Monday 28 February 2011

What kind of Catholic are you?

BeliefNet features a 25 question quiz designed to determine the sort of Catholic you are. Hmmm....I put myself through it (even though I knew the answer). All of the questions featured a tick box range of answers and, in many cases, these were somwehat ambivalent. Don't expect a spirituality thermometer...it's more a question of 'Where do you stand in the Catholic Church'. 

Here are my results.......no big whoop as they say!

You Are a Daily Rosary (Very Traditional) Catholic

You'd like the church to revive the time-honored devotions, liturgical practices, and strong institutional discipline that prevailed before the Second Vatican Council—and you're hoping that Pope Benedict XVI will lead the church in exactly that direction. Your favorite hymn is probably a traditional Latin composition such as the "Panis Angelicus," and your favorite pope is probably a pioneer of the Church's great liturgical tradition such as Gregory the Great.
Uncanny!!!!!



Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Quiz/What-Kind-of-Catholic-Are-You.aspx#ixzz1FCLXPpxM

Thank you for adding me to your blog list....

...I keep coming across blogs that are carrying Linen on the Hedgerow on their blog roll. I am very grateful and usually reciprocate accordingly.
However, if I have missed anyone in this process please leave a comment and I will remedy matters.
BTW....only blogs loyal to the magisterium, relatively free of family photographs and  with non pink backgrounds are normally featured :)
Oh, flowers are out also....sorry..... (but exceptions do arise from time to time!

I WON'T STAND FOR COMMUNION!

I thought that I had posted enough on the subject of kneeling to receive Our Blessed Lord by mouth but, Francis Phillips of the Catholic Herald has opened up the debate still further and the blogosphere has got a tad worked up by it.
So here are my last words, really. Prompted by the fact that, up until January of this year I had never, in 66 years (doggie ones), laid hand on a consecrated host.
What happened in January was, for me, a shocking experience. I was fortunate enough to serve an EF Mass at St Mary Maggiore's in Rome. It took place in a side chapel with a congregation of four. By the time the priest was ready to distribute Communion, the congregation had swelled to 10 or 12 souls - such is the power of the Mass of all time!

Faced with this dilemma, the priest, most reverently, broke up each host into segments but, horror of horrors, one segment fell to the floor. The priest suffered from acute arthritis and I knew he would not be able to retrieve the host so I began to place the communion plate over the fragment for retrieval later (standard practice in times past). However, the priest, being a little more worldly wise than I, did not wish to leave the host unprotected as there were crowds wandering around the church and chance is not an option where the safety of the host is concerned.
He whispered to me that I should pick it up.....I bent down with hand outstretched but then froze...I was incapable of movement..."Pick it up" whispered the priest more insistently...still I could not move...rational thoughts were racing through my head. I knew this was the only thing to do and the right thing to do but I was still doing a reasonable impression of Lot's wife. "Pick up the host" whispered the priest commandingly, so I did.
Afterwards I was in a state of mild shock; I was very disturbed and it took a day or two to wear off.
Now this story will be pooh-hooed by many. I can hear cries of "inbred superstition," "religious maniac"and much more besides but, it is a fact that those of us who believe in the True Presence and the divinity of Christ also believe that He should be accorded not just reverence but the greatest reverence we can reasonably show when we receive the Blessed Sacrament.

Here are some of the specious arguments that I have read over the past few weeks (and my responses in red):

1. "I can be just as reverent standing up" Really? Is that possible? It's an outward sign as well as an inward one we are looking for and kneeling is more reverent than standing for these reasons - it requires more effort and it is a recognised way of humbling oneself.

2. "Our Church doesn't have Communion rails" Install them

3. "It takes up too much time to kneel" What! can't we afford God a few extra minutes?

4. "Our priest does not like to give to those kneeling" Speak to your priest and if you don't get any joy, write to your Bishop and then Rome

5. "We have Ministers of Holy Communion who will not give to those kneeling"
Get rid of them. Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion are only permitted to distribute the sacrament under exceptional circumstances (not likely to be normally encountered in most parishes) - See Ecclesia de Mysterio

6. "Receiving by mouth spreads diseases" No one has died from receiving the Body of Christ yet!

7. "Priests do not kneel when they receive, why should I" Because you are not a priest - simple

8. "I want to kneel but I would be the only one doing so" Our Lord was the only one to offer up His life for us....surely we can take a little embarrassment (and snide comments) on His behalf?

9. "But we wish to receive under both kinds and kneeling would be impossible"
Each species is entire and complete, each host is both body and blood and each drop of precious blood both body and blood. It is unnecessary to receive both*
*as an extra note: reception of the Precious Blood is fraught with safety issues. How do you recover from a spillage? You cannot leave the Body of Christ there on and in the fibres of the carpet, so what do you do? You know the answer!

10. "The Apostles did not kneel to receive at The Last Supper" As priests and Bishops of the Church they had the privilege of receiving (as far as we know) by hand

Sunday 27 February 2011

NO DIFFERENCE IN REVERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO MASSES?

                                          Picture: Caritasveritas Blog
                                                     Ordinary Form



                                       Picture: Orbis Catholicus Blog
  Extraordinary Form


* Just for the lurking pedant - I am not claiming that either form of Mass is irreverent

Plus..........................

Report from St Benedict's, Clydach. Congregation at today's 2pm Mass numbered 25!

That may seem small beer to those providentially fortunate souls who live in places such as Brighton or Blackfen or, even, Leyland! But, here in Wales, that constitutes a good sized turnout, especially for 2pm on a Sunday. Thanks to all those who organised it, served at the Mass and, of course, to the much loved priest who celebrated it.
NEXT MASS AT CLYDACH DUE ON SUNDAY 20TH MARCH AT 3PM

The knock on the door - pray that it's a double glazing salesman!

Every Sunday afternoon when I hear a knock on the door it sends a shiver down my spine. Am I about to be confronted with two followers of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect? Will I respond in a Christian manner and also convey to them that they are in gross error? (a difficult double act to achieve I find). Will I lose my cool and ask them to leave?
The trouble is, I just do not know the answer. You see, one part of me admires people who are strong enough in their faith to go out and evangelise on the doorstep. The other half despises the fact that they are not converting by example as Catholics do, or are supposed to do. They jab at my conscience and then it's very easy to send them packing ungraciously.

I do try to be as open and forthright with them as possible. My normal response is along the lines of: "Sorry but we are traditional Catholics and very happy with our position, thank you." Of course, that is a bit like holding a red raw fillet steak under a hungry Rottweiler's nose. They immediately come back with: "As Catholics you don't read the bible then?" To which my response is: "But we do, we read it every Sunday at least and it forms part of our liturgy". By then I may be getting a little fired up, much depends whether the JWs are a couple of meek old ladies or two blue suited horn-rimmed spectacled cocky males. I may then ask them if the Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian faith. To which they nod vigorously in assent. Then I state that they must then recognise the divinity of Jesus Christ. Now we are on rocky ground and they generally start looking at their watches and admiring the roses before making their fond farewells.


