As English or Welsh Catholics it is perhaps unsurprising if we are sometimes inclined to be somewhat sceptical of our bishops. "After all," it will be (has been) said, "all but one of them caved in to Henry VIII's government in 1532." It is, rather embarrassingly, true and we, perhaps, cast around looking for the Saint John Fisher of our day. What is unfortunately forgotten, however, is that at the accession of Elizabeth I and the reinstatement of the schism the figures were completely reversed! Only one bishop accepted the Elizabethan settlement. All the others refused it and were deprived of their sees. As far as I am aware none were actually put to death but they have a claim upon our affections second only to the martyrs themselves. In fact in all but the shedding of their blood they deserve to be called martyrs. Theirs was a silent, largely invisible, witnessing as they disappeared from view, frequently - as in the case of Richard Pates, the last Catholic bishop of Worcester, dying in exile. In short there is a true story to be told of English episcopal heroism that generally goes unremarked.
Perhaps it is true today.
I can certainly understand how laypeople who find themselves "in the front line" defending a Catholic position can, at times, feel dismayed by the apparent silence or aquiesence of our shepherds in the face of public attack. Sometimes, however, silence is the only proper answer. Pope St Clement I in his Letter to the Corinthians in a memorable phrase speaks of Our Lord Jesus Christ who "spoke up for the truth before Pontius Pilate". Much of that "speaking up", we find in the Gospel, was, paradoxically, silence.
God bless and defend the bishops of Hallam, Leeds and Middlesborough who are standing up to the government and taking the fight to preserve their Catholic adoption agency to the High Court! They need and fully deserve the support of all the Catholics of England and Wales - not least that of those of us in the other dioceses. Let Satan's allies tremble!
My services not being required in these parts today, I betook myself to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Liverpool for mass. Cleverly, I thought, I would take my Gregorian Missal with me so that I could follow the Introit word for word and neume for neume. Alas it was not to be. The regular choir were on holiday and then, as it transpired, the girls choir, which had been going to deputise, had been unable to get there. A couple of good cantors, nevertheless, pulled things together, leading the Responsorial Psalm and the Mass XVIII Sanctus and Agnus Dei while providing a solo Kyrie by Langlais, a piece by John Ireland at the Offertory and a Tantum Ergo by Faure at Communion. There were two hymns - at the entry and after Communion. The latter was the lugubrious "Jesu lover of my soul let me to thy bosom fly" which I think is by one of the Wesleys, and to the tune "Aberystwyth". I know Lent is supposed to have a somewhat sombre character and we are to follow Our Lord into the wilderness but steady on there! Aberystwyth...?
I am not a regular listener to "The Archers" on BBC Radio 4 but have dipped into it at odd times over the years. Somehow I have managed to hear one or two of the more dramatic episodes this way. This weekend I got the death of Phil Archer and it was every bit as memorable as that of Doris Archer some thirty years ago. There I seem to recall the news of the death being taken to the church where Evensong was in progress so that the episode ended not to the usual tumpty tumpty tumpty theme but instead to the strains of "The Day thou gavest, Lord is ended"coming from the church. I suspect one would have had to have had a heart of stone not to have roared with laughter!
Fast forward thirty years to the death of Phil and his exit was also marked with music- a recording he had evidently been listening to when Jill, his wife, entered to find him dead. The music was from Elgar's "The Dream of Gerontius"- precisely the instrumental introduction following the death of Gerontius and just before he sings "I went to sleep and now I am refreshed" and prior to meeting his Guardian Angel who will escort him into God's presence before bidding him farewell at the entrance to Purgatory.
One thing that has never ceased to amaze me about "The Archers" set, as it is, in the countryside of the English Midlands, is its take on the religious and cultural life of the region and, in particular the fact tha,t while the Church of England features prominently, the Catholic church simply doesn't seem to exist. There is a Hindu solicitor who celebrates Diwali- and I wonder how many of those does one encounter in the rural midlands(!)- but I have yet to encounter a Catholic character. How very different from the region I knew in my youth! Rather I suspect we hear a coutryside imagined in Birmingham.
It was in Birmingham, of course, that Newman originally wrote his poem and it was in Birmingham that Elgar had the first performance of "Gerontius"- a disaster, by all accounts. "It stinks of incense!" Sir Charles Villiers Stanford declared- which was a quaint way of expressing antipathy to "popery". So my surprise at hearing of Phil Archer's departure to the strains of "Gerontius" may be imagined. Who knows? Perhaps in time it may be rumoured that he, like another (but real) midlander four hundred and forty-six years earlier, "dyed a papist"!
