Pancakes and Excess

I suppose if we took Lent seriously we would need a period before hand just to empty the larder and to plot and plan our Lenten penance as well as our spiritual growth towards the Paschal Mystery, rather than just giving up chocolate or sugar or saying an extra decade. For our forefathers Lent meant getting rid of a great deal of the preserved food that had been put aside for the winter and was likely to go to waste as the weather suddenly warmed; all those preserved meat products, and not just bacon and preserved foods but also cheese and dairy products. It was literally a time for saying carne vale, farewell to meat.
It was a period of conspicuous consumption of which our English pancakes and 'Shrove Tuesday' are just the flat remnant, I don't know if pancakes were originally filled with all types of good things or if they really resembled a Spanish omelet. We know from the records of Italian cities but also from English documentation that this pre-Lent season involved a great deal of partying, music, theatre, street entertainment. I remember reading an account of the huge difference between Carnival and Lent recounted by 18th century traveller to Venice, partying, drunkenness and gaiety one day, sombre sobriety from Ash Wednesday onwards.

Septuagessima, was a way in the Church hauled up the violet banner, saying 'now is the time to begin to get ready, eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you fast'. The Church seems everywhere to have opposed the excesses of Septuagessima, until under Bunini it itself was abolished, in a characteristic gesture.

Its proper character is perhaps revealed in the English name 'Shrovetide' the when people went to Confession before Lent so that they might keep this Holy Season in a state of Grace.

Follower of Fashion

Esquire Magazine, not a regular read, voted Pope Francis the best dressed man of 2013. For those outside or edge of the edge of the Church he will most probably be remembered for what he wore, Benedict of course wore the same thing but then of course he was, 'the leering old man in a dress".

In his 'sound bite' style the Pope recently described young followers of the Traditional Mass as followers of fashion. I was amused by Ches's take on this, I am not quite sure that you can describe something which has been in existence since at lest the time of Gregory the Great until it seemed to be swept away in1968 as a 'fashion'. I am tempted to think what we have at the moment is the 'fashion', and even that is changing rapidly. I remember young Jesuits of Pope Francis' vintage celebrating Mass on coffee tables with pottery chalices, they left the 'Js' and the priesthood,  most of them are now unhappily married and if they remained in contact with the Church are scheming away to overturn the teaching of the Church, that was fashion! They came out of time when the 'fashion' was to denigrate anything smacked of either tradition (or Tradition); it was the time when destruction was fashionable, everything from town centres to the family was up for grabs.

The Pope seems to surround himself not just with endless consultative companies, Ernst Young et al but also people like Cardinals Maradiaga and Hummes who one really expects to appear wearing flared trousers and paisley shirts.
The real question  is: who is a follower of fashion, the Pope or young people?
Already we have witnessed the persecution of the highly unfashionable and successful Franciscans of the Immaculate.

I agree with Abp Nichol

I agree with Archbishop Nichols in his statement about the plight of the poor, he is to be commended.

Our parish is facing financial difficulties, there has been a serious drop in income over the last few months, it is all too noticeable people have less to give. For many poor people the choice is often between eating or heating. Many of my parishioners have real fears of debt, rent arrears and homelessness Mothers go without so their children can eat.

There are psychological effects; depression, a sense of hopelessness that comes from poverty. Some people, a very few, are masters of the social security system and know precisely what their rights are and how to get them but others simply give up, having neither the inclination to jump through the  hoops set up for them, nor the disposition to cope with the investigation, interrogation, suspicion and possible rejection.

Recently I have been meeting parents who are terrified that there poverty is placing their children in a situation where they fear their children are likely to be taken into care

Too Much Information

I am becoming and Ockhamist! Simplicity, that surely must be the name of the game in the future, move away  from baroque or rococo complexity to the essentials! The trouble with both is that there is just too much information. In a great baroque or rococo house or Church I am left with an overall impression, unless I latch on to a detail, like a winsome cherub or fecund cornucopia.

