Another of our extracts from 'Fit for Mission? - Parishes' by Bishop O'Donaghue of Lancaster. Click on the 'label' FFM Parishes to see others. See the 'Fit for Mission?' website and download the full document. The previous title in the series, 'Fit for Mission? - Schools' is downloadable here (pdf). This generated a Facebook support group.
From section 7.2.5, p35.
Where this hedonistic, consumerist mentality is present it reduces the liturgy to a form of entertainment. This shifts the priority of worship away from the adoration of God, to revolve around the personal likes and dislikes of the clergy and congregation.
I am sure many of you are familiar with the symptoms of this dysfunction in the life of the Church:
• The priest reduced to being almost an entertainer whose desire is to keep the interest of his
community;
• Members of the congregation who need constant novelty and stimulation;
• Laity who ‘shop around’ from one parish to the next until they find the ‘service’ that meets their particular tastes in liturgy.
All of these symptoms are manifestations of a deeper malady, which is a lack of true faith. Such shallow faith trivialises the liturgy to the proportions of man’s whims and caprices.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
FFM Parishes: O'Donaghue on being Catholic, 3
CES wants Sex Ed in Catholic Primary Schools
Briefing: it is not just wild-eyed secularists who are demanding sex education at ever-younger ages: now the Catholic Education Service wants it too. Actually, we should say 'The wild-eyed secularists demanding sex ed at ever younger ages include the CES.' This is absolutely abominable.
The Tablet tells us: 'The Catholic Education Service has said that sexual-health education cannot be restricted to secondary-school pupils. Responding to calls from MPs for sex education for children as young as four, the CES said the decision over how and when the subject should be taught should be left up to governing bodies." ('In Brief')
Compare the Church's teaching (The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality):
78. It can be said that a child is in the stage described in John Paul II's words as "the years of innocence" from about five years of age until puberty — the beginning of which can be set at the first signs of changes in the boy or girl's body (the visible effect of an increased production of sexual hormones). This period of tranquility and serenity must never be disturbed by unnecessary information about sex. During those years, before any physical sexual development is evident, it is normal for the child's interests to turn to other aspects of life. The rudimentary instinctive sexuality of very small children has disappeared. Boys and girls of this age are not particularly interested in sexual problems, and they prefer to associate with children of their own sex. So as not to disturb this important natural phase of growth, parents will recognize that prudent formation in chaste love during this period should be indirect, in preparation for puberty, when direct information will be necessary.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Catholic Education Service 'Welcomes' abortion provision in Catholic Schools
Action: please spread the word. John Smeaton, National Director of SPUC, is building up a campaign on this topic and will be publishing more information on his blog at time goes on. This is the first tranche: The Catholic Education Service, the official agency of the Bishops of England and Wales, tells us, in their own document “The Connexions Service working in Catholic schools in England”,
“The Connexions Service is making an increasing impact on young people in Catholic schools and colleges. It is a service to be welcomed.”
Yes, dear reader, this is the government 'service' which hands out 'relationship advice' promoting under-age promiscuity and then deals with the consequences by giving out the morning after pill and taking children as young as 12 to have abortions without notifying parents. It is 'to be welcomed' in Catholic schools.
If anyone thought that Catholic schools in some way protected children from the worst of the culture of death, you have no excuse any longer. Parents must find out what their own school is doing: are Connexions clinics or personnel allowed in your school? Don't wait to find out that you've lost a grandchild. Or perhaps not find out.
And anyone hoping that Archbishop Vincent Nichols may be a nice 'conservative' Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, take note: Archbishop Nichols is Chairman of the Catholic Education Service.
See John Smeaton's post.
Scottish bishops criticise Government policy
Briefing: this is an excellent statement, and as Damian Thompson says, puts the bishops of England and Wales to shame. It focuses on family policy and the homosexual adoption issue: on both of which the Bishops of England and Wales have apparently nothing to say, as a group. Their failure to agree to a statement over the latter is remarked on by Bishop O'Donaghue in his recent 'Fit For Mission? - Parishes' booklet. The Scottish bishops point out that children can only be helped through families: an obvious point which has been lost on Labour, in its ideologically driven attack on the family.
From the Scottish Catholic Observer (in part): Scotland’s bishops have accused Gordon Brown’s Government of planning to undermine families.
The Bishop’s Conference, responding to the draft legislative programme for the coming Parliamentary session, attacked both the government’s lack of support for families and its attempts to impose its ideological beliefs on society.
