De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

+Guglielmo Borghetti I was really shocked to read reports of the newly appointed bishop of the Italian Diocese of Albenga-Imperia, Guglielmo Borghetti, who has been appointed to replace Bishop Mario Oliveri. Given the well known sympathy in the diocese for the Traditions of the Church, Bishop Borghetti has said he intends to wipe-out East facing liturgy. He is reported as having condemned ‘false altars’ facing away from people as ‘nostalgia for the past’.  Interesting given Cardinal Sarah's call to say Mass orientated to the Lord and Pope Emeritus' Benedict XVI's recent affirmation of that call to re-orientation in L‘Osservatore Romano   (comments which were, perhaps, blown a little out of proportion by Lifesite News here , but are, nonetheless, accurately his thoughts on the matter). Of course, some other prelates disagree with this ...More on that further down. Bishop Borghetti has been Bishop Oliveri's Coadjutor Bishop since March 2015 . Borghetti...

In his preface to the French edition of Msgr. Klaus Gamber's book, The Modern Rite (St Michael's Abbey Press, 2002), Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger has this to say on the subject of post-conciliar renewal: "What happened after the Council was something else entirely: in the place of liturgy as the fruit of development came fabricated liturgy. We abandoned the organic, living process of growth and development over centuries, and replaced it - as in a manufacturing process - with a fabrication, a banal on -the-spot product. Gamber, with the vigilance of a true prophet and the courage of a true witness, opposed this falsification, and, indefatigably taught us about the living fullness of a true liturgy". What, then, does this true prophet have to say about a reform which is, in reality, a continued revolution? "The pastoral benefits that so many idealists had hoped the new liturgy would bring did not materialize. Our churches emptied in spite of the new liturgy (o...

FFI Ordination from NLM . Disappointed that Rorate Caeli are again, spinning against Pope Francis. In what has become a typical reaction from a blog I have long trusted and admired, Rorate Caeli are trying to suggest that Pope Francis is moving against Summorum Pontificum by suggesting that Pope Francis has severely restricted the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate from celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass, and has "imposed the Novus Ordo on all their priests". However, the Order themselves tell us: This is an unfortunate instance of an overeager journalist sensationalizing something he can only speculate about. The restrictions on our community are specific to us and have been put in place for reasons specific to us. Pope Francis has not contradicted Pope Benedict. The visitation of our community began under Pope Benedict and the Commission was recommended by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz who was appointed to the Congregation by Pope Benedict. What is b...

Fr. Kevin Hale saying Mass at the Altar of Our Lady. Dr. Joseph Shaw has a really fascinating post on his blog from yesterday. It is entitled The Old Mass and the Workers and immediately caught my attention in the first paragraph with the sentence: "the working class were betrayed by the changes to the liturgy, spirituality, and what we might call the general orientation of the Church, following the Second Vatican Council." In our post Vatican II world, it seems to me (and I am happy to be corrected if this is not the case) many consider that the Extraordinary Form of the Mass is elitist, and EF Masses are populated by snobs and intellectuals who like to pretend they know more about being Catholic than the rest of us. Despite this common perception, my personal experience was very different. Attending my first EF Mass, I found that it was a broad spectrum of people who simply took their faith seriously. I have felt similarly comfortable at all subsequent eve...

Fr. Hugh Thwaites, S.J. I was struck this morning by this quote shared on Facebook by the wonderful Rhos Thomas . She is an inspirational young Catholic who is part of a growing number of young, faithful, traditionalists, who really impress me with their depth of knowledge and commitment. Rhos discovered this article by the much loved and respected priest Fr. Hugh Thwaites S.J. Rhos states: "Fr Thwaites had an amazing gift for explaining ideas in a way which anyone can understand. Please God, I hope I will get to heaven and meet him!"  Here is a particularly beautiful, yet simple explanation from the article: "There is nothing wrong with the new rite. Rome cannot feed her children with poison. But the new rite of Mass does not give us what we need. Michael Davies' analogy is helpful here. If a doctor tells a couple that their child need milk every day, and they give the child only water, the child may not live. There is nothing wrong with water. Bu...

On Saturday it was my great pleasure to take part in a very special Mass. It was Father Kevin's 28th anniversary of ordination. He was travelling to France for someone else's ordination and had asked me if I would drop him off at the airport. As he wouldn't get another chance to say Mass that day, he suggested we meet at the Church at 7am for Mass and leave after that. I love Mass, I think there's no better way to start the day, and God knows, I have lots to pray about. So, of course I jumped at the opportunity. Clearly this was an opportunity for Father to, liturgically speaking, please himself, and in doing so, please God, by offering the most perfect Mass he could. He used the altar in the Lady chapel, which necessitates ad orientum , and said the Novus Ordo in Latin. This presented somewhat of a challenge to me as the only respondent! I am, by now, fairly conversant with the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, and where all the parts are. I am less familiar with...

This long, self indulgent post is inspired by a conversation I had a number of weeks ago on Twitter with a self-confessed atheist.  I started writing this at Easter: I thought, at this time, just after the  annual celebration of the most sacred Triduum of the crucified, buried and risen Lord; the liturgical, theological and spiritual centre of the Church's life and the culmination of the entire liturgical year, it would be worth reflecting a little on liturgy. What is Liturgy?   Within the Roman Catholic Tradition, liturgy designates the public worship (that is, prayer) of the Church which takes place in communion with the local bishop according to the norms approved by the Roman See. To call it public designates it an activity of an assembly of believers visibly gathered. The word 'liturgy' derives from the Greek leitourgia, a word compounded from  laos  (people) and  ergon  (work). When studying my B.A. Divinity at Maryvale , I fo...