I was talking to some 8/9 year olds recently about Mass: what did we do at it? The answer, 'we listen to stories about Jesus', ';we gather together', 'we love one another'. After a bit of pressing, 'we pray', it took some digging, some pushing to get to, 'we receive Communion'. We never quite got to a clear understanding of the distinction between gathering for prayers in class, at school, or family prayers and Mass. In fact the dominant idea was that 'we listen to stories about Jesus'. So my next question: what if the readings were in a language you couldn't understand? Slowly we began to get to the idea that Mass was a meeting with God, through Jesus.

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Some friends, good Catholic parents, with a good Catholic brood, five under 12s spoke to me a few weeks about their new discovery that makes Sunday less than hellish.
Mary, not her real name, had been a mum who took charge of 'Children's Liturgy' in her parish; taking children out at the beginning if Mass, telling them a Gospel story, then doing some 'colouring in' and bringing them back into Mass. Dad, Jim, not his real name, stayed in the Church with the older ones, trying to keep them quiet, bribing or threatening them, even giving them the occasional bag of crisps, or slightly quieter sweets. For both of them Sunday Mass was far from prayerful. Jim used to sneak off to Mass during the week. I don't think non-parents realise how difficult just bringing smaller children to Mass can be.
Well their new discovery, after a short period of Sunday Mass lapsation, was 'trad Mass'. A friend had a serious conversation with them, suggesting that taking children out during Mass might actually be suggesting to the children 'it was beyond them', in the same way bringing food or toys or 'additional colouring in' was suggesting that children shouldn't or can't participate.
Now, the children begin preparation for Mass during the week before, they make lists of people to pray for or about at the Sunday Mass, they either write or draw them, the older ones watch the news.
Mary and Jim say it is easier to explain to their children about the 'trad' Mass, 'I simply tell them that at Mass God comes down to us and we raise our minds, and everyone we know, to God in prayer. 'They seem to understand that.

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I have been reflecting on this, and my experience here where at the Traditional Mass children seem to pray, even younger children, whereas at the Ordinary Form Mass parents seem to be at their wits end. I am sure that it is not as simple as TLM = good children, OF Mass = fraught parents. It could be something to do with preparation of children, diet even, the signs parents give, or even possibly that at the OF Mass congregations are larger and children less able to see, whereas at the TLM children can see, and at low Mass the prevailing mood is one of silence.

I think it is probably easier to explain to someone who has never been to Mass what to do at the TLM rather than Ordinary Form, one you can do in broad brush times, the other you have to do on detail. I wonder which form of Mass is easier to approach for someone who is almost completely un-Churched, or someone who comes from a culture where the written word is not the norm, or where the sound-bite, or the gesture, rather than the discourse is the norm.

The new -accurate- translations of the Mass have lead me to a new appreciate of the work of Abp Bugnini and his followers, the vernacularisers who wanted everyone, even a child or the un-Churched or the worker to have the same advantages as a Latin literate cleric or theologian. The problem is that today's readings, for example: why Solomon lost God's favour and Jesus' encounter with the Syro-Phoenecian woman, would go completely over their heads. There is too much detail to the point where even the basic message is lost.

I think this raises some questions about evangelisation, about the loss of faith and practice. Why have the great expectations of Vatican II come to naught? Why have so many given up on the practice of the faith?
Why do so many have so little knowledge of the faith? Why is it that families who have been faithful for a thousand years in this generation no longer practice?
Why do children after 10 years of Catholic formation invariably lapse? Why do the same children have little idea of Catholic practice or belief.

Pray for Paul, Now and At the Hour of His Death

 Tonight Paul, who looks a little like St Paul, came to the door asking for absolution, Normally he comes asking for a few pounds or sees me in town and asks for my blessing, something few of my parishioners ask for. Now, he has lost control of both his bladder and bowels, he is convinced he is dying, he is an alcoholic, he tells me he has sclerosis of the liver. He wanted me to pray he would go to heaven and go soon. He asked me to say that prayer which he couldn't remember but it had, 'pray for me now and the hour of my death'. I told him all that was necessary that he should say the words he remembered, with as much faith as he had.

