Binary System

As the year progresses, I thought how nice it would be if each diocese were to provide in the Ordo a calendar of feasts etc for BOTH the EF and the OF of Mass.  After all, they are both simply two versions of the one Roman Rite.  It would also make it a lot easier in the sacristy and it would be a most practical demonstration of each diocese' commitment to following the desire of the Holy Father that the riches of both rites be readily available to priests and people.  A very concrete way of telling the gainsayers that both are valid, licit and encouraged.

To see them side by side might assist with the mutual enrichment the Holy Father speaks of.  At the moment in the run up to Lent, those offering only in the OF would perhaps gain a useful insight as to how it used to be done, with the Sundays of pre-Lent preparing the people for the great season.  Those wading through Ember days and Rogation days might give thanks for the economy of the OF.  Those celebrating the OF might also give thanks that they don't have to have more than one collect on a weekday feast!

It might also have the effect of driving those who would have to undertake such things on to the challenge of harmonising the two calendars.  At the moment those celebrating both forms sometimes find themselves in some very strange situations.  I just don't have the time to rush out and change the altar frontal in between Masses on a Sunday morning.  Difficult and perhaps contentious as harmonising the calendars might be, we cannot think that the EF can remain frozen in time circa 1962, with no new saints and no organic development.  Of course, I would stress organic and slow development but a first and gentle step would be to add at least some of the new saints.

Or am I banging my head against a brick wall on this one?

Missa Cantata for the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary

For anyone who can make it, we are celebrating Missa Cantata for the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary this Saturday at 12 noon.

I did not know that snowdrops are sometimes known as "Candlemass bells" - we have a profusion of them here already peeping out as soon as last week's snow melted.

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are known as "Candlemas Bells" because, being the usual earliest blooming flower of all, they often bloom before Candlemas (some varieties bloom all winter long in some places). Legend says that they sprang up by the hand of an angel, who then pointed them out as a sign of hope to Eve, who was weeping in repentance and in despair over the cold and death that entered into the world after she and her husband sinned. Because our Hope is Christ, the Light of the World as Simeon says in his canticle today, it is providential that the snowdrop should bloom by this Feast! If possible, gather some Candlemas Bells to bring inside (folk belief is that bringing them indoors before this date is bad luck, and bringing them indoors today "purifies" one's house.)  

Thanks to Fisheaters.

Charity Walk

18 parishioners and one dog went on a sponsored walk raising money for SUROL - a leprosy charity in Sri Lanka with Cardinal Ranjith as its patron.  It was was organised for World Leprosy Day under the auspices of the Order of St Lazarus in Great Britain  whose members walked in various places including Glasgow, Carfin, Derbyshire, Stockport, Wallasey, and Malta!  I think our little effort here n Lancashire has raised about £500.  We were welcomed back by parishioners who were unable to walk with us by hot soup and plenty of other food and beer!  Thanks to everyone who took part or sponsored us.

We walked through nearby Cuerden Valley where the previous day's snow had mostly melted away and the sun had come out. Some of the ponds were still frozen and the younger walkers found a fascination in finding images in the ice - having been pulled back from its edge after confidently asserting, "Oh yes, it's thick enough to walk on!"

The discovery of a heart shape in the ice (honestly!)

And  a bird (I didn't see it) -

- and the ice is apparently cold to hold without gloves on!

No longer possible to commit adultery

In the topsy-turvey world of messing around with  our Tradition - Christian and otherwise - John Bingham points out in today's Telegraph that if same-sex marriage is legally allowed in British Law one of the "side effects" will be that adultery will have to be abolished in law, as only infidelity between people of opposite genders can count as adultery in divorce cases. It means that people in a same-sex marriage who discover that their spouse is unfaithful to them would not be able to divorce on the basis of adultery unless it was with someone of the opposite sex. Equally, heterosexual people cannot accuse their partner of adultery if they discover they had a secret lover of the same sex. This comes after it became clear that government legal experts have failed to agree a definition of what constitutes "sex" between same-sex couples! (Same -sex couples will also not be able to have their marriage annulled on the grounds of non-consummation.) These distinctions create an inequality between heterosexual and homosexual couples and therefore therefore would have to be abolished as grounds for divorce in all marriages.

One of the arguments that keeps on being trotted out by those who favour redefining marriage is that they support marriage as an institution and want its benefits for everyone but in fact this now undermines yet another of marriages defining elements - that it is an exclusive commitment to another person. So, far from supporting marriage, it is weakened to mean almost nothing. In law, adultery will not exist.  Thus the seventh commandment is wiped away from our legal system, pulling yet another part of the foundations away from the edifice of western society. 

Like crime figures, the easiest way to lower them is to simply remove the crime from the statute books - low and behold, crime figures are down and we can all congratulate ourselves on living in a safer society.

And behold, David Donald William Cameron came came down from Eton and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the which the god of Political correctness had commanded him:
                  "Thou shalt not find it possible to commit adultery."

Another Orwellian rewriting of reality?

