Oppdaterte nyheter om Den katolske Kirke i USA og seksuelt misbruk

Katolsk /

«Skal det bare én telefosamtale til før en prest blir suspendert?» Slik avslutter John Allen en artikkel som omtaler behandlingen av anklager mot katolske prester i erkebispedømmet Philadelphia. Der har kardinal Justin Rigali tydeligvis (uten at mange visste det) ikke rapportert videre anklager mot prester som man ikke har funnet troverdige eller alvorlige nok. Men nå har nylig en domstol funnet at 37 av disse prestene har alvorlige anklager mot seg, og diskusjonen blant amerikanske biskoper raser – og de fleste er svært mye strengere i sin praksis. Les Hele John Allens artikkel her, og han avslutter den slik:

…. bishop complained of a “lack of information” from the Philadelphia archdiocese. “We have this massive grand jury report,” he said, “but the responses from the archdiocese so far have been vague.”

Others came to Rigali’s defense, suggesting there may be a “benign” interpretation of choices made by the cardinal and his aides.

Some of the cases in the grand jury report, one bishop said, may involve “boundary issues,” such as an inappropriate conversation with a minor, that do not necessarily rise to the level of sexual abuse. In those instances, the bishop said, a decision not to make a report may have been intended to resist “charter creep,” meaning expanding the purview of review boards beyond their mandate, distracting them from their core purpose.

Another bishop said the Philadelphia situation highlights a key bit of unfinished business: achieving a clearer definition of what precisely constitutes sexual abuse, and how it differs from other objectionable conduct.

“My sense is that some review boards handle these ‘boundary issue’ cases one way, and some boards handle them another way,” one bishop said.

“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take them seriously,” this bishop said. “We have to move quickly to address them, but they require a different response than actual sexual abuse.”

In general, most bishops seem hesitant to pass judgment until more facts are in. “At this point, I don’t sense resentment directed at Rigali that in any way approximates what the bishops felt about Bernie Law,” one prelate said, referring to the former archbishop of Boston who resigned in December 2002 amid the first wave of the American crisis.

A final worry expressed by some bishops concerns the impact of the Philadelphia situation upon priests across the country.

The takeaway from Philadelphia, one bishop said, is that no matter how weakly documented a charge may be, it will now automatically result in a report to the police and the review board, and suspension from ministry — meaning that in the court of public opinion, the priest will be branded an abuser.

“Every priest in the country is just one phone call away from disgrace and removal,” the bishop said. “I don’t understand why nobody seems to be speaking up on this.”

Biskop Gran overtar Oslo katolske bispedømme

Katolsk /

St Olav trykket i sitt første nummer av 1965 følgende artikkel, som omtalte at biskop Gran overtok Oslo katolske bispestol noen uker før; 14. desember 1964. De to bildene viser liturgisk både det nye og det mer tradisjonelle: Dette var den aller første koncelebrasjonen i St Olav domkirke, og det var allerede satt et bord foran det gamle høyalteret (som stod fram til 1976) – men på bilde nr 2 ser vi den nye biskopen på sin cathedra, med to prester kledd i dalmatikaer ved siden av seg. Her er hele teksten fra St. Olav ved denne anledning:

EN MILEPEL OG ET PROGRAM

BISKOP JOHN WILLEM GRAN OVERTAR OSLO KATOLSKE BISPESTOL

Bispeskiftet i Oslo katolske bispedømme markerte på mange måter en milepel, uttalelser., omtaler i avisene osv. har understreket denne side av begivenheten. En ung nordmann ble formelt innsatt i embedet, sammen med fire andre av Kirkens biskoper konselebrerte han for første gang messen i St. Olavskirken i Oslo, for første gang ble en del av de nye liturgiske bestemmelser tatt i bruk.

