On Pastoral Letters

I was reading Fr Sean's blog, Valle Adurni, he reproduces some extracts from our Bishop's recent pastoral letters, I was discussing it with another priest who is staying with me, it reminded me of a conversation I had with a rather erudite Indian liturgist in Rome, then a Monsignor, who now is now, well ...., let's say he has had preferrment but is still involved with liturgy.

We talked about homilies and then ended up talking about pastoral letters. There was an American priest with us as well, he said that his Bishop sent out a DVD as his Pastoral letter, at first it was him simply sitting at a desk talking to a camera but people complained that they were a bit boring, so now they are little TV programmes with music and clips of diocesan events, churches and so forth and maybe an interview.
The priest went on to explain that the cost had risen so much to produce them that they had to be sponsored by local businesses, with a side bar featuring the logos of those who contribute to the production cost. He then told us that wealthy parishes had over head projectors and screens that drop from the ceiling, poorer parishes had to put up with someone wheeling in a television monitor or even one being placed on the altar. I had a vision of Ronald Mcdonald "This pastoral message is brought to you courtesy of the Mcdonald's hamburger chain".
Monsignor grew angrier and angrier spluttering his fizzy water, almost choking, wel he did it ina rather urbane way. Then he spoke about the priest or the deacon being the voice of the Bishop in the local Church, suggesting that if the voice of a priest or deacon was good enough for the Gospel and to annunciate the sacred words of Liturgy then it should be good enough to satisfy the vanity of any Bishop. He then, still urbanely choking on his Agua Pellegrino, went on to talk about the Liturgy being a spoken (or sung) and a human thing, that it couldn't to be mediated by such electronic means, putting the the TV on during Mass was an interruption to the sacred liturgy, a typical sign of American consumerism and decadence, an act unworthy of the sacredness of the Liturgy, something that was in sense a denial of the Incarnation, and the human mediation of the liturgy. It showed either ignorance or contempt for the sacred character of those who were by ordination his logothetes ....... and so forth and so forth and so forth, including that Peter and Paul's letters were actually originally [interesting idea] Pastoral Letters.
"What do you do in your parish?" the America priest asked me.
To calm down the Monsignor I said, "Oh we still use the wind-up gramophone. I always say if it was good enough in Benedict XV's reign, it is good enough for John Paul II's". It didn't cause Mgr to calm down, he just glared, in truth, I think he was playing up to us a bit, so I had to confess our tape player had be broken since I arrived in the parish and I had not then yet replaced it.
I am afraid it is still not replaced, so people just have to sit and listen to me trying to declaim what the Bishop has designed to be heard in a chatty converstional style. It seems a dreadful waste and not living simply to buy a decent machine just to be used for less than an hour a year, which would be the total of Bishop's letter-time. We don't use recorded music in Church.

I didn't ask about the JPII video messages to World Youth Day, but maybe they are used outside of the Mass.

Thoughts anyone?

Requiescat in pace

Pray for the soul of Second Lieutenant Jonathan Carlos Bracho-Cooke, who was 24. He became the 100th British soldier to be killed in Iraq, his family live in St Mary's, Preston Park, a neighbouring Brighton parish. Argus story here

His mother is active in helping prepare couples for marriage in the deanery.


There are so many soldiers who are related to members of my parish, their parents are desperately worried. How important it is that we pray for their safety and for an end to this War.

Wearing the right thing

A friend of mine is going to be the Chaplain to the High Sheriff of one of the Home Counties next year, a very English thing. Nothing to do with guns and that American stuff. If anyone can put something in the comments on the functions of such an exulted personnage it will be of interest.

The conversation turned to what does the Chaplain to the High Sheriff wear; important he wears something and that it is the right thing. I actually believe the old adage, "If he doesn't wear; it shows he doesn't care". My friend is known for his caring. The proper thing is a feriola, a light very full cloak with a stiffened flat collar, and perhaps a saturno, or a Roman hat, in beaver of course not felt.
For those of you who want to know more, there is a very useful book Costume of prelates of the Catholic church, according to Roman etiquette (c1909) . Best viewed on a laptop or widescreen
I am hoping that someone will do an update.
There is a very interesting bit (for some people) about the clerical collar, apparently it isn't the white sweatband but actually the coloured thing underneath, black for a priest, now purple for a bishop, red for a cardinal.

Audience Today

In today’s general audience Benedict XVI reaffirmed the importance of the family in and for the Church as a witness of Christian love made up of “altruism and mutual care” as well as an element for the growth of the entire community. The pope dedicated his address to the spouses Priscilla and Aquila who were part of “the orbit of Paul’s many collaborators”.

Pope: Family is fundamental in and for Church

Care in the community

I had a meeting last night to discuss the future of our soup run and today another meeting to discuss the future of our parish SVP conference.
During the Ann Roberts long illness I didn't really want to interfere but infact it has carried on by the remarkable people who devote an incredible amount of time and as I found last night and their money as well, to the needs of the poorest people in our city. The SVP has just run out of steam.

