Lycurgus Angelopoulos has died

Pray for the soul of the greatest exponent and teacher of Greek chant Lycurgus Angelopoulos, his funeral took place in Athens today at the Cathedral he served for many year. Rest Eternal grant to him O Lord.

In 1994 the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew awarded him elevated to the rank of Lord Cantor of Holy Archdiocese of Constantinople. He was also honored by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Church of Finland, and the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece had awarded him the appreciation and the Gold Cross of the Apostle Paul (2006). president of the Greek Republic Konstantinos Stephanopoulos awarded him the 2004 the honors of the Silver Cross of the Order of the Phoenix. 

Having just written on Western Chant it is worth remembering the East, at least in Greek world, the Russian style is quite different, has a far more 'manly' sound championed by Angelopoulos, it is the open throat and strong rhythm.

Some thoughts on Chant

Until the 1960s our Church was known for its chant, the Sacred Heart, next door in Hove specialised in more showy polyphony. I presume chant became our thing because of Mgr George Wallis who was parish priest here until his death in 1950. He was an interesting character, he was a member of the famous banking family, a son of John Edward Wallis, editor and proprietor of the Tablet from 1855 to 1868. He had been educated in France, he studied at the Gallican College in Rome and though an Englishman he spoke with a French accent. After ordination he became Ceremonialist at one of the Roman basillicas, from where he was recruited by Cardinal Bourne to be Master of Ceremonies at Westminster Cathedral in 1910 he oversaw its consecration. By the 1913 he had been sacked, parish legend says there was a scene during the solemn reception of the King of Portugal. He then came to Brighton as a chaplain to one of the convents in the parish, and only being appointed Parish Priest here in 1924. Then, we were very much part of the Liturgical movement. One of our older parishioners remembered the Monsignor saying, 'If you have difficulties come to me, I am your Father', another parishioner spoke of his father recalling the visits of Chesterton, Belloc and Greene.

The Tablet archive records him speaking on Liturgical music and the new Moto Proprio in 1906!

His love of chant seemed to get into the stonework here, right up until the mid-eighties and clung on, after the choir was sent of into exile, through the efforts of a few parishioners past that date as a prayer group. Today it has having a bit of a revival, mainly due to our director of music, Clare, who is becoming a bit of an expert, she has even been training our schola and running workshops in other parishes in the diocese. She herself has been tutored by the choir director of St Cecelia's Abbey, Sister Bernadette who maintains the great Solesmes tradition here in England.

Chant is the perfect expression of the Church's worship. It can be sung indifferently, like singers on rugby club bus but in reality as monophony it demands that singers form one voice, singing together in perfect pitch, breathing together, 'sounding' together, there is no room for personal virtuosity or individuality in chant. It is supposed to be the voice of the Church, ex pluribus unum, so the many are one at the service of the Word. Monastic exponents of chant will say that it takes twenty or thirty years of singing together everyday for a monastic schola to become proficient because it isn't just musical understanding or expertise that is needed but a spiritual harmony. A profound consciousness, not just of music written on the page and knowledge of the technique that is needed, but a sensitivity towards the other singers and a deep understanding of the text. In other musical forms disharmony or even dischord are part of the genre but the purity of chant demands more. The more technically demanding pieces can cover a multitude of errors but it is often in the simple recitation that faults become apparent. The aim of chant is the proclamation of the word, the total immersion of the singers into the text, the clear enunciation of Church's voice in prayer.

Chant is an expression and a metaphor for the life of the Church itself, more and more I am beginning to hear here the occasional phrase, sometimes even a whole piece that is sung beautifully with a quality that goes beyond merely just a proficient performance. In fact there is a quality to chant that professional musicians can emulate but never actually achieve, rather like an artist who understands the techniques of iconography but can't actually quite paint a real icon. 

The Men of the Parish and Bishop Schneider

I was pleased that half a dozen of our men where able to assist at Bishop Athanasius' Mass at West Grinstead, there are few more pictures here.
and lots more here

The wise stand at the door, with lamps lit, waiting for the Bridegroom

Restoration

Some nun 'who did a course', presumably, had imposed her understanding of liturgy on this building and on the community that used it, now the parish priest has restored it.

I'm not too sure I see the point of two altars on one sanctuary but I like the idea of the priest moving from 'worship space' back to 'church'. It is emblematic of so much that has happened in the last few years; the recognition that our faith is deeply rooted in the past, that it did not emerge from some year zero around 1970.