“Catholic adoption agencies are now to be indifferent as to whether a child is to be placed with a married couple of a homosexual cohabiting couple; this is gravely wrong,” the bishops say.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tories promise tax perks for married couples
Briefing: this is still undefined, but is likely to be very limited. The Telegraph suggests the 'restoration of the Married Couple's Tax Allowance' may be on the cards. Party members and others should be demanding a transferable tax allowance: so the tax allowances of a full-time mother are not wasted. Anything short of this is a tax on the traditional family: they will pay more tax for the same income than a two-income family. This is grossly unjust.
See the Telegraph article.
New book on the eugenicist roots of the anti-life movement
Briefing.
From SPUC: A new book describes the eugenicist roots of the campaign for abortion.
Ann Farmer's By Their Fruits: Eugenics, Population Control, and the Abortion Campaign describes plans to limit breeding by lower social classes and to eliminate the disabled. Abortion promoters have exaggerated the number of clandestine abortions, and birth control policies have caused demographic and economic problems. [Mr Leon Menzies Racionzer on John Smeaton's blog, 28 August]
Ecumaniac memorial in Oxford
Briefing: in June this bizarre, ugly, and morally distasteful plaque was unveiled in the University Church in Oxford, to the 'martyrs of the Reformation both Catholic and Protestant'.
Of the 22 names, 15 are Catholics executed by Protestant monarchs, five are Protestants executed by Queen Mary Tudor, one, William Laud, was a 'high' Anglican executed by 'low' church Protestants, and the last, Stephen College, was a 'low' church Protestant executed by 'high' church ones.
It is sufficient to demonstrate the absurdity of this memorial to say that three of the Catholics are not martyrs: Bowldry, Joyes and Webbe were executed for their part in an uprising in protest against the imposition of Cranmer's Prayer Book in 1549. While this uprising may have been justifiable, those who take up the sword are not martyrs. All the other Catholics have been beatified as martyrs; Cuthbert Mayne, Edmund Campion and Ralph Sherwin have been canonised.
FFM Parishes: O'Donaghue on being Catholic, 2
A second extract from 'Fit for Mission? - Parishes' by Bishop O'Donaghue of Lancaster. Click on the 'label' FFM Parishes to see others. See the 'Fit for Mission?' website and download the full document. The previous title in the series, 'Fit for Mission? - Schools' is downloadable here (pdf). This generated a Facebook support group.
From section 4.5, p23
In my ministry as priest and bishop, I have come across the following attitudes that fail to understand the Catholic vision of sacramental life:
• Catholics who say they don’t need to participate at Mass on Sunday because they can just as well, or even better, pray at home.
• Catholics who protest that they don’t need to go to confession because they can gain God’s forgiveness in the privacy of their sitting room.
• Catholics who say a positive consequence of the decline in vocations to the priesthood is that soon we’ll be able to have parishes just run by lay people, at long last rid of clericalism!
Such attitudes betray a failure to grasp the Catholic understanding that sacraments – the only objective way of encountering Christ – can only be received, in ordinary circumstances, from a Catholic ordained minister, or in the case of marriage in the presence of an ordained minister.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Pro-life information to women considering abortion could be banned
Briefing. A bizarre proposal unlikely to make it into law, but pro-abortionists are very angry about pro-life counselling and this is another attempt to remove choice from women with crisis pregnancies.
From LifeSiteNews: People in Britain who persuade women to change their minds about having an abortion could go to prison. An amendment to the government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill would make it an offence to give information that caused "the average pregnant woman to take a decision in relation to the termination of her pregnancy she would not have taken otherwise." SPUC thinks the move could be a reaction to its Abortion - Your Right to Know, a leaflet distributed in family doctors' surgeries. The proposed measure would cover material which, like SPUC's leaflet, was
totally factual. [LifeSiteNews, 26 August]
FFM Parishes: O'Donaghue on being Catholic
The first of our extracts from 'Fit for Mission? - Parishes' by Bishop O'Donaghue of Lancaster. Click on the 'label' FFM Parishes to see others. See the 'Fit for Mission?' website and download the full document. The previous title in the series, 'Fit for Mission? - Schools' is downloadable here (pdf). This generated a Facebook support group. Fr Tim Finnigan comments on it here.
From section 4, p20 (of the A4 edition):
Those who ignore their responsibility to God and neighbour forget they are Catholic.
Those who deliberately miss Sunday Mass forget they are Catholic.
Those who never pray forget they are Catholic.
Those who deny they are sinners and avoid confession forget they are Catholic.
Those who live oblivious to the suffering of the poor forget they are Catholic.
Those who dissent from the authority of the Church forget they are Catholic.
Those who use contraception, IVF and embryonic stem cell research forget they are Catholic.
Those who use pornography forget they are Catholic.
Those who have sex outside of marriage forget they are Catholic.
Those who commit homosexual acts forget they are Catholic.
Those who exploit their power and position forget they are Catholic.
