Wollongongensis

A new "Liturgical Book" - I think not!

2011-06-02T00:53:00.000-07:00

They say that the path to hell is paved with good intentions it seems this new book is one such paving. The last remaining chants of the sacred ministers which have survived to the present as ad libitum cantillations have been wiped away by a solitary tome!

Could they not have opted for simply pointing the text? Is the book to remain on the altar beside the missal to be clumsily interchanged as needed. Sounds like fussy bad liturgy to me. It won't do! If a man can read the chant from a book sounds to me like he should jolly well take the time to learn to apply the rules and point his own text. Such a lot of nonsense! I just can't get over the huberus of this book - replacing a tradition, as Dr Mary Berry always liked to remind us, that went back to the Temple itself!

2011-05-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

THE MAGIC CIRCLE DANCES TO ANOTHER PIPERS TUNE
Since the Popes recent visit the tune seems to have changed.

Not only have the Bishops of England and Wales restored abstinence from meat on Fridays - but now they are actively hailing the New translation as not "change for change's sake," but will "ensure greater fidelity to the liturgical tradition of the Church" according to CNA/EWTN News.

"In a letter to be read in all parishes May 29, the bishops say the current translation of the Mass does not express the full meaning of the original Latin and loses some of the "teaching of the faith," meant to be communicated in the liturgy.

"In the earlier translation not all the meaning of the original Latin text was fully expressed and a number of the terms that were used to convey the teachings of the faith were lost," the Bishops of England and Wales say in the letter, which was obtained by CNA.

The bishops note that the language is important for passing on the true teachings of the faith because "the way we pray forms the way we believe."

The present English translation of the Mass was prepared in 1973 by an international team appointed by bishops conferences in the 11 countries where English is a dominant language.

The new translation, known as the third typical edition of the Roman Missal, will be fully introduced throughout the English-speaking world on the first Sunday of Advent.

In their letter, the bishops say the new version provides "a closer connection with the Sacred Scriptures which inspire so much of our liturgy."

In order to prepare parishes for the change-over, the English bishops plan to phase in the texts beginning in September. They will also provide resources explaining each change as it happens. A similar program of catechesis is being planned for schools. Meanwhile, new musical settings are also being composed.

Implementing the new translation "offers an opportunity to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the mystery we celebrate each week," they added.

They also quoted Pope Benedict XVI, who said on his visit to England in 2010 that the new edition of the Missal should be welcomed with "in-depth catechesis on the Eucharist, and renewed devotion in the manner of its celebration."
And what does the New Liturgy of the Ordinariate hold in store? These and more question to be answered in the next few months

Toowoomba - the truth starts to emerge

2011-05-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

THE TRUTH ABOUT TOOWOOMBA

Perth, Australia, May 20 (CNA) .- The dismissed Bishop William Morris effectively promoted heresy and had to choose between following his way or the way of the Catholic Church, an editorial in the Perth archdiocesan newspaper said.

The Vatican's removal of the Bishop of Toowoomba involves "fundamental" questions about the nature of the Church and Church authority, the Archdiocese of Perth's official newspaper The Record said in a May 18 editorial titled "a Bishop that had to go."

"One mentality is informed by two millennia of constant belief and practice, often heroically witnessed to by martyrdom, the other by the mass media and the fashionable theories that abound in our culture," the paper said. "On the side of the essential unity of Church belief and teaching from Christ up until the present is Pope Benedict; on the side of changing Church teaching and practice to suit some values of majority opinion, sadly, was Bishop Morris."

On May 2 the Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI removed the bishop from the pastoral care of his diocese. Australia's bishops backed the decision, citing "problems of doctrine and discipline."

Bishop Morris drew attention for his actions contrary to Church teaching and practice. He had called for Protestant ministers to celebrate Mass and for the ordination of women. Lay Catholics co-celebrated Communion services with priests and the bishop's diocese also had widespread use of "general absolution" rites as an alternative to personal confession.

"The problem for Bishop Morris, in the end, was that given the two positions he had to make a choice - his way or the Catholic Church way. The problem for the Church was how to handle a Bishop well down the road in effectively promoting what might now reasonably be called heresy in his diocese," The Record said.

Critical to the disagreement was whether one understood the Church as continuous or discontinuous with the Church before the Second Vatican Council, the editorial continued.

The first outlook sees Church history as "an organic and constantly developing unity," accepting that some doctrines cannot change. These unchangeable things are like constellations by which the ordinary Catholic can safely navigate.

The second outlook regards much of the pre-Vatican II Church as "somehow deficient." It seeks to obscure, change or reverse Church teaching, including dogmatic definitions.

"It usually seeks to do so in accord with moral relativism and the values predominantly to be found in popular culture," The Record said.

Bishop Morris was treated with "the utmost delicacy, discretion and respect" and given over 10 years to resolve issues about his governance of the diocese.

"At the end of the day, however, the issue under debate was the simple fact that in the Catholic Church every Bishop, a successor to the apostles, is obliged by sacred oath to teach what the Catholic Church teaches – period," said the newspaper.

The Record noted that ordinary Catholics face an "unprecedented onslaught against their faith." They do not need "bishops who will obscure the way" and are "sadly, better off without them."

Bishop Brian Finnigan, an auxiliary bishop of Brisbane, has been appointed interim apostolic administrator of Toowoomba until a replacement is appointed.

BISHOP OF MAITLAND-NEWCASTE RESIGNS

2011-04-09T01:18:00.000-07:00

Malone has resigned, why? One report seems to imply that he is not coping with the sex abuse issueSs that have plagued the diocese - no mention of the accusation made against the bishop himself of mistresses and paramours - these have been were largely ignored - perhaps the truth is that the pidgeons have come home to roost. Well what ever the reason thank God that's over!

Sources in the diocese have indicated that anyone was going to be better - well the former parish priest of Sutherland and indeed Liverpool has been named - looks like the "good administrator" rasionale has kicked in a again. So it's more of the same though for now - with perhaps a littel less contraversy.

No friend of the Classical Latin Rite, I'm afraid - there are still issues pending from Liverpool on this score or so I'm told.

What has the ACCC been doing? Where any name put forward to Rome? Don't think so...
Looks like the other lot did though.

The Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham made Protonotary Apostolic

2011-03-21T05:05:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham (England and Wales) Mons. Keith Newton who was made Protonotary Apostolic, last week. Congratulations also to Mons. Broadhurst and Burnham who have been raised to the dignity of prelates of the papal household. Ad Multos Annos.

Our prayers are with all those who have now begun the process of preparation for reception and entry into the Ordinariate at Easter.

Pontifical Mass in the Antipodes - Extraordinary Form!

2011-03-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

Solemn Pontifical Mass at St Brigids, Marrickville celebrated by Cardinal Burke

Well, Happy Reader, what a Grand Occasion I found myself at on Saturday! A Pontifical High Mass celebrated by an American Cardinal resident in Rome, but visiting Australia. It seemed like all the worst combinations, but who would have expected such beauty in downtown Sydney? I was excessively diverted.
In processed His Eminence Cardinal Burke swathed in red and attended by his inferior ministers. Gasps were heard and I feel sure I recall seeing a group of matronly-looking woman swoon as the cappa magna swept past them. I saw a couple of dilettanti complaining about a cappa magna being used at all on a ferial day in Lent, but no one took any notice of them. It was too good.

The Mass was sung by a choir of local Catholics and a rather fine job they did of it - chant and polyphony in a happy and harmonious blend. I did miss not hearing much of the organ, but of course it was Lent and we Catholics like to observe these distinctions. We must have our marks of Penance.

The ceremonies in the sanctuary all seemed to go quite well: there were any number of copes on the altar, I got quite dizzied by their swirls. The Cardinal wore the most tremendous mitres. Most of the vestments seemed to match each other. I cornered a priest afterwards and asked him where the vestments came from. He told me in hushed tones that they were the gift of an undisclosed Patroness of the High Arts.

I understand that they were especially made for this Mass by an anonymous women from the Diocese of Perth famed for her work in making sets for the theatre. A bystander, who seemed to know in close detail everything that was going on said, "no", they were vestments of the Saint Bede Studio.

[Editor's note: We can confirm that these vestments were NOT made by the Saint Bede Studio, but certainly represent a courageous attempt at replicating them].

The Cardinal gave a very effective homily which, happily, didn't last too long, because no one could see him save those seated at the altar. He sat at a rather nice chair, but hanging somewhat insecurely over him was a drape, intending to create a canopy. Looking at this edifice afterwards, I couldn't help but think that it in part resembled a Hansom Cab, partly a bed in the High Victorian style and lastly the wimple and veil of Saint Faustina.

High Altar, Civory and the bonnett like canopy and throne

I could not quite describe the style of the Church to English readers: something between Spanish Mission style and inter-war Portugese. It was a peculiar variety of Ethnic Art Deco. Still, a beautiful church and quite full for the occasion with enthusiasts of all ages.

The above article was submitted to us by an English authoress, who happened to be present for the Pontifical Mass, but who preferred to remain anonymous.

Of Angels and Riddleposts and Buckfast

2011-02-21T21:34:00.000-08:00

The angels on top of the riddleposts are such a lovely feature of the "English Altar", I saw them yesterday on top a dossal at Buckfast Abbey yesterday and remembered that they usee to mount the tops of the riddle posts there at one time too.

The riddlescreens add such dignity to the altar and seem to help with notion of vesting it. The current arrangment is still good and multifunctional, I suppose, but the Englishness is gone and it seems somewhat bare now.

Defiant priests refuse new translations

2011-02-20T06:48:00.000-08:00

Typically arrogrant clergy such as Fr Corothers of St Declans Penshurst and a dozen or so others, again impose their willfullness on happless congregations - by refusing to use the new translation (if only as many had refused the outrageous imposition of a new liturgy in 1970) So what's new! An academic approach to the translation is not of interest, why - because it's not about the translation in reality - it's about Vatican II and the interpertation or misinterpertation as the case may be.

Poor Fr Corothers, he does have a penchant for attention seeking behaviour, but is he just being faithful to the inerpretation which were being promoted at the time of his training? That would give some nobility to his cause, but who is to blame for his position? Well the answer is; mosty dead bishops who allowed this interpertation to flourish. His lack of openess is the real problem, he's now become a recalcitrent conservative unable to let go of the past! Wondering what to do with those hiddeous 70's vestements ? send them to Fr Corothers!

THE "ORDINARIATE JOURNEY" - A new Pilgrimage of Grace

2011-02-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

The Pilgrimage of Grace under the banner of the Five Wounds

I just saw the term "the Scottish Ordinariate Journey" and thought, what a delightful turn of phrase! Anglicanorum Coetibus certainly is a dynamic document as Fr Phillips from the U.S. observes. As various people come together in different parts of the world - truly it is a new "Pilgrimage of Grace".

The birthing pains of the Ordinariates are seeing realignments not only within the Catholic Church but also in the ecclesial bodies from which they come

The Church of England authorities will pretend, to the best of their ablity that it's business as usual and "close the lytch gate behind you as you leave". Meanwhile in the continuing Anglican world, many will be realigning themselves in order to continue and indeed survive.

I imagine that in the future there will be two principal reference points for Anglicanism, the Ordinariate Anglicans in union with the Pope on one side, and the affirming Anglicans in union with Canterbury on the other. Undoubtedly both those in union with Canterbury and those continuring Anglican groups will suffer a constant hemorage as the Anglicans of the Ordinariate regrafted onto the stem from which they sprung begin to flourish. One thing is for certain Anglicanism will never be the same.

Wir haben einen neuen Abt!

2011-02-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

We have a new Abbot!

THE CISTERCIAN ABBEY OF HEILIGEN KREUZ (THE HOLY CROSS) HAS ELECTED A NEW ABBOT

Heiligen Kreuz Abbey is one of the most significant abbey's in the German speaking world, both because of it's retention of a full latin liturgy, but also for it's traditional manner of celebrating.

It may prove to be one of the most influential and significant monastic centre's of our age, and at very least as a reference point for the cistercian world.

Portal of the Abbey of Cluny

Feliciter! Feliciter! Feliciter!

A Familiar Hymn - Osternacht im Kölner Dom 2010: Tauferneuerung

2011-02-09T04:45:00.000-08:00

A familiar tune

Irish Priests having problems with new translation of the Mass

2011-02-07T19:18:00.000-08:00

I note over on Rorate-Caeli a study on the new translation submitted by an association Irish Priests filled with the most hacknied arguements and critisims - all of which have already been addressed elsewhere ad nauseum....

All though I do not entirely approve of it, the expression "BUILD A BRIDGE AND GET OVER IT!" comes to mind.

Spare us the poor arguements about "eliteism" "lack of inclusiveness" "unpastoralness" - Enough is enough is enough - I mean really you've had your chance, and while I know failure isn't in your vocabulary, at least with regard to your own pastoral strategy, it definitely is in mine and the people to whom you minister (or once ministered too).

Oh and by the way, the Anglican Church has taken on board most of your suggestions I believe they are always happy to accomodate people with your views as well (just a thought) - It certainly is a good way to assess the value of your strategies...don't you think? The laity don't seem to be in evidence much though...sadley. You will be pleased to hear the Anglican traditionalist are no longer welcome in their own church, a situation that we are happily reversing the Catholic Church thanks to the Holy Father.

I do hope that you have the integrity to leave - when you clearly no longer believe...

In Domino

Continuing Anglicans - some observations I

2011-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Accross the bloggosphere there was great excitment as the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was established for England and Wales - despite anxious concern from every quarter after more than six months of waiting - a great balance and sensivity was achieved in it's establishment.

England was the logical place to establish the first ordinariate both from an historical and political point of view, indeed it seems that there has been little or no rancour from "Continuing Anglicans" who although they may have concerns about liturgical practices, would never the less recognise the significance and importance of the reception and ordination of three reigning Anglican Bishops who not even a month ago were in union with Canterbury.

It will be interesting to see what arrangments are made for the "Continuing Anglicans" who wish to enter the English Ordinariate. Without a doubt their treatment must be one of great sensitivity - they afterall left many years ago and suffered seperation and even rejection from their fellow Anglicans.

Yet "Continuing Anglicanism" seems to the avarage Catholic a confusing mess! Accessively fond of acronyms made of the same words but in a slightly different order each group must claim some advantage for it's position. Their divisions have increased since the Holy Father granted to them what few could have  imagined; terms which recognise and respect their traditions. Some have turned and fled, even after signing the very petition which brought about the Papal response. One thing seems clear - collectively these groups sometimes seem to be more united in what they reject than what they accept.

In the blogosphere one can glean a sometimes visceral anti-catholicism (Romanism) - but more frequently just some old fashioned anglo-catholic predjudices relating to sloppy catholic liturgy, sacarin devotions, lack of good taste in chruch decoration and ornamentation and poor quality music to name but a few things (all of the accidents but not the substance).   Odd that for people who place such value on graciousness and old fashioned manners that comments have been so scathing of others both within and without their ranks.

It is true that generally speaking "Continuing Anglicans" have much more traditional liturgical practices than Anglicans associated with the major/dominant national churchs still in union with Canterbury. It is probably also true that their very open and public contribution to achieving unity with the Catholic Church has been essential in eliciting the decree Anglorum Coetibus from Rome.  The posession of property (churches) has certain distinct advantages...(more soon - including the Anglican Use Catholics, The failed Pro-Diocese of Canterbury, the Established Churches - Are some people sounding their own drumbs to much? etc.)

Remarkable Rites and Customs

2011-02-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

Over at the English Catholic blog there is a remarkable story about Fr Quintin Montgomery who kept alive regional usage - worth a look at...

Catholic Sarum Candlemas

2011-02-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Feast...

St Teilo's Church at Saint Fagans

2011-02-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

THis is marvellous!

The Seven Penitential Psalms - V, VI & VII

2011-02-01T18:54:00.000-08:00

The Seven Penitential Psalms - III & IV

2011-02-01T18:53:00.000-08:00

The Reconciliation of Penitents

2011-02-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

How familiar this all seems...

OOO - Overwhelmed by the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

2011-01-21T02:19:00.000-08:00

God Bless the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and all who sail in her!

Rites of the Ordinariates

2010-12-30T17:39:00.000-08:00

Some observations about the liturgical question associated with the upcoming Ordinariates from a traditionalist RC perspective.

AngloCatholic High Mass

Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I can see there seem to be a number of different rites, uses and practices which will contend for a place under the banner of the much discussed Anglican Patrimony.

The issue of the liturgical use of the Ordinariates will, no doubt, very soon be the subject of heated debate among our Ordinariate bound brethren.

For those traditional Catholics who welcome and embrace the traditional liturgical heritage of the Church there is a hope that the dominant variation of the Roman Rite known in England before the Reformation the "Use of Sarum" or the Sarum Rite will be restored as the Extraordinary Form of the Ordinariate.

Anglo Papalists who prefer the Counter Reformation Rites of the Latin Church require no legislation or special permission to use either the Usus Antiquior or the Usus Recentior what remains to be done:

1. Approved English Translation of the Usus Antiquior for liturgical use- The English Missal seems to be the obvious choice.

2. An Ordinariate Calendar with local variations.

Dearmerites will be aware that the Pre-Reformation Rites however require some positive work to permit their resusitation - Cramner Godly Order alone will not do; rather the Usus Salisburiensis whole and entire -what needed:

1. A Latin typical Edition

2. Current liturgical Calendar

3. A Sarum Ritus Servandus

4. An approved English translation of the Sarum Rite.

5. The restoration of the Sarum Divine Office at very least for religious and collegiat churches

Fr Christopher Phillips in the USA, developed the Anglican Use - Which is a hybrid Anglican/Cramnarian version of the current Roman Rite. From what I gather it is not a work that he regards as complete or rather finalised indeed Anglorum Ceotibus opens the door for its further development and adaptation.

Traditional Anglican Primate expects 1,000 Australians to join Ordinariate

2010-12-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

Sydney, Australia, December 22 (CNA/EWTN News) .- Archbishop John Hepworth of the Traditional Anglican Communion has said that about 1,000 Australians are expected to join the Catholic Church through a special jurisdiction created by Pope Benedict XVI.

Catholics, mainstream Anglicans and members of the breakaway Traditional Anglican Communion established a nine-member committee last week to oversee the transition by June 12, 2011.

