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!)
We are collecting signatures of ordinary people supporting the situation of the Parish of St John the Evangelist, Allerton Bywater before forwarding them to the Papal Nuncio & the Congregation for Clergy. This Petition states that:
We object to the planned closure and demolition of so many Catholic Churches in the Diocese of Leeds. We believe this plan to be detrimental to the wider community, and urge the authorities to think again. We have no confidence in the Bishop of Leeds, who is refusing to listen to the people.
We deeply regret that, despite our repeated requests, we were not given the opportunity to discuss our legitimate desires with Bishop Roche, and that he did not even do us the courtesy of replying to any of our Proposals or letters. Even letters from from local MP's Yvette Cooper & Colin Burgon have gone unanswered. As our spiritual father, his continuing silence is baffling and deeply hurtful. Our letters were courteous and respectful and were presented in accordance with Canon 212;2, and the express wish of the Second Vatican Council that 'the laity should disclose their needs and desires with that liberty and confidence which befits children of God and brothers of Christ' (LG 37). Lumen Gentium and the Catechism remind the Bishop that 'He should not refuse to listen to his subjects whose welfare he promotes as of his very own children'� (LG 27 # 2, CCC 896).
How can the bishop reconcile this situation with Canon 383;1: 'A diocesan bishop is to show himself concerned for all the Christian faithful entrusted to his care.' We have been abandoned, uncared-for, and ignored by our Bishop. We believe that he has signally failed in his duty of care for these parishes and has failed to observe his canonical obligations. We are deeply saddened and scandalised by events.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Petition against church closures in Leeds
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.
McKellan, the actor who has used his fame, derived in part from his role as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films, to promote the homosexualist cause, said in a speech at a dinner for Stonewall, 'From the pulpit, homophobia is preached by some arrogant religious leaders who think their beliefs are superior to our inborn and, some would say, God-given nature.'
McKellan, a founding member of Stonewall, Britain's most successful homosexualist lobby group, referred to a lecture by Bishop Devine of the Motherwell diocese who infuriated homosexualist activists last March by openly acknowledging the existence of and danger to the Christian community of the 'gay lobby.'
Bishop Devine had particularly criticised the decision to make McKellan a Companion of Honour (CH) specifically for his work in 'equality', promoting the normalisation of homosexuality, as well as for his services to the dramatic arts. McKellan was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1979, and knighted in the 1991 New Year Honours for his outstanding work and contributions to the theatre.
McKellan's first public effort on behalf of the movement was his lobbying in 1988 against Section 28 of the Local Government Bill, which proposed to prohibit local authorities from 'promoting homosexuality as a kind of pretended family relationship.' Since then he has campaigned internationally, appearing in South Africa, the US and Singapore.
'The Bishop of Motherwell,' he told listeners at the Stonewall dinner, 'addressed his flock and told them how appalled he was that I had received an honour and that 100 years ago I would have been imprisoned like Oscar Wilde. He feels that the Roman Catholic Church is beleaguered in some way.'
Simon Callow is one of the most prominent gay actors in Britain and is listed 28th in the Independent's 2007 listing of the most influential gay men and women in the UK. He told the Sunday Times, 'The bishop is in my view a profoundly ignorant and stupid man in his views. If he finds it offensive that gay people want to celebrate those gay people who died in the Holocaust - which was a large number of people - then he's also profoundly unchristian.'
Speaking in Glasgow at a lecture titled 'Sectarianism and Secularism: Bugbears for the Catholic Church in Scotland', Bishop Devine had said, 'The homosexual lobby has been extremely effective in aligning itself with minority groups. It is ever-present at the service each year for the Holocaust memorial, as if to create for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution. We neglect the gay movement at our peril.'
Bishop Devine emphasised the danger to the Christian community of failing to recognise the power and organisation of the gay movement. 'I take it you're beginning to see that there is a huge and well-orchestrated conspiracy taking place which the Catholic community completely missed,' he said. 'It's a very small group of people, but very active and organised and extremely indulgent. The opposition know exactly what they're doing. We don't.'
Callow continued, 'I think they [the Catholic Church] are really shocked at how quickly the world has moved on, especially as it isn't the world they would like it to be, so they cite biblical incidents as being the word of God.' [LifeSiteNews]
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.
Hat-tip to Fr Finigan, who has more commentary.
Last Friday, Bishop Serratelli, Chairman of the US Bishops' Committee on Divine Worship sent this letter from Cardinal Arinze and Archbishop Ranjith concerning the use of the Divine Name, signified in the sacred tetragrammaton. The key directives are as follows: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)
Pax Christi remains an active part of the anti-nuclear weapons campain (there is a link to the CND on its website), and has also become closely involved with the 'anti-war movement' created by the Iraq war.
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.
As a glance at its photo gallery makes clear, Pax Christi is a political campaigning organisation. It appears at rallies against nuclear weapons, the war in Iraq, and Israeli actions in Palestine.