It is always wisest to open the door to JWs in case they make alternative approaches
I am not being triumphalist about this; I try very hard to offer them the easy route to the front gate but, if they don't take it they must accept that it is legitimate to question their beliefs.
But it still leaves me a little queasy. I wish I had the rhetoric power of Vincent McNabb OP or Columba Ryan OP.
Maybe the abrupt approach is best. Any ideas? - Christian ones that is?

Saturday 26 February 2011

10,000 SIGN PETITION FOR THE EF MASS!

Picture: Daily Telegraph

H/T to Holy Smoke for the update on progress of the petition designed to make Rome aware of Traditionalist concerns that the EF Mass developments as a result of Summorum Pontificum are about to be tampered with.

I am not so certain that the Holy Father is likely to try and put the toothpaste back in the tube, although the darker forces within the Vatican are capable of who knows what?
But I've signed the petition on the basis of better safe than sorry.
However, the best form of petition as we all know, is prayer...and then...more prayer!

So here is a prayer that may be added after saying the Rosary:

Prayers for the Holy Father
V. Let us pray for our Pontiff, Pope Benedict.
R. The Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him to be blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies
Our Father. Hail Mary.

Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, have mercy upon Thy servant, Benedict, our Supreme Pontiff, and direct him, according to Thy loving-kindness, in the way of eternal salvation; that, of thy gift, he may ever desire that which is pleasing unto thee and may accomplish it with all his might. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
(From the old Raccolta: An indulgence of three years, a plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions, for the daily devout recitation of this prayer

THE BISHOPS....AGAIN!


Archbishop Fulton Sheen

I make no apologies for bringing up the subject of our Bishops yet again.
Ecumenical Diablog carries a post in which he, very charitably, calls for restraint in offering up criticism lest we fall into the trap of heresy.
I agree that Catholics should always be charitable in their grouses but it is quite legitimate to grouse if the cause exists. If a Bishop goes against the teachings of the Church or disobeys the Holy Father, we are obliged, according to St Paul, to admonish. I see very little that one could describe as being of good quality or excellence in the Bishops of England and Wales. We have the appalling Cardinal Vaughan hijacking by Westminster Diocese, the establishment of a secular school in direct competition with a Catholic school, actually being built in the grounds of the Catholic school in Middlesborough Diocese, Bishop Burns in Menevia kicking off about sexism because women are not allowed as altar servers in the EF, pretty grim performances for Education Sunday under the control of Bishop McMahon OP, Wrexham Diocese in meltdown and Liverpool Diocese more protestant than Dr Ian Paisley by all accounts.

Not exactly a picture of light and happiness is it?

And so Archbishop Fulton Sheen's words ring in my ears..........

"WHO IS GOING TO SAVE OUR CHURCH? NOT OUR BISHOPS, NOT OUR PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS.
IT IS UP TO YOU, THE PEOPLE. YOU HAVE THE MINDS, THE EYES, THE EARS TO SAVE THE CHURCH.
YOUR MISSION IS TO SEE THAT YOUR PRIESTS ACT LIKE PRIESTS, YOUR BISHOPS LIKE BISHOPS AND YOUR RELIGIOUS LIKE RELIGIOUS!

BLOGGING SEEMS A GOOD PLACE TO BEGIN!

MASS TIME CHANGED

SUNDAY MASS AT CLYDACH WILL NOW BE AT 2PM - PLEASE NOTE

Friday 25 February 2011

"The Church has been dressed in a boiler suit"

A post by Laurence England 'Priests threaten mass exodus over new translation' and a subsequent comment asking why, at the time of Vatican II and the changes, priests did not speak out, has prompted me to publish this post on Fr Oswald Baker whose famous words form the headline to this piece.
Fr Baker of Downham Market as he became known, was not one to let a Bishop dictate something to him which he knew to be inherently wrong.
He dug his heels in and "took over" his own parish and English Catholic Church history was made.
Here is an account extracted from an article in 2004 in The Daily Catholic. I am uncertain as to the provenance of this organisation, that is, I do not know whether it is mainstream church, SSPX or SV. But the account is an interesting one and it illustrates just what a Traditional priest was up against then (and now).

Very tragically, Fr Baker ended up as a Sede Vacantist not recognising the Pope. That is a warning to the SSPX....survival away from Rome can only be achieved within a short time frame. After a period of separation the rot sets in and permanent refusal to recognise reasonable requests ends in a move into the Protestant camp. Pray for Fr Baker's soul and for Bishop Fellay in his dealings with Rome.












