Do sign this online petition,
To: The Tablet
The purpose of this petition is to demand an apology from Catherine Pepinster (Editor) and Elena Curti (Deputy Editor) to Fr Timothy Finigan for the article entitled, 'That was not my Mass' in the 21st February 2009 edition of your journal. The reason for this demand is the unethical journalism used by Ms Curti to publish the article. The apology can come in either a private letter to Fr Finigan or printed in the next edition of The Tablet.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Last night I was at reception for Mgr Wach to celebrate the official recognition of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest.
It was interesting to see at first hand the horror of so many traditional Catholics at the statements of Bishop Williamson. I was speaking to one man whose father had been one of the first British soldiers into Belsen, he told me how until his death he used to wake-up practically every night with nightmares of the horrors he had seen.
A women, a lady, "an avid Trad" as she described herself, who rather touched me. She had heard that Elena Curti had received hate mail because of her article, she said, "That is very unpleasant, I must try and get myself organised and remember to send her some flowers in recompense, it is not the Catholic way to return injury for injury".
16 comments:
Nice idea about the flowers, we are sorry about the hate mail but we don't agree with your views.
The hate mail is bad and shouldn't happen. Having said that I detect some provocation from the Tablet and wonder if that is what they wanted. They know tempers are frayed and that some traddies are liable to fly off the handle so it plays into their hands. They can publish that stuff now and say "I told you so" - they are all like that. We really have to play them at their own game and give them their "love" and "compassion" back.
Excellent response from this lady - what an example.
In a situation like this it is so easy to surrender the moral high ground, but totally counter-productive.
At one level they might be best ignored eg by not writing to the letters column.
There is, in a way, no need to talk about liturgy. Rome has spoken and the clergy should do what has been asked.
The Tablet is poor in many of the subject areas it covers. That's why I have never bought it. The Month was often quite good but it closed ten years ago. Second Spring and the St Austin Review offer good quality discussion.
Of equal concern should be the failure on the part of the laity to become acquainted with the Social Teaching of the Church. This is where the Tablet ought to have been saying more instead of peddling recycled socialism.
Unfortunately it does not help that the recently published Compendium is so poorly set out as to make it difficult to navigate and establish what is being said on a particular issue. The same applies to the Catechism, incidentally.
In view of the poor accessibility of these publications in their present form, there is a need for journalists to bring their contents to public attention.
It is looking as if Capitalism as we have known will prove to have outlasted communism by just a couple of decades, but who amongst we Catholics is able to provide a coherent view on the direction things ought to take? Had the Tablet been doing its job properly, there would have been many such.
Hate mail?
Sorry Father given the way poor Elena distorts reality I'm not quite convinced she could soundly tell the difference between hate mail and righteous anger. If she is happy to misrepresent the actions of a good man then I'm afraid there is no depth too deep for her.
She should set right the wrong she has done and send flowers to Fr Tim in the process. Her behaviour was beyond disgusting.
I wonder what Fr Wach is wearing? I've never seen a prelatial cassock trimmed in blue before? Is it something to do with the Knights of St Constantine?
Riccardo, It is the habit of his Institute.
Clair, The ridicule is directed towards Ms Curti, admiration is directed towards Blackfen.
The petition is directed to the Tasblet asking for an apology for shoddy journalism.
Claire, I appreciate it is not nice to have the affairs of your parish brought to national attention though how did that happen in the first place?
I am curious to know why 100 of your fellow parishioners have left if the Latin mass is not the problem. But what is the problem? The Novus Ordo Latin Mass is the normative mass of the Catholic and vernacular and hymns have only ever been permissive, as you will see if you look at the relevant documents. Same applies to the priest facing the same way as everyone else. The EF Mass is not so very different so what do your fellow parishioners find so terrible about it? They only have to sit down, relax and listen to the silence. How difficult is that?
In my experience of two parishes, a third of the congregation disappeared when the vernacular was introduced. In my own parish in Brighton there are so many in the congregation for whom English is not their first language that it doesn't matter anyway. Same here in Sweden even the priests sometimes aren't too good with the vernacular, let alone the very mixed congregation so we get some odd things at times but language isn't such an issue anyway, people communicate as best they can. Is it that the English speaking people have a morbid fear of foreign languages?
Claire Hedderman: I have read the blog articles and the attempt to stop the article before it was even published. Elena Curti reported fairly the situation, the views published are attributable to parishioners, and there has been no misrepresentation on her part.
The Tablet was prepared to take the opinions of those who wish tolerance to be shown to them but not to those who have a devotion to the traditional liturgy. A prominent blogger, who is very involved in your parish (Mulier Fortis) did not have her views published - presumably because they did not fit well with the overall slagging off Fr. Tim.
The parishioners have three masses in English celebrated for them on a Sunday. There is only one extraordinary form mass for those who wish it. What is your problem with that? The "elderly, infirm, vulnerable and people with young children" have ample time to take their pick - it's not as if the parish priest is holding a gun to their head for pity's sake!
I think Claire Hedderman's letter highlights the general approach of the liberals. Hectoring and browbeating is dressed up as "love" and "charity". There's also the emotional blackmail.... " the elderly, infirm, vulnerable and people with young children" etc and exaggeration ...."I personally know of over 100 people (is that really posssible?). We are going to have to get used to this in the coming months/years, learn to not get upset by it and find ways of countering it (in truth and charity). Something tells me they know what they are doing but we do not know what we are doing (yet).
Did he design this habit for the order? Seems odd to have a watered silk fascia and blue silk lined sleaves as a religious habit. I thought the idea was simplicity; not a mock up of a prelates outfit!
Claire, I am interested to know why so many people stopped going to mass because the main Sunday one became an EF? What were the reasons? It sounds very strange. Are you saying that the readings are not being done in English? There is no reason why they should not be.
Surely the socialising, which is indeed very important, happens in the parish hall after the mass not during it in the church? Or in the pub if you don't have a parish hall. Or both. What is going on in your parish? It does not add up to a coherent picture.
Claire Hedderman
More hectoring, more brow beating, more manipulation and all done in that carefully controlled soft tones voice so reminiscent of the Tablet. It's so phoney.
I take what you say with a pinch of salt. If I have the choice of believing your version of events or Fr. Tim's I'll take his any day. The very fact that you and your friends have seen fit to try and blacken his name tells me everything I need to know about you. The fact that you did it through that well known anti-Catholic 'Catholic' paper the Tablet tells me even more. I've met Fr. Tim and he is without doubt one of the best priests I have ever met. A more fair minded person you could never meet. He should have been a Bishop ages ago and if people like him were in charge of the Church the Church wouldn't be in the mess it is now. Your attacks on him are a total scandal.
No Claire I really don't trust what you are saying and I see your sudden appearance on this blog as yet more mischief making. You're trying to cover your tracks and you're not succeeding.
It seems to me your real motives here is jealousy. Everybody loves and everybody respects Fr. Tim and you hate him for it. Fr. Tim is everything you aren't and you just can't stand his virtue. You owe him an apology but judging by your prideful stance here it will be a long time coming.
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