Why so many disobedient Catholics?

Shame the presenters of the video can't spell. I don't know the provenance of this clip, but I fear that all the problems of the Church today stem from a lack of understanding, or utter denial, of holy obedience. Is the word 'obedience', holy or not, still in the dictionary?

"The Ratzinger family Secret"

This 'tabloidian' headline appears at the top of http://www.zenit.org/article-33158?l=english (July 26) about,  'Mein Bruder der Papst' which has been written by Mgr Georg Ratzinger in collaboration with the historian Michael Hesemann. It will be published to coincide with Pope Benedict's visit to Germany in September. During the interview with Zenit, Hesemann reveals the nature of this 'secret' and also two 'surprises'. I doubt that the secret or the surprises will amaze anyone who has read Joseph Ratzinger's own 'Milestones', and also the several biographies of him written since 2005. I must admit though, to a raised eyebrow on reading that Hesemann was surprised 'at how unconditionally the (Ratzinger) family opposed the Nazis from the very beginning'. An historian, and he is surprised at that! Where has he been? Perhaps he just means that he expects a large proportion of his German readerhip to be surprised. If that's the case then this book is very necessary and timely. It is touching that Georg Ratzinger decided to help toward the success of his brother's visit by  putting a few facts straight.

What WILL interest a wider international audience are the personal memories of the Ratzinger brothers' childhood and youth. There are bound to be some things in that area that have not been revealed before. Also one hopes that among the book's forty photographs there will be some that have not been published before. The publisher, Herbig of Munich, has not announced any plans to publish in other languages, at least not as far as I was able to discover during a fairly lengthy search this morning. They really will miss a best seller if they do not get on quickly with the sale of foreign rights. I hope Father Fessio of Ignatius Press will take a hand here!

(The German version can be pre-ordered at amazon.fr. I was surprised that amazon.co.uk does not yet have this facility.)

The Legion of Mary has great potential to restore the Irish church to health.

It certainly has more chance than the Irish Association of Catholic priests, some of whose members would seem to be in favour of a break with Rome. I am encouraged in support of the Legion by what I've read  about the ACP, particularly today at  Protect the Pope.com  (to name but one of several sites),.but mostly by the UKCatholic Herald's feature about a recently published biography of Frank Duff, the founder of the Legion of Mary. Jack Carrigan reports on this and on his conversation with the book's author, Dr Finula Kennedy a lecturer at University College Dublin. The Legion's apostolate of the laity is a solid ground for hope and therefore a positive note in the present confused and miserable cirumstances.

Read here  and here about the Legion and the Cause for the beatification of the servant of God Frank Duff. The second site is in French but gives contact addresses for the Legion in the US

Two days break from blogging are called for..

Intend to be back on Friday DV- St. Martha's day. Praying she will assist me to get the washing done, the kitchen cleaned, the garden weeded and the church swept.. In the meantime, God bless all here.

J

Didn't know there was salmon in the Sea of Galilee! (see St. Martha's right hand) Jesus is in the background with Martha's sister Mary. (Vincenzo Campi in the gallery at Modena)

Fr Vincent Twomey in yesterday's Irish Times; and 'Amazing Grace'

"The Taoiseach badly served by his speech writers" http://irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0725/1224301316143.html

Recommmended as essential reading. Quite long but deserving the necessary time and concentration. The good Father has calmed from his initial gut-reaction, given in anger. This piece is reason-able and correctively informative, based on the facts of recent history.

I repeat the hope that the author, a former pupil of the Pope, will have the opportunity to speak with his one-time professor at some point very soon. Nay, I should not be surprised if the Holy Father actually asks for Fr Twomey's opinion, so rightly famous is he for his desire and ability to LISTEN as he searches for the truth and discerns how to act.

'Amazing Grace':
A snippet from a conversation in the Oasis kitchen yesterday afternoon: French radio was playing a particularly unmelliflous, sentimental 'pop' version of the 'hymn'. (This was before I'd followed up the online spat between Michael Voris and Marc Shea on the subject, and certainly the French presenter did not mention it.)
As the banal offering of a quite acceptable tune ground to a close:

Jane: "I think the Holy Father will NOT be having THAT at his next celebration of Mass in St. Peter's!"
Husband Colin, (no sooner than the words were out of my mouth): "But Darling, he IS an amazing grace!"

