Friday, August 21, 2009

Tablet gets slapped


As far as The Tablet is concerned I believe it should be erased. It might be Abp Nichols agrees. Damian Thompson reports that Bishop Hopes has written on the Tablets gloss on the Archbishop's preface to the LMS's conference booklet, saying:


[The Archbishop] is not ‘seeking to nip potential schism in the bud’ or suggesting that the place of the Tridentine Rite is ‘necessarily marginal’ …
And, regarding the Tablet’s implication that the Archbishop shares its view that worshippers at the older Mass do not participate:
… ‘active participation’ has always been understood to be internal and external. To reduce participation to solely external signs is both a simplification and a misguided attack in the ‘culture wars’ you seek to avoid.”

He adds

It’s no secret that the Tablet didn’t want Vincent Nichols to become Archbishop of Westminster. Now that he’s got the job, it’s continuing to pick fights and play juvenile tricks on him. Way to go, Ma.


Now hasn't the Pill been suggesting the American Bishop's should ditch the Church's opposition to abortion and infanticide and support Obama's healthcare bill? They shouldn't be allowed to get away with that, either.

Fr John Boyle reproduces Bishop Hopes' letter.

5 comments:

Jackie Parkes MJ said...

Really Fr Ray have they suggested that?

Physiocrat said...

This is what I wrote to the Tablet only I don't suppose they published it, but I don't get to see the thing now.

In the Tablet's report on Archbishop Nicholls’ speech to the Latin Mass Society’s recent training event, the comment made was that the old form of the Mass precludes participation. In what way? (Tablet, 8 August)

Congregations can sing the Ordinary of the Mass and the responses in both new and old forms. In the old mass, whilst the priest is reciting the Canon silently and in Latin, the congregation is meant to be doing the same thing in the vernacular. So where is the lack of participation?

Because of its flexibility, the post-Vatican II liturgy can, and often does, exclude. Hymns are often unfamiliar or difficult to sing. The responsorial psalm is a challenge to anyone whose hearing and short-term memory are not 100%.

Participation is also impeded when the Mass is celebrated in a vernacular which is not one’s own language, or when the priest is celebrating in a language in which he is not fluent.

Reciting the Canon of the Mass aloud is also no guarantee of participation. In either form of the Mass it is easy to let one’s mind wander towards thoughts about what one is going to have for lunch. The discipline of having to follow the text in a book whilst the priest is reciting silently is, if anything, an aid to concentration and engagement.

The practice of saying Mass facing the people is of dubious value if the aim it to promote participation. This configuration conveys a “them-and-us” message which is reinforced where Masses are concelebrated.

Not everyone who is critical of the post-Vatican II mass is stuck in the past. Whilst it can be celebrated in a satisfactory way, in practice, and especially in the English-speaking world, liturgy at present suffers from serious shortcomings which should not be ignored.

Jane said...

No, Father, and I'd like to be a fly on the wall at the next Tablet board meeting. I'd be surprised if Ma P's not in trouble. How long will they allow her to run a once noble Catholic journal into the dust?
Do you remember that Robin Baird Smith (Continuum International Publisher and on the Tablet board of trustees) signed a petition in favour of retaining the Latin Mass. I can't remember whether it was before the 2007 'Motu Proprio' or not.

If I were Ma P, I'd not be complacent as to how long my Tablet salary would be going to last.

Patrick Sheridan said...

I think that the Tablet should be hung up in peoples' lavatories rather than in Catholic bookshops and churches. As for the people that write such tosh, they should be excommunicated as heinous traitors to the Catholic faith and heretics.

LF said...

From a Catholic perspective, what's the problem with Obama's healthcare plans? (This is a genuine question, not a point of disagreement).

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