The Anglicans believe they will be able to retain their church properties, which removes one obstacle to their entry into the Catholic Church, the Australian newspaper The Age reports.

Archbishop Hepworth said that if Anglican priests and congregations do not resign, they might be able to show "beneficial ownership" and keep their properties. He noted that in England the Archbishop of

Canterbury has allowed departing Anglicans to keep using their properties. The Australian archbishop said he hoped the Australian church would do the same.

"It would be the tolerant and godly thing to do," he said.

The Anglicans seeking entry into the Catholic Church have objected to theological changes in the Anglican Communion such as the ordination of women. Under the Anglican ordinariate which Pope Benedict established in his 2009 apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus," they will keep their clergy, liturgy and church structures.

Archbishop Hepworth reported that an Australian ordinariate would have churches in all capital cities of the country and in many regional and rural places.

The Traditional Anglican Communion claims 400,000 members worldwide but only 700 in Australia.

Sarum - Salisbury

2010-12-21T21:28:00.000-08:00

These photos (was it from the Parsons Handbook by Percy Dearmer) have always captured my liturgical imagination - such style, such order, such symitary - Is this what pre-reformation liturgy looked like in England?

I was dissappointed to learn that the Cramnerian/Protestant text was ornamented and (if you like Catholisiced by super imposition of Sarum Coreography (a bit like theHigh Mass at the Brompton Oratory - Novus Ordo Libretto with Tridentine Coreography).

Do we have an historic opportunity to restore this order and beauty as part of the Anglican Ordinariates - I think so. It strikes me that if there was a contribution that Traditionalist Catholics could make is to promote the Idea of an Extraordinary Form for the Ordinarate being the the full Sarum Rite (typical edition in Latin of course) the hermaneutic of continuity in action.

Music in Parochial Churches

2010-12-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

MUSICAL RESPONSIBLITIES IN A PARISH CHURCH
1. Pre-eminence of Liturgical Prayer

In more recent years, various popular devotions and Para liturgical celebrations have come to greater prominence and popularity. In many cases this has occurred as a direct result of the decline of liturgical prayer, but perhaps more directly as a result of the loss of the sense of sacred in liturgical celebrations generally. In some cases Para liturgical celebrations have been used to continue practices once associated with the liturgy itself[1] and sadly in some countries there is greater attendance at devotions than for the Sunday Mass[2].

Clearly the public celebration of the official prayer of the Church must take precedence over other more popular devotions, where it is offered. And whilst it is the proper place of the clergy to promote these celebrations, it is also incumbent upon musicians to promote and support their pastors by giving priority to these celebrations in their planning and by their attendance. Popular devotions will always have a place but they are by their very nature additional to the public worship of the church - and should be represented as such in the Parish programme.

2. Selection of music for different parts of the liturgy.

In many respects the selection of music is much easier for the usus antiquior, since the vast bulk of the music (i.e. the proper) is set down and may not be deviated from. It is in the selection of the Ordinaries, motets and the use of the Organ that more scope is given to musicians.

The chants of the ordinary of the Mass, as opposed to the proper and motets, have a special place in that their texts do not vary, making them imminently accessible to the congregation. Indeed it is envisaged by all the church's documents[3] on sacred music that the ordinary of the Mass is the principle means by which the faithful can and should participate at Mass. Bearing this in mind, the selection of Ordinaries should be made with a view to allowing the faithful access to this participation through the use of Chant ordinaries. That is not say that exceptionally other ordinaries which form part of the treasury of sacred music should not be used on greater days to add solemnity. After Gregorian chant Sacred polyphony occupies the highest place by reason of it's close relationship with the Chant. However the Church's' treasury of sacred music contains music from every period of history including most notably, chant, organum, early polyphony, renaissance polyphony, baroque, classical, romantic and modern forms. Whilst chant and polyphony are most suited to the liturgy, these other styles should never be excluded out of hand.

Unlike the ordinaries, Motets are essentially choir pieces employed at the offertory and communion. They are pieces which are not integral to any given liturgy[4] and as such may always be left out. Where they are employed, they should be an opportunity for the choir to lift the hearts and minds of the people and should enhance the feast or season with their sentiments, without ever holding up the liturgy. Excessive use of motets (i.e. several in one liturgy) is counter productive, since their purpose is to enhance not dominate the liturgy, like icing on a cake they can be overwhelming. By contrast the restrained use of motets combined with organ interludes has proved the most successful combination.

Apart from choral music, the organ whose venerable history in connection with the liturgy, makes it, after the human voice, the instrument most eminently suited to the Roman Liturgy. Countless church documents refer to the suitability of the organ indeed it's inclusion and exclusion from the liturgy is a matter which the liturgical books take up during Advent, Lent, Holy week, Eastertide, and not least the Requiem Mass. Cleary the church envisages that the use of the organ during the liturgy has an impact on the character of the ceremonies themselves.

Ordinarily where the organ is utilised it can be used in a variety of different ways; it can played to accompany processions (this includes usually includes the Gospel procession where the alleluia has finished provided that their is reasonable time, the procession of departure from the church by the sacred ministers, and the entrance procession where the asperges is sung on Sundays.), it may be used to accompany the chants of the ordinary or even proper where necessary (i.e. if cannot be sustained by the singers.), it can be employed after the offertorium and communio, and may be played instead of or in conjunction with motets, and where it is required it may be used in settings of the ordinary and motets.

15th Century Organ at Kiedrich

Certainly in greater churches it is important that the organ play from the great ecclesiastical repertoire and nowhere more prominently than for the postlude, and it is for this reason that the abuse of singing hymns at the end of Mass should be abandoned (The custom of singing hymns at the end of a Solemn Mass is an accretion which has transferred from the now common practice in the new liturgy, it is not advised nor sanctioned in either liturgy, it is often claimed that with the final hymn people have an opportunity to sing with gusto, however if properly trained, it is the ordinary that should be sung with gusto by the people, rather than usurping the place of the postlude from the organist.).

2. Practical Measures

Every church where the liturgy is sung, should have a musical plan. This plan needs to include not only musicians, but also the congregation and the clergy. As a logical consequence there should be a "musical programme" which might be organised on a quarterly, half yearly or annual basis which includes the music which is reasonably intended to be sung at the liturgy. Separately, there should be a plan for teaching the congregation and the clergy the necessary chants/music in order to achieve the aims of the projected "musical programme".

The music should be planned on the basis of the capability of the choir, the size of the congregation and the scale of the liturgical programme, bearing in mind the musical resources of the Church itself. (i.e. Organ, size of church, acoustic etc.)

______________________________

[1] It is interesting to note that the development of the "Carol Service" (9 Lessons and Carols) in the Church of England, like a Para liturgy (i.e. It adopts the tone and character of a liturgical celebration) has copied the structure and appearance of the Office of Matins. The service retains the 9 Lessons of the Office of Matins, and replaces the Responsories and psalms of it's nocturns with hymns, carols and anthems. Indeed for many years the custom has developed of having a solitary boy chorister chant the first verse of the Hymn/Carol (often "Once in Royal David's city) this is a direct reference to the recorded pre-reformation English practice of having a solitary boy chorister chanting the first verse of the invitatory ”Aspicens alonge" (I looked from afar) at Matins.

[2] In Northern Germany, May devotions to the Blessed Virgin are extremely well attended, even where Mass attendance is extremely low.

[3] Tra le solicitudine (Pius X), Mediator Dei (Pius XII), Sacro Sanctum Concilium (Vat II)

[4] except where the parts of the proper are sung polyphonically - this mitigates the need for a repetition of the chant.

Organa nostra!

2010-12-14T21:55:00.000-08:00

St Aloysisus Caulfield has a new (olde) Organ - Deo Gratias!
Installed by the Latin Mass Melbourne Community which has curiously changed it's name to the Blessed John Henry Newman community just to confuse matters. No they are not set up to convert Anglicans to the Traditional Latin Rite, nor are they a community of intellectuals/scholars (perhaps the rector is???) - just very fashionable and perhaps a few years down the track they might have to change name again after the cannonisation! This will surely call for the installation of a larger and more magnificent organ!

Three Anglican Sisters of St Margaret consider Ordinariate

2010-12-13T02:39:00.000-08:00

The sister in 1938 - Walsingham

Ask Aunty Joanna

2010-12-02T21:28:00.000-08:00

Joanna Bogle - British Catholic Journalist

http://www.wf-f.org/bd-jbogle.html

WHY CAN'T WOMEN BE PRIESTS?

2010-11-30T19:11:00.000-08:00

By Br. Tom Forde OFM Cap from his blog - Breathing with both lungs

Actually that's the wrong question. One should ask: why is ordination into the Catholic Sacrament of Holy Orders restricted to men? The answer requires first answering some other questions such as what is the Sacrament of Holy Orders and what is its relation to the Church?, what is a priest?, who is Christ? and what is the significance of gender to the human person?

Let us take the last one first. To be human is to be gendered. We never meet just a human being but a man or a woman, boy or girl. That we are male or female shapes our relationship to ourelves, our community, the cosmos and God. For a believer this differentiation of the human race into two complementary genders is no accident. It is a dimension of the Divine plan and a reflection of the Divine Mind. You can see this in ancient myths and pagan spiritualities: Earth Mother and Sky Father, and Ying, Yang etc.

I would propose to you that the fact that Christ was a man was no accident nor was it incidental to His mission. The Son was sent to reveal the Father and only a son can reveal his father. In choosing masculinity Christ the Word was fulfilling His plan, making a statement about the Father, revealing something of the heart of God. He it is who establishes His Kingdom on earth and incorporates us into His Body, the Church. In case you didn't know ancient kingdoms weren't democracies. He has chosen us, called us, saved us. We depend upon Him, for everything.

Those in Holy Orders (Deacons, Priests and Bishops) are further called to be incorporated into Christ as head of the Body, a role that not only involves offering and celebrating the Sacraments but governing the Church. In a sense it is like a 'second baptism' for it confers a 'character' on the one ordained that sets him in a new relationship vis-a-vis the Body. As only the Son could reveal the Father so only a son can become an icon of the Son and stand in His place. Gender is not incidental but part of our fundamental make-up. It is so for us and was so for Christ, so it must be a condition for ordination.

Nowhere does the Church deny ordination to women on the basis of lack of intelligence or moral weakness. On the contrary the Church has repeated praised and supported women for both their contribution to the Church and Society and for the example of their lives and the depths of their spirituality.

We must also reject attempts to us the idea of equality. Equality is a legal fiction, useful but a fiction nontheless. It is easily put to the test and found wanting. Besides since membership of the Church is by invitation who can demand 'rights' to anything not given by Christ? In addition we must object to interpreting through the lens of 'power'. What actual power do clergy have? Besides our Lord teaches us that service is how He sees the Church's mission.

If not on the thin grounds of 'equality' and 'power-sharing' what basis is there for arguing for women's ordination? Scripture only opens the door to men. Tradition is clearly against it and the Magisterium has consistently ruled it out. The Church cannot and will not ordain women.

That in a nutshell is that argument against the ordination of women.

Further I went and had a look at the arguments given at the womenpriests site. I was not surprised.

Argument one confuses the priesthood of the faithful in which all the baptised share and the sacramental, ordained priesthood which is open only to men, because only they can bear the image of Christ as Son offering Himself to the Father.

Argument two, that women must have been present at the Last Supper, fails to take into account that Jesus looked for a room and according to Luke He sent Peter and John (His closest men) to find it by following a 'man carrying a jar of water'. Water fetching was women's work and that's why such a sight would stand out. A man fetching water implies a male-only house (perhaps Essene?). There is no mention of women present in any of the accounts of the Last Supper most notably Luke and John that are so sensitive to women especially His mother.

Argument three depends on cultural bias. That bias existed is not denied but that does not necessarily mean the decision is wrong. A racist judge may condemn a black man found guilty of murder and still be just in his condemnation. This argument also means an implicit denial of the influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Argument four raises the issue of women deacons. If only the early Church had used a consistent and clear terminology from the begining but even now we talk of 'permanent deacons' as if diaconal ordination were not of itself permanent. That aside research shows that although women were called deacons this service did not include service at the altar but in assisting with the formation and baptism of women and children not unlike the work done by generations of nuns since.

Argument five is another example of confusing the priesthood of the faithful and that of the ordained. Mary's vocation is unique but remains firmly within that of the laity.

Argument six confuses ecclessial communions with Churches. There is actually only one Church from which some parts are in schism but yet retain all that is necessary to be the local manifestation of the true Church. these have the threefold order of Bishop, Priest and Deacon, valid Sacraments and maintain Tradition. Other communities have, while believing in Christ, abandoned these elements and are not local 'Churches', they have no valid Priesthood. It is these bodies that have 'ordained' women.

Argument seven relies on personal experience. Women feel called so the Spirit must be calling them. Christ has given His Spirit to all who receive baptism but the discernment of spirits He has reserved to the Bishops. Rome has discerned and identified this 'spirit' speaking in the women's ordination movement as not being from God. Draw your own conclusion.

At heart these arguments attack the very nature of the Church, denying the Spirit's action on and in the Church, denying Tradition, denying even reason itself. In over twenty-five years of listening to arguments for the ordination of women I have seen no deepening, no movement. The same old arguments are proferred while the orthodox side makes progress in its undestanding. At heart we have to rediscover the mutually enriching but distinct roles of lay and clergy, the differences between the priesthood of the laity and that of the ordained. We have to rediscover our living Tradition for the Church is her Tradition.

Priestly Fraternity of St Peter - Seminarians receive the tonsure

2010-11-30T18:52:00.000-08:00

Southern German Baroque splendor...

Pontifical Mass Lindauer Dom

Outside the Magic Circle - link to an article in "The Catholic World Report"

2010-11-30T15:00:00.001-08:00

Tension builds between the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and orthodox Catholics.
By Dominic Scarborough

Missa Cantata at Grosevale

2010-11-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

A chorister following the Gospel in the vernacular

Summorum Pontificum Clarification due before Christmas

2010-11-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

The Classical Latin Mass celebrated in Germany in the ruins

As indicated on this blog earlier there now seems to be further confirmation of the great "Clarrification Document" according to German Catholic website Kathnews.de, the famous clarification document on Summorum Pontificum, which has been promised almost since the publication of the memorable Motu Proprio, is ready and should be published shortly, perhaps even before Christmas.

Putting the Pope in cheap vestments - Marini champion of Italian bad taste???

2010-11-14T20:04:00.000-08:00

What is going on at the Vatican? The much hailed Papal Master of Ceremonies, Mgr Guido Marini seems to have made some changes that can range from the sublime to the ridiculous!

Certainly, he has made the so called "Paul VI Surplices" optional, with a distinct return to lace - which is obviously the Monsignor's preference since he is never seen in anything else - we have not seen the re-emergence of the "Classical Roman Surplice" as depicted in well thumbed editions of the (Usus Antiquior) Roman Pontifical (Pontificale Romanum). We continue to await it's coming...

But the chasubles, the chasubles! What has happened? Are we seeing off the rack commercial Italian vestments? De Ritis et alia? Now that would be disgraceful considering the attention which has always been given to Papal vestments, their quality and (not always pleasing) design.

Recent reports indicate that the good Mons has also favoured the recent new appointment of musical director, an appointment vehemently opposed by the eminent Mgr Miserachs Grau formerly of the Pontifical Academy of Sacred Music - could we be in for more Italian schmalz.

THE GOOD...

The Pope in a well made cope

"This beautiful cope is made from dupion silk. Its imaginative ornament in black and gold silk damask has all been applied by hand, as has the braid placed around as an edging. This cope is part of a larger set of matching dalmatics, chasuble and mitre which was made for Pope John Paul. Upon becoming Master of Ceremonies in 2007, Monsignor Guido Marini, set aside this set and a red set like it. They have not been seen since."

A exquisite chasuble in the Borromean Style by Tridentinum

THE BAD....

THE UGLY

As Bishops convert, Vatican moving on plan to welcome Anglican

2010-11-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

From Zenit - Today 12th November 2010
Vatican City, November 10 (CNA/EWTN News) .- Just weeks after a papal pilgrimage to England, the announcement that five Anglican bishops plan to resign by year's end and join the Catholic Church is setting wheels in motion at the Vatican.

Anglo Catholic - High Mass

The Nov. 8 announcement seems to have caught Vatican officials by surprise. And the question of just how these bishops and other former members of the Church of England will enter the Catholic Church has quickly become an important topic of discussion inside the Vatican.
The bishops — Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, Keith Newton of Richborough, and John Broadhurst of Fulham, along with retired bishops Edwin Barnes and David Silk — cited Pope Benedict XVI's "generous" invitation last year to Anglicans who are seeking "full communion" with the Catholic Church.

In Nov. 2009, the Pope issued the invitation in an apostolic constitution, "Anglicanorum Coetibus." The document proposed that former Anglicans could enter into "full communion" with the Church as members of specially-tailored jurisdictions, or "personal ordinariates."

According to the Pope's plan, these jurisdictions would be under the authority of local Catholic bishops, but members could maintain their "liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions," including the traditional permission for priests to be married.

With the five bishops' announcement, eyes are now on the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has yet to provide details on the final shape these ordinariates, might take.

But a timetable does seem to be on the horizon. The doctrine office's head, Cardinal William Levada, will be leading a special closed-door discussion of the matter with the College of Cardinals on Nov. 19.

One of the resigning bishops, Bishop John Broadhurst, told CNA that his decision to leave the Church of England came after many years of hoping that the Anglicans would move closer to Rome.

Instead, he said, Anglicans have distanced themselves further by embracing such radical departures from Christian tradition as permitting women bishops and blessing homosexual unions.

But Bishop Broadhurst, who has been a priest for 40 years and heads the traditionalist group, Forward in Faith, said disaffection with Anglicanism did not lead to his decision.

As one who "believed in unity with the Catholic Church for a very long time," he said, "I don't think I can say no to it. It's as straight forward as that. You can't become a Catholic because you don't like being something else. That's not where we are, any of us."

The difficulties facing Anglicanism, he said, have less to do with issues such as gay clergy or women bishops.

"The problem with Anglicanism is the nature of authority — we have no proper concept of authority so decisions are made that tear us apart," he said.

In their joint letter of resignation, the five bishops said they were "distressed by developments … in Anglicanism which we believe to be incompatible with the historic vocation of Anglicanism and the tradition of the Church for nearly two thousand years."

