Alliance of pro-life students

The Alliance of Pro-Life Students is to be launched on 16 January with an evening of drinks, canapes and speeches, including Lord Alton. It is to be held at the Thistle Hotel Marble Arch from 7.30-11pm. This is a fundraising event and tickets are £25 or £15 for students or for groups of 5 or more.

The idea of the APS is to revitalise pro-life work by:

Building pro-life societies by encouraging students of all religious backgrounds and none to start their own societies.

Supporting pro-life societies by: providing educational resource packs and databases of speakers and reliable sources; helping with event organisation and networking; standing up for the rights of pro-life students to peacefully speak out on life ethics.

Connecting pro-life students: with each other online through our website forum and face-to-face with specialist training days; with other pro-life organisations for internships and volunteering opportunities.

For more details of the fundraising event and of the APS, see the website.

New Deacon speaks on his promises

Daniel Fitzpatrick has just been ordained a Deacon. He has spoken on 4Thought TV about the promises of celibacy, obedience to the Bishop and of praying the Divine Office. He speaks very well and positively and for his troubles has a slew of the usual snarky anti-clerical comments.You could join in the combox or simply click on the thumbs-up button to get the rating up.

Soho Masses stopped, Church given to Ordinariate

That was a headline I did not expect to be writing. The Archdiocese of Westminster has issued a statement today explaining that the pastoral care of people with same-sex attraction will enter a new phase, encouraging people with same-sex attraction to enter more fully into the life of the Church, particularly by participating at Mass "in the midst of the whole Church." The regular "Soho Masses" are to be discontinued.

Included in the same statement is the news that the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Warwick Street is to dedicated to the life of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

The pastoral care of people with same-sex attraction will be hosted at the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception in Farm Street under the continued guidance of Mgr Seamus O'Boyle.

The full statement can be read after an article by Mark Greaves in the Catholic Herald: Archbishop Nichols ends ‘Soho Masses’ after six years. Damien Thompson has also followed up on the story, with a link to a balanced background article by William Oddie from last November.

There will surely be many other comments on the blogosphere so I am glad to have picked up this story early, on a quiet day in the parish. (I was intending to catch up on my email, but ho-hum.) I know of many Catholics (including people struggling with same-sex attraction) who have been scandalised by some of the phenomena associated with the "Soho Masses" over the years. There are also many who have felt that the Ordinariate has not been treated with sufficient generosity. Today's "double whammy" story will be a temptation to triumphalist and perhaps unkind comments. I understand that temptation but would urge that like so many, it should be resisted.

First of all, there are many in the Church today who struggle with same-sex attraction and try to live a good life within the communion of the Church. Now would be a good time to focus our efforts on pastoral and friendly support - that respect, compassion and sensitivity of which the Catechism speaks. (n.2358) The new initiatives recently promoted by Encourage are also a great help in this ministry. I would certainly recommend priests to be involved in supporting their work.

Secondly, the Ordinary, priests, sisters and lay people of the Ordinariate have a difficult path to negotiate. Many of us welcome the wonderful breath of fresh air that they bring to the life of the Church and hope that they will be a powerful influence for the good. Yet there is a touching humility that I have nearly always come across in those who have come into the Church: they are grateful to be part of the full communion of the Catholic Church and do not come with ideas of telling everyone else what to do. It is a matter for rejoicing that the Ordinariate are to have such a beautiful and historic Church in the heart of London's West End. That rejoicing can surely be simple, heartfelt and generous to Archbishop Nichols.

Yesterday I posted my customary silly article for the New Year. Today I am reflecting more seriously on the good that can come to the Church in our country from the way that things are changing for the better. Not perfect, yes yes yes. But a very good start to the year. Let us pray to the Good Lord for more to come. And let us pray earnestly for our Bishops.

CCC Briefing paper on same-sex marriage

The British Province of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy has grown rapidly since its foundation and provides much-needed opportunities for priests to meet, hear good speakers, and offer support to one another in fidelity to the magisterium of the Church.

The Confraternity has just issued a Briefing paper on same-sex marriage which is intended to support the various statements made by our Bishops and to assist the people in our parishes to understand the Church's teaching in the face of much misinformation. It is a helpful brief explanation which is suitable for distribution in parishes. If you want a printer-friendly pdf, I have uploaded the file to my parish website. (It is now also available on the CCC website.)

May I also take this opportunity to encourage brother priests to examine the objects of the Confraternity and to take out membership.

