What happened?
Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Vatican’s liturgy chief, has praised the “sincerity and devotion” of the “young men and women” who prefer the traditional Latin Mass.
In a speech in Rome to mark the 10th anniversary of Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, the cardinal urged Catholics to “open your hearts” to these young people. He also called on Catholics who prefer the Old Rite to leave the “traditionalist ghetto”, saying the rest of the Church needs their witness.
What Catholic media said
The Catholic News Agency observed that Cardinal Sarah’s address “focused on silence and the primacy of God in the liturgy”. He said that ‘‘silence of heart, mind and soul’’ were the key to achieving ‘‘full, conscious and actual participation’’ in the liturgy.
At Crux, John Allen said that Cardinal Sarah had “come out firing on all cylinders”. His role may have been diminished by some of Pope Francis’s recent decisions, but the cardinal gave a forthright statement of his liturgical vision. “If anyone expects Sarah now to go gentle into that good night, muting his strenuous defence of liturgical tradition, they can forget it.” At the same time, he said, Cardinal Sarah repeatedly praised Francis, and did not criticise the Pope’s recent motu proprio giving bishops’ conferences more control over translation.
What the blogosphere said
At Offerimus Tibi Domine, Fr Simon Henry applauded Cardinal Sarah’s insistence that the liturgy’s sacred character must not be diluted.
Fr Henry was reminded of Ronald Knox’s warning about 20th-century attitudes to doctrine: “We are not concerned, now, to find how we can represent truth most adequately, but how we can represent it most palatably.”
In the same way, Cardinal Sarah was reminding us that the liturgy should not be accommodated to the age, but should raise our minds to God.
Writing at praytellblog.com, Fr Dennis Smolarski SJ was struck by Cardinal Sarah’s suggestion that the silent prayer of the offertory and the Roman canon “could enrich the modern rite today”. This would conflict with the Vatican’s instructions of the 1960s-70s, Fr Smolarski said.
What happened?
At least four local authorities in China have issued notices banning children from churches, according to UCA News, a Catholic news site. A statement from the school district of Ouhai, Wenzhou, said churches providing religious education “too early” would “seriously affect the normal implementation of the education system”.
Why was it under-reported?
The news is part of a slow drip of stories about China cracking down on Christians. It is unclear how widely the bans are being imposed. Wenzhou, known as “China’s Jerusalem”, has been hardest hit, with letters sent to more than 100 churches. Authorities have said that churches will be subject to secret inspections to check if they are complying with the rule. It appears to be part of wider efforts to hinder the Church’s involvement in education. UCA News quoted an education official calling for efforts to “prevent religions infiltrating into schools”.
What will happen next?
one thing is clear: Beijing is tightening its grip on Christianity. Its cabinet passed new restrictions on online discussions of religion and the funding of religious groups just this month. In July Communist Party members were told they had to be “firm Marxist atheists”. Not surprisingly, Vatican-Beijing talks have stalled. Fr Jeroom Heyndrickx, of Belgium’s Catholic University of Leuven, who has sought to build bridges between the Church and China, told AP: “Recently, the news we hear is not so good.”
Evensong will take place at Westminster Abbey at 3pm tomorrow (Saturday) to mark the centenary of Blessed Oscar Romero’s birth. An anthem by James MacMillan has been commissioned for the occasion. Cardinal Vincent Nichols will take part in the service and Lord Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, will preach.
Bishop Alan Williams of Brentwood (right) opens this year’s ordinariate festival this evening with a talk on evangelisation. It will be at the ordinariate’s Warwick Street church. On Saturday the festival continues at Westminster City School.
A farmer’s son from Oklahoma will be beatified this weekend. Fr Stanley Rother was shot dead by a paramilitary group while serving in a parish in Guatemala. He is the first martyr born in the United States and only the second person to be beatified on American soil. His beatification will be aired on EWTN at 4pm UK time.
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