Hints that next year the Pope may give us an Encyclical on faith.

See  Zenit's 'Pope enjoying fruitful working vacation'

In the first paragraph of this piece we are told that Pope Benedict is looking forward to the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council; in the third that he has brought with him to Castel Gandolfo many books and documents; and in the 6th and 7th that "The Vatican daily (OR) revealed that the Pope is working on another topic which is of great interest to him 'reflection on faith, as the the 50th anniversary approaches of the opening of Vatican II (October 11th 1962), in which Joseph Ratzinger took part from the beginning.'...............
Benedict XVI's interest in the theological virtue of faith is significant as he has already dedicated two encyclicals to the other two theological virtues, charity and hope."

Of course as Joseph Ratzinger, and not as Pope, he may just publish  a book of his memories and reflections to celebrate this anniversary, and that in itself would be of tremendous historical value and interest. But an encyclical on faith itself is a totally different and more serious matter. Either way, I shall not be surprised if he publishes, in the very near future, something evaluative about the conduct, interpretation and legacy of the Council. I think it would be difficult to argue that certain modernist interpretations of the Council documents have not affected  the content, understanding and practice of faith.

Let us pray for our Holy Father and his intentions, and particularly at this time that his vacation may indeed be fruitful, both for him and for the entire Church.

In Christo pro Papa  

The Seal of Confession Campaign: A clarification and an appeal for hat tips where they are due!

If you click the campaign's stole image to the right here, or the one at 'Mulier Fortis', you will be led to the true source of the campaign, namely Caroline McCamley's Saint Genesius blog. In her post 'A call to arms' (Wed 20th July) Mac (Mulier Fortis) states very clearly that it is Caroline whom we should thank, both for the idea and the image. I was originally led to it by Father Gabriel Burke who had put the image on his blog with a note saying that anyone was welcome to use it. The image at Father's blog is also clickable to Caroline's. If you do use it, please make sure to acknowledge her, as Mac has already done, and as I am now belatedly doing.

It may seem a little thing but it's part of the blogger's code of common courtesy and has the added advantage of advertising blogs that are new to us, of strengthening  the Catholic blogosphere, and of making sure that as many bloggers as possible are aware that they are known and welcome members of that cyber community. Further, it is particularly important in this case to note that Caroline and Father Burke  are both Irish. We want to do everything we can to express our solidarity with them and to give the assurance of our prayers, both for them personally, and for the beleaguered Church in their country.  

And now for something completely different: A recent (yes recent!) sermon about Judgement and Hell.

Find the link to Gloria TV video at Father Worthley's blog 'An  Enemy has done this.' (The blog also has a link in my sidebar here.)  Prepare to be fearfully refreshed. There's no sensationalism, just the facts as taught by Our Lord. He who has ears to hear.....................

Thanks to Eve Nicholson for alerting me to this on Facebook.

Will Father Vincent Twomey 'get the Pope's ear', this summer?

It has become the tradition for Pope Benedict to meet with his former students at Castel Gandolfo during his summer 'holiday'. (Holiday? You must be joking, particularly in 2011.) This year they are to discuss the 'New Evangelisation'. I do hope Father Twomey will attend the meeting, and thus be able to carve out a quiet moment to offer  his views (h/t to Protect the Pope) about the current morass in Ireland, which he is convinced will suck the Irish church into extinction unless there is dramatic change, and soon. Basically Fr Twomey,  a retired Maynooth professor, (and one that I've followed for several years) maintains that there will be no healing unless all the Irish bishops appointed before 2003, do the decent thing and resign. A vacuum would then be created in which the Pope's hands would be freed to begin afresh. This, maintains Fr Twomey, is the only way forward. . I hope and pray he gets the chance to put the case to his former teacher. It is a slim chance that he will, and sadly still more slender that the Pope, even though he may agree with Twomey,  will be prevented, by other forces closer to him in daily curial life, from  encouraging the implementation of the wisdom and common sense of his former Irish pupil.

