The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Iraq. Mgr Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped while leaving a Church after he finished leading the Stations of the Cross. Three men who were with him in the car, including the driver, were killed.
Following last year's success, the Latin Mass Society is putting on a residential training conference for priests wishing to learn the Traditional Latin Rite at Merton College, Oxford, Monday 28 July to Friday 1 August 2008. This year's conference has an extra day to allow more time for practical training.“The LMS’s aim is to ensure that the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite is freely available in all the dioceses. To this end we will step up our training of priests, seminarians, choirs and servers. We will liaise closely with the bishops and seminary rectors to ensure that all who wish to learn and worship in the Traditional Rite are able to do so.”For further information, please contact John Medlin, General Manager, or James Murphy, LMS Office Manager, on 020 7404 7284; or email thelatinmasssociety@snmail.co.uk
My brother-in-law, Orlando, husband of Jane, of the now famous "Jane's Notes" over at Catholic Mom of 10, is working on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. He is one of 2000 physicists from all over the world who are working on this project. When it is built, they will send protons through the proton synchrotron booster, then into the proton synchrotron itself and finally into the super proton synchrotron before being whipped into the main accelerator for their sixteen and a half mile journey (which will take them about 90 microseconds.) At the end of this, they smash into each other with a great deal of force. The experiment is A Large Ion Collider Experiment or ALICE for short. There is some souvenir merchandise - I got the calendar last year and an engraved bookmark this year.Propose to an Englishman any principle, or any instrument, however admirable, and you will observe that the whole effort of the English mind is directed to find a difficulty, a defect, or an impossibility in it. If you speak to him of a machine for peeling a potato, he will pronounce it impossible: if you peel a potato with it before his eyes, he will declare it useless, because it will not slice a pineapple.(Physicists of the world - apologies if I have got anything wrong in the above. It is a while since I did Physics A-level.)
When we conducted training recently with five dioceses in Ethiopia, one of the participants, a wife and a mother, spoke for the group by saying how much she appreciated the emphasis on fidelity and related human values such as respect and communication. She was puzzled as to why such basic themes are not more routinely promoted in the context of HIV prevention, adding: "Why hasn't anyone explained it like this before?"He has some interesting figures:
[...] researchers have noted that in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV transmission rates have remained high despite a considerable increase in condom use. For example, condom sales in Botswana increased from 1 million in 1993 to 3 million in 2001, while HIV prevalence among pregnant urban women increased from 27% to 45%. In Cameroon, during the same period, condom sales rose from 6 million to 15 million, while HIV prevalence increased from 3% to 9%.And just one more quotation:
Since the primary approach of condoms, voluntary counseling and testing and treatment of other sexually transmitted infections, has not produced the intended results, in terms of achieving reductions in HIV prevalence, it would be difficult to avoid concluding that these interventions maintain their privileged position not because of empirically observed scientific excellence, but at least in part because of the desire of their proponents to cling to an underlying vision of the human person, freedom and sexuality.See also his article Battling the AIDS Pandemic.
Yet it is the Church that is routinely characterized as being opposed to science, or "dogmatic."
"The Chinese family planning authorities are continuing their old trick of talking tough to their own people while giving a gentle image to the gullible foreigners. It is a clumsy, transparently obvious trick, but it still works as it has in the past. That is why the Chinese authorities still use it! When will the foreigners wise up?"
For a reminder of the sensitive way that the Chinese communist authorities have promoted the one child policy, see my post from last year: Your home will be destroyed and your cows taken away if you don't abort. Other wall writing included "Better blood flowing like a river than one extra birth." and "One excess birth, whole village sterilized!"
I received details by email of an International Liturgical Conference with the title “Benedict XVI and The Sacred Liturgy” to be held on Saturday 12 July 2008 at Fota Island, about nine miles east of Cork City, Ireland. Speakers include Professor Manfred Hauke, Prof Vincent Twomey, Dr Alcuin Reid, and Dr Michael Lang. 
