The Hermeneutic of Continuity

My friend is urging me to say the Rosary but I find it very difficult to concentrate. Aren’t these devotions optional? Should I persevere with it? It is true that outside the sacred Liturgy, we are left free to pray in different ways. However the Rosary does have the recommendation of Our Lady herself at Lourdes, Fatima and on many other occasions, and has been encouraged by the saints and most of the Popes of the past 500 years. Therefore I would encourage you to persevere. The Rosary combines both vocal and mental prayer. At times, we might focus on the words of the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be, repeated lovingly as to a dear friend. We are also invited to ponder the great events of Our Lord’s life, death and resurrection, raising our minds and hearts to God in praise and thanksgiving, and drawing new resolve for our Christian lives. Both the vocal prayers and the mysteries on which we meditate, draw us directly to Christ. Our Lady does not ask for attention for her own sa...

May I recommend to you the Filial Appeal to our Holy Father Pope Francis, requesting him to reaffirm the chaste and fecund family model taught by the Gospel and in accordance with natural law. Signatories include Cardinal Burke and Bishop Schneider.

People travel to visit Margate, but not usually over a distance of 9,000 miles. To be fair, Fr Michael Rowe has been in Europe for other reasons, notably the international conference in Rome of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy which I was so sorry to miss in January. Nevertheless, he took the train down from St Pancras today to visit one of the oldest missions in the Archdiocese of Southwark and it was great to catch up on news from Australia and many friends there. I was mortified to discover, after hearing confessions in the school, that it was actually snowing when I went down to the town centre to meet him. I thought that a good lunch was in order after such a journey and we were well looked after by the excellent bastion of good honest British restaurant tradition, Bentley's Lounge and Grill , at the bottom of the High Street. Father Rowe is Rector of the Traditional Latin Mass Centre at St Anne's in Belmont . I promised to post a photo for his people as he told...

For young adults in Scotland (aged 16-25), the Faith Movement offers a series of Thursday evening talks on the theme of "Friendship with Christ." These talks take place at 7.30pm in Turnbull Hall, University of Glasgow Chaplaincy, 13 –15 Southpark Terrace, Glasgow, G12 8LG and are followed by refreshments and Night Prayer. The nearest subway is at Hillhead or Kelvinbridge. 5th Feb ‘Seek the things that are above’ (Col 3:1) – Prayer at the Centre of our lives Fr Stephen Brown 19th Feb ‘Lord, Teach us how to pray’ (Lk 11:1) – The Our Father Fr Michael Kane 5th March ‘Things both Old and New’ (Mt 13:52) – Finding Christ in Scripture Canon Luiz Ruscillo 19th March ‘The seed that fell on good soil’ (Mt 13:8) – Christ and Culture David Kerr 16th April ‘Planted in Love & Built on Love’ (Eph 3:17) – The Family: school of prayer John Deighan

The Faith Movement is running a series of talks on The Church and other beliefs. They offer a great opportunity to deepen our faith and to connect with other Catholics. The talks are folllowed by wine and pizza. All are welcome. Talks take place on alternate Tuesday evenings at 7.30pm in the Crypt of Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church (entrance via basement steps to 24 Golden Square, London, W1F 9JR).Nearest tube station is Piccadilly Circus. The list of talks remaining in the series is as follows: Tuesday 10th February Are all religions equally valid? Anna-Marie Treloar Tuesday 24th February Can I love Christ but not the Church? Sr Andrea Fraile Tuesday 10th March The cosmic meaning of the Eucharist Fr Roger Nesbitt Tuesday 24th March Should the Church impose lifestyle choices? Edward Hadas

The January-February 2015 issue of Faith Magazine has been published. You can read the full articles online at the website or via issuu , or download a pdf of the Magazine. The editorial is on St Joseph, Model of Heroic Fatherhood , Joseph Estorninho has an article about Gregorian Chant in the GIRM , my regular column on the Liturgy tackles the question of The Scylla and Charybdis of Participation and there are many other items of interest including the question of science and religion which is at the heart of the Faith Movement's apostolate. I particularly recommend The Synod On The Family - A Mother's Perspective by Jacqueline Stewart. It is good to see her confidently billed as "a stay-at-home mum to five children whose ages range from 5 to 16." The article is an intelligent, direct, and critical appraisal of the Synod on the Family from the point of view of a mother trying to bring her children up in the Cathoilic faith. Se asks: What message was the C...

