Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink: Is there a lot of this going on?

A few years ago I was somewhat taken aback when a friend told me that when she a schoolgirl they were taken regularly to confession and she couldn`t think of anything to confess so made up a list of sins and always added at the end `And I`ve told lies` to cover herself. Personally I`ve never had this problem. However I was watching Adrian Chiles recent programme, an exploration of Mediterranean religions, and was interested when he started with his atheist Croatian mother who had become an atheist as a child because she hated going to confession when she had nothing she could think of to confess. `Interesting`, I thought. Then this year I have started reading Elvis Costello`s new autobiography. From the time I set eyes on the LP cover of his first album. My Aim Is True, at a student party on South Street at St Andrews in 1979, I was intrigued at a figue that looked like a cross between Buddy Holly and Woody Allen, called himself Elvis and was steeped in the tradition of the genre and yet was something new.

Then I found the music captivating with its angry songs of guilt and revenge, mixed in with Catholic imagery but balanced by the sadness of the ballad `Alison`. There are about nine of his albums which I enjoy (which is far more than for any other singer).  So far in his autobiography he has mentioned his Catholic upbringing a number of times including the satisfying nugget that his father used to take him to a Latin Mass when it was generally being abandoned. He makes a reference to being an altar server (pouring wine over the priest`s fingers) but when it comes to confession as a child he says he couldn`t think of anything he had done wrong so looking at the commandments chose a couple to have something to say: committing adultery and added coveting his neighbour`s ox "to be on the safe side" (p.58).The priest he says `gently set me straight on the possible sins of a child and then gave me a penance of three Our Fathers and five Hail Marys for telling lies" He adds: " I`ve spoken with several Catholic friends who made the same idiotic, forced confession rather than claim their little souls were spotless"

All this makes me wonder whether this still goes on with first confessions? In my twenty-six years as a priest I`ve never heard any child make a confession like Costello`s and they all seeem to have been sincere but next time I`ll be more aware of this. Maybe Pius X`s move wasn`t that great if we ask for confession before first Holy Communion for children when it is the only time the Church requires confession for non-mortal sins before receiving Communion. I`ve no idea what the answer is. 

I enjoy reading and was reminded recently by abbot Cuthbert that I promised to read his book on Mgr McReavy and Vatican II. I got my copy yesterday and have started and will report in due course!

Derwentwater Mass

All went well on Wednesday night with a good turnout of 60-80 people. It was quite something to hear a parish choir singing a five-part Requiem.Dr Leo Gooch gave a summary of the life and times of the earl before Mass. I only spotted four white roses of the Northumbrian Jacobites! However it was a great occasion and many thanks to Fr Warren for hosting the event.

The 300th anniversary: James Radcliffe.

From an old Roman Catholic family, with their seat at Dilston, Hexham in Northumberland, James Radcliffe was the eldest son of Lady Mary Tudor, an illegitimate daughter of Charles ll, and Edward Radcliffe, 2nd Earl of Derwentwater. At the age of thirteen he was sent to Saint-Germain at the request of Queen Mary, widow of James ll, to be a companion for the young Prince James Francis Edward.

Here he was tutored at the Jesuit College of St Louis le Grand in Paris. Inheriting the Derwentwater Estates in 1705, he returned to England four years later and took up residence at Dilston, becoming a prominent figure in Northern society and a focus for Jacobite support. He was noted for being a man of great charm and kindness, and was highly thought of by friends and tenants alike. In 1712 he married Anna Maria Webb, a Catholic heiress, and left Dilston for a period of two years to live at Hatherop in Gloucestershire, a property belonging to the family of his wife. During this time, the old manor house of the Radcliffes was being rebuilt and transformed into Dilston Hall, a grand and stately mansion, more befitting the needs of the fashionable young Earl.
Returning here with his wife and baby son in July 1714, it was only one month before Queen Anne was dead and George of Hanover was established on the English throne. Jacobite unrest broke out and gradually became widespread. By the following year plans to restore the exiled Stuarts by force of arms were well underway. The Earl was a key player in the 1715 Rising in which he took an active part.
After surrendering at Preston, he was attainted and condemned to death. Attempts to win a reprieve were in vain and he was beheaded on Tower Hill on 24 February 1716. His remains were secretly conveyed north for burial in Dilston Chapel. As the cortège bearing his coffin reached the outskirts of Durham City, the skies were spectacularly lit up by a brilliant display of the aurora borealis (the Northern Lights).
It was immediately rumoured that this was an omen of heaven's wrath at the death of the gentle and popular Earl. The lights were afterwards known in the north of England as 'Lord Derwentwater's Lights'. With this superstition the Derwentwater legend was born, and the dramatic and tragic events of the Earl's short life were soon firmly entrenched in Northumbrian folklore.