The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration have flourished in recent years, particularly through the inspiration of Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN who was Abbess of the house in Birmingham, Alabama, from which a daughter house near Phoenix, Arizona, was founded.
Of your kindness, pray for the repose of the soul of Fra Bertie, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.The Requiem Mass for HMEmH Fra Andrew Bertie has been put forward to 5.00 pm on 7 March, and will take place at the Church of San Alessio instead of the basilica of S. Paolo.
The "World's Women" are apparently descending upon Rome to stage demonstrations at each of the four great Roman Basilicas in favour of a woman's "right" to abort her unborn children. As this will cause chaos and the police cannot guarantee the safety of the Cardinals, Ambassadors, three Presidents (Italy, Austria and I think Slovenia), and royals attending it has been re-scheduled.
Bloggers usually count visitors rather than "hits" since it is a more sensible statistic for a blog. For what it's worth, we will get to a million hits some time in March at the present rate.
Last Sunday, the Mulier Fortis quite properly gave away the remains of our holy water to a lady who came with a large container. She then arranged things in the sacristy for the blessing of a new supply while the altar servers were all still there after the Latin Mass.Support information & encouragement for carrying to term with an adverse prenatal diagnosis and support for raising your child with special needs after birthThere is a good video on the homepage "Down the Road of Bittersweet". I have emailed to ask if it is posted anywhere in a form that can be embedded here.
A correspondent kindly reminded me of Pope Benedict's letter to Romans on education which is a good antidote to the nonsense of our Department for Citizenship Facilities, Parenting Units, and Nappies, or whatever the Ministry of Education is called this month.In reality, what is in question is not only the personal responsibilities of adults or young people - which nevertheless exist and must not be hidden - but a growing atmosphere, a mentality and a form of culture that lead to doubting the value of the human person, the significance itself of truth and of the good, in the final analysis, the goodness of life. It becomes difficult, then, to hand on from one generation to the next, something valid and certain, rules of conduct, credible objectives around which to build one's life.
Over recent years, I have noticed several cases where people have agreed to, or co-operated with, abortion in response to dire warnings from doctors about a baby who will be born with significant disabilities. The doctors describe these disabilities in the most chilling terms, together with assurances that the baby will not live more than a few hours or days. This has a significant influence on people's attitudes ("What else could we do?") The psychological trauma of being faced with this decision, presented gravely by those who are seen as experts, causes people to repudiate their faith and consider the Church callous and heartless for her opposition to abortion.But why is there such hostility toward Latin and the Mass celebrated facing East? I believe that there are people who thought the Council was a call to massive change from a sclerotic church, and they think that if you restore the old Mass, or say the new Mass facing east, you're repudiating the Council. But this is completely false. However, these people have spent the last 30-40 years of their lives committed to this vision of the Council which is not a vision of continuity but a vision of rupture. Their whole lives are being called into question. So, there's enormous resistance to this (the motu proprio). This is the reason why the pope had to do the motu proprio. It's quite possible to say the Novus Ordo in ways that are very traditional, but today, it's simply taboo.
So, the pope has said that people have a right to worship in this form (traditionally) and therefore we'll take this and make it more widespread and take it out of the hands of individual bishops. It's now in the hands of the faithful- if they want this, they are to be given it.
Fr David Barrett at Hilariter has some photos of his own. He has one of the interior of SS Marcellinus and Peter which features the suitcase in which he brought the requisites for Mass. 
Every week at Blackfen, our Mass on Saturday morning at 10.30am is celebrated in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass). The Mass is normally a Low Mass but on the first Saturday of each month, a small Schola of men kindly comes to us so that the Mass can be sung with the chants from the Roman Gradual.