         "Father Oswald Charles Baker was born on the first day of Our Lady's month of May in 1915, two years before the Blessed Mother of God would appear at Fatima. His birth was in the Angel Hotel at Clowne, Derbyshire, where his father was the landlord. In his youth the family moved to Great Yarmouth, where he attended the grammar school and, as reports confirm, soon lost his provincial accent. Finding himself drawn to religious life, he enrolled in the Campion House in Middlesex, operated by the Jesuits. From there he advanced to a prestigious Jesuit Seminary in France to become "a gentleman of St. Sulpice." However, the Jesuits were already into the politically correct mode back in 1938 when young Mr. Baker was asked to leave the seminary because he had published an article that suggested the Treaty of Versailles had been "too severe on Germany to be the basis of a lasting peace." As we can see from history, he was right. It would not be the last time he was right. By his own admission he wrote, "I was always a rebel."
    Returning back to England, he tried to enter a Jesuit British Seminary but they had been forewarned that Oswald was one who would foment rebellion. Little did they realize the real rebels had already infiltrated the Church and were circulating errors that would have their explosion in the sixties. Rebuffed by the Society, Baker sought to earn a living selling books in Glasgow, Scotland when a Dominican he had met, after telling the priest more about his life and vocation, suggested that he become a friar.
    Just as the corruption had already seeped into the Jesuit Order, so also the Order of Preachers. Oswald didn't last long with the white-robed Dominicans. Eventually, through the providence of God, he was introduced to a secular priest at Hyde Park. The priest recommended he enter the local Oscott Seminary in Birmingham, England. That worked to perfection and he was ordained in 1942 with war against the Axis in full throttle.
    Throughout the next seven years he served as a curate at parishes in Luton, High Wycombe, and then Wyndham in Norfolk. In 1949 his bishop assigned him to the Church of St. Dominic at Downham Market in Norfolk where he was named pastor. There he remained for 26 years
    Always a stickler for Catholic doctrine in being applicable to all things, he railed against the media's manipulation, bad grammar and even worse, bad theology and false reporting such as in 1953 when he took The Daily Telegraph to task for attacking His Holiness Pope Pius XII over contraception and other accusations. The mud-slinging against Pius had already begun and would continue over the next 50 years as the modern church would opt to dialogue incessantly rather than defend defiantly. That was what Fr. Oswald Baker was committed to: defending the Faith and the True Popes with every fiber of his being. He was loyal and dedicated and for this he ran into trouble with the apostate bishop of Northhampton Charles Grant.
    After refusing from the get-go to abandon the rubrics of the True Mass, and having had enough of the New Order claptrap following Vatican II which he had been most leery of from the beginning and had held off saying the new abominations established by Anibale Bugnini and approved by a man who violently violated his papal vow not to change one iota of the constituted evangelic traditions, Father finally said: "Enough!" Rather, it was Grant who said "enough, this bloke Baker is prohibiting us from totally de-Catholicizing the populace by clinging to the zany idea that a Papal decree in 1570 takes precedence over whatever we decide today. Blimey, we must do something to discredit this chap." Just as the Newchurch of Vatican II has done to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngo-Dinh-Thuc, and Father Nicholas Gruner to name a few, so also Grant set out to make an example of Father Oswald Baker. The Northhampton prelate not only badmouthed Baker, but twice ordered him to cease and desist what he had said for over 30 years - the Apostolic Mass of Sts. Peter and Paul - the Mass of All Ages - the infrangible Traditional Latin Mass codified infallibly by Pope Saint Pius V in 1570 in his landmark infallible Apostolic Constitution Quo Primum. When Fr. Oswald didn't blink, Grant went into a rage and commandeered Father's parish, sending in a New Order presbyter. But Fr. Oswald resisted, and the one sent by Grant had to offer the Novus Ordo in the local town hall. The people's attendance spoke volumes as to which they chose. Only a few attended Grant's "Mass" while even more flocked to Fr. Oswald Baker's Tridentine Mass at St. Dominic's. To show their support for Father and the True Mass, the faithful formed the "1570 Society" helping to raise money for Father to continue his resistance to the rebellion of Vatican II. Father Baker stated that if it was a war they wanted, then war it would be for "the new Mass is a sacrilegious parody of the true Mass: it is sinful to take part in it." He was echoing what Father James F. Wathen, a charter inductee into the Tower of Trent Hall of Honor last year, had written five years earlier in his irrefutable impacting work The Great Sacrilege
    Because of the slander campaign launched by Grant, The Daily Telegraph assigned a reporter to attend Fr. Oswald's Masses and record any comments that might be used against him. Fr. Oswald was up to the ruse and felt if they want to hear something that should raff their knickers, he'd give it to them. He was quoted referring to the holy and mystical St. John of the Cross who as most remember, was incarcerated by his superiors because he sought to stand by tradition. Fr. pointed out that he was exonerated and went on to become Vicar General of Andalusia. Looking at the reporter, Fr. Oswald emphasized to the delight of his congregation that "There is something about them, these priests who gain a misleading reputation for disobedience. These bishops. They will have their little joke."
    But it was never truly a laughing matter to Fr. Oswald that so many were being deceived and ruining the True Mass - "the cherished Mystery of the Latin Mass" which he called "probably the most beautiful product of our civilization."
    In the last Mass he officially celebrated before being sanctioned and cast to the catacombs to suffer as the holy Doctor of the Church St. John of the Cross did, Father in part stated from the pulpit the treasure of the Mother Tongue:
        "The gifts of God to man are in a world which is often careless and irreverent. One of God's institutions which is lamentably possible to desacralize and impoverish is our liturgy, our Mass. We have heard much in recent times about the advantages claimed for Mass in the vernacular, the language of the people. In judging this matter, we shall be wise to bear in mind the disadvantages, and to see the matter in the perspective of history.     "The language of the people in the liturgy has a centuries-long history. Few would claim that where it has been tried, it has intensified religious fervor, increased holiness, led to a deeper religious enlightenment or strengthened the bond of unity or charity among the faithful. A liturgy in the vernacular has rarely filled a church. The opposite is true of the liturgy celebrated in Latin. It is expedient to recall the advantages of Latin. It is probably true that the most beautiful product of our civilization is the Latin Mass. It is certainly true that all the saints of all intellectual levels drew from the cherished mystery of the Latin Mass the wisdom, humility, charity, piety and spirit of sacrifice that elevated and strengthened them. When it is said that, with the ousting of Latin, something has gone, that something can be given a multiple definition - an exquisite elegance and dignity and pathos, a fervent devotion unmixed with ostentation, a centuries-old absolute sacredness, the clear margin between the sacred and the profane. A sacred language indissolubly linked with the Church's sacred music, Gregorian Melody, unfailingly inspires reverence, without sentimentality, and to attempt any vernacular substitute is to attempt the inadequate. It is to take the queenly mantle of the Church and to put the Church in overalls. The very soul of the Church is in her sacred music, in her sacred language.     "As Our Lord used beautiful parables to veil His precious truths, so Latin keeps a decent and beautiful veil over what is enacted by the priest at the altar. To read the Epistle and Gospel in English is to lift that veil somewhat, without yet casting it aside, bringing everything down to the level of the commonplace, exposing all to the general gaze. The truth about the Canon of the Mass, whose English version has been so hotly disputed, is that it most probably just cannot be satisfactorily translated out of Latin into any other language suitable for public recitation aloud. Does that really worry anybody? The Latin Mass has always been loved as it is, without question available in English if wanted, in bi-lingual missals, or if they prefer, those at Mass have always been free to pray their own prayers.     "Centuries of Latin has not, that anyone knows, alienated any soul, or caused charity to grow cold in any. The Church has kept the Catholics of the world united by the use of a single language, and if that bond goes, not only unity, but much else besides is immediately imperiled."
    Despite his being banned from St. Dominic's, his parishioners bought him a house to serve as his Traditional Chapel, enabling him to continue the resistance by providing an oasis in the desert of desertion of the True Faith. Soon the fame of his loyalty to the Traditional Latin Mass and staunch resistance to the "abomination of desolation" introduced by Paul VI and continued erringly under John Paul II soon spread across Britain and to the European mainland; so much so that word reached Archbishop Lefebvre in Econe, Switzerland who decided to send some of his young priests to England to take up the same cause as Fr. Baker. Father Oswald was receptive to this but began to grow suspicious when he realized that the Archbishop was giving too much credit to what he called heretical non-Catholic popes. For Fr. Oswald made it known that one should adhere to another holy Doctor of the Church's teaching - Saint Robert Cardinal Bellarmine whose 5th Opinion in his landmark De Romano Pontifice stated that "a heretical pope automatically loses his office." Needless to say he was labeled a sedevacantist by the Society and others and this caused a split in his congregation because of the misunderstanding by so many as to what the situation really was - it was a time of epikea - emergency - in the Church and supplied jurisdiction had trumped ordinary jurisdiction for with the new rites of sacraments introduced by Paul VI, their validity was greatly, if not fully, called into question.
    In 1984 when asked by a reporter about John Paul II, Fr. Oswald asserted that "he was no more Catholic than Ian Paisley - and no more a pope than Billy Graham." As we can see by the late Pole's heretical actions over his "pontificate", Fr. Baker was right on both accounts. Father was favorable towards another Archbishop, Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngo-Dinh-Thuc, pointing out that "He was formerly Archbishop of Hanoi. In 1970, at the age of 73, he resigned, over Paul VI's rapprochement with Communism. The rest of the family was martyred in Communist Vietnam (his brother president of the Republic of Vietnam was assassinated in November of 1973.] The Archbishop has three doctorates, in philosophy, theology, and canon law. He was previously a seminary rector, and the founder of Vietnam's principal university. He rejects the Conciliar Church, which emerged from Vatican II, as a heretical sect, and therefore its hierarchy as apostates from the Catholic Church." As one commentator pointed out, Baker believed Thuc did the right thing in "logically and fearlessly rejecting John Paul II as no pope" and concluding that the Apostolic See was vacant. Father noted that the archbishop considered ordinations and Episcopal consecrations in the Novus Ordo as "doubtfully valid." Thus, Fr. Baker validated as necessary Thuc's consecration of bishops from many countries to ensure the continued Apostolic Succession. What impressed Fr. Oswald was that Thuc made a dignified and open declaration of his convictions.
    And convictions are what sustained Fr. Oswald as the slander and backbiting continued into the nineties where less than two dozen remained faithful. It is interesting to note that when a certain Hollywood actor by the name of Mel Gibson, long before he ever began his masterpiece project The Passion of The Christ, bought a home nearby and began attending Fr. Baker's Masses on Sunday, attendance increased dramatically. Sad that it took a personality to attract them back, when all along they had the greatest Personality Who ever lived present Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity at each and every Holy Mass and in the Tabernacle. This is one of the problems in the Traditional movement that the personalities and viewpoints of certain priests are weighed more than the very fact that he is merely an alter Christus whose personality and charm or personal opinions should never get in the way or persuade one from not attending the True Mass as decreed infallibly by Pope St. Pius V to be said "in perpetuity."
    In 1997, crippled by spinal problems, he left his home parish to accommodate his handicapped status elsewhere. Yet, despite the tremendous pain, he continued to do what he was ordained to do: Say the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. As opinionated as Fr. Oswald Baker was throughout his life, he never let it come between his duty as a shepherd to his flock in striving for 62 years as "a priest forever according to the Order of Melchisedech" to provide the necessary nourishment of the True Mass. According to the London Telegraph on the day of his death at the age of 87, his final words were "I am ready to die." And to which when he did pass from this earth shortly after, we can only pray Our Lord welcomed him to the Heavenly kingdom with the words each and everyone of us long to hear: "Well, done, good and faithful servant."

