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Following their exchange in July, author Moyra Doorly and Aidan Nichols discuss the merits of post-Vatican II liturgical reform Dear Fr Aidan, In your kind reply to my first letter you made the point that I was drawing "unnecessarily sharp" contrasts between a theology of "propitiation and supplication" on one hand, and teachings on the "fruits of Communion" on the other. But what I was trying to demonstrate is that the pre-Conciliar sources give ample teaching on both, whereas the documents of Vatican II ignore the theology of propitiation and supplication. Now, to me this represents a doctrinal discontinuity of...

Ramsey County health officials have come up with a novel way to prepare for what's called the novel H1N1 flu: Operation Big Shot. They're holding a mass vaccination drill called "Operation Big Shot" today to test their ability to immunize a lot of people quickly.

BOSTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has threaten Hyatt hotels with a boycott after the company abruptly replaced 98 housekeepers with cheaper labor. Many in Massachusetts were up in arms after an Aug. 31 newspaper article described three Hyatt hotels as firing $15- per-hour workers, some with 20 years experience at Hyatt, after they had trained their $8 per hour replacements. The housekeepers said the hotel told them the cheaper workers were being trained to cover for vacations and other hard-to-fill shifts, The Boston Globe reported Thursday. Gov. Patrick has since threatened to advise state workers to...

Predictably, the push has begun to get a Kennedy into the Senate seat held for lo those many years by Ted Kennedy. The Kennedys favorite newspaper - the Boston Globe - all but annointed Joe in a news story by Frank Phillips that also handily reminded everybody that the seat is, after all, the permanent property of the Kennedy family. Said Philips: [Snip] "All eyes now are on Joseph P. Kennedy II, the former US representative, with family members and political allies expecting him to make a decision very shortly on whether to enter the Democratic primary. "No other Kennedy...

Rome, Italy, Aug 12, 2009 / 04:03 pm (CNA).- The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which was recently incorporated into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has announced the publication of two DVDs to help “priests and the community” celebrate Mass according to the extraordinary form of the Latin Rite.The two DVDs include an entire Mass celebrated by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos—until recently the president of the Commission—at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in 2003.The discs also feature segments explaining in detail the “gestures and rubrics, from the preparatio ad missam (preparation before Mass) to the act of...

Apparently people in Washington think we pay no attention to what happens in our neighboring states. The President decided to speak on government health care plans in New Hampshire because each of the neighboring states has had a failed experiment with exactly the kind of changes Washington wants to bring to all of us. None of the rhetoric in the President's speech was new to New Englanders. All of it is eerily reminiscent of the hopes and dreams of Dirigo Choice in Maine and Commonwealth Care in Massachusetts. Both of those plans went into effect, and neither has proved effective,...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Aug. 11, 2009 – U.S. soldiers took part in a rare celebration of religious and cultural proportions here recently during a Catholic Mass performed by the acting bishop of Basra, Iraq. Bishop Imad Al Banna raises the host in preparation for Holy Communion during a Catholic Mass for servicemembers at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq, Aug. 8, 2009. Banna, a Basra native, said he celebrated the Mass in gratitude for contributions made by U.S. soldiers for peace in his country. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Darryl L. Montgomery  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The...

BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. -- Several people were reported shot at the LA Fitness gym in Bridgeville, emergency officials confirmed for WTAE Channel 4 Action News. The reports came in shortly after 8:15 p.m. that authorities were called to the gym at the Great Southern Shopping Center at 1155 Washington Pike. Emergency officials said as many as 15 people may have been involved, but their conditions were not immediately known. Witnesses told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that the victims shot in the gym were in a class in the aerobics center at the time of the shooting. Former WTAE Channel 4...

"Whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and of the Blood of the Lord... For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord" - 1 Corinthians 11:27,28 Pope Benedict to Catholics: Kneel and Receive on the Tongue Only Pope Benedict XVI does not want the faithful receiving Communion in their hand nor does he want them standing to receive Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. According to Vatican liturgist, Monsignor Guido Marini, the pope is trying to set...

As an American arrived in the Vatican post that'll oversee the English-speaking church's global transition to the controversial new rendering of the Roman Missal, the US bishops did their part to keep the process moving, approving each of the four action-items on the new text presented last month in San Antonio... albeit on mail ballot given the meeting's "inconclusive vote" from the floor: The translation of the Order of Mass II (of the Roman Missal) received 191 votes in favor, 25 against and five abstentions. The translation of the Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Intentions passed by...