Last month, I reported on the Bishop of Lancaster's excellent "Fit for Mission - Schools" document which encourages Catholic schools to teach the Catholic faith. Nothing terribly controversial there, you might think, but the Independent reports today (MPs investigate Catholic influence on schools) that Barry "as long as people are not that serious about their faith" Sheerman, chairman of the Children, Schools and Families Committee thinks otherwise. The committee... is to investigate evidence that the Roman Catholic Church is pursuing a more fundamentalist approach towards religion in its schools.There's that "F" word beloved of the secularists everywhere, conjuring up images of suicide bombers, blown-up buses and women in burkhas. The Independent helpfully gives us an example of the heinous thought-crime from the Bishop of Lancaster himself:
"The secular view on sex outside marriage, artificial contraception, sexually transmitted disease, including HIV and Aids, and abortion, may not be presented as neutral information."The message is clear: if Catholic schools present abortion as anything other than "neutral", they are "Fundamentalist". Apparently, Sheerman also said that
there was evidence from other areas of the country of Catholic schools being told to adopt a more fundamentalist line.Please do tell - it would give great solace to my readers.
"A lot of taxpayers' money is going into church schools and I think we should tease out what is happening here,"Let's be clear about this. Catholics also pay tax. The money does not belong to the Government, it belongs to us and is given to the Government in trust for use for our benefit. If Catholic children are not educated in Catholic schools, they will be educated in community schools at the expense of the state anyway. By his emotive appeal, Sheerman is attacking the historic agreement of 1944 with little less subtlety than the "No Rome on the Rates" campaigns of a former era.
"the official spokesmen for the Catholic Church often peddled a softer line."and,
"We seem to have a shift in emphasis on the ground despite what the reasonable voices of the leadership are saying."This gives a clear and important message. It does not matter how reasonable the "leadership" presents itself. Let just one Bishop poke his head above the parapet and issue a gentle, mildly-worded document encouraging sound Catholic teaching in a moderate way: this will be enough to engender cries of "Fundamentalist!" from the secularist high-priesthood. These people will not be appeased.
"The time that can be given to a woman by a counsellor is limited in a busy hospital. [...] I am satisfied everything was done to make sure Emma was consenting to surgery. I don't feel there was any gap in the counselling service."Let me get this right: a woman with a history of anxiety and depression presents for an abortion. She is given a phone number to talk to someone. She has the abortion and then commits suicide. But there is no gap in the counselling service.
Recording a verdict of suicide, Dr Carlyon said: "It is clear that a termination can have a profound effect on a woman's life.So that's all right then.
"But I am reassured by the evidence of the doctors here."
The other day, courtesy of a kind reader, I received a copy of the book "Culture of Life - Culture of Death", edited by Luke Gormally and published by the Linacre Centre. The book is a collection of 22 articles on various aspects of the subject. In the page about the book from the Linacre Centre you can see a list of the articles and some quotations from reviews of the book."If society addressed the root causes for the spread of the virus and returned to the values of no pre-marital sex and faithfulness in marriage AIDS could be drastically reduced. if the millions invested in Latex rubber as a prophylactic were instead invested in addressing the root causes I think the outcome would be much more beneficial to society."Sewn paperback, 352 pages, £17.95 (excellent value for such a collection.) There are ordering details at the Linacre Centre website.
We're told that today the Pope will receive the delegates to the Jesuit General Congregation in private audience. It's reasonable to expect that the Holy Father will communicate to the delegates his hopes for their work that remains. Being Benedict, he almost certainly will not dwell on the history of conflict but will emphasize the Jesuits' positive contributions to the post-conciliar Church, such as those in selenography. As for the questions posed by Weigel, we'll learn a lot about the answers Jesuit leaders would tender in reply by the picture of the audience they want the rest of the Church to have.
The Bevans family have started a new blog - called BevansInc., it brings together a number of talented family members. Gary Bevans is the one who painted the reproduction of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Church of the English Martyrs in Goring-by-Sea
Due to the success of "Catholicism for the Curious" and "Theology of the Body", the School of Evangelisation will be hosting a third series of lectures this year, commencing on Wednesday 27th February at supper & welcome at 6.15pm with talk starting at 7pm.