Bishop Egan's Pastoral Letter breaks a "difficult silence"

Bishop Philip Egan sent his people an excellent Pastoral Letter for the feast of the Holy Family. He presents clearly the orthodox teaching of the Church concerning the divinity and humanity of Christ. With regard to Christ's perfect humanity, he reflects on human nature itself and the teaching of Humanae Vitae. As he rightly says:

Sadly, the teaching of Humanae Vitae about sexual morality and family values has become something of an ‘elephant in the room’ that no-one seems to mention.

Well Bishop Egan has certainly mentioned it now.

The process by which Humanae Vitae became shrouded in silence is well described in Clifford Longley's book The Worlock Archive, an important record of the way in which the Catholic Church in England and Wales changed during the post-conciliar period. I recommend it especially for younger Catholics as it helps to understand how we got to where we are now.

In chapter 8 of his book, Clifford Longley describes how, after the publication of Humanae Vitae, a compromise was reached by the Hierarchy with a carefully worded statement supporting the encyclical but proposing leniency towards priests who dissented from it. As he astutely observes:

“It was a tacit acknowledgement, at least for the time being, that there was nothing to be gained by an aggressive policy of promoting the teaching of Humanae Vitae in the parishes. This was where the statement was most eloquently silent. A bishop issued his carefully worded pastoral letter, and in many cases also a private letter to his priests, and then left the subject alone. After a while this silence became a difficult silence to break.” (p.254)

(I wrote about this at greater length in the Faith Magazine editorial of July-August 2007 (Sex Education in Catholic Schools. The Deeper Questions.)

Bishop Egan's courageous pastoral letter deserves the commendation that it has received from priests and lay Catholics well beyond the confines of his diocese.

The full text of the pastoral letter is on the Diocesan website.

10 things that will not happen in 2013

Happy New Year! Apologies for the lack of blogging during the Christmas Octave. I see that there are comments awaiting moderation. I'll get to those later, but first a tradition of the blog - things that will not happen in the coming year, or things that will happen this year in an alternative universe:



1. Following his successful foray onto Twitter, Pope Benedict starts a new personal YouTube channel featuring Cardinal Deacons in liturgical dance to the top Bluegrass Gospel numbers. (With a Cardinal Priest to act as MC: Luis Tagle is tipped by Sandro Magister.)

2. Professor Richard Dawkins offers a considered and rational response to St Thomas Aquinas' De ente et essentia.

3. Bruvver Eccles is appointed Director of Communications for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.



4. Bara Brith takes up the ukelele to transform sacred music at Blackfen by playing "What a friend we have in Jesus" as a regular motet for the Offertory. (No point having just one bluegrass number in a fun post when you can have two.)

5. Mgr Andrew Burnham and Fr Ed Tomlinson compose an alternative liturgy for the Ordinariate with the assistance of the Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley. Tea lights feature prominently.

6. The New Liturgical Movement runs a series conterpointing the "other modern" with the "normal modern", showcasing the most spiritually uplifting designs on polyester chasubles of the seventies.

7. The Society of St Pius X decide to open the windows by publishing a three-part treatise by Fr Dr Dr Klaus Sterngrumpher on Modern Man in Search of an Intercultural Meaning in the World of Today.

8. The Tablet responds to its drop in circulation by appointing Richard Collins as editor with a brief to introduce a new column on comparative religion.

9. Sir Dan of the Blogosphere (Bene Merenti) sets up a course in Carshalton offering Hopi Ear Candling, Aromatherapy and Indian Holistic Head Massage.

10. Gangnam dancing proves to be more than a silly passing fad.

Happy Christmas

"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will."

A hundred and forty-one years ago the Prussian Chancellor, Bismarck, attempted to crush the Church with the Kulturkampf. He failed. Translated, this is the “Culture War” which we face today, especially in Europe and the United States. Stalin tried something similar, though more saunguinary, taunting “How many divisions does the Pope have?” Blessed Pope John Paul did not need any tanks. Neither did the apostles and their successors in the early Church need Legions to gain freedom for the Church in the face of the might of the Roman Empire.

These battles, along with our Culture War of today, are fought without weapons, often despite dungeon, fire and sword being used against the innocent followers of Christ. We do not win every battle in this peaceful struggle, but we know that with Christ as our champion, the Nazirite, the new Sampson, over the centuries, and in the end, the final victory of the truth of God incarnate is assured. He has conquered, we follow Him.

We only need to look upon the crib to see how Christ once again comes to our aid against the dictatorship of relativism in our own time. When the very foundation of our society, the family, based on the mother and father who are espoused to each other, is under attack from the redefinition of marriage by our Government and others, along with the destruction of the unborn and the manufacture of life in the laboratory; we gaze lovingly upon the Holy Family.