Thursday 24 February 2011

STOP PRESS..........STOP PRESS.................STOP PRESS....................


NEXT MENEVIA EF MASS WILL BE ON SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2PM AT ST BENEDICT'S CLYDACH

London Catholic Worker Movement - who they?

'Catholic' and 'Worker' are two words not normally found in the same sentence, largely because the latter word was hijacked by the Socialist Movement a long time ago and, ever since, anything with Worker in the title is normally a deep shade of red in origin.
I unexpectedly surfed in on the London Catholic Worker website and, immediately, sniffed an oxymoron hiding away. There was not much about the site that appeared to be Catholic and, I suspect, none of them are workers, in my sense of the word anyway.
In case you think I am guilty of misjudging them, here is their own entree...


We are a community of the international radical Christian ‘Catholic Worker’ movement. The Catholic Worker is Catholic, ecumenical, pacifist, communitarian and anarchist in the spirit of gentle personalism. The London Catholic Worker was brought together by the action of the Jubilee Ploughshares in 2000. Those who came together had long sensed the need for a Catholic Worker community of hospitality and resistance in the world’s second imperial city. Our work is now made up by two houses of hospitality, a community café and a drop-in soup kitchen, and continue to focus our resistance on the ‘war on terror’, British nuclear weapons and the arms trade. We hope and pray others will be inspired and want to be part of our vision and our work.


Mmm, already I feel a wave of deja vu rolling over me at the use of tired old words and phrases....the "war on terror" meaning, Britain's fight against terrorists in far flung places such as Afghanistan and Iraq, except that, in their context they mean that the British and Americans are the terrorists.....and what does "We are a community of the international radical Christian Worker Movement mean? Has anyone from LCWM stopped to analyse such gobblydegook? radical Christian ‘Catholic Worker’ movement. The Catholic Worker is Catholic, ecumenical, pacifist, communitarian and anarchist in the spirit of gentle personalism" actually mean?

So, being a workers movement and being Catholic one might reasonably expect an image or prayer of even a mention of St Joseph - patron of all workers. Of course, there is nothing about St Joseph on the site. In fact, other than a rather dated symbol of the risen Christ on the top right hand corner, there is nothing of religious imagery to be seen.
And in terms of what they actually do, it is all rhetoric about saving Julian 'Wikileaks' Assange and his young friend Bradley Manning. Lots of demos and protests against war and injustice, but not a sign of a rosary group to save unborn children.
Special emphasis given to getting the alliance troops out of Afghanistan but not a word about the horrors of the Taliban or how they abuse and denigrate women.

I find it quite hard to believe that such simple minded souls exist in our society today. Are they just plain naive or plain gullible. Is there some more sinister anarchical element at work? Has the organisation been infiltrated by extremists? How many of them are card carrying Catholics?
One thing is certain, they are definitely in need of our prayers.

Wednesday 23 February 2011

No longer 'liberal' or 'modernist' they are 'entertainers'!

I have been informed that the British Gas Call Centre in Cardiff (Capital City of Wales for my US friends) is the largest in Europe, employing over 1500 people to sit and speak to customers non stop for X number of hours each day.

British Gas Call Centre Cardiff - a hard way to earn a living!
It is a hard way to earn a living and, it transpires that the Call Centre has not been doing too well of late. Staff turnover was a staggering 67%, average length of waiting time for a customer to speak to an operator was in excess of 2.5 minutes....hard for citizens of the USA to comprehend, used as they are to exceedingly high levels of service.
In Japan, a shop assistant or hotel clerk will actually run to you rather than keep you waiting...but I digress.


So, British Gas took a long, hard look at their operation and re-jigged it to make it more efficient.
Part of this exercise involved identifying customers by giving them a category according to their approach. In this way, they were able to immediately assess a caller and 'stream' them into a pathway that was ideally suited to their needs.
How did they identify them? By their characteristics.
So, a demanding and authoritarian voice was nominated as a "Controller", a whimsical, imprecise voice was an "Entertainer" and a sensible, clearly defined voice became a "Thinker".  I think I recall the advertising agents, Young and Rubicam doing a similar sort of socio economic type of profiling back in the 60s - back then they had "Crusaders" as one of the categories - the remainder are locked irretrievably in the grey blob within my skull commonly referred to as my brain.


So, let's apply this to the Catholic faithful shall we? Is that just too naughty of me?
I think that the extreme right wingers, the SSPXrs that segment who eschew any dealings with Rome; they are definitely "Controllers." The extreme left, on the other hand, the liberal, modernist 'pick 'n' mix' Catholics, they are the "Entertainers" (of course), and that just leaves the sensible, Traditional lobby as "Thinkers" - job done! Of course, I fall into the latter category...
.......did I forget to say that smugness is another characteristic of the "Thinker?"


