Albertus Minimus

Not dead yet – part 2

European Christianity’s prospective or imminent demise has been predicted for centuries; yet while its “inevitable” modern successors—from enlightened deist universalism to Jacobinism to Marxism—inevitably descend into strangely quaint anachronism (and there is nothing more quaint than the certitudes of bygone utopian fantasies), Christianity constantly renews itself from sources beyond the vicissitudes of history. Even amid the manifest sins and failings of its faithful, Christian faith proclaims the living words of which modern ideologies are so often parodies.

Amid Europe’s real problems, the persistence of the question of God in Europe, and with it Christianity’s answer, is worth our thanks and our reflection. For American Christians, contemporary Europe should be more than the harbinger of a dreaded future; it is the present sign of an invincible hope.

The full article, from the excellent 'Touchstone' magazine, is here. Thanks to Amy Welborn for the link.

As a further reflection on the situation of the Church in France, and further proof that ideas have consequences, I have been told by a Jesuit learned in Pascal and his times, that those areas of France where Jansenism was most prevalent are the parts which are today most secular. This is interesting as, among other things, Jansenism promulgated an idea that Christ's salvation was narrow, that few would be saved. Thus, in crucifixes inspired by Jansenist ideas, Jesus's arms are narrowly spaced and held above his head, indicating visually the narrow gap through which the redeemed have to fit. Our Jesuit friend is also inclined to think that the spread of the devotion to the Sacred Heart (where Jesus stands with His arms spread ready to receive all into His heart) arose and spread in part in reaction to Jansenist ideas.

Making the Church visible

This story from the 'Tablet' comes via Petra at Lumen de lumine.

At my recent parish pastoral council meeting, the discussion centred on how to make the Church better known and to encourage more enquirers. One member of the council asked why it was that the parish seemed to be getting a steady trickle of people who want to become Catholics and how they encountered the Church in the first place.

One important reason was that they had recognised the parish priest or one of the Sisters of Mercy in the street or in a shop and had started talking to them. The much loved Sisters decided many years ago to continue wearing their distinctive habits, unlike many of their colleagues in their own and other orders. The parish priest also continues to wear a clerical collar. Experience seems to vindicate their decision to be visible presence in this way.

When we see in towns and cities members of other faiths wearing distinctive dress as a sign of their allegiance to their beliefs, should Catholic clergy and religious orders that have opted for anonymity consider whether this has contributed to the Church becoming invisible?

It's worth popping over to Petra's site even if you don't speak German. There are a couple of very moving photographs of Pope John Paul II there. Start at the top and just scroll down a little way for the second.

Lots of coloured paper

I suspect that I'm not the only one to treat consultative processes, entered into with much public enthusiasm by bishops and archbishops, with some scepticism. All too often in the past they seem to be more public relations' exercises than anything else, and designed in such a way that a bishop can extract from them the justification for what he was going to do in any case. So when Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the archbishop of the Westminster diocese of which I am a part, announced that he was going to ask the people of the diocese about the way forward, and publish the results in (first) a 'green paper' and (finally) a 'white paper', I was not too hopeful about the outcome. (I must admit that the name given to the process, 'Graced by the Spirit', also served to raise my hackles, suggesting to me the ecclesiastical equivalent of business speak.)

My hopes suffered further when I went along to one of the 'consultative phases' (or talking shops) a couple of years ago as the representative of my parish, and found that the little group of which I was a part was hijacked by an ageing nun, in traditional polyester, to push all the usual, tired clichés of 'reform'.

So I must admit that when the Cardinal finally published his 'white paper' at the end of all this, entitled 'Communion and Mission', I was not expecting much. There were rumours that the paper would contain concrete proposals for parish clustering, and even suggest closing some parishes, in response to the decline in the number of priests in the diocese.

But no. In fact, the document proposes five priorities for the diocese over the next few years, all of which seem to me to be worthwhile.

Priority 1: The Call to Holiness, Prayer and the Eucharist

The first priority must be the universal call to holiness manifested in each one of us through a life of prayer and worship. Our parishes should be schools of prayer in which there are opportunities for people to learn how to pray and to be supported in doing so. In addition, I would hope that every parish would increase the time available for adoration of the Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament, as the Bishops’ meeting in Rome recently urged.

I will be asking the Liturgy Commission to look at the provision of courses and resources for all involved in the liturgical life of a parish. These will take place at designated centres in the Diocese staffed and resourced by parishes and deaneries. The courses will seek to build up a dedicated liturgical ministry of people whose task it is to support their priest in the development of liturgy and worship.

Priority 2: Formation of Adults and Young People

My next priority is the formation of all the baptised for their mission of bearing witness to Jesus Christ. I wish to place special emphasis on formation for leadership and on formation for young people.

If all the baptised are to share in the Church’s mission then we must have a proper formation of lay people in their faith. We also need enthusiastic leaders who can motivate the whole Church, especially youth and young adults, to be the Body of Christ in our world, responsible for its growth.