I went into church for Exposition, he was kneeling there in the pew alongside Ann one of our parishioners. Even on the sanctuary, even with the incense, it was possible to smell his breath, he stayed there kneeling for about half an hour, got up and went to kneel on the sanctuary steps before the Blessed Sacrament where I had knelt, he got up and helped by Ann left as silently as he had prayed, going back to a shop doorway where he normally spends the night.

Pray for him that his prayer might be answered soon and that those words, "pray for me now and at the hour of my death", may indeed gain him heaven.

And give thanks that this priest was able to glimpse the great beauty of the faith of this poor man.

Our Lady, Destroyer of All Heresies

Here is sermon by Fr Marcus Holden, the illustrious Parish Priest of St Augustine's Ramsgate, The sermon is splendid, the sound quality is bit difficult but struggle with it, it is well worth it.
Perhaps in this time when many feel called action, Fr Holden issues a call to faith, Our Lady's great call to us too.

Candles and Candlemas

I get annoyed when candles I have taken a great deal of effort to bless, that are supposed to be an icon of Christ and symbolise our wisdom and burning faith are just left in the pews or at the back of Church, especially as we hand out rather expensive 'altar' candles rather cheap little votive ones.

The problem is of course that Candlemas is a not very important feast in the present liturgy, which in our electrified times is not surprising, candles are not really necessary in church today and no-one spends most of winter making them.

Dr Rock that great nineteenth century Southwark priest, antiquarian and one of the founders of the V&A, makes a point somewhere of the disastrous impact of the Protestant Reformation on bee-keepers. Before the Reformation they were concerned more about the wax than the honey. He tells of great Paschal candles weighing several hundred-weight that that were kept alight from Easter to Ascension, they were so tall that they had to be lit from clerestory.

Wills often contained bequests for candles to be lit before images and shrines, the kings candle burnt at Walsingham, its extinction marked the end of Catholic England, just the same as Bloody Bess' command to the monks of Westminster when they met her on her accession at the Abbey door said, 'Gentlemen, we have day-light enough, there is no need for your lights', gave a clear indication of what was to come.

The use of candles at the Easter Vigil seems to undermine this feast, or at least duplicate one of its important rites but of course in more ancient times, the candle blessed at Candlemas would have been used at the Vigil which occurred on Holy Saturday morning, as well as practically every other procession people took part in, the most important of course, or at least the one most people connected with, was the procession of the dead from the Church to the cemetery after their Requiem as well as either greeting or being part the procession that would accompany the priest bringing Viaticum. The reception therefore of the candle at Candlemas was a sort of ticket to take part in other religious rites.

Bishop's should be afraid

The scandal surrounding the removal of German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg should fill all bishops with fear, yes there was a diocesan project which ran over budget and there was a huge public outcry and the bishop hit the popular media as 'the bling bishop' but according to Crisis Magazine the overspend was overseen by the relevant diocesan committee and the public outcry was orchestrated by one of the Bishops own priests.

Spending vast amounts is not unusual for German bishops It is reported they will have to pay about 89 million dollars after they have led their Weltbild into bankruptcy. Weltbild, the publishing house they own hit the headlines when it was revealed last year it also published pornography. The money will be used to keep the business running until a solution for the misbegotten company is found. Augsburg bishop Konrad Zdarsa has declared that the money is paid in order to contain the public effects of the bankruptcy.

The Bishop's real crime was that he attempted to control the "The Lobby", he removed a priest from office who had blessed a same sex  couple's union, his other 'crimes' seem to be that he attempted to kerb the power of left leaning clergy and laity, those that have been the rise in the last few months in our own country, those who push for the Church to accept divorce and remarriage, female ordination, the return of married clergy, the abolition of celibacy, a liberalisation of liturgical practices etc.

The Bishop taught the Catholic faith to his diocese which had really thrown it off and accepted an entirely different Magisterium. Far from being the villain he has been portrayed as, he seems to have been the heroic voice crying in the wilderness. Now it seems the diocese will either be absorbed into other German dioceses or have a new bishop appointed by Rome.