I have just discovered on the website of the Diocese of Westminster that the Spectator debate on 2nd March is "England should be a Catholic country again". Following so soon after the frightful "Intelligence Squared" debate it is good to see that we appear to have some more credible speakers. Along with Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor Piers Paul Reed and Dom Antony Sutch are supporting the motion. At the very least I know who they all are and have heard them speak at some time or another. Opposing are Lord Harries of Pentre Garth, Stephen Pound and Matthew Parris. Harries is a former Anglican bishop of Oxford and Pound is a London Labour MP.
England should, of course, be a Catholic country again. I doubt that the motion will be carried but at least there is a decent team- the first XI and not the reserves like last time!
Half my lifetime ago when we learned that Pope John Paul II was going to visit Great Britain I was, initially, not particularly enthusiastic. I couldn't see the point. No previous reigning pontiff had visited these shores and I was not aware of their having been any less a success for all that. Indeed I was quite blase about it. "We don't want a pope to be gallivanting about," I said, "but to guard the deposit of faith and lead the Church on earth." Besides, I had already seen him in the flesh three years earlier when I was in Rome for the first Easter Triduum of his pontificate. In fact I had been pretty close to him as he had blessed the new fire and paschal candle in the narthex of St Peter's basilica. As the visit drew closer, however, my attitude changed- not least because there seemed to be a risk of it not going ahead, thanks to the antics of our insane war-mongering Prime Minister.
Gradually it also dawned upon me that, during the proposed visit, the Church in England and Wales would be on show as never before and that, therefore, one had a duty to "stand up and be counted", as it were. "Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia"! As Catholics we were now free to profess our faith openly in a land where once, for centuries, in fact, the faith had been forced underground. Then, as the visit got under way, I found myself caught up in the excitement and snatching every possible opportunity to see the Pope on the television. Alerted by the news on the Saturday evening that already the roads to Coventry Aiport were busy, our family set off and arrived as the sun was setting. Along with thousands of others we spent the night on the grass in the open and saw a glorious summer dawn before the helicopter bearing the holy father arrived and he celebrated the mass of Pentecost Sunday. Then it was home in time to watch his arrival at Liverpool with the warm welcoming crowds and- not forgetting- the amusing comic sideshow of Rev Ian Paisley and his loopy chums protesting. Happy days!
Since then the world has changed. This country is remarkably different. It was post-Christian in 1982 but didn't know it. It is so today and revels in it. Commenters on a recent survey of social attitudes marvelled at increasingly liberal attitudes towards issues of sexual morality contrasting these with a more "conservative" stance regarding taxation. I think they missed the point "liberal" or "conservative"simply doesn't get it. The attitude is simply "I have a right to anything I want and I dont want to pay for it." In 1982 a Christian might be regarded as a fairly harmless eccentric. Today one is a reproach. It is not, sadly, that one is a better Christian. It is simply that we live in a world more hardened in vice.
Yet it would be a mistake to regard the situation in 1982 through rose tinted spectacles- as somehow ideal. The enthusiasm outside of the Church, particularly in the establishment and media, for Pope John Paul was born largely of a recognition of him as an ally against the Soviet Union. Once the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet empire folded increasing prominence was given to dissidents within the Church. By 1995 it was clear that many of these delightful people wanted him dead. But God is good.
My fear, as Pope Benedict's visit is announced, is that protesters will, this time, form something more than a comic sideshow. I shall pray that I am mistaken in this.
What to do about the Buffer Zone
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In case you haven't seen the widespread media coverage, Ealing Council has
set up a buffer zone outside the Marie Stopes abortion centre which will
come in...
Listening to Young People
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A young Catholic pleads for clear teaching.
...Peers of mine who are converts or reverts have specifically cited
teachings like Humanae Vitae, Familiaris C...
Four meetings to paint
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Perhaps the greatest trauma of my school-days were the art classes. They
would sit us down with some rather stiff paint brushes and a few pots of
paints, a...
Make His praise glorious
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*Sermon at Silverstream Priory*
*Third Sunday after Easter 2018 *
Last Sunday in the Introit, we heard for our joy and consolation, “The
earth is full o...
Heart of Gold
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Queen Anne with her patron saintsOf Anne of Brittany. From *The Telegraph*:
After Anne’s death in 1514, she was buried, as custom dictated, alongside
othe...