This is the unfocussed mess the nun designed What is it saying, what sign is being given? The obvious answer is confusion, uncertainty, a lack of integrity, cheapness, fabrication. I can't understand the 'pinkness' either, what is that about; sister's lipstick?.
(thanks to Sergio)

So very Catholic

I have just come back from the LMS pilgrimage to West Grinstead, six of our men served and about twenty five of our parishioners had a very pleasant day out, beautiful music, a reverent Pontifical, a good sermon, lovely weather. It was good to meet the saintly Bishop Athanasius Schneider again but what really struck me was the number of  under forties that came and all the happy contented children. It might be that the older LMS members are dying off, if that is so then they are being replaced by younger people; young men and women, and young families. During the Mass, I think there was one very young child crying, the rest were contentedly praying, 

During the Conference in the afternoon after lunch whilst the Bishop was calling for stronger Eucharistic reverence  and most of the children were contentedly playing football, what really impressed was certainly the Bishop but more than that, was the Chairman of the LMS, sitting next to to the Bishop, with his youngest child gurgling on his knee..

It was just good to see: a dad with his child sitting next to a bishop with a flock, so very Catholic.

Satanists

I don't know if there are 'Muslim' Satanists - there most probably are. Do they worship the same devil as their 'Christian' Satanist counter-parts?

Satanism is about negation, the Harvard 'Black Mass' - I wonder if it would have been old rite or new - would be primarily a negation of the Mass. Such acts at least in 17th/18th century France were about mocking the Mass. There doesn't seem to have been a stable rite, sometimes it took the form of using something like decomposing blakened slice of turnip in place of a host, sometimes reading the Missal backwards, sometimes taking the form of a 'Mass of the Presanctified' using a stolen consecrated host in which instead of praise of God, he is cursed, and Communion takes place with as much sacrilege as possible. The ideal, of course, was to have real live priest or bishop to act as impiously as possible.

'Black Masses' are an attack on the Mass, I have never heard of a 'black' Book of Common Prayer Communion Service or Methodist 'Breaking of Bread' Service, nor have I heard of, or do I think it likely someone would parody the parodies of the Mass we occasionally see on Youtube: the clown Mass, the balloon Mass, Mass from Lintz etc.

Here in Brighton before I introduced Communion 'at the rail' it wasn't unusual for someone, at least once a month, to run off with the host. The last person to do so was wearing a pentangle and got to the Church door before I retrieved the host. Brighton has several rather strange shops that cater to New Age movement, some at its extremes. In fact I have a rather chatty relationship with a lady who works in local supermarket who tells me she is 'white witch', that seems to be all about herbs gathered with dew still on them, a bit of chanting on the solstice and probably some unconventional attitudes, by Christian standards but not by Brighton standards, to sex and whole foods.

The obvious signs of the diabolic like the Harvard example are more the action of publicity seeking adolescent school children, they are a distraction, straw demons, the real concern should be those things which bring about confusion and moral division within the Church and society, the more subtle bending of morality and truth.

In fact the Harvard 'Black Mass' as far as the devil is concerned is pretty much an own goal, it reminds the Faithful that Christ's enemies are alive and well but if one is really looking for the truly diabolic look within the Church to the places where confusion and relativism, and ultimately the denial of Christ creep in.

Looking Back

"No fuss, no fuss, Paris would be nice" so apparently said a Father of one of the Oratories for some Jubilee in his eighties, so apparently a whole gang of them got on Eurostar and headed off to Paris for lunch.
I hate fuss too. Yesterday was the thirtieth anniversary of my Ordination to the priesthood, I celebrated it as quietly possible, just me and a server assisting at Mass. As I get older I hate more and more 'Me' celebrations, especially those that merely indicate I am still alive - "prizes for breathing". Prayers are useful - congratulations I find a bit hollow.

Five years ago we celebrated my 25th anniversary, it is good to look back and see how much better our church looks and how much more beautiful our music is. Two of those serving are on their way to the priesthood, others in video have moved on, some to their Eternal reward, some like Segei who produced this video to other parts of the world, he is back Moscow, one man I received into the Church has apostatised as is now a Muslim.

Thanks to Gloriatv for preserving this archive video, of the celebration for my 25th Anniversary it is worth comparing the Church then to what is now.