Men det skjedde jo en annen, viktig ting under høytideligheten også. Den nye biskop, John W. Gran skisserte i sin tale ganske enkelt et program for den fullsatte kirke., for prestene, søstrene, gamle og unge legfolk. Det må vel oppfattes som noe av hans arbeidsprogram i tiden som kommer – det var ikke en vanlig takk-for-tilliten tale eller en hilsen til den flokk trofaste, men passive – men idéer helt og fullt basert på verdenskirkens ajourføring, fylt av ny aktivitet, nye tanker og forslag om øket samarbeide. Dessuten er de en rettesnor for katolikkers forhold til medkristne og ikke-kristne i dette land.

Og derfor er biskop Grans tale så viktig at «St. Olav», forsinket av julehelg og hoppende trykningstider, velger nettopp denne tale som «et dokument» fra det som skjedde den 13. desember, på tredje søndag i advent.

Biskop Gran sa bl.a.: Det er naturlig at man ved en slik milepel først ser tilbake. Kjære biskop Mangers, for 32 år siden, i omtrent samme alder som jeg har nå, kom De til Deres gjerning her. Ung, forhåpningsfull og energisk og uten rynker. De er i dag fremdeles ung av sinn, forhåpningsfull og energisk, de rynkene De har fått forteller oss om ansvaret og byrden.

De har, kjære biskop Mangers, kommet som den gode far og som en fredselsker, De har alltid vist pietetsfølelse overfor den norske tradisjon og Deres tid har vært en ekspansjons- og oppbygningstid.

De har alltid tatt konsekvensen av Deres egen overbevisning om hva som var til det beste. Og De omfattes med en dyp og virkelig kjærlighet fordi De er den De er, den gode hyrde.

Og nå er jeg fylt med en slags uro over kanskje a skulle svikte et stort oppdrag, uro, men også glede. Kirken er kommet til en milepel, Konsilet skal gi oss vårt program, og jeg ber om lojalitet overfor alt det nye som følger med Kirkens store oppbrudd.

Noen katolikker føler angst i dette oppbruddet, været er stormfullt. Prester og legmenn må arbeide for å forvandle denne angst i sinnene til forhåpningsfull optimisme.

…

Biskop Gran overtar Oslo katolske bispedømmeLes mer »

Messefeiring i Peterskirken i 1965

Liturgi /

Jeg så dette bildet i St Olav for 17. juli 1965, og må si at jeg ble ganske sjokkert. Biskopene står rundt hele alteret og ser på hverandre, uten verken krusifiks elelr lys så langt man kan se. Det er stor forskjell på denne messefeiringen og måten pave Benedikt gjør det på i vår tid. Det er på en måte underlig, på en annen måte ikke så underlig, at man til de grader «kastet barnet ut med badevannet» så tidlig på 60-tallet.

Reportasje fra Allen Hall i London

Katolsk /

Fr Hunwicke er tydeligvis (selv om han ikke sier dette så veldig tydelig) en av de tidligere anglikanske prestene som nå er blitt katolikk og forbereder seg (noen ganske få måneder) på å bli katolsk prest. Som en del av denne forberedelsen var han og flere andre nylig på presteseminaret Allen Hall i London – og hadde en svært fin dag der. Han skriver i dette lille innlegget bl.a. om Msgr. Mark O’Toole (som var min beste, kanskje eneste, støtte da jeg gikk der i 1997-98) og om at den tida nå er over (men som flere av oss norske prester opplevde der i våre år) at presteseminaret og Vatikanet formidler helt ulike ting:

Another splendid day at Cardinal Allen’s Foundation, now long departed from Douay and lodged on the site of S Thomas More’s house in Chelsea. Allen Hall is well equipped with portraits recalling its distinguished past; …

We had a most gracious address from the Rector, Mgr Mark O’Toole, in which he negotiated with immense intelligence and sensitivity the question of our status … the man is clearly no fool. He then assured us that the dark decades when seminaries were less than totally in tune with Catholic Tradition were now just about over. This reassured many of us a great deal; I had dreaded, after the sour decades in the Church of England, having again to steel myself to argue and to fight for the Faith. I doubt if there will be any need for that. Fr Mark is clearly One Of Us. ….

Skal alle seminarister måtte lære den tradisjonelle latinske messen?

