Traditional Anglo-Papist

I'm moving!!!

2006-09-05T13:39:00.000+09:30

Yes, this blog is moving to a new home at Wordpress.com.

So here is the new URL:
http://anglopapist.wordpress.com/.

Theological Education

2006-09-05T13:23:00.000+09:30

One of my main concerns in the past couple of month has been education for clergy, especially Anglo-Papist minded clergy and ordinands. I would like to work on a Syllabus of sorts with a book list for men (!) who are interested in reading more and expanding their theological base along Anglo-Papist lines.

So here is the challenge:
which books have you found useful, interesting, informative, theological sound in the classical areas of theology (Biblical, systematic, Historical, Pastoral) and would recommend for someone to read. (Maybe as a small aside, books which are readily available).

I'll start:
CATHOLICITY: A Study in the Conflict of Christian Traditions in the West

Bishop unhappy about situation in Anglican Church

2006-08-30T08:44:00.000+09:30

Biretta tip to titusonenine.

Touching on the theme for the conference, he said the laity had to be effectively empowered to contribute constructively to the activities of the church, and also expressed concern that although liturgy was congregational and participatory, there was currently, "a worrying situation", in the church whereby, the majority of the laity "have become more or less spectators, expecting the priests to do everything".

He emphasized that there could be no effective worship without lay participation, and that the church's liturgy should be "contextualised and in cultured", by having it reviewed and translated into local languages, such as Ewe, Ga-Dangbe, Twi and Hausa, to facilitate the participation of the entire congregation.

Read it all here

Rubric blindness

2006-08-28T11:34:00.000+09:30

Via The Curt Jester. A small example of a very serious problem:

Rubric blindness, or rubric vision deficiency, in humans is the inability to perceive rubrics. It is some times of genetic nature, but may also occur because of eye, nerve, or brain damage, or due to exposure to certain liturgist and heterodox theologians. What normally happens is that this condition is not caught in seminary before they are ordained. The priest knows he is suppose to do something at these points but does not want to embarrass himself by saying he can't see them. They go on like people who are functionally illiterate and cope with the world around them. Unfortunately when they look around at other Masses to see what other priests are doing at these points in the liturgy they find no standards.

Coming to a parish near you ...

Carthusian Cell.

2006-08-26T09:29:00.000+09:30

There are some great pictures (and tour) of a Carthusian Cell at The hermeneutic of continuity.

Something interesting ... maybe

2006-08-26T09:23:00.000+09:30

From Catholic Church Conservation comes a most interesting article, Iconoclasm and Liturgy, by Martin Mosebach. The rest of the blog is worth a look too as it looks very interesting.

Please pray for ...

2006-08-24T08:45:00.000+09:30

... Milly Telford-Sharp (our goddaughter-to-be) who is in hospital with Broncialitis. She is only a week away from her baptism. Please also remember her parents, sisters and brother.

Feeling sick ...

2006-08-22T09:18:00.000+09:30

I am feeling very sick today and have cancelled all my appointments. I will do some work (well, try) on the computer and have a little relax. (Maybe I can watch some more Sopranos or the Godfather!)

Since I have not slept much (only a couple of hours) I surfed the net this morning looking for inspiration. (ok, before you say anything: yes, I will say the Office and my daily Rosary soon and get some divine inspiration). I found this website: The Sectarian Strand. I had emailed the Mild Colonial Boy, Esq., from Brisbane preciously as he has a link to this blog and my other blog. Well, today I noticed the Intents & Purposes on the blog. The third worries me:

Intemperate tirades against Godlessness, Popery, Heresy, Sodomy, Fornication, Immorality, Foreign Riff-Raff, Vulgar Oafishness, a Regnant Commonwealth Government, Treasonous Balderdash, Multiculturalism, Republicanism, Radicalism, Feminism and the Monstrous Regiment of Drunken, Swearing, and Tattooed Women, and other Blights on Western Civilization.

I have not seen the word popery used in that context for sometime. Interesting how it follows on from Godlessness! Is there a logic progression?? I should not be surprised: all sorts of people have blogs - even me!

Society of Mary

2006-08-21T09:08:00.000+09:30

A couple of links to the oldest devotional society within Anglicanism:
Society of Mary (note the new website address) and a very interesting Wikipedia article.

Chelsea miracle

2006-08-20T08:04:00.000+09:30

From the Herald Sun: The Miracle of Chelsea

COULD God be living in Chelsea?

That's the question the locals are asking after a fire ripped through St Joseph's Catholic church, leaving behind some bizarre symbols.

Firefighters and demolition workers were shocked to find images of four crosses on the wall behind the church's altar.

The crosses -- two each side of the crucifix -- have many wondering whether it's a strange coincidence or an act of God.

Some parishioners are already referring to them as the "Chelsea miracle".

The blaze broke out early on Wednesday and demolition supervisor Mark Barrett first noticed the crosses later that day.

"It's a little bit freaky," he said. "I just noticed on the wall there were four metal plaques and around the plaques there were crosses surrounding them.

"It's heat deflection, I have no doubt about that, but there are other plaques around the church and there's nothing around them."

CFA fire officer Ken Evans, of Patterson River fire brigade, was also shocked when he inspected the church yesterday.

"It's very weird and spooky," he said.

Mr Evans said firefighters had commented they had never seen anything like it.

"For the smoke to form in definite shapes is very unusual," he said. "It's supernatural or something. Someone's trying to tell us something."

The papacy

2006-08-18T08:35:00.000+09:30

There is an interesting post at A conservative blog for peace, Fr Peter Robinson on the papacy.

I am always interested in how people see and understand the papal office in the wider working of the Church. So send me any links, thoughts, etc.

FSSP Ordination in Adelaide

2006-08-13T08:14:00.000+09:30

There are some photos of the recent FSSP Ordination in Adelaide on the The Liturgical Movement blog.

Benedict says ...

2006-08-08T16:23:00.000+09:30

This is too funny to pass by.

I made this at Say it ...:

Blessed Mary of the Cross

2006-08-06T13:57:00.000+09:30

For those in Australia who use the 1962 Calendar this coming Tuesday is Blessed Mary of the Cross, Virgin:

2nd Class, white
Gloria, No Creed
Common Preface
Mass: At choice from the Common of Virgins
Commemoration of S. John Vianney, at Low Mass and Lauds
NO Commemoration of S. Cyriack, Largus and Smaragdus, martyrs.

BTW: For those who use the 1970 Calendar (yeah, you'd be reading this for sure!): the Texts for the Mass and Liturgy of the Hours for this coming Tuesday, Mary MacKillop, religious,

The Solution: Missale Anglicanum

2006-08-05T11:26:00.000+09:30

I have been going through SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy by Second Vatican Council. Very interesting document. It reads at times like a schizophrenic document: points being praised just to be destroyed a paragraph later.

This struck me when I reading through:

23. That sound tradition may be retained, ... care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing.

CONCLUSION: Vatican II has not yet been meaningfully put into action. The Missale Anglicanum, updated in line with the 1962 Missale Romanum, is the Missal of Vatican II.

The ‘disaster’ of the Reformation

2006-08-04T10:42:00.000+09:30

How do we take our own sinfulness? How seriously do we take sin?

I was reflecting today before Mass about post-Reformation Christianity, especially within the broader English Catholic tradition (ie Anglicanism). As I looked around the very beautiful church of Loxton I noticed the missing Confessionals. We have been here four years and I knew that there were no Confessionals in the church but today it really hit me. In fact, I doubt I have ever seen Confessionals in any Anglican Church (nor, for that matter, in a modern Roman Church). Yes, I hear Confessions (occasionally) but there is no physical permanent reminder of the Sacrament of Penance in the church building.

The simple truth is that the greatest single disaster of the Reformation is the removal of the obligation to at least a yearly sacramental confession. Hot on the heals of this is the use of a public general absolution at Mass.

Going to Confession forces me to be serious about my sins, about my ‘offences committed against God’. It forces me to scrutinize my life in the light of God’s will and be open with my father-in-God. Have we removed the impact of our sin and thereby made Jesus’ death less important?

Here is the Canon from the Fourth Lateran Council (1215):

All the faithful of either sex, after they have reached the age of discernment, should individually confess all their sins in a faithful manner to their own priest at least once a year, and let them take care to do what they can to perform the penance imposed on them. ... If any persons wish, for good reasons, to confess their sins to another priest let them first ask and obtain the permission of their own priest; for otherwise the other priest will not have the power to absolve or to bind them. The priest shall be discerning and prudent, so that like a skilled doctor he may pour wine and oil over the wounds of the injured one. Let him carefully inquire about the circumstances of both the sinner and the sin, so that he may prudently discern what sort of advice he ought to give and what remedy to apply, using various means to heal the sick person. Let him take the utmost care, however, not to betray the sinner at all by word or sign or in any other way. If the priest needs wise advice, let him seek it cautiously without any mention of the person concerned. For if anyone presumes to reveal a sin disclosed to him in confession, we decree that he is not only to be deposed from his priestly office but also to be confined to a strict monastery to do perpetual penance.

While recently reading the Catholic Catechism, I came across this great part on sin:

Only the light of divine Revelation clarifies the reality of sin and particularly of the sin committed at mankind's origins. Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly and are tempted to explain it as merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure, etc. Only in the knowledge of God's plan for man can we grasp that sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another.

Have we made sin 'merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure' by removing the duty to confession once a year?