In order to bring this priority into greater fruition effective religious education and faith formation programmes are to be offered throughout the Diocese on all levels: children, youth, young adults and adults. A new Agency for Evangelisation, in collaboration with the Education Service, will begin by surveying the resources which are already available and then look at how to fill the gaps in provision.

Priority 3: Small Communities

The formation of small communities has been one of the fruits of At Your Word, Lord. They have been a vital development in the life of our Diocese. Countless people have told me how much they have been nourished by their experience of prayer and companionship in the Lord by the existence of these small groups.

I have increasingly called the Diocese to be a ‘community of communities’. Now that the At Your Word, Lord programme has finished, I hope that the hundreds of groups across the Diocese will continue to meet. I would also ask every parish to establish small faith communities where they do not exist and to develop them where they are not already strong. The new Agency for Evangelisation will provide materials and other forms of support.

Priority 4: Priesthood and Vocations

The priest is the spiritual leader of the people of the parish. He presides at the Eucharist and the other Sacraments. He preaches the Word of God to his people. He is himself a sign of Christ by the example of faith and by the pastoral service that he gives.

I am convinced that priests need to continue to renew their appreciation and their manner of celebrating the liturgy. The Archbishop’s Council will look at ways of promoting the ongoing formation of clergy. More broadly, I would like us all to be involved in creating in the Diocese a stronger culture of vocations in the years ahead. I am asking the Vocations Director and his team to provide assistance and resources to parishes and ecclesial communities in order to foster vocations from the diverse communities within the Diocese.

Priority 5: Structures for Participation, Change and Accountability

There is a call in the ‘Green Paper’ for greater partnership between parishes, as well as a greater sense of belonging to the local Church. The Church in Westminster must continue evaluating and revitalising present structures and devise new ones where necessary. One element of renewal must be to provide for increased participation, collaboration and accountability in our diocesan mission. We need to find ways of ensuring that our increasingly diverse congregations are being heard.

Decisions affecting the life of the Church at every level must be made collaboratively. They will not be taken centrally and imposed but will be taken gradually, at different times, as the circumstances arise, and only after the evaluation and contribution of each local community is assessed.

Each parish should have a parish council/team. This is a group of lay people who are regularly consulted by the parish priest in relation to the history, the life, the structure of the parish, its resources and its mission. I will be asking the Deans with the Auxiliary Bishops to conduct an audit in consultation with the parish councils/teams and the priests of the deanery. This audit will profile the life and mission of each parish so as to assess its needs and resources and to help develop its relationships with neighbouring parishes and within the deanery.

This is the essence of the Cardinal's proposals. To read the full text of the white paper, 'Communion and Mission', go here.

I'm particularly encouraged by, firstly, his emphasis on the Eucharist, and the need for worthy liturgies and his encouragement for Eucharistic Adoration, and secondly the impression he gives that he has not given up on vocations. Yes, we will inevitably face a shortfall of priests here in Westminster in the short and possibly medium term - the age profile of the clerical population makes that inevitable. But the one way to ensure a long term dearth of priests is to assume that the decline in vocations is inevitable and irreversible. I don't for a minute believe that is the case, and the same seems to be true, I'm glad to say, for the cardinal.

The structure of the Church

If I had been asked to describe the Church as it exists in this world, I suppose my first impulse would have been to liken it to a pyramid: the Pope at the top, then the bishops, priests and laity. In short, the Imperial Church, one modelled to some significant extent on the structure of Imperial Rome. Of course, if challenged I might have been at a loss to justify quite why the Church should mirror the organisation of an Empire which, for all its virtues, elevated torture to public entertainment and institutionalised the idolatry of power.

Well, Hans Urs von Balthasar, in his book 'The Office of Peter and the Structure of the Church', offers a very different model of the Church, one based on the people around Jesus in His life, one that takes seriously the idea that what He did then, and whom he interacted with, was not happenstance but purposeful.

It's a fascinating view, and one that quite properly places Mary at the heart of the Church, so I recommend either the book or an excellent paper, 'Von Balthasar and the Office of Peter in the Church' by the Jesuit, John McDade, which is available here (scroll down the page until you come to it). The paper is in Word format.

Not dead yet

I sometimes get the impression that in the American Catholic blogosphere it's virtually an article of faith that the Faith is dead, or at least dying, in Europe. Well, even if it is, the old dog is still twitching. Here in my local diocese of Westminster, 754 adults took part in the Mass of Catechumens at Westminster Cathedral as part of their RCIA preparations towards being received into the Church this Easter. That's a record. In fact, there were so many candidates that the Cathedral had to have two separate Masses to accommodate all of them.

And, as a side note, I can add that the number of people to be received into the Church in Westminster this year can be increased by one, to 755, as Mrs Minimus is being privately instructed, outside the usual RCIA programme, with a view to being received into the Church this Easter.