Katolsk, TLM /

Dette antyder Damian Thompson på sin blogg, når han kommenterer John Allens stykke (som jeg nevnte her) om bl.a. dokumentet som skal forklare pave Benediiks åpning for den tradisjonelle messen. (Alle kommenterer også Vatikanets forhold til tradisjonalistene, men dette bryr ikke Damian T. seg så mye om.) Han skriver:

Will it soon be a requirement for Catholic seminarians to learn to say the Traditional Latin Mass? Bobbie Mickens made this claim in the Tablet a couple of weeks ago – just think how livid he must be at the prospect! – and now John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter is saying exactly the same thing. He reckons that Ecclesia Dei’s forthcoming instruction on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum will “call for seminarians to be trained not just in Latin, but in the older rite itself, at least so they will know how to execute it faithfully and understand what’s being said”.

… the proposal to teach all seminarians to celebrate the Tridentine Mass is a seriously big deal. In many ways it’s as radical as Summorum Pontificum itself.

According to John Allen, bishops around the world “haven’t exactly bent over backwards” to make the Old Mass widely available since 2007. That sounds about right. In England and Wales, most dioceses don’t flagrantly disregard Summorum Pontificum – but they don’t need to. On paper, the self-implementing features of the motu proprio challenge the power of the bishop: a priest doesn’t need permission to celebrate the EF. In practice, it’s easy to turn the document into a dead letter, since most parish priests come from a Vatican II generation unsympathetic to traditional rubrics and most lay people have never been near a Tridentine Mass and don’t know what they’re missing.

I don’t think the older form of the Roman Rite will ever supplant the vernacular liturgy. But we won’t discover the true level of demand for it until there are priests happy to celebrate it – offering it, perhaps, as an early morning service like BCP Holy Communion in Anglican parishes, or as the centrepiece of particular feast days. Most of the pious young Catholics I know agree with Pope Benedict that the Ordinary and Extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite should complement each other …

Biskop Elliot om pave Benedikts syn på liturgien – 5

Liturgi, Paven, Teologi /

I siste utrdag fra biskop Elliots foredrag i Oklahome 11/3 (Les hele foredraget her.) tar jeg med det han skriver om messens to former:

… Cardinal Ratzinger accepted the post-conciliar liturgical reforms. At the same time, he never concealed his abiding love for the venerable pre-conciliar liturgy, the Missale Romanun of Blessed. John XXIII, 1962. This was not just nostalgia for majestic celebrations of the pre-conciliar liturgy in Bavaria, rather a view informed by the hermeneutic of continuity. As cardinal he did not hesitate to associate himself with those who, often by making many sacrifices, worked hard to maintain and promotethe pre-conciliar rite.

Reverence for God and love of the mystery of liturgy, informed his Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum (2007) which established the pre-conciliar liturgy, the Missale Romanum of Blessed John XXIII, as the “extraordinary” form of the Roman Rite, parallel to the “ordinary” form, the Missale Romanum of Pope Paul VI. These are “two expressions of the Church’s Lex orandi” and “two usages of the one Roman Rite”. A distinction is made between the “ordinary” form, the Mass we use in the missal of 1970, and the “extraordinary” form, the pre-concilicar rite. This play on words, “ordinary” and “extraordinary” seems preferable to speaking divisively of the “Novus Ordo” and the “usus antiquior”. It presents two ways of celebrating the one Mass of the Roman Rite, two ways meant to be complementary, meant to inform and enrich one another. When both forms are celebrated reverently and prayerfully, the glory of God can be seen in our world. …

Forholdet mellom den gamle og den nye liturgiske kalenderen – 2

Liturgi /

I sitt foredrag «The Possibility of Reconciling the Liturgical Calendars of the Extraordinary Form and the Ordinary Form» sier Fr. Angelo Van der Putten, FSSP, mer om selve kalenderproblematikken mot slutten. Han er svært så kritisk mot noe av det som skjedde rundt 1970 (muligens for skarp i formen?). Det er blant annet at man tok bort septuagesima-ukene (før-fasten) og pinseoktaven – og ga mange av de mest kjente helgenene nye datoer – som regnes som det mest dramatiske og unødendige.