We need to recover the sense of the sacred. I speak only for myself, but I am convinced of the urgency of reviewing the practice of Communion given in the hand, returning to giving the particle to the faithful directly in the mouth, without them touching it, reinforcing thereby that in the Eucharist there is really Jesus and that everyone must receive Him with devotion, love and respect.and secondly regarding kneeling for Holy Communion.
Beyond the office I occupy in the Vatican, as a Catholic I ask myself and wonder: why be ashamed of God? Kneeling at Communion would be an act of humility and recognition of our nature as children of God.
Nothing in the GIRM, rubrics, or tradition (that I know of) requires the congregation to sing "Amen" more than once at any point in the Mass. Yet today every Catholic pewsitter knows that the IMPORTANT part of the Mass ISN'T the words "This is My Body" but when you have four chords and sing "A-A-MEN, A-A-MEN, A-A-A-MENNNN" and then repeat it. I've even heard catechists say that THAT is the point where the bread becomes the Body. Oh, and the scores for these "Great Amens" always have FFF as the closing dynamic. This HORRIBLY imbalances the Mass!Sorry to be corny, but I just have to say "Amen" to that. It is true - the "Great Amen" is not de fide definita, it's prominence in many modern sung Masses is entirely due to the particular views of some liturgists. It is perfectly OK to ditch it and just sing a little "Amen".
So when your priest sings "Through him, with him, in him" to the simple tone, just respond on the same note he used as the reciting tone: "Amen." If he uses the solemn tone (with the slurs on some syllables), respond according to the pitch he ends on "A-me-" and then move up a whole tone "-en." It's all so simple, no one can object to it if it's done routinely, and it makes SUCH a difference in how the Mass is perceived by the congregation.
Many thanks to Matt Doyle of Lacrimarum Valle for his report on the "Blogging and the Church" Colloquium held last Friday in Oxford. I was very sorry to miss this but I had an important meeting to address in the parish where I was spoke to the parents of the first Communion class about the sacrament of Penance.We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to allow free votes on the embryology and fathers components of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill when considered by the House of Commons.Further information:
There is a tradition when dealing with matters of conscience that MPs are not whipped. This is particularly true when it comes to human embryos. When the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was considered by Parliament the (then) government allowed free votes on all matters up until the final vote.Sign the Petition
The joint committee on the draft Human Tissues and Embryos bill recommended that this approach be adopted for questions over embryology and the role of fathers, but the Brown government has said that free votes will only be allowed on abortion.
This decision suggests that there is no room for conscience and conscientious objection in our politics. If the government is genuinely concerned about voter apathy and alienation it should demonstrate that British politics caters for conscience and conscientious objection through free votes.
Annual Lenten Day of Recollection 2008
Saturday 15th March 2008 with Father Tim Finigan on the theme: In union with Christ the Victim for our Salvation.
Programme:
11.00am Welcome & first part of talk
12.15pm Latin Mass (Tridentine Rite)
1.00pm Break for lunch
1.45pm Second part of talk
2.30pm Stations of the Cross
3.15pm Exposition (with Confessions)
4.00pm Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
The day is expected to finish around 4.15pm. Please attend what you can manage if not the whole day. Some refreshments / sandwiches available, or bring your own lunch. There is no charge to attend - only a collection during the Mass itself.
A chance for junior healthcare professionals and students (medics, nurses, pharmacists etc. are welcome!) to explore and discuss Catholic healthcare ethics. Each month a senior practitioner or other expert will be invited to give a 30 minute presentation, followed by discussion. The aim will be to understand the Church’s teaching, and explore ways in which we can present it sympathetically to patients, colleagues and managers.In the following pages you will find, dear reader, a brief reply to the most important questions in regard to plain chant raised by the Motu proprio of our Holy Father, Pius X ... The booklet has been written for your enlightenment and to calm your mind.Dom Raphael patiently demonstrated why a single edition of the proposed Vatican Edition of the Gradual was necessary, argued that the melodies were not too difficult for parish choirs, given the right motivation, and that the Holy Father was not insisting on any sudden change or that Gregorian chant should be used exclusively but was insisting that the ancient chant should be used and that is was proper to obey him.