Arcady: February 18th 1996-February 23rd 2016

20th Birthday celebration

Sad to say, my oldest cat, Arcady died this morning. Last night I discovered all his legs were useless. I gave him water on a spoon and he gulped it down. Then this morning he wanted no more water but had a couple of slices of beef. I took him to the vet who said there was no hope and that pain, toxins and kidney trouble had got the better of him. So after saying goodbye I took him to the garden at St Wilfrid`s where he spent his first ten years and buried him with his brother, Mico, who was killed age 3 in 1999. He`s very much missed already.

On arrival at St Wilfrid`s

Solemn High Requiem

James Radcliffe

There will be a Solemn High Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form, to mark the 300th anniversary of the execution of James Radcliffe, third Earl of Derwentwater and a leader of the 1715 Jacobite rebellion for the restoration of the Stuart monarchy, at St Mary`s Catholic church, Hexham on Wednesday 24th February at 7pm. The choir will sing a five part Requiem by Morales. Dr Leo Gooch will give a short account of the life of the earl immediately before Mass  and it is hoped that members of the Radcliffe family will be in attendance. After Mass a wreath will be laid and a retiring collection will be taken for the restoration of `The Radcliffe Cross` in the forecourt.

Tea and biscuits will be served afterwards.

Sussidio!!!

Not canonical

Today I gave a talk to the priests and deacons of the southern end of the diocese about Mitis Judex as part of a study day on marriage. I mentioned that the world of canon law is asking one question at the minute: how do I get the Sussidio? ( Nothing to do with Phil Collins: that was sussudio)

Since the beginning of the month we have been told the Roman Rota has issued a 72 page Sussidio applicativo  giving insights into the correct application of Mitis Judex. It was said to have been sent to bishops ( for their new role as judges in the briefer annulment process?), it was said to be on sale in Rome but no-one could find it, there was no mention of it on the website of the Roman Rota. Then today as I finished speaking I couldn`t believe my eyes as our chancellor handed me a copy. I`m doing the same talk tomorrow for the northern end of the diocese but I doubt I`ll digest 72 pages of Italian by then!

Very canonical

Bede`s World

I know it`s hard to believe today but there was a time when Jarrow, under St Bede (672-735), was at the cutting edge of learning in theology, history and science. Jarrow hasn`t forgotten and in 1983 there was created a visitor attraction `Bede`s World` which celebrated the Christian and Benedictine heritage of the North East. School parties would go and dress as monks to learn about the life and see the recreation of a Saxon settlement and farm. Adjacent is the church of St Paul, attached to Bede`s monastery,  whose chancel dates to 681 and in which there are pieces of Saxon of stained glass.I had thought of organising a Latin Mass in the church as they seemed open to the idea). It offered an interesting introduction to the Catholic and Saxon heritage of the North East to its visitors. (However I could never understand why the otherwise faithful display of the monastic horarium made no mention of Mass.)

It was a good place to take visitors. 

Sadly on Friday last week it shut its doors. This was a surprise as it came without warning. A funding shortage was blamed. A campaign has begun to save it. I hope they succeed. Even Billy Bragg wants to save it.