More Vatican II

2006-08-03T08:59:00.000+09:30

It always makes my day when this blog (or my other) gets a mention A conservative blog for peace. So to move the discussion on Vatican II along (and out of the comments section), I offer this quote from Fr Richard Neuhaus:

The party of continuity is the center. From the Council of Jerusalem to Vatican II, from Peter to John Paul II, there is—the variations, deviations, and ambiguities of history notwithstanding—a continuing and identifiable community that is the Catholic Church. There have over the centuries been much more powerful parties of discontinuity than we have experienced these past forty years. But it is to the continuing community that Jesus promised he would send the Spirit to lead us into and keep us in the truth. Even if one does not believe that promise, can anyone really believe that the likes of Garry Wills or the Society of St. Pius X are the future of the Catholic Church? The extreme discontinuants of the left are angry because their understanding of Vatican II’s promise of a preferred future, a promise that was never made, has been broken. The extreme discontinuants of the right are angry because they believe Vatican II broke a promise with a preferred past. Both live off their anger; both live off the Church that they condemn. As for the Laodicean moderates such as Mr. B and his counterparts on the right, they will, in their broadly middle way, continue to grumble incoherently about this and that. But I expect they are secretly grateful for the people who—inspired by the Second Vatican Council and in continuing communion with Peter—see visions and dream dreams for the renewal of the one Church that was, is, and will be until Our Lord returns in glory. Parties of discontinuity we will have with us always, but the center holds.

From The Public Square by Richard John Neuhaus, First Things 132 (April 2003): 72-92.

A cautionary tale

2006-08-02T17:29:00.000+09:30

I was emailed the following by a fellow priest who has given premission for it to be published.

The cautionary tale involves my attendance at a High Mass on S Peter's day at which the celebrant was a newly-ordained priest of The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter - the Latin Mass chaplains to the Archdiocese of Melbourne. A beautiful Mass with a small but expert choir which chanted the Propers according to the Liber Usualis and led the congregation in the chant of the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo.

At Communion, I was happily on my knees amongst the empty pews distracted by the detritus abandoned by the communicants queuing in the central aisle.

Suddenly, the Subdeacon (Fr Carl Gismondi FSSP) leaped from the altar step and chased a communicant along the Epistle side aisle. He was aided and abetted by two laymen (both of Marine stature if not training) who blocked the path of the fleeing young man. Fr Carl immobilized him until the younger of the other two had him in a headlock and the trio marched him out to the narthex.

Such undignified behaviour! The cause?? Fr Gismondi had noticed that the young man, having received Communion in his mouth - the FSSP adheres to the 1962 RULES as well as the RITES - put his hand to his mouth and, seeing Fr Carl looking at him, feigned a cough. Fr Carl looked away and then straight back to see the fellow removing the Host from his mouth. Then the chase was on!

No one is quite sure what the full motive behind the action was, but we may be fairly sure that he wasn't taking the Sacrament home to his sick mum.

The Host was retrieved but whether any action was taken was not announced.

There were several comments about the behaviour and the vulnerability of the Blessed Sacrament to sacrilege and blasphemy especially in a modern setting such as surrounds the 'novus ordo' with the myriad of 'Eucharistic Ministers' at points around large churches, dispensing the Blessed Sacrament rather like handing out lollies - in the hand with the hope that it is consumed 'on the run'.

Fortunately in our Anglican heritage, there is the potential for an assistant priest or a deacon to be following with the Chalice. But in an age where agnostic, athiestic, antagonistic individuals or groups are warring on any semblance of orthodoxy or Tradition, There is ALWAYS a need for vigilance.

Perhaps it may take a cumulative few minutes more to pray "The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which is given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life" whilst dispensing the Host to one communicant rather than communicating three in the space of that short sentence.

None of the faithful is likely to feel intimidated by our 'hovering' whilst they reverently consume the Host, nor will a genuine stranger mind a whispered "eat it" as the priest is on the spot - it happens with relatives and friends who just follow rather than ask - it is a small price to pay for the satisfaction of knowing that our Blessed Lord is not being subjected to further insult and indignity.

Some random thoughts on the Church and SSPX

2006-08-01T14:18:00.000+09:30

I often read and ponder the items that are periodically published by the Society of Saint Pius X. Let me preface the random thoughts below by saying that I have the greatest of sympathy for the Society’s fight for a place for the traditional rite within the western Latin Church but I instinctively feel they are heading in the wrong direction.

After the recent Chapter, SSPX issued a Declaration from the General Chapter on its relationship with the Holy See. In this Declaration are these words from Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre:

We adhere with all our heart and all our soul to Catholic Rome, guardian of the Catholic Faith and of the traditions necessary for the maintaining of that Faith, to eternal Rome, mistress of wisdom and of truth. On the contrary, we refuse, and we have always refused, to follow the Rome of neo-modernist and neo-protestant tendencies, which showed itself clearly in the Second Vatican Council and in the reforms that issued from it.

At first these words struck me as powerful words that call for action! I am not a great fan of the reforms that issued from Vatican II, especially in the area of liturgy. However I do belief that God has worked through Vatican II. On further reflection I wonder if these words do not, in some way, deny the living reality of the Church. Does the Holy Spirit guard the deposit of faith and guide the magisterium of the Church?

A quote from Adrian Fortescue, The Early Papacy, came to mind:

The position is this: There are two kinds of proof for any dogma. The main proof, the most efficient in every way, the proof which is the real motive for every Catholic, is simply that this dogma is taught now by the Church of Christ, that Christ has given to his Church his own authority, so that we can trust the Church as we trust Christ himself.

The issue is quite simple whether Christ today speaks with a living voice to the people whom he has gathered into his Body. I think that the problem lies not with Vatican II but with the reforms that issued from it. We need to be aware that the problems on the left are mirrored on the right. The call to replace the voice of the Spirit with the social norms of the 21st century is mirrored in the endeavour to place empty traditionalism at the heart of the Church. At no cost should we, in our haste to reclaim the living tradition of western Catholicism, forget that the Church that is founded by Our Lord is a living reality today: a Body with a living voice that requires of me absolute obedience.

Sancte Petre, ora pro nobis.

More pictures ...

2006-08-01T11:04:00.000+09:30

Also via The New Liturgical Movement some really cool pictures of the ordination at The Abbey of Le Barroux.

Just one small teaser with a small liturgical point:Concelebration as it should be done!!

Vestments.

2006-08-01T10:58:00.000+09:30

There are two really good post (Part I and Part II) about the origin and devlopment of vestments on The New Liturgical Movement blog. Some of the pictures look almost Anglican (of the Sarum school of liturgy).

BTW: the blog is worth a read - add it to your RSS feeds!

Freudian Slip

2006-07-25T15:36:00.000+09:30

I once went to Mass in a church where the reader of the Epistle changed the word 'Gentiles' into 'Genitals'. What does that say about that church??

Caption please.

2006-07-25T15:30:00.000+09:30

I am emailed links to all sort of websites. Today I was sent a link to the Tradition in Action website. This site has a Church Revolution in Pictures section to their website. Now, I do not agree with their sentiment but I like the pictures. So I thought I would run a small contest: Caption please. The winner will receive the honour (yeah, sure!) of having his name placed on this blog.

So here is the first picture which is looking for a caption:

The Seven Sacraments

2006-07-22T12:24:00.000+09:30

There is a collection of wondeful pictures of the Seven Sacraments at Catholic Church Conservation blog. Check them out!

Anglican Missal

2006-07-21T12:49:00.000+09:30

My attention has been draw to an on-going discussion on the Anglican Missal on a number of blogs. To be inclusive I will link to two articles in particular:

From Western Orthodoxy blog comes Protestantism vs Anglican Missal

From the Blog of Common Prayer comes Incompatibility of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the Anglican Missal

My question quite simply is: who said that the Missal tradition was in anyway compatible with either the Western Orthodox tradition or the Prayer Book tradition? It is quite plainly the western tradition made accessible for English Catholics in a post Latin culture. IMHO, what Vatican II should have done!

What happened to the Papal Coat of Arms?

2006-07-18T16:26:00.000+09:30

I was just reading the Wikipedia article on Papal Coat of Arms. At the bottom of the article is a number of examples of coat of arms for past popes. Notice anything? Sure did. Here is an example, the Papal Coat of Arms of Pius XI:Notice the keys and the tiara - signs of the papacy.

Now here is the Papal Coat of Arms of present Holy Father:The keys are there (just!) but where is the tiara?

Mary Teaches Us How To Offer Mass

2006-07-14T18:17:00.000+09:30

I found this sermon on the The London Oratory website: Mary Teaches Us How To Offer Mass. Thought it might interest someone out there in the WWW.

Here is a little quote:

I have to say also, in practical terms, how wise the Church was to insist for centuries that we receive our Lord directly onto the tongue. We may recognise that for prudential reasons, the Church allowed communion in the hand in order to prevent the scandal of disobedience from continuing. Nevertheless, considering the infinite gulf between us and our Creator and the awesome privilege of receiving him in communion, surely Mary our Mother would teach us to receive him in the humblest and most reverent way possible.

Could not have said it better myself!

RIP John Paul II

2006-07-13T15:31:00.000+09:30

There are some great pictures from a Requiem for Pope John Paul II at the FSSP Rome website.

Missals Compared!