Thirty years as a priest and I look back over all that time I wonder quite what I have done and what is of value. There is certainly a sense in which I envy those with a clutch of children and a loving wife, the loneliness of celibacy is painful at times but it roots us in the Cross, I am become increasingly convinced of the connection between celibacy, the Cross and the priesthood. The old Mass gives a clue to this mystery: everything I have done in communion with God, in muttered prayerful silence is of infinite and eternal value. Everything I have done without him is vain and valueless, and will pass away. The priestly things I have done, really the sacraments I have celebrated, will last forever. The priesthood itself only has meaning in its eschatological dimension, pointing to God and his Kingdom and the things that truly last.
When we undermine celibacy for example, when we downplay sanctifying grace or make our liturgy prosaic or trite we do serious damage.

Avoid the 'Spiritual'

I had a priest visit me who happened remark someone had said they were 'spritual  but not religious', he said he replied he was 'religious but not spiritual'.
I took up the theme today and said in my sermon this morning, we should be the enemies of the 'spiritual'.

The Fathers of the Church, those saintly bishops and monks would tear at the beards punch in the face those who claimed to be 'spiritual'. The 'spiritual' are our deadly foes.

We believe in Jesus Christ who did not abhor a Virgin's womb, indeed that was where he became flesh, flesh and blood. 

We believe in the flesh and blood resurrection of the flesh and blood enfleshed Word of God. Those who claim he rose 'spiritually' or somehow took on our humanity 'spiritually' are damnable heretics. 

Catholicism is about physical realities, yes we even believe, our Resurrection is physical, not 'spiritual', we believe 'in my flesh I shall see God'. 

In the Holy Eucharist we do not receive 'spiritual' food but the actual body and blood, the soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. 

We do not believe that the Church is merely the spiritual body of Jesus but is the real tangible reality of Christ's presence in the world. 

Even the Holy Spirit, the most 'spiritual' thing that we believe in, manifests itself in a real way, in the Incarnation, in the Resurrection of the Person of Christ, in the gathering of the Church, in transubstantiation of bread and wine, in the real sanctification of those who have received him. 

We are not called to 'spiritually' feed hungry but actually do it, we are not called to 'spiritually' instruct the ignorant but to actually do it, nor to be spiritually chaste but to actually be chaste. Indeed we are not called to have a 'spiritual life' but to have Life. The Holy Spirit always manifests itself in the flesh.

At all cost avoid those who speak of the 'spiritual' they are and have always been the enemies of real flesh and blood Christians!

Warning: There is a small degree of rhetorical  irony in this post

Blessed Paul VI?

Paul VI being on track to being Beatified?
There are so many conjectures about his private life, his friendships, those he allowed influence; there are so many questions which are unanswered, so many hints of scandal, of all the twentieth centuries Popes Paul VI should be left to sleep quietly in his grave, with prayers of the faithful.

Even his predecessor Pope St John XXIII dubbed him Hamlet.

Nine years after his election he wrote: "Perhaps the Lord called me to this service not because I have any aptitude for it, or so I can govern and save the Church in its present difficulties, but so I can suffer something for the Church so that it will be clear that it is the Lord, and not anyone else, who guides and saves it."

Field Hospital

I don't watch the BBC, indeed I do not own a television receiver but I have started watching on the BBC IPlayer the Crimson Field, it is about a WWI group of nurses in a field hospital, it isn't that horrific, no scenes of screaming vomiting gas victims crying out in agony. In fact he patients are remarkable quiet but there was one scene that disturbed my comfort, it was a bucket of amputated limbs.

That gave a fresh perspective to Pope Francis' description of the Church not as any old hospital but specifically as a field hospital, operating in a war zone. If you are hearing a lot of Confessions it can sometimes be like a supermarket cashier or a triage surgeon in a field hospital, making quick judgements, cutting out an infection here, giving a dose of morphine there, applying a splint for some else, offering kindness to those dying of their wounds. The 'field hospital' model isn't only about just one specific area of Church but the whole life of the Church, for those at work in such an institution the basic tool historically has been the saw and the knife. Cutting out infection, cutting off the gangrenous, crude tools maybe but the Pope is not talking about a sophisticated urban hospital.

The ultimate sanction in the Church is always amputation, or excommunication, it is done not just as a way saving the sick individual but the rest of the flock as well. In fact a field hospital out of the time of a major battle seems to have dealt with diseases like typhus or cholera the result of insanitary living conditions and bad food. Remember all those stories of all rats living of the detritus of war. The nurses of the Crimea were as much concerned about the  contagion of disease as much as battle wounds. Those 'leperous courtiers' can infect the rest of the court, leprosy is contagious. Yesterday the very stark reminder of Cardinal Mueller was issued to the American Leadership Conference of Women Religious which basically called them to get back into the Church because what they are doing now is leading them out of communion.