And, finally, just to finish off on the British Gas front. After making these changes their staff turnover dropped to 13% and customer waiting time shrank to 7 seconds. That's what happens when you employ a consultant!

Tuesday 22 February 2011

WHICH DO YOU PREFER? ANCIENT OR MODERN?


Here's the old........



.....and here's the new!



Yes, the new is a charmer isn't it? A carefully and artfully designed mixture of rags a la Oxfam and perspex offcuts.............conjures up such a wonderful image of our Saviour and the agonies and humiliations he endured on the cross for us. Profound...deep...and UGLY!
This "cross" is destined for the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Acerra - unbelievable. It should be destined for the rubbish tip.
Amazingly, this cathedral in Southern Italy is also host to some great works of art by Giacinto Diana, Fabrizio Santafede and many others.
H/T to Messa in Latino for the story.

Monday 21 February 2011

We are nothing more than 'second class trash who get pushed to the back of the bus'

Fr Z posted this comment referring to how Traditional Catholics are treated today, when writing about possible changes to the Summorum Pontificum (which he dismisses as being unfounded). For those of you who are less than 40 or so years of age, being 'second class trash forced to sit at the back of the bus' was the lot of negroes (now called black people) from the Southern States of the USA who, until civil rights legislation came into force, were treated abominably by some of their caucasian (white) fellow citizens.

Well, I've been at the back of the bus for a long time now and it doesn't get any easier, it's a bumpy old ride. But, I am not complaining, well, I am really but I like to pretend a little!

I often wonder how it would be if situations were reversed and followers of the Ordinary Form of Mass were asked to trash out at the back of the bus.
Try a few of these for size......

All aimed at the Liberal branch of the Catholic faith:-

1. I'm sorry but from now on your Sunday Mass will be at 5pm.

2. Oh, and only on the third Sunday of the month, but don't worry, we will arrange for a Wednesday afternoon Mass at 3pm - that will be every other week.

3. Sorry again! Forgot to say that your Sunday Masses will not be in your parish church any longer but we have arranged for Fr X in St Blog's to say it, it's only 65 miles away.

4. Silly me.....another memory slip...Mass will be in Tagalog from now on...we have 12 Phillipino nurses in the congregation you know.

5. Finally, let me say that we will "trial" this new arrangement for six months and if it does not work out, Masses will move to St Y's just north of the Scottish border.

Does that all seem a shade unreal? Do you think that it doesn't happen? Well, you are partly right. Point 5 has not happened to us yet......but give it time!

Liberals to the front, Traddy trash to the back!

Sunday 20 February 2011

Is your Parish loyal to Pope Benedict XVI?

I have a disturbing habit of rummaging through old press cuttings just to remind myself how far we have come (or not, as the case may be) over the last twenty years or so. That is approximately when I started my collection of articles and cuttings; in those days the press was full of headlines such as "Rebel Archbishop" meaning ++ Lefebvre and also "the outlawed Mass" meaning the EF Mass.

But today I only returned in my time machine to the year 2006, just months into the reign of Pope Benedict XVI. He whom, when plain Cardinal Ratzinger, was dubbed "the only man more Catholic than the Pope".

My eyes fell on a cutting from The Daily Telegraph (the only British paper to consistently report fairly evenly on Catholic goings on over the past 25 years).
The journalist, Malcolm Moore, now the DT's man in Shanghai wrote a piece headed:

"Silence modern music in church, says Pope". Here is an introductory extract:

The Pope has demanded an end to electric guitars and modern music in church and a return to traditional choirs.
The Catholic Church has been experimenting with new ways of holding Mass to try to attract more people. The recital of Mass set to guitars has grown in popularity in Italy; in Spain it has been set to flamenco music; and in the United States the Electric Prunes produced a "psychedelic" album called Mass in F Minor.
The guitar is an instrument of the
streets and should remain there
However, the use of guitars and tambourines has irritated the Pope, who loves classical music. "It is possible to modernise holy music," the Pope said, at a concert conducted by Domenico Bartolucci the director of music at the Sistine Chapel. "But it should not happen outside the
traditional path of Gregorian chants or sacred polyphonic choral music."


I am not particularly au fait with the goings on at new Masses these days so I'm more than happy to be corrected but, is that not a guitar I see before me, coming out of church after the 10am Mass? And, do my eyes deceive me or are those round things not tambourines? Aaaagh! not tambourines! And, yet again, some primary school aged children clutching the devil's own instrument, the recorder!!!! Help! Plus ca change methinks.
Nothing has changed. The Holy Father's "demands" are ignored by Bishops, Priests and laity alike. How can that be? They are all good Catholics aren't they?
No, they are not! Anyone who ignores the teachings of the Holy Father places his or her immortal soul in peril.


Das ist verboten!

Meanwhile, those pew warmers, those parish councillors, those mindless masses, sit happily absorbing music that has not progressed much further than Kum-bay-yah.

Oh, I am being judgmental, I know but we all are obliged by an unspoken vow of obedience and it does fire me up when faced with a bland and fatuous congregation who accept willy nilly, the froth that is put in front of them.
Are they incapable of seeing that what they do is actually wrong? Not just misguided, wrong! Time they were given the Byrd!

Saturday 19 February 2011

EDUCATION SUNDAY - REMEMBER THE VAUGHAN!


This Sunday
Pray for Catholic Education
There is a lot to celebrate about Catholic Education but our schools are under threat as never before.
The Diocese of Westminster has forced schools such as The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School (CVMS) to drop from their admission criteria the requirement for parents to present their children for the Sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confession.
Practising Catholic families question why this requirement of Canon Law has not been insisted upon by the Diocese.
Westminster Diocese has refused to involve parents fully in the education of their children, by eliminating them from the Foundation Governors of CVMS, even though well qualified parents offered themselves. This is why the Westminster Diocese is being taken to court by the Vaughan's elected Parent Governors.
Some Catholic schools in London struggle to fill places with Catholic pupils. Instead of singling out the Vaughan's Governing Body for special treatment the Diocese should concentrate on helping schools like these to attract a higher Catholic intake.
After Baptism and Mass attendance the Diocese prefers to use geographical distance as a tie-breaker for admission to Catholic schools over and above commitment to and practice of the Faith or involvement in the life of the Church.
When this applies to schools such as CVMS it will effectively deny practising families the choice of a Catholic education for their children if they live more than a couple of miles away from a School.
Is this what you want for your children and grandchildren?
Write to Archbishop Vincent Nichols at Archbishop’s House, Ambrosden Avenue, London, SW1P 1QJ or email: archbishop@rcdow.org Tell him what you want and expect him to provide for Catholic education for your family
Do this before it is too late to make a difference
Pray for Catholic Education

JUST WRITE A LETTER OF SUPPORT - PLEASE!