They said Pope Benedict's invitation was "a generous response" to distressed Anglicans and "a bold, new ecumenical instrument in the search for the unity of Christians. … It is a unity, we believe, which is possible only in eucharistic communion with the successor of St Peter."

Bishop Broadhurst said there remains a debate in more traditional Anglican parishes in England. Priests and lay people alike are contemplating their next steps. "Lots of people are interested" in pursuing the Pope's invitation, he said.

Auxiliary Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminster is the point man on the Anglican issue for the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales. He said the bishops will be considering the new "personal ordinariates" in their countries during their annual meeting next week.

Vatican Radio reported Nov. 10 that the head of the English Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, will travel to the Vatican next week. He is to take part in celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Nov. 17.

Archbishop Williams is not scheduled to meet with the Pope. However, last year, when tensions arose after the Pope's invitation to Anglicans, Archbishop Williams did travel to Rome for a private meeting with the Pontiff.

Archbishop Williams greeted news of the five bishops' resignation with "regret." In a statement, he said: "We wish them well in this next stage of their service to the Church." he said.

Whatever shape the ordinariate takes, for now, they are interested in having a good relationship with English Catholic hierarchy and maintaining their friendship with the Anglican Church, Bishop Broadhurst said.

He compared it to a failed marriage in which the spouses "break up." Some "are nasty," while in others "people manage to be decent to each other. Well, I hope as Christians that we can be respectful."

"I really do think that it's got to work, but it's a sensitive situation both within the Church of England and in the Catholic Church," he concluded.

Msgr. Marc Langham of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told CNA that the new Anglican jurisdictions may produce some unexpected fallout in Catholic-Anglican relations.

"It perhaps will mean that there will no longer be a voice within Anglicanism ... speaking in defense of that relationship with the Roman Catholic Church," he said.

Pope Benedict has repeatedly said that he has no interest in encouraging the further splintering of the Anglican communion, Msgr. Langham said.

As for the unprecedented question of ordinariates, Msgr. Langham said that the interested Anglicans he has spoken with "really want to wait and see what the ordinariate looks like."

Questions such as "how it will work, how it will run, how it will be financed, what it's relationship will be to the local Catholic community" are on the top of their minds.

"Anglican ministers are going to give up a great deal before moving to this, and so I think are waiting really for a bit more information about it," he said.

The "short answer," Msgr. Langham said, is that no one knows how many people might eventually join the U.K. ordinariate.

An interesting ecumenical point for him so far in the dialogue about the creation of ordinariates is that Catholic authorities are receiving advice from their Anglican counterparts on how best to do so. This, he said, "is a great thing."

"It means that the ordinariate is helping to bridge the ecumenical divide rather than to exaggerate it."

Retables - simple and beautiful - some designs

2010-11-11T16:38:00.000-08:00

Cardinals meet in Rome to discuss various issues including the Ordinariate

2010-11-10T16:57:00.000-08:00

Latest News - drawn from the Catholic Herald

Cardinals to discuss the Ordinariate

A day of reflection and prayer ahead of the consistory of cardinals will focus the Ordinariates amongst it principle themes.
Cardinals from around the world have been invited to take part in a day of reflection and prayer before the consistory on November 20.

In the evening, after vespers, the cardinals will discuss Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, led by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Pilgrimage - Christus Rex - some images

2010-11-09T21:56:00.000-08:00

Sacred Heart Cathedral

Bishop Peter Elliott

Final Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral

The Christus Rex Pilgrimage is now over - Congratulations Pilgrims! It attracted over 400 pilgrims and the Cathedral was full for the final Mass celebrated by Bishop Peter Ellliot. Let us hope that it continues to grow.

Albendorf - Schlesischer Jerusalem

2010-11-09T16:51:00.000-08:00

A village of pilgrimage the "Silesian Jerusalem" (Church is based on the design of the Temple in Jerusalem)- with over 90 Chapels on the surrounding hills

The wooden statue of Our Lady, dating from the thirteenth century, was originally placed in a mighty linden tree located at this site. According to the legend a blind man regained his eyesight after praying before the statue. After that miracle a stone altar was erected in front of the tree. The first wooden chapel was built in 1263. A larger church was built in 1512 but was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War. The present pilgrimage church 'Visitation of Our Lady' goes back to a church built in 1695–1710 following a design thought to resemble the Temple in Jerusalem. However, all but the mighty Renaissance façade had to be torn down already three years later because the structure had become unsafe. The fourth and present church in Baroque style was then built 1715–1723, and financed by the local nobleman and owner Count Franz Anton von Götzen. In 1936 the church received the status of a 'Basilica minor' from Pope Pius XI. Pope John Paul II awarded the Madonna of Wambierzyce the title of "Queen of Families" in 1980.

5 Anglican bishops resign to enter Catholic Church

2010-11-09T16:29:00.000-08:00

From Zenit Today
Rome, Italy, November 8 (CNA/EWTN News) .- Five Anglican bishops announced their resignations from the Church of England today so that they can enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

The decision to resign made by Bishops Andrew Burnham, Keith Newton, John Broadhurst, Edwin Barnes and David Silk was welcomed by Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminster in a message on Nov. 8.

Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams said that he accepted the resignations of Bishops Burnham and Newton with regret. Bishop Broadhurst had been serving as the head of Forward in Faith, a traditional coalition of Anglicans, while Bishops Barnes and Silk are retired bishops.

Bishop Hopes, the point man for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales on forming an Anglican jurisdiction, said that under the guidelines set forth by the Pope in "Anglicanorum Coetibus," the Church will establish an "Ordinariate for England and Wales" for those wishing to enter the Catholic Church.

Benedict XVI released the guidelines for the creation of ordinariates in Nov. 2009, after receiving inquiries from groups of Anglicans who were dismayed at the ordination of women and practicing homosexuals as bishops.

Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi said on Nov. 8, 2010 that the Vatican "can confirm that the constitution of a first Ordinariate is under study, according to the norms established by the Apostolic Constitution 'Anglicanorum coetibus,' and that any further decisions regarding this will be communicated at the proper moment."

He explained that because of their desire to become part of the Catholic Church, the bishops were "obliged by conscience" to step down from their posts within the Church of England.

The bishops themselves released a joint communique noting their discontent at a growing divide between Catholics and Anglicans and their distress at developments in the Anglican Church, which they find "incompatible" with its historic vocation and tradition.

The issue pushing the bishops to make the decision to "cross over" to Rome was the result of a vote during the Anglican General Synod last July. The majority of bishops voted to pass legislation allowing for the ordination of women. This was the breaking point for some of those who held closer to a traditional form of Anglicanism.

The five bishops, who are to step down entirely from their pastoral responsibilities on Dec. 31, 2010, called the Pope's ordinariate measure "both a generous response to various approaches to the Holy See for help and a bold, new ecumenical instrument in the search for the unity of Christians, the unity for which Christ himself prayed before his Passion and Death."

"It is a unity, we believe, which is possible only in Eucharistic communion with the successor of St Peter."

The five prelates invited those who share their perspective to follow them.

Bishop Hopes said the Catholic bishops of England and Wales will be exploring the creation of the first ordinariate during their plenary meetings next week. More information will follow their discussions, he said.

ORA PRO NOBIS

2010-11-04T23:25:00.000-07:00

Pray to the Holy Martyrs of Bahgdad that their blood may not have been spilled in vane.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Fr Nicola Bux and Abbot Zielinski OSB Appointed as Consultors to the Congretation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments

2010-11-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Good news indeed for the Reform of the Reform! Abbot Zeilinski's and indeed Fr Bux's views and comments on the state of church music and the sacred liturgy are not only erudite but among the best and boldest in the attempts to undo the agenda driven reforms of the Concilium in order to properly implement those willed by the Council Fathers.
NOMINA DI CONSULTORI DELLA CONGREGAZIONE PER IL CULTO DIVINO E LA DISCIPLINA DEI SACRAMENTI

Il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha nominato Consultori della Congregazione per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti i Reverendi: Mons. José Aparecido Gonçalves de ALMEIDA, Sotto-Segretario del Pontificio Consiglio per i Testi Legislativi; P. Dieter BÖHLER, S.I., docente presso la Facoltà Teologica Sankt-Georgen, Frankfurt (Germania); Sac. Nicola BUX, del clero dell'Arcidiocesi di Bari-Bitonto, docente presso l'Istituto di Teologia Ecumenico-Patristica Greco-Bizantina San Nicola, Bari (Italia); P. Joseph CAROLA, S.I., docente presso la Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Roma; Sac. José Manuel Garcia CORDEIRO, Rettore del Pontificio Collegio Portoghese e docente presso il Pontificio Istituto Liturgico, Pontificio Ateneo Sant'Anselmo, Roma; Sac. Renato DE ZAN, docente presso il Pontificio Istituto Liturgico, Pontificio Ateneo Sant'Anselmo, Roma; P. Cassian FOLSOM, O.S.B., Priore di Norcia (Italia), Professore Consociato del Pontificio Istituto Liturgico, Pontificio Ateneo Sant'Anselmo, Roma; Sac. Mauro GAGLIARDI, docente presso il Pontificio Ateneo "Regina Apostolorum", Roma; Sac. Aurelio GARCÍA MACÍAS, del clero dell'Arcidiocesi di Valladolid, Presidente dell'Associazione Spagnola dei Professori di Liturgia (Spagna); Mons. Angelo LAMERI, del clero della Diocesi di Crema (Italia), docente presso la Pontificia Università Lateranense, Roma; Sac. Dennis McMANUS, del clero dell'Arcidiocesi di Mobile, docente presso l'Università Cattolica d'America, Washington (Stati Uniti d'America); Sac. Juan José SILVESTRE, del clero della Prelatura personale dell'Opus Dei, docente presso la Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, Roma; P. Ab. Michael John ZIELINSKI, O.S.B. Oliv., Vice Presidente della Pontificia Commissione per i Beni Culturali della Chiesa e della Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Sacra; Mons. Markus WALSER, Vicario Generale

St Mary of the Cross - Diocesan "Mass" Tomorrow

2010-10-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

ANOTHER WIN STADIUM EXTRAVAGANZA

Whilst I have enormous sympathy for the life and work of St Mary of the Cross, I have little or none for the current incarnation of her spiritual daughters the "Brown Joeys". Sr Carmel Piltcher one of the liturgical luminaries subjected us to an excrusiating performance (liturgy) including, a pagan (aboriginal) rite of cleansing (evoking, God knows, what demons from the nether world) - then liturgical dance (of the seven veils) at the beatification and something along the same lines on the night before the canonisation in Rome - Not one drop of which is in any authentic sense liturgy but theatre. It was perhaps scenes like this in recent years that lead one parishioner to comment after Mass the other day that he would be attending the Wollongong St Mary of the Cross Mass at Win Stadium for the spectacle or show which he said "afterall the Catholic Church does best". No doubt.

Undoubtley, theatre is what will be happing at Win Stadium at strategic intervals during a Mass. The populus will know doubt be moved by the popular tributes to St Mary and leave the event with a warm glow not dissimilar to that which one experiences after an excellent performance at the theatre or opera. This "feeling" is as ephemeral as it deep - leaving no profound or lasting impression. "Mary our ozzie saint walked our soil, knows our land and our ways" - so what!

The real St Mary of the Cross may well be kept hidden from the vast bulk of Australians - her writtings upon any close inspection are more like the views of Traditionalist Roman Catholics than sisters of the congregation she founded - perhaps we will see a Josephite reform group - I hope so. I wait to hear news of the Win Stadium Makillop Extravaganza (or Josephites on Parade) - perhaps everyone will get a little blue scarf to take home with them to be united with the sisters in their new habit!

Wollongong Diocese Pastoral Plan

2010-10-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

Third Plenary Session Cancelled! Because the Second one was so sucessful. Well if I was synical I might have dismissed this as a cost cutting measure - On the optimistic side perhaps it will have the same kind of lasting success that the Renew Programme had! There they go again mistaking the Church for a corporate business - plans, steering committees - statistics - where did the religion go?

I suppose by implicating the laity in the plan, it will be even harder to point the finger when the whole thing fails, as it will. The question is how can we get them to do something really novel like just teaching the Catholic faith for a change - You know the hard stuff; Fasting, Penance, Mortal Sins, Purgatory, Contraception, Abortion, Hell to name but a few - remember those?

Unity and diversity and the Synod of the Eastern Churches

2010-10-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

Suggestions that Easter should be celebrated on the same day across rites seems, in my humble opinion, to show a distinct lack of respect for tradition. As to updating outmoded liturgical forms - such notions are really so passé - a transcendant liturgy stands outside of time and must be perennial not updated at a whim.

It seems the East has been busy looking at the lassitude of the West - We Latins however are not unaware of the corruptions which have already seriously erroded the traditions of the East - particularly the Maronites.

Prayer Intentions

2010-10-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

Of your charity please pray for the Synod of Eastern Rite Catholics and those Anglicans who embark on the path to Rome through the Ordinariat it must be a difficult and heart renching time.

Cardinals Nominated

2010-10-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Archbishop Burke, Archbishop Ranjith and Mgr. Bartolucci.

Models of Church and the Church of Christ

2010-09-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

With the recent state visit by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, what media had threatened would be a great roar from secularists, atheists and forces generally opposed to the Catholic Church turned out to be a squeak. The anti-catholic BBC and media in general, got it seriously wrong - and support for the Pope was overwhelming.

The British Hierarchy notorious for it kowtowing to the extreme liberal agenda of the Tablet, was a given clear and emphatic lead as to the direction the church should be taking in the U.K. It is time that the Tablet was either shut down or reconstituted and brought into line with the teachings and thought of Catholic Church - and prised out of the hands of the liberal elite.

But the Tablet is a respectable journal I hear you say! It, like so many other things that where once good, is living on the capital of it's past. During the 1980s the Tablet increasingly became the darling of Roman Catholic liberal elite, it's position became firmer in this role in the 1990s. It's current incarnation sees it occupy not only the position of the leading voice of catholic liberal (heterodox) thought in Britain but arguably in the English speaking world.

The Tablet and the liberal elite in general seem to be having great difficulty coming to terms with the fact that their time is at an end. The projects, experiments and changes for which they fought and on which they laboured for half a century have been a colossal failure - one which they refuse to recognise or own, prefering to justify all with the mantra of possessing "a different models of church" to you.

Sadly the end game is at play and we are fast approaching a sink or swim situation. Ageing liberals often local curial officials with the diocesan ordinary under their spell, continue to squander diocesan funds on projects which have already failed elsewhere. The saddest if not ironic thing of all is their complete failure to read the signs of the times, which have now clearly turned against them both in secular and religious terms.

The term "different models of church" is code for what is inexplicable... Whilst hailing the most abohorent liturgical practices and robbing the liturgy of it's sacral character, if confronted or challenged the all encompassing response was "it's obvious that you have different model of church" - meaning that you are:

1. Ignorant of their model of church and therefore out of touch.
2. Not going in the same direction as the church.
3. Entitled to your view - but keep it to youself.
4. An obstruction - just go away and let us get on with it
5. an individual with a vision of church different to ours - so lets just agree to differ.

The failure of Religious life - Ageing religious in institutions which have embraced the liberal agenda have utterly failed to attract vocations. Their religious observance and dress, when compared with those in late 1960s is unrecognisable. "A different model of church" gives a vision of hope, to those who might otherwise have despaired at least on a human level, that this is all part of the divine plan - and that their order has run the course of it's natural life, but that's it's contribution will never be forgotten - and indeed in these latter days of the order it is their mission to make sure that no one does. But seriously how can a house that in 1964 boasted 140 religious and is now closed, not have requested or desired some internal review or honest self appraisal, things essential to good management let alone common sense.

As regards the priesthood - the story is similar. Candidates suspected of being "conservative" or orthodox are treated with suspicion even turned a way for spurious reasons (and by reason of lack of transparency can never be questioned), whilst others who are clearly unsuitable are favoured because their lack of conservatism/orthodoxy makes them desirable. Needless to say few candidates if any are sustained. An immediate solution recently come upon by failing dioceses who refuse to give up the liberal agenda is to import seminarians from poorer countries, educate them badly, and after a few years of service, send them back to where they came from, in the hope that their liberal formation will prosper else where. The funds, particularly the capital of the past, has however almost dried up - conveniently ways are being found to introduce the laity to a "different models of church" emphasising the role of the laity in every aspect of parish life to an extent where a priest is supernumerary in everything but the administration of the sacraments.

Again, it is an ageing congregation mostly, who are expected to answer the call, this because of the complete failure of the liberal agenda to inspire, challenge or even capture the imagination of youth with the the truths of the Catholic religion, but rather prefering watering it down where ever possible, removing from it it's supernatural and transcendant truths in favour of a social gospel.

Like the chosen people who would not recognise the Messiah in Christs coming, so too have these liberals hardened their hearts against Christ in his church. This blindness seems almost incurable, and it is perhaps understandable, when to many despair is the only other option. I am minded of the dwarves in the "Last Battle" of C.S. Lewis, who refused to see the truth, goodness and beauty placed before them.

Ever mindful of the guarantees which Christ gave to his Church, an important fact which itself undermines all "different models of church" is the action of Christ himself in his Church re-iterating his own model. The Tablet and the liberal elite are well aware that the phoenix of Traditional Catholicism is rising... and rapidly. Logic dictates their position must be one (we can but judge their actions) of obstruction where ever possible.

This however will fail as it must. The Church "soul by soul and silently" by the power Christ drawing all to him, cannot fail. Even as we speak the new renaissance is underway - even against the odds, can we doubt that this is of divine origin.

Laudetur Jesus Christus!

Footnote: WHAT TO LOOK FOR NEXT;

1. Clarifications regarding aspects of Summorum Pontificum - is due very soon. I am informed by a reliable source that these will be quite extensive and put many current injustices to rest.

2. The commencement of the Ordinariate: for Anglicans coming into communion with Rome - I have on a reliable source that it will be up and running by Pentecost next year.

SUMMUM SILENTIUM

2010-09-22T00:12:00.000-07:00

I have not blogged in recent weeks prefering rather to observe a self imposed silence at a time when so many voices where raised for and against the Holy Father. His words and actions in England are a sufficient response to his detractors and a consolation to me.