What worries me is that the rise of ACTA activity, which seems to have same ends as many in the diocese of Limburg,  in the dioceses of England and Wales, with at least the passive support of some of our bishops, will make many of diocese ungovernable or so absorbed in internal bickering they will be rendered unfit for mission for another generation. Again a prediction for the future, before the end of this Papacy there will be many more Limburgs.

Though judging from his words to the delegation of from Notre Dame University in the USA today the Pope seems, at last, to be getting wise to those who wilfully use him as an ally to dissent.

Essential in this regard is the uncompromising witness of Catholic universities to the Church’s moral teaching, and the defense of her freedom, precisely in and through her institutions, to uphold that teaching as authoritatively proclaimed by the magisterium of her pastors. It is my hope that the University of Notre Dame will continue to offer unambiguous testimony to this aspect of its foundational Catholic identity, especially in the face of efforts, from whatever quarter, to dilute that indispensable witness. And this is important: its identity, as it was intended from the beginning. To defend it, to preserve it and to advance it!

Attracting the Larus Argentatus

In the spring my parishioners are often distracted by fornicating pigeons on the glorious east window, the rest of the time they roost quietly leaving their droppings to stain the stone work and to fall on the plants in my postage stamp sized garden. When I look see them Tom Lehrer's solution comes to mind.


But we all know that would be illegal and wicked. I have been urged to think 'spikes' but that I think would be even worst than pigeon detritus dropping down from the window. I am told that a plastic owl or a kestral would scare them off, but only for a while. My pigeons are close relatives of doves, they both belong to the genus columba: so after the incident on Sunday in St Peter's Square, would the Franciscan solution be the answer?

Brighton is full of gulls, they rip open bin bags left outside the cities restuarants and leave rubbish all over the place. In Latin of course they are larus argentatus, just like the one that seems to have taken up station on the chimney of the Sistine Chapel during the Conclave and attacked the dove Pope Francis had released.

Rather than having a Conclave, would a few sprats in my freezer occasionally thrown into the garden attract a marauding larus. I want one to take a franchise on the garden and the church and declare it a no-go territory  for pigeons, whilst leaving the rather friendly blackbird that nests in the shrubbery to get on with his family life with his wife and chicks.

If a gull can take up rule of the Vatican why not here?

'Noble Simplicity'

We  don't have an Old Rite Missa Cantata often but we have decided to have one next Sunday, its Candlemass, so rather than a 10.30 sung Novus Ordo our 6.30pmwill be our 'principle Mass' so it will be Asperges, blessing of candles, procession and Mass. Our MC is reading and re-reading his Fortescue and Reid, and I am trying to remember those prayers I don't normally say.


I have been thinking about the concept of 'noble simplicity' lately, mainly because some pictures of rather overblown Christmas decorations in churches I have seen. I mean trees that dominate the sanctuary, or the worst examples, cribs that obscure the altar. Those are neither noble nor simple. Accounts of Christmas liturgies where the Liturgy of the Word is replaced by some sort of Nativity Play complete with braying donkey are a contradiction of 'noble simplicity', they show a deep discomfort with Mgr Bugnini's liturgy. One of the problems with the Novus Ordo is that there is a temptation to add complexity onto complexity, idea onto idea, theme upon theme, to the point where focus is lost.

Despite the apparent complexity of the Old Rite, even on special days like Candlemas, for a non-Latin speaking member of the congregation there is something quite remarkable about returning to the same basic ideas, which are hammered deep into the soul with every Mass attended: we pray, bread and wine is offered and God comes to us, or even more simply put:  God comes to us: we worship. This is a simple kerygmatic proclamation, the Gospel and the mystery of the Church at its absolute simplest and most basic. For those with Latin or who bother with a Missal various subordinate ideas are there, right down to the details of the Gospel and Epistle and the intricacies of the prayers and chants but essentially, the dominating message is one of worship in which the relationship between man and God is clearly seen.
I have often wondered why I feel compelled to preach -at least explain the scriptures- at the Novus Ordo but at the Old Rite I feel no such compunction, as a priest I simply want to worship along with my people I want to immerse myself in the Mysteries I am celebrating.