Christian Concern alerts us to a worrying development in the push to enforce the teaching of "British Values" in the wake of the "Trojan Horse" scandal of Muslim infiltration of state schools. An Open Consultation has been published on draft guidance to be issued under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, for "specified authorities to have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism." This is itself a dangerous Trojan Horse. Christian concern particularly highlights the effect that this guidance would have on Christian Unions in universities and Colleges (See:  Protect gospel freedom in universities and colleges ) We share the concern of our non-Catholic brothers and sisters in this matter because the guidance would also effect Catholic Societies at Universities and Colleges. Essentially, such societies would need to provide, at least two weeks in advance, details of speakers and events that they are organising, includin...

The British Province of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy has published a statement on Marriage in the teaching of the Catholic Church . Parish priests may wish to download the pdf version for distribution. This statement is a good summary of Catholic doctrine concerning marriage. Ordinarily, it might be considered simply a workmanlike pastoral document for sharing, to avoid different priests having to compose their own text. In the present circumstances, it has the character of a courageous statement of what we have always believed and continue to believe, despite the efforts of some to undermine Catholic teaching or compromise with the values of the world.

Sadly it is common in England today, to see advertisements for psychic fairs, shops selling occult paraphernalia, and booksellers displaying books of spells for young people. I recently called into a shop I thought might be interesting but walked out again smartly when I saw that there was a tarot card reading session taking place. Christians were blamed by superstitious Romans for natural misfortunes. Tertullian pokes fun at this. I quote him first in Latin, because lovers of his barrister's tour de force style will enjoy it. Si Tiberis ascendit in moenia, si Nilus non ascendit in arva, si caelum stetit, si terra movit, si fames, si lues, statim Christianos ad leonem! adclamatur. Tantos ad unum? ( Liber Apologeticus 40.1) The translation gets the meaning, but not the accelerating punch of the original: If the Tiber rises too high for the walls, or the Nile too low for the fields, if the heavens do not open, or the earth does, if there is famine, if there is plague, ins...

The number of fast trains from St Pancras to Margate was doubled shortly after Christmas to two each hour, each taking only an hour and a half. This will help to increase the number of visitors as well as those who realise that it is possible to commute to London and work on the train. Quite a few priests find their way down here on days off, and the attraction of the Shrine of St Augustine at Ramsgate brings many lay Catholics. Of course the senior Catholic parish here at Margate needs to be better known as well ;-) Last weekend was one of those on which many things and people came together. The new Schola Sancti Augustini , directed by Tom Neal is formed of local volunteers who wish to learn and sing Gregorian Chant. They plan to sing Vespers once a month at the Shrine of St Augustine and yesterday was the first occasion. Above you can see Fr Holden, the Rector of the Shrine, incensing the altar during the Magnificat . The Church, if you don't already know, was AW Pugin...

Hospital chaplaincy was a part of the first five years of my priestly ministry 30 years ago. I must admit honestly that I was not looking forward to being on hospital call-out again after such a long time. A good priest friend (younger than me) brought me up sharply by saying simply "Well you get people into heaven." I should have re-read the section of my own sacramental theology notes where I observe that the doctrine of Trent was forgotten because of Jansenist rigour. I rely heavily on the manual of Fr Felix Cappello De Sacramentis published in 1945. He develops an interesting line of thought on the end or purpose of the sacrament of extreme unction and refers to the Council of Trent’s introduction to the sacrament where it teaches that By the sacrament of extreme unction, he [ viz . our most merciful Redeemer] strengthens the end of life with a most firm defence. (Session 14 " Doctrina de sacramento extremae unctionis " c.1 - Denzinger 1694/907) Cappello ...