2006-07-13T09:06:00.000+09:30

Here is a comparision of my two favourite rites of Mass (with a bad example: ie. the modern rite):

Missals Comaprison

If one would like something more scholarly (read: in Latin), here is a PDF of the traditional Monastic rites:

Synopsis Rituum

Ordination @ ICRSP

2006-07-12T13:13:00.000+09:30

There are some really great pictures of the recent ordination for Institute of Christ the King at their website. Here is a small selection:

Our oldest son has a red cassock and cotta the same!

Check out the 'cupboard' open at the side!

Better look at the cupboard.

Election time

2006-07-12T08:54:00.000+09:30

Here are some offical statememts regarding some recent elections within the traditional movement:

From FSSP:
On Friday 7 July 2006, the General Chapter of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, gathered in Wigratzbad (Germany), has elected Fr. John Berg as Superior General for a six-year term according to law. An American citizen, Fr. Berg has studied philosophy in the USA and theology in Germany (Wigratzbad) and in Rome. He has worked in pastoral ministry and as a seminary professor. Very Rev. Fr. Berg is the third Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter.

Fom SSPX:
After having verified that the forty members of the Chapter had been convoked according to the rules and after having heard the report by the Superior at the end of his term of office, the Chapter re-elected Bishop Bernard Fellay as Superior General for a twelve-year term. Fathers Niklaus Pfluger and Alain-Marc Nély were elected first and second assistants, respectively, also for twelve-year terms.

Pray for both.

Priestly Societies and Religious Orders using traditional missals

2006-07-11T15:34:00.000+09:30

This is not a complete list but only those who have a web-presence:

N.B. This is not my list. It came to me via ctngreg and is the work of Peadar Laighléis.

Apostolic Adminstration of St. John Mary Vianney
Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest
Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer
Institute of St. Philip Neri
Benedictines – Clear Creek
Benedictines – Fontgombault
Benedictines – Gaussan
Benedictines – Le Barroux
Benedictines – Randol
Benedictines – St. Pierre de Clairac
Religious Institute of the Holy Cross of Riaumont
Canons Regular of the Mother of God
Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem
Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel

Female Traditionalist Communities
Benedictines – Le Barroux
Canonesses of the Mother of God
Oblates of Mary, Queen of Apostles
Adoratrices du Coeur Royal de Jésus-Christ Souveraine Prêtre

Corpus Christi

2006-06-17T16:52:00.000+09:30

Via Juventum, from FSSP Melbourne:

Icons and the western tradition

2006-06-13T11:02:00.000+09:30

The picture above comes via All Too Common blog and is of the St. Michael's Conference.

I have nothing against the S. Michael's Conference - in fact, I think it is a great idea. But the picture makes me wonder about the use of icons within the western liturgical tradition. I know it common is some places but I wonder why? Are icons part of the western tradition?

"Anglican" monastic communites

2006-06-09T11:50:00.000+09:30

Okay, my little depressed bit on Elmore Abbey has awaked some people. I do not think there are any Traditional Anglo-Papist communities anywhere anymore. (Anyone interested in joining me in forming one?) Nashdom is gone and nothing and no-one has taken its place.

Here are a couple of links which may be of interest to someone:
Alton Abbey
S. Benedict's Abbey, Bartonville (mentioned on the Alton Abbey website).

More on Elmore.

2006-06-09T11:17:00.000+09:30

From a comment:

Do you mean the former abbot has been dispensed of his vows and gone into secular life? Is he still an active priest? Has Elmore been downgraded from an abbey to a priory because there are too few monks?

Yes, the abbot has been dispensed of his vows and is now, according to the Record, doing voluntary work as an assistant priest at the Church of the Advent of Christ the King, San Francisco. In fact, he is listed on the website as an associate priest.

In his letter to the community, quoted in the Record, he writes:

the last ten years or so .... have been years of disappointment in that the community has not seen the hoped-for growth; indeed, we have steadily reduced in numbers and monastic life generally has, in my view, deteriorated as a result. They have not been happy years; indeed, I regard the past few years as the unhappiest of my life.

No, the abbey has not been downgraded officially.

Elmore Abbey

2006-06-08T15:13:00.000+09:30

I just received a copy of the Elmore Abbey Record for 2005/2006. It includes the sad news that Dom Basil, Abbot of Elmore, has been secularised by the Archbishop of Canterbury on the 14/11/2005. The abbey has elected Dom Simon Jarrat as the Conventual Prior due to the decrease in monks.

I wonder what Dom Gregory Dix would think of his brethren?

Liberalisation of the Traditional Rite?

2006-06-08T10:58:00.000+09:30

[I wrote this a couple of days ago but have been unsure about posting it. Today's comment by Mr DG Fulton has helped me make up my mind and post!]

The recent Paschal Feast brought with it speculations concerning the possible liberalisation of the Traditional Rite by the Holy Father. I, for one, was deeply disappointed when the rumours did not give birth to anything but numerous blog entries. The rumours are again gaining weight towards a possible document being released in October.

Yet in reflection, I have been wondering if any liberalisation of the Traditional Rite will make any difference. I always thought that Universal Indult was a misnomer. But is it?

If, as has been suggested, the Holy Father in an attempt to move the Society of Saint Pius X back into the Roman fold gives permission for the use of the 1962 to all priests within the Western Latin tradition, will this move change anything? NO! Why? The very same priests are still bond by the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Any move towards a wider use of the Traditional Rite would be incomplete without a corespondent move in Canon Law. It would remain an Indult and not a matter of Law!

Let’s just look at a few examples: a) the Communion Fast (changed from the midnight the night before to an hour before Communion); b) Holy Days of obligation (often now moved to Sunday eg Ascension and Corpus Christi); c) days of Abstience removed.

In addition to a liberalisation of the Traditional Rite, a canonical existence needs to be brought forward. Maybe a uniate rite for Traditional Catholics? This would give a long-term canonical existence to the tradition rite.

Archbishop Hepworth

2006-06-07T16:51:00.000+09:30

I have to post the occasional Anglican picture to show that I am an Anglo-Papist, so here it goes:
The picture is from S. Mary of the Angles, Hollywood and the bishop in the picture is the Most Rev'd John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion.

TAP Picture - Requiem

2006-06-07T08:21:00.000+09:30

I have been enjoying reading the Orbis Catholicvs blog. Today I found this picture:I must admit I have never seen a Missal like that. It must be a Requiem Missal (I hope) and not something more sinister.

SSPX and the Holy See

2006-06-06T08:53:00.000+09:30

Via Santo Stupido!

Rome Losing interest in reconciliation with SSPX?.

In a homily preached to participants in the SSPX pilgrimage, Bishop Fellay illustrated the extent of Lefebvrist disaffection from Rome, saying that the modern Church leadership was engaged in "suicide" because Catholicism had renounced its missionary spirit.

Sounds more like SSPX is not interested in reconciliation with Rome!

What does this mean for the Traditional Rite?

Anglican Marianists

2006-06-04T18:00:00.000+09:30

I found the page (via Anglo-Catholic Central) of The Community of Anglican Marianists. It looks very interesting. Does anyone know something more about them?

BTW: How do people feel about the Luminous Mysteries? Do you use them?

TAP Picture - Dominican Liturgy

2006-06-01T17:06:00.000+09:30

Via Orbis Catholicvs. A Dominican priest about to say Mass in the traditional Dominican Rite at Rome's Angelicum. Check the blog for more pictures. From the blog: Here's the scoop: During this 2005-2006 academic year, there has been a weekly Mass every Friday at one o'clock for studetns and faculty, in the Dominican Rite, at Rome's famed Pontifical Univeristy of Saint Thomas Aquinas. I do love the traditional Dominican Rite and were my life different (ie if I did not have the love of my life and five children) I would join the Fraternite Saint-Vincent-Ferrier in a second.

Here is a picture of a Dominican Missal.

Conformity vs Obedience

2006-06-01T15:52:00.000+09:30

Yes, I am still on about that.

I am troubled by the confusion amongst a large portion of people between Anglo-CATHOLIC and Anglo-PAPIST. It appears, to some, that Anglo-Papist is a stronger version of Anglo-Catholic: those who refer to the pope as the Holy Father and speak of the Holy See. I will not even attempt to try to define the adjective Traditional but just to focuses in on a definition of Anglo-Papist.

To me the easiest way to philosophise about the difference is in terms of obedience and conformity. At the root of this difference is, of course, ecclesiology. Is there a living voice for God in the Church today which requires my obedience? Or is Tradition disembodied? Can I just adopt the liturgical usage of another Communion without needing to obey that Communion in matters of Faith and Morals?

Conformity is defined as the act of consciously maintaining a certain degree of similarity (in clothing, manners, behaviors, etc.) … Usually, conformity implies a tendency to submit to others in thought and behavior other than simply clothing choice. Conformity does not include the idea of authority, especially an authority which has a divine claim on me.

Obedience starts with the question of authority: whom must I obey? By definition that someone must be outside of myself. Yes, above all else I must obey God and seek to be a saint in my daily life. Yet how does God speak to me today? Does God have a living voice in the world today? I think Fortescue puts it well in his book The Early Papacy:

The only real standard is a living authority, an authority alive in the world at this moment, that can answer your difficulties, reject a false theory as it arises and say who is right in disputed interpretations of ancient documents.

So, as opposed to conformity, obedience is behavior intended to comply with explicit demands of authority.

So the Anglo-Papist Spencer Jones could write in 1930: "... our differences [with Rome] are due to our separation, not our separation to our differences".

