope wrong-foots everyone") Here is my translation of the relevant part of the article which tells of other bishops raising concerns with the Holy Father and goes on to speak of the intervention concerning the old Mass: Then it was the turn of the bishop of Conversano and Monopoli, Domenico Padovano, who recounted to the clergy of his diocese how the priority of the bishops of the region of Tavoliere had been that of explaining to the Pope that the mass in the old rite was creating great divisions within the Church. T...

The feast of St Norbert is on 6 June. Norbertine Vocations have therefore announced that there is a Novena to seek his intercession for our own needs and for the needs of the whole Church, starting today. The Norbertines of St Philip's Priory, Chelmsford , have produced a fine booklet which gives a summary of St Norbert's life, then texts for each day, including a reflection on some aspect of his life and spiritual example. Here is a link to a pdf of the booklet: Novena in Honour of St Norbert . St Norbert was one of many saints in the history of the Church whose work included the reform of the clergy: always a thankless task. In his case, the secular canons spat at him and tried to have him taken away by the secular authorities. St Norbert had a particular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, to Our Lady and to the relics of the saints. More information in the Novena booklet .

This day in 1965, Arundel and Brighton was erected as a Diocese and Southwark was elevated to a Metropolitan See. Congratulations to all my friends in Arundel and Brighton. Perhaps a glass of Prosecco might be allowed as that seems to be the celebratory drink of choice in many Catholic circles nowadays. A&B used to be known as the "gin & jag" diocese but a priest friend of mine suggested some years ago that it should be updated to "real ale & Range Rover." What would it be today? When the diocese was formed, the rule was that priests became part of A&B if they were stationed in the territory on the day the diocese came into being. I remember older priests telling me of manoeuvres to get into one or other diocese before the guillotine came down.

The Saint Edmund Campion Missal and Hymnal was kindly sent to me by someone whose name I cannot clearly make out from the signature on the enclosed card. Whoever you are, you have my warmest thanks and assurance of prayers. (You can email me if you wish.) The book could be described as a celebration of the glory  of the usus antiquior , a labour of love for tradition and beauty in the Sacred Liturgy. In the age of the Kindle, people often say that they like the feel of a real book and I reply that I do like real books but could not care much for glued paperbacks. This is a real book of fine quality: lovely to see such books still being made. The texts of the Ordinary for Low Mass and High Mass have photographs and colour illustrations, including newly created illuminated capitals. Throughout there are digitally enhanced line art illustrations (which are being made available online in high resolution.) There is an amazing section with ancient manuscript illustrations to sho...

Our Lady, the Divine Mercy and the Popes of the Marian Era from Blessed Pius IX to Benedict XVI. Stephen Walford focusses principally on the "Popes of the Marian era" (an expression he explains and justifies) their teaching on the end times and, more particularly, our response to the present time in which many of the signs of the end are present. The signs which previous Popes and saints discerned, sometimes in graphic language, are far more evident today than in their times which seem morally healthy and placid by comparison As he says at the end of chapter three: The popes of the Marian era, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary, carefully discerned the signs of the times and courageously proclaimed the reality that for the Church, its final, great struggle against the forces of evil was at hand. By recognising the maternal mediation of Mary, they placed before the faithful the image of the Hodegetria , she who "sho...