Those who cheat on benefits or taxes forget they are Catholic.
Those employers who exploit their workforce forget they are Catholic.
Those who have racist, sexist or homophobic attitudes forget they are Catholic.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Church closures speed up
Briefing: coming to a church near you...
From CFNews: Up to half of Catholic parishes in some areas will be left without any services as a result of a radical nationwide reorganisation by dioceses.
Some of the churches already earmarked for closure have congregations of as many as 200 people, and worshippers have accused the Church of 'putting cash before Christianity'.
The most vociferous protests so far have been triggered by plans drawn up by the Rt Rev Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds, to shut down seven churches in his diocese this month as part of a large scale closure programme.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Royal Mail honours Marie Stopes
Action: complaints, please, to the Royal Mail Chief Executive Adam Crozier: adam.crozier@royalmail.com. Marie Stopes was a vicious opponent of the family and an apologist for racist eugenics, compulsory sterilisation, and the killing of the disabled; she took part in a Nazi-organised eugenics conference. Don't take our word for it, look at her Wikipedia entry. One-sided articles about her are common, however: see the BBC.
"Utopia could be reached in my life time had I the power to issue inviolable edicts... I would legislate compulsory sterilization of the insane, feebleminded ... revolutionaries ... half castes." from The Control of Parenthood. 1920
As late as 1942, she wrote"Catholics, Prussians/ The Jews and the Russians/ all are a curse/ or something worse..."
She sent a copy of a book of love poems to 'Dear Herr Hitler' in 1939. See here for more.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
US priests refuse to give communion to kneeling communicants
Briefing. We've never heard of this happening in the UK, since the bishops here have not - as the US bishops have - directed that receiving communion standing should be 'the norm'. But it is worth knowing that even if a Bishops' Conference should decide this, let alone a parish priest, a Catholic retains the right to receive communion kneeling.
Fr Zuhlsdorf discusses this (see his full post), and the matter turns on a passage in Redemptionis Sacramentum, Section 91: it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing.
The same goes for receiving on the tongue. Incidentally, at the Traditional Mass (usus antiquior), communion MUST be received kneeling and on the tongue (although naturally priests will not always wish to enforce this on the spot).
Interestingly, since actions speak louder than words, the Holy Father has instituted a practice by which he ONLY administers communion to communicants kneeling and on the tongue. He clearly wants to re-establish this as the normal and preferred form of receiving communion.
Finally, it is important for priests to note that Redemptoris Sacramentum Section 92 adds: If there is a risk of profanation, then Holy Communion should not be given in the hand to the faithful.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
The Times: pro-abortion bias
Briefing.
From John Smeanton (see his full post): Yesterday, a full-page, public-opinion-forming, spread of reportage and commentary, headlined "Abortion does not harm mental health, says study" presented an American Psychological Association review as significant, authoritative research into the effects of abortion. The fact that this study has been shown (see my post yesterday), on the basis of good evidence, to be fundamentally flawed, is completely ignored. To add insult to injury, Nigel Hawkes writes dismissively in a short commentary piece : "Anti-abortionists would like us to believe that women who have abortions suffer lifelong regrets ... The bulk of the best available evidence suggests that a single abortion does not carry psychological hazards greater than does a single pregnancy ... " - again completely ignoring evidence to the contrary.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Bishop Crispian says no to Polish Mass
Local action as appropriate: the Poles should be supported. This is not just about the texts of the Mass, of course: the whole set up, with a priest to preach, chat, hear confessions, prepare the faithful for the sacraments etc. in their own language is at stake. Catholics don't find it easy in the cliquely modern Church to move from one country to another without harm to their spiritual lives; many Poles lapse when they settle in England. Hollis seems determined to make it impossible.
Hollis is afflicted with a modern ideology of the Church as 'community', and seems to set this above the good of souls. But the Code of Canon Law tells us that Catholic are no longer under any obligation to go to their geographical parish church to fulfill their Sunday obligation (Can. 1248), and furthermore it tells us that the 'salvation of souls is the supreme law' (Can. 1752).
See also:
Can. 518 As a general rule a parish is to be territorial, that is, one which includes all the Christian faithful of a certain territory. When it is expedient, however, personal parishes are to be established determined by reason of the rite, language, or nationality of the Christian faithful of some territory, or even for some other reason.
Hat-tip from Damian Thompson:
The Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Crispian Hollis, has told Poles in his diocese that they cannot have weekly Polish-language Masses in their local church because it will stop them "integrating". They are deeply upset, and rightly so.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Scots Bishops accept cervical cancer vaccine
Briefing. This is an example of the leverage the Scottish bishops can sometimes exercise over the devolved government.