So some interesting articles on the topic of obedience from a traditional (sometimes tradionalist) point of view:
Michael Davies, True and False Obedience - Part I
Michael Davies, True and False Obedience - Part II
SSPX District Superior's Letter to Friends & Benefactors December 2004

Our Lady Virgin an Queen

2006-05-31T08:51:00.000+09:30

Today the Church calls us to celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen - or sometimes called Our Lady Virgin and Queen (as in my 1962 Missal). I notice (with some confusion) that the Anglican Breviary does not include the festival of Our Lady Virgin and Queen.

On a personal note, this morning while saying Mass I was praying about a number of things. First, I have been considering joining the Society of Mary. Somehow I cannot send the Application for Membership away. Maybe I am just not a joiner. Second, I found the statue of Our Lady (on the left) at the bottom of a cupboard in the vestry. I cannot quite work out how I missed it before. So I have replaced in its rightful place. It is not a cheap mass produced statue either - the artist signed the back. Loxton has a number of original artworks, most noteably the Stations of the Cross. They are know as the Loxton Stations and there is a copy is a cathedral somewhere in England. SO I was praying and I wondering why the statue of Our Lady was hidden in the cupboard.

BTW: I found the following article on Wikipedia on the Society of the Holy Cross.

SSPX and Rome

2006-05-28T11:52:00.000+09:30

From an interview with Bishop Fellay which first appeared on the DICI website on 1st April 2006:

The two preliminary conditions: liberalization of the use of Saint Pius V missal and withdrawal of the excommunication – are meant, beyond the traditional faithful, for the good of the whole Church. It is a question of allowing Tradition to recover its right of citizenship in the Church and to prove itself in fieldwork. In this manner we can help Rome to solve the crisis in the Church. These two preliminary conditions work – according to the theological expression – as a removen prohibens, they must remove the interdicts which prevent Tradition from acting practically, pastorally.

The Ascension

2006-05-25T17:14:00.000+09:30

I read this on the FSSP Melbourne website:

The Solemnity of the Ascension will be celebrated liturgically this Thursday. There will be an 11.00am Low Mass and a 7.30pm Solemn Mass. However, currently in Australia, the obligation attached to this Solemnity is fulfilled by attendance at Mass next Sunday.

Something is wrong when one can fulfill one's obligation but never hear the Mass of the Ascension. This Sunday is the Sunday after the Ascension (with it's own Mass).

Anyway, blessed Ascension of Our Lord (to those who have kept it today!).

Fr Neuhaus on liturgy

2006-05-24T12:29:00.000+09:30

Father Richard John Neuhaus (Lutheran convert to Catholicism) has released a new book, "Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy and the Splendor of Truth" (Basic Books).

In an interview with Zenit, Fr Neuhaus said the following:

Q: A major theme in your book is the importance of a revitalized liturgy for renewing Catholic life. How do you see that occurring?

Father Neuhaus: Don't get me started. The banality of liturgical texts, the unsingability of music that is deservedly unsung, the hackneyed New American Bible prescribed for use in the lectionary, the stripped-down architecture devoted to absence rather than Presence, the homiletical shoddiness.

Where to begin? A "high church" Lutheran or Anglican - and I was the former - braces himself upon becoming a Catholic.

The heart of what went wrong, however, and the real need for a "reform of the reform" lies in the fatal misstep of constructing the liturgical action around our putatively amazing selves rather than around the surpassing wonder of what Christ is doing in the Eucharist.

Read the whole Zenit interview.

Our Lady, Help of Christians

2006-05-24T11:12:00.000+09:30

Today is the Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians. In Australia it is a First Class Feast as she is the Patroness of Australia.

I said Mass this morning at 8:00am (with Eli serving). It was -4 degrees when we started. How did monks say Mass in those medieval monasteries in the middle of the winter in Europe?

Anyway, blessed feast to you all in Australia.

Sancta María. Ora pro nobis.

Rogation Monday

2006-05-23T15:56:00.001+09:30

Today according to the 1962 Calendar is Rogation Monday. Before Mass today the people of God implore the intercession of the saints saying the Litany of the Saints in procession. The Catholic Encyclopedia gives these liturgical uses of the Litany of the Saints:

Three forms of the Litany of the Saints are at present in liturgical use.

First form. The form given above is prescribed by the Roman Ritual at the laying of the corner-stone of a new church, at the blessing or reconciliation of the same or of a cemetery, in the rite of blessing the people and fields in virtue of a special papal indult, for the major and minor Rogation Days, in the procession and prayers to obtain rain or fine weather, to avert storms and tempests, in time of famine or war, to escape mortality or in time of pestilence, in any tribulation, during the translation of relics, in solemn exorcisms of the possessed, and at the Forty Hours' Devotion. The Roman Pontifical, besides the occasions given in the Ritual, orders its recitation in the conferring of major orders, in the consecration of a bishop, benediction of an abbot or abbess, consecration of virgins, coronation of a king or queen, consecration of a church, expulsion and readmission of public penitents on Maundy Thursday, and in the "Ordo ad Synodum".

Second form. Another form is given in the Roman Missal for Holy Saturday and the Vigil of Pentecost. It is an abbreviation of the other. Each verse and response must be duplicated in this litany and in that chanted on Rogation Days (S.R.C., 3993, ad 4).

Third form. A third form is in the "Commendatio" of the Roman Ritual, in which the invocations and supplications are specially chosen to benefit the departing soul about to appear before its Maker (Holzhey, "Thekla-Akten", 1905, 93). This and the preceding form may not be used on other occasions (S.R.C., 2709, ad 1).

Here are some links to the Litany of the Saints:
From EWTN.
From Pope John Paul II Funeral.
In Latin and English from www.breviary.net.

As you asked ...

2006-05-21T07:36:00.000+09:30

Someone posted a comment about the register of Missal Masses around the world. I confess through illness, Holy Week, computer things, and parish work I have not updated it or kept it running. I am very sorry. It is one of the orginal reasons for this blog and I was planning to post something on a weekly bases.

There is a Draft Register avaiable in the archives and I am planning something more solid on a separate website. Also maybe some resources on updating the 1985 English Missal to bring it in line with the 1962 Missale Romanum. So if you do not see the name of your favourite Missal parish, let me know and I will add it and repost the list again.

Please pray for me as I have to travel today to go to Synod and MC the liturgical functions.

More Papalism

2006-05-20T11:07:00.000+09:30

Mr Yelton emailed me privately this morning and among other things he mentioned:

I should not think Anglican Papalism will go into paperback, as the market for that sort of thing is fairly limited. They printed between 950 and 1000 and when I last heard had sold about 550. That was before a review by Fr Leech in the Church Times which was very encouraging. Canterbury are pleased with the sales so far and are hoping to sell it out.

So don't wait for the paperback.

Books

2006-05-19T08:46:00.000+09:30

I have finished the two books I was reading (Williamson and Fortescue) so I went back to Yelton's Papalism to re-read it last night. I stumbled across this quote from Spencer John Jones in in his book Catholic Reunion:
... our differences (with Rome) are due to our separation, not our separation to our differences.
It puts into words everything which Anglican Papalism is all about.

On another note: I have been inspired to try my hand at podcasting and will soonish publish the first edition of the Traditional Anglo-Papist Podcast. The name still needs some work but I am planning to work a little more on a definition of Anglican Papalism with particular attention on the Tradition element. Any comments and suggestions are most welcome!

Hugh Ross Williamson

2006-05-17T16:00:00.000+09:30

Along with The Early Papacy I am reading Hugh Ross Williamson's autobiography, The Walled Garden. It has some interesting inside material from one who was an Anglo-Papist but later converted to Rome. In fact, the book has an interesting Appendix: On My Reasons for supposing one could be a Cathcolic Priest in the Church of England. I will quote material from the book when I have time.

The Early Papacy

2006-05-17T11:51:00.000+09:30

I am reading The Early Papacy: To the Synod of Chalcedon in 451 by Adrian Fortescue. It is, in part, written against the Anglo-Papist position which Fortescue calls the Romanising section of the High Church group.

Of great interest is the summary of the rights of the Pope in Chapter 3 What are the Papal Claims?:

What we believe about the rights of the Pope is contained in these four points: (1) The Pope is the chief bishop, primate and leader of the whole Church of Christ on earth. (2) He has episcopal jurisdiction over all members of the Church. (3) To be a member of the Catholic Church a man must be in communion with the Pope. (4) The providential guidance of God will see to it that the Pope shall never commit the Church to error in any matter of religion.

Apostolic Succession

2006-05-11T09:30:00.000+09:30

Here is an article about yesterday's general audience: Only true apostolic succession guarantees loyalty to the Gospel.

Benedict XVI, partly improvising and reading off his prepared speech, highlighted the role of the Church of Rome, “sign, criterion and guarantee of the uninterrupted transmission of the apostolic faith” in the context of apostolic succession. ... the words spoken by the pope today cannot but appear to be a stress on bishops’ need for a relationship “with Peter”.

Email group

2006-05-05T13:26:00.000+09:30

Mr Goings excellent comment to my last post has given me an idea: an email discussion group. So I have set up an Yahoo Group. Anything Anglo-Papist is open for discussion. I have not set any restriction on the group but be warned - I will!

Towards a definition …

2006-05-02T10:34:00.000+09:30

The comments on the entry concerning Michael Yelton's book (thank you to Mr Goings and Mr Fulton) have made me think about how one may define Anglican Papalism, or what may the theology of an Anglo-Papist look like?