A good Pastor is desperately concerned about the health of his flock, just as a medical officer in charge of a field hospital is not merely concerned about battle wounds but such mundane things as latrines and their correct use and clean linen, fresh water and washing, waterproof boots and clean socks, the provision of soap and lavatory paper, the elimination of vermin and the delousing of uniforms. He might also be concerned not just about the physical health of his soldiers but even their psychological and even moral health.

The purpose of the field hospital is worth bearing in mind it is to get the sick well again to engage the battle once more. No Pope has spoken in modern times in such apocalyptic terms as Pope Francis. The first Mass he celebrated with Cardinals after his election, he said 'if you are not praying to Christ, you are praying to the devil' and this dichotomy between Christ and the devil has been present throughout his pontificate.

Some see a growing dichotomy between truth and unity. One of the problems some people identify in today's Church is that sense that we are one big happy family and we don't say or do things that are hurtful. A field hospital is not a place without pain, whether it a surgeon cutting off a diseased limb or a nurse taking off a blood and pus dried dressing or pouring disinfectant over an open wound. Bishops, priests and deacons do not like dealing with pain, it is all too easy to simply ignore the cries of the suffering, to become hard of heart or else never to apply the knife and simply watch the patients die a slow death, in that case we become a hospice for the terminally ill rather than a field hospital. The problem here is that both patients and medical team die not just of their own wounds but of cross infection from other patients.

So what does one do if some mad honorary Prelate denies the Resurrection, or a Professor of Catholic Studies, from a Department of Human Flourishing suggests that scripture and tradition are wrong about human sexuality, our custom has been to ignore the problem. Scripture warns against the father who fails to correct the waywardness of his children, and those who fail to correct the errors of their brothers. St Paul was not afraid to correct the Prince of the Apostle, Pope Francis is continually complaining about careerists, airport bishops, nun's who are old maids. There is an intolerance in his sermons that is not just about evil but about imperfection, and all too human weakness, not just of clergy but of ordinary Christians. He speaks of mercy but it is not the self indulgent mercy of what he describes as the "pastry-shop Christian"

I have always thought it significant that he hardly ever describes 'God as Love', for our days perhaps that has too much secular baggage, the implications of a God who is 'merciful' is that mercy has to be sought, it is given by a greater to a supplicant. God is loving but God is also angry, in the theology of St Paul it is only Jesus who assuages God's anger, only then is he merciful to those united to Jesus.. 

Dangers of Tradition and Young Children

One of our children is in deep trouble: its the mantilla thing. Some, not many of the women in our congregation wear mantillas and very elegant they look too.
Well to cut a long story short, Annie who is 5 often stays with a friend of her mum's who had some rather elegant Victorian lace curtains. Annie found some scissors, now Annie has a mantilla and so do her three of her dolls and her favourite pink dinosaur, and whilst mum's friend still has lace curtains but one is now quite considerably shorter than its pair, they are less elegant nowadays.
And Annie was bareheaded at Mass on Sunday and so was the pink dinosaur.

+++

Speaking of such things, I remember a whole family of reasonably devout traditionally minded Catholics; mother, father and four young children apostacising over the issue of veils. It was around the time the then Papal MC got St John Paul to kiss the Koran, that really did rattle them. They had come into contacting with a Baptist group who insisted on women wearing a head covering, in conformity with St Paul's teaching, "But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head". It was one of those things that wormed away at them until it overcame belief in the Real Presence, the Inerrancy of the Church and everything else. The Baptist pastor kept saying to them if the Catholic Church errs on this rather minor matter can it be trusted on anything, eventually they decided it couldn't and went off to join them, eventually believing the Church to be the whore of Babylon, the Pope the Anti-Christ and all of that extreme Protestant stuff.

Shibboleth

I was pleased to read Bishop Campbell's press release on Protect the Pope, Bishop Campbell is one of the good guys, I am glad he faced up to the furore that has surrounded the closing of this blog, not only here but throughout the world. It is regrettable, looking over the Google feed, that it seems there is a very strong sense that the orthodox, those who might indeed Protect the Pope are legitimate game, whilst, unless you are actually wishing a Pope dead, like the recently dismissed Tablet journalist, you are free to say what you will. Dr Joseph Shaw highlights the problem, focussing on one particular priest, whose writings are in one of the Catholic papers which are distributed in many catholic churches and cathedrals. Fr Henry makes a similar point about the last edition of Catholic Life.