From CFNews: A vaccine against cervical cancer will be given to schoolgirls without them receiving any safe sex advice as a result of a controversial deal struck between the Catholic Church and health officials, Scotland on Sunday has revealed.
From next month, 12 and 13-year-old girls at all schools in the country will start receiving the jab in a bid to cut deaths from cervical cancer caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), which can be passed on during sex.
The Catholic Church originally raised objections to the jab on the grounds it could encourage promiscuity, but has made a U-turn after reaching an agreement with health and education bosses.
The deal means girls getting the HPV jab will not receive any accompanying advice on the need to use condoms to protect themselves from other sexually transmitted diseases.
New research on large families
Action: please pass it on! Civitas, a thinktank, publishes a brilliant rebuttal of the arguments against large families in its latest newsletter, by the television journalist (and father of five) Colin Brazier. Download the Civitas Review here (pdf); read and comment on a Telegraph report here, and read Cassandra Jardine's review feature article here.
Large families are better for the children: they have better social skills, are healthier, and do better at school.
Large families are better for the environment: so obvious you'd have to be a fanatic not not realise - large families are per capita vastly more efficient users of resources than small families.
From Civitas: 'Another Child Matters: Bridging the Middle-Class Baby Gap. By Colin Brazier. - extracts
The decision to have more than two children represents a Rubicon many middle class parents cannot cross. With two children, returning to work – albeit with an expensive childcare bill and lost career momentum – remains an option. But three or more is typically beyond the reach of all but wealthier working parents. The result is two-fold. First, a new fashion for ostentatiously large families among the well-heeled.1 Second, a growing ‘baby-gap’ – between the number of children parents want and the number born – put at about 90,000 a year in Britain.2
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
More Catholic MP3s: from Fr Z
In addition to the tremendous number of excellent MP3 talks available from Keep the Faith, including a large number of Bishop Fulton Sheen's (Sheen is likely to be beatified soon), and the MP3 available entirely free from Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice here, we'd like to draw attention to the wide range of free MP3s produced by Fr Zuhlsdorf (picture), the priest-blogger of 'What Does the Prayer Really Say?'. These are free, and include talks on controversial matters, sermons, and interviews: available here.
He also has a page of MP3s of liturgical prayers, said or sung in Latin, from the 1962 Missal. This is mainly a service for priests wishing to familiarise themselves with the pronunciation of the prayers, and also for laity who don't know the Traditional Mass and would like to become more familiar with it. The Passion of Matthew, from Palm Sunday, sung to the traditional chant melody, is extraordinarily moving. This is hardly a studio recording, but if you don't know it have a listen!
If you've got an MP3 player, who not use it for deepening your knowledge of the Faith? If you don't, you can probably listen to these from your computer.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Bishop O'Donaghue's 'Fit for Mission? - Parishes': preview
Briefing: Following 'Fit for Mission? - Schools' Bishop O'Donaghue of Lancaster has penned a booklet addressing parishes. It comes out on August 27th but here is a preview from Damian Thompson: some very interesting remarks on the way the Bishops' Conference makes it harder for orthodox bishops to speak out on the issues of the day.
We'll be publishing extracts as soon as the document is officially released.
From Damian Thompson (see his full post): [O'Donaghue] attacks the way the Bishops' Conference bureaucracy divides major issues into "areas of responsibility" for particular bishops, leaving other bishops "reluctant ... to speak out on these issues, as if somehow they had handed over their competence in these areas to the responsible bishops and his particular committee".
And he adds: "I must register, too, my disappointment that our Bishops' Conference recently could not agree a collegial response to the Government's legislation on same-sex adoption."
The Conference's statements, says Bishop O'Donoghue, tend to be "flat and safe at a time when we need passionate and courageous public statements that dare to speak the full truth in love".
Sunday, August 17, 2008
SPUC: new 'Safe at School' leaflet
Action: please promote these.
From CFNews: A new leaflet has been developed to encourage parents to get to grips with what is happening in their children's schools. This is part of SPUC's campaign to raise awareness about what is happening in schools and to identify those people who will take action and start working for change within their own child's school.
The leaflet lists 17 questions to put to the school authorities - and provides a help-line on the issues the leaflet raises. Questions include: 'Are you aware of your child filling out questionnaires at school with leading questions on their knowledge of sexual matters and local availability of the morning-after pill?. . .Are you aware of websites advertising abortion facilitate and confidential advice which may be promoted at your child's school often on plastic cards which may also offer help on careers advice?. . .Are you aware that school governors have to consult with parents over sex education and that they have the power to veto anything they feel is detrimental to the child? . .'
The Safe at School campaign, run by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, is raising awareness about the ways in which children and young people at school are exposed to anti-life classroom materials and agencies through which they can get abortion referrals, abortion-inducing contraception and the morning-after pill. This includes faith schools (including Catholic schools).