I think there is a natural development from the Oxford Movement and the Tractarian emphases on Apostolic Succession and Anglican Papalism. The Anglo-Papist world view adds to the Tractarian one. Maybe Anglo-Catholicism (whatever that may be in the 21st century) adds very little to the Tracatrian movement and lives, to some extend, within the theological and philosophical sphere of the Oxford Movement. Without a doubt most Anglo-Catholics have adopted Roman liturgical norms but have they a philosophical or historical criteria for doing so? Some Anglo-Catholics have adopted Eastern liturgical practises but for what reason?

Brooke Lunn, Couturier and the Church Unity Octave: from Anglican Papalists to the Present Day defines Anglican Papalism as those who are:

... convinced that the fullness of the Church is to be found both in the local Church, the bishop and his people, and in the universal Church, the communion of all the Church with the Church of Rome, the Apostolic See

I would like to add to this definition. The Anglo-Papist, through experience, knows that Apostolic Succession cannot be removed from the context of the Church and obedience to the Tradition of that Church. A mechanical touchy-feely view of Apostolic Succession is not the answer. Apostolic Succession does not create the Church but continues and sustains it.

The Anglo-Papist finds themselves within the context of the western Catholic Tradition. Through an accident of history, the Anglo-Papist finds themselves in schism with the Patriarch of the West. This "sin agaist the unity of the Church" has to be overcome on a cooperate not individual bases.

The Anglo-Papist has no choice but to express their obedience within the context of the liturgy. The Traditional Anglo-Papist’s natural movement is towards the Missal (whether English, Anglican, or American). But note: the liturgy not an Anglo-Papist makes!

More Anglican Papalism

2006-05-02T08:13:00.000+09:30

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. The mother of all flus has turned into a chest infection with a strained chest muscle (from the coughing) both of which are rather painfull. I have been spending my days in front of the heater sleeping.

However, this morning I did find the following review from the Church Times on Michael Yelton's book. I thought some may be interested. I will also post my thoughts later today about how we may define Anglican Papalism in the modern context.

Anglican Papalism

2006-04-23T16:18:00.000+09:30

In the midst of the mother of all flus, I have just finished Michael Yelton's Anglican Papalism: An Illustrated History 1900-1960.

I think the book has some major holes and a very confusing approach. Yet it has sparked my interest. I may review it more fully later. However at the moment I would just like to add that the narrow focus in the last chapter on Forward in Faith being the 'only force to draw Anglo-Catholicism together' is misleading. It ignores the whole of the Traditional Anglican Communion and the continuing churches. In fact, the TAC has put into action the philosophy of the very Anglican Papists described in the book.

Here are a couple of links to websites of interest which arise in the book:
The Catholic League
The Walsingham Archives
Pilgrimage to Egmanton 2005

PS. I am always happy to hear what others think!

Motu Proprio

2006-04-12T20:42:00.000+09:30

Just catching up on Vatican speak.

Pope Benedict XVI is said to be issuing a Motu Proprio in which he will speak about the future of the Traditional Mass. In case, like me, you do not know what that means, a Motu Proprio is:

... the certain papal rescripts ... that the provisions of the rescript were decided on by the pope personally, that is, not on the advice of the cardinals or others, but for reasons which he himself deemed sufficient. The document has generally the form of a decree: in style it resembles a Brief rather than a Bull, but differs from both especially in not being sealed or countersigned. ... It begins by stating the reason inducing the sovereign pontiff to act, after which is stated the law or regulation made, or the favour granted, It is signed, personally by the pope, his name and the date being always in Latin.

Conservative vs. Traditional Catholicism

2006-04-12T17:15:00.000+09:30

I have always liked what Fr. Chad Ripperger, F.S.S.P. has to say. His website, Sensus Traditionis, is worth a look, espeically if you like Thomistic philosophy. I found a very interesting article on The Latin Mass website by Fr Ripperger, Conservative vs. Traditional Catholicism. Here is a little quote:

In 1996, a group of friends had lunch in Rome at the Czechoslovakian college. One of the priests who offers Mass according to the new rite was a bit dumbfounded. He had written an article in which he had discussed certain aspects of the liturgical reform. His puzzlement came from the fact that traditionalists had attacked his article and he could not understand why. A traditionalist seminarian said to the priest, “We agree that something has to be done about the liturgy, but we do not agree on what should be done.” Traditionalists and neoconservatives often find each other mystifying, and the reason for this has to do with the relationship each position holds with respect to ecclesiastical tradition.

I think the article illustrates some of the modern problems in theological discussion quite well. Maybe, in the broader Anglican context, we can see the article as descriptive of on-going confusion over issues between those who are Anglo-Catholic (or who may like to consider themselves Anglo-Papist) and those who are Traditional Anglo-Papist. This confusion illustrates an underlying difference in how theology is done. After all Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi or Lege rubrum, si vis intelligere nigrum.

Document on the Sacred Liturgy

2006-04-12T15:22:00.000+09:30

The following is from the official FSSP Melbourne website:

It now appears certain that the Holy Father has signed a significant document on the Sacred Liturgy, and on the classical Latin liturgy in particular. We will let you know as soon as further details are to hand.

I think the document has gone from rumour to a certainity. But what will it say? While reflecting up this and the various other rumours on the liberalisation of the Traditional Latin liturgy, it struck me that the Holy Father may do something completely different. Don't get me wrong: I will be dancing on the Rectory lawn with nothing but my biretta when the Holy Father announces the general use of the 1962 liturgical books. (Maybe a small point here: it is not a General Indult. It is the universal use of the 1962 liturgical books!)

But if this document, say, returned the altars of the world to their traditional position (against the east wall of the church) I would be no less happy. Even if the document only mentions the Traditional rite of Mass (which the recent document after the Syond on the Eucharist did not do) I would be happy. If this document encouraged people to enter into the living Tradition of the Western Latin Rite through the 1962 litugical books, I would be happy.

Maybe we are just asking too much, too quickly! My point: We need (in Anglican and Roman Catholic circles) to bring the traditional rites of Mass (and the Office) back on the agenda. These need to be celebrated within a parish context – not as museum pieces but as the living tradition of the Western Latin Catholic Rite. We need to be focused on showing people (especially the young) the beauty of the traditional Mass, lifting them up to heaven to meet their Saviour, and gathering around the Throne of Grace with all the Saints and angels. In short, we need to move beyond the minimalism and nominalism of our age and return to a classical world view based upon the philosophy of S. Thomas, the liturgy of the western Church, and an ecclesiology which is solidly based in the tradition of the Church. If this document signed by the Holy Father is the first step, let us rejoice! Of course after Easter.

From Dominicanus

2006-04-08T14:46:00.000+09:30

There is a good post from Dominicanus about the Indult rumours:

The puzzling silence from Rome on the question seems to me upon reflection to be entirely intelligible and in all our best interests. The numerous Indult parties would obviously interfere with the solemnity due to Holy Week. Too festive a spirit in the midst of Passiontide would not be decorous.

And all those sacristy fights - with young priests victoriously waving the latest decrees at the grey army before Mass - ought to take place at a less solemn time of the year.

Or maybe nothing is happening and prayer, penance and almsgiving are best after all.

Breaking News

2006-04-08T08:36:00.000+09:30

Via Argent by the Tiber and Santo Stupido!:

According to Radio Vatican the Holy Father will promulgate a "motu proprio" liberalizing the Mass of St. Pius V. Time to tune in to Radio Vaticana.

Further from The New Liturgical Movement:

Today Vatican Radio has announced that His Holiness Benedict PP XVI has signed a document about the Rite of the Mass, as has been foreseen on this blog. The document will in all probability be published on the occasion Maundy Thursday.

Let us pray for the right outcome of these rumours. Let us beseech Our Lady that the Traditional Mass is returned to its rightful place within the western liturgical tradition.

Praying Holy Week with the Pope

2006-04-05T10:43:00.000+09:30

Via Shouts in the Piazza, here are the Holy Week activities for the Holy Father:

SUNDAY, April 9: Palm Sunday of Our Lord's Passion. 21st World Youth Day on the theme: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." At 9.30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father will bless palms and olive branches and, at the end of the procession, will celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Passion.

THURSDAY, April 13: Holy Thursday. In St. Peter's Basilica at 9.30 a.m., the Holy Father will preside at the concelebration of the Chrism Mass with cardinals, bishops, and diocesan and religious priests present in Rome, as a sign of the close union between the pastor of the Universal Church and his brothers in the priestly ministry. The Easter Triduum of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection will begin in the Basilica of St. John Lateran at 5.30 p.m. with the Mass of Our Lord's Last Supper. The Holy Father will preside at the concelebration of the Mass. After the homily, the rite of the washing of the feet of 12 priests will take place. At the end of the celebration the Blessed Sacrament will be transferred to the chapel of reposition.

FRIDAY, April 14: Good Friday. The Holy Father will preside at the celebration of the Passion of Our Lord in the Vatican Basilica at 5 p.m. He will lead the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum at 9.15 p.m.

SATURDAY, April 15: Easter Saturday. The Easter Vigil will begin at 10.00 p.m. in St. Peter's Basilica, when the Pope will bless the new fire in the atrium of the church. After the entrance procession with the Easter candle and the singing of the "Exultet," he will preside at the Liturgy of the Word and the Baptismal and Eucharistic liturgies, which he will concelebrate with the cardinals.

SUNDAY, April 16: Easter Sunday. At 10.30 a.m., Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Square, after which he will impart the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing ("to the city and the world") from the central balcony of the Vatican Basilica.