BOSTON — Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation's pre-eminent black scholar, is accusing Cambridge police of racism after he was arrested while trying to force open the locked front door of his home near Harvard University. Cambridge police were called to the home Thursday afternoon after a woman reported seeing a man "wedging his shoulder into the front door as to pry the door open," according to a police report. An officer ordered the man to identify himself, and Gates refused, according to the report. Gates began calling the officer a racist and said repeatedly, "This is what happens to...

Former Ptech Officer Arrested for SBA Loan Fraud Indictment Unsealed Charges Former Ptech President with Dealing in Assets of Specially Designated Global Terrorist BOSTON—A former resident of Somerville, Mass. who has been living in South Korea was arrested today after arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. An indictment, originally returned on March 1, 2007, was unsealed today charging Buford George Peterson and Oussama Abdul Ziade, both former officers of Ptech, Inc., a computer software company that was principally located in Quincy, Mass., with making false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in connection with a...

Sunday is the Lord’s Day. Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday morning, so Sunday is reserved as the “Lord’s Day,� the day to remember the Resurrection and to offer our praise and worship. Sunday is the Christian “Sabbath,� a shift from the Jewish Sabbath that runs from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. God gave us the Third Commandment as a solemn obligation, not a suggestion or an option: “Keep holy the Sabbath day (Ex 20:8-11; Dt 5:12-15) (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Numbers 2174 – 2178).Regular Sunday worship dates back to the first generation...

When Governor Mitt Romney instituted a universal healthcare plan for Massachusetts in 2006 he proclaimed it a conservative idea. "It's a conservative idea insisting that individuals have responsibility for their own health care,” he said. “I think it appeals to people on both sides of the aisle: insurance for everyone without a tax increase." The plan passed and was put into practice. But has it worked? Has it been successful? For a time, many thought it might but cracks in the system are already being seen. These cracks are instructive as a lesson on how Obamacare will crash and burn...

Massachusetts' Commonwealth Connector health reforms have reduced the state's uninsured population to less than 3% of residents, the lowest among all states. But a recent survey found an uptick last fall in adults reporting difficulty accessing certain types of care. The outcome of the Massachusetts health system reforms has national implications. Democrats in Congress have offered or are drafting health reform bills based on many of the state-adopted principles, including a health insurance exchange, subsidized private health insurance for low-and moderate-income residents, a requirement for individuals to have health insurance, and a mandate for employers to offer health insurance to...

An ultraconservative group plans to ordain 13 Roman Catholic priests in Minnesota — even though their elevations likely won't be recognized by the Vatican. The St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, part of the Society of St. Pius X, will host the ordinations of 12 U.S.-based priests and another from France in Winona on Friday. The Vatican says ordinations by the society aren't legitimate, even though Pope Benedict XVI recently lifted the excommunications of its leaders. The society was founded by those opposed to the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council and especially its outreach to Jews and other religions. The...

SAN ANTONIO (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops will have to poll members missing from their spring meeting in San Antonio before it's known whether they have approved liturgical prayers, special Masses and key sections of an English translation of the Order of the Mass. Five texts being prepared for use in English-speaking countries failed to get the necessary two-thirds votes of the Latin-rite U.S. bishops during the June 18 session of the bishops' meeting. With 244 Latin-rite bishops in the United States eligible to vote on the questions, the required two-thirds would be 163. With 189 eligible bishops attending the...

The First Mass In the evening of the first day of the week, two disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. And one came up beside them and began to explain the Scriptures that told of Jesus the Christ, how he was destined to suffer and rise again. And as he spoke, the hearts of the disciples burned within them; they were stirred and enlightened by the new explanation of scriptural words they had heard so many times before. But it was not until they sat together, and he took bread and broke it, that they recognized that the...

How the New Missal is Being Translated, and Why Posted Jun. 10, 2009 11:42 AM || by Dr. Jeff Mirus || Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson (New Jersey) is the chairman of the US Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship. Last October he addressed the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions on the significance and goals of the revision of the Roman Missal, currently in progress. The revision is proceeding according to the principles set forth in 2001 in Liturgiam authenticam, an instruction of the Holy See which replaced the document in force since 1969, Comme le Prévoit, now regarded as seriously...

