Dubium: Concelebrating Priests at the Doxology

I don't have too much of a problem with Concelebration, at least with Concelebrating with my Bishop. It is a sign that the Bishop has "co-workers"; in the Orthodox world it seems to be a sign that the bishop never acts alone but always with his clergy.
I must say I do have a bit of a difficulty with vast concelebrations where priests should have to say "That" rather than "This is my Body". It seems silly to me to be so distant from that which is consecrated.
I am a bit more skeptical at concelebrations without the Bishop, with Fr Blogs as the principle celebrant: what does it mean, what sign is being given?

One of things that just annoys me, it just seems wrong and ugly is the Doxology where everyone grabs the silverware of the altar.

Father Zee has this Dubium from the Newsletter of the USCCB’s Committee for Divine Worship, there was published a response to a dubium sent to the CDW in Rome:

Role of Concelebrating Priests at the Doxology of the Eucharistic Prayer


In this dubium, the question concerned the role of concelebrating Priests and whether they were permitted to take up the various chalices from the altar before the final doxology of the Eucharistic Prayer. Quoting from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the Congregation emphasized the proper role of the Deacon in holding up the chalice next to the Priest for the final doxology: “At the final doxology of the Eucharistic Prayer, the deacon stands next to the priest, holding the chalice elevated while the priest elevates the paten with the host, until the people have responded with the acclamation, Amen” (no. 180).

According to the Congregation’s response, “Therefore, the use is reprobated where all or many concelebrants at the altar proceed to take up the chalices at the time of the final doxology. Rather, it is the duty of the celebrant, or the deacon, or one concelebrant to elevate the [principal] chalice.” It is presumed by extension that the same could be said regarding the elevation of multiple ciboria or patens by various concelebrants. Given the response and the principles of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, only the main paten and the main chalice are to be elevated by the celebrant assisted by the Deacon, or in the absence of a Deacon, by a single concelebrant.

(March-April 2009, pg. 171)

Muslims Defend Churches

There are reports of a remarkable backlash against sectarianism in Egypt, yesterday Coptic Christmas saw large numbers of Muslims joining their Christian neighbours as "human shields" at Mass.

Pope Visits Sick Children on the Epiphany

The Pope visited sick children in the Germelli Hospital yesterday.
He told the children and their families that he wanted to be like the kings and give the children gifts to show his love and affection.

Happy Epiphany or Thursday after

I had my camera stolen before Christmas, I bought a new one yesterday so here is a picture of our crib, I love the figures, they are beautifully painted and modelled. The pre-Christmas snow inspired the white theme.

After First Vespers one of my parishioners came round with an Epiphany Cake - thank you Mary.

This evening we will have an EF Mass, this morning we had a school Mass, the children came wearing crowns which they cast down before the altar steps at the beginning of Mass.

Can you say prayer for a couple of intentions.

Masonry is a Mortal Sin

One of my parishioners rides a mobility scooter to daily Mass on the front of it is a basket and on the basket is a large sign which declares it has been donated by Brighton Freemasons. Some Catholics foam at the mouth over the Masons, seeing every Lodge as the centre of diabolioc ritual, others remembering the Masonic French government of the early 20th which emptied France  of contemplative religious and imposed so many anti-Catholic laws, see them as spending their time trying to destroy the Church, well that might be the nature of continental masonry but I doubt very much whether that extends beyond the English Channel or even to the US.

The Catholic Church however does forbid Catholics to be Freemasons and says that those who are may not receive Holy Communion. Fr Z republishes the letter of the CDF stating this. Masonry in the English speaking world is reasonably benign, it is involved in charitable work, it is really a men's club. In England there was a time when the prohibition on joining the Masons was dropped and a great number Catholics joined Lodges, that was a mistake, hence the letter from the CDF stating nothing had changed. There seems to be some anecdotal evidence that priests had pressure put on them by bishops to downplay the Masonic issue and to give the sacraments to them.

In Engand the Masons had a rather tight grip on the judiciary, the police, local government, the armed forces, some trade unnions and a great number of businesses as well as the CofE. Catholics debarred themselves from promotion by not joining. The apparent relaxation in the 70s meant that Catholics could integrate with the institutions that held power and that those who had already joined the Masons could be welcomed back to the sacraments.