That last sentence expresses the most cynical of views and although it describes possibilities which I know I must take on board, it does not, and it cannot answer, leave alone, defeat,the tenets of our belief about what a Pope is and what he may therefore, against all apparent odds, be capable of doing.

The Wolfe Tones- Hail Glorious St. Patrick

Well, I'm only a quarter Irish on my mother's side, but in the context of recent news this recording just 'wrecks' me. What it must be like to be a Catholic of full Irish blood, I dread to think.

What has Ireland done to herself? Or I should ask how has she allowed it to be done?

Sorry this is all I could manage tonight.

Saint Patrick pray for Ireland and for her priests in their hour of trial.. And with special thanks to those Vincentian Irish priests who helped form me in the faith.
(btw the other quarter is Welsh , and on my father's side, French Huguenot. Takes all sorts to make a Catholic!)

God bless you now. Intend to be back here on Thursday DV

Do you have what it takes to be the Pope's Ghostwriter?

Well, there's not much chance if you're English and don't have good German.
How's yours Dylan and Richard?! God bless you both.

Handel - "Dixit Dominus" in G Minor HWV232 - Mov. 1-3/8

A holy and happy feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel everyone, especially to my Carmelite friends and followers.

The Credo in 'Crisis'

 I could just about endure the horrors of the English  translation that was foisted upon us with the onset of the vernacular Mass. The mistranslation of 'Credo' as 'We believe' has always stuck in my throat and not merely because it is a barefaced inaccuracy. It is much more than that. In his 'Crisis' magazine article, Fr James Schall S.J. explains why and how.  (h/t to Catholic Culture News Headlines.)

Here's a telling snippet:
"The problem with the formula 'we believe' is that the one who recites it may in fact not be affirming what is in the  Creed. Instead of saying 'I believe' as a public expression of what he holds, he means rather, 'We believe' - that is what this organisation holds, though not necessarily what I hold myself. The unity of belief is broken."

As the Catholic News Headlines item points out:
"Father Schall's argument has implications for dissident Catholics, who might honestly say that 'we' - the community of Catholics - believe all the teachings of the Church. But the dissident may find it more difficult to say 'I believe'.

In one of my books, I forget which one now, I commented on the irony that when we sang or said the Credo, we knew that everyone singing or saying it really did believe its articles. Now we say 'We believe' we are no longer certain of what anyone believes. The opening of the Creed as 'I believe' was, is (and with the new corrected translation will be again), a moment of bold and individual affirmation. Each person confesses his beliefs to  his brothers and sisters, before God. He stands up for himself. It is a brave and joyful moment and one in which those present demonstrate their true unity and are made to feel secure within it. Saying 'we' just does not have the same effect, either on the individual or on the community. I think Father Schall is quite right so say that it breaks, rather than makes the 'unity of belief'.

Of course in the French NO we have always said 'Je crois' and 'Et avec votre esprit'. In that sense this year's first Sunday in Advent will be no different from usual, but I can hardly wait to attend an NO in Westminster once that date has been passed. If priests in Anglophone areas are having problems with the introduction of the new corrected Roman Missal they have only to blame those who allowed the travesty of the last forty years to be introduced and maintained for so long. The Credo matter is the glaring tip of the iceberg of loss to Anglophone Catholicism during that time.

At a recent English parish forum on the new Missal, it was reported to me that one parishioner in a discussion group (not led by the priest), moaned, 'Why do we need to do this?' and another, 'It's too much like the Latin.'  . Honestly these comments would be laughable if they were not so pathetic and sad. A group of sheep will not lead itself out of danger, as this discussion group proved. All that seemed to have happened is the exchange of opposing views with no resolution. The way has to be shown by the shepherd with the assistance of his faithful sheepdogs. Nowadays it seems that there are too many sheepdogs who are frightened of the sheep, never mind of the wolves .