I have followed keenly, events on the blog "theanglocatholic.blogspot.com" - my heart goes out to all those who have been cast out to sea - talk about a "tempest tossed church"! Waiting on the shore to welcome the weiry pilgrims, it is as disheartening as it is anticipated that further fracturing and splintering of this kind continues.

Time for more silent prayer...

Eminent Sense and sensibility

2010-08-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

Well, as you are no doubt aware all the Latin Rite Bishops of the world have by now sent off their Summorum Pontificum Reports to Rome (along with a great many regional reports by laypeople) as required by the Holy Father.

It cannot have escaped the attention of the authorities to whom these documents have been sent that these reports are from the same people who systemically failed to implement the Ecclesia Dei Decree of John Paul II, with some noteable exceptions. Yet despite it's failure at one level, the decree did make it clear that to desire the Classical Roman Rite was a "rightful aspiration" The use of the term "rightful" was a significant turning point for those who had fought so hard for this rite. The erection of religious institutes devoted to the use the "liturgical books of 1962" gave traditional catholics the opportunity to prove what they had for so long proclaimed; that young people where not only attracted to the traditional liturgy but that they where also attracted to the challenges of the traditional religious life both male and female.

The release of Summorum Pontificum took the rightful aspiration even further. It recognised the attempt to suppress the Usus Antiquior as an injustice, by affirming that the rite hand never been legally forbidden whilst proclaiming it "rightful" to desire the traditional liturgy, which must be perceived "as a treasure for the whole church". In other words you would have to question the thinking of any priest who would deny that the "extraordinary form" or "Usus Antiquior" was anything but a treasure of the church. Puting aside the reality that few clergy perceive, let alone think about the "Usus Antiquior" in these terms, they are nevertheless aware that whilst they may not have met any "traditional catholics" lattely they very well might in the near future. They are also vaguely aware that these people are on the increase and that their attitude is supposed to be a welcoming one, despite their best instincts. Of course the fact is that no authority is required beyond that required for the celebration of the new rite. Neither Bishop nor Prior nor Parish Priest need approve, nor necessarily be informed other than for the reason of common courtesy.

So where to from here? What will come in response to the reports? Let us take a Sybilic glance into the future.

Summorum Pontificum asks for nothing less than equity, and it accords at least a status of legal parity to the Usus Antiquior.

Could this sense of equality be taken to one place that will ensure the survival of the Classical Roman Rite and even ensure its restoration to the altars of our own diocese?

The answer in short is yes.

How eminently sensible it would be to cause every (latin rite) seminary in the world to instruct it's seminarists in how to celebrate both rites. How wonderful if our seminaries where caused to add to their curriculae instruction in who to celebrate the Usus Antiquior. This would of course have to be done in conjunction with enforcement of the requirement that all Latin Rite seminarians be taught latin.

Missa Cantata - Wallsend, Newcastle NSW AUSTRALIA

2010-08-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

SUNG MASS CELEBRATED AT THE CHURCH OF ST PATRICK, WALLS END - a simple and dignified celebration of Holy Mass preceeded by the Asperges.

A little break but the injustice just never stops

2010-08-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

I have had a little break from blogging to recharge the batteries.

So much seems to be happening around the world but so little here. Indeed, as with so many country dioceses, the drawbridge remains firmly and permanently up.

A certain dispair, at least regarding the situation in the Wollongong Diocese has set in, this was primarily due to the annual cycle of diocesan spending on useless, fruitless and pointless projects. It doesn't get easier to take as the years go on - less people in the pews, less religious, critical shortage of priests, what's the solution throw a couple of hundred thousand at the same kind of programme that we have been pursuing for the last 40 odd years, no matter that nothing really substantial ever results.

Let us spend the capital of the past and throw caution to the wind...it never occurs to the authorities to be self reflective, perhaps these things have not really worked - could we, should we go back, NO! Never! that would be regression. What you call regression was once known as humility, when you look for something you have lost, most people retrace their steps. Who will be accountable for these failures for this expense - not our good bishop surelly?

Yet since the release of Summorum Pontificum a group of more than 60 people in the Macarthur (western) region of the diocese attempted to organise the celebration of the Classical Latin rite (Usus antiquior).

The Macarthur Community had a priest lined up servers sacred vessels and vestments all they needed was a key with access to a Church. Their request to use the Parish Church at Picton/Tahmoor was refused by the Parish Priest the Rev. Fr. John Ho*.

Not surprisingly these people now largely travel an hour on Sundays to attend the Extraordinary form of the Mass (UA) outside the Diocese (mosty in the Parramatta and Sydney Dioceses). They have given up on this diocese for now, at least until the next bishop. Does anyone really care? What ever your view it remains a grave injustice.

One often hears it said "But there is already a Mass in diocese celebrated every second Sunday at 3pm in the afternoon why can't they attend that?" -

How many people do you know, that go to Mass at 3pm in the afternoon on Sundays?
How many Catholic Priests do you know who regularly attend and assist inappropriately at noncatholic liturgies - and are surprised that Catholic families will not attend their's or have doubts about their doctrinal orthodoxy.
How many communities do you know where a cup of tea or (fellowship) is forbidden for fear that people might begin to organise or associate with each other.
How many catholics do you know who are forced to attend a rite they do not like every second week. (It would not be so bad if it went both ways).
Charity does not permit all the aspects of this situation to be raised here.

This is just the tip of the Iceberg in terms of the issues and the complexities surrounding this matter, suffice it to say that travelling out of the diocese on sundays ensures both a higher level orthodoxy and orthopraxis.

Summorum Pontificum was meant to remedy this situation;

For pities sake let them have the Mass in their region -
Let the doors of the Church of St Anthony in Picton, be opened to them.

If Fr Ho will not them, then let Bishop Ingham intervene and do what is required. Is there really no room at the Inn? No was never an option here - must the matter go to Rome?

___________________________

*Reverend Fr John Ho, Parish Priest of St Anthony's Parish, TAHMOOR has 3 Churches Mass times follow;( No question of a shortage of Churches or time slots so Fr Ho what is the problem?)

TAHMOOR
Sat Vigil 6.00pm
Sun 7.30am, 9.30am

MENAGLE
St Patrick's Church
(119 Menangle Road, Menangle)
Sun 6.00pm

PICTON
Sheil Memorial Church
(Menangle Street, Picton)
6.00pm

WEEKDAY MASSES

Tuesday: 7pm (Tahmoor)
Wednesday: 8am (Tahmoor)
Thursday: 8am (Tahmoor)
Friday: 9.30am (Picton)

Public Penance and the Orders of the Penitents

2010-06-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Some images of public penitents and cultural spin off's...

Why the Biretta will never die....

2010-06-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

Baby biretta for Corpus Christi

CORPUS CHRISTI

2010-06-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

Here is reprinted a charming article by James Chegwidden written in 1998 a luminary of the Thomistic Studies Centre

CORPUS CHRISTI AND ST THOMAS

The feast of Corpus Christi is cause for major celebration in the Church on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday. For Thomists it should be highly regarded, for the author of the Mass and Office of Corpus Christi was St Thomas Aquinas himself.

Corpus Christi is a late feast, being only introduced in the 13th century, by which time most of the other feasts in the classical Roman Missal had been established for almost a millennium. In 1264, Pope Urban IV issued a papal bull, Transiturus, promulgating Corpus Christi as a feast for the Universal Church. He was acting after years of petitions from several sources, most notably from St Juliana de Cornillon, who had received visions from the Saviour requesting such a feast. Urban cast his eyes around the known world for candidates to compose a Mass and Office for the Feast. His search ended with Thomas Aquinas, the friar whose fame was fast spreading through out Europe.

What a glorious choice! The commission came from the Pope, but the call was from Christ – "Write, Sing of This, for This is My Body that was delivered for you, and My Blood that was shed for you". And sitting in his quiet cell, Thomas began to write, and to sing. His song would soon resound on every hill and echo in every valley of Christendom.

The Mass and Office he wrote can still be seen and heard in the classical rite of the Roman Church. It is work of genius, which the famous Abbot Cabrol described as "one of the most beautiful canticles in the Catholic liturgy", and Pius Parsch as "unquestionably a classic piece of liturgical work". The poet Santolius avowed that he would have given his whole life’s work to become the author of just one verse of the Hymn for Lauds, Verbum Supernum. Testimony to the greatness of work comes also from other great saints, such as St Bonaventure. Having also been commissioned by the Holy See to write an office for Corpus Christi, upon reading just one page of Thomas’ efforts, he immediately took his work – almost certainly a great masterpiece as well – and burned it in front of St Thomas. When the shocked St Thomas asked "But why?" he replied, "Because I would not have it on my conscience, Thomas, that I had attempted to stand between the world and this."

Thomas had begun with words that have been compared to the clash of cymbals – "Pange Lingua":

Pange lingua, gloriosi,
Corporis mysterium,
Sanguinisque pretiosi,
Quem in mundi pretium,
Fructus ventris generosi
Rex effudit gentium.

Sing, my tongue, the Saviours glory,
of his flesh the mystery sing:
of the blood all price exceeding
shed by our immortal King,
destined for the world’s redemption
from a noble womb to spring.

For St Thomas the mystery of Christ's Body and Blood is the mystery of the Incarnate God, the Word made Flesh, and his work does not merely cover the main themes of the doctrine of the Blessed Sacrament. The Mass text is richly theological in content, as is the Office, combining in exquisite poetry the precise teaching of the Church on the Real Presence, the nature of Christ's sacrificial offering in the Mass, and Holy Communion. The Lauda Sion, the sequence of the Mass, reveals much of this fine teaching:

What He did at supper seated,
Christ ordained to be repeated,
In his memory divine;
Wherefore we, with adoration,
Thus the Host of our salvation
Consecrate from bread and wine.

Taught by Christ the Church maintaineth,
That the bread its substance changeth,
Into Flesh, the wine to Blood.
Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Faith, the law of sight transcending,
Leaps to things not understood.

Here, beneath these signs are hidden
Priceless things, to sense forbidden;
Signs, not things are all we see –
Flesh from Bread, and Blood from wine,
Yet is Christ in either sign,
All entire confess’d to be.

They, too, who of Him partake,
sever not, nor rend nor break,
But entire their Lord receive.
Whether one or thousands eat,
All receive the self-same meat,
Nor the less for others leave.

Lo the wicked with the good
Eat of this celestial food:
Yet with ends how opposite!
Life to these, ‘tis death to those:
See how from life taking flows
Diff’rence truly infinite!

Nor do thou doubts entertain,
When the Host is broke in twain;
But be sure, each part contains
What was in the whole before.

'Tis the simple sign alone.
Which hath changed its sign and form,
While the signified is one
And the same for evermore

What joy for Thomists to read the doctrine expressed by Christ rendered into pristine exactitude by St Thomas, and sung in the liturgy annually! Take the antiphon for Vespers:

O Sacrum convivium,
in quo Christus sumitur,
memoria recolitur Passionis
Ejus, mens impletur gratia
Et futurae gloriae pignus
nobis datur.

Oh blessed banquet,
Wherein Christ is received.
His Passion is again with
us, the soul o'erflows
with grace: a pledge
of future glory is given to us.

This great summary of the effects of Holy Communion was so appreciated that it became part of the rubrics for every distribution of Holy Communion outside Mass.

St Thomas was a master in choosing psalms and other biblical texts for the feast, particularly for his skill in isolating many texts of the Old Testament prefiguring the Eucharist. His Office is far more biblical than most of the compositions of the time. We see Christ, the priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech offering bread and wine (Ps 109); we see Christ, the divine Moses, on the desert journey of life, giving food to them that fear Him (110). We remember the Church’s hymn of thanks in Psalm 115: What shall I render unto the Lord for all He has granted me? I will take the chalice of salvation. Psalm 127 shows the Church as a mother, a fruitful vine, Christ the Father of His family, winning His Bread by great toil. Ps 147 shows Jerusalem at peace, where her Lord nourishes her guests with the fat of wheat. The Magnificat recalls of course that He fills the hungry with good things, and sends the haughty rich empty away.

The second nocturn of Matins contains St Thomas’s own writings, the very ones for which Christ spoke to him from a crucifix and said Thou hast written well of me, Thomas. They are sermons written by the saint, from which I take here a brief extract:

O banquet most precious! … Can anything be more excellent than this repast, in which not the flesh of goats and heifers, as of old, but Christ the true God is given us for nourishment? What more wondrous than this Holy Sacrament! In it bread and wine are changed substantially, and under the appearance of a little bread and wine is had Christ Jesus, God and perfect man. In this sacrament sins are purged away, virtues are increased, the soul is saturated with an abundance of spiritual gifts. No other sacrament is so beneficial. Since it was instituted unto the salvation of all, it is offered by the Church for the living and the dead, that all may share in its treasures.

When St Thomas first heard his brethren singing the Office he had composed and arranged, he started to cry, weeping tears of love and gratitude to the Eucharistic Lord who had inspired such a thing of splendour. Did God, I wonder, give Thomas a glimpse, perhaps, of the mighty future his Feast was to have? Did He show him the panorama of millions of processions, winding through street, town, hill, valley, countryside and cloister, involving billions of Christian faithful in the one great cry – Pange lingua gloriosi Corporis Mysterium! Did he see the flowers strewn on the streets of Spain for the enthroned Body of Christ to see or the hushed English recusants adoring the Real Presence in a small cellar or the vast square of St Peter’s Rome with hundreds of thousands of the faithful being blessed with the Host in the monstrance by the Vicar of Christ himself, after singing that canticle – Pange Lingua? Whether he knew it or not, St Thomas had written the hymn by which Christ’s bride the Church would forevermore praise her divine Spouse.

May we always sing with St Thomas the closing words of the Lauda Sion:

Jesu, Shepherd, Bread indeed,

Thou take pity on our need!

Thou Thy flock in safety feed,

Thou protect us, Thou us lead,

To the Lord of Heavenly Life.

Amen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

James Chegwidden is a student at the Centre for Thomistic Studies, in Sydney, Australia.

This article posted May 2000. It was published in Universitas, Vol 2 (1998), No. 2.

Permission is granted to copy or quote from this article, provided that full credit is given to the author and to the

Centre for Thomistic Studies, Sydney, Australia.

The potrait is not a likeness

This rather lovely depiction of a euchatistic procession at a glance looks like the work of Pustet, the (accesively floriated backgroud gives it away) but perhaps more interesting are the various forms of apparel and the great number of deacons and subdeacons - who seem to be destingished by the degree of ornamentation between their clavi. Dom Roulin would not approve of the canopy though - too rigid a construction.

TIME TO GET THAT REPORT READY MY LORD

2010-05-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

The Bishops are due to submit their reports to Rome on the implementation and any problems encountered in response to the Holy Fathers accompanying letter to Summorum Pontificum.

1. Do the laity have a veiw about the implementation of Summorum Ponticificum in the Diocese of Wollongong? Yes - very strong views.

2. Have the laity been consultated at any stage about the implementation of Summorum Pontificum? No - not at any stage.

3. Has their been any change to the number of Extraordinary Form Masses celebrated in the Diocese since before the Motu Proprio? No - despite requests there has not been any increase - most people leave the diocese on Sundays.

4. Have there been any attempts to identify the needs of those attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in the diocese? No. - not at any point.

5. If a report to the Ecclesia Dei Commission regarding the implementation of Summorum Pontificum is sent misrepresenting the facts mightn't there be a backlash in the diocese from those who until now have exercised patience and good will toward the bishop and his advisors. I suspect that if people think that they have been ignored, overlooked or marginalised there is a threshold of patience and this issue may represent that threshold.

AD EXPERIMENTUM

2010-05-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Fr Michael Brown of Forest Murmurs:
On using the new translation

I`m on the diocesan clergy retreat at Ushaw this week so this is just a quick post. Some priest bloggers have discussed recently using the new translation of the OF Mass before the official launch date. I thought readers might be interested to know that Mass at the retreat today was celebrated by our bishop and priests using the new texts. Everyone dutifully replied `And with your spirit`. No-one died and no horses appeared to be frightened. My impression was that it seemed a bit more wordy but it was a huge improvement on what we have had. I expect we`ll be using the new translation the rest of the week.

UPDATE: 26.05.10 Apparently it was just a one off. Today we returned to the old new Mass.

Radical Change

2010-05-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

11. Jesus thus brings his own radical novum to the ancient Hebrew sacrificial meal. For us Christians, that meal no longer need be repeated. As the Church Fathers rightly say, figura transit in veritatem: the foreshadowing has given way to the truth itself. The ancient rite has been brought to fulfilment and definitively surpassed by the loving gift of the incarnate Son of God. The food of truth, Christ sacrificed for our sake, dat figuris terminum. (20) By his command to "do this in remembrance of me" (Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:25), he asks us to respond to his gift and to make it sacramentally present. In these words the Lord expresses, as it were, his expectation that the Church, born of his sacrifice, will receive this gift, developing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the liturgical form of the sacrament. The remembrance of his perfect gift consists not in the mere repetition of the Last Supper, but in the Eucharist itself, that is, in the radical newness of Christian worship. In this way, Jesus left us the task of entering into his "hour." "The Eucharist draws us into Jesus' act of self-oblation. More than just statically receiving the incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his self-giving." (21) Jesus "draws us into himself." (22) The substantial conversion of bread and wine into his body and blood introduces within creation the principle of a radical change, a sort of "nuclear fission," to use an image familiar to us today, which penetrates to the heart of all being, a change meant to set off a process which transforms reality, a process leading ultimately to the transfiguration of the entire world, to the point where God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15:28).

Sacramentum Caritatis

Lateline a Bishop & Abuse - Recipe for a Sensation

2010-05-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

It seems that the recent media attempts to link the Holy Father with cases of child abuse are increasingly using devious, sensantionalist and deceptive devices to achieve a particular impression including:

1. Time conflation; conflating several decades and given the impression that the events occured in the recent past rather than 30 years ago.

2. Missuse of titles: calling people by their current titles or positions even though at the time of the event they did not occupy the same position of authority - thus giving the appearance that (or at least creating a confusion in peoples minds) that it happened more recently and by someone in greater authority eg. Pope Benedict rather than Cardinal Ratzinger or the Archbishop of Munich Friesing as the case may have been.