Henry VIII's Great Bible
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In a list of ten important dates during the Tudor Era for *History Extra*,
the BBC *History Magazine *blog, historian Lauren Mackay includes this date
and...
Trial Date Watch: Day Four
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More than a week after I had again been due to stand trial, I now no longer
have a trial date, even though it is rightly a criminal offence to fail to
atte...
Best T-shirt ever
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Just back from a very enjoyable visit to Southern Evangelical Seminary,
where I gave a lecture last night on classical theism. Many thanks to the
very k...
English bishops to be replaced by jelly-babies
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Following a report describing the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England
and Wales as a "spineless bunch of jellies", Pope Francis has decided to
dismiss ...
Church History Podcast
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I’ve started a twenty part podcast series on the history of the Catholic
Church. You can follow it over at my main blog-website Standing on My Head.
Go her...
German Intercommunion
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Yesterday it emerged that the Vatican had rejected the German Bishops’
Proposal for intercommunion for Protestant spouses (a.k.a. heresy).
Sources confi...
Know your enemy
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Who is my enemy? I've been thinking about this a lot. We are commanded to
love our enemies. Surely to love our enemies means to know who are enemies
are....
Learning Something New Every Day...
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Until three years ago I lived in London. I had read about fog (particularly
the old pea-soupers) but had never really experienced it as described in
Benson...
Mass readings in Scots: Fourth Sunday of Easter
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*First reading*
*Acts 4: 8-12*
Than Petir was fillit with the Haligaast, and said to thame, "Ye princis of
the pepile, and ye eldermen, here ye. Gif we t...
The Francis Song
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A reader asked me for my response to 'Gaudate et Insultate', I've read some
excellent analyses of the document and I don't think I can add much to it,
so...
Top Quotes from Gaudete et Exsultate
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On Monday Pope Francis published a new apostolic exhortation on holiness
called Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad). This is a much-needed
documen...
The death of civilised debate
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*The Guardian* has been steadily reducing the number of articles on which
comments are allowed. On the newspaper’s web site, which used to appear
under the...
Ill-liberalism
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Tomorrow, Ealing Council will be deciding (whether) to impose a Public
Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in Mattock Lane, so as to prevent Good
Counsel Networ...
Latin Mass Pilgrimage to Bansha, Co. Tipperary
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Traditional Latin Mass in the Church of the Annunciation, Bansha, Co.
Tipperary, at 3 p.m. on Saturday, 21st April, 2018. Followed by prayers at
the gra...
More Bugnini
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.
I'm occasionally asked why I bang on about the pre-1911 order of things in
the Church. It's because the liturgical archaeologism which guided
liturgica...
The Cross is a Choice for Heaven or Hell
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The Cross is about the vulnerability of God, it is about God placing
himself into our hands.
In the Crucifixion God is scourged, spat upon, crowned with th...
The deep Catholic faith of Arnaud Beltrame
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Death of Arnaud Beltrame: the tribute of the priest who supported him at
the hour of his death
Arnaud Beltrame died giving his life for that of a woman.
...
Holy Week Services At St Catherine's
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*Palm Sunday*
Mass at 8.30am (OF)
Sung Mass at 10am (OF)
Low Mass at 11.30am (EF)
*Maundy Thursday*
Mass of the Lord's Supper at 7.30pm (OF)
Watching at t...
Allusions, etc.
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Long ago I first saw the movie "Aguirre, Wrath of God," about a Spanish
conquistador going nuts amid a disastrous Peruvian expedition. Here's a
memorabl...
Loveless is About Abortion, and More
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Andrei Zvyagintsev’s new film Loveless is talking to the world-wide
pro-life movement. In fact, it is screaming: support for life must be
broader than curr...
The Chaste Fatherhood of the Priest
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I happened to be in small talk with a parishioner after Mass on Sunday. The
question of hearing confessions in a school that was not only in another
paris...
Register Now for the Colloquium!
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EARLY REGISTRATION IS IN EFFECT! Make your plans to join us as we return to
Chicago for the 2018 Colloquium – at Loyola University, June 25-30, 2018.
Visit...
Love is in the air
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It might have made for a great headline and photo opportunity, but parish
priests across social media were raising their eyes heavenwards at the
story of t...
The Battle for the Shire
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A devout and good young man is keen to join the Society of St Pius X. I can
understand that. I have always wanted to be simply a priest as Catholic
priest...