Saint John Vianney pray for our priests.
Saint Joseph pray for them and for our Holy Father Benedict XVI
Our Lady of Good Counsel, watch over us and guide us.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us
Amen.

"Pride goeth before destruction..............

..................and the spirit is lifted up before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)

In Proverbs 6 16-19 we are told: "Six things there are which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth."  The first things in the list are "haughty eyes", and the last, "him that soweth discord among brethren".

In the famous Galatians 5:19-26, Saint Paul lists the things in which we must not indulge if we wish to attain the kingdom of God : luxury, emnities, contentions, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, revilings. He then describes the fruit of the Spirit as including charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, mildness, faith, modesty, continency and chastity. And he concludes the chapter thus: "If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit. Let us not be made desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Of the seven deadly sins pride is denoted as the most serious, and the source of all the others. In any case there is Genesis 3. We can hardly claim not to have been warned!

I have followed the news of Father John Corapi ever since it  broke, at first in almost complete incredulity and then as the weeks have passed with an ever-sinking heart. It is not really a question of whether  he is guilty as accused. Nor is it a matter of how his SOLT superiors have dealt with him in the past and more recently under a Constitution which is different from the one that obtained when Fr Corapi first joined them. (See this Monday's excellent post at Te Deum Laudamus for more details of this latter aspect. h/t also to The Anchoress, who has been determinedly levelheaded through the whole sorry tale.) No, it is to Fr Corapi's reactions and published statements on his new site, that we must address ourselves. This not so that we may judge him, but so that by setting his present attitude and persona against the scriptural yardsticks quoted above, we may be certain of thinking aright.

The same yardstick must be applied to the 'Call to Disobedience' as published by the 300 Austrian priests,  and forcefully dealt with by Father Z on July 13. The absence of holy obedience in both the Corapi affair and the Austrian rebellion is obvious but there is another frightening feature that they share. Both are 'sowing discord among the brethren'. It may be thought that the latter is more important than the first but one should remember that the original 'fan-base of Fr Corapi numbered by some accounts at more than a million souls. That base is now divided as can be seen in 'The Black Sheepdog' com box. Some seem determined to follow this 'Sheepdog' out of the fold. Just how many souls will follow the 300 Austrian rebel priests into heresy and schism remains to be seen. If the rebellion grows then surely Rome will have to step in, and if it doesn't what then? It is hard to see what Cardinal Schonborn can do on his own. He hasn't exactly set his priests a shining example of obedience and helpfulness to Rome. His actions in connection with the Medjugorje business.seemed ill-considered given the fact that the Vatican enquiry was not and still is not, complete. And his undermining of the Bishop of Mostar on his own territory, was shocking.  It is hard not to think of the prediction of Our Lady of Akita about bishop being against bishop, priest against priest.

If bishops don't obey the Pope and take little notice of his teaching, it's hardly surprising if priests and laity don't either. Net result, fewer and fewer Catholics obey the Pope and more and more become cut off from him. That was why the papal UK visit was so helpful to the Church's universality and her Faithful's sense of it. Many saw how the Pope did things and liked what they saw. And it did help the bishops to set about at least some restoration of Catholic identity and practice. How wholehearted they are is a moot point. For instance I should have been more convinced if Archbishop Nichols' recent pastoral letter had not been so one-sided. It is all very well to tell people that they are quite within their rights to do either of two things but then in the next breath to go on about how one way is really good, without mentioning any of the reasons why the other thing is just as good. One was left in no doubt that he wanted people to continue queueing for Communion and receiving It in the hand. He had already announced that Communion rails would not be replaced at Westminster. He may just as well have written in the pastoral letter:
 "Certain members may choose to receive Communion kneeling and on the tongue. To be strictly honest  that method is still the Universal norm in the Church and the Pope himself advocates it, but in Europe so many countries like us here in the UK have an indult to ignore it and do things our own way. The Pope's arguments are of no greater value than my own and so I won't take up your time by rehearsing them here.We had to include that bit about your having the right to receive in either way, otherwise the CDW would have put its foot down. Anyway, I'm not going to do anything to make it more convenient for you to receive on the tongue and kneeling. If you want to kneel and are old, infirm and need something to lean on, then that's just tough. .Join the queue like everyone else. Besides, I don't want the trouble and expense of putting back the Communion rails in the Cathedral, and I'm pretty sure that most of your pastors in your parishes don't either. We shall therefore continue to make it as difficult as possible for you to demonstrate, and for us to notice, your preference for the Pope's way."
Of course he didn't say any of the above. It would have been more honest.

