De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

LMS Pilgrims at the site of the Holy House in Walsingham on Sunday, picture by Joseph Shaw I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ~ Rev 3:15-17 As a father and in my role as a parish catechist for many years, I have found that young people quickly reject anything inauthentic and long for authenticity. I suppose it has long been demonstrated that young people especially are looking for a "peg" on which to hang their identity. An essential part of being a parent is ensuring that the environment which forms them is a positive rather than a negative one . My own experience of youth ministry is that it tends to appeal to a certain kind of young person. It can be very clicky and if you ...

CNS carries the story of the exit of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who has been the Vatican secretary of state. What struck me about his speech was his stress on the continuity between the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI and its continuity with that of Pope Francis. "What stirred our passion with Pope Benedict XVI was to see the church understand itself deeply as a communion, and at the same time speak to the world, to the heart and to the intelligence of all with clarity of doctrine and a high level of thought," the Cardinal said. The retired pope "suffered greatly on account of the ills that plagued the church, and for this reason he gave her new legislation in order to strike out decisively the shameful phenomenon of pedophilia among the clergy, without forgetting the initiation of new rules in economic and administrative matters," he said. "I see today in Pope Francis not so much a revolution but a continuity with Pope Benedict XVI even with their...

I spotted this excellent article by Catherine Bauer on Catholic Insight. It gives a brilliant synopsis of the history of the introduction of the reception of Communion in the hand as follows (emphasis mine): Since the practice of Communion in the hand has become the common observance in most countries, there has been, whether you like to admit it or not, a spike in Eucharistic abuse. Communion in the hand has given those who wish to do harm and those who are careless the opportunity to do what they want with the Body of Christ. Unfortunately, the situation described above is not uncommon. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Furthermore, Communion in the hand has the potential to promote or at least foster a disrespect for the Body of Christ. As Catholics, we believe this small Host does not represent Christ, but is Christ Himself. How can we, then, possibly touch the living presence of God with our bare, dirty, unconsecrated, and unworthy hands? How? How have we even considered t...

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...

On Saturday, my attention was brought to an article in the Herald Scotland which suggests that the Vatican "...has called a halt to the appointment of any more Scottish bishops until a full investigation into the Cardinal Keith O'Brien scandal is completed by Rome." Of course this move by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the current prefect of the Congregation for the Bishops, which oversees the selection of new bishops, means three dioceses – Paisley, Dunkeld and Edinburgh – will not have their vacancies for a bishop filled for some time. Apparently, the Congregation for the Bishops has instructed Archbishop Mennini, the Pope's ambassador in the UK, to keep the book open on Cardinal O'Brien and continue to gather evidence. Surely this can only be another indication Pope Francis is turning his attention to the crisis engulfing the Catholic Church in UK? It certainly seems to me to signify a key change in the way these things are dealt with. Rather than brushing t...