Order the leaflets you need from lizfoody@spuc.org.uk [SPUC]
Sex ed for the mentally handicapped
Local action as appropriate.
From CFNews: Children with learning difficulties should be shown explicit images of intercourse as part of sex education, according to a radical new campaign by the Family Planning Association. The FPA's 'It's My Right' campaign has produced a CD-Rom to be used by special needs teachers and school nurses. It features explicit images of sex and masturbation. 'It's more explicit than mainstream sex-education,' said Audrey Simpson of the FPA. 'But you need to be quite explicit, otherwise you create confusion,' she claimed.
Petition against church closures in Leeds
Please sign the petition: it is not an act of disloyalty to the bishop, but a cry for help to Rome. Bishop Roche's actions, in relation to a whole string of planned church closures (we reported a particularly outstanding case here) has been high-handed to an extraordinary degree. Announcing the plans to his own priests by DVD is shocking; refusing the answer the letters of the faithful, or even of their MPs, suggests that he is losing his grip on reality. In fact bishops are obliged, by the nature of their office, to listen to their flocks: they are his children, not his slaves.
See Damian Thompson's excellent commentary here. The text of the petition is this - click to go to the site to sign it here. (You do NOT have to make a donation to the website, ipetition.co.uk!)
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Our Lady of Good Success
From Fr Tim Finnigan: The feast of the Assumption seems a good day to promote devotion to Our Lady of Good Success. A reader kindly sent me the DVD, "Our Lady of Good Success: History, Miracles, Prophecies" produced by Pro Multis Media. In recent months, I have received several other items related to this devotion. There is a good website run by "Tradition in Action" which has a "Basic Questions" page by Dr Marian Therese Horvat who wrote the book "Our Lady of Good Success. Prophecies for our Times." Another dedicated website, Our Lady of Good Success has various articles and photos, from which the above is taken.
The first question any good Catholic will want to ask is "Is this devotion authorised?" The answer is unambiguously affirmative. It was approved in the 17th century by the local bishop and has been supported by his successors. Pope John Paul authorised a solemn public coronation of the statue.
Our Lady appeared to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (1563-1635) at her convent in Quito, Ecuador. Her cause for canonisation was introduced by the local Bishop in 1986. It is particularly interesting that during the apparitions, Our Lady made a number of prophecies which have subsequently been fulfilled. She spoke particularly of the crisis in the Catholic Church during the 20th century. She also spoke, as at Fatima, of her subsequent "triumph" after a period of purification for the Church and the world. Our Lady told Mother Mariana that the devotion would become widespread in the late 20th century. Until then, it was virtually unknown outside Ecuador. There is a good article at Blessed Virgin Mary's Bower on the life of Mother Mariana.
The "good success" originally referred the happy development of Christ in the womb of Mary from conception to birth. It was extended to include our Lady's mediation and intercession in time of particular need. For our own time, it can be understood particularly to refer to Our Lady's motherly protection of the Church.
Our Lady of Good Success. Pray for us.
London Zoo: 'Gay Sunday'
Briefing. This is bizarre. The Evangelical group Christian Voice are calling for complaints and are organising a 'witness' in protest. It is certainly unjust to give a 20% discount on the basis of sexual orientation, and an indication of the Zoo's attitude in promoting the homosexual agenda: you have been warned. However, we don't want to go down the road of having apoplexy at every 'gay' event; we've got our work cut out opposing the sacrilege of the Warwick Street Masses.
From Christian Voice: London Zoo Gay Sunday 14th September 2008 They don't seem to be advertising it as much as last year, but London Zoo is giving homosexuals a discount again this year on 14th September by holding 'Gay Sunday' at this quintessential family venue (families will pay full price).
If the event is like last year, and the ZSL website suggests it will be:
The Zoo closes off the Mappin Terrace without telling the rest of the paying public, opens the Fellows' Lawn for a homosexual garden party.
Organ donation kills the donor
Action: do NOT allow your organs to be removed 'after death': they may well take them before death.
From LifeSiteNews, via SPUC: Some organ donors are not dead when their body parts are taken from them, according to bioethicists writing in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr Robert Truog of Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts, and Dr Franklin
Miller of the National Institutes of Health, Maryland, say that criteria for brain death and cardiac death are not supported by scientific literature. They write: "... although it may be perfectly ethical to remove vital organs for transplantation from patients who satisfy the diagnostic criteria of brain death, the reason it is ethical cannot be that we are convinced they are really dead." They write something similar
about cardiac death. Our source suggests the acknowledgement of the inadequacy of such criteria significantly undermines the ethics of organ donation. [LifeSiteNews, 14 August]
Friday, August 15, 2008
Callow and McKellen attack Bishop Devine
Briefing: a 'dog bites man' story if ever there was one. But here it is anyway.