… Louis Bouyer, an expert liturgist and a member of the concilium, had this stinging criticism to make of the new calendar: “I prefer to say nothing, or so little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed, with no good reason, Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost, and who scattered three-fourths of the Saints „higgledy-piggledy‟, all based on a notion of their own devising. Because these three hotheads obstinately refused to change anything of their work and because the Pope wanted to finish up quickly to avoid letting the chaos get out of hand, their project, however insane, was accepted.”

Perhaps this quote from F. Gerald Calvet, O.S.B., the abbot of the Monastery of St. Madeleine, in Le Barroux, France, will help show the importance of this organic growth necessary for true reform: “Since the Council, we have witnessed a break in tradition. Instead of a homogeneous and harmonious development of the rites, as was always the case until then, a «manufactured‟ liturgy has been established.” “Liturgy is, by its very nature, transcendent. The stability of the rites must reflect the immutable celestial liturgy, and should detach man from a ceaselessly changing universe, in order to associate him with the canticle of the angels: the liturgy ought to be a native land for the faithful.”

These learned men see that not only have the “reforms” which we see around us, particularly in the liturgy, not been what Vatican II desired nor seemingly have they been beneficial to the piety of the faithful or the good of the Church at large. I think it indisputable that Pope Benedict XVI desires a reform of the “reform”. How this will involve the new calendar is difficult to say. The history, tradition, and natural harmony of the one year cycle is clearly evident from the innumerable authors who have written on it: from the time of the Fathers up to the great liturgists of the twentieth century who preceded, by a brief space of time, Vatican Council II. There is a monumental amount of material showing the principle lex orandi, lex credendi. Perhaps it seems to some that with the new translation of the Roman Missal, coming out in Advent of the year 2011, that the time is opportune to make an amalgamation or harmony between the two calendars. It is this author’s thought that this would perhaps not be the wisest or most prudent action at this time. We must apply the principles of sound liturgy, which is the organic growth and piety of the people, both of which would be offended by this endeavor. It is clearly necessary to study this question with greater research and understanding of the necessary organic development of the liturgy. The fear is that if any changes are made the same complaint made about the previous “reformers” will be rightly made about us as well. …

Hele foredraget kan leses her (pdf-fil).

Flere tradisjonelle latinske messer i Oslo

TLM /

Det er nå klart at det vil bli TLM i St Joseph kirke i Akersveien to søndager hver måned (mot én gang i måneden inntil nå). Fram til sommeren feires den tradisjonelle latinske messen følgende søndager:

Søndag 10. april kl 19.00
Søndag 24. april kl 19.00
Søndag 8. mai kl 19.00
Søndag 22. mai kl 19.00
Søndag 12. juni kl 19.00
Søndag 26. juni kl 19.00
Søndag 10. juli kl 19.00

Denne informasjonen er tatt fra nyhetssidene til TLM-Oslo. Mer informasjon om disse messene fins her.

Biskop Elliot om pave Benedikts syn på liturgien – 4

Liturgi, Paven, Teologi /

I fjerde (og nest siste) utdrag fra biskop Elliots foredrag om pave Benedikts syn på liturgien tra jeg med det han sier om at «skjønnheten i messen viser Guds herlighet»:

(The Pope) calls us by his word and example to set aside the banal. To use what is beautiful, be it old or new: the best vessels, fine vestments, good design and architecture, gracious ceremonial, excellent music. This is not mere aestheticism because is derived from the God who is beautiful, the Lord of the Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist, sacrifice and sacrament, shapes liturgy and evokes human creativity in art and music. ….

Therefore, as cardinal and later as Pope, he affirms that Catholic worship should reflect the cosmic order and harmony of the divine Logos, creation stamped with reflections of the Triune God. St Augustine’s understanding of God as beautiful is a major influence here, for he is deeply attached to the great Doctor of the West.