At the heart of any parish there has to be caring for those most in need, the soup run is remarkable, every weekday night two or three people make sandwiches, soup, hotdogs whatever and flasks of coffee for about 30 people. They never know if there are going to be 2 or 3 people or 50. Most of them don't drive so they tote bags and flasks down to the seafront, normally there are only two of them sometimes just one, we are going to try and get a few more people involved so people can have a day off or a cold without people starving.
The SVP I am going to try and restart with younger parishioners, it is pretty evident in our parish that we are not serving even our own parishioners as well as we should. We need someone who can work with the school where some parents are in serious need especially new immigrants. Everywhere nowadays there are parents with addiction problems, maybe more here in Brighton than elsewhere. We also have people who are supposed to be "cared for in the community" but in practice aren't. There are people who have long term mental health problems and people who need some "life style coaching", such as suggestions like, "you have been wearing that shirt for three weeks now ... " or I'll give you a hand to scrape the food of your floor, it is getting a bit squelchy isn't it?
Yesterday as well "Brighton Voices in Exile", a charity for immigrants, started using my basement as their office. I am afraid its a bit of cop out for me, previously I was using it for homeless immigrants but I thought it better after one or two of them had a brush with the police because of drug use in the street that we found an alternative use. Interesting, they were Muslims and never once abused my hospitality.

Photographs from Candlemas

Clare took these photographs of Candlemas on her mobile. It was a bit brighter, than the photographs suggest, there were actually some electric lights on, enough to make to the distribution of Holy Communion safe. I am celebrating, the concelebrant is Fr Mark Elvins OFM Cap.
I love the picture of the the crucifix.
The great beauty of celebrating ad orientem is that it is the image of the Crucified that dominates the celebration not the face of the priest, the Pope talks about that in Spirit of the Liturgy. For the priest then the Mass becomes an action through Christ.
What becomes clear in celebrating Mass "with" the people is that the priest is doing something for them but what I have realised doing it with a growing congregation (normally it has been a side altar in an Italian Church, perhaps with a server, is that the Mass is an Epithany, in the sense that apart from the elevations ( a late addition to combat heresy), the first time the people see the host is at the Ecce Agnus Dei (Behold the Lamb of God). I can understand that doing it everyday gave a very different theology of priesthood, the priest becomes the "revealer" of the divine. Someone who is called to show forth Christ not just at the Liturgy but in his life.
There is a parallel with John the Baptist who in the Old Rite had a much more prominent part in the Eucharist, as he does in the Eastern Rites. On the iconastis, in the Deeisis, he was always a complimentary figure to Our Lady. Now that is an interesting subject for a doctoral thesis, "John the Baptist Model of Priesthood", Dr Uwe Michael Lang suggests that the image of Our Lady and the image of the Baptist might have designated the women's and men's aisles of a Church, which gives an interesting spin on the model of the relationship of men and women in the pre-modern Church.
On Candlemas, I actually didn't preach, it was my Friday penance. I normally preach briefly at every Mass I celebrate. Someone said that it made an incredible difference, in that the liturgy itself spoke. Again I think facing the people makes one think in terms of being a teacher, not a bad thing, but it is not the primary role of the priest, or rather it is but as St Francis says, "Preach the Gospel everywhere and if you must use words". Maybe we use too many words, and meaning is lost in the words. Celebrating "ad orientem" means that one is less of a director, co-ordinator or animator of the liturgy more of a servant of it. Again that Baptist idea comes through, "he must increase I must decrease". I think if the Holy Father encourages the "ad orientem" option in his response to the 2005 Synod on the Liturgy, we will have a richer theology of priestly spirituality. That document should come out soon, it is presumabley held up by the expected Motu Proprio. Well actually the Missal says quite clearly on several occassions "the priest TURNS to the people" so maybe it is merely just an option. I think every priest should know celebrate facing east at least occassionally just for the sake of this richness.

As a footnote the General Instruction of the Roman Missal says "It is desirable that the altar should be detached from wall, so that Mass maybe celebrate facing the people, which is always desirable." The Congregation for Divine Worship clarifying this rubric said that "which is always desirable" applied to the detachment from the wall not celebrating Mass facing the people. Interesting!

What is a Viola da Gamba?

A comment from the last post asked, "What is a Viola da Gamba". This one.

Nothing too much to do with Catholiscism, except it seemed to flourish in Recusant houses in England, until the end of the Stuarts. Maybe its subtle, mournful sound reflected their mood more than the bright vulgarity of the violin family. (The adjectives are meant to be controversial and reflect the authors rabid tradiness).

Listen here

And here for early music nerds is a baryton, a viola da gamba with added pluckable strings, being played, I have never heard one before. I just happened to find on You Tube when looking for viola da gambas .