Source: VIS

Requiescat In Pace

2006-04-02T15:40:00.000+09:30

Ioannes Paulus PP. II
Karol Wojtyla

16.X.1978 - 2.IV.2005

Rest eternal grant him, O Lord;
and let light perpetual shine upon them.

Marini speaks - Outside the Liturgical Reform, there is no Church

2006-04-01T15:05:00.000+10:30

I know this is a little old but I thought I would share it with you. Here is an interview with the Papal Master of Ceremonies and his views on the liturgical reforms of the 1970s. Be warned: this is not pleasant:

The Tridentine rite or that of Saint Pius V, which in reality is the Missale Romanum aggiornato according to the last dispositions of 1962 by the work of John XXIII, was left in place under certain conditions to avoid a traumatic passage from the old rite to the new for the older faithful. Afterwards, pope Wojtyla allowed that, in certain churches, the rite of Saint Pius V could be celebrated. But to walk beyond this is to walk beyond the Church, and that cannot be done. If the liturgy is a sign of unity for the Church, I cannot establish groups of faithful who at a certain day and at a certain time pray in one way, then another group who in another time pray otherwise. And then we come to the Lefebvrists

and

It must be clear once and for all: they must accept what the Second Vatican Council has decided, otherwise no reconciliation will be possible. And then, what do these people want? The majority of the faithful has adapted itself; without the new rite, which was not a child of the Curia but a work of international inspiration, the celebrations and foreign trips of pope Wojtyla would have been impossible to make. Now, because they cannot adapt, what is the difference?

Read the whole article, Marini speaks - Outside the Liturgical Reform, there is no Church, for the full story. There is a response to the Papal MC, Is the New Mass Really a Return to Patristic Sources? by Fr. Romano Thommasi.

Could not pass this over ...

2006-04-01T11:25:00.000+10:30

From Shouts in The Piazza:

"No, Piero, in liturgy our focus isn't out there on them...it's on Him."

Universal Use of 1962 Missal.

2006-04-01T08:33:00.000+10:30

Via Catholic News Agency:

Universal approval of Latin Missal could be on the way

Vatican City, Mar. 31, 2006 (CNA) - The St. Pius V Missal, which the Catholic Church used until 1962 before it was replaced by the new ordinary following the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, could be approved for universal use, according to sources close to the Vatican.

The decision on the use of the Missal, which was the subject of consultations between Pope Benedict XVI, the cardinals of the Church and the heads of the different Vatican diacasteries, could be announced after another meeting the Pope has scheduled for April 7 with Curia leaders.

The Pius V Missal contains the Mass celebrated in Latin according to the “Tridentine” rite and is currently allowed only with the permission of the local bishop. Universal approval would mean the traditional rite could be celebrated freely throughout the world by priests who wish to do so.

The move is not directly related to the Lefebvrist schism, since as a theologian the Pontiff had always expressed in interest in bringing back the rite. Nevertheless, Vatican sources note that this would be an important step in resolving the schism, as the possibility of freely celebrating the Mass of St Pius V is one of the points of contention with the Lefebvrists.

In July, the Society of St. Pius X—known as the Lefebvrists—will elect a new superior. The group will chose between openness to reconciliation embodied in the current superior Bernard Fellay or the decidedly anti-Vatican stance of Richard Williamson, another of the four bishops illicitly consecrated by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

It also means that it is no longer an Indult but a part of the living Tradition of the Western Catholic Church. In effect, the Latin part of the Roman Catholic Church would become bi-ritual.

New 1962 Missal?

2006-03-30T15:14:00.000+10:30

From Dominicanus.

Liturgical Gossip
I have it from reliable sources:

1) that the new translation of the Roman Missal will be out sooner rather than later - this year or next.

2) the French Benedictines are about to publish, under the authority of the Pope, a new edition of the 1962 Missal which will include the additions to the sanctoral cycle since 1962 and some of the praefationes from the 1969 Missal. A Benedictine Missal in both senses!

The second seems very interesting and encouraging. It shows that Rome sees the 1962 Missal as a living tradition (with the inclusion of additions to the sanctoral cycle). However, one would hope not all of the new prefaces will be included.

Good comment

2006-03-29T12:34:00.000+10:30

I was very impressed with this comment on the Organic Growth? post, I thought I would move it out for everone to see:

Paul Goings said...

Well, yes, ghastly, and not in conformity with even the new liturgical rules.

However, these aberrations are by-and-large exceptions. Much more distressing are churches which advertise themselves as "Traditional Roman Catholic" or "Traditional Anglo-Catholic" but have few, if any, week-day Masses, and celebrations of the Divine Office (especially Sunday Vespers!) are totally absent.

And before anyone brings up the many places where these things would be difficult or impossible (priests who bi-vocational and such) please understand that I am not talking about such situations.

Very right Mr Goings! What has happened to the Daily Office? It is part of the Anglican ethos we all value so much. Where is Vespers and Benediction? Where are the weekday Masses?

Nominalism?

2006-03-29T12:28:00.000+10:30

Have you noticed how parts of the liturgy have changed name (almost overnight): Introit to Entrance Antiphon, Collect to Opening Prayer, Secret to Prayer over the Gifts, Canon to Eucharistic Prayers, Mass to Eucharist. (I have noticed the use of some or all of these terms within even traditional Anglo-Papist circles!) To early Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Papists names have always been very important. In the past the use of the term Mass, in contrast to Holy Communion or the modern day use of Eucharist, placed a church within the advanced group of churchmanship.

SO what does all of this mean?

The General Introduction to the Roman Missal speaks of the A witness to the unbroken tradition in the Sacramentary of Paul VI. So why the change in names? Why not just keep the name unless there is a major shift in emphases and theology?

I think all of this is another sign of the predominate philosophy of the ‘committee’: nominalism. Nominalism is:

… best understood in contrast to realism. Philosophical realism holds that when we use descriptive terms such as "green" or "tree," the Forms of those concepts really exist, independently of world in an abstract realm. Nominalism, by contrast, holds that ideas represented by words have no real existence beyond our imaginations.

Not just does the new Mass (the Sacramentary of Paul VI) have a bad philosophical concept of history but it is also weighed down under nominalism. The emphases on the cerebral over against the whole person (body/mind) grows out of this philosophy which lives in contrast to the major philosophy of the Western Catholic Church, Thomism.

Is it such a large step from the name changing within the liturgy of the Church to the name changing in relation to God?

Organic growth?

2006-03-28T08:30:00.000+10:30

ORIGINAL CAPTION: Dressed in multicolored vestments, from left, Father Fausto Stampiglia, pastor of St. Martha Parish; Father Gavin Griffith of Monterrey, Calif., seated; Bishop John Kinney of St. Cloud, Minn.; Father Charles Watkins of Chicago; and Father Jim Challancin of Crystal Falls, Mich., concelebrated the circus Mass Jan. 15.

Bishop Kinney gets extra points for wearing the stole over the multicolored vestment. Hmmm... is this the organic growth of the 1970s Sacramentary? If so, what tree is it growing from?

From Circus Mass celebrates unique national ministry in The Florida Catholic.

Laetare Sunday

2006-03-27T08:28:00.000+10:30

The Holy Father in rose coloured vestements for the Fourth Sunday of Lent.

Thanks to Whispers in the Loggia

Requiescat in pace

2006-03-25T23:01:00.000+10:30

From Rorate Caeli:

15 years ago, Archbishop Marcel-François Lefebvre died in Martigny, Switzerland, on the anniversary of the most blessed Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and of the Incarnation of God. Regardless of one's opinion of some events of his life, or of some of his decisions, or of some of his stronger words, it would be wrong not to acknowledge that without him the struggle for the preservation of much of what we cherish would probably have been lost. That 15 years after his death "the question of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre" is still discussed in the highest halls of the Church shows that the global movement for the advancement of the Traditional Roman Rite is inseparably linked to this passionate man, whose name still causes passionate discussions.

More on development

2006-03-25T17:26:00.000+10:30

To further discussion, here is an interesting article, Is the New Mass really a return to Patristic Sources?.

It is no wonder that the artificial construct of the New Mass is always changing and being modified as it will always be at least a decade behind the current fads with which it seeks to be in synch, since the principle theoretical means by which the new Mass has relevance is by its ability to communicate with the modern mentality and needs of a particular people of the modern age only. The Mass' value has become its functional utility to communicate, and no longer does it emphasize the eternal transcendent nature of the sacrifice which depends on no culture or ritual, but upon fidelity to the apostolic traditions known only in the forms which have been handed down to use through the centuries in the ancient Mass, not through the interpretations and abstractions of European scholars who have only of late invented a new science of liturgiology, which is liable to all the limitations and deficiencies contracted by the curse of original sin.

Clear Creek

2006-03-24T08:34:00.000+10:30

I truly enjoyed this post from Notes of a Thirsty Scribe on Clear Creek Monastery. We have nothing remotely like it in Australia so I have to keep living through other people's visits.

The monastery has a web-presence which explains the origins of the monastery. In case you are unaware, it uses the 1962 liturgical books for the Benedictine Order. Some very nice pictures with the blog entry.

S. Thomas Aquinas

2006-03-24T08:23:00.000+10:30

We exhort you, venerable brethren, in all earnestness to restore the golden wisdom of St. Thomas, and to spread it far and wide for the defense and beauty of the Catholic faith, for the good of society, and for the advantage of all the sciences.

Leo XIII, Aeterni Patris:31

Why I do not like the new Mass

2006-03-23T08:21:00.000+10:30

Okay, the name of this entry is a little bit misleading. I thought I would post some pictures (freely avaiable on the net) that illustrate what the liturgical reforms of the 1970s have brought us. Here is a good started:
Reason 1: Liturgical Dance!