By contrast, as anyone can see, a feature of the hermeneutic of discontinuity or rupture is a tendency towards ugliness, or at least promoting a modernist aesthetic, often dull, cold or minimalist – ugly churches, vestments, vessels etc, and all bereft of mystery. But the God we worship and praise is beautiful, to be worshipped in the beauty of holiness, worshipped “in spirit and in truth”. That is why Catholic liturgy in all its forms, simple or solemn, Eastern or Western, captures something of the glory of God.

However the Divine Liturgy is always the Great Prayer of Christ in his Church, human prayer in time taken up into Christ’s eternal prayer. Therefore the Holy Father’s offers us not just a richer theology of liturgy but a spirituality of liturgy. His spiritual vision of worship inspires and animates what is already being called “the new liturgical movement”.

Les hele foredraget her.

Forholdet mellom den gamle og den nye liturgiske kalenderen – 1

Liturgi /

I Tulsa, Oklahoma, der biskop Elliot holdt det foredraget jeg referer en del til, ble det også holdt et foredrag av en prest fra FSSP, Father Angelo Van der Putten. Tittelen på hans foredrag var «The Possibility of Reconciling the Liturgical Calendars of the Extraordinary Form and the Ordinary Form». I starten av foredraget snakker han riktignok mest om forandringene i selve messeliturgien:

… No one is able to deny that there are two different usages. One may no longer hold that the Ancient Use is no longer relevant or has any part to play in the Church‟s liturgy. With the advent of the Novus Ordo Missae in the fall of 1969 the Church saw not only a change in its liturgy, but its calendar and many of its devotions. The Ancient Use, or as it’s called today, the Extraordinary Form, saw a complete demise throughout the Catholic world except in a small congregation founded in 1970 by Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre called the Society of St. Pius X, which had houses throughout the world in various places and which adhered strictly to the 1962 liturgical books and calendar. The use of the old rite and calendar was practically forbidden to all after 1969. The only Indult was given by Pope Paul VI to England, humorously called the Agatha Christi Indult. This was given due to a request by Cardinal Heenan who stated that it would seem odd to English Catholics to forbid use of such a Rite shortly after having canonized the English Martyrs who gave their very lives for this very Rite. This Indult was very limited and even in England only the Brompton Oratory applied it faithfully over the years. Little more was heard of the Extraordinary Form until 1984 when Pope John Paul II issued Quattor Abhinc Annos, which with the bishops permission and a special, particular, written indult a particular priest in particular circumstances would be allowed to offer the Extraordinary Form.

Then, in 1988, due to Monsignor Lefebvre consecrating four bishops in order to carry on his work of preserving the Extra-ordinary Form, Pope John Paul II wrote a letter excommunicating him but at the same time allowing a greater freedom to the Extraordinary Form. This letter is called Ecclessia Dei Adflicta. Both of these letters of Pope John Paul II had very little practical effect in freeing the Extraordinary Form from its place on the shelf of, though beautiful and ancient, a no longer useful liturgy of the Catholic Church.

All of this dramatically changed in 2007 when Pope Benedict XVI issued a motu proprio called Summorum Pontificum. The Extraordinary Form is now clearly endorsed by the reigning pontiff and has been given an authority direct to himself.

This reinstating of the Extraordinary Form has given rise to great interest throughout the Catholic world. And it is clear that it is not only a passing nostalgia. Not only does this interest seem profound and committed, but it pertains to the use of the liturgy and calendar as lived in the Catholic Church in the Western, or Latin, Rite since the time of Pope Gregory the Great in the 7th Century (540-609). Clearly, then, this is of profound significance. There are now in the Latin Rite Church «two‟ Rites and «two‟ Calendars, with the majority of believers benefiting from the New Rite and Calendar and a minority benefiting from the Old Rite and Calendar.

It is clearly the mind of the present Holy Father that more and more the Old Rite is to be more readily, wholly and positively available. This brings with it the very practical question of the use of the two different Calendars and feasts of the Saints and the Liturgical Cycle. …

Hele foredraget kan leses her (pdf-fil).