Not too long ago, I wrote an article for my parish newsletter about why we must offer encouragement -- not sideways glances -- to parents who bring their young children to Mass. Overall, the response was positive, but one reader sent me a letter suggesting I leave my kids at home so I could "more fully receive Christ." It was charitable enough, but the point was clear: Children are sweet, but they don't belong in church.   This wasn't the first time (and I suspect it won't be the last) I've been scolded for encouraging our children's presence at...

Homosexual Youth Pride Day: State-sponsored homosexual & transgender activities for children PART I: "Celebration" in downtown Boston. With lots of strange adults everywhere. You can't make this stuff up. The MC of the day's event was a man dressed as a woman. This is what your politicians think of you and your children.

Rome, May 13, 2009: Holy Mass was today celebrated in Rome's Collegiate Basilica of Sancta Maria Ad Martyres (a.k.a. the Pantheon) in celebration of the 1,400th anniversary of its consecration as a Christian temple. Mass was sung according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite. The celebrant was from Australia, the deacon was from Italy and the subdeacon was from the United States. The schola cantorum consisted of priests and seminarians from Pontifical Universities in Rome. After the Mass one of the faithful remarked: "It was a favorable occasion of deep historical significance."

After more than a year of assisting exclusively at Extraordinary Form Masses on Sundays, a Mass I have come to love, I had two occasions last summer to revisit the Roman Rite in its Ordinary Form in a large suburban Catholic parish—the same parish on both occasions. The following are my observations. I begin with the positive. The church operates a Catholic school. Together they form a large, sprawling physical plant. The Masses are well attended. When you walk into the church, you are greeted by holy water fonts at the entrance, a prominently displayed crucifix above the altar, candles,...

Gov. Deval Patrick’s free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work. But the program - fueled by a funding boost despite the state’s fiscal crash - allows those who end up back on welfare to keep the cars anyway.

Compared with previous generations, the youngest of today's adult Catholics are less likely to have celebrated the sacraments that provide the foundation of the faith. A growing minority of self-identified Catholic adults haven't made their first reconciliation, received their First Communion or been confirmed, according to research from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. The sacraments are at the heart of what it means to be Catholic, said Mark Gray, a CARA researcher. If fewer parents are anchoring their children in Catholicism through the sacraments, the result could be a smaller church. "To the...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Large-scale U.S. layoffs rose again in March, according to Labor Department data on Thursday, as the economy struggles with what many expect will be the country's worst post-World War II recession. Last month witnessed 2,933 more mass layoffs, defined as affecting 50 or more workers, than February. This brought the total number of people who lost their jobs in this manner to 299,388, the highest on a record that dates back to 1995. The U.S. job market has been under severe strain as a crisis first evident in housing spread to the rest of the economy,...

Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today. The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels. "The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago," Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine "Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well." Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last...

An English priest with an affinity for the extraordinary form of the Mass has been named the general secretary of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL). The appointment highlights the transformation of an agency that was once the bane of conservative Catholics in the English-speaking world. Father Andrew Wadsworth, a priest of the Westminster archdiocese, will begin his work with ICEL in September. An accomplished linguist, he will guide the process of completing ICEL's new translation of the Roman Missal. His appointment, announced March 30, came with the approval of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship. ICEL...

On this Holy Thursday as we begin the great Triduum, the Three Days, we will read this wonderful account in the Gospel of St. John which reveals the depth of the Love of Jesus Christ and invites us into to a new way of living our lives now in Him: "So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water...

...Many Catholic families whose faith and lives I greatly admire have started attending Latin or Byzantine liturgies....I had some initial reluctance over attending these “throw back” liturgies with them, but I eventually accepted their invitations. What I experienced at these parishes was truly life changing to me! After participating in the liturgies I walked away with the same reaction from both. I was filled with a sort of holy awe and struggled to come to grips with what I was feeling. I had just worshipped the Almighty Triune God. I realized that up until participating in those liturgies, I had...

There is a new translation of the Mass into English that will debut soon. From the large portions I've read, it is excellent: better and more faithful to the authoritative Latin text than our current translation. Dissidents of the Church do not like it. To them, it represents "turning back the clock on Vatican II", or similar nonsense. In fact, it has been the intention of the Church since the Council that any translation into the vernacular should be faithful to the original Latin. This Associated Press article is a preview of the resistance we can expect to the...