God could have simply created a human body and soul for Christ without the intervention of any mother. Instead He chose in His infinite wisdom, to call Our Blessed Lady and ask her to give birth to His Son. God could have arranged for Jesus Christ to be cared for by angels. Instead He chose to call St Joseph to be His foster-father. The crib, the simple model which we humbly put up in our Church and in our homes for the glory of God now takes on a significance that previous generations would not have imagined even in their nightmares. The image of the Holy Family protests silently in support of the natural family created by God. The Christmas crib is today a banner of freedom in Christ, the protection of human life, and the sanctity of the family.

The message of Christ bursts forth anew in every age, whatever the forces of evil throw against it. When faced by popular opinion, manipulated by the mainstream media, we do not need to flounder in doubt or succumb to the well-oiled secularism of the BBC. Our Lord said to the apostles “He who hears you hears me.” He is the Word, certain in all his ways and certain in every age, continuing to teach us through the magisterium of His Holy Catholic Church.

He came down to earth humbly. He, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, chose to share the weakness of human nature. We endeavour, in our witness to the Catholic faith, to make some reparation for the neglect which is shown to the great act of divine condescension by which “He came down to earth from heaven who is God and Lord of all.”

We kneel before the figure of a child, knowing that in truth, we are nothing before the living God-made-man whom that figure represents. We submit ourselves to Him: not only in the acts of penance and charity that we make for His sake, but also in the submission of our minds to His truth. We conform our judgements and our opinions to His, for he is the creator of the universe, the One who was awaited by the prophets and sages, the One who was greeted by the Blessed Virgin, and the One who will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

We rightly swell our voices to sing Venite adoremus, “O come let us adore Him.” Let us indeed adore Him and rejoice in our God who comes so close to us. He was born in a place on our earth called Bethlehem. He comes to every place on earth where the Roman Catholic Mass is offered daily. He comes to us tonight once again on this glorious feast as we gather in our little corner of the earth called Blackfen.

Let us bow down with the shepherds and the Magi and say “My Lord and my God! I adore you! I praise you! I will live and die in loyalty to you in the Holy Catholic Church which you founded for me as the ark of salvation. May I never separate myself from you again through sin. May I give glory to you with the angels and praise you with them for all eternity!”

"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will."

A very happy Christmas to all readers. I will remember you at the Masses on this beautiful feast day.

Dan Cooper Bene Merenti

Congratulations to Dan Cooper (known here as Sir Dan of the Blogosphere) who has been awarded the Benemerenti medal by the Holy Father: well deserving indeed. He is pictured above with the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Southwark who presented the medal, and a painting of St John Fisher who, in the words of the school hymn, alone of his peers brooked the displeasure of King Henry VIII. The school has a report on Dan's work there which concludes:

He is a strong defender of the Catholic Faith, the unborn child, marriage and family life, the Eucharist and fidelity to the Holy Father.

Dan has worked for several decades with boys at the John Fisher school and has, with the help of the Holy Spirit, been influential in promoting many priestly vocations. When I spoke to him, Dan was very appreciative of this papal honour, but those who know him will be amused, but not surprised, to hear that he also said "medals won't solve the crisis in the Church."

New media sacramentals?

A few weeks ago, my Catholic Dilemma column for the Catholic Herald ran as follows:

I use my iPad to follow the readings at Mass, for prayers after Communion and sometimes to follow the chant. Last week someone behind me tutted loudly. Is it wrong to use an iPad in Church?

Some readers might say “Yes, you should be using an Android tablet” but I prescind from that argument. There is no intrinsic reason why you should not use an electronic device to read the scriptures or the text of prayers and devotions. The iPieta app is a wonderful collection of spiritual writings, scripture, theology and magisterial teaching, and I know several Choir Directors who find the Liber Pro app an amazing resource for Gregorian chant.

One potential problem with using any backlit device in Church is that the bright screen could distract others. A small phone can be hidden but a tablet is likely to catch peoples’ eyes from quite some distance, especially if the lighting in the Church is subdued. In the current state of technology, the use of an e-book reader is less problematic in that it is not a light source; with a discreet cover, it can be made to look quite like a book and therefore not scandalise people who think that others should not play with what they think are just silly toys.

Let us be honest as well that if the use of tablets in Church becomes popular, some people will not resist the opportunity to check their email or catch up on their favourite blogs. If you are ever tempted to do this, consider whether you would start texting people in Church or take out a copy of the Daily Mail. The use of a device that is connected to the internet will always require a certain discipline.

We do not know what new hardware may become available even in the relatively short term. The Church was in the forefront of making use of the new technology of moveable type and Pope Benedict has several times encouraged us to use technology in the service of the Gospel.