The other Bragg, Melvyn,  has said;

 “What is totally depressing and gives no service at all to this generation and offers a bleak inheritance to the next generation and for generations to come is the regularity of hundreds of years with which London has kicked the North in the teeth.”

There`s a petition to sign too.

More from Russia

This is an amazing new church built with the donations of the faithful, in Moscow. I can`t imagine the Catholic Church in England producing anything like this today.

It is the church of the Protection of the Mother of God at Yasenevo. There is more to read and see here. Amongst  Catholics, the nearest that comes close to this is the work of Duncan Stroik in the USA. I was particularly interested to read that this Russian church was based on the style of Sicilian cathedrals of the 12th century such as Monreale seen below, as it seems to offer a bridge between East and West.

Monreale

I know Western church architecture has never stood still ( although the Gothic Revival opted for that direction) but we are all too often confronted with buildings that don`t even seem to try to raise the mind and heart to God.

And then this

I


I can`t see anything but good coming from this.

The Blog re-awakens

Well the days are getting longer, the sun has been seen for three consecutive days and so it is time to come out of hibernation. I had thought I`d not wake up until after the next conclave but there`s too much to do. So here we go.

CHRISTMAS MASS TIMES

St Joseph`s Christmas Eve 5pm vigil Mass, Christmas Day 10.30am.

St Wilfrid`s Christmas Eve 6.30pm, 9pm Shepherds` Mass (Polish), Midnight (Latin). Christmas Day: 10.am Polish Mass. 

Carol singing half an hour before Christmas Eve Masses

The future is not where the older generation seems to think it is

Even the Tablet has noticed! An interesting article this week by Carmody Grey. Find it here. Some excerpts.

It’s only a matter of time,” they say: my parents’ generation, the generation of Catholics that lived through the Second Vatican Council and put their hopes in it. Only a matter of time till the Church realises what it must do to have a future. It must be avant-garde, open, progressive; it must grasp that seismic changes have taken place in the moral, spiritual and technological expectations of young people; it must adapt to contemporary customs and mores. If the Church does not respond to these expectations, it will become marginalised and irrelevant. 

Young Catholics who are actually practising their faith seek a countercultural identity: a sense of self and a community which sets them apart from their peers, which makes them feel, as every new generation wants to feel, that they are special. Just as the Sixties generation did in its turn, they are “rebelling”, but what they are rebelling against is the moral and spiritual drabness and homogeneity of contemporary youth culture. The Catholics whose faith journeys I have shared, whom I live and work with, want a religious identity that is proudly at cross-purposes with what surrounds them; that is unashamedly traditional, in contrast to the prevailing obsession with the novel and the transient. They want markers of this counterculture to be apparent at the deepest level of their behaviour and identity. Catholic sexual and gender ethics is one of the ways many of them stand in strongest relief against their social background. Older Catholics would be surprised by how many of them admire the “theology of the body”, resist gay marriage, embrace gender roles and look forward to practising natural family planning. They celebrate discipline and expect high standards of religious observance. They know and rejoice in their differences from Protestants, and, in particular, from Anglicans. Their heroes are John Paul II and Benedict XVI. 


Carmody Grey is a doctoral student in theology at the University of Bristol.

Entirely Fitting

Bishop Alexander Sample on "ad orientem" Worship

Also this from Cardinal Sarah,  the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship  in the June 12 edition of L’Osservatore Romano

Contrary to what has sometimes been maintained, it is in full conformity with the conciliar Constitution—indeed, it is entirely fitting—for everyone, priest and congregation, to turn together to the East during the penitential rite, the singing of the Gloria, the orations, and the Eucharistic prayer, in order to express the desire to participate in the work of worship and redemption accomplished by Christ. This practice could well be established in cathedrals, where liturgical life must be exemplary (cf. §41). Of course it is understood that there are other parts of the Mass in which the priest, acting in persona Christi Capitis, enters into nuptial dialogue with the assembly. But this face-to-face has no other purpose than to lead to a tete-à-tete with God, which, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, will become a heart-to-heart. The Council thus proposes additional means to favor participation: “acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons and songs, as well as…actions, gestures, and bodily attitudes” (§30).