A throwback to the 1970s, our own original hope-n-change governor has proposed his most daring tax hike yet. A 19 cent gas tax increase to pay for the struggling Mass. Transit/MBTA department which will be on top of the proposed candy, soda, alcohol tax increases. SUVs will also be subjected to higher fees and a crackdown to ensure that MA residents avoid breaking the law and buying goods in tax free New Hampshire. How is that liberals still have not learned, that taxing people when they are hurting from a recession, depleted 401Ks, plummeting house values and rising unemployment is...

Last year, in a post entitled, "Reform: can you deal with it?", your PP spoke about an imaginary priest, formed after Vatican II, whose entire belief system is based on the common misinterpretations of the Council, and what would happen to him should the Latin Church actually engage in a real reform of the Liturgy. I summarized his new Post-Vatican II faith as follows: And he is the priest referred to above: the one who, if faced with a general and comprehensive reform of the Western Liturgy—to use Cardinal Ratzinger's words—"standing wholly in the legacy of the traditional Rite," would...

Issue: What are the biblical origins of the Mass and the New Testament priesthood? Is the Mass really a sacrifice, or is it merely symbolic?Response: The biblical origins of the Mass and the New Testament priesthood are rooted in the Old Testament. Both the Old and New Testaments provide clear evidence that the Mass is a true sacrifice, offered by a priest, and the Victim is the Body and Blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.      God stated three times that the Passover sacrifice would be “an ordinance for ever,” not for a temporary period, such as until the Messiah...

Christmas Prayers Prayers and Collects for the Feast of the Nativity (Christmas) What is Christmas? Christmas, also known as the Feast of the Nativity, literally means "Christ Mass." The feast celebrates Jesus' birth and the Incarnation of the Son of God on December 25. These Christmas Prayers relate to these themes. More Info: All About ChristmasCatholic Christmas Collect, Midnight Mass FatherYou make this holy night radiantwith the splendor of Jesus Christ our lightWe welcome Him as Lord, true light of the world.Bring us to eternal joy in the kingdom of heavenwhere he lives and reigns with you and the Holy...

Issue: What are the biblical origins of the Mass and the New Testament priesthood? Is the Mass really a sacrifice, or is it merely symbolic?Response: The biblical origins of the Mass and the New Testament priesthood are rooted in the Old Testament. Both the Old and New Testaments provide clear evidence that the Mass is a true sacrifice, offered by a priest, and the Victim is the Body and Blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.      God stated three times that the Passover sacrifice would be “an ordinance for ever,” not for a temporary period, such as until the Messiah...

Our friends at the New Liturgical Movement have done a great service in bringing photos of the the newly-rediscovered "Benedictine" arrangement of altar candles and crucifix to the fore. Pope Benedict is rightly given credit for the revival of this arrangement which had its original inspiration in the Liturgical Movement before the Council. I recently ran across these pictures from the Mass offered at the 1947 National Liturgical Week in Portland, Oregon which give some roots to today's newly flowering altar arrangement. The proceedings from the Liturgical Week explain that the "Holy Sacrifice was celebrated in the same hall as...

Cardinal Francis Arinze, who heads the Vatican office for sacraments, says the pope may move the placement of the sign of peace, where congregation members shake hands or hug.

Iudica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta: ab homine iniquo et doloso erue me. Quia tu es, Deus, fortitudo mea: quare me reppulisti? et quare tristis incedo, dum affligit me inimicus? Emitte lucem tuam et veritatem tuam: ipsa me deduxerunt, et adduxerunt in montem sanctum tuum, et in tabernacula tua. Et introibo ad altare Dei: ad Deum, qui laetificat iuventutem meam. Confitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus: quare tristis es, anima mea? et quare conturbas me? Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi: salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus. -- Psalmus 42, Breviarium Romanum,...

Good News for the Liturgy Posted Oct. 7, 2008 3:32 PM || by Dr. Jeff Mirus || category Commentary For liturgical changes over the past generation or so, official preparation of the faithful has been minimal. The vacuum has too often been filled by professional liturgists and liturgical publishing houses with their own agendas, agendas sometimes at odds with the unbroken Tradition of the Catholic Church. But not any more.The Mass is currently being re-translated in a long project arising from two important Vatican initiatives. In 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship issued new principles of proper translation in Liturgiam Authenticam, a...