There seems to be a growing sense, especially over the last few months that the Church is moving backwards, away from concern for the Truth to a superficial 'Unity'. There seems to be an increasing sense that those who had discovered or rediscovered 'orthodoxy' under Pope Benedict are not welcomed any longer. The most obvious example is Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, still silenced, still unaware of any specific charges against them after all these months. The 'Kasper theorem' delivered at the Consistory gives the same impression, whatever label you want to give; orthodox, traditional or conservative there is large group of 'concerned' Catholics, especially amongst those touched by St John Paul's theology of marriage, which elsewhere in the Catholic world is a huge number. Again here, the distancing of the entire Bishop's Conference from the Bishop of Portsmouth's reiteration of Cardinal Burkes: no communion for politicians who pass laws contrary to Catholic teaching, is unnerving, for some. It appears that an unsmiling stern-faced Pope Francis was saying a similar things on a broader range of issues, to 'corrupt' Italian politicians only a few days ago in St Peters. In the UK too the resuscitation of ACTA and its apparent promotion by some bishops gives the impression that being a dissenting Catholic carries no consequences, whilst trying to be a faithful one does, most especially if one who is a cleric. Indeed for the dissident a great deal of space is given for dialogue, one is virtually clasped to the breast but for those who oppose them there is only the cold shoulder. It is particularly sad that Bishop Campbell's statement adds to this sense.

The consequences of course are that Deacon Nick's blog will disappear but criticism will not, "unless a grain of wheat ...", on the contrary, it will grow. Fed by our Holy Father himself, who has told younger people especially to make a mess. There are many lay people out there who share the Pope's sentiments about careerist authoritarian bishops and functionaries, as well as ideological, liquid, bat-like, superficial Christians, or Christians allergic to preaching with watered-down faith, weak-hoped Christians and oh yes, my favourite those, "pastry-shop Christians", these critics seem to be making their voices heard increasingly.

A Pastoral Problem - part 2

I've been Mundaborised! He accuses me of being a Kasperite.
Do read his post it is well worth it. It is a characteristic reaction to my fictional pastoral problem of Mary and Sam.
Pope Francis sees the Church as 'a field hospital', dealing with the wounds and injuries of her members. Mundabor, I suspect would disagree robustly with that and see the Church in terms of offering preventative medicine.

It reminds me of a conversation with a friend who works in the Orthodox world, he told me recently of the incomprehension of the local Orthodox bishop when he heard my friend had actually performed non-sacramental marriages: marrying a Christian, someone baptised to a Muslim, or anyone else who was not baptised. According to both our theologies the sacrament of matrimony only exists if it happens between Christians, hence the old practice of 'sacristy marriages' for the non-baptised or doubtfully baptised. The Orthodox would presume that no-one would even presume to ask for such a thing, it would simply be impossible, whilst a second or third marriage is quite possible, even if it is celebrated with less solemnity than the first. It is worth pointing out that we too have different grades of marriage too, sacramental and non-sacramental, nowadays apart from the change of a few prayers there is little distinction, certainly not in the actual formula used to confect the bond in one case or the sacrament in the other.

Mundabor puts forward a valid argument, even if it is one that the Church has discarded increasingly in the last hundred years in its desire for increased numbers going to Holy Communion. His concern is the scandal and compromise that Mary and Sam's situation introduces. I am reminded of the situation of the twice widowed Maria Fitzherbert who the Prince Regent tried to woo, she refused to sleep with him unless the were married, so a secret marriage took place but she was known as the Princes mistress. Her monument in St John the Baptist, the mother Church of Brighton shows her defiantly wearing three wedding rings, proclaiming her third marriage, to the Prince.  In a way their moral but apparently immoral and scandalous lifestyle encouraged the growth of Brighton as a place for mistresses and unconventional lifestyles, they followed what the Prince and Mrs Fitzherbert were apparently doing.

What Mundabor is arguing for is a Church that is uncompromising in its proclamation of the faith, it is indeed a valid argument but one that we have moved away from, mainly I would suggest by the movement for frequent and regular reception of Holy Communion started by St Pius X.

Fr Mark Elvins Rip

Pray for the soul of Father Mark Elvins, KCGCO, OFM, Cap., who died at Oxford today
Eternal Rest Grant to Him O Lord
And Let Perpetual Shine Upon Him