Rome-bound again!

Off to Rome next week for the five-yearly visit of the Judicial Vicars of England and Wales to the Roman Curia. On Monday I was in London for a meeting to hear from Fr Frank Morrissey how Mitis Judex is meant to work. I thought I had it worked out in my head but now I find I have more questions so I hope to sort them out next week. It was interesting to hear that the introduction of the shortened process for marriage nullity cases is reviving the provisions of Clement V`s decree Saepe of 1308 which were changed by the 1917 code. Makes me feel better about it all! It is also the biggest change to the whole process since 1741.

Back again.

Populus Summorum Pontificum approaches the Vatican. Photo by Joseph Shaw

I spent three nights in Rome at the Domus Australia. I got back two weeks ago. I was going anyway but the LMS asked for chaplains for their pilgrimage and I said I`d help if I could be of assistance and so became, according even to The Universe, the pilgrimage chaplain. However the pilgrimage was a bit of a flop. Only three signed up of which only one, Alan, was staying in the Domus, so my duties were very light. Alan is good company and a veteran of pilgrimages of various kinds on which our paths have crossed over the years.

Flying from Newcastle at 7.15am and happening upon a local Lefebvrist at the airport who was going to the pilgrimage too, I arrived at about midday in Rome.  The first event was Pontifical Vespers at the FSSP church of Santissima Trinita. My information sheet said it started at 6 so I got there at 5.30 to get a good seat but found on arrival it was not to start until 7 so I prayed and listened to the choir rehearsing. Vespers ( with Benediction) lasted an hour and forty minutes after which I rushed to get the bus back to the Domus so as to arrive before they stopped serving dinner. I had watched Vespers very carefully as I had agreed to take part in Vespers at the Domus on Saturday night. I was told there would be solemn vespers and so read my Fortescue and photocopied the relevant pages so i could go over it again. On arrival I found it was billed as Pontifical Vespers with Cardinals Pell and Brandsmuller. Hence my close attention. It must be about 15 years since we had solemn vespers in the EF on Tyneside so I`m a bit rusty. I have never studied the ceremonies for Pontifical Vespers as the likelihood of that happening in Hexham and Newcastle is just so remote as to be not worth the effort.

Fr Withoos celebrates Mass at the Domus Photo by Joseph Shaw

It was a joy to be able to celebrate the EF at the Domus with such ease. Fr Withoos, who is a resident, has an altar in the chapel equipped. It was good to see Fr Withoos again after a few years. As I have explained elsewhere, Fr Withoos, ( recently employed by the Ecclesia Dei commission and now a secretary to Cardinal Pell) studied at Durham university for a number of years pursuing a doctorate and so got to know us in H & N. I was looking forward to catching up with him and we arranged to have dinner on the Friday night. This meant a clash with archbishop Pozzo`s Pontifical mass starting at 7pm as I reckoned Mass would take about two hours and I didn`t want to have to rush back to the Domus for dinner again. Anyway the big event was on the next day at St Peter`s so I decided to forgo the archbishop Pozzo Mass. I was also coming to the conclusion after the previous evening that I can probably manage only about one Pontifical event a month!

So what to do on Friday day-time? There was nothing I particularly wanted to see in Rome so I decided to take the bus to the Chiesa Nova and visit the shrine of St Philip Neri as I`d read a biography of him this year.  I spent a long time there and partly attended a Mass in the chapel where he is buried where a young and linguistically versatile priest celebrated Mass for four people, two Italians and two Columbians. He gave a homily in Italian and the a summary in Spanish. all very impressive. I decided to wander down the Via Giulia after this wishing I had brought a detailed guide book but ended up in the Campo di Fiori for a vegetable sandwich and small beer before heading back to the Domus where I later said Mass and sat reading on the roof garden until it all got rather noisy.