btw I first heard that bit of the Archbishop's persuasion about making a cross with your two hands, from the curate who prepared me for Anglican Confirmation in 1956.

Anyway, I have to support everything 'Linen on the Hedgerow' has said about this matter. I belong in that pro-kneeling infirm group that the Archbishop didn't mention. I wonder how many there are who are being discriminated against in this way. We were taught to avoid singularity at all costs, but the next time I come to Westminster Cathedral. I'll be looking for two friends to stand either side of me and help me to kneel on the hard parquet floor to receive my Lord. As Richard says we have to kneel down and be counted!

 "Where it has been lost, kneeling must be recovered, so that in our prayer we remain in fellowship with the apostles and martyrs, in fellowship with the whole cosmos, indeed in union with Jesus Christ Himself." This quote from then Cardinal Ratzinger's 'The Spirit of the Liturgy', comes at the end of a ten page section in which he has proved its truth by reference to Scripture. I see no evidence that he has changed his mind as Pope. Quite the reverse. I an not saying there are bishops who lack humility, who are disobedient to the Pope's wishes and who thus perpetuate division in the Church in order to maintain their own agenda. I AM saying that they appear to be doing insufficient to convey the teaching of the Pope and to unite the Church.

Inside A Catholic Benedictine Monastery; the monks

The Eve of the Feast of Saint Benedict

With my prayers that you all will have a seriously joyful feast day! And a special greeting to Pope Benedict and to our own Father Mark Kirby O.S.B.

Notice of 'Oasis' summer schedule

In spite of the drought the garden is producing more fruit than I can manage, and at least six weeks earlier than is usual. Cherries are long gone, but the apple tree is laden and has already begun to drop 'windfalls'; there are a handful of figs each day from a tree bowed to the ground with the weight of plenitude yet to come; and the elder tree, that 'medicine chest of the poor', is already enpurpled.  I think I'll be making the annual supply of elderberry cough syrup long before the Holy Father sets an  intrepid foot on his native soil. There's going to be a huge crop of tomatoes, and my one vine promises white grapes for the table after an early 'vendange', probably by the end of August.  In the meantime the lady at the shop across the road gives me her surplus, unsold, apricots, melons, tomatoes, artichokes, carrots, and pears (ordinary and avocado).It's hard to keep up. And even though  my regular gardener, Jean-Philippe, who assists me with the heavy work I can no longer do,  has cut out a lot of the bramble growing in the thuya hedge that separates the main garden from my littlle 'Gethsemane', I'm sure there will be some blackberries too before long. We had roast beef a fortnight ago and I tried to dig up some horseradish. The ground was so packed and dry that the fork haft broke in the attempt. There was heavy rain last night, but I don't think it will have made a great deal of difference. I'll try because it's beef again tomorrow. Somehow, mustard just doesn't fill the bill.

The last two months, since the invitation to the blogmeet in Rome, have been intense, both interiorly and exteriorly. Other writing commitments, apart from blogging, have continued and more seem to be just around the corner, so all in all I think it's sensible, at least between now and September, to limit my posts to one a week, unless of course anything untoward happens. So I do not expect to be able to post again until this coming Thursday.

As always, God bless all here.

J

George Frederic Handel - 'His Yoke is Easy, His Burden is Light' from "T...

Beloved and Most Holy Father,
Have a peaceful holiday at Castel Gandolfo and some long quiet days to write Part III of 'Jesus of Nazareth'.

With the love, gratitude and prayers of all at the 'Oasis'.