The Enemy Within

In a post about the removal of an dissident Irish Dominican (read "heretic" from the views he seems to hold) Fr Ray Blake has at last spoken that which is at the heart of the disintegration of the Church in so much of the western world - certainly in this country:

 "There is an "anti-Church" within the Church arguing against Orthodoxy and undermining all that might be done."

No matter what the Holy Father tries to do - and I don't just mean the present one, it applies equally to Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II - by way of legislation and example, it's of no use if clergy - priests and bishops - smile nicely and completely ignore it.  Not just new legislation such as the Moto Proprio Summorum Pontificum, but ignoring even the basic truths of the Faith such as the nature of the Priesthood and the Sacrifice of the Mass (such as the Irish Priest referred to in Fr Ray'sBlog).

There is an "anti-Church" within the Church labouring in parishes, deaneries and curial offices in complete opposition to Pope Benedict's teaching that the the Second Vatican Council should be interpreted in a hermeneutic of continuity, such as this unreliable and impossible to substantiate tosh in last week's Tablet, where the writer more or less says the Vatican II did what Jesus wanted but Trent didn't.  

This anti-Church seems to have existed in hidden form underground for many decades but grasped the Second Vatican Council to come out into the open and now openly preaches in opposition to the public teaching of the Magisterium of the Church.  The parish priest leaning on the lectern at Mass, without wearing a chasuble, telling people that women should be ordained, or the parish priest inviting people to general absolution, is not an outlandish caricature but a daily reality. 

This third column, which I've experienced many times, is full of clergy who appear to hate the Church as it has manifested itself for hundreds of years, certainly hate the Pope, hate Rome and hate the Tradition which has been the vehicle of transmitting the Faith and the Scriptures down the generations.  If you hate a club  and everything it stands for, why join it, why stay in it? Why not go off and start  a club of your own or join one that is in harmony with your opinions (there are plenty of them)?  Why do these people insist on trying to turn the Church into another version of all those Reformation breakaways?  All the things they want - no Pope, no Tradition, no authority, lay-led services, women priests and free-style dancing, elected elders and doctrine by popular vote - are available in the many denominations that abound throughout the world.  But no - they must stay here and work to change The Church from within for reasons that I cannot fathom.

I wonder if they ever sing the words of Newman's hymn "Firmly I believe and truly and if they do, is it done with the same nonchalance with which the Creed is recited, as a poetic statement not to be taken literally?

And I hold in veneration,
For the love of Him alone,
Holy Church as His creation,
And her teachings are His own.

Redefining Marriage

The Marriage Feast at Cana  (today's Gospel in the New Mass) by Paolo Veronese.
The Gospel doesn't mention it but presumably it was the marriage of a man and a woman!

I've been asked to publicise a series of information days hosted by SPUC all around the country as part of their campaign to oppose the government's plans to redefine marriage. They have organised the meetings so that there is at least one in every diocese and have sent personal invitations to all clergy in England and Wales (although they are for everyone, not just clergy). The events are being held between Monday 21 January and Thursday 21 February. Most are taking place during the day, but some are in the evening. A light meal will be provided at all events. To book a place at one of the events please contact Paul Smeaton on 020 7820 3126, or email him at paulsmeaton@spuc.org.uk  

Of necessity these meetings have been organised at short notice, due to the government unexpectedly announcing in December that they plan to try to push through legislation early this year.

HERE THEY ARE:

Monday 21 January, 11.30am - 3.15pm, St John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 3 Springfield Road, Horsham, RH12 2PJ
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 Tuesday 22 January, 11.30am - 3.15pm, St Peter's Pastoral Centre, Jewry Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8RY
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Wednesday 23 January, 11am - 2.30pm, British Legion Hall, 58 Fishers Lane, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, CB1 9HR
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Wednesday 23 January, 6.30pm - 9.15pm, Saint Alban’s Catholic High School, Digby Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4 3NJ
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Thursday 24 January, 11.30am - 3.15pm, Westminster Cathedral Hall, Ambrosden Avenue, London, SW1P 1QH
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Friday 25 January, 11am - 2.30pm, Holy Ghost Fathers, 6 Woodlands Road, Bickley, BR1 2AF
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Friday 25 January, 6.30pm - 9.15pm, Saint Gregory’s Catholic Church, 22 Park Avenue North, Northampton, NN3 2HS
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Thursday 31 January, 11am - 2.30pm, Cathedral House, St Chad’s Queensway, Birmingham, B4 6EU

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Thursday 31 January, 6.30pm – 9.15pm, Holy Trinity Community Centre, London Road, Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 1LQ
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Friday 1 February, Chigwell Convent, 803 Chigwell Road, Woodford Bridge, Essex IG8 8AU
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Monday 4 February, 11am - 2.30pm, St. Wilfred’s, Witton Street, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 5NP
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Monday 4 February, 6.30pm - 9.15pm, Centre for Evangelisation, Croxteth Drive, Liverpool, L17 1AA

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Tuesday 5 February, 11am - 2.30pm, Schoenstatt Shrine and Pastoral Centre, Manchester Road, Kearsley, Bolton BL4 8QQ

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Tuesday 5 February, 6.30pm - 9.15pm, Lancaster Cathedral House, Balmoral Road, Lancaster, LA1 3BT