Thanks to Dominicanus

A Relic anyone?

2006-03-22T10:52:00.000+10:30

Here is something which every Traditional Anglo-Papist needs in their church, or their private Oratory.

Please note:

Can. 1190 §1. It is absolutely forbidden to sell sacred relics.

§2. Relics of great significance and other relics honored with great reverence by the people cannot be alienated validly in any manner or transferred permanently without the permission of the Apostolic See.

Thanks to Liturgeist at Juventutem

Sacred Stillness

2006-03-22T10:43:00.000+10:30

Here is a further article on the Silent Canon, A Sacred Stillness Reigns by Michael Davies. Any comments most welcome!

Reform of the Liturgy?

2006-03-20T19:13:00.000+10:30

Here is a little quote for the discussion, from the Preface to Reform of the Roman Liturgy by Msgr Klaus Gamber:

In the place of the liturgy as the fruit of development came fabricated liturgy. We abandoned the organic, living process of growth and development over the centuries and replaced it - as in a manufacturing process - with a fabricated, a banal on-the-spot product. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1993)

Reform of the Reform?

2006-03-18T11:52:00.000+10:30

Some people have asked questions about my ‘idea’ of Liturgical Development, particularly in relationship to the Sacramentary of Paul VI. Let me illustrate my point a little.

The Missal of Pius V, sometimes called the Tridentine Missal, was codified in 1570. The word which is important here is codified. The Missal of Pius V did not create a tradition or renew a tradition, it put into one unified book the liturgical life of the Western Latin Church. Those who could show a tradition of more then 200 years were allowed to continue that tradition. The rest received the codified tradition of the Missal of Pius V. This codified Missal of Pius V has been added to until its present form of the authorised Missale Romanum of 1962. Yes there are problems with the Missal: it does not allow for the celebration of saints who have been canonised by the Church in recent years. This Missal, in its present form, is stuck in 1962.

On the First Sunday in Advent, 30 November 1969, the Sacramentary of Paul VI became the normative rite of the Western Latin Church. It did not codify an already existing tradition; it rather created a new tradition of liturgical life. We now speak of the reform of the reform. A renewal of the tradition which was created by the introduction into the Western Latin Church of the Sacramentary of Paul VI.

One side collects a living tradition into a unified whole, the other present a tradition to the Church which is still in need of reform and renewal. Both are valid rites of the Western Latin Church. Yet one growths out of the worshipping community of faith and is codified by the authority of the Church, the other is imposed on the worshipping community by the authority of the Church.

I question the philosophy behind the creation of the Sacramentary of Paul VI. I do not question its validity and believe it can be celebrated reverently and beautifully.

Pictures of the English Liturgy, by Martin Travers (1916)

2006-03-17T18:22:00.000+10:30

These picture are right from the heart of the "back to Baroque" period of Anglo-Papistism. There are two sets: High Mass and Low Mass. Published, of course, Society of SS. Peter and Paul.

Thanks to Project Canterbury.

Liturgical Development?

2006-03-17T10:35:00.000+10:30

E.L. Mascall (1905-1993), in Whatever happened to the Human Mind?, outlines his theological approach as follows:

a recovery among Anglicans of Christian theology in the strict and classical sense of ‘the Science of God’, as a living and growing intellectual activity organically rooted in the Christian tradition and consciously operating within the worshipping and redemptive community which is the Body of Christ

Mascall, a Thomist scholar of note, outlines an approach which I think can easy be adapted to the topic of liturgy. Over the last couple of days I have had discussions with various people about the use of the 1962 Missale Romanum within Anglicanism, the Norvus Ordo as the normative rite of the Western Latin Church and the implied claims of invalidly from people who do not use it (even with indult), and the Traditional Anglican Communion as it moves forward to full communion with the Holy See.

Before making any further comments I would like to remind you that this blog is called Traditional Anglo-Papist. The adjective, Traditional, can be understood in two ways: as an oxymoron (a contradiction in terms) or as a tautology (a repetition of terms). Those who advocate the use of the Norvus Ordo would see the term as a contradiction: one cannot be traditional and Anglo-Papist. Those who advocate the continued use of the traditional Missals within Anglicanism see the term as an unnecessary repetition: if one is Anglo-Papist, one is traditional. I have no desire to enter into the argument further here.

However there is a deeper idea behind those who hold the ‘Missal Position’: liturgy is grown not made. The problem with any liturgy which has elements from various rites, or created by a committee (even Papal committee), is that it is a 'manufactured' rite not organically grow within a community of faith. As the quote from Mascall indicates, all intellectual and liturgical activity of the Church needs to be consciously operating within the worshipping and redemptive community which is the Body of Christ.

What is (and what is not) proper liturgical development? That is the fundamental question. Is the Normative Rite of the Western Latin Church (of course, valid) a proper liturgical development of the previous liturgical tradition of the Western Church? Much has been written on that very issue (see espeically, Reform of the Reform?. I will ‘insert’ one more reason, from the sphere of Mathematics, why the answer is ‘No’.

The Incompleteness Theorem of Kurt Gödel states that any system of numbers is incomplete within itself to prove all its assumption. So a system needs to expand to incorporate other systems which come with their own assumption. The basic idea is that any system of thought moves from the simple to the complex, never the other way. I am no mathematician like my wife but any attitude or philosophy which sees a return to the simple as desirable and achievable is fundamentally flawed. The liturgy cannot return to the ‘glory days’ of the Early Church since this would negate the response of the faithful in the ‘in between time’. Further, this would deny the context of the liturgy. Reform which does not recognise the existence of the liturgy within the context of the worshipping and redemptive community which is the Body of Christ is fundamentally flawed.

Nothing like something from 'left field'.

Rosary

2006-03-16T11:05:00.000+10:30

While surfing the net looking for Anglo-Papist stuff, I stumbled across the The Guild of the Living Rosary. The pages gives this as the Rule of Life:

The Rule is the recitation of one decade (mystery) (10 Hail Mary's) a day i.e. the same mystery for a month. These together with the monthly intention , being set out on the sheet issued each half year.

Or if you wish to say a different mystery a day:
The Rule is the recitation of one decade (10 Hail Mary's) of the Rosary daily, these together with the monthly intention being set out on the sheet issued each half year.

We have been saying the Rosary before weekday Masses here and I was wondering if anyone has had any personal expereince of the Guild of the Living Rosary (or, for that matter, the Living Rosary of Our Lady and S. Dominic which, I believe, is still active at S. Clement's)?

Obedience again.

2006-03-15T08:58:00.000+10:30

Paul Goings posted the following comments on the previous post on obedience:

I suppose that it would good to have some uniformity amongst Ango-Papalists, but aside from S. Clement's and S. Alban's in York (Bp Yingling's parish) I know of no other parishes (ECUSA, Continuing, or otherwise) where a sincere effort is being made to adhere to 1951, 1962, or any other Roman standard rite and ceremonial.

Here is my point in a nutshell. In my experience Anglo-Catholic clergy like to ‘tinker’. Change a bit here and a bit there and cover it under the umbrella of ‘catholic liturgy’. And all Anglican bishops used to be Anglican priests. They are not immune to the ‘tinkering bug’. Constitutions and Canon Law may give the bishop the right to institute liturgical norms within his Diocese but who is the bishop answerable to: Synod? Conscience?

The 1962 Missale Romanum and the 1960 Breviarium Romanum (and the associated books) are the traditional Missal and Breviary for the western Church. They have been established by lawful institution and are part of the expanding and living western catholic tradition. When we are safely within the bossom of Mother Church, we too may petition the Holy Father for the use of pre-1962 liturgical books.

TAP picture

2006-03-14T21:13:00.000+10:30

Doesn't this picture have it all? Gloves, incense, deacon. It is from the Pontifical High Mass Portsmouth Cathedral, Sunday 17th October 2004, celebrated by the Rt Rev'd Fernando Arêas Rifan (Apostolic Administrator of São João Batista Maria Vianney, Rio de Janeiro). Thanks to the Latin Mass Society for the picture.

Glory of the Silent Canon

2006-03-14T21:07:00.000+10:30

I wonder how many parishes say (or have in the past said) the Canon of the Mass in a 'silent voice'.

Here is a quote from an article, The Glory of the Silent Canon:

The reason for the silence is, that at a very early stage in the Church's liturgical awareness, it was realized that the miracles of grace which occur during the canon should not risk trivialization by being spoken out loud as if the sacred words which effected these miracles were simply in the normal run of ordinary speech. The mystery of the Real Presence, the miracle of transubstantiation, the subsequent pleading of the oblation, all this is the stuff of heaven, heaven come down to earth. Perhaps we would better say that in the canon, earth is raised to heaven. In the canon, the worshipping Church does not sink into silence. No, the truth is, that we rise into silence, a contemplative, anointed silence, over which the Holy Ghost is hovering, a timeless silence which breathes the life of heaven.

What about obedience?

2006-03-14T11:10:00.000+10:30

Fr Chadwick, on his excellent blog, has raised the issue of liturgical archaeologism. Fr Chadwick, who loves the traditional Roman Missal, has raised issues surrounding the Pius XII Holy Week rites. As most people who read this blog have guessed, I am very much in favour of the 1962 Missal and Breviary being used by Traditional Anglo-Papists as they pray and work for full visible union with the Holy See. I am working on bringing the English Missal (based on the 1955 Missale Romanum) into line with the 1962 edition and hope to publish some resources soon. I think that the use of the liturgical book of the 1960s is not an issue of aping Rome (especially the traditional Orders and Societies dedicated to the Mass of all times). Rather, it is an issue of obedience.