Wolves in the sheepfold: The worst enemies of the Church are within her

I highly commend A Reluctant Sinner's post yesterday, which reports his reaction to a re-reading of St. Pius X's Encyclical letter 'Pascendi Dominici Gregis' in which he warned of the dangers of Modernism. The subject of Dylan's post chimes with my own concern, expressed here in an earlier piece about the 'division' in the Church, which 'imho', and contrary to some liberal charges, is not caused by Pope Benedict's 'Summorum Pontificum'. That present division began when the reformist/modernists were able to influence the conduct of Vatican II and deepened when that group took control of the 'correct' interpretation and implementation of the Council documents.

From my own experience in England, I would suggest that ordinary Catholics had very little idea of what was going on in Rome and how it would affect them. During the 1960s we were reliant on 'The Universe' and 'Catholic Herald'. At least until the Council 'The Tablet' was still regarded and respected as 'the priests' paper'.  My oh my, what a difference the Internet has made, and thank God for that.

During the Council years and those immediately following, the current Pope, had been counted, by those who knew,  as a member of the reformist lobby. In 1972, in company with Hans Urs von Balthasar and Henri de Lubac, he broke away from it and began the magazine 'Communio' as a steadying counterweight to the progressivist 'Concilium' to which he had originally contributed with Hans Kung and Edward Schillebeekx. In fact I would say that this was the first public act that should have drawn attention to the 'division' between progressive and orthodox . The details of this period, which through the Internet, are now fairly common knowledge were not so at the time. There has been a considerable amount of catching up to do. And very strange it has been to find out the truth of what was really happening during a period I had actually lived through as an adult Catholic.

The fact remains that the Church is full of progressives, who do not accept her social, ethical and/or sacramental teaching. As I said earlier, they stay in the Church because they are allowed to, and think that by so doing, they will eventually be able to alter that teaching officially. The last 40 years have  shown how successful they have already been unofficially. I also said earlier that if there is a schism, we should call it schism. On reflection, I confess that I was wrong. By all means we should privately acknowledge its existence, but naming it publicly does not help the Holy Father. However much we write, however much we fret and argue, the fact remains, that the best way to help him is to pray for him and with him. He is after all  the only one who carries the burden and responsibility of decision making, and who knows far, far more than we do about the intricacies of each problem that is set before him. At any given time, there is only one man on earth who really knows what it is like to be Pope. The only other one who could possibly approach an understanding is the Pope's own confessor.

Some on the traditional wing of the Church expected Pope Benedict to take more drastic and punitive action and are disappointed in him that he has not. And yet, if he were to dismiss all these dissenters from the Church, how small would the Church actually become, and how would this affect her materially? How many priests would we lose? That is why I wanted to track down his remarks about the possibility of a 'smaller' Church. When the idea first came to my notice I took it to mean that he thought it may happen organically, simply by people taking themselves off. (Perhaps he thought that some may do that because of his own election!) There was no indication that he would do anything to make it happen. His inaugural homily pointed to an intention to mend the torn net, not to rip it apart even further. As early as 1968 he had written in 'An Introduction to Christianity' that a Pope has the duty to listen to all voices within the Church before making a decision. This too was mirrored in that first homily.

By keeping the dissenters on board, there is still a chance that they will listen to him, as he is willing to listen to them, and that through the charity of reason in his teaching they will undergo a true conversion. Of course dissent within the Church is dangerous. It has done, and continues to do, untold damage. That I believe is one of the reasons why our Holy Father is so tirelessly impassioned and effective as a preacher and teacher. He knows what is at stake. Noone who listens to him could ever be led astray. In spite of the crushing weight of his office, he convinces us when he tells us that he is a joyful and grateful  friend on the One whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

  

Thanks to all commenters on my appeal

Next post tomorrow afternoon DV.

Appeal to my readers

Does anyone know when and where Pope Benedict first referred to the possibility that we may see 'a smaller, leaner and purer Church'? I thought it was in the very early days of his Pontificate but have been unable to find the quote. All I have found are claims on several progressive sites, that he actually advocated it, rather than simply suggesting that it may happen.  