Fr I believe you are treating Dermot O’Leary in a very harsh fashion, and have seriously misrepresented him.I'm happy to quote that in the interests of a balanced picture. I think it brings us to a deeper question regarding our culture. That picture with Davina McCall is not justified by the desired end of promoting breast cancer awareness. We once installed a disabled toilet in the parish Hall. The press photographer asked me if I would have a photograph sitting (clothed) on the toilet. I refused because it would inevitably have trivialised the issue of providing proper facilities for the disabled and would be used to denigrate the priesthood.
Dermot is a person that does very good charitable work, he believes in helping others less fortunate than himself and using his talents to achieve this. Misrepresenting Dermot as a shallow TV presenter is unfair, he comes from a serious journalistic background his family were regional newspaper proprietors in Ireland and he has done extremely well in his career in the British media.
I respect Dermot’s involvement with Charity; he has tackled difficult health campaigns such as Male Testicular Cancer with charity Everyman. The picture of Davina McCall and Dermot, on your blog, is actually originally from a photo shoot taken as a promotion for Breast Cancer Awareness – another difficult health awareness promotion, asking women to undertake regular self-examinations.
Alongside national charities, Dermot has enthusiastically supported small community charities that have little PR value for himself, such as Southwark Irish Pensioners Forum and Irish in Greenwich.
Along with his family, Dermot has supported Catholic charities all his life. How many other people in the British Media support Catholic Charities – it is hardly a fashion statement. Dermot is exemplary in getting young people interested in Charities, Sports and good works.
Dermot’s comment about being “cleansed from sin” was obviously made tongue in cheek in an interview situation.
I have meet Dermot’s parents at a charity function and I know that they would be so upset to see their son misrepresented in this way. Dermot is a person who is genuinely interested in people’s welfare, young and old, and has shown great respect for people as individuals in his work. I think it is very important to present a balanced view of individual especially when we are broadcasting over the World Wide Web.
Just some of charities Dermot supports:
Southwark Irish Pensioners Forum – works with most disadvantaged and isolated people in London http://www.irishinlondon.org/volunteer.htm
Everyman: - UK Male Cancer Campaign - http://www.icr.ac.uk/everyman/
NSPCC http://nspcc.org.uk/
Dermot has worked on London St Patrick Parade Organising Committee.
"I do get it in the neck from some Catholics who say I am a 'buffet Catholic', picking and choosing the bits I like or don't like. But if I thought - and this is going to sound anti-Catholic - that there was this one true religion and that anyone who didn't follow it would be damned, firstly I'd be mad, and secondly I'd put myself in a position where I could be shot down.This kind of statement is irritating and misleading. Catholics do not believe that all non-Catholics are damned. Never mind Vatican II - there is a long tradition of theological study and magisterial teaching examining just how non-Catholics can be saved. The widely vilified document Dominus Iesus is perhaps the best recent examination of the whole matter. It explains not only why Catholics do accept that many non-Catholics may be saved, but also why this does not imply that there is no difference between Catholic teaching on God and the teaching of other faiths. Foundational to this is faith in Christ as truly God made man and therefore the acceptance of his teaching - part of which is that we should proclaim his teaching "from the rooftops".
"I'm not interested in preaching from the rooftops. All I do is show in public my own faith. I was brought up with it and I still practise, but I don't think that my God is any more worthy than that of a friend of mine who happens to follow Allah."
After Mass this evening, I was at a party to celebrate the 50th birthday of Fr John Boyle (South Ashford Priest). There were one or two other priests there and a few friends from various apostolates but the majority of those present were Fr John's parishioners from St Simon Stock, South Ashford. It was good to see the genuine warmth of feeling that there is between them and their parish priest. After a presentation to him from the parish, Fr John took the opportunity to say a few words about the parish being the family of the priest in addition to his natural family.