Sr Canisius, Sister of St Joseph of Annecy
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The following notice was published in the South Wales Argus on 11th
December 2017.
*"Sisters of St Joseph Sister M Canisius Walsh Peacefully on 6th Decemb...
Pantasaph Franciscan Retreat Centre is to Close
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Fr Simon Henry has reported on his blog, Offerimus Tibi Domine, the sad
news that the Franciscan Retreat Centre in Pantasaph, North Wales, is to
close on ...
Confraternity of Catholic Clergy Colloquium 2017
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I am happy to pass on the following information concerning the forthcoming
Colloquium of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. Unfortunately I will
not be...
The Order of the Elephant
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Royal Central has a post today about the highest Danish order of Chivalry
which I am reproducing, with minor corrections and apologies for it being
off-ce...
International declaration on sacred music
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Here at The New Liturgical Movement
The list of over 200 signatories, of which I am one, Here
Still singing.
Today
Asperges
Mass XVII, Credo I
Marian ant...
Ad Orientem... Please?
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Last night we went to Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St Charles in Hull.
I am very grateful to Bishop Drainey for allowing this once monthly Mass to
con...
High winds and holiness in a field in Norfolk
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The bank holiday weekend at the end of May signals the start of our family
pilgrimage to Walsingham. Together with around 60 other Catholic families
we spe...
Reconciliation rumours
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I haven't posted for almost a year, but there has been some speculation
that the Society of Such Pious Gents will reconcile with Rome. I therefore
thought ...
Three thoughts
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First thought: whatever this Friday brings, don't lose your peace of soul.
Personally, I suspect we can expect the worst. But so what if that happens?
The ...
Music List for 3rd Sunday in Lent
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INTROIT : Oculi Mei (P.252 Gregorian Missal) MASS XVII GRADUAL : Exsurge
Domine (P. 254 Gregorian Missal) – Female voices Tract – I have lifted up
my eye...
The New CantemusDomino.net
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Welcome to the new CantemusDomino.net. Those who are veterans to the
Catholic blogging world may remember the 2002 iteration of this website,
“Confession...
Saying goodbye ...
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Immediately after Easter I will be leaving the Potteries after 23 years.
[image: CarolService2015]
We all moved here in the Summer of 1992 when I became...
Archives and Forum
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At this point, I have not set up an archives link, as this blog will remain
"up". The link to the forum will be on the new blog under "forum" at the
top me...
Goodbye and God Bless
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I began this Blog back in 2008 when Religious Discrimination laws were just
being introduced in Britain and I have enjoyed using it to explore the
developm...
Montini on Art 1931
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Eliseo Fumagalli 1887 - 1943
Design for T*he Annunciation* for The Church at Maccio
1931 - 1932
Acquarelle on canvas
77 cm x 56 cm
Museo Valtellinese di S...
That Letter - Update
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We now have hundreds of signatures on the letter in support of our priests,
thanks to the many bloggers who carried the letter (see here for a list),
and m...
What I did in the summer… Hospital Chaplaincy
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The bread and butter issues in life are what really matter, not so much the
added extras. At least, that is what I took from my student placement this
su...
Happy 59th QBunny
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Love and miss you. Did the plenary indulgence for you this week. I pray
you don't "need it!" But are already looking down on me from heaven.
REQUIEM MASS FOR RICHARD COLLINS
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A Requiem Mass for Richard Collins will be held on Tuesday 21st October at
12 noon at St David's and St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Dew Street, 9
F...
El Camino con Padre Joe y Señor McSorley
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My dear friend Fr Joseph Lappin and a colleague of his, Mr McSorley a
teacher at St Thomas Aquinas High School in Jordanhill, are walking the 500
miles of ...
Words of Wisdom for Lent
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This is from my FSSP Latin Church Bulletin, and is so incredibly
insightful, I'm sharing it here. It is written by the pastor, an FSSP
priest whose line u...
Changing The World: One Diaper At A Time.
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*The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor
of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something
m...
Weekend Roundup
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Sunday, 31st of March. 2013.
At the Birmingham Oratory (EF 1100) the* Mass in E* of Leonce de
Saint-Martin. At Brentwood Cathedral (OF 1100) Vierne's *Mess...
Dom Prosper Gueranger on Our Lady's Expectation:
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This feast, which is now kept not only throughout the whole of Spain but in
many other parts of the Catholic world, owes its origin to the bishops of
the t...