From LifeSiteNews: Two prominent British homosexual actors have lashed out at a Catholic bishop for warning Catholic parents against the advance of the homosexualist movement. Sir Ian McKellen and Simon Callow denounced as 'arrogant' and 'unchristian' the efforts of Bishop Joseph Devine to warn a group of parents against the secularising aims of the homosexual movement.
Civil Partnerships celebrated at 'gay' Mass
Action: Please join the protest, from 4.45pm, outside Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, every first and third Sunday of the month.
From CFNews: Living in sin? 'Go, sin no more' Well, not too hasty now. What about an 'interactive time' of encouragement instead? In the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, you can join a half day of 'Relationships' -- with time to 'look at the stages' of your relationship -- with a group of 'professional people' who are leaders in this type of ministry. Meanwhile, at Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, where the Soho Masses take place, you may be given a leaflet with this note: 'On 3rd Sundays we name those who have requested our prayers as they enter civil partnerships. Please take a form from the information table if you wish names included or contact us.'
Cardinal Arinze: no to liturgical dance
Briefing: an intelligent and nuanced response to the question of liturgical dance from Cardinal Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
David Cameron in favour of abortion up to birth for the disabled
Briefing. It seems the disabled do not have the same rights, according to Mr Cameron, as everyone else.
From John Smeaton: The leader of the opposition in the UK parliament has confirmed that he supports abortion for disability up to birth. Asked about the issue by an SPUC supporter at a meeting in Cumbria, England, Mr David Cameron MP said: "[I]n the case of parents who have medical evidence that they may have a very disabled child, I would not want to change that." Mr Cameron has a six-year-old son with cerebral palsy and quadriplegia, and he said: "Ivan [has] brought incredible things to my life but it is an enormous challenge and I don't think it's right to ... tell other parents ... that actually doing something about it isn't an option." He wanted a free parliamentary
vote on such issues, and the time-limit for non-disabled abortion to be cut from 24 weeks to 20. Mr Gordon Brown MP, prime minister, also supports unlimited abortion of the disabled. [John Smeaton, 13 August]
Thursday, August 14, 2008
No more Y-H-W-Y
Briefing and comment: the 'Tetragram' is the combination of the four consonents
of God's Name, which was treated with enormous respect in the Old Testament, and is still so treated by Jews today. When it appears in the Bible it is never read aloud, being substituted by the word 'Adonai', 'Lord'. (This led to the confusion by which the nonesense word 'Jehovah' was invented: with the consonents of the Tetragram and the vowels of Adonai).
Sentitivity to the Holy Name was maintained in the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the classic vernacular translations of the bible, which render it 'LORD', indicated in printed bibles with capitals; you also see 'Lord GOD' where the Hebrew text had 'Lord Y-H-W-Y'. This convention was jettisoned by some modern translations, including the Catholic New Jerusalem Bible, which has never been approved for liturgical use. These inserted what the translators infer are the intended vowels.
In Pope Benedict's book 'Jesus of Nazareth' the practice of using the Holy Name in this way is condemned as not only impious but suggesting the the God of ancient Hebrews was just another Near Eastern deity, alongside Baal and so on. Now Cardinal Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, has confirmed that it should never be used in the liturgy.
1. In liturgical celebrations, in songs and prayers the name of God in the form of the tetragrammaton YHWH is neither to be used or pronounced.
2. For the translation of the Biblical text in modern languages, destined for liturgical usage of the Church, what is already prescribed by n. 41 of the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam is to be followed; that is, the divine tetragrammaton is to be rendered by the equivalent of Adonai/Kyrios: "Lord", "Signore", "Seigneur", "Herr", "Señor", etc.
3. In translating, in the liturgical context, texts in which are present, one after the other, either the Hebrew term Adonai or the tetragrammaton YHWH, Adonai is to be translated "Lord" and the form God" is to be used for the tetragrammaton YHWH, similar to what happens in the Greek translation of the Septuagint and in the Latin translation of the Vulgate.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Graglia against Feminism: 15
A continuing series; see here for the introduction, and here for more on feminism in the Catholic Church in the UK.