Snatched child found after 3 years

News agency reports regarding a Chinese 3 year old boy who was snatched from his Shenzhen family home  and then found three years later by his father who used Twitter type micro-blogs in his search must stir the hearts of Kate and Gerry McCann whose daughter, Madeleine was abducted nearly 4 years ago from Portugal.



Madeleine 2007
 There are reports (today) regarding Madeleine's disappearance, that a Portuguese/Angolan man has offered information regarding her whereabouts to Spanish police. He claims that she was taken by a well organised paedophile ring with British connections and that she may well be in the United States.

The McCanns must regard such claims with a mix of cynicism and hope but, for what it's worth, here is an image of how young Madeliene, now approachjing 7 years of age, might look today -


Madeleine today?

Please look out for her!

A prayer or two for Madeleine and her parents would not go amiss!


Quote of the week - from Bishop Fellay!

"The traditional Mass has an absolutely extraordinary power of grace. You see it in the apostolic work, you see it especially in the priests who come back to it: it is truly the antidote to the crisis. It is really very powerful, at all levels. At the level of grace, at the level of faith…. I think that if the old Mass were allowed to be truly free, the Church could emerge rather quickly from this crisis, but it would still take several years!"

H/T to Ars Orandi

I once had the pleasure of meeting Bishop Fellay and attending a Mass celebrated by him. His sermon was  intensely spiritual and moving. I found him a most saintly man.

Three days for Summorum Pontificum!

Not much to ask, a three day petition to Our Lady that all will be well and that the integrity of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum will be preserved and the celebration of Mass in the Extraordinary Form even extended.

Please post this prayer on your blog, it is the one the Holy Father calls "the bullet", it is so fast and effective, it goes straight to the heart of the Queen of Heaven:


A Prayer to the Blessed Virgin – never known to fail

O most beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, faithful Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein thou art my Mother. O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech Thee from the bottom of my heart to succour me in this necessity. (Make your request).
There are none that can withstand Thy power.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us (repeat three times)
I thank Thee for Thy mercy towards me and mine.

This prayer should be said for 3 days

Friday 18 February 2011

"...a liberal by any other name may smell so sweet..."

We Catholics use tags to describe each other according to where we stand in respect of the Church and I am probably more guilty than most. They used to say, in Northern Ireland during the peak of the terrorist activity, that, strangers sitting opposite one another on a train would commence a polite conversation whose sole purpose, in its early stages, was to determine whether they were speaking to a Tadhg (Catholic) or a Prod (Protestant). Once these facts had been established the conversation could take a more general note but always avoiding the possibility of broaching a subject that might have been offensive to one's travelling companion. It was a form of acute courtesy.

So how should we describe one another? Take a look at a few of the options on offer:-

Liberal, Traditionalist, Modernist, Orthodox, Right wing, Left wing, Conservative.....

...plus many more besides.

It would be good, I feel, if we had courtesy tags so that any potential for offence is removed. The trouble is...where does one start?
I am happy with Orthodox Catholic as being descriptive of where I stand in the faith. That is, totally true to the teachings of the faith and the Holy Father.

But what do you feel?  Do you have a tag that you would like to put forward?  (no abuse please).
Does the camp divide into just Liberal and Orthodox? Or are there more compartments that need tagging? Or perhaps we should chuck all current tags out of the window and go for something totally off the wall...like......mmm.....dangerous territory, any suggestions?

The EF Mass - it's not rocket science you know!

Young priests who harbour a desire to offer up the Mass of all Time but are worried that their confreres may hold them up to ridicule can learn how to celebrate it in under one week in private.
I was rifling through old press cuttings recently and came across a letter published either in The Daily Telegraph or, possibly, The Catholic Herald c. 2003.

It was from a Father Julian Large of The Oratory in London. I do not know Fr Large but he is obviously a good man and my kind of priest; here is his letter:-

Sir - I never passed a driving test, I do not ski and I can hardly swim. My violin teacher advised me to give up all hope of learning to play any musical instrument on my second lesson. I failed Maths  O-level twice, and my French makes Parisian waiters wince.

I did, however, manage to teach myself how to celebrate the Traditional Mass. It took one week reading J O'Connell's 'The Celebration of Mass' and practising on the desk in my room, and an hour's dry-run with a patient priest the day before my ordination in 2003.
It can't be so difficult.

Ends/..................


For any priest or seminarian interested 'The Celebration of the Mass' is available on Amazon at c. £20 or, secondhand copies sometimes available from John Bevan at Catholic Books.
Also, today there are many DVDs that take you through the process, step by step.

                                          IT CAN'T BE SO DIFFICULT!

Thursday 17 February 2011

Holy Father "sacks" Bishop - Could it happen here (please God)

Last Papist Standing has a good report of a certain Bishop Ricard who has consistently and vehemently denied the orthodox faithful in his Diocese and has done a great deal to suppress Summorum Pontificum and the celebration of the Extraordinary form of Mass.

I will only post a short extract as Robert Kumpel deserves a great deal of credit for a good report....here it is.....

"According to the same trusted sources, Bishop Ricard will probably resign under the pretext of ill-health. Ricard suffered a stroke in December 2009, and although he has been recuperating he is reported to be "not fully himself," and to have relinquished all substantive governance of the Diocese to curial bureaucrats. However, these same sources insist that Ricard (who at 69 years of age is a good five to six years away from the mandatory and typical retirement age) did not wish to resign, and desired to hold the reins of ecclesiastical power for as long as he could; Pope Benedict had demanded his resignation in response to several disturbing matters relating to episcopal maladministration that have come to the Vatican's attention.

The way the Catholic liturgy is celebrated in the Diocese reportedly leaves much to be desired, with nearly all of the clergy (Ricard included) strongly opposed to any and all manifestations of traditional liturgical expression, and overtly hostile to the Catholic liturgical "reform of the reform" promoted by the current Pope, including the revival of the traditional Latin (i.e., "Tridentine") Mass and the reform of the normative Mass (the so-called "Novus Ordo") in a way that brings it closer, in appearance and in ambiance, to the way Catholics have historically worshipped. (Liturgical abuse and banality are the norm:
in one widely-publicized incident, a pastor in Dentin interrupted the Mass to promote his favorite brand of dog shampoo, while during the liturgy he left his pet canine free to roam the nave, and presumably the sanctuary.)"
There is a parish not far from me where the priest's labrador wanders at will across the sanctuary - maybe the end is in sight.

Most encouraging of all is the allegation that Pope Benedict has 'compelled' this Bishop to resign.......when will Archbishop Mennini arrive? I'll bet his in tray is full already.

Read Robert's piece and go to bed a happy Catholic!
(unless you're a Bishop of E & W) God bless our Pope!

How to prepare young men for the priesthood

Much has been written recently about the qualities and characteristics of seminary training. This much I know. What is being dished out today is a watery gruel compared with the programme of fifty years ago. We do know, do we not? That any candidates that show any sign of having any form of spiritual rigour about them are ditched at interview stage. Any vestiges of depth or orthodoxy are sniffed out and the hapless candidate sent off with a flea in his ear.
This is, of course, a complete reversal of how it used to be. We know the great priests that are among us but, in numbers they are few. In my youth just about every priest was a hero, and that's not mawdling nostalgia, it's a fact.