The hidden history of the human race

Our history books are full of the deeds of great men, and battles, and, in the more boring modern text books, economic analyses for the rise and fall of nations and classes. All well and good, and a necessary part of our culture. But I suspect that in the hidden history of the human race, that story that is known to God, the deeds of those who figure large in history books will merit only the briefest of mentions. This hidden history consists of a million forgotten kindnesses, umpteen prayers offered for people unaware, of love and goodness given, like the rain, as gift.

The walls around the world are built of these kindnesses, the bones of society are knit together with them, and each family, each life, is sustained by that which is given as a gift.

Over the last few months my family has received much in the way of prayers, support and encouragement from people we know and others we don't. Thank you all.

The truly inclusive Church

We've all endured them. Cafeteria Catholics, both clerical and lay, telling us how the Church would be so much better if only it allowed women priests, gay marriages, sanctioned torture for the right regimes, or supported a woman's right to choose (delete as applicable). I suppose I'm not alone in wondering, why doesn't someone do something. To be honest, I'm probably not entirely clear what should be done, just that something should be. Well, one thing that could be done would be to ask these people to leave the Church. But, of course, on reflection that's the one thing that we can't do. After all, the salvation of these people's immortal souls may well depend on their remaining within the Church: to throw them out would be to commit them to the darkness. So next time you hear a nun with a bad haircut, dressed in a polyester suit and tennis shoes mouthing heresy from the pulpit, well, just tune out her words and pray for her soul. When we come down to it, this is the real meaning of an inclusive Church.

For everything that lives is holy

If you don't remember the readings from Mass last Sunday, allow me to refresh your memory (and don't worry if you don't: I have terrible auditory memory. Unless something is written down I will inevitably forget it).

Gn 9:8-15

God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
“See, I am now establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you:
all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals
that were with you and came out of the ark.
I will establish my covenant with you,
that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed
by the waters of a flood;
there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.”
God added:
“This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come,
of the covenant between me and you
and every living creature with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign
of the covenant between me and the earth.
When I bring clouds over the earth,
and the bow appears in the clouds,
I will recall the covenant I have made
between me and you and all living beings,
so that the waters shall never again become a flood
to destroy all mortal beings.”

I must confess that I had not realised before that God established His covenant not just with mankind but 'between me and you and all living beings'.

And then from the Gospel, a short part of the longer reading:

Mk 1:12-15

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him.

Note that it says Our Lord was 'among wild beasts' as he remained in the desert. In the light of the previous reading, I can but wonder what this means. Where the creatures of the desert aware of who dwelled with them for that time? There were no witnesses to this time other than Jesus Himself, so we have knowledge only of what He chose to relay to His disciples. But I find it hard to believe that the four legs and the wings and the crawling creatures did not sense the presence of He who had made covenant with their ancestors many generations ago: I suspect it takes a human being to really ignore such a one.

On reflection, these passages suggest to me that the protection of our fellow creatures is a Christian duty. To drive a species to extinction as we have done so often in the past – from the megafauna of north America, hunted out of existence by the first American Indians, to the dodo, destroyed by marauding sailors – is to break God's covenant with His creation.

Punk princess turns holy roller

Who'd have thought it? Julie Burchill, the original scribe of punk, the lesbian lit queen and the hatchet hack, has got religion.

One day towards the end of the 20th century, I had an epiphany; a stone-cold sober revelation, coming at that weary time of the day when it is too late for luncheon and too early for cocktails and when the only activity which seems appropriately prosaic is picking up one's dry-cleaning. One moment I was sitting there on my Bloomsbury sofa, flicking through Time Out, idly wondering whose life to ruin next, and the next moment it was as if a mighty hand had broken -painlessly, patiently, purposefully -a huge jar of ointment over my head.

And then I was blessed, saved, born again -except all those words sound wrong.

There isn't a word I know which describes properly how I felt, but I do remember looking up from my magazine and saying eagerly, but calmly: "Oh! I see!" I didn't actually see anything, of course, or hear voices (now that would be mental) but I understood, in a split second, that there was, above and beyond all else, God.

And not just any religion, but Christianity. But still, lest we think that the end times must really be here, don't worry: she goes on to attack the Church in her usual vitriolic fashion. The full article is here.

Hat tip: Relapsed Catholic.

Does it have wings?

You know those hinged altarpieces in medieval churches? Well, here's a fascinating theory as to why the Ghent Altarpiece of Jan and Hubert Van Eyck was made in such a manner:

If I understand this correctly, as the music accompanying Mass or the Hours played and incense wafted upwards, the hinged covers would open and close. Who needs mere stained glass as a teaching aid, with prayers, preaching, chant, responses, music, bells and perfumed bouquets keeping company with moving pictures?

Thanks to In illo tempore for the link, and The Lion and the Cardinal for the original post and the reproduction of the extraordinary altarpiece. Honestly, even if you're not interested in the story, click on the top link to take a look at the painting.