3. Using misleading termanology: such as defrock (which is a laymans term (no longer being able to function as a priest it has no cannonical meaning - suspension being the closest thing) and confusing it with layasisation (an ecclesiastical punishment - which cannot be confused with civil punishments) desplaying a completely wilful ignorance of ecclesiastical law and process e.g. "he was not defrocked until 5 years latter" meaning that he was not layasised for five year despite his actual suspension from all duties.

Last night's Lateline programme on the ABC used all of the above devises and more - We were led to believe that a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church was aware of child abuse and did nothing. The truth seems to be that a young uninquisitive curate/assistant priest was blithely unaware that child abuse was going on a few rooms away. The victim claims that Father (not bishop) Wilson saw him enter and depart the building and presumes from this that he must have known what was going on. Must he have?

Given the post Vatican II "dawn of a new age" feeling in the church in the early 70's taking people to your room as priest for private spiritual direction or even confession could have been a possiblity - however stupid the idea may seem now. One could perhaps deduce from the facts that the young Fr Wilson was uninquistive or even naive - but to devote an entire programme to attempting to connect him with these matters at a deeper level must be considered malicious not to mention an attempt to question the crediblity of the Catholic Church in the country.

These devices are amongst the lowest of journalistic tactics hitherto seen and are an absolute disgrace - all self respecting victims of clerical sexual abuse are utterly scandalised by the way in which their abuse is being exploited and twisted by the media. The abused look for justice not exploitation.

THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF MARIAWALD - Cistercian Rite & Vocations

2010-05-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

FROM TRADITIONAL VOCATION BLOG

Readers will remember the heroic decision of the Trappist Abbey of Mariawald to seek the benefit of the provisions of Summorum Pontificum to permit the restoration of the traditional rule and liturgy in the Abbey. Readers will understand the difficulties that would face any community that turned its face back to the venerable traditions abandoned by the rest of their Order.

The Abbey of Mariawald is by no means large, even by modern standards, with a total community of 11 present as of the beginning of 2009. However, if fruits are yet to appear, there are the shoots of growth. It was announced that from the feast of the Purification, 2nd February, the Abbey has commenced a programme of formation for new postulants and novices.

In fact, three postulants, one of them a Priest formerly of the Archdiocese of Hamburg, were received into the Abbey within one year of the application of Summorum Pontificum to the Abbey. One was later received into the Noviciate as Brother M. Dominic and the Priest was received as a novice under the name of Father M. Ignatius. Effectively, almost half the community consists of members in formation, a unique claim among Trappist monasteries.

As the abbot of Maria Wald, Dom Joseph Vollberger OCSO has said, the Abbey has decided to institute a programme of formation within the monastery to train monks, organized and supervised by Dr. Dr. Erich F. Zehle as a delegated principal of studies. It is fundamental for proper formation that the monks remain in the monastic community and operate in the very well-equipped library of the monastery conducting their studies in a reasonable peace.

On the feast of Candlemas, the 2nd February, 2010, the summer semester of the academic year 2010/2011 commenced. Since the Abbey, with papal privilege, returned to the ancient customs of the Trappists after the usage of Monte Cistello of 1964, it has experienced an influx of postulants, some of whom are now novices.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Berger will teach exegesis and the noted philosopher, Prof. Dr. Robert Spaemann has promised to participate in the formation programme. Other subjects will include general canon law and the Constitutions of the Order, the ratio institutionis, the provisions of the General Chapter and the traditions of the Order.

Seminars, lectures, tutorials and revision courses will lead to a solid philosophical, theological, historical and linguistic training for the holy priesthood. If their superiors approve it, monks and clerics of other monasteries and institutes of consecrated life will be admitted to the programme of formation.

Those wishing to stay at the monastery guest house can contact the porter here.

Religious Habits - making religious women accessable to the modern world

2010-05-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

Princess-Abbess Maria Maximiliana von Stadion of Buchau and her sisters from a painting on a church wall. The Princess and her nuns are sporting their distinctive habit designed by the princess-Abbess as can been seen it has included the fashion of the day - let us hope that the Abbey had wide doors.

It seems amongst religious women in Australia and the United States such rediculous notions still persist - will someone please take some photo's for posterity - they must be painted on the church wall so that generations to come can admire their folly!

Women in the Church in photo's continued

2010-05-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

Women in the Church - a photographic study

2010-05-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

The Recent Profession ceremony in Kansas, of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles - May they continue to prosper

The Carthusian Liturgy

2010-04-14T22:06:00.000-07:00

Amongst the great religious orders of the Latin Church there are five who retain their own form of Mass: The Carmelites (Calced), The Carthusians, The Cistercians, The Dominicans and the Norbertines. Below is a rare photo of Low Mass in the Carthursian Rite.

Beauty and the Liturgy

2010-04-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

POPE BENEDICT XVI

35. This relationship between creed and worship is evidenced in a particular way by the rich theological and liturgical category of beauty. Like the rest of Christian Revelation, the liturgy is inherently linked to beauty: it is veritatis splendor. The liturgy is a radiant expression of the paschal mystery, in which Christ draws us to himself and calls us to communion. As Saint Bonaventure would say, in Jesus we contemplate beauty and splendour at their source. (106) This is no mere aestheticism, but the concrete way in which the truth of God's love in Christ encounters us, attracts us and delights us, enabling us to emerge from ourselves and drawing us towards our true vocation, which is love. (107) God allows himself to be glimpsed first in creation, in the beauty and harmony of the cosmos (cf. Wis 13:5; Rom 1:19- 20). In the Old Testament we see many signs of the grandeur of God's power as he manifests his glory in his wondrous deeds among the Chosen People (cf. Ex 14; 16:10; 24:12-18; Num 14:20- 23). In the New Testament this epiphany of beauty reaches definitive fulfilment in God's revelation in Jesus Christ: (108) Christ is the full manifestation of the glory of God. In the glorification of the Son, the Father's glory shines forth and is communicated (cf. Jn 1:14; 8:54; 12:28; 17:1). Yet this beauty is not simply a harmony of proportion and form; "the fairest of the sons of men" (Ps 45[44]:3) is also, mysteriously, the one "who had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him" (Is 53:2). Jesus Christ shows us how the truth of love can transform even the dark mystery of death into the radiant light of the resurrection. Here the splendour of God's glory surpasses all worldly beauty.
The truest beauty is the love of God, who definitively revealed himself to us in the paschal mystery.

The beauty of the liturgy is part of this mystery; it is a sublime expression of God's glory and, in a certain sense, a glimpse of heaven on earth. The memorial of Jesus' redemptive sacrifice contains something of that beauty which Peter, James and John beheld when the Master, making his way to Jerusalem, was transfigured before their eyes (cf. Mk 9:2). Beauty, then, is not mere decoration, but rather an essential element of the liturgical action, since it is an attribute of God himself and his revelation. These considerations should make us realize the care which is needed, if the liturgical action is to reflect its innate splendour.

-- Sacramentum Caritatis

The pitfalls of "Creative Liturgy"

2010-04-13T15:40:00.000-07:00

From RORATE-CEALI Blog

From an interview with Msgr. Nicola Bux published last month in the Italian blogosphere:

Then, not too surprisingly, he affirms: “The sense of sin has been weakened by the dilution of the sacrality of the liturgy. There is a close link between ethos and worship.” What do you mean? “That we today have lost values because we often do not give God a worthy worship at Mass. And many atheists ought also to live as if God exists.” (E molti anche atei dovrebbero vivere come se Dio esistesse) But let us return to the liturgical aspect: “People need the sense of the sacred in order to discover God. Sin is a negation of God, but if even when assisting Mass we live far from God, how is it then possible to avoid sin?” Then he specifies: “The liturgy is sacred, divine and glorious; it is vertical in the sense of tending towards the High, towards Beauty and Heaven. It is not something circular or horizontal, some kind of sports stadium, assembly or party. The idea of a fruitful and creative liturgy inevitably loses the sense of the sacred and therefore alienates us from God and draws us near to sin. The people, who are much more intelligent than one gives them credit for, perceive where the sacred is. It is not something abstract but a concrete thing. And it says so in the Gospel. "The woman wished to touch the cloak of Christ. In order to defeat sin, there is a need for certain, unequivocal and firm signs, not fluctuating, unstable ones.”

Therefore creative liturgy creates damage: “Many, especially after the Council, ceded to this unhealthy notion of creativity, but it was not the fault of the Council, as the Council never abrogated or cancelled the liturgy of all times (liturgia di sempre). A sloppy, manipulated and -- even worse – violated Mass is an obstacle to the sacred and alienates the people from the Church. To celebrate creative Masses is a profanation of the sense of the sacred, because it brings us away from God. The minister of the cult must never be an actor, often a mediocre one at that and a source of scandal, but should think that his principal duty is to serve God, never his own unbridled desire to play the protagonist. Only by recuperating or restoring a correct vertical liturgy, can we limit in part the effects of sin, thus rediscovering God.”

Gherardini on Vatican II

2010-04-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

Go out and buy this book now....

"There was a heedless and unfounded optimism; the capsizing of perspective, which no longer came from above towards what was below, but vice versa with a perspective starting from an unlimited confidence in man; the clouding of the sacred; a false and dangerous irenicism; the spirit of good nature and cooperation with opposing forces; the deconsecration of, and simultaneously, the adoration of certain aspects of creation - above all, of freedom. The Trojan horse was not, properly speaking, the collection of the conciliar documents, but the ideas of certain pressure groups which succeeded in infiltrating the conciliar hall and determining the line of the progressive maturation which consequently flowed out into the post-conciliar culture. The 'sin' of the Council Fathers, therefore, at least the vast majority of them, was not of the formal type 'of full recognition and deliberate consent', but rather the material sin of 'lack of recognition', of levity, of superficial and exaggerated optimism, of good faith on a personal level."

The Truth begins to emerge

2010-04-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

From the New York Times -
the balance which was missing from the London Times

Some blame the scandals on Pope Benedict XVI. But Joseph Ratzinger is the man who, weeks before his accession to the papacy five years ago, spoke blisteringly on Good Friday of the "filth" in the church. Days later on the streets of Rome, the Italian newspaper La Stampa reported, Cardinal Ratzinger bumped into a curial monsignor who chided him for his sharp words. The cardinal replied, "You weren't born yesterday, you understand what I'm talking about, you know what it means. We priests. We priests!" The most reliable commentary on Pope Benedict's role in the scandals came from John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, who argues that once Benedict came to fully understand the scope of the crisis, in 2003, he made the church's first real toward coming to grips with it.

As for his predecessor, John Paul the Great, about whom I wrote an admiring book which recounts some of the scandals—I spent a grim 2003 going through the depositions of Massachusetts clergy—one fact seems to me pre-eminent. For Pope John Paul II, the scandals would have been unimaginable—literally not imaginable. He had come of age in an era and place (Poland in the 1930s, '40s and '50s) of heroic priests. They were great men; they suffered. He had seen how the Nazis and later the communists had attempted to undermine the church and tear people away from it, sometimes through slander. They did this because the great force arrayed against them was the Catholic Church. John Paul, his mind, psyche and soul having been forged in that world, might well have seen the church's recent accusers as spreaders of slander. Because priests don't act like that, it's not imaginable. And he'd seen it before, only now it wasn't Nazism or communism attempting to kill the church with lies, but modernity and its soulless media.

Only they weren't lies.

There are three great groups of victims in this story. The first and most obvious, the children who were abused, who trusted, were preyed upon and bear the burden through life. The second group is the good priests and good nuns, the great leaders of the church in the day to day, who save the poor, teach the immigrant, and, literally, save lives. They have been stigmatized when they deserve to be lionized. And the third group is the Catholics in the pews—the heroic Catholics of America and now Europe, the hardy souls who in spite of what has been done to their church are still there, still making parish life possible, who hold high the flag, their faith unshaken. No one thanks those Catholics, sees their heroism, respects their patience and fidelity. The world thinks they're stupid. They are not stupid, and with their prayers they keep the world going, and the old church too.

Wall Street Journal

Media abuse of the abused and the Pope

2010-03-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

Scoundrel Time(s)

George Weigel, “First Things”, 29 March 2010

The sexual and physical abuse of children and young people is a global plague; its manifestations run the gamut from fondling by teachers to rape by uncles to kidnapping-and-sex-trafficking.

In the United States alone, there are reportedly some 39 million victims of childhood sexual abuse. Forty to sixty percent were abused by family members, including stepfathers and live-in boyfriends of a child’s mother—thus suggesting that abused children are the principal victims of the sexual revolution, the breakdown of marriage, and the hook-up culture. Hofstra University professor Charol Shakeshaft reports that 6-10 percent of public school students have been molested in recent years—some 290,000 between 1991 and 2000. According to other recent studies, 2 percent of sex abuse offenders were Catholic priests—a phenomenon that spiked between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s but seems to have virtually disappeared (six credible cases of clerical sexual abuse in 2009 were reported in the U.S. bishops’ annual audit, in a Church of some 65,000,000 members).

Yet in a pattern exemplifying the dog’s behavior in Proverbs 26:11, the sexual abuse story in the global media is almost entirely a Catholic story, in which the Catholic Church is portrayed as the epicenter of the sexual abuse of the young, with hints of an ecclesiastical criminal conspiracy involving sexual predators whose predations continue today. That the vast majority of the abuse cases in the United States took place decades ago is of no consequence to this story line. For the narrative that has been constructed is often less about the protection of the young (for whom the Catholic Church is, by empirical measure, the safest environment for young people in America today) than it is about taking the Church down—and, eventually, out, both financially and as a credible voice in the public debate over public policy. For if the Church is a global criminal conspiracy of sexual abusers and their protectors, then the Catholic Church has no claim to a place at the table of public moral argument.

The Church itself is in some measure responsible for this. Reprehensible patterns of clerical sexual abuse and misgovernance by the Church’s bishops came to glaring light in the U.S. in 2002; worse patterns of corruption have been recently revealed in Ireland. Clericalism, cowardice, fideism about psychotherapy’s ability to “fix” sexual predators—all played their roles in the recycling of abusers into ministry and in the failure of bishops to come to grips with a massive breakdown of conviction and discipline in the post-Vatican II years. For the Church’s sexual abuse crisis has always been that: a crisis of fidelity. Priests who live the noble promises of their ordination are not sexual abusers; bishops who take their custody of the Lord’s flock seriously, protect the young and recognize that a man’s acts can so disfigure his priesthood that he must be removed from public ministry or from the clerical state. That the Catholic Church was slow to recognize the scandal of sexual abuse within the household of faith, and the failures of governance that led to the scandal being horribly mishandled, has been frankly admitted—by the bishops of the United States in 2002, and by Pope Benedict XVI in his recent letter to the Catholic Church in Ireland. In recent years, though, no other similarly situated institution has been so transparent about its failures, and none has done as much to clean house. It took too long to get there, to be sure; but we are there.

These facts have not sunk in, however, for either the attentive public or the mass public. They do not fit the conventional story line. Moreover, they impede the advance of the larger agenda that some are clearly pursuing in these controversies. For the crisis of sexual abuse and episcopal malfeasance has been seized upon by the Church’s enemies to cripple it, morally and financially, and to cripple its leaders. That was the subtext in Boston in 2002 (where the effort was aided by Catholics who want to turn Catholicism into high-church Congregationalism, preferably with themselves in charge). And that is what has happened in recent weeks, as a global media attack has swirled around Pope Benedict XVI, following the revelation of odious abuse cases throughout Europe. In his native Germany, Der Spiegel has called for the pope’s resignation; similar cries for papal blood have been raised in Ireland, a once-Catholic country now home to the most aggressively secularist press in Europe.

But it was the New York Times’ front page of March 25 that demonstrated just how low those determined to bring the Church down were prepared to go.

Rembert Weakland is the emeritus archbishop of Milwaukee, notorious for having paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to satisfy the demands of his former male lover. Jeff Anderson is a Minnesota-based attorney who has made a substantial amount of money out of sex abuse “settlements,” and who is party to ongoing litigation intended to bring the resources of the Vatican within the reach of contingency-fee lawyers in the United States. Yet these two utterly implausible—and, in any serious journalistic sense, disqualified—sources were those the Times cited in a story claiming that, as cardinal prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [CDF], Joseph Ratzinger, later Benedict XVI, had prevented sanctions against Father Lawrence Murphy, a diabolical Milwaukee priest who, decades before, had abused some 200 deaf children in his pastoral care. This was simply not true, as the legal papers from the Murphy case the Times provided on its Web site demonstrated (see here for a demolition of the Times’ case based on the documentary evidence it made available). The facts, alas, seem to be of little interest to those whose primary concern is to nail down the narrative of global Catholic criminality, centered in the Vatican.

The Times’ descent into tabloid sourcing and innuendo was even more offensive because of recent hard news developments that underscore Pope Benedict’s determination to root out what he once described as the “filth” in the Church. There was, for example, the pope’s March 20 letter to the Catholic Church in Ireland, which was unsparing in its condemnation of clerical sexual offenders (“. . . you betrayed the trust that was placed in you by innocent young people and their parents and you must answer for it before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals”) and unprecedented in its critique of malfeasant bishops (“grave errors of judgment were made and failures of leadership occurred . . . [which have] undermined your credibility and effectiveness”). Moreover, the pope mandated an Apostolic Visitation of Irish dioceses, seminaries, and religious congregations—a clear indication that dramatic leadership change in Ireland is coming. In framing his letter to Ireland so vigorously, Benedict XVI succeeded in overcoming the institutional Vatican preference for the subjunctive in dealing with situations like this, and the pleas of Irish bishops that he cut them some slack, given the intense pressures they were under at home. That the pope rejected both curial and Irish opposition to his lowering the boom ought to have made clear that Benedict XVI is determined to deal with the problem of sexual abuse and episcopal misgovernance in the strongest terms. But for those obsessing over whether a pope had finally “apologized” for something (as if John Paul II had not spent a decade and a half “cleansing the Church’s historical conscience,” as he put it), these unmistakable signals were lost.

Then there was the March 25 letter from the leadership of the Legionaries of Christ to Legionary priests and seminarians and the Legion-affiliated movement, Regnum Christi. The letter disavowed the Legion’s founder, Father Marcial Maciel, as a model for the future, in light of revelations that Maciel had deceived popes, bishops, laity, and his brother Legionaries by living a duplicitous double life that included fathering several children, sexually abusing seminarians, violating the sacrament of penance, and misappropriating funds. It was Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger who, as prefect CDF, was determined to discover the truth about Maciel; it was Pope Benedict XVI who put Maciel under virtual ecclesiastical house arrest during his last years, and who then ordered an Apostolic Visitation of the Legion of Christ that is currently being concluded: hardly the acts of a man at the center of a conspiracy of silence and cover-up.