Life in a West London parish kept a priest very busy; he, among many other things, had a watching brief over the following:-
Choir, Legion of Mary, St Stephen's Guild, Knights of St Columbus, Squires of St Columbus, Scouts, Cubs, Guides and Brownies, Union of Catholic Mothers,
Sunday School, Benediction, Secondary School, Convent, Hospital, House visits (2 per year), Confessions, plus, of course, daily Masses with four on a Sunday.


There were, undoubtedly, more duties that I cannot recall. But all of those clubs and societies were intensely active; it was not a case of putting in an appearance once or twice a year, it was more like every other meeting and most meetings were weekly.
The seminary grounding obviously prepared them well for such an ordeal and it's interesting to see a sample programme from a Junior Seminary. This programme was in existence up until 1967 (what happened then?) and it served to provide both Brothers and Priests for the White Fathers - another order that went into decline after Vatican II.

 

"The Priory, Bishop’s Waltham, Hampshire, served the Missionaries of Africa, called 'White Fathers’ because of their Arab-styled habit, as a junior seminary from 1912 to 1967. Some 1,000 boys passed through it in that time, of whom 163 became White Father priests or brothers, three of them bishops in Africa. Another 36 became priests or brothers elsewhere, of whom Abboy Cuthbert Johnson, a Benedictine from Bede’s home town of Jarrow, is a world authority on the Church's liturgy and Michael Fitzgerald became Archbishop. A front-bench Labour MP, England’s first doctor in Adult Religious education,  and many professional men among the old boys, indicates that the school provided a good secondary education, especially in the years when this could not have been guaranteed to every boy".

Ends/...........


Now, I am no academic but I do appreciate that this is not the greatest of educational timetables but it is one that is rigorous with a very heavy bias on the spiritual life. That is what 14 year old boys who aspired to a vocation needed then. A more adult version is what young seminarians of 21 or so require today!
There are no social care elements, no weaving the web type theology just good, solid prayer, manual labour and Maths, English and Latin.
The end result for those boys that went on to Senior Seminary and eventually became brothers or priests were men that could hack life in Senegal, Mozambique, Angola and the rest. They could also, by default, manage British parishes very well and with a great deal of holiness and humour.



Teaching staff from a White Father's Seminary in Ireland













































Wednesday 16 February 2011

Gove gives Cardinal Vaughan a hint

Not that I think that the Parents, Teachers and bona fide Board Members of the Cardinal Vaughan School need much of a pointer, they strike me as being pretty high on the initiative stakes and, I am sure, the possibility of turning the School into an Academy is one that has occupied much of their thinking.

Michael Gove, Education Minister
Michael Gove: 'Catholic schools must be allowed sufficient autonomy to integrate the Catholic faith into every aspect of school life' (Photo: PA)
Catholic schools can avoid “unsympathetic meddling” by secularists (can he mean ++ Nichols and his team?) if they take up the Government’s offer of academy status, the Education Secretary has said.
Writing in The Catholic Herald this week, Michael Gove said that opting out of local authority control would ensure a Catholic school could “remain true to its Catholic traditions”.
He urged parents who favoured academy reform to “make their voices heard” as bishops and governors consider whether to take up the offer.
Mr Gove’s plea comes after the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales (CESEW) signalled for the first time that Catholic schools could become academies if they and their bishops wanted to.
About 150 “outstanding” schools have become academies under Mr Gove’s model but none of them, until last month, were Catholic. In light of the CESEW statement, Mr Gove said he hoped to see “many Catholic schools coming forward to become academies during the next year”.
He said the academy model gave Catholic schools a chance to extend “hard-won freedoms” over admissions, staff appointments, the teaching of religion and the way they are governed.
He said Catholic schools had “a deserved reputation for being well-run” and had provided “some of the most conspicuously inspiring leaders in the field”. He cited Michael Gormally, former headmaster at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial school, west London, and John McIntosh, former head at the London Oratory.
Mr Gove said: “Of course, what really makes Catholic schools stand out is their Catholicity …(it just took a Conservative Politician to highlight this fact for the benefit of Westminster's Education team) A key element of [Cardinal Manning’s] vision was that Catholic schools must be allowed sufficient autonomy to integrate the Catholic faith into every aspect of school life(Westminster Diocese please note). A Catholic ethos is not something confined to RE lessons, but a pervasive set of values that find expression throughout the school day.”(Is Gove an RC?)
The Education Secretary said that people who opposed academies and free schools on ideological grounds were also likely to be hostile to faith schools.(No prizes for guessing who is likely to be opposing any moves in this direction)
He said: “Active in the teachers’ unions and in other parts of the education establishment, they often misrepresent the Catholic school ethos as a mechanism of religious indoctrination and wrongly portray the admissions criteria used by Catholic schools as selection on the sly…(Couldn't have put it better myself). “But by becoming an academy, a Catholic school can place can itself permanently out of range of any such unsympathetic meddling and so ensure it can remain true to its Catholic traditions.”(!)
Schools that become academies have more independence over what they teach and can exert greater power over unions. They also gain extra funding that would otherwise be handed to the local authority.
Catholic academies will be funded entirely by the state. The Church will stop paying 10 per cent of its capital costs, as it does under the voluntary-aided system.
Eric Hester, retired Catholic headteacher, said there were “big advantages” to becoming an academy, but that Mr Gove had failed to mention them.
He said: “The biggest advantage is that an academy school does not have to follow the national curriculum, so Catholic governors will have regained control of this most important area.”
But Mr Hester said it was a “big blow” that academy reforms required the permission of the local bishop.
“We are not talking about a benign figure in a mitre,” he said. “We are talking about diocesan bureaucrats, many of whom are as thick as thieves with the local authorities.”(No, can this be true? - gag!)
Earlier this month St Joseph’s College in Trent Vale, Stoke, became the first Catholic school to acquire academy status under the Coalition’s reforms.
Headteacher Roisin Maguire said the change allowed the school to set its own priorities without outside influence and “be master of its own destiny”.
She said it secured the school’s future “from a financial point of view” but was not a response to “meddling” over its Catholic identity. “We’ve never really suffered from that,” she said. “We are aware [of] what people say about faith schools but we don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it.” The school, rated as “outstanding” by Ofsted, is in the trusteeship of the Christian Brothers and so is independent from the Archdiocese of Birmingham.
Andy Burnham, Shadow Education Secretary, said Catholic schools were an “important” part of the education system, and had been “early adopters” of the Labour academy model, “turning around schools in some of the most deprived parts of the country”.
He said Mr Gove “risks diverting resources and attention from raising standards for all children, by focusing obsessively on structural changes such as free schools – which at best will be meaningless for the majority of parents, and at worst could see standards fall and inequality rise as has happened in Sweden”.
A full version of Michael Gove’s article is printed in this week’s edition of The Catholic Herald.