And by the way, tutting at others in Church is not quite the thing either.

This weekend, the paper carried a thoughtful letter from Stephen D Wood. I have added incidental comments in red in order not to distract from the principal question which Mr Wood raises, which I will address afterwards:

SIR – Fr Tim Finigan (Catholic Dilemmas, October 5) approves the use of the iPad at Mass, saying that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with it. [With some qualifications.] I beg to differ.

Like prayer books, statues or the rosary, objects used for devotional purposes at the liturgy are sacramentals. Sacramentals are a means to receiving grace, but unlike the sacraments are instituted by the Church rather than directly by Christ. Also the reception of grace depends on the disposition of the individual using it. [An approved sacramental also benefits from grace given ex opere operantis ecclesiae, that is, from the prayer of the whole Church.]

First, I don’t think the iPad can be dscribed as a sacramental. The book, or a piece of paper, contains the sacred text in a completely different way to how the iPad contains it. The spatial aspect has effectively vanished with the iPad and with it the purposeful dimension. These two elements of a sacramental are significant for they reflect the Incarnation. [But remember that Our Lord also had a human soul and mind as well as human flesh.]

Secondly, regarding the disposition which the iPad represents, it is one of “the consumer”. It user is conscious always of choice. He or she selects the texts from maybe thousands of possibilities.[There are choices in a prayer book - the iPad presents more choice and this could be a problem secundum quid but not absolutely.] Entering the church we need to sense – and how much more in this age of rampant consumerism – the given.[I heartily agree in terms of the Liturgy itself, but I also support the idea of leaving people free to participate according to their own dispositions.]

In his irreplaceable canonico-moral tractatus on the sacraments, Fr Felix Cappello SJ set out a list of different types of sacramentals which I summarise in my notes as follows:

• Things and actions – (holy water, blessings)
• Permanent and transitory – (a blessed object, a blessing)
• Blessings and exorcisms (asking for a good effect, compelling the departure of the devil)
• Blessings and consecrations (consecrations use blessed oil)
• Reserved and non-reserved (some blessings are reserved to the Bishop or to the Pope)
• Real, personal and local (blessing of a rosary, of a person, of a house)
• Verbal and real (blessings with a form of words, blessings with only an action)
• Private or solemn (according to the nature of the rite or prayers used)
• Constitutive and invocative (e.g. permanent consecrations e.g. of a Church; blessing of the sick)

A car or a house can be blessed. This does not make the car or house to be a sacramental in itself: it is the blessing which is a sacramental. When a rosary or prayerbook is blessed, that thing itself should be treated with respect as a sacramental in itself now that it has been blessed.

An iPad could be blessed. Since it can be used to look at email or the Guardian, or many billions of other pieces of content, it seems reasonable to say that the blessing of an iPad it is more in the nature of the blessing of a car than the blessing of a rosary.

But could there be virtual sacramentals? Let me take as examples Universalis (the modern office) and iPieta (a magnificent collection of liturgical, catechetical and spiritual texts.) Stephen Wood's point about the spatial and material aspect of prayerbooks is important. A piece of software does not fit. Although we could point to the source code and say "Well that is a script that can be printed on a piece of paper", that is not how it is used. The iPad user, normally unaware of the underlying code, just downloads the app and uses it. It is indeed ephemeral in that it can be deleted at the tap of a finger.

Still there is the question of something intellectual that exists in a way that is more concrete than an idea in my mind. We can pinpoint changes - whether the updating of the office to 2013 or the addition of further texts to iPieta. Also, Our Lord was made man - not simply in having human flesh but also in having a human soul and having human knowledge and will (these doctrines were thrashed out and defined by the Church in the wake of Nicea and Chalcedon.) Is is too outlandish to suggest that intellectual property, set out in something downloadable by the Christian, could itself be a new type of sacramental now that the printed word is challenged by new media?

Since the Holy Father has repeatedly encouraged us to use the new media, and has set an example himself, perhaps those projects which especially enrich Catholic life could be blessed and benefit from the prayers of the whole Church, being given the status of working ex opere operantis ecclesiae?

And finally once again - thought I think it could be OK to use an iPad in Church to pray, I do not approve of distracting others or using it to surf around aimlessly in the house of God.

A little bit of dusting

If you are overwhelmed by the cleaning you have to do before Christmas, consider the Sampietrini who have to clean the baldacchino in St Peter's. I'm going to look closer at it next time I am in Rome. Apparently there is a bronze rosary hanging off the base of one column as if someone just left it behind.

H/T CNS via Luke Coppen at the Catholic Herald