The major problem for the Catholic Church is not that 30+ degree Masons worship Beelzebub or that the Grand Orient seeks to assasinate the Pope, I somehow doubt they do, but simply that Masonry teaches that fraternity, universal brotherhood trumps every other card in the pack. The basic doctrine of Masonry is that whether we are a Jew, Christian or Muslim, we are all brothers, that these differences are unimportant. Utimately of course that means that the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as theWay to Salvation is undermined and unimportant, that being Catholic or CofE or Baptist or Methodist is immaterial, all are as good as one another. Masonry is ultimately about enshrining Enlightenment values which we see in the American and French Constitutions which are so antipathetic to the Catholic Faith: I mean values like "All men are created equal", which are now so much part of modern thinking.

Many "Traditional" Catholics in Europe see the documents of Vatican II and the Post-Concilliar Church as being infected by Masonry, for them secret handshakes are everywhere but it is not the direct influence of Free Masonry that has entered the Church but rather the values of the Enlightenment and Masonry that have touched our culture, we can't escape them.

Disinterest and the corruption scandals of the 80s and 90s have loosened the grip of Masonic Lodges on the police, judiciary and local government but who in practice is against such concepts as  liberty, equality, fraternity?

The truth is that we Catholics are, or at least we would want to qualify such sound bites, as in fact society does in practice. All men are not created equal, some have special needs others have unique abilities, some will cost society dearly, some will contribute greatly.

Ordinariate January Sale

January Sales and the Ordinariate for some reason seem to juxtapose themselves in my mind.

Anglican former bishops moving, gliding almost, from the CofE to the Catholic Church, being ordained within just over a fortnight, priesthood following diaconate almost without a breath in between. It seems as if the Pope has flung open the doors and is offering admittance to the Church at bargain basement prices. It throws our whole rather complex sense of "RCIAing" people into confusion, it is bit like Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, a quick discourse on a passage of Isaiah and baptism, and that was it, no more, not even the Eucharist.
Presumably what Philip was looking for was faith. The same with Ordinariate.

All that is required is an affirmative response to the question, "Do you you believe in contents of the Catechism of the Catholic Church? and can you say also say that you believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church teaches, believes and proclaims to be revealed by God? That is all, anything else is froth.

For those who have spent a life time making the profession of those key statements and now find themselves marooned on their catholic island amidst a sea of liberal belief the Pope is indeed offering a life-line by welcoming them aboard the Barque of Peter, not only that but welcoming them to share in the command of the ship. The parable of the eleventh hour workers in the vineyard comes to mind.

It is easy to be niggardly about the Ordinariate but the Pope has opened wide the door to those who had mistakenly thought they were already part of it. It is up to us to to follow the example of his generosity.
It is like the January sales, Grace is freely available at bargain prices - just like Pentecost - but Grace often appears cheap but the cost is to follow Christ on the narrow way. For those who set out on the Ordinariate path the cost  seems to be a little like cost paid by founding colonist on a strange shore, estrangement from friends and all that is familiar, after the initial euphoria there will be the dull daily slog, for the rest of us the cost is learning generosity.

For the Church in England and Wales we are going to be on a steep learning curve and it will hurt, we are not used to the excitement of disruptive converts, I do hope they are going to be disruptive, we are not used to having the house turned upside down.

How Pentecost must have hurt!
And just like the January sales lots of mess afterwards!
But it is so exciting!

With my blood and my soul I will defend the cross

Brighton has a large number of Coptic Orthodox Christians from Egypt and the Sudan, many of the them have the Cross tattooed on their wrist or on the side of their hand. Yesterday in Cairo surrounded by a huge number of police many protested against the murder of their brethren recently chanting from the Liturgy, “With my blood and my soul I will defend the cross.”


For over a thousand years Christians have been a persecuted oppressed minority. Yesterday a Sudanese women came to ask for prayers for her asylum application which will be heard today, she went around the church before Mass holding copies of her application before the faces of the statues and before the High Altar: say a prayer for Esther.