Among the guests was Fr Stephen Boyle, John's brother, who is parish priest at the Good Shepherd in New Addington. Fr Stephen does not have a blog but feels that his lack of labour in this regard is compensated for if he appears on other blogs. Unfortunately, I forgot about this and neglected to take a photo this evening. Nevertheless, there is always something in the archives and so you can see him to the left.
This all reminds me that I am 50 this year on 1 July - a day famous as the beginning of various battles: the Boyne, Gettysburg and the Somme, for example. I share my birthday with Indiana Jones, Pamela Anderson and Princess Diana. It was the day of the death of the wicked emperor Decius and the last of the martyrs of Tyburn, St Oliver Plunkett. In these parts, St Oliver Plunkett is an optional memorial but of course it is likely that I will celebrate Mass that day in the extraordinary form, observing the feast day on which I was born, that of the Precious Blood.
Some time ago, towards the end of the post Civil Partnerships and the Church. II Practice, I gave a brief summary of some of the problems that I have with CAFOD, the official overseas development and relief agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. These concerns are serious enough for me to refuse in conscience to support the agency until there is a clear change in policy. I arrange instead for money to be collected either for Aid to the Church in need or for the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.In the course of the programme, he made it clear, though, that his was not an unquestioning allegiance. He lives with his TV producer girlfriend, Dee Koppang, cheerfully admits to using contraceptives [...]Last year, I posted an article about Channel 4 sex propaganda, which took the form of a programme called "Lets Talk Sex", presented by Davina McCall, promoting compulsory sex education. I summarised:
Davina will take you (and your children) on a visit to a Dutch sex education class where children as young as four are taught about homosexuality and shown cartoons of various sex acts. Also featured is that tried and trusted method of preventing teenage pregnancy: unrolling a condom over a prosthetic sex aid.At the end of the post, I featured a picture of Davina McCall, saying that I hoped that it would help parents to decide whether this woman was a good person to trust to give advice to their teenage daughters.
(Feel free to list other good charities in the combox.)
The Wikipedia article on the Abbé Jacques Paul Migne says,Migne had become convinced of the power of the press and the sheer value of raw information widely distributed.One can imagine how much he would have contributed to the internet!
Contraception: Why not?By reformulating the traditional prayer without compromising its doctrinal integrity, Your Holiness has reminded the world that the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an infinite ocean of love, contains all peoples, especially that people from which Our Lord Himself is descended.
Unfortunately, it is against the law (and not a good idea anyway at 70mph) to take the baby out of the cot while the car is moving. So for a while she told us loudly and in no uncertain terms "I . AM . NOT . HAPPY!!!" The baby's godfather was with us on the journey and gently encouraged her to be reasonable. Sadly this met with no notable success.To discuss the issue of blogs as a social force, the Newman Society is having a small colloquium on Friday, 15th February from 6-830pm in the Meeting Room of the Catholic Chaplaincy, Rose Place,St Aldates, Oxford (location) with a number of prominent bloggers.
This event will be quite informal and interactive and will discuss the nature of blogs--who read them and why; why are they written; do the bloggers have a social responsibility; and should we even care about them?
Speakers are:
Rev’d Fr John T Zuhlsdorf, author of ‘What does the Prayer Really Say?’
Rev’d Fr John Hunwicke, author of ‘Fr Hunwicke’s Liturgical Notes’
Br Lawrence Lew OP, ‘The New Liturgical Movement’ and ‘Godzdogz’
Matthew Doyle, author of ‘Lacrimarum Valle’
I was more than a little suspicious of the feeding frenzy in the media over the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent lecture: Civil and Religious Law in England: a religious perspective. I printed off his lecture and read it quickly. My first impression was that this was a serious attempt to address a genuine problem of post-enlightenment positivism in law, and that it could have important implications for Catholics as well as Muslims. There certainly seemed to be little justification for the tabloid headlines.
