Chairman's Blog
CMA Youth Retreat, 8th Feb, Haverstock Hill, London
Are Western Christians persecuted?
My latest on LifeSite.
Sex abuse clerical and lay
The second of a linked pair of LifeSite articles.
The latest Sex-abuse cover up: by Greater Manchest Police
The first of a pair of articles on LifeSite;
The Papal Slap
------
A lot of people have weighed in on Pope Francis repeatedly slappingthe hand of a pilgrim in St Peter’s Square. Reactions have not divided simply along ideological lines. Austin Ruse suggested, on Twitter, that Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II would have reacted even more fiercely to a pilgrim grabbing their hands and not letting go. I was undecided myself at first. The pilgrim’s action did seem a little aggressive. On the other hand, there she is, in the video, a rather small Chinese lady, making a sign of the cross to steel herself to take the hand of the much larger Pope, surrounded by body guards. From what one can see of the timing of the incident, the Pope reacts as he does not to the surprise of the physical aspect of the gesture, but to what she is saying. She is saying something about Hong Kong…
Read the rest on Rorate.
Roger Buck's 'Gentle Traditionalist' returns
My latest for LifeSite. Buy Roger Buck's latest book through this link which gives him a little more of the cover price.
Carry on reading there.
Learn to cook in 2020
My latest on LifeSite News
Support the Latin Mass Society
James MacMillan interview: music, culture, politics, religion
I've just round to watching this, and it is very interesting.
Sir James is a Patron of the Latin Mass Society.
He mentions a recent book of his reflections, which can be found here.
Blessing of Wine for the feast of St John
At SS Gregory & Augustine's, Oxford, following the EF Low Mass.
The bottles in bags on the floor were also blessed and sprinkled with holy water. They include our current stock of red wine for the Iota Unum talks.
The Logic of the Incarnation
My 'Christmas article' for LifeSiteNews.
In Advent, we expect Christ’s coming in several senses. There is an eschatological sense: we expect Christ to come as Judge at the end of time, an expectation key to the Christian life. There is a sacramental sense: we expect the coming of Christ in the Eucharist, where He will be as real as He was in Bethlehem. There is the spiritual sense: we hope and prepare for Christ to come into our hearts. And then there is the most obvious one, which forms the backdrop to the others. The Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, is to be revealed as a baby.
Christ has been present on Earth since the Annunciation, hidden in the womb of His Mother. That day, 25 March, was for centuries the start of the English financial year; it is also the date JRR Tolkien chose for the final destruction of the Ring in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is, in truth, the date of the Incarnation. In His birth, however, Christ is revealed to us: He becomes, as a man, a public person. It is now possible and appropriate for Him to be venerated by the shepherds and the Wise Men. In His birth He becomes subject to the Law of Moses, at least apparently, though really He is the Lord of it: it pleases Him and His Mother to fulfil the Law scrupulously. In His birth He also becomes vulnerable, and He must be carried into safety from the wrath of Herod. We might say that in His birth, the logic of the Incarnation is worked out more fully.