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The principle of 'noble simplicity' is important in catechesis too. For converts who generally already always believe in God, we can get terribly complicated and present the faith as a series of propositions, it is that which leads complexity. The noble and simple message is contained in the simple statement the present Rite of Reception of an Adult demands, apart from the recitation of the Creed the conversi are expected to be able to say, "I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God." Explaining why this is required and its meaning, is presumably the purpose and end of convert instruction, the RCIA process, Catholic education etc.

Presumably if one fails to believe and also profess it, it is time to stop conning oneself and leave the Church.

Joanna Bogle to Speak on Mother Riccarda

Joanna Bogle is coming to speak here on Tuesday evening will talk about her latest book on Mother Riccarda, who was baptised in our Church and whose cause for canonisation is making good progress. She was declare ‘Venerable’ last July.
If you want to come Mass is in the Church at 6.30pm and Joanna's talk is at 7pm in the Parish Centre.

The scandal will become greater

One of the things that has been on the rise in the last few months is the rise of ACTA, often apparently with the support of Auxiliary Bishops. To be charitable if I were a Bishop I would do my best to go out and meet these straying sheep and draw them back into the fold, I hope this is what these Bishops intend to do, but who am I to judge.

The wound of Pope Benedict's resignation should have resulted in a Papacy that was  concerned with healing divisions.The great problem is Pope himself has not focussed on healing, instead he allows himself to be presented as supporting the fragmentary initiatives and the dog-whistle words and terms that are put into his mouth, or that he chooses, all seem to add fuel to controversies which had under the last two Popes had died down.
The primary function of the successor of Peter is to ensure the unity of the Church, so the Church might be effective in its mission. Pope Francis wants us to go to the peripheries and to evangelise and as the Vatican Council reminds us disunity among Christians is a scandal that destroys belief. The scandal will become greater. I do not think that one needs to be a great prophet to predict that the next few months and years are going to bring us increased divisions and polarisation between Catholics that are seriously going to damage the Church's mission. None of the issues ACTA raises are concerned about mission all are ad intra churchy issues.

A few months ago I heard of one young priest, an assistant priest, who discovered and advert for an ACTA meeting on his parish newsletter and had all 800 copies destroyed. The divisions and the battles will be generational, among the clergy the John-Paul/Benedict generation, the young, will be supporting orthodoxy, the old heterodoxy.

Now is the time to pray for Unity within the Church.

Once we had millions of Evangelists

I say the Old Mass for a variety of reason, many aesthetic, some spiritual but the ultimate reason is one of justice. It isn't simply a matter of 'What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too', it is deeper than that. It hits at the very heart of the what the Church is about, what Christ is about. 

I am glads my friend Fr Hunwicke has had the courage to put his finger on what the issue really is, it is about 'Truth'. Justice and Truth are partners. Fr Hunwicke dares to say:

Summorum pontificum confirmed juridically that the Latin Church had lived for some four decades under the dominion of a lie. The Vetus Ordo had not been lawfully prohibited. Much persecution of devout priests and layfolk that took place during those decades is therefore now seen to have been vis sine lege. For this so long to have been so true with regard to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which lies at the heart of the Church's life, argues a profound illness deep within the Latin Church. And the Big Lie was reinforced by multitudes of Little Lies ... that the Council mandated reordered Sanctuaries ... that the Council mandated exclusive use of the vernacular ... The de facto situation created by the Big Lie and the Little Lies combined ought not to be regarded as normative. Its questionable parentage must give it a degree of provisionality, even (perhaps especially) to those who find it comfortable to live with. The onslaught upon the Franciscans of the Immaculate suggests that there are those, high in the Church's administration, who have still internalised neither the juridical findings of Summorum pontificum nor its pastoral call for harmony.

Christians cannot compromise with Truth, we cannot live with Untruth or compromise with it, there can be no co-mixture with Truth and Lies, we are either searching for the Truth and exalting it or crucifying it:

Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Earlier in the same Gospel he had said:

I am the Way, the Truth and Life. 