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Wednesday 6 February, 6.30pm - 9.15pm, St Andrew's Catholic Church, 1 Bondfield Road, Teesville, Middlesbrough, TS6 9BA

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Thursday 7 February, 11am - 2.30pm, Saint Robert's, 151 Cedar Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 9PH
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Thursday 7 February, 6.30pm - 9.15pm, Hallam Pastoral Centre, St Charles Street, Sheffield, S9 3WU
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Friday 8 February, 11am - 2.30pm, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 280 Southcoates Lane, Hull, HU9 3AP
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Friday 8 February, 6.30pm - 9.15pm, Rosmini Centre House of Prayer, 433 Fosse Way, Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake, Leicestershire, LE7 4SJ

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Monday 11 February, 11.30am – 3.15pm, The Conference Centre at St Cuthberts, Buckfast Abbey, Buckfastleigh, Devon, TG11 0EG

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Thursday 14 February, 11am - 2.30pm, Sacred Heart Parish, School Road, Morriston, Swansea. SA6 6HZ

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Thursday 14 February, 6.30pm - 9.15pm, Pastoral Resources Centre, 910 Newport Road, Rumney, Cardiff, CF3 4LL
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Friday 15 February, 11am - 2.30pm, Downside Abbey Pastoral Centre and Bookshop, Downside Abbey, Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Radstock, Bath, BA3 4RH
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Friday 15 February, 6.30pm - 9.15pm in Oxford
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Tuesday 19 February, 11.30am - 3.15pm,Wrexham Cathedral Clergy House, 47 Regent Street, Wrexham, LL11 1RB
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Thursday 21 February, 11am - 2.30pm, Wheeler Hall, Great George Street, Leeds, LS2 8BE

Tina Beattie wants to talk

Church of the Sacred Heart in Wimbledon

Eccles and Bosco last November suggested that parishes and other groups invite Tina Beattie to speak in order to  "Get her to tell you how much she supports everything the Pope is doing for the Catholic Church".  I'm not sure if Sacred Heart Church in Wimbledon is thoughtfully taking up that suggestion but I can't imagine that particular theme will be the text of the talk announced in their Newsletter and recently brought to my attention with the following:

The newsletter of the Parish of the Sacred Heart in Wimbledon, South West London, announces the following (under ‘Parish Organisations’):

“NEWMAN CIRCLE WEDNESDAY 23 JANUARY at 7.30 pm in the Lounge. Dr Tina Beattie will be speaking on ‘As Mary goes, so goes the Church’. All are welcome.”

Sacred Heart Church is a large landmark church and is currently run by the Jesuits – although they announced shortly before Christmas that after many decades they will hand it over to the Archdiocese of Southwark later this year due to rapidly falling Jesuit numbers.

And yes, it’s the same Dr Tina Beattie, Professor in Catholic Studies at Roehampton University only a few miles away, who together with others scandalously wrote to The Times (of London) on 13 August to state that “it is perfectly proper for Catholics, using fully informed consciences, to support the legal extension of civil marriage to same-sex couples”, and who equally scandalously quoted Cardinal Basil Hume, the late Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, in a way which suggested he might have supported their case. They used words from his 1997 document, ‘A Note on the Teaching of the Catholic Church Concerning Homosexuality’: “love between two persons, whether of the same sex, or of a different sex, is to be treasured and respected” whilst omitting to mention that he went on to say that “the Church does not approve of homosexual genital acts” and “homosexual genital acts ... are morally wrong”.

It might also be pointed out that the church is not so far from the residence of the Papal Nuncio where Pope Benedict XVI spent a night during his memorable visit to England in September 2010!

As a result of that letter encouraging dissent from the Church's teaching a lecture due to be given by Dr Beattie at Clifton Cathedral, Bristol was cancelled by the Bishop of Clifton, Rt Rev. Declan Lang, after the intervention of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Subsequently, an invitation to lecture on Mary at the University of San Diego, California was also withdrawn.

Dr Tina Beattie is a Trustee of and regular contributor to The Tablet – a weekly journal which notoriously promotes dissent at every opportunity. In its issue for Saturday 12 January it published a version of Dr Beattie’s lecture on Mary.

We should recall the words of Pope Benedict XVI to the English and Welsh bishops during their ad limina visit to Rome in February 2010: “it is important to recognise dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate. It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church’s Magisterium that sets us free.” 

The Church in England and Wales is now entering a period of intense public conflict with David Cameron’s coalition government over its obsessive intention to legislate for “gay marriage”. And yet, a renowned parish run by the Jesuits (whose special charism is a vow of obedience to the Holy Father) is unfortunately hosting a public lecture by a serial dissenter to Church teaching on a wide range of issues, women’s ordination among them.

The Church in England and Wales is fighting a profound battle against the forces of secular reaction (though they call it “progress”) and cannot afford to be wrong-footed by parishes who perhaps are not aware of the consequences of what they do and dissenters who most certainly are.

Perhaps the parish might follow Clifton Cathedral and San Diego University and withdraw its invitation to Miss Beattie.