Ends/.................

The grit in the Vaughan's pot of vaseline, is of course, permission from Westminster to go down this route...but what a strong argument the academy option makes for itself.
By becoming an academy the School would save the Diocese a considerable sum of money, 10% year on year of its capital costs! Now, I've no idea of the Vaughan budget but the savings have surely got to be several hundreds of thousands per year?
Could this be the way to go? Watch this space! Meanwhile, more prayers and cash needed for this great School.

As Wednesday is poetry day, here is a poem by an Anglican pastor....

......Just as a welcome to the Ordinariate members of the flock and as a forerunner to Lenten meditations:-

                               

                      When Jesus Came to Birmingham

When Jesus came to Golgotha
they hanged him on a tree.
They drave great nails through
hands and feet,
And made a Calvary.
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns,
red were His wounds and deep.
For those were crude and cruel days,
And human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham
they simply passed Him by.
They never hurt a hair of Him,
they only let Him die.
For men had grown more tender,
And they would not give Him pain,
they only just passed down the street
and left Him in the rain.

Still, Jesus cried,
“Forgive them for they know not what they do,”
and still it rained the wintry rain
that drenched Him through and through;
the crowds went home and left the streets
 without a soul to see,
and Jesus crouched against a wall
and cried for Calvary.


G A Studdert-Kennedy

Tuesday 15 February 2011

HATE GRAFFITI AGAINST CATHOLICS!

Reports from Orange County in the USA state that a woman has been arrested after spraying anti Catholic messages on Church walls and pavements. In fact, she had a spelling problem because the graffiti read:

"KILL CATHLICK'S" ON ONE WALL - AND........

"KILL THE CATHLICKS" ON ANOTHER WALL

It reminds me of another message sprayed onto the wall of a men's public lavatory some years ago which stated:

"I Love Grils"

Someone then came along and put a line through the word "Grils" and added: "Girls"
A day or two later a fresh line appeared underneath which read:
"So what's wrong with us Grils then?"



"So what's wrong with us Catholics Cathlicks then?"


Extraordinary insights into the practice of....

In 1997 the Holy See issued an important document, unusual in its form and provenance in that it was signed by eight dicasteries, or departments of the Roman Curia.
  • Congregation for the Clergy
  • Pontifical Council for the Laity
  • Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
  • Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
  • Congregation for Bishops
  • Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
  • Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
  • Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts
Don’t for a moment think that, just because the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wasn’t at the top of the list, it isn’t the most important.
Ecclesia de mysterio approved by the Sovereign Pontiff who ordered that it be issued in forma specifica, which gives it even greater weight.  It contains legal provisions in order to correct abuses.
In the light of the aforementioned principles, remedies, based on the normative discipline of the Church, and deemed opportune to correct abuses which have been brought to the attention of our Dicasteries, are hereby set forth.
It is called in English, “Instruction on Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priests“.
You will have to look for this document on the website of the Holy See under the Pontifical Council for the Laity.  You won’t find it easily by looking on the website under the other dicasteries or by using their so-called “search” feature.
As this document itself states:
The scope of this present document is simply to provide a clear, authoritative response to the many pressing requests which have come to our Dicasteries from Bishops, Priests and Laity seeking clarification in the light of specific cases of new forms of “pastoral activity” of the non-ordained on both parochial and diocesan levels.
Though being born in very difficult and emergency situations and even initiated by those who sought to be genuinely helpful in the pastoral moment, certain practices have often been developed which have had very serious negative consequences and have caused the correct understanding of true ecclesial communion to be damaged. These practices tend to predominate in certain areas of the world and even within these, a great deal of variation can be found.
Remember, eight dicasteries of the Curia signed onto this document.
Ecclesia de mysterio, among other things, seeks to correct the abuses of the laity and of the priesthood, both, which have crept in over time because of  theological problems resulting from, for example, the terms “minister” and “ministry”.
Here the titles of the provisions:
  1. Need for an Appropriate Terminology
  2. The Ministry of the Word
  3. The Homily
  4. The Parish Priest and the Parish
  5. The Structures of Collaboration in the Particular Church
  6. Liturgical Celebrations
  7. Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest
  8. The Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion
  9. The Apostolate to the Sick
  10. Assistance at Marriages
  11. The Minister of Baptism
  12. Leading the Celebration at Funerals
  13. Necessary Selection and Adequate Formation
Let’s tease out one of these: 8. The Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion
I am not making this up.  Go look for yourselves.  My emphases.

Article 8
The Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion
The non-ordained faithful already collaborate with the sacred ministers in diverse pastoral situations since “This wonderful gift of the Eucharist, which is the greatest gift of all, demands that such an important mystery should be increasingly better known and its saving power more fully shared”.(95)
Such liturgical service is a response to the objective needs of the faithful especially those of the sick and to those liturgical assemblies in which there are particularly large numbers of the faithful who wish to receive Holy Communion.
§ 1. The canonical discipline concerning extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion must be correctly applied so as to avoid generating confusion. The same discipline establishes that the ordinary minister of Holy Communion is the Bishop, the Priest and the the Deacon.(96) Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are those instituted as acolytes and the faithful so deputed in accordance with Canon 230, § 3.(97)
A non-ordained member of the faithful, in cases of true necessity, may be deputed by the diocesan bishop, using the appropriate form of blessing for these situation, to act as an extraordinary minister to distribute Holy Communion outside of liturgical celebrations ad actum vel ad tempus or for a more stable period. In exceptional cases or in un foreseen circumstances, the priest presiding at the liturgy may authorize such ad actum.(98)
§ 2. Extraordinary ministers may distribute Holy Communion at eucharistic celebrations only when there are no ordained ministers present or when those ordained ministers present at a liturgical celebration are truly unable to distribute Holy Communion.(99) They may also exercise this function at eucharistic celebrations where there are particularly large numbers of the faithful and which would be excessively prolonged because of an insufficient number of ordained ministers to distribute Holy Communion. (100)
This function is supplementary and extraordinary (101) and must be exercised in accordance with the norm of law. It is thus useful for the diocesan bishop to issue particular norms concerning extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion which, in complete harmony with the universal law of the Church, should regulate the exercise of this function in his diocese. Such norms should provide, amongst other things, for matters such as the instruction in eucharistic doctrine of those chosen to be extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, the meaning of the service they provide, the rubrics to be observed, the reverence to be shown for such an august Sacrament and instruction concerning the discipline on admission to Holy Communion.
To avoid creating confusion, certain practices are to be avoided and eliminated where such have emerged in particular Churches:
— extraordinary ministers receiving Holy Communion apart from the other faithful as though concelebrants;
— association with the renewal of promises made by priests at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, as well as other categories of faithful who renew religious vows or receive a mandate as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion;
— the habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass thus arbitrarily extending the concept of “a great number of the faithful”.
Ends/................



Of course, the Bishops of England and Wales will be tripping over in their haste to implement Ecclesia de mysterio........hang on....a pig has just flown past my window!