De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

The leaked exchange of letters between Vincent Cardinal Nichols and Archbishop Arthur Roche is very unusual and therefore most interesting. I know various UK clergy who claim they had copies at least a week before they were published, indeed Dr. Joseph Shaw pointed out at 1P5 that:  "These two letters have been going around by email for some time, and it was inevitable that they would be published" I have heard from Journalists who knew of the existence of these letters, although they were not cleared to go public by their sources, then Gloria TV get hold of the exclusive ! Gloria TV! Why not give it to Damian Thompson or The Tablet or The Pillar ? Unless you wanted to create distance? Can you remember the last time some private correspondence between the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and the Vatican was made public? Neither can I. So who leaked it? Does it demonstrate a growing exasperation with the direction of the Bergoglian papacy? Was it some Vatican or CDW offic...

  As always these days there is a lot going on in the Church. Not much of it any good. Although this is a good thing announced by the Cardinal yesterday. At the weekend there was an interesting breach in protocol when the Catholic website 1P5 posted an exchange of letters between the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols and the Prefect for the Congregation on Divine Worship and former bishop of Leeds in the UK, Arthur Roche. I had to wonder who leaked it and what such an unusual leak might mean? Probably that quite a number of clergy are frustrated and upset by Traditiones custodes and what it means for the Church. Clergy here have told me that Roche''s tenure as bishop of Leeds was not a happy one and he was "promoted" to Rome to get him out of the way — apparently this is not an uncommon phenomenon, however counter-intuitive it may appear. However "Uncle Arthur" as he is often called, is ambitious and the perfect individual to implement Po...

Following on from yesterday's news about the changes afoot in the Italian Diocese of Albenga-Imperia, we hear that the Pope has appointed 27 new members of the Congregation for Divine Worship. The Vatican announcement can be read here . A report from Catholic Culture here . A report from La Croix here . Catholic Culture suggests: The new appointments give a distinctly more liberal character—as well as a more international complexion—to the congregation. The changes seem likely to curtail the work of Cardinal Robert Sarah, the prefect of the Congregation, who has been a leading proponent of more reverent liturgy and of “the reform of the reform.” Which is rather disturbing if accurate. I note that one of the appointees is Bishop Alan Hopes of East Anglia, who is a promoter of good liturgy and a good bishop. Rorate Caeli has more detail and notes: Cardinal Robert Sarah remains the Prefect of the CDW. However, the new membership of his Congregation makes hi...

Cardinal Sarah speaking at Sacra Liturgia, flanked by Bishop Dominique Rey (Photo by Lawrence Lew OP) On June 4th, you may remember this post , which referred to the fact that Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments  had called for priests to say Mass facing East, in the time honoured manner, so that both the celebrant and the people face God to whom they pray: "As soon as we reach the moment when one addresses God—from the offertory onwards—it is essential that the priest & faithful look together towards the east." Yesterday saw the beginning of the Sacra Liturgia Conference in London where the opening address was from Cardinal Sarah. Much of what he said has been posted in chunks on their FB page here . But Dom Hugh Somerville-Knapman has an excellent report on the day here . The big news is that Cardinal Sarah reaffirmed his call to celebrate Mass facing East. The Cardinal, the highest authori...

The most recent edition (June 3) of the French publication Famille Chrétienne has a lengthy interview with Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments , part of which is available online (in French only). ++Sarah strikes me as just what we need more of at this time: a holy, prayerful and wise leader. While touching on several topics, the focus of the interview is liturgy and worship. As usual, Cardinal Sarah is both eloquent and direct, qualities that will be familiar to those who have read God or Nothing (Ignatius Press, 2015), the Cardinal's autobiographical interview with French journalist Nicholas Diat. As this weekend's edition of the Catholic Herald notes, Cardinal Sarah has become an authoritative voice due to his prayerful approach and evident love of the liturgy. In this interview, the Cardinal has unequivocally urged all priests to celebrate Mass facing east, saying: "As soon as we r...

When I was a young chap, I spent a great deal of time in Lourdes working with the sick and handicapped. These trips, sometimes twice a year, at Easter and summer, presented an opportunity for me, as I saw it, to put my faith into practice. Looking back on it, especially in the context of the study I have done since, I very much see this as part of my search for the true meaning of Christianity. I am Christian by birth, but what does that mean in terms of assent? If I was not born Christian, would I choose Christ? If I did, what would draw me to dedicate my life to the Catholic Church? At the time, the best answer I could find was to give up my time, money, pursuit of my career, more worldly friendships, and follow Christ in the most vivid, practical way open to me. I saw this as inspired by St. Francis of Assisi's radical discipleship, the best model of Jesus' call (Mt 4:19; 8:22; 9:9; 19:21; Mk 2:14; Lk 5:27). As a young man, these words of Jesus bothered me incessan...