Rediscovering traditionalism By John Casey On 14th June this year about 1,500 people filled Westminster Cathedral. Every seat was taken; people stood in the aisles and spilled out on to the piazza outside. The occasion was a mass, but not an ordinary mass. It was indeed a mass in what is now officially called the ``extraordinary form'' of the Roman rite, i.e. the mass as it had existed before the changes that followed the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). It was celebrated by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, and was the first mass in the traditional form to be celebrated in the Cathedral...

Calvin's Institutes Book Fourth: Of the Holy Catholic Church. Chapter 18. Of the Popish mass. How it not only profanes, but annihilates the Lord's Supper. The principal heads of this chapter are, - I. The abomination of the Mass, sec. 1. Its manifold impiety included under five heads, sec. 2-7. Its origin described, sec. 8, 9. II. Of the name of sacrifice which the ancients gave to the holy Supper, sec. 10-12. An apposite discussion on sacrifice, refitting the arguments of the Papists for the sacrifice of the Mass, sec. 13-18. III. A summary of the doctrine of the Christian...

Just under 4 years ago, I started this blog after meeting several devout Christendom College students after a Sunday Traditional Latin Mass at St. Mary, Mother of God Catholic Church in Washington, DC. The previous month, I had traveled to England and visited several Catholic sites, including the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, and had seen Catholic art in the National Gallery in London. I was inspired, by the events of that time and by those students, to blog about Catholic subjects, especially Catholic art, feast days, and devotions; and also, write about Traditional Latin Masses in the Washington,...

Vatican City, Sep 25, 2008 / 11:10 am (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI made a low profile but significant move in the direction of liturgical reform by completely renewing the roster of his liturgical advisors yesterday. A hardly noticed brief note from the Vatican's Press office announced the appointment of new consultants for the office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. It did not mention, however, the importance of the new appointees. The new consultants include Monsignor Nicola Bux, professor at the Theological Faculty of Puglia (Southern Italy,) and author of several books on liturgy, especially on the Eucharist. Bux...

With a complete overturning of the Marxist theory on religion as the "opium of the people", and of Enlightenment rationalism, on the uselessness of God in life, Benedict XVI today claimed that Christ, the Eucharist, the Mass, help man to free himself from the "idols" that, as in ancient paganism, "constituted a powerful source of alienation and diverted man from his true destiny". And precisely in order to free man from the prison of the idols, the pope invited the young people to follow the call to the priestly and religious vocation. On the second day of his visit to...

Q: I am the parish priest for a dual-form parish and some of the complications are currently unavoidable. I have returned the tabernacle to the center and shifted the presider's chair to the side. The free-standing altar is used for both forms, with the placement of altar cards and candles in the traditional form and the resetting of the altar for the celebration of the ordinary form. I've returned the altar rail in two spots and cushions for kneeling at the reception of Communion. Part of the "experiment" of Pope Benedict XVI lies in the "working" of both forms where...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the not-too-distant future, songs such as "You Are Near," "I Will Bless Yahweh" and "Rise, O Yahweh" will no longer be part of the Catholic worship experience in the United States. At the very least, the songs will be edited to remove the word "Yahweh" -- a name of God that the Vatican has ruled must not "be used or pronounced" in songs and prayers during Catholic Masses. Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, announced the new Vatican "directives on the use of 'the name of...

...One hundred parishioners of St John the Evangelist, Allerton Bywater, have petitioned their bishop... to allow the parish to celebrate Mass only in Latin, in both the old and new forms. Instead, he is closing the church... and has told the parish priest, Fr Mark Lawler, that he will not be appointed to a new parish because his ministry is "divisive". Fr Lawler told me today: "This is a parish that does exactly what the Holy Father tells us to do.... The bishop is determined to squash it, and to destroy me because he doesn't want me moving to another...

The long-awaited, much-debated, new translation of the Order of the Mass has been approved by the Vatican, signalling the direction weekly Masses are to take in Catholic parishes across the English-speaking world. On 25 July the United States bishops' conference announced that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) had granted recognitio for the first, most important and most often-used section of the re-translated Missal, which contains the eucharistic prayers and prefaces, the Penitential Rite, the Gloria, the Creed, acclamations, the Lord's Prayer and other prayers and responses used daily. The intention of the new...