When I ask ordinary Catholics what they think of all the discussions about synodality and Pope Francis’ call for us to become a synodal Church, I usually get blank stares. Some assume that I am one of those academic types that enjoy asking irrelevant questions; others simply say that they haven’t got a clue about Read more
The voice of my childhood pastor, Father Kerwin, was just short of Edward R. Murrow in wartime England. Except instead of saying “This…is London,” he would declare five minutes before Mass began: These…are the announcements. Grave proclamations in his deep, chastening, black-coffee voice that could refreeze a melted glacier: Ladies’ Circles, Holy Week schedule, parking Read more
Shutting small parish communities and merging them with a larger one is leaving people stranded. Covid’s remnants also leaves some people feeling vulnerable. For others, and for a possible range of reasons, the local parish is no longer spiritually nourishing. One woman, Betty Ann Asaro, and has become a remote parishioner at Saint Cecilia Church Read more
Synodal feedback identified the need for liturgical experiences that are life-giving and accessible to Catholics. Because many New Zealand Catholics no longer identify with symbols and signs used in the Sacred Liturgy, the liturgy has become a foreign land. People who feel this way might describe the Liturgy as boring, clericalist and formal and themself Read more
The most substantive change in the last sixty years has been the renewal of the Sacred Liturgy and its sacramental rites adapted to our languages and cultures. We have two great gifts from the Council: first, the treasury of the Sunday and weekday lectionaries so that God’s Word will fill our days and minds; and Read more
In part II, Bishop Peter Cullinane clarifies some of the areas in Pope Francis’ Decree Traditionis Custodes, where there is potential for misunderstandings and superficiality. Liturgical misunderstandings and superficiality develops Part I: Like charity, Christian unity begins at home. Wasn’t the Traditional Latin Mass the “Mass of the ages”? Yes, which is why it adapts Read more
When Jesus’ first disciples were signing on, “Philip found Nathaniel and said ‘we have found the one Moses wrote about… Jesus from Nazareth’. Faced with Nathaniel’s scepticism, Philip simply said ‘come and see” (John 1:43-46). And that did it. If this same Jesus is now “Christ among you, …” (Col.1:27), then people’s experience of Christian Read more
In his recent apostolic letter, Desiderio desideravi, Pope Francis addresses a fundamental religious problem of modern humanity, especially in the global north: symbols are no longer symbolic. We could rephrase this in the following different ways: Symbols are just symbols – and ignored. Symbols no longer speak to us – and we miss what they Read more
Anyone attending a Catholic liturgy for the first time is struck by the number of gestures, images, and items of clothing that one just never sees anywhere else. Some of the leaders might be resplendent in silks with gold embroidery – straight out of a painting by Benozzo Gozzoli who lived between 1421-1497. In some Read more
Lockdown liturgy such as online Mass, walk-up communion and drive-in Eucharist during the liturgical lockdown have shown us the dominant culture of the Church. Where these practices became the default of bishops, the potential failure of the synodal process is high because these practices were made possible by sidelining the laity. What is the potential Read more