While the Vatican has been far quicker in its recent response to irresponsible media reports and attacks, it could still do better. A documented chronology how the archdiocese of Munich-Freising handled the case of an abusing priest who had been brought to Munich for therapy while Ratzinger was archbishop would help buttress the flat denials, by both the Vatican and the archdiocese, that Ratzinger knowingly reassigned a known abuser to pastoral work—another charge on which the Times and others have been chewing. More and clearer explanations of how the canonical procedures put into place at CDF several years ago have accelerated, not impeded, the Church’s disciplining of abusive clergy would also be useful.

So, of course, would elementary fairness from the global media. That seems unlikely to come from those reporters and editors at the New York Times who have abandoned any pretence of maintaining journalistic standards. But it ought not be beyond the capacity of other media outlets to understand that much of the Times’ recent reporting on the Church has been gravely distorted, and to treat it accordingly.

George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, is the author of The Courage To Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church (Basic Books).

THE RIGHTS OF GOD IN THE LITURGY

2010-03-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

Copied from The New Liturgical Movement blog
Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Zenit Interview With Theologian and Liturgist Father Nicola Bux
by Shawn Tribe

An interview has been run on Zenit recently with Fr. Nicola Bux, a consultor for the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, on the topic of the liturgical reform of Benedict XVI. The full interview includes discussions surrounding the place of Latin, liturgical abuse, the matter of ad orientem, and many other subjects and points of liturgical interest.

Here are just a few excerpts.

Between Innovation and Tradition

Interview With Theologian and Liturgist Father Nicola Bux

By Antonio Gaspari

[...]

ZENIT: How is Benedict XVI reforming and why has he sparked so many reactions?

Father Bux: The reform of the liturgy, a term to be understood, according to the liturgical constitution of the Second Vatican Council, as instauratio, namely, as a re-establishment of the correct place in ecclesial life, did not begin with Benedict XVI but with the very history of the Church... The instauratio is continuous, because the risk that the Church will slide from her place, which is to be source of Christian life, always exists; decadence comes when divine worship is subjected to the personal sentimentalism and activism of clerics and laity who, penetrating in it, transform it into human work and spectacular entertainment... Does not a liturgy that has become entertainment need reform? This is what Benedict XVI is doing: the emblem of his reforming work will be the re-establishment of the cross in the center of the altar, to make it understood that the liturgy is addressed to the Lord and not to man, even if he is a sacred minister.

[...]

ZENIT: What meaning does tradition have in Christian history and faith?

Father Bux: Tradition is one of the sources of Revelation: the liturgy, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says (1124), is its constitutive element. In the book "Jesus of Nazareth," Benedict XVI reminds that revelation has become liturgy.

[...]

ZENIT: You have many times affirmed that in a correct liturgy it is necessary to respect the rights of God. Can you explain what you are trying to uphold?

Father Bux: ... The sacred liturgy exhibits this attribute because it is not made in our image -- in this case the worship would be idolatrous, that is, created by our hands -- but is made by the Omnipotent Lord. In the Old Testament, with his presence he indicated to Moses how he had to predispose in its most minimal details the worship of the one God, next to his brother Aaron. In the New Testament, Jesus did as much on defending true worship by expelling the merchants from the Temple and giving the Apostles the dispositions for the Paschal Supper. The apostolic tradition has received and re-launched Jesus Christ's mandate. Hence, the liturgy is sacred, as the West says -- it is divine, as the East says, because it is instituted by God.

[...]

A profound reflection is necessary on all this... The recovery of the Ius divinum in the liturgy, contributes much to respect it as something sacred, as the norms prescribed; but also the new ones must be followed again with a spirit of devotion and obedience on the part of the sacred ministers for the edification of all the faithful and to help many who seek God to find him living and true in the divine worship of the Church. The bishops, priests and seminarians must learn again and carry out the sacred rites with this spirit, and contribute to the true reform desired by Vatican II and above all to revive the faith that, as the Holy Father wrote in the Letter to Bishops of March 10, 2009, runs the risk of being extinguished in many parts of the world.

Very Interesting commentary on the last article

2010-03-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

Taken from the lmschairman blog.

Gerald Warner on the sex-abuse scandal

Gerald Warner has generated a lot of comment with his rumbustious post suggesting that clerical sex abuse was fed by the more general crisis following Vatican II.

Much of what he says is true, and well expressed. Putting the current scandal into a wider context is exactly what is needed, in order to understand it.

But let me take that a little further. Fr Ray Blake points out that some of the sex abuse cases date from the 1950s, and this seems to stop Warner's analysis in its tracks. But the wider point is, to put it paradoxically, the post-Vatican II crisis did not start with Vatican II. If it had, then the things which happened after the Council, and indeed many of the things which happened during the Council, could not have happened.

This is true even in terms of the liturgy: permissions were being handed out by the Holy See all over the world for practices we think of as post-conciliar. It is true doctrinally: although the Holy Office, under Cardinal Ottaviani, was keeping a lid on things much more effectively in the 1950s than was the case later, dissent among theologians was rife, and when the world's most interesting theologians were gathered in Rome for the Council, the Acts of the Council record the continuous effort of emmendation necessary to keep the more crazy ideas out of the final documents.

And it is true in terms of clerical discipline. Freud's influence was enormous in the 1950s. The idea that all problems are the result of sexual repression was widespread among the intelligencia; it simply hadn't spread to popular culture. The apogee of vocations in the middle of the century itself suggests a certain reckless expansionism among religious orders and dioceses, and a failure of quality control.

The same battle was being fought then as is being fought now: between the traditional teaching and spirituality of the Church, and a set of ideas derived from 'progressive' secular thinking on sex, self-control, the reality of the supernatural, and how to 'sell' the faith the 'young'. The sex abuse may not have started in 1965, but it remains bound up with the progressive thinking which was latent before the Council, and triumphed after it.

And here is something else. Warner tells us that the only functioning aspect of clerical discipline exercicesd by bishops in the Council's aftermath was the unjust repression of the Traditional . Latin Mass. This is a simplification. In actual fact, a huge number of changes wrought by priests and bishops following the Council were rammed through in a breathtaking display of clerical power. The imposition of the 1969 Missal, as has often been pointed out, was the most extreme exercise of Papal authority in the history of the Church. It would have been simply inconceivable to Innocent III, the most powerful Pope of the Middle Ages. After the Council power was used recklessly: think of the destruction of church buildings, changes to devotional practices, reforms of the Rules of religious orders. It was of course sincerely believed to be for the good of the Church, but it was used without consultation or constraint to make irreverable changes which broke the hearts of millions of faithful Catholics, and did great damage to the Church. This is a characteristic of the 20th Century Church, not only of the post- or pre-Conciliar period.

The sex abuse scandal is not just about the lack of discipline imposed by bishops over their priests. It is about the abuse of clerical power. Sex abuse is itself about the abuse of power: the power of a teacher or a parent, or the power of a priest, over a child. The bishops whose response to the situation has caused the Holy Father such grief went on to abuse their power in other ways: to protect their priests, they imposed silence on the victims and their families, they disciplined whistle-blowers, and they moved abusive clergy to new positions. James Preece has written about this phenonemon here, calling it a 'culture favourable to sex abuse'.

Bishops and religious superiors were doing this before the Council, and they did it more and more as the situation deteriorated after it. This is not the traditional situation in the Church, it is a 20th Century abberation. Thankfully, it is crumbling today, because bishops and superiors no longer command the deference, legal privilege or resources to behave in this way.

The abuse of power may not seem like a 'progressive' phenonomenon, and of course power can be used for different purposes. But 'progressive' ideas by their nature do not come from the bottom up; they are dreamt up by an intellectual elite, which then seeks power to impose them from the top down. The concentration of clerical power in the 20th Century made the destruction of traditional liturgy and spirituality possible, while at the same time incubating of the sex abuse crisis.

Views on the abuse crisis

2010-03-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

Here is an piece copied form Rorate-Ceali blog - It is interesting to say the very least even if you do not agree with all of it.

The abuse crisis is just a small part of the Vatican II crisis

Gerald Warner (The Telegraph - Blogs)
It has become fashionable to claim that the sex abuse scandal currently afflicting the Catholic Church is “its biggest crisis since the Reformation”. Oh, really? Tell me about it. The abuse issue is just a small part of the much larger crisis that has engulfed the Church since the Second Vatican Catastrophe and which is more serious than the Reformation.

Abolish clerical celibacy? The last thing a priest abusing altar boys needs or wants is a wife. There is no compulsory celibacy in the Church of England, but that has not prevented vicars and boy scouts furnishing gratifying amounts of copy to the tabloid Sunday papers for the past century. Celibacy goes against the grain of today’s “unrepressed”, “non-judgemental”, let-it-all-hang-out attitude to sex; its continued existence is a reproach to the hedonist Western world; so Rome must be persuaded to abolish it – likewise its condemnation of divorce, abortion, contraception, homosexuality and all the other fetishes of liberal society. Dream on, secularists.

“Irish abuse victims disappointed by Pope’s letter.” Of course they are. They were disappointed by it before they had read it, before it was even written. Any other response would diminish the power they find themselves wielding against the Church. Have they a legitimate grievance? In most cases, yes. They have a ferocious grievance against the “filth” (Benedict XVI’s term, long before he came under public pressure) who defiled them and treated them like animals.

How could clergy transgress so gravely against the doctrines of the Church? What doctrines? These offences took place in the wake of Vatican II, when doctrines were being thrown out like so much lumber. These offenders were the children of Paul VI and “aggiornamento”. Once you have debauched the Mystical Body of Christ, defiling altar boys comes easily.

The “neglected” sacraments and devotional practices that the Pope says could have prevented this did not just wither on the vine: they were actively discouraged by bishops and priests. In the period when this abuse was rampant, there was just one mortal sin in the Catholic Church: daring to celebrate or attend the Latin Tridentine Mass. A priest raping altar boys would be moved to another parish; as for a priest who had the temerity to celebrate the Old Mass – his feet would not touch the ground.

There was a determined resolve among the bishops to deny any meaningful catechesis to the young. That is the generation, wholly ignorant of the faith, that in Ireland achieved material prosperity in the “Celtic Tiger” economy. Initially it still attended Mass (or what passed for Mass) out of social conformity. Then the sex abuse scandal gave Irish post-Vatican II agnostics the perfect pretext for apostasy: tens of thousands who had never been abused, nor met anybody who had, found an excuse to stay in bed on Sunday mornings.

The abusive priests are not the only hypocrites. “I am so shocked by the abuse scandal I am leaving the Church.” Right. So, the fact that some degenerates who should never have been ordained violated young people – in itself a deplorable sin – means that the Son of God did not come down to earth, redeem mankind on the cross and found the Church? This appalling scandal no more compromises the truths of the Faith than the career of Alexander VI or any other corrupt Renaissance Pope.

Should bishops be forced to resign? Oh yes – approximately 95 per cent of them worldwide. These clowns in their pseudo-ethnic mitres and polyester vestments with faux-naïve Christian symbols, spouting their ecumaniac episcobabble, have presided over more than sexual abuse: they have all but extinguished the Catholic faith with their modernist fatuities. They should be retired to monasteries to spend their remaining years considering how to account to their Maker for a failed stewardship that has lost countless millions of souls.

Benedict XVI should take advantage of a popular wave of revulsion against the failed episcopate to sack every 1960s flared-trousered hippy who is obstructing Summorum Pontificum. It is a unique opportunity to cull the hireling shepherds and clear away the dead wood of the Second Vatican Catastrophe. It is time to stop the apologies and reinstate apologetics; to rebuild all that has been destroyed in the past 40 years; to square up to liberals and secularists as so many generations of Catholics did in the past; to proclaim again the immutable truths of the One True Church that, in the glory of the Resurrection, can have no legitimate posture other than triumphalism.

Pray for the Holy Father as the darkness deepens

2010-03-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

Reading the Herald this morning, I noted a very clever attempt by a journalist to connect the Holy Father with a peadophile priest in Munich/Freising, by linking together a series of disperate details - there have been attempts to exploit aspects of the same story all over the world without a single shred of evidence.

Hans Küng champion of the liberals has also entered the forray, showing the depths to which the liberal cause will sink, sticking the boot in at a time when Catholics should unite in supporting the Holy Father.

The behavior of the media in this matter as with most issues concerning the Catholic Church has been reprehensible.

A little bit of Limburg

2010-03-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

Limburg am Lahn - Germany - A magnificent Medieval town - and stunning late Romanesque former Collegiate Chruch now a Cathedral.

Fontgombault Study

2010-03-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

The Abbey Church of Our Lady, Fontgombault. (N.D. de Fontgombault) The community number roughly a hundred and celebrates it's liturgies according to the Classical Roman Rite (Usus Antiquior)

Photo from behind the Choir

The Abbey had lain in ruins after the french revolution until Cistercians returned and made the buildings habitable again in the late 1800's - It was latter settled by Benedictine Monks from Solemnes Abbey in the mid 1950's

From the side door at the westend

Left side of the main west door

Abbey Church and guest wing

The village church of St Jaques (if I recall correctly)

The Abbey from across the river

From accross the river - the old mill house now functions as a hydro-electric generator

An aerial view of the Abbey

Porters Lodge and Monastic shop behind can be seen the guest house

The west end of the Abbey note how a line may be drawn accross the church - the lower part being romanesque and the upper gothic - the slits date from the religious wars

The great western portal

Ordinations conducted by the FSSP some years ago (mid ninties)

A small romanesque chapel rescued by the abbey and rebuild in the grounds

PRIESTS NOT JUST SOCIAL WORKERS

2010-03-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

Zenit reports today (from CNA) -
VATICAN CITY 16 MARCH 2010

Priests must prioritize spiritual role over social, remarks archbishop

Vatican City, March 16 (CNA) .- Archbishop Willem Jacobus Eijk of Utrecht in Holland noted last week that because of their contact with the world, priests run the risk of allowing "their social roles to prevail over their spiritual ones." In order to avoid this, he continued, each priest must continue to grow in his "relationship with Christ the priest, teacher and pastor."

The archbishop made his comments during a theological congress on "The Fidelity of Christ, the Fidelity of the Priest," organized by the Congregation for the Clergy at the Pontifical Lateran University on March 11-12.

"I don't want to underestimate the importance of the social role of priests, who although 'in a certain sense are segregated in the heart of the People of God,' yet they do not remain 'separated from this same people or from any man' with whom they live and for whom they work in a particular age and culture," Archbishop Eijk said.

Nevertheless, he pointed out, "we seek to train future priests and focus on their spiritual identity. Priests are exposed daily to pressure, tension and the disillusionment related to the proclamation of the Gospel in a society that is not very open to the Christian faith."

For this reason, he added, "After ordination there is always the risk of the social role prevailing over the spiritual. In order to prevent this conflict, priests must do everything possible to grow in their relationship with Christ the priest, teacher and pastor."

St Birinus after additional work

2010-03-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

St Birinus Interior before resotration and additions to the Screen

2010-03-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

What you should be experiencing in church

2010-03-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

Mass at Westminster Cathedral, London U.K.

"In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavnly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of the choirs and of the true tabernacle. With all the Warriors of the heavenly army we sing a hymn of glory to the Lord; venerating the memory of the saints we hope for some part and fellowhip with them; we eagerly await the saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ..."

St Birinus, Dochester-on-Thames

2010-03-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

Below a series of images gathered from the internet (but mostly taken by the young Dominican Br Lew O.P. from Blackfriars at Oxford - to whom much praise and thankfulness is due for this splendid study)

This small chapel built in 1849 by Wardell, is shewn here in various phases before during after it's restoration by Fr John Osman, its parish priest. In fact Fr Osman goes beyond just restoring it, but adds to it completely in style in a most laudable way.

Thank you Fr Osman.

First the Exterior

English Gothic revival - More

2010-03-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

Catholic's are familiar with purple or violet (+ Rose) as the colours for vestments, tabernacle veils and frontals for the lenten and passiontide seasons (see www./saintbedestudio.blogspot.com for a more exhaustive treatment of liturgical colours).

In England, at least before the reformation the colours of Ash (often unbleached linen) frequently ornamented with red and lenten Gray/blue where commonly in use.
Certainly it was the pratice of the Sarum Use and indeed many of the other English Uses of the Roman Rite.

The English reformation whilst not being as extreme in it's initial phases as on the continent, ultimately saw the destruction of the "Catholic Mass" and all of it's associated decorations and trappings. The Oxford movement within the Church of England in the 19th century (essentially a catholic movement) included members who wished to restore "Catholic" elements to their liturgy. Whilst some where content to immitate Roman Catholic pratice as it existed at the time others where keen to restore the glories of the pre-reformation patrimony and tended toward the rite of Sarum or Salisbury sometimes as a means to assert their "Englishness" as opposed to the "Romans" particularly at a time when "Anti-Roman Catholic" sentiment was still very strong.

The Romantic period in which the Oxford Movement flourished coincided with the Gothic Revival Movement in art and architecture. It was this happy union of movements which saw the restoration, rebuilding and re-ornamentation of all most every church in the British Empire. The Roman Catholic Church in England was also heavily influenced by these events and benefited from the revival - Indeed through these events acquired arguabley the greatest of the Gothic Revivalists - Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin.

A LENTEN ARRAY

Below are two photos of the Lenten Array of Westminster Abbey the other is the small Catholic Church of St Birinus (designed by William Wardell) in Oxforshire recently restored.

Todays Treat - More Cheadle (St Giles)

2010-03-11T21:52:00.000-08:00

Comper's renovation of St Giles

2010-03-10T18:52:00.000-08:00

Compare the Glory

2010-03-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

"Cheadle my Cheadle" and "The Parsons Handbook"

Now this is the type of diversity I like - Pugin and Comper - two Rood Screens

Comper at Downside

2010-03-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

These photos are beautiful but by no means do the work justice

The Benedictine Abbey Church at Downside

More Gladsome Pics

2010-03-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

More of Comper's In-comparable decoration

SOME JOY FOR THE HEART

2010-03-09T19:50:00.000-08:00

A study in photos collected form everywhere

Sir Ninian Comper (1864-1960) is an architect of the late Gothic Revival whose style is distinctive.