From Domestic Tranquility, pp189-190
...Society must concede, say feminists, that the possibility of motherhood is no reason for viewing a young woman's remains in a body bad with any more horror than a young man's. But feminists are wrong. If a nation must wage war, a young man's death in combat fulfils his destiny as protector of a society the fundamental purpose of which is to reproduce itself and secure its children's safety and well-being. A young woman's death in combat can never fulfil, but only negate, her destiny as the bearer of those children. What a society is fighting for when it sends its citizens to war rests entirely in the body of a young woman with the potentiality of motherhood. ...because of the overarching importance to their movement of establishing sexual equivalence, feminists are willing to trivialize--even to treat as merely unpleasant--the sexual assaults on female war prisoners that are virtually certain to occur.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Pax Christi UK: dossier
Pax Christi is an international movement made up of autonomous local groups. It was founded in 1945 as an organisation of Catholics in Europe who wanted to promote reconciliation at the end of the Second World War. The UK organisation got going in the late 1950s. In the 1960s, with the notorious Fr Bruce Kent as its chaplain, it campainged against Britain's nuclear deterrent. In 1971 it merged with another Catholic peace group, 'PAX'.
Although it is listed in the 2008 Catholic Directory, and calls itself 'Pax Christi: International Catholic Movement for Peace', it does not actaully describe itself as Catholic. Rather:
Pax Christi, Peace of Christ, is a gospel-based lay-inspired, peacemaking movement. Founded in the Catholic Church, its membership is open to individuals, groups and organisations of all faiths who are in sympathy with its aims and values. It is affiliated to Pax Christi International. (here) - or alternatively Pax Christi is an international Christian peacemaking movement, based on the gospel and inspired by faith. (here)
There is very little talk on Pax Christi's excruciatingly badly-designed website about the doctrine of the 'just war', except that it needs to be 'updated'; rather, the central idea of Pax Christi appears to be that all war (and capital punishment) is wrong. Again and again we find this view quoted with approval, although it is not set up as the organisation's official position. The home page includes a power-point presentation entitled 'Peace begins with disarmament'. The Greenham Common women are quoted as saying that 'There has never been a just war' (pdf); a discussion of a Northern Ireland peace campaigner (pdf) reflects that
A 2004 Newsletter (pdf) writer tells us that
This is all, however, contrary to the constant teaching of the Church, which is that self defence, defence of others, and war (and capital punishment) are in certain situations not only legitimate but on occasion obligatory. There are occasions when injustice can only be effectively opposed by violence, and on those occasions we do not turn our backs on those suffering injustice. The Bible contains many passages in which God endorses war, in the Old Testament; Our Lord does not regard the military profession as intrinsically immoral (Luke 3.14); St Paul reiterates the right of the state to kill (Romans 13.4); and the Catechism of the Catholic Church reiterates the 'Just War' doctrine (2309). Opposing a particular war is naturally legitimate for a Catholic, on the basis of a moral and political judgment, but it is wrong to rule out all war: to do so would be to condemn all the Catholics who have fought in wars, some of whom have been canonised: for example, the crusader king St Louis of France, St Joan of Arc, who opposed the English occupation of France, and St Ladislas of Hungary, who defended his country on the battlefield and was chosen to be commander in chief of the First Crusade.
'Catholic Omnibus': front page dissent
Action: faithful Catholics should remove this free paper from Churches wherever they see it. The front page of the current (August) issue (second paragraph) says this:
[in the Summer of the liturgical year] 'we begin to come to terms with the absence of the earthly body of Christ and get the measure of what 'This is my body' means in everyday terms. The body of Christ is discovered in the body of believers, in the other who believes and lives out a similar faith in Christ - or indeed whose articulation and mode of living is challengingly different from
mine.'
But when 'This is My Body' is said in the liturgy the reference is to the Real Presence of Our Lord, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, upon the Altar and in the Tabernacle. It should also be noted that 'challengingly different' 'modes of living' is a euphemism for modes of living condemned by the Church. The nun author (pictured: notice the habit) is a well-known dissenting theologian, Gemma Simmonds CJ, who is 'chaplain' to the once Catholic Heythrop College in London, despite the fact that, under canon law, chaplains must be priests.
Can. 564 A chaplain is a priest to whom is entrusted in a stable manner the pastoral care, at least in part, of some community or particular group of the Christian faithful, which is to be exercised according to the norm of universal and particular law.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Bishop Roche to close TLM parish
Action: prayers, please, for Fr Mark Lawler; residents of Leeds diocese should write to Bishop Roche and Rome.
Fr Mark Lawler, branded a 'troublemaker' for liking Latin and believing the faith, was put into a small, remote and dying parish to keep him out of the way. Now he has introduced Latin into the Novus Ordo Mass, and says it facing East (both things as envisaged by Vatican II), and has introduced the Traditional Mass as an extra Sunday Mass, in accordance with Summorum Pontificum, Bishop Roche is not only using his parish closure programme to close his church but will not be giving him any other parish.