The Catholic Encyclopedia defines obedience as

the complying with a command or precept. It is here regarded not as a transitory and isolated act but rather as a virtue or principle of righteous conduct. It is then said to be the moral habit by which one carries out the order of his superior with the precise intent of fulfilling the injunction. St. Thomas Aquinas considers the obligation of obedience as an obvious consequence of the subordination established in the world by natural and positive law.

Here we are not speaking of ‘blind obedience’: placing the means above the end. Rather, for the proclamation of the Gospel, the enacting and embodying of Our Lord to a lost and sinful world, we need to express our obedience to God through obedience to earthly authority (NB S. Thomas!). My personal opinions, although sometimes (read: often) vocally expressed, must give way to the authority of the Church expressing itself to me through my lawful superior. I agree that the Holy Week rites of 1950s are better. Yet I also think that the Traditional Dominican Liturgy is much better suited to the modern age than the traditional Roman Liturgy. However, my personal views give way to the mind of the Church embodied in my lawful superior.

I further wonder how an Anglican Catholic community may come to agreement on which liturgical tradition to follow? Let us remember that the root of a number of modern Anglican problems lies with the idea that Synod can (and has) made doctrinal, liturgical, and moral decisions. Would we get a Synod to decide which liturgical tradition to use? Or would we leave the decision to individual priests to decide to become pope in their own parish?

Anglicanism is not a theological movement but rather a cultural movement within the Western Church. Anglicanism receives its doctrine, orders, and liturgy from the Western Church. The genius of Anglicanism is the way the liturgy is done – whether traditional or modern! Also Anglicanism is a movement which has a long tradition of pastoral care within a parish community at the centre of which is the father in God.

With the liturgical tradition codified within the 1960s Latin books we have a tradition to pluck into rather than reinventing the wheel. It is a living tradition which is expressed and lived daily by Roman Catholics everywhere.

Benedict XVI Revives a Lenten Practice

2006-03-13T15:31:00.000+10:30

ROME, MARCH 9, 2006 - Benedict XVI continued a 1,600-year-old tradition on Ash Wednesday when he celebrated Mass and the imposition of ashes at the station Church of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill.

To the thrill of medievalists, he also revived a usage discontinued since the 11th or 12th century of gathering for prayer at a collect Church of Sant'Anselmo before heading to the station church.

Station churches are traditionally the site where a pope celebrates Mass during Lent as well as certain holy days and feasts. In the ancient customs of Christian Rome, on Ash Wednesday the faithful would assemble at a collect church (Sant'Anastasia in the Middle Ages) and after praying together they would depart in procession to Santa Sabina where the pope would celebrate Mass for the congregation.

Thrilling news for medievalists indeed. Even greater news for traditional Anglo-Papists. Read it all at Zenit

Archivum Liturgicum

2006-03-11T13:03:00.000+10:30

Just in case you have not seen it, have a look at Archivum Liturgicum. It is a collection of the liturgical books according to the Apostolic Letter Ecclesia Dei. It still has some holes in it but for those who know the Mother tongue of holy Church, this is just a wonderful resource.

Hints for a First Confession

2006-03-10T20:49:00.000+10:30

A very important topic, Confession, with some insights from an Anglo-Catholic great and modern Rome:

Hints for a First Confession by the Reverend Edward Bouverie Pusey, D.D.

How to Make a Good Confession

For the clergy among you, have you set times and places to hear people's Confession before Easter? And preached about the need for people to come to Confession before Easter? And prepared to hear Confessions by prayer?

Thanks to Project Canterbuty

Lenten Stational Churches

2006-03-10T15:29:00.000+10:30

Here is a really good devotional on the Stational Churches during the holy season of Lent. It is from St. John Cantius Parish home of The Society of St. John Cantius.

Biretta tip to Occidentalis

Not just Anglicanism ...

2006-03-09T08:27:00.000+10:30

I found the following article, Mass expulsion of Catholics from parish in California via York Forum. Here is same story from Orange Punch.

In short: faithful priest retired from a community for which he offered the Mass of all times, Bishop Brown revoked the authority (on what grounds?) and appointed a new priest to his liking who did not offer the Traditional Mass. (Does this not all sound sort of familiar??)

The end? The faithful asked to leave their church and the Mass which has been celebrated with the bishop's premission cancelled. Here is the response:

With full responsibility, authority and faculties of an Administrator of St. Mary’s by the Sea, appointed by Bishop Brown, for the sake of the common good of the Church, the parish and the diocese, with the approval of the Bishop, I (very sadly) officially invite you To leave the parish St. Mary’s by the Sea and the diocese of Orange.

For the sake of our common good? This all makes me feel rather sick. We need to pray for our brothers and sisters within the Roman Communion who uphold tradition and the tradional Mass.

Use of Roman Rite in Latin

2006-03-08T08:53:00.000+10:30

While speaking with the Superior of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Martin yesterday, I asked him if he know of anyone in Australia who had adopted the Latin Rite complete pre-1960s. He said that he had not heard of anyone. As I re-read Fr Colin Holden’s book on St. Peter’s Eastern Hill last night, I stumbled across this passage:

In Australia, Bede Frost alone was prepared to cross the rubicon of liturgical texts with the total abandon and use the Roman rite in Latin; but even in the desert fastness of Broken Hill he was subject to Episcopal censure(175)

So I was wonder, who within the wider Anglican Communion (when we could still speak of an Anglican Communion) was prepared to cross the rubicon pre-1960s? I know that a number of religious orders moved to the Roman rite in Latin, most notable among these is the Liturgical Scholar and monk, Dom Gregory Dix, but who else did? And who does it today?

I know that The Rt. Rev'd Barry Eugene Yingling, CSSS at Saint Alban Anglican Church in York, Pennsylvania, offers a 1926 Latin Mass on Saturday evenings. But is there anyone else? Does S. Clement's?

Saint Thomas Aquinas, Doctor

2006-03-07T07:24:00.000+10:30

March 7 is the Commemoration of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Cf, D at Low Mass and Lauds. Here is part of the Second Nocturn for the feast:

The Supreme Pontiff Urban IV sent for him to Rome, and at his command he composed the Church Office for the feast of Corpus Christi. The Pope could not persuade him to accept any dignity. Pope Clement IV also offered him the Archbishoprick of Naples, but he refused it. He did not neglect the preaching of the Word of God. Once while he was giving a course of sermons in the Basilica of St. Peter, during the Octave of Easter, a woman who had an issue of blood was healed by touching the hem of his garment. He was sent by blessed Gregory X to the Council of Lyons, but fell sick on his way at the Abbey of Fossanova, and there during his illness he made an exposition of the Song of Songs. There he died on the 7th day of March, in the year of salvation 1274, aged fifty years. He was distinguished for miracles even after his death, and on proof of these Pope John XXII added his name to those of the Saints in the year 1323. His body was afterwards carried to Toulouse by command of blessed Urban V. He has been compared to an angel, both on account of his innocency and of his intelléctual power, and has hence been deservedly termed the Angelic Doctor. The use of which title as applied to him was approved by the authority of holy Pius V. Leo XIII, cheerfully agreeing to the prayers and wishes of nearly all the bishops of the Catholic world, and in conformity with a vote of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, by his Apostolic letters declared and recognized Thomas Aquinas as the patron in heaven of all Catholic schools, as an antidote to the plague of so many false systems, especially of philosophy, for the increase of sciéntific knowledge, and for the common good of all mankind.

Let us pray.
O God, who dost enlightened thy Church with the wondrous learning of thy blessed Thomas, thy Confessor, and enriched her with his holiness labours: grant to us, we beseech thee; both to understand aright what he taught, and also perfecty to copy his deeds. Through.

Why?

2006-03-06T08:47:00.000+10:30

I do not want to sound like I am a little right of Attila the Hun but I would like to raise the point of Pius V's Apostolic Constitution, Quo Primum. I know it is a favourite of many traditional Catholics (and, dare I say it, many Anglo-Papists). Here is a small quote from a post on Canterbury Tales, Why isn't Quo Primum in effect?:

Here's my question. There has to be a good answer from Pope John Paul II or even Pope Benedict XVI as to why Quo Primum is not effect perpetually, despite its apparent claim to be so. Anybody, know how Roman canonists explain the Missal of Paul VI?

To give the question a wider airing I post it here. Any thoughts?

Our Lady of Glastonbury

2006-03-05T18:13:00.000+10:30

From the Glastonbury Shrine:

In 1965 the statue was solemnly crowned by the then Apostolic Delegate, Most Rev. Igino Cardinale, in the presence of the Anglican Bishop of Bath and Wells and an enormous gathering and Mass was said by Bishop Rudderham in the Abbey ruins. It was an historic moment; and the influence of Our Lady drawing all Christians to worship her Son together marks an epoch in the story of Glastonbury. The statue was designed by Mr. Philip Lindsey Clark, F.R.B.S. from the representation of Our Lady in a l4th century metal seal of the Abbey. The crowned statue of Our Lady bearing the Holy Child on her left forearm has a flowering bush on her right. This is probably nothing to do with the Glastonbury Thorn, which is not heard of until much later but is meant to signify Virgin Motherhood.

Our Lady of Glastonbury,
pray for us.