It has been claimed that Ninian Comper was the greatest church furnisher since Wren. However, if he was primarily a decorator rather than an architect, his decorative art was never simply for art's sake, but for the sake of the function for which he firmly believed a church exists, namely "as a roof over an altar".

Believing this, he built from the altar outwards, personally designing every detail of the furnishings, even down to the candle sticks, which had to fit in with his design. While bitterly opposed to 'modernism', he nevertheless anticipated by many years the changes that were to come: for example, his use of free-standing altars, of pure white interiors and strong clear colours, especially the typical Comper rose and green, and the combination of gilding, blue, and white. Sir John Betjeman said of him (in 1948): "His ecclesiastical tastes are rococo as well as his architectural ones; he is perfectly satisfied so long as gold leaf is heaped on everywhere."

His rather unusual signature of the strawberry is linked with his high regard for his father who demonstrated his great devotion to the poor in so many practical ways. Fr John Comper died suddenly in the Duthie Park in Aberdeen, on the banks of the River Dee, while giving strawberries to poor children.

Quick update

2010-02-22T19:46:00.000-08:00

AT HOME:

The Wollongong Diocese has lost one of it's few home grown seminarians to the Dioces of Lismore. The diocese continues to explore overseas avenues to fill the gap of the increasing shortage of priests. This may prove to be sucessful in the short term however it seems that a proper analysis of why the there are not more form the diocese who present themselves would cause the type of reflection and direction that no one in the diocese is prepared to contemplate. They can be summarised as follows:

Q. What is the common factor in those dioceses where is no shortage of vocatons (i.e. Sydney, Wagga and Melbourne) ?

A. It is widely known that the orthodoxy of seminaries and dioceses is the issue in question.

Q. Why doesn't the DOW adopt the same policies and attitudes as Archbishops Pell and Hart in order to ensure vocations.

A. The sacrifices are deemed too great. In the first place the bishop would have to make unpopular decisions (the very notion seems to be a no go for populist Bishop Ingham). Secondly the liberal establishment (Curial officials & the Catholic Education Office, heads of religious institutes) of the diocese would not tolerate such a shift and would leave the bishop out in the cold.

Q. What is at stake and why would a liberal establishment oppose the necessary steps to ensure vocations.

A. The trend of young conservative priests is a serious threat to all the achievements of and gains in the last 40 year of the liberal establishment. There have even been cries of "The work of the Council is being undone"

Q. And is the work of the Council being undone?

A. No, it is just being properly implemented for the first time. And yes all of the illigitimate interpretations and manifestations in the name of Council are seriously under threat. Even if the DOW does nothing, it will only be a matter of time before the trend reaches it's shores

Church Music Needs Governing reproduced from Zenit 2007

2010-02-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

I am reproducing here comments of Mgr. Miserachs Grau not only because of the inherent value of his comments but because we have not heard anything further on his suggestions - I suspect it is not because nothing has been done but rather that his suggestions are a work in progress in connection with Congregation of Divine Worship (fingers crossed +). Interestingly the comments where made shortly after the release of Sacramentum Charitatis which certainly give weight to his suggestions. It is also noteworthy that Mgr Bartolucci was rehabilitated by Pope Benedict XVI around the same time and subsequently 16th Century Polyphony to the Bascillica of St Peter.

ROME, NOV. 8, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Perhaps a pontifical office with authority over sacred music would correct the abuses that have occurred in this area, suggested a Vatican official.

Monsignor Valentín Miserachs Grau, director of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, said this at a conference last Saturday, marking the 80th anniversary of the diocesan institute of Sacred Music of Trent, L'Osservatore Romano reported.

The pontifical institute directed by the monsignor was originally established by the Holy See in 1911. It is an academic institution dedicated to teaching and also performing sacred music. But, Monsignor Miserachs said, "In my opinion, it would be opportune to establish an office with authority over the material of sacred music."

Need

Monsignor Miserachs contended that "in none of the areas touched on by Vatican II -- and practically all are included -- have there been greater deviations than in sacred music."

"How far we are from the true spirit of sacred music, that is, of true liturgical music," he lamented. "How can we stand it that such a wave of inconsistent, arrogant and ridiculous profanities have so easily gained a stamp of approval in our celebrations?"

It is a great error, Monsignor Miserachs said, to think that people "should find in the temple the same nonsense given to them outside," since "the liturgy, even in the music, should educate all people -- including youth and children."

"Much music written today, or put in circulation, nevertheless ignores not only the grammar, but even the basic ABC's of musical art," he continued. "Due to general ignorance, especially in certain sectors of the clergy," certain media act as loudspeakers for "products that, devoid of the indispensable characteristics of sacred music -- sanctity, true art, universality -- can never procure the authentic good of the Church."

A reform

The monsignor called for a "conversion" back to the norms of the Church. "And that 'norm' has Gregorian chant as its cardinal point, either the chant itself, or as an inspiration for good liturgical music." He noted that his recommendations are not related to Benedict XVI's document on the use of the 1962 Roman Missal.

"'Nova et vetera,'" he urged, "the treasure of tradition and of new things, but rooted in tradition."

Monsignor Miserachs suggested that contact with tradition should "not be limited to the academic realm, or concerts or records." Instead, "it should become again the living song of the assembly that finds in it that which calms their deepest spiritual tensions, and which makes them feel that they are truly the people of God."

Heralding a New Document

2010-02-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

Cardinal Franc Rodé, C.M., the Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, on this World Day of Consecrated Life granted an interview to the Italian section of Vatican Radio, in which he announced that his Congregation, together with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is preparing a document, which will also deal with the liturgical formation of the religious. Here is an NLM translation of the relevant part of the interview:

Q.: The Congregation is also engaged in a reflection about the importance of prayer ...

Card. Rodé: Some say that today men and women religious pray too little. I do not know that, I do not know if it is true and I certainly hope it is not. Prayer presents difficulties today, difficulties which maybe [were not so much present] in the past, in a time in which the rhythm of life was a bit more human, and there was not so much stress, not so much noise, maybe [then] prayer, recollection, concentration, thinking, elevating one's mind towards God were much easier. Today in a world as busy as ours, prayer becomes certainly more difficult. We must emphasize the absolute necessity of prayer in the spiritual life of consecrated men and women. This we want to try to do with the creation of a document we are preparing. Then there is also another point of view: Cardinal Cañizares, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, had the idea - which he prposed to me - to produce an interdicasterial document, with a first part entrusted to our dicastery and a second seen to by the dicastery for Divine Worship, about the liturgical formation of men and women religious. This, too, seems very important to me because on the one hand there is a certain "ignorance", a certain lack of liturgical knowledge and training in young men and women religious; on the other hand, there are also liturgical fantasies that are not always of good taste and which do not correspond to the desire and the will of the Church and to the spirit of the Liturgy itself. Some corrective measures appear, therefore, necessary. This part will be the responsibility of the Congregation for Divine Worship, and together we will produce a single document, consisting of two parts, that regarding prayer and that regarding liturgical formation. I think that both parts are necessary and will - I hope - benefit the spiritual life of men and women religious.

The Cañizares' Interview

2010-02-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

Below is a translation taken from "The New Theological Movement" blogspot, of the recent interview given by Cardinal Antonio Cañizares to Paolo Rodari of Palazzo Apostolico (Il Foglio).

This interview is certainly of great importance and interest liturgically. It is also very important doctrinally because of the Cardinal's insistence on Summorum Pontificum's importance for reading and interpreting the Second Vatican Council with a 'hermeneutic of continuity.'
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Here is the True Reform of Pope Ratzinger: Cardinal Cañizares explains how to restore to Divine Worship the significance and vigor lost in the post Conciliar banalization.

January 9, 2010, Il Foglio

The ex-archbishop of Toledo and primate of Spain, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera has led the Vatican "ministry" which occupies itself with the liturgy for a little more than a year. A delicate task in a pontificate, such as that of Benedict XVI, in which the liturgy and its "restructuring" has a central role after the post conciliar drifts. Besides, the liturgy is the center of the life of the faithful. The Pope said it again at the Christmas Vigil: as for the monks, so it is for every man, "the liturgy is the first priority. Everything else comes after." It is necessary, "to put in second place all other occupations, as important as they may be, to set out toward God, to allow Him to enter into our life and our time."

Cardinal Cañizares says as much to Il Foglio and more in an assessment after having passed one year in the Roman Curia:

"I have received - he explains - the mission to complete, with the indispensable and most valuable help of my collaborators, those tasks which have been assigned to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus of John Paul II with respect to the order and promotion of the sacred liturgy, in the first place of the sacraments. For the religious and cultural situation in which we live and for the same priority which corresponds to the liturgy in the life of the Church, I believe that the principal mission which I have received is to promote with complete dedication and engagement, to re-vivify and develop the spirit and the true sense of the liturgy in the conscience and life of the faithful; so that the liturgy may be the center and the heart of the community; so that all, priests and faithful, consider it as the substantial and inescapable thing of our life; so that we live the liturgy in full truth; so that we live from it; so that it may be in all its fullness, as the Second Vatican Council says, "the source and summit" of the Christian life. After a year at the helm of this Congregation, I experience and sense with greater force every day the necessity of promoting in the Church, in every continent, a strong and rigorous liturgical impulse. An impulse which revivifies that most rich heritage of the Council and of the great liturgical movement of the 19th and first half of the 20th century - with men like Guardini, Jungmann and so many others – which the Church rendered fruitful at the Second Vatican Council. There, without any doubt, stands our future and the future of the world. I say this because the future of the Church and of the entirety of humanity is found in God, in the life of God and of that which comes from Him; and this happens in the liturgy and by means of it. Only a Church which lives the truth of the liturgy will be in a position to give the one thing which can renew, transform and recreate the world: God and only God and His grace. The liturgy, in its most pure character, is the presence of God, the salvific and regenerating work of God, the communication and participation of His merciful love, the adoration and acknowledgement of God. It is the only thing that can save us."

Guardini and Jungmann were two pillars of the liturgical renewal of the past decades. Figures which also inspired Joseph Ratzinger in his The Spirit of the Liturgy. Figures which, probably, have also inspired the promulgation of the Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum. It is said that the Motu Proprio has represented also (there are some who say before all else) an extended hand of the Pope to the Society of Saint Pius X. Is this so?

"In fact, it is. However, I believe that the Motu Proprio has a most important value for its own sake, for the Church and for the liturgy. Although this displeases some - judging by the reactions which have arrived and which continue to arrive - it is only just and necessary to say that the Motu Proprio is not a step back or a return to the past. It is to acknowledge and receive, with simplicity, in all its fullness, the treasures and inheritance of the great Tradition, which has in the liturgy its most genuine and profound expression. The Church cannot permit herself to prescind, to forget or to renounce the treasures and the rich inheritance of this tradition, contained in the Roman Rite. It would be a betrayal and a negation of her very self. She cannot abandon the historical inheritance of the ecclesiastical liturgy, or desire to establish everything from anew - as some have pretended - without cutting off fundamental parts of the Church herself. Some understood the conciliar liturgical reform as a rupture, and not as an organic development of the tradition. In these years after the Council, "change" was almost a magic word; it became necessary to modify that which had been, to the point of forgetting it; everything new; it was necessary to introduce novelty, in the end, a human work and creation. We cannot forget that the liturgical reform and the years after the Council coincided with a cultural climate marked or intensely dominated by a conception of man as 'creator' that only with difficulty co-exists with a liturgy which, above all, is the action of God and His priority, "the right" of God, the adoration of God and also tradition of that which we receive and has been given to us once and for all. We are not to make the liturgy ourselves, it is not our work, but the work of God. This conception of man as 'creator' which leads to a secularized vision of everything, where God, often, has no place, this passion for change and the loss of tradition has not yet been overcome. And for this reason, in my opinion, among the other things, stands the cause by which many see with such distrust the Motu Proprio or that it greatly displeases some to receive and accept it, to re-encounter the great riches of the Roman liturgical tradition which we cannot squander or to search for and accept the mutual enrichment of the one Roman rite between the "ordinary" form and the "extraordinary.” The Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, has a most important value which everyone ought to appreciate, whose value has not only to do with the liturgy, but the entire Church, of that which the tradition is and signifies, without which the Church turns into a human institution always in change. Obviously, the Motu Proprio has to be seen with the reading and interpretation one makes or would make of the Second Vatican Council. When one reads the Council and interprets it with the interpretive key of rupture and discontinuity, he understands nothing of the Council and he completely distorts it. For this reason, as the Pope indicates, only a hermeneutic of continuity brings us to a just and correct reading of the Council, and to understand the truth of that which it says and teaches in its entirety and in particular in the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium on the divine liturgy, which is inseparable, for the most part, with this same entirety. Consequently, the Motu Proprio also has a most high value for the communion of the Church."

The Pope stands behind the slow but necessary process of the Church's rapprochement to an authentic liturgical spirit. Also, divisions and contra-positions are not lacking. Cardinal Cañizares speaks about it:

"The great contribution of the Pope, in my opinion, is that he is bringing us closer to the truth of the liturgy, with a wise pedagogy, introducing us to the genuine 'spirit' of the liturgy (the title of one of his works before becoming Pope). He, before all else, is following a simple educative process which seeks to move toward this 'spirit' or genuine sense of the liturgy, to overcome a reductive vision which is still very entrenched in the liturgy. As Pope, he is the first to put into practice his teachings, so rich and abundant in this area. As his evocative gestures which accompany the celebrations at which he presides, move in this direction. To receive these gestures and these teachings is a duty which we have if we are disposed to live the liturgy in a way corresponding to its very nature and if we do not want to lose the treasures and liturgical inheritance of the tradition. Further, they constitute a great gift for the formation, as urgent as it is necessary, of the Christian people. In this prospective, one needs to see the same Motu Proprio which has confirmed the possibility to celebrate with the Roman Missal approved by John XXIII and which goes back, with the successive modifications, to the time of Saint Gregory the Great and even earlier. It is certain that there are many difficulties which those are having who, in utilizing that which is their right, are celebrating or participating in the Holy Mass according to "the ancient rite" or "extraordinary" form. Of itself, there need not be this opposition, or even less to be seen as suspect or labeled as "pre-conciliar" or, even worse, as "anti-conciliar." The reasons for this are many and diverse. However, deep down, they are the same which they will carry to a reform of the liturgy understood as rupture and not in the horizon of the tradition and the 'hermeneutic of continuity' which reclaims the renewal and true liturgical reform in the interpretive key of Vatican II. We cannot forget, in the end, that in the liturgy one touches that which is most essential to the faith and the Church and, for this reason, every time in history when one has touched something of the liturgy, tensions and even divisions have not been rare."

It is from the discourse of Benedict XVI to the Roman Curia on December 22, 2005 that the necessity to read the Second Vatican Council not under the lens of discontinuity with the past but in continuity has become central to this pontificate. What significance does this have from the liturgical point of view?

“It signifies, among other things, that we cannot bring the liturgical renewal to completion and put the liturgy at the center and source of Christian life if we approach it with the interpretive key of rupture with the tradition which precedes and which carries this rich source of life and of the gift of God which has nourished and given life to the Christian people. The teachings, the indications and the gestures of Benedict XVI are foundational in this sense. For this reason, one needs to promote the serene and profound knowledge of what he is saying to us, including that which he has said before becoming Pope, and which he so clearly reflects upon in Sacramentum Caritatis.”

The Congregation which Cañizares leads gathered last March in a plenary session and presented some propositions to the Holy Father.

“The plenary session of the Congregation was occupied, above all else, with Eucharistic adoration, the Eucharist as adoration and adoration outside of the Holy Mass. Some conclusions which were approved, were then presented to the Holy Father. These conclusions foresee a level of work for the Congregation in the coming years, which the Pope has both ratified and encouraged. The conclusions concern themselves with revivifying and promoting a new liturgical movement which, faithful to all the teachings of the Council and the teachings of Benedict XVI, place the liturgy in the central place which corresponds to it in the life of the Church. The conclusions of the propositions regard the impulse and promotion of the adoration of the Lord, based on the worship one must give to God, in the Christian liturgy; inseparable from the real and substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharistic sacrament; absolutely necessary for a living Church. To put an end to the abuses - which disgracefully are many – and to correct them is not something which derives from the plenary session of the Congregation, but it [the end of abuses] is something which the same liturgy and life of the Church and future of the Church and the communion it has protest. On this point, on the numerous liturgical abuses and on their correction, the Congregation published a most important Instruction some years ago called Redemptionis Sacramentum and we all must return to it. It is a most urgent duty to correct the existing abuses if we as Catholics want to bring something to the world, to renew it. The propositions do not have the purpose of putting an end to the creativity, but rather to encourage, favor, revivify the truth of the liturgy, its most authentic sense and its most genuine spirit. None of us can forget or ignore that liturgical creativity as it is often understood and as one often understands it, is an end to the liturgy and the cause of its secularization, because it is in contradiction to the nature of the liturgy itself.”

Do the propositions speak of the use of the Latin language?

“There is nothing said with respect to giving more space to the Latin language, including in the ordinary rite, nor to publish bilingual missals, which, in truth, has already been done in some places after the conclusion of the Council. Moreover, one must not forget that the Council does not dispense from Latin in the Constitution, Sacrosanctum Concilium, that venerable language to which the Roman Rite is connected.”

There are, moreover, so many other important questions, the orientation...

“We did not raise the question of “versus Orientem,” nor communion on the tongue or other aspects which sometimes bring out accusations such as “taking steps backward,” of conservatism or of elitism. I believe, besides, that questions such as these, the orientation, the crucifix visible on the center of the altar, communion received on the knees and on the tongue, the use of Gregorian chant, are important questions that we cannot make light of in a frivolous or superfluous manner and of which, in every instance, one must speak with knowledge of the cause and with foundation, as, for example, the Holy Father does. These things also correspond with and favor more the truth of the celebration. This can also be said of active participation, in the sense in which the Council speaks of it, and not in other senses. That which is important, is that the liturgy is celebrated in its truth, with truth, and that it favors and intensely promotes the sense and spirit of the liturgy in all the People of God in such a way that one lives from the liturgy. It is truly very important that the celebrations have and advance the sense of the sacred, of the Mystery, that they revive the faith in the Real Presence of the Lord and of the gift of God which acts in it, as in adoration, respect, veneration, contemplation, prayer, praise, thanksgiving and many other things which run the risk of being lost. When I participate in or see the liturgy of the Pope which has already incorporated many of these elements, I am always more convinced that they are not unimportant aspects but which rather have an expressive and educative force of themselves and in the truth of the celebration, the absence of which one notices.”