There is nothing illegitimage about political campaigning, but not only is the pacifistic tenor of the campaign is contrary to Catholic teaching, but such political questions as the legitimacy of the continuing occupation of Iraq are matters of legitimate disagreement for Catholics, and the Bishops of England and Wales have no business endorsing such an organisation by listing it in the Catholic Directory, let alone funding it through donations made on 'Peace Sunday'. These donations provided nearly £80,000 for their work in 2006 (out of a total income of £189,000) (pdf); the sum has grown considerably over recent years. (The next 'Peace Sunday' will be on January 19th 2009).
The fate of its one-time chaplain, Bruce Kent, is instructive: ordered by Cardinal Hume to keep out of politics, he left the priesthood. Politics had become more important to him than the priesthood. Lay Catholics may and indeed should take an interest in political matters, but they should not attempt to portray their political views as those of the Church, nor forget about the supernatural human vocation, and the importance of helping others to achieve it.
Pax Christi's stance brings it into contact with some extremely un-Catholic organisations. Its
links page is full of militant hard-left, anti-war and pacifist groups, most of whom are opposed to the Church's teaching on sexuality and the family.
Pax Christi is part of a network of dissident groups focused on so-called issues of 'justice and peace'. It is friendly to liberation theology, condemned in the 1980s by the Vatican, and links to Progressio. Pax Christi is well received by militant feminists, and gets good coverage in the 'Catholic Omnibus' (see our post here), the free newspaper run by the dissident feminists in charge of the National Board of Catholic Women. They are linked to by Progressio, Catholics for a Changing Church and a host of other dissenting groups.
Progressio and the feminists reject the Church's teaching on contraception and abortion, as set out in our dossiers on those groups (Progressio; Women Word Spirit). Pax Christi's role is a little more subtle. Throughout the Church, at parish and diocesan levels and at the Bishops' Conference, there are committees producing action plans for issues of 'Justice and Peace', in which Pax Christi plays an important part. Justice and peace are important aims for Catholics, but these groups are concerned with only a narrow set of issues, which are given a very specific political interpretation. The issues are poverty (in the UK and in the developing world), war and nuclear weapons, and perhaps green issues, and the approach to them is invariably left-leaning - generally supportive of the Labour party and government, criticising them only from the left. The practical and political impact of these committees is nugatory; their importance is as a distraction from the proclamation of the teaching of the Church on salvation, and political involvement on 'life' issues (abortion, euthanasia, stell cells etc.), and the family.
Thus the 'Justice and Peace' agenda is a continuation of the error of liberation theology, that the Church's main focus should be on the advancement of living standards rather than on the salvation of human souls. Furthermore, it is a deliberate displacement of political concern from issues on which the Church has teachings which require no controversial political judgments to apply to practical situations, namely on the life and family issues. The 'Justice and Peace' agenda gives the bishops and their lay hangers-on the feeling that they are deeply concerned and active on the important issues of the day, without straying from the comfort-zone of a Guardian-reader.
On the life and family issues, by contrast, bishops and Catholic intellectuals cannot bask in the glow of any left-leaning consensus. But there is no justice or peace while millions of babies are killed in the womb, the elderly are starved to death in hospital, and the family is undermined in every possible way by government policy.
Just as the political judgments made by Pax Christi are not 'Catholic', so neither are the contrary political judgments. It is important not to fall into the error of opposing left-leaning politics in the Church with right-leaning politics. The problem within the Church, for Catholics as Catholics, is that Pax Christi is distorting Catholic teaching on war, and is presenting personal political views as somehow made necessary by Catholic teaching, when this is not the case.
They are doing this with money donated in good faith by Catholics who do not necessarily endorse these views: but even if they did, they should not be contributing to them at the back of church on a specially dedicated Sunday.
They are doing it in schools, with specially produced information packs, claiming to present a 'Catholic' view.
And they are doing it to the exclusion of the real political issues which Catholics as Catholics should be concerned about, the issues surrounding life and the family.
Pax Christi should be excluded from Catholic schools; parishes should refuse to give them space to spread their propaganda, and ask for money. They should be exposed as not even claiming to be a Catholic organisation.
'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.
Comment: The 'Catholic Omnibus' is a quarterly 12-page tabloid produced by the National Board of Catholic Women. The NBCW is an official consultative body of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. It is dominated by the radical feminist and pro-abortion group 'Women Word Spirit' who seem to have been dropped from the Catholic Directory, after years of complaints from faithful Catholics. Their grip on the NBCW has not loosened, however, and last year the orthodox 'Association of Catholic Women' resigned their membership of the NBCW in protest.