Bishop of Shrewsbury criticised by Rome for plan to move parish to shared Anglican church
Local action as appropriate. The picture shows the Catholic church, SS Peter and Paul, which is under threat; for an earlier phase of the battle to save it see here. The Diocese has been spending the parish's money on the Anglican church they want to use: see here.
From the Catholic Herald: The Vatican has expressed "surprise" and "concern" at a plan by the Diocese of Shrewsbury to close one of its churches and arrange to have the parish Mass in a local Anglican church instead.
A letter from Mgr Giovanni Carrù, the under-secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy, said the plan to close the Church of Ss Peter and Paul, on the Wirral coast, "appears to stand in direct contrast to the recent indication that there are no plans to close the church... which were communicated to this Dicastery by His Lordship [the Bishop of Shrewsbury]".
See the full story here.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Obscene statue of Jesus: police decline to investigate
Update: a private prosecution is to be made under public decency laws. See the Daily Mail here, which also has a partially pixilated photo of the statue. Please pray for the success of the legal action.
Briefing, 03/03/08
From Christian Concern for Our Nation: A Christian lady is challenging Northumbria police over their failure to investigate a statue of Jesus with an erection which was part of an exhibition displayed at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in January. Although the Baltic Centre admitted that they had several complaints about the work, they maintained that the exhibition was clearly marked as being potentially offensive and that visitors were given proper warnings about the images and sculptures on display. Emily has sent several letters to the police asking them to investigate whether an offence has been committed, asserting that the statue of Jesus is blasphemous and offensive under public order legislation. She awaits a response.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Desecration of the Blessed Sacrament and Communion in the Hand
Action: any readers concerned about the increasingly open attacks on the Blessed Sacrament has really got to grasp the nettle and stop receiving in the hand - if you still do. Priests should begin seriously discouraging the practice, which has only ever been allowed as an exception to the universal law of the Church.
Fr Zulhsdorf draws the obvious conclusion to the theft and repeated desecration of a consecrated host from the London Oratory, which we reported here.
Who goes forward for Communion is often hard to control
But there is something simple we can control.
No more Communion in the hand.
Not a fool-proof (and never was that term better applied) safeguard, but one that greatly reduces risk of profanation.
See his full post. Fr Zulhsdorf's podcast on the issue is here.
Here's Fr Finigan on Memoriale Domini, the 1969 document which permitted communion in the hand under certain conditions, while discouraging it strongly. It was permitted in England and Wales in 1976.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Harris booted off Ethics committee
Briefing: very good news.
From CFNews: Abortionist MP, Evan Harris, responsible for most of the 'anti-life' and liberalising amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was voted off the British Medical Association's Ethics Committee this week. This was a strategic and influential position for Evan Harris which he has now lost.
And from LifeNews: A new survey finds British doctors oppose legalizing assisted suicide by a two-to-one margin but pro-life groups are concerned that about one-third support the idea. The study, carried out by Doctors.net.uk, an online discussion forum and professional network for medics, which represents 95 percent of doctors in the UK, has found 35 percent in favor of assisted suicide compared to 60 percent against the controversial move. The remainder said they were unsure.
'Jesus was homosexual' slur retracted
Briefing.
From Christian Voice: The South Wales Echo has apologised for an article insulting the Bible and suggesting that Jesus Christ could have been homosexual. The apology was printed in the Echo last week, just two weeks after the original and on the same page. A website version of the article, by the out-of-touch Dan O'Neill, has also been taken down and internet search engines no longer refer to it. The apology came after Christians mounted a quick-fire protest against the article last week.
Enthusiasm for working motherhood declines
Briefing.
Hat-tip to Full Time Mothers. From the Guardian, in part: In 1994, 51% of women in Britain and 52% of men said they believed family life would not suffer if a woman went to work. By 2002 those proportions had fallen to 46% of women and 42% of men. There was also a decline in the number of people thinking the best way for a woman to be independent is to have a job.
See the full story.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
New translation of Mass texts approved
Briefing: there is still a lot more to be approved - for example, the collects for each Sunday and feast day which were recently rejected by the American bishops - but this is a big and much-delayed step forward for Pope Benedict's attempt to restore order to the liturgy.
From Catholic World News (via CFNews): The Vatican has given formal approval to a new English translation of the central prayers of the Mass for use in the United States.
In a June 23 letter of Bishop Arthur Serratelli, the chairman of the US bishops' liturgy committee, the Congregation for Divine Worship announces its 'recognitio' for the translation, which had already won the approval of the US bishops' conference, despite strong protests from some liberal prelates.
The new translation adheres more closely to the Latin of the 'Roman Missal'. Since the 2001 publication of 'Liturgiam Authenticam', the instruction on the proper translation of liturgical texts, the Vatican has pressed for more faithful translations of the official Latin texts.
