Society of Saint Gregory

I'm curious that SSG can be described as both 'right wing loonies' and 'hairy lefties' depending on who you speak to. This seems to suggest it is merely a whipping boy for anyone with an axe to grind about the state of music in their church, or more generally the state of music in church today. Perh...

I expect it is just that "new life", but they don't say that - this is what bugs me. The 'new' fire is usually made from lumps of 'old' wood - go figure. I have seen this granular stuff used which produces a rather elegant blue flame - it's specifically for indoor use as recommended by the...

What VML said sounds pretty sensible to me - you can re-cut the top to tidy it up if necessary. Naturally I wouldn't consider using anything too stumpy. A Paschal candle from a previous year should not be re-used. This is the sort of statement that really bugs me - no explanation is given, just 'don...

Thanks for that Doc. Have to say I don't find the San José article very convincing - it seems to explain what they do but there's little evidence that it's 'the right thing to do'. I find their reasoning a little weak to say the least, but hopefully it will add to the debate here. I think burying i...

OK I haven't checked with the usual authorities yet, but I can just imagine there'll be some 'obscure' (me read: daft) liturgical reason why a Paschal candle can NEVER be used for any other purpose, but I know a church near me that has a stack of these blighters backed up to yr2000 with hardly a den...

What better place to start than with the Psalms? If you are in church and still in the same situation (I see this thread is revived from last year) no-one can 'stop' you doing anything without good reason, and accompaniment, while sometime useful, isn't always a necessity, especially if your voice i...

Probably not the most qualitiest suggestion you're ever gonna get, but, being the unrepentant old box-basher that I am, John Glynn's "Holy Spirit of Fire" has the useful advantage of being easy to play and remember in your head, ergo no music required. So it doesn't just appear as a bombas...

....that bit of the church militant in this neck of the woods........the people asking are not arch-traditionalists on the fringes , just ordinary parishioners. Make up your mind. Which are they? It will make a big difference to how you could respond. If they are the former, I'm inclined to agree w...

I second that - this sounds like that business of getting the sprog into the good (Catholic) school. It's a complete con and should be chopped into little bits and stamped on mercilessly. I'm amazed that anywhere allows it. Just my opinion folks. I'd sooner the kid wasn't baptised. Then maybe they'l...

Aha! Those rad' methodists over at Ship-of-fools.com reinventing themselves again!

Sadly the recording has gone the way of all things, but the transcript is still available here http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/sunday_worship/documents/20070415.shtml

I'm still confused oops. Has there been some on-line mass broadcast recently?

OT: I found out why broadcasting is called broadcasting this week. Quite biblical, wouldn'tcha kno...

Saint Pixcell's

(Intermission for sweets and ice cream: For the benefit of those who tried reginald's dud link he is referring to this rather splendid site which I believe mcb discovered about two years ago. While I suspect Dan Schutte might go a funny colour at the rendition of "I, the Lord of Sea and Sky&qu...

Many of you will have been doing your stuff when this was on, so I post the link for your delectation. Sadly you can't download it, so grab it while you can because it'll be gone next sunday. Fr Donal Godfrey, Society of Jesus, leads a service from the Catholic Parish of Most Holy Redeemer, San Fran...

(The Lord is here/His Spirit is with us.) is a strong statement, but no greeting (and the weaker for not being so, I think). In the context of the mass, I think I prefer this version. It could easier be sung than our current text, and makes us more collective - priest celebrating as part of the con...