Cañizares has been for years a high-profile figure in the Spanish Church. He still is, although now he resides in Rome. In Spain, there has been a declaration by the secretary of the Episcopal Conference of the country, Monsignor Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, which said that those politicians who publicly express support for abortion, cannot receive Communion. Do you share this position of Camino? Because Spain has become the outpost of so called “secular” (laiciste) politics? How must bishops and the bishop’s conference carry themselves in the face of positions which negate life?

“Bishops, as pastors who guide and protect the people who have been entrusted to us, have the inescapable duty of charity to teach and transmit to the faithful, faithfully, with wisdom, doctrine and prudence, that which the faith of the Church believes and teaches, even if this costs us, even if this goes against the current or offends public opinion. That which is in play concerning the topic of abortion and that which one will legislate in Spain on this subject, when they will have approved all regulative procedures, it is something very grave and decisive, and we cannot remain quiet or hide the truth. It is the truth which, fulfilling the command of the Lord, the Church speaks of and requires of her faithful; it is the truth which she demands and expects of them. We must serve and direct the faithful with the light of the truth we have received, and of which we cannot set aside in moral questions and sometimes delicate ones at that. We must also help Catholics in public life to make their decisions with responsibility before God and men in conformity with reason as it corresponds to their condition as sons of the Church and believers in Jesus Christ. We cannot and must not, lest we be evil pastors, act in these questions with relativism, with political calculations or with skillful or subtle ‘diplomacy.’ The faithful exercise of our Episcopal ministry, besides, is not to be in absolute conflict, rather, with prudence, measure, mercy, gentleness and an extended hand which certainly must accompany us in everything. It is a difficult moment in which we are living right now in Spain. It is not easy for the bishops either. I do not believe, on the other hand, that Spain is the flag bearer or vanguard of political secularism. Secularism, evident and hidden, and political secularism have spread almost everywhere, in some countries more than others and in some with great power and force. There is a force, apparently unstoppable, engaged to introduce secularism all over the world or, which is the same thing, to erase the revealed God with the human face of Jesus Chris, His only begotten Son, from the conscience of man. It is true that this secularism has some special connotations, perhaps on account of her history and her very identity. Spain is undergoing a very radical transformation of mentality, in its thought, in its criteria of judgement, in its customs and ways of acting, in its culture, in summary, in its nature and identity. Further, this manifests itself in a great and profound crisis of values or moral rupture, behind which hides a religious crisis, both social and the fragmentation of man. However, at the same time, the roots and foundations which sustain Spain and its most genuine aspect derive from the Christian faith. These roots find there sustenance in it and in which it believes. And these roots have not been lost, nor will they be lost. A collection of laws, as that of abortion, which has already been approved in Parliament, beyond the other factors, are the sign of transformation already in motion. I have always believed that we bishops, being obedient to God before to men, must always announce the Gospel and Jesus Christ, not putting anything before Him and His works, to announce without rest and courageously the living God, the glory of Him being man fully alive, which constitutes the ‘yes’ most fully and totally which one can give to man, to his inviable dignity, to life, to his fundamental rights, to all that which is truly human. To announce and bear witness to Him who is love, by acting in all things with charity and carrying and bearing witness before all to the love of God, the passion God has for man, in a particular way for the weak, the indefensible and those who are treated unjustly. Everything aimed toward conversion, so that a new humanity rises up, made of new men, with the newness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their mode of being, of thinking and of acting which in Him, the truth of God and of men, we encounter and find its origin. One speaks simply to give impulse and bring to fruition a new and decisive evangelization. This is the condition in which the Church and bishops of Spain have found themselves in for a long time. It is a slow and arduous work, but which is bearing its fruits. Further, I believe, that the bishops in Spain, in virtue of the affirmation of God and the faith in Jesus Christ, have been in a great battle for man, of the right to life, of liberty, of that which is un-relinquishable for man as a family, the truth and the beauty of the family based on matrimony between one man and one woman, open to life, in love. They are in favor of the education of the person and of the freedom of teaching, and of religious liberty. The Church in Spain, looks every day and with more force and intensity on man and his fundamental rights, feeling the call to strengthen the experience of God so that the faithful may be ‘witnesses of the living God,’ as one of their most important documents from a few years ago says. Its task is not political nor to do politics, but only simply to be the Church, the presence of Christ among men, even if this penalizes the Church. The situation is hard but we look to the future with a great hope and a great call to allow ourselves to be strengthened by God and to keep Him at the center of everything and to proceed on our journey without tiring or without looking back, with our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. I have absolute certainty that Spain will change and turn to the vigor of a living faith and a renewed society. We cannot let down the guard or let down our arms which must be held out to God in faithful and permanent supplication. It is essential that, before all else, it recuperates its vitality and its theological vigor and religiousness, that the God given in Jesus Christ, may truly be its center and its most solid foundation, to be capable and to make a new society arise. This is possible and, furthermore, nothing is impossible with God.”

Investiture of Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles

2010-01-31T20:29:00.000-08:00

Four postulants make first profession on Wednesday, 6 January 2010, the Feast of the Epiphany, during Pontifical Mass sung by Bishop Finn of Kansas City-Saint Joseph. Kansas Catholic has images of the occasion.

The Sibyl wonders?

2010-01-31T18:39:00.000-08:00

The Sibyl wonders why the recent Wollongong Diocesan survey did not include questions about the the Traditional Latin Mass in response to Summorum Pontificum? Perhaps the answer is that the Diocese does not want to know or is not interested. The Sibyl also wonders what the report at the end of three years of the bishops to the Pope will contain? Will it contain information about the aggitation by a large number of people in the western part of the diocese for the Usus Antiquior, will it also contain statistics as to how many people leave the diocese each Sunday to attend the Usus Antiquior because they are not adequately provided for in the diocese. Might it also mention the failed attempts of a local group who have approached a willing religious priest to celebrate the mass only to be denied use of a church for the purpose. The Sibyl suspects not.

The Three Kings

2010-01-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

Epiphany Greetings! And especial Holyday best wishes to the people of Cologne in Germany, where the famous relics of the Magi are housed in Cologne Cathedral.

Apart from the blessing of gold,incense and myrh it is customary to bless chalk - the blessed chalk is then utilised to inscribe on the lintels above the entrance to houses or buildings in general the text "+20+G+M+B+ 10+" A combination of the year and the initials of the Three Kings - Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar - it is to remind us when we enter our doors to be like the Three Kings and seek after truth and pursue it.

Today in the Rhineland Palatinate - children dressed as the three wise men go about from door to door and will inscribe the sacred acronym on the lintels for sweets or some treat (Halloween in the US seems to have copied the essential idea).

Some houses desplay the coat of arms of Balthazar - golden star on a red background.

Blessing for Gold, Incense and Myhrr:

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray. Accept, O holy Father, from me, thine unworthy servant, these gifts which I offer in humility to the honour of thy holy name and to thy peerless majesty; as thou didst accept the sacrifice of the just Abel and the same gifts from the hands of the Magi.

Creatures of gold, incense, and myrrh, I exorcise you by the Father + almighty, by Jesus + Christ, His Only-Begotten Son, and by the Hol y+ Spirit, the Paraclete, that freed from all deceit, evil, and cunning of the devil, you may be a saving remedy to men against the snares of the enemy. May trustful souls who use you in their homes or about their persons be delivered from danger to soul and body, rejoicing in the possession of every good; through our Lord and Saviour's power and merits, through the intercession of Mary, most holy Virgin Mother of God, of all Saints and of them who on this day venerated Christ, the Lord with similar gifts. R. Amen.

O God, thou the invisible and unending One, in the holy and awesome name of thy Son graciously bestow blessing + and power upon these creatures, gold, incense, and myrrh. Protect them who will have them in their possession from illness, injury, and danger to body and soul, so they can joyously and securely serve thee with zeal in thy Church. Who in perfect Trinity livest and reignest, God, forever aND ever. R Amen.

And may the blessing of almighty God, Father, + Son, + and Holy + Spirit descend upon these creatures of gold, incense, and myrrh, and remain for all time. R. Amen

It is sprinkled with holy water.

BLESSING OF CHALK

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

Bless, -+. 0 Lord God, this creature chalk to render it helpful to men. Grant that they who use it in faith and with it inscribe upon the entrance of their homes the names of thy saints, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthassar may through their merits and intercession enjoy health of body and protection of soul. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

It is sprinkled with holy water.

Latin of the same

Blessing of Gold, Incense and Myhrr

V. Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.
R. Qui fecit caelum et terram.
V. Dominus vobiscum.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

Oremus. Suscipe, sancta Pater, a me indigno famulo tuo haec munera, quae in honorem nominis tui sancti, et in titulum omnipotentiae tuae maiestatis, humiliter tibi offero: sicut sacrificium Abel iustus, et sicut eadem munera a tribus Magis tibi quondam offerentibus suscepisti.

Exerciso te, creatura auri, thuris et myrrhae, per Pa+trem omnipotentem, per Iesum + Christum filium eius unigenitum, et per Spiritum Sanctum + Paraclitum: ut a te discedat omnis fraus, dolus, et nequitia diaboli, et sis remedium salutare humano generi contra insidias immici: et quicumque divino freti auxilio te in suis loculis, domibus, aut circa se habuerint, per virtutem et merita Domini et Salvatoris nostri, ac intercessionem eius sanctissimmae Genetricis et Virginis Mariae, ac eorum, qui hodie similibus muneribus Christum Dominum venerati sunt, omniumque Sanctorum, ab omnibus periculis animae et corporis liberentur, et bonis omnibus perfrui mereantur. R. Amen.

Deus invisibilis et interminabilis, pietatem tuam per sanctum et tremendum Filii tui nomen, suppliciter deprecamur: ut in hanc creaturam auri, thus, myrrhae bene+dictionem ac operationem tuae virtutis infundas: ut, qui ea penes se habuerint, ab omni aegreditudinis et laesionis incursu tuti sint; et omnes morbos corporis et animae effugiant, nullum dominetur eis penculum et, laeti, ac incolumes tibi in Ecclesia tua deserviant: Qui in Trinitate perfecta vivis et regnas Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum. R Amen.

Et benedictio Dei omnipotentis, Pa+tris, et Filii,+ et Spiritus + Sancti, descendat super hanc creaturam auri, thuris et myrrhae, et maneat semper. R. Amen.

Blessing of Chalk

V. Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.
R. Qui fecit caelum et terram.
V. Dominus vobiscum.

R. Et cum spiritu tuo.Bene+dic, Domine Deus, creaturam istam cretae : ut sit salutaris humano generi; et praesta per invocationem nominis tui sanctissimi, ut, quicumque ex ea sumpserint, vel ea in domus suae portis scripserint nomina sanctorum. tuorum Gasparis, Melchioris et Baltassar, per eorum intercessionem et merita, corporis sanitatem, et animae tutelam, percipiant. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R Amen

2010-01-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Epiphany! Tommorrow is the Feast universally celebrated on the 6th of January of the Epiphany and the three Kings (Wise Men or Magi). It is one of the ancient feasts of Christ's kingship - when the gentile Kings (who represent us) bearing gifts, pay hommage to the King of Kings. (Beautifully summarise by the hymn Bethlehem of noblest cities)

Fairer than the sun at morning
was the star that told His birth;
to the lands their God announcing,hid beneath a form of earth.

By its lambent beauty guided,
see the eastern kings appear;
see them bend, their gifts to offer
gifts of incense, gold, and myrrh.

Statue in a Cologne Public Square Solemn things of mystic meaning!
-Incense doth the God disclose;
Gold a royal Child proclaimeth;
Myrrh a future tomb foreshows.

It is certainly a public holiday in the City and environs of Cologne, and undoubtedly in other parts of Europe. How distressing it is that the Australian Bishops have relegated this feast to the previous Sunday along with so many other Holy Days. We really need a nation wide petition to request the restoration of our feast days to their proper days - a request for uniformity the the universal Calendar of the Church.

Christmas Matins

2009-12-30T16:18:00.001-08:00

Christmas Matins - As Celebrated on Christmas Eve at St Aloysius Caulfield, in Melbourne Victoria.

The cantors are seen here bowing to the gospel side of choir which is to take up the psalm verse after it's intonation by the cantors.

Apart from the Chapel of the Maternal Heart, Lewisham and St Aloysius, Caulfield, I am unaware of any other place that celebrates Matins in the Traditional form in Australia.

THE PROCLAMATION OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST

2009-12-23T16:17:00.000-08:00

IN the year five-thousand one-hundred and ninety-nine from the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;

In the year two-thousand nine-hundred and fifty-seven from the flood; In the year two-thousand and fifty-one from the birth of Abraham;

In the year one-thousand five-hundred and ten from the going forth of the people of Israel out of Egypt under Moses;

In the year one-thousand and thirty-two from the anointing of David as king; In the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel;

In the one-hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; In the year seven-hundred and fifty-two from the foundation of the city of Rome;

In the forty-second year of the reign of the Emperor Octavian Augustus;

In the sixth age of the world, while the whole earth was at peace - Jesus Christ, eternal God and the Son of the eternal Father, willing to consecrate the world by His gracious coming, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit, and the nine months of His conception being now accomplished, [HERE ALL KNEEL] was born in Bethlehem of Judah of the Virgin Mary, and became man. The birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the flesh.

Maniple - Never abrogated!

2009-12-23T15:12:00.000-08:00

Zenit reports on the maniple - Fr. Mauro Gagliardi of the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, say it was never abolished and offers catechesis on the symbolism of this lovably recondite bit of vesture:

"The maniple is an article of liturgical dress used in the celebration of the extraordinary form of the Holy Mass of the Roman Rite. It fell into disuse in the years of the post-conciliar reform, even though it was never abrogated.

The maniple is similar to the stole but is not as long: It is fixed in the middle with a clasp or strings similar to those of the chasuble. During the celebration of the Holy Mass in the extraordinary form, the celebrant, the deacon and the subdeacon wear the maniple on their left forearm. This article of liturgical garb perhaps derives from a handkerchief, or mappula, that the Romans wore knotted on their left arm. As the mappula was used to wipe away tears or sweat, medieval ecclesiastical writers regarded the maniple as a symbol of the toils of the priesthood.

This understanding found its way into the prayer recited when the maniple is put on: Merear, Domine, portare manipulum fletus et doloris; ut cum exsultatione recipiam mercedem laboris (May I deserve, O Lord, to bear the maniple of weeping and sorrow in order that I may joyfully reap the reward of my labors).As we see, in the first part the prayer references the weeping and sorrow that accompany the priestly ministry, but in the second part the fruit of the work is noted. It would not be out of place to recall the passage of a Psalm that may have inspired the latter symbolism of the maniple.

The Vulgate renders Psalm 125:5-6 thus: Qui seminant in lacrimis in exultatione metent; euntes ibant et flebant portantes semina sua, venientes autem venient in exultatione portantes manipulos suos (They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Going they went and wept, casting their seeds, but coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their maniples)."

New Communities continued...

2009-12-16T18:32:00.000-08:00

The Contemplative Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate

Lanherne Convent in Cornwall, in the far south west of England, is the home of the Contemplative Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate in the UK.

This branch of the Franciscan Order has four contemplative houses for women religious in the world. Two in Italy (Citta Di Castello and Albenga), one in the Philippines, and Lanherne. Someone with a vocation first enters the apostolic sisters where she does her postulancy, novitiate and takes temporary vows and probably final vows also. It is only after some years – perhaps five, six or seven - that a sister feels her vocation is to the contemplative life. Perhaps the superiors think that this sister is called to the contemplative life. Therefore at this stage a sister might well pass from one way of the religious life to the other vocation. My point being one does not enter the contemplative life direct from “the world”.

The recently aquired former Carmel in England

THE HORARIUM

Rise at midnight - Matins and Lauds at 12.10 am
5.35 am - Lauds of Our Lady (in cell)
6 am - Prime followed by Little Office Prime
Meditation and Terce and Little Office Terce
7.30 am - Conventual Mass (sung daily)
12.20 pm - Sext (+ Little Office Sext)
1.20 pm - None (+ Little Office None)
3 pm - Vespers (Little Office – in cell)
3.15 pm - Vespers
3.45 pm - Rosary and Litany
4.15 pm - Meditation and anticipated Little Office Matins until 5.40 pm
8.25 pm - Compline (followed by Little Office Compline in cell)

Stations of the Cross – Fridays at 8.20 pm
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction – Fridays 8.40 am – 1 pm

The Sunday timetable varies very slightly – the main difference is that the Conventual Mass is at 10 am

In Choir - Chantresses at the Ambo

The High Altar and Grille to the Left

Grace before Meals in the Refectory

After the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum in 2007 the FSI superiors decided that these four contemplative houses would take up the full and exclusive use of the 1962 liturgical books.

The New Communities continued...

2009-12-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

The Benedictine Monks of Le Barroux, established in the 1980's have completed the building of their Abbey Church and have since made another foundation in France. the average age until recently was 27.

Aerial shot of the Abbey with Mt Ventoux in the background
Lavendar picking in the forecourt of the Abbey

Lavendar picking by the monks in work habits

During his ordination a monk follows the Missal

The ordaining Cardinal at the throne
Dom Gerard the forme Abbot at the throne with Assistants

The Conventual Mass

Ordinations in the Abbey Church

Pontifical Mass celebrated by the fromer Abbot Dom Gerard R.I.P.

Profession of a Monk - his hands upraised as he sings the "Sucipe"

At the ponifical blessing

Candidate for the priesthood enter by the western door

The New Communities

2009-12-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

I will be posting a number of images of Religious Life starting with those use or have returned to the Classical Roman Liturgy Usus Antiquior.

Mariawald Cistercian Abbey - returned to Cistercian Rite last year

Fransican Friars of the Immaculate adopted the Usus antiquior for conventual liturgies last year