Other features of the current issue: there are some photographs with captions, but no other text on the Pope and World Youth Day, the biggest story from the Universal Church this quarter. A huge amount of space is devoted to 'Green' issues, and none at all to the teaching of the Church, currently under intense attack, on the family and life issues. This is pretty surprising from a 'Catholic women's' publication. The report of the Health and Bioethics Committee of the NBCW focuses on the Government's innocuous proposals to make it easier for the dying to be cared for at home, and limits reference to the Hybrids bill to four lines. The formerly Catholic organisation 'Progressio', which campaigns for abortion and contracatpion, is promoted in a long article on p10, with a call for readers to support them at the end; the dissident pacifist group Pax Christi is given another long article (see our dossier). Most telling of all is the 'Justice and Peace' agenda which focuses on housing, poverty, and the developing world to the exclusion of the killing of the unborn and the destruction of the Catholic adoption agencies in our own country, and similar trends around the world.
Many of the writers are notorious dissidents. As we see from the first of Patricia Philip's 'Catholic Feminism' articles, here:
The Editor, Angela Perkins, was so enraged at a pro-life proposal at a NBCW meeting that she stood up to shout it down.
Her 'team' members are Verena Wright-Lovett and Freda Lambert: the first a member of the WWS and the second the author of a letter defending it in the Catholic Herald.
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.
So if the parish has to close because of the shortage of priests, why isn't Fr Lawler being given another parish? And if Fr Lawler is so pastorally disastrous, how has he managed to revive the parish, and why are his parishioners so united in his support?
One hundred parishioners have petitioned the Bishop against the closure, suggesting that the church be dedicated to the Traditional Mass (as the Pope has suggested, a sort of chaplaincy arrangement). Some chained themselves to the railings in protest. Not only does Bishop Roche not have the good manners to reply, but he didn't even tell his own priests about the closures: he gave them a DVD with the details!
There is no surprise about Bishop Roche's attitude to Pope Benedict's liturgical reforms, however: he issued a statement about Summorum Pontificum which flatly contradicted it.
Damian Thompson here and here; Fr Zulhsdorf here. There are some interesting comments on these posts from people with local knowledge.
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.
The results of the survey suggest increasing support among doctors in favour of assisted suicide, a move many would inevitably become involved in if it were to be legalized, compared to just two years ago when the British Medical Association voted overwhelmingly against it. Tim Ringrose of Doctors.net.uk said the results of the poll suggested many doctors felt there was a need to change the law. 'This is an interesting result because although the majority of doctors do not think the law should change, those who do form a significant minority,' the Scotsman quoted him, as saying. 'A lot of doctors, particularly GPs, feel they are in a catch-22 situation because if euthanasia were legalized they would be accused of influencing patients to do it. 'However some see the demand from patients to be given this choice,' he added. [LifeNews]
'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.
Members and supporters of Christian Voice gave out leaflets to those going in to work at Cardiff's leading firm of solicitors, Hugh James, who associated themselves with the web article. Following that, they occupied the Media Wales administration offices reception area just around the corner, singing hymns, before meeting with Simon Farrington, a senior managing editor at the Echo.See the full Christian Voice press release.
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.
Alluding gently to the fierce debates over English-language liturgical translations in the past decade, the Congregation for Divine Worship reports 'no little satisfaction in arriving at this juncture.' The letter from the Vatican is signed by Cardinal Francis Arinze and Archbishop Albert Malcom Ranjith, the prefect and secretary, respectively, of the Congregation.
The Vatican's binding approval covers only a portion of the entire 'Roman Missal'. The entire process of translating the 'Roman Missal' is expected to take at least until 2010. However, the prayers given the Vatican 'recognitio' are the most common texts for the Order of the Mass.
The Vatican approval comes just after the US bishops' conference voted against approval of another installment in the series of translations that will be required to complete the overall project.
The new translation is not to be used immediately, the Vatican letter indicates. Instead the US bishops are directed to begin 'pastoral preparation' for the changes in the language of the Mass. During this same period, the Congregation for Divine Worship notes, some musical settings for the text could be prepared.
Among the noteworthy changes that Catholics will notice when the new translation goes into effect are:
* At the Consecration, the priest will refer to Christ's blood which is 'poured out for you and for many'-- an accurate translation of 'pro multis' -- rather than 'for all' in the current translation.
* In the Nicene Creed the opening word, 'Credo', will be correctly translated as 'I believe' rather than 'we believe.'
* When the priest says, 'The Lord be with you,' the faithful respond, 'And with your spirit,' rather than simply, 'And also with you.'
* In the Eucharistic prayer, references to the Church will use the pronouns 'she' and 'her' rather than 'it.'
* In the 'Agnus Dei', the text cites the 'Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,' rather than using the singular word 'sin.'
* In the preferred form of the penitential rite, the faithful will acknowledge that they have sinned 'through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.'
Throughout the translation of the Offertory and Eucharistic Prayer, the traditional phrases of supplication are restored, and the Church is identified as 'holy'-- in each case, matching the Latin original of the 'Roman Missal'. [CWNews]
See also the Cornell Society.
