Society of Saint Gregory

Last Saturday I was at the Catholic Cathedral in Armagh for their Vigil Mass. Their choir doesn't operate during July and August so the musical leadership consisted of the presiding priest and a pre-recorded track at communion. From memory, Mass unfolded like this: Entrance: one verse of a rather ma...

I am currently on holiday in Ireland. Yesterday (18th Sunday B) I climbed the mountain of Croagh Patrick, where there is a small oratory at the top. Mass hadn't been scheduled publicly (and I couldn't have predicted how long it would take me to haul my ample frame 764 m above sea level) but having m...

Is anyone else marking the new feast of Mary, Mother of the Church on 21 May? We've been asked to host a Mass for our pastoral area. But I just can't get my head round the suggested psalm: 86 with the refrain "Of you are told glorious things, O city of God" – and I'm not sure how it follows on from...

Christ became a curse for us, according to Galatians 3:13... and any gallows tree was intrinsically cursed. I think it's fair. All our curses were hung upon that Cross. So it's the most cursed Cross I could ever contemplate! But I've got no problem venerating a cursed Cross, since every time I recei...

On the grounds that a Narthex is a liturgical space, I hope this isn’t off-topic… We are looking to re-design our church's narthex. How do we minimise clutter, while allowing it to be a community space? Do you know any really good examples of churches that deal with all the “stuff” we are sent to gi...

The key concept with "reasonable adjustments" is what is reasonable. At seminary, we were taught that one of the relevant criteria is how the cost of making disabled adaptations compares to the funds available for maintenance and actually spent on maintenance. If a church has not enough mo...

I've just received my new copy of the Order of Celebrating Matrimony . It doesn't include the Eucharistic Prayers so has to be used together with an altar missal - though it does have the embolisms for EP1, 2 and 3 so you can have the embolism alongside the Missal rather than an awkward page turn th...

As Diocesan Director of Evangelisation, I am beginning to think about non-sacramental liturgies which could be celebrated in Holy Door churches in such a way that they would be meaningful to non-Catholics and those Catholics unready to avail of confession. If anyone has useful resources, please save...

Resource that might be useful for this Sunday or 11th November: Since 1968, a Service for Remembrance Sunday has been commended for general use by the Archbishops of Canterbury, of York, and of Wales, the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, and the Moderator of the Free Church Federal Council. This ...

I'm coming late to this discussion, but I note the national guidance ranks a hymn or music at this point as "priority 3" on a par with singing Kyrie Eleison, Agnus Dei or a recessional! http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/Music/Singing.shtml

I am the Proclaim'15 co-ordinator for my diocese. Each co-ordinator was given the invidious task of selecting 35 individuals from their diocese to attend this limited-seats event in Birmingham. Since we are a small diocese, I wrote to all Parish Priests asking them to recommend delegates, as well as...

No clapping, but when it said 'Sing a new song' I preached this: https://catholicpreacher.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/sing-a-new-song-to-the-lord/

Christ is Risen - and the big liturgies are done - Alleluia! Now is the time to recover, debrief and reflect. And I am reflecting on the differences in Sprinkling Rites: Easter Vigil: Water is blessed. Baptisms, if any, take place. Then the sequence is: * Call to prayer * Threefold renunciation of t...

The PP must apply to the Diocesan Chancery for the faculty to confirm the person concerned. Whether this is usually granted, or whether the diocesan bishop prefers to ask such persons to wait until he celebrates parish confirmations, is a policy set by each bishop in his own diocese. But the PP may ...

A few careful distinctions are needed here.... (1) Between Adoration AS Evangelisation and Adoration FOR Evangelisation There are a few initiatives around where Adoration is used as a means of evangelisation - the retreats run by Youth 2000 or the 'Nightfever' drop-in model of urban ministry. These ...