Sub tuum praesidium

May 'Bucher-Ratz' and 'Orgel-Ratz' have a happy summer and spend some richly deserved quiet days together.

Sub Tuum Praesidium (Feasts of BVM, Antiphon)

More dubious, misleading and sometimes dishonest words and phrases

1. DISSENT This one's a bit difficult since the Holy Father used it when addressing the bishops of England and Wales at their 'ad limina' visit last year:
("It is important to recognise dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate."  Their lordships remained with stony expressions on their faces, except for Archbishop Longley who looked very nervous indeed. However, it seemed clear that they knew perfectly well  what the Holy Father thinks it is. Characteristically he avoided the harsh word 'heresy'. But what else could he have meant?)
2. LOYAL  DISSENT  I first met this expression in a Tablet editorial during the early 80s. It seemed a nonsensical contradiction in terms at the time, and it still does. If you persistently dissent from the Magisterium and from the teaching of the Pope, you cannot claim to be loyal to the Church or to him..
3. PRESIDER Unfortunately this term is increasingly used even in the Vatican Radio and TV English translations. I prefer always to say that a priest offers or celebrates Mass. He is not a Committee chairman with a casting vote. Without him there would be no Mass.
4. PASTOR I'm not sure but I think this has crept in from American usage. I don't like it because it emphasises only a part of the priest's role and completely leaves out his main function at the altar. The word 'priest' is all embracing.
5. LIBERAL CATHOLIC The people who thus identify themselves when they are in vociferous disagreement with Church teaching on various matters of faith and morals, would really be more accurately described as Protestants. Protestant Catholics would be more truthful. Even though it is an oxymoron it would make such people realise what they really are.
6 TALIBAN CATHOLICS Extreme Traditionalists. A dangerous term because ordinary Orthodox Catholics can be absorbed into that grouping if they are not careful.
7. GIVING OUT THE WINE The administering of the Precious Blood of Our Lord at Holy Communion.. Thought to be used by some EMHCs as the result of poor or non-existent catechesis.
8. SONG  The word is banal and inadequate to describe the variety of music the Church has in her repertoire. What's wrong with hymn, psalm, motet, antthem etc.?
9. SOLEMN WALKING PROCESSION. This one is a real corker of a porky. It refers to the queue for standing Communion and seems to have been invented very recently. If any reader had heard it before I'd be grateful to know. At the time this queueing was introduced nobody ever explained to me that we were to do it as a special act of reverence. Had they done so, it would not now be necessary to 'recommend' that standing communicants make some sign of reverence.  The reason always given for the queue method was that it is quicker than to have everyone kneeling at the Communion rail. In fact that reason is absolute nonsense as well. No, the real reason it was adopted is quite different. Looking back one can only fear that it was either carelessly foolish or part of a deliberate strategy, an iconoclasm in fact, that destroyed the spiritual meaning of the internal architecture of many of our churches and dealt a hammer blow to Catholic understanding of the Mass.

Enough for now.Time to cook supper.    

Catholic Hymnal: Lourdes Hymn with words and descant - Immaculate Mary

A holy and happy feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Victoria - Jesu dulcis memoria - The Cambridge Singers

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

No, I had not forgotten. It's just been a busy and devoted day here. The garden has suffered because of drought.and there were only just enough roses and sweet peas to adorn the chapel where Our Lord  reigns over Saint Romain. And one or two left over with some sprigs of lavender to place on the plinth beneath the statue of the Sacred Heart in the body of the church. I'm delighted to tell you that against all expectations, the 'Michel Angelo' rose has bllomed. You will perhaps remember that I bought as a souvenir of visiting Pieta in St. Peter's. Its first flower is now with Our Lord in the 'Chapel of the Virgin', and it is even more beautiful than its photograph indicates. There are two more blooms in various stages of development. It seems a very strong and sturdy plant. Maybe it will produce for our next Mass here on July 21st.

In the meantime, with prayers that you all have a peaceful evening on this most beautiful and comforting Feasts.
God bless,
J

J

Catholic Hymnal: O Sacred Heart - Hymn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus