In agreement with "Call to Action"

                        

A parishioner was quite shocked to find that "Call to Action" - the dissident group calling for change in all sorts of areas of Church life - held a meeting in the neighbouring parish (run by the Benedictines of Ampleforth).  Apparently members from the two dioceses of Liverpool and Lancaster were present.  The minutes below are freely available on their web-site, so I will leave you to ponder them for yourselves.

The only comment I make, apart from noting that there are two regular Sunday Extraordinary Form Masses in the same Deanery, is that I find myself in complete agreement with the reasons they give for holding the meeting.  I suspect I am in agreement with them only in letter and not in  the spirit of the aims!

"To speak freely" - often within the Church today many who continue to hold the same views of the Faith  of their fathers and mothers have not felt at liberty to speak freely.

"To engage in dialogue" - often those who question heterodox practices or liturgical abuses receive absolutely no answer from the powers that be or are stonewalled and sidelined. 

"To revisit Vatican II" - Along with Pope Emeritus Benedict, the present Holy Father and many others, I too am all in favour of revisiting Vatican II and interpreting it in the same way as all other Church Councils and teaching - in continuity with our Tradition.

"Be consulted about the future of our Church" - I can't ever recall being consulted about any of the willy nilly changes to liturgy and practice that seem to have become usual in many parts of the Church - not things that are publicly announced by the Holy See but all those little add-ons that accrue to the Mass with no official sanction and the deliberate mis-application of norms  (such as the abuse in the number of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion).

The real call to action is the one Pope Francis is giving us - to be faithful to Jesus and His Church.

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A Call to Action: Inaugural Meeting of the Lancaster and Liverpool Groups.

Leyland, Monday 19 November 2012.

1. The meeting started with Sr Mary Feane in the Chair and Fr Paul Browne taking the minutes. Later Ray McGarry was elected as acting Chairman and Angela Bolton as acting Secretary.

2. We then spent a few minutes introducing ourselves to our neighbour, in couples, and sharing our reasons for attending .We each then shared what we had just learnt with the whole group.

3. Reasons given for attending the meeting included:

    to be able to speak freely

    to engage in dialogue

    to revisit Vatican II

    to be consulted about the future of our church.

Some thought that more consultation should be our number one priority – building up a relationship with the bishops: we want dialogue instead of dictatorship.

We have a strong tradition of teaching on social justice – we need to build on this. We need to have an equal say, a sense of ownership (it’s our church!), the lack of which leads to injustice and powerlessness.

Others lamented the loss of ecumenical trust, the lack of ecumenical dialogue and discussion, for example in the way the new Mass translation was imposed and designed (in part) to move us away from agreed versions of common Christian prayers, such as the Creed and the Gloria. Another example was the introduction of the Anglican ‘Ordinariate’ for members of the Church of England wishing to join the Catholic Church as a body, without consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Archbishop of Westminster – or any of our bishops.

4. The meeting agreed that the Lancaster and Liverpool groups would continue to meet as one group for the foreseeable future. But it was suggested that, because we were such a large group (c 20), in future meetings we might discuss a topic in our two diocesan groups before reporting back to the whole group.

5. Someone else suggested that we invite a bishop next time, just to listen. He could give us his considered feedback at a later date.

6. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 29 January, 7.30 - 9pm, at the Parish Centre of the Anglican Church of St John the Divine, Hewlett Street, Coppull, Lancashire, PR7 5AH. Hope you can make it – and maybe bring a friend.

Angela Bolton, Acting Secretary.

---------------------

ACTA: Third Meeting of the Lancaster & Liverpool Group

Coppull, Tuesday 26 February 2013

1. After refreshments (and moving rooms) the meeting began with prayer at 7.55pm. Ray McGarry was in the chair and Angie Bolton took the minutes.

2. Apologies for absence were received from: Agnes Dobson, Anton Fernandopuille, Bernard Hayes, Clare Cobb, Ewa Bem, Gavin Young, Gerry Proctor, Maureen Connell, Nick Young, Pauline Volks, Richard Sloan, Stephen Hoyland, Tony Slingo and Val Farrell (14).

3. Present were: Alex Walker, Angie Bolton, Ann Marie Cullen, Ann Miller, Anne Foley, Bernard Traynor, Chris Cullen, Claire Ball, Denis Cullen, Dympna Magee, Elizabeth Kelly, John Sullivan, Julie Dale, Kathy Bamber, Maryrose Fitzsimmons, Moya Duffy, Paul Browne, Ray McGarry, Simon Dale, Susan Bamber, Theresa Swan and Terry Duffy (22).

4. The minutes of our second meeting were accepted without amendment.

5. Under matters arising, John Sullivan reported on the three tasks he’d undertaken at the last meeting:

a. to seek a 30-minute meeting with Bishop Tom Williams (acting Bishop of Liverpool) simply to inform him that this group exists and to explain our raison d’être, expanding on our national mission statement. Not asking him to do anything, nor to agree or commit to anything. The bishop flatly turned down his request, thus ‘highlighting why ACTA exists in the first place’, as John commented. In a second message, Bishop Tom said that as he was very busy (Archbishop Patrick was convalescing and then retiring) a meeting would be impossible till after the summer. Concern was expressed by several members of the group at the way in which John’s very courteous request had been handled so ungraciously.

b. John sent his (amended) document concerning the Selection of Bishops to ACTA’s core team, as this is a matter of potential concern to all dioceses in the future, as well as of current concern to the several dioceses awaiting bishops at the moment. The document duly appeared on our website. He had also emailed a copy to each member of our group.

c. John also contacted The Tablet to see if they would be interested in publicising his proposals. But, he told us, after an initially positive response, there had been no follow-up.

Paul Browne made available hard-copies of our letter to the Papal Nuncio asking simply what were the criteria and what was the process for appointing a new Archbishop of Liverpool. Paul composed the letter, as agreed, but in the end it was thought more prudent for Angie Bolton to sign it and send it from her address. Several members of this group affirmed the letter by email and their names were added. No response had yet been received.

Terry Duffy made available hard-copies of the A5 pamphlet he’d agreed to produce, based on our mission statement, explaining who we are and what we are about, and advertising the date, time and location of our next meeting. There is now a potential template that could be further customised, and used to advertise an ACTA meeting in one of our parishes, for example. He had already emailed a copy to all members of the group.

6a. We are invited to send two members to the ACTA Leaders’ Conference at Hinsley Hall, Leeds, 6 - 7 May 2013. John Sullivan agreed to be our second representative, joining Ray McGarry who had already booked.

6b. We are also invited to submit two suggested topics for discussion at that meeting. The first, we agreed, should be the criteria and the process employed in the appointment of new bishops and the need for genuine consultation with the laity and priests of the local church concerned. This is a matter of current importance to those of us living in the diocese of Liverpool – but it’s a matter of national concern as well. Several English dioceses are waiting for new bishops, East Anglia for two years now, apparently. One of us declared this topic to be a ‘game-changer’. That it would have a ripple effect: if we could get the method of selecting new bishops changed it could be the start of a new and healthier culture in our church.

We decided that our second discussion topic for the Leaders’ Meeting should be the New Mass Translation (imposed in Advent 2011). In particular we proposed that, just as, by decree of Pope Benedict XVI, the Tridentine Mass is now legally available always and everywhere a priest and a ‘group’ of laity want it (regardless of the wishes of the local bishop in whose name all sacraments are celebrated), so we who welcomed the Mass as reformed by Pope Paul VI in obedience to the decree of the Second Vatican Council, and want to carry on celebrating it, should be allowed to use the translation we have been using for the past forty years. Much discussion ensued: and it became clear that we objected not only to the new text itself but also to the way in which it had been steam-rollered through and imposed on us, with merely token consultation with the bishops and no consultation at all with priests and people.

One of us considered that this topic ‘matters even more than the selection of bishops’. It was claimed that there was ‘profound unhappiness about the new translation’ in our church. This certainly was true of our meeting. Strong exception was taken to the whole business: both the product and the process by which it was produced and imposed on us. Imposed first by Rome on our bishops, thus seriously disempowering them in the area of liturgy and usurping their right, specifically recognised in the Council’s Liturgy decree, to commission and approve the official vernacular translation of the new Latin text of the Mass, renewed and reformed according to the principles laid down by the Pope and the rest of the world’s bishops at Vatican II. In defiance of which, this new ‘translation’, first imposed on our bishops, was then (in 2011) imposed by our bishops on us, priests and people; the priests expected to promote the product even if they were privately appalled by it. As one of us pointed out, both the method by which bishops are still being secretly selected and imposed on us, and the way in which this new translation was secretly created and imposed on us, are two blatant examples of the ongoing abuse of power. (As was the scandal of clerical sexual abuse of children and the subsequent cover-up, and indeed effective collusion in it, by so many bishops and religious superiors.)

As time was running out, we left it to John Sullivan to exactly formulate our proposal, which he subsequently did like this:

The New Translation of the Missal

We’re asking for (i) an opportunity to discuss the deep unhappiness caused both by the lamentable and unhelpful quality of the language it uses and also by the way it was imposed without any serious consultation with the People of God; followed by (ii) an exploration of ways to change this situation so that the language of the Mass – so central to the framing, nurture and expression of our faith – can more effectively communicate God’s invitation to receive, respond to and share His love.

6 c. We also made a third suggestion to the Leaders’ Conference: that as a matter of urgency they appoint a professional ACTA National Press Officer. Chris Cullen suggested Paul Vallely (leading British writer on Africa and development issues, active in Traidcraft, the CIIR, Christian Aid and CAFOD, now associate editor of The Independent, correspondent of The Church Times and a director of The Tablet) and it seemed that those of us who know of him agreed that he would be eminently suitable.

7a. We did not discuss married priests (or the imminent ‘Eucharistic famine’) at all.

7b. But we did discuss the New Mass Translation (see 6b above). It was agreed that Paul Browne should write a letter to the Archbishop of Liverpool (when we have one) and to Bishop Michael Campbell of Lancaster, asking for permission to use the ‘old’ (Vatican II) translation, in which he would refer to the canon law that recognises the right, and sometimes even the duty, of the laity to raise matters of concern with their bishops.

8. We agreed that our next meeting would be on Tuesday 16 April, 7.30-9pm, at the same place: the Parish Centre of St John the Divine, Hewlett Street, Coppull, Lancashire, PR7 5AH. As the room is not available until 7.30pm, could I ask that people aim to arrive promptly at this time and no earlier? Many thanks.

Angie Bolton

Acting Secretary 

Bishop for a Day

 Consecration at the Mass

Bishop for a day!  And barring a miracle on a stupendous and frightening scale, my only chance!  In fact, I was conferring the Sacrament of Confirmation - a task usually undertaken by the diocesan bishop.  We celebrated the the Sacrament of Confirmation and First Holy Communion for eleven of our young people in the new manner here in Liverpool Archdiocese.  This means that children aged about nine are Confirmed and receive First Holy Communion at the same Mass with the Parish Priest administering Confirmation. The link with the bishop for Confirmation is that he will be somewhere in the deanery sometime in the next few weeks - and that he consecrated the Chrism, I suppose.  As part of this new scheme, children are to be prepared via family catechesis - ie the emphasis is on parents preparing the children, as they promised at their children's baptism.  In fact, already in this parish over the last few years the parents and other family members have been intimately involved in the preparation, so there was nothing new in that part for us.  My special appreciation goes to the children and their families for their kind gift of thanks to Father after the Mass.

As to taking the place of the bishop and confirming "en masse" - it worked well for us and we managed to create a sense of occasion for the children and families even without an episcopal presence.  

(And before anyone runs to the comments box - yes, in fact we have no Archbishop in Liverpool Archdiocese at the moment as the See is vacant after Pope Benedict, on the penultimate day of his  reign, accepted Archbishop Patrick Kelly's resignation.  Auxiliary Bishop Tom Williams is administering the Archdiocese during the Sede Vacante.)

Just a note of interest.  The families and young people seemed to get a great deal from Mass celebrated as well as we possibly could in our little church. Mass was ad orientem; the Introit, Offertory and Communion were sung in Latin, as was the Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei.  Our numbers - eleven - might be considered small but then the preparation is all conducted through the parish rather than the school.  Those completing these Sacraments of Initiation are all practising the Faith - not just here for the big day and never to be seen again (a phenomenon which many regular parishioners and me as well, have found very depressing and frustrating in the past).

 The Candidates with their Sponsors

A number of our altar servers were also receiving the Sacraments.

It was a little difficult trying to get the Leyland 11 around the cake to cut it!

On Liturgy and mediocre leaders

Pope Francis:

"During the Ascension 

Jesus made the priestly gesture of blessing, 

and the disciples certainly expressed their faith with prostration, they knelt with bowed heads."

The Ascension blessing - an act both liturgical and powerful.

I blogged the other day about  a book now available in English that is a "conversation" between a Rabbi and the (then) Cardinal Archbishop  Bergoglio.  I could only draw an impression of it from a review but James Preece at Catholic and Loving it managed to get hold of a copy ahead of time and has posted two interesting pieces about the Cardinal's views.

James' review On liturgy in the book:

It certainly seems to give a reason for the pared down style the Holy Father prefers.  Not giving out Holy Communion himself because of the scandal it might cause if those who are not in a fit state to receive it, according to the Church's teaching, were to be seen receiving from a cardinal or Pope.

Perhaps it also explains why he doesn't want a whole trail of people coming up at the Offertory with the Gifts. He has a concern that the liturgy can be used "to show off" instead of performing a religious duty.  As a pastor he says such things, "weigh on his conscience."

It seems to me that the liturgy is often used by some priests and people to make points - political or otherwise.  It must be inclusive - even if that means people who are not very good at reading proclaim the readings; a prominent role must be given to women to offset the "dominance" of the male on the sanctuary; Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion used unnecessarily just to give lay people a role in the liturgy, so it no longer becomes a means of service but a means of proclaiming an agenda.  Any innovation that is illicitly introduced has the very real possibility of doing the opposite of what it is supposed to do, which, according to the words of cardinal Bergoglio is to "unite the people of God".  In other words it is the wisdom of  saying the black and doing the red.

James' review On power in the Church in the book:

He speaks of the "circles of power" in the Church for those who are careerists. Mediocre men who should be removed. (Indeed, there is a suggestion that Pope Francis has already removed bishops from office.)   "How sad for the people that are under a mediocre leader, who thinks too highly of himself. When a mediocre person thinks too highly of himself and gets just a little power, I am sorry for those under him." It seems as a Cardinal, the Pope had a concern for where the damage of mediocre leaders was really done - to those suffering under their mediocre ministrations.  Again, the answer is to love the Church, to follow the Church's teaching so that leaders are not doing their own thing - promoting the greater good rather than pushing their own agendas.  Just like the liturgy really.

Mass for Ascension Thursday

The on-line Catholic Encyclopedia describes The Ascension thus:  

The fortieth day after Easter Sunday, commemorating the Ascension of Christ into heaven, according to Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:2...

...The observance of this feast is of great antiquity. Although no documentary evidence of it exists prior to the beginning of the fifth century, St. Augustine says that it is of Apostolic origin, and he speaks of it in a way that shows it was the universal observance of the Church long before his time. Frequent mention of it is made in the writings of St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and in the Constitution of the Apostles.

So, forty days after Easter...  of great antiquity... attested to by the early Saints, Fathers of the Church...the Universal Church will keep this great feast.

While here, in the Twilight Zone, we will be keeping the Feast forty three days after Easter.  Well, you know the 'arguments'...............

However, if you are offering Mass according to the 1962 calendar or simply offering a votive Mass on Thursday you can keep the traditional date of the Ascension.  We will be doing so here:

Missa Cantata at 7pm 

followed by some light refreshments 

and a celebratory glass, 

to which all are invited.

Do you receive Communion too often?

A book written by the (then) Archbishop of Buenos Aires has just been translated into English.  "On Heaven and Earth" encourages divorced and re-married Catholics to stay within the Church - and calls on pastors and others to integrate them into parish life.  I found an article about it on the National Catholic Register site.   However, from the write up the book is only applying what was taught by Pope John Paul II and what is in the Catechism.  The emphasis on practical and personal charity, kindness and welcome does not descend into ignoring the Church's teaching.  The reality is that many parishes face the difficulties of such situations; where there are long standing relationships, children involved, people divorced and re-married before they discover the Church, abandoning their partner is not advice many priests would be willing to give.  Living as best they can in an imperfect situation may be the best that can be hoped for (as with all of us in one way or another where sin is concerned). Nowhere is it suggested that such second marriages are approved of or that those in them should be re-admitted to Holy Communion, in fact the continuing relationship with the Church is in the hope that they can remedy their situations.  

It struck me that this might be helped if it were not the case that everyone, almost without exception, comes  to  the rail to receive Communion at every Mass.  You could be forgiven for thinking that being in a second civil marriage is the only sin  Catholics ever commit.  Under Pope John Paul there was a call to remind us that the practice of encouraging everyone at Mass to receive Communion without serious reflection on the state of their soul should be reviewed.  

The obligation of any Catholic, whatever their standing in the Church, is to attend Mass on Sunday - the obligation is not that we receive Holy Communion but that we place ourselves in the Real Presence of the sacrifice that redeems us. We do appear to have come to an understanding that it is rather to receive Communion - almost as a right.  Thus a priest could find himself in a situation where Communion is asked for at home for someone "housebound": "But you can't come on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays, Father, I'm at the Day Centre. Oh and Saturdays my daughter takes me to the hairdresser."  Or the request I once got from a lapsed Catholic who said that whilst on holiday in Malta a priest had told him that he could get communion at home if he couldn't get to Mass. I tried to explain that if he could manage to get all the way to Malta on holiday he might just be able to drag himself to Mass in the local parish church!

I'm not saying that we should return to a time when people hardly ever came to Communion but if more people took seriously the state of their soul and did not just come to the communion rail as a mater of course, then those few brave souls who do take seriously the teaching of the Church might not feel so gawped at by all the other saints in the parish. To quote from Blessed Pope John Paul's  Ecclesia Eucharistia (36)

The Apostle Paul appeals to this duty when he warns: “Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor 11:28). Saint John Chrysostom, with his stirring eloquence, exhorted the faithful: “I too raise my voice, I beseech, beg and implore that no one draw near to this sacred table with a sullied and corrupt conscience. Such an act, in fact, can never be called 'communion', not even were we to touch the Lord's body a thousand times over, but 'condemnation', 'torment' and 'increase of punishment'”. 

Along these same lines, the Catechism of the Catholic Church rightly stipulates that “anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion”.74 I therefore desire to reaffirm that in the Church there remains in force, now and in the future, the rule by which the Council of Trent gave concrete expression to the Apostle Paul's stern warning when it affirmed that, in order to receive the Eucharist in a worthy manner, “one must first confess one's sins, when one is aware of mortal sin”.

While the Church wants everyone to receive Holy Communion as often as possible, weakening our respect awe for it does not in the long run assist our faith.  As often as possible - what is possible might well be different for different people.  But however often it might be, everyone should be treated with the love, generosity and encouragement that Pope Francis highlights in order to draw them ever more closely to the Lord and to the safety of the harbour of the Church.

Our Lord was unfailingly kind and welcoming but he didn't pull his punches either!


NB. The Catechism of the Catholic Church  on the divorced and civilly re-married says:

1650 Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ - “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery"160 the Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage was. If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God’s law. Consequently, they cannot receive Eucharistic communion as long as this situation persists. For the same reason, they cannot exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities. Reconciliation through the sacrament of Penance can be granted only to those who have repented for having violated the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to living in complete continence.

1651 Toward Christians who live in this situation, and who often keep the faith and desire to bring up their children in a Christian manner, priests and the whole community must manifest an attentive solicitude, so that they do not consider themselves separated from the Church, in whose life they can and must participate as baptized persons:

They should be encouraged to listen to the Word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts for justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and thus implore, day by day, God’s grace.

Mother of Life

We had a little May Procession and crowning of the statue of Our Lady today.  Four of our youngsters shouldered the bier - not the most stately entrance in history but what was lacking in grandeur was made up in enthusiasm!  Anyway, she made it safely to the sanctuary to be crowned to the traditional accompaniment of "O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today".

Also on a positive note and perhaps thanks to Our Lady's motherly intercession, I heard today that the two Catholic midwives from Glasgow who have been fighting through the courts for their right not to be forced to work facilitating or assisting in abortions have won their case against the NHS on appeal.  SPUC has the details and a report from the BBC.

O most loving Lord Jesus, 

Who, hanging on the Cross, didst commend us all in the person of Thy disciple John, 

to Thy most sweet Mother, 

that we might find in her our refuge, our solace, and our hope; 

look graciously upon our beloved country, 

and on those who are bereaved of so powerful a patronage; 

that, acknowledging once more the dignity of this holy Virgin, 

they may honour and venerate her with all affection of devotion,

 and own her as Queen and Mother. 

May her sweet name be lisped by the little ones, 

and linger on the lips of the aged and the dying; 

and may it be invoked by the afflicted, 

and hymned by the joyful; 

that this Star of the Sea being their protection and their guide, 

all may come to the harbour of eternal salvation. 

Who livest and reignest, world without end. 

Amen.

You couldn't make it up!

Oh my!

From Reuters News Agency:   "In an emotional ceremony filled with tears and applause, a 70-year-old Kentucky woman was ordained a priest on Saturday as part of a dissident group operating outside of official Roman Catholic Church authority."

The two new ITV comedy programs from last night were slated in the press today (I watched all of 30 seconds of one of them before deciding it was too embarrassingly bad to watch). However, this article from Reuters has had my friends and I laughing out loud.  Three little snippets in particular stand out:

The first...

Of the thought of being excommunicated from the Church the septuagenarian Miss Smead, a former Carmelite Nun (St Theresa of Avila was unavailable for comment!) said,

"It has no sting for me. It is a Medieval bullying stick the bishops used to keep control over people and to keep the voices of women silent. I am way beyond letting octogenarian men tell us how to live our lives." 

It seems that age is no bar to age prejudice - I'm sure most hip 70 somethings must be fed up with those fusty old octogenarians lauding it over them!

The second...

During the communion service, Smead and other woman priests lifted the plates and cups containing the sacramental bread and wine to bless them. A woman in the audience murmured, "Girl, lift those plates. I've been waiting a long time for this."

Reminiscences of, "Heave it higher,Sir Priest!" *  I'm not sure if Reuters deliberately worded it this way but I couldn't help summoning up a very un-feminist picture of ladies among the pots and pans in the kitchen!

The third...

One of those attending the service was Stewart Pawley, 32, of Louisville, who said he was raised Catholic and now only attends on Christmas and Easter. But he said he would attend services with Smead when she starts to offer them in Louisville. "People like me know it's something the Catholic Church will have to do," said Pawley.

Oh yes, Mr Pawley, people who come to Mass twice a year are just the sort who know just what the Catholic Church is all about, immersed as they are in her daily rituals, theology, spirituality and history.  While we're at it, let's get a focus group of pagans and atheists together to see how they think we should run the Church.