Saturday brought the main event. A group of us got a taxi to San Lorenzo in Damaso for Exposition and then the wonderful procession to St Peter`s. The Mass was all very good but having been last year when we had a message of support from Pope Benedict read out and the Mass was at the altar of the chair for the first time it wasn`t quite as exciting. The homily appeared to be a kind of homily for any occasion. Afterwards in the sacristy I met Fr Southwell who is now undertaking a doctorate. It was as always good to see him and he briefly introduced me to Fr Zuhlsdorf who had had a walk-on part in the Mass as one of the chaplains who look after pontifical ablutions. After Mass I had no plans but fortunately Alan found me, his chaplain, and we went for a pizza.

In the evening there was the vespers I was to take part in. I`d thought it odd that there had been no mention of a rehearsal so I went down to the chapel half an hour before it was due to start. There was no-one there nor anyone in the sacristy. Vespers when it started was rather low key. Cardinal Pell sat in choir dress and Fr Crean did the necessary. Afterwards a meal with the Una Voce Council gathering who had just elected their new president. Cardinals Pell and Brandmuller stayed and Cardinal Pell spoke at the end to tell us that the Synod had gone well and not to worry.

Dinner with Una Voce and Cardinals Pell and Brandmuller. Photo by Joseph Shaw

As direct flights to Newcastle from Rome leave on Sundays I left the next day. Enjoyable but I don`t think I`ll go next year. On the other hand a LMS pilgrimage to Rome which had a planned programme would be a good thing and I hope would be popular.

For the rest of the photos by Joseph Shaw click here.

Rome-bound again

I found last year`s pilgrimage organised by the Populus Summorum Pontificum so encouraging I vowed to return this year. So I`ll be there at the weekend and will be chaplain to the LMS contingent. It`s such a change to be part of something positive, vibrant and growing.

Mitis Judex

As Judicial Vicar I`m trying to get to grips with the new procedures for decrees of nullity of  marriage. I thought we might have an avalanche of enquiries but this hasn`t happened. However as a short guide to what is involved I have found this from the diocese of Madison rather useful and offer it here for anyone interested. A novelty will be the personal involvement of the bishop in cases following the shorter procedure. I`m sure bihops will not be looking forward to another duty to addd to their routine but it looks like there is no escape as judicial power cannot be delegated unlike executive power. For more on this read Dr Peters here.

Brinkburn 2015: photos

All went well with the Brinkburn Mass. The Westland Singers provided beautiful music and even the weather was fabulous. We celebrated Solemn High Mass for the feast of St Januarius. I looked up Wikipedia beforehand and was interested to find this:

On March 21, 2015 Pope Francis during a visit to Naples Cathedral venerated the dried blood of Januarius, prayed the Lord's Prayer over it, and kissed it. The Archbishop of Naples Crescenzio Sepe then declared that "The blood has half liquefied, which shows that Saint Januarius loves our pope and Naples."[37]

Pope Francis than replied "The bishop just announced that the blood half liquefied. We can see the saint only half loves us. We must all spread the Word, so that he loves us more!"

It was reported that this is the first time that the blood has liquefied in the presence of the Pope since it did so for Pope Pius IX in 1848. Nothing similar occurred during the visits of St Pope John Paul II in 1979 or Pope Benedict XVI's visit in 2007.

Maybe St Januarius prefers liberal popes! (Pio nono started his papacy as what passed for a liberal in those days.)

Here are some photos. Thanks to everyone who made it happen, especially the team who helped me pack everything which was a novelty as I normally do it all myself.

Brinkburn 2015

Somewhat later than usual the annual Solemn High Mass at Brinkburn will be held on 19th September at 12 noon. It`s normallly on the second Saturday of September for reasons I can`t remember but this was unavailable this year because of it being used for a wedding. So I have pencilled in a booking for next September already.

Thinking it through

So it seems during the Year of Mercy I can invite the local SSPX clergy round (their church is ten minutes walk away) to help with confessions but can`t invite them to say Mass. And their weddings are still invalid.