Biskop Elliot om pave Benedikts syn på liturgien – 3

Liturgi, Paven, Teologi /

I mitt tredje utdrag fra biskop Elliots foredrag om Ratzinger og liturgien tar jeg med det han sa om hvor viktig alteret er (alteret må aldri bli et spisebord!):

(The pope then) directs us away from ourselves and back to God by focusing on the Christian altar, the great sign of Christ among us. In Feast of Faith and The Spirit of the Liturgy he argued that the altar is not a setting to display a man (a Pope, bishop or priest). One might add that the altar is not a lectern or pulpit. Rather, during the action of the liturgy, the altar itself should draw us around Jesus Christ crucified and risen. This breaks down that self-centric community tendency.

Therefore he shows us a way that helps us “turn to the Lord” whenever Mass is celebrated facing the people. At all papal Masses, the crucifix now stands at the centre, no longer to one side. It is flanked by candles, of a significant size. This arrangement is being called the “Benedictine Altar”. It restores glory to our altars, especially when ornaments of fine quality are used and the altar is vested in a noble antependium.

Having made this change in the parish where I live, I learnt that once the crucifix is the centre of the altar, it becomes visually “an altar”, the great sign of Christ. No longer is it a kind of dining table adorned with candles and flowers. Placing the crucifix at the centre of the altar has also involved the recovery of the pontifical altar at his Masses in St Peter’s Basilica and elsewhere, that is, using the seven candles required by Roman tradition and the General Instruction whenever the Diocesan Bishop solemnly celebrates the Eucharist.

Les hele foredraget her.

Biskop Elliot om pave Benedikts syn på liturgien – 2

Liturgi, Paven, Teologi /

Biskop Elliot snakket 11. mars også om pave Benedikts syn på liturgien som en levende ting som må utvikles organisk, og om hvordan fokus i liturgien alltid må være rettet mot Gud:

Cardinal Ratzinger’s critique of liturgical discontinuity rested on the conviction that authentic liturgical development is always organic. This understanding was favoured by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council in Sacrosanctum Concilium. But changes that followed the Council were not always organic. As he bluntly put it, organic growth was replaced, “…as in a manufacturing process, with a fabrication, an on the spot banal product.”

Change in liturgy should not be concocted by committees or individuals or produced by experiments. That undermines the foundation of liturgical continuity – that liturgy is a gift, from God, through the Church. Yet he is frank about past problems, comparing the liturgy to an endangered fresco preserved by whitewash, which was stripped away, only to be “endangered by climatic conditions as well as by various restorations and reconstructions”.

While Catholic liturgy develops, it is a treasure handed on to us, entrusted to us by the Church. Therefore he applies to liturgy what he applies to the interpretation of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, a “hermeneutic of continuity”, understanding the Council in the context of all preceding Councils and papal teachings. By sharp contrast, the “hermeneutic of discontinuity” breaks with the past and interprets liturgy as our creation, what “we do”, or as we hear in some quarters, what we do when “we gather”, adorned with such inventions as “gathering hymns” and a “gathering rite”. …

…. We note how our Holy Father reminds us that in worship we are meant to focus on God, to give God the glory, not to glorify ourselves. He criticized a self-centered overemphasis on ourselves that has damaged the quality of worship. When the liturgical community turns in on itself, it ends up worshiping itself. Self-centric worship is supposed to “build up community”, but in practice it undermines community. “Only when the sacrament retains its unconditional character and its absolute priority over all communal purposes and all spiritually edifying intentions does it build community and edify humans.”

Les hele foredraget her.

Vatikanet og tradisjonalister

Liturgi, TLM /

John Allen skriver i dag om to dokumenter som kan utgis i Vatikanet i april – ett om den tradisjonelle messen og ett om forholdet til SSPX) – som Vatikanet mener bør glede tradisjonalister (av alle avskygninger, både de moderate og SSPX), men som sannsynligvis ikke