We cannot compromise with the Truth, if we are to be taken seriously as witnesses to the Truth. We cannot compromise with the Truth if we are to be credible witnesses.  There can be no worthwhile evangelisation unless it begins and ends in Truth and unless the evangelisers are believable. Personally, I believe that the 'misson' of the Second Vatican Council was to find a way to express the Truth in the modern world, however in the interpretation of the Council's teaching a fracture was introduced between the Church's practice and prayer, and the Church's belief. The fracture meant the Church lost its credibility, hence our churches emptied. We became seen as 'hypocritical'. We lost the sense of  'noble simplicity' which comes from the basic premise of the Catholic Church that Jesus Christ is God, God founded the Church and promises to be with it until the end of time, hence you can -and must- trust the Catholic Church, the Church ceased to be immediately intelligible, the greater Truth was obscured by lesser truths. 

In practice it meant that theology, and everything else, including liturgy, became the realm of the specialist, for example the Missal might say 'the priest turns to the people' but the specialist tells us that the priest is already facing the people, so really the plain meaning of the text means something other than it says. The same of course happens with scripture, Jesus says ..., and the Tradition and practice of the Church has always understood him to have  meant.... but the the specialist says something totally different. Take for example salvation and the necessity of Baptism and Holy Communion, or the inviolability of marriage and the impossibility of re-marriage after divorce, Jesus says one thing and Cardinal Maradiaga tells Abp Mueller to 'lighten up'.

We once had millions of Evangelists, now we have few, if any. Evangelism and catechesis have become the function of the specialist. The great problem is that grandmother sitting at the kitchen fire with her grandchildren could no longer be trusted to pass on the faith she had received from her grandmother. The Faith, the Truth, is no longer clear, no longer the possession of the ordinary holy believer in the pew but is something handed down from the specialist Cardinal or Archbishop or Pope or theologian. It should be the possession of all Catholic Christians and therefore must be certain, unchangeable and rooted, above all it must be obviously True. The Truth cannot be recognised in an institution where lies are normal, or where jargon or obscurity replaces ordinary speech.
True Evangelisation can only be achieved by a radical commitment to the Truth.

Mindzenty's Legacy

I had a free night recently and watched this 1950 film, Guilty of Treason it is about the persecution and trial of Cardinal Mindzenty, it reflects its culture and its time but it contains the central message that no political regime can tolerate. 'Mindzenty must be destroyed', is the central message of the film.


Earlier I had read an article about a new document by the International Theological Commission, entitled "The Triune God, Unity of People. Christian Monotheism Against Violence ", which was commissioned by Pope Benedict, which identifies modern cultures as polytheistic: if there are many gods then there are many truths. Monotheism says there is one Truth, polytheism can happily exist with multiple or even conflicting truths. Hence modern western culture is pro-gods but ultimately anti-God and desires the destruction of God.

I am afraid my source is Eponymous Flower, the translation is a bit painful but I am grateful they make an attempt. It is significant that the document speaks not only about why the Church is persecuted today but also how. If you watch the film you will see that almost 65 years on things haven't changed, either the reasons for persecution or the methods. Magister also has short piece on the same document.

In Mindzenty's case persecution was because of his stance on the education of children and involved first the destruction of his reputation, then the destruction of him as person.
It is a sad reflection on the Church's history that in the 1950s/60s Mindzenty became an embarrassment to the Holy See and was as much a thorn in Cardinal Casaroli's side as he was for the Communist regime.

József Mindszenty (29 March 1892 – 6 May 1975) was the Prince Primate, Archbishop of Esztergom, cardinal, and leader of the Catholic Church in Hungary from 2 October 1945 to 18 December 1973. For five decades, he personified uncompromising opposition to fascism and communism in Hungary in support of religious freedom.[1] During World War II, he was imprisoned by the pro-Nazi authorities.[2] After the war, he opposed communism and the communist persecution in his country. As a result, he was tortured and given a life sentence in a 1949 show trial that generated worldwide condemnation, including a United Nations resolution. After eight years in prison, he was freed in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and granted political asylum by the United States embassy in Budapest, where Mindszenty lived for the next fifteen years.[2] He was finally allowed to leave the country in 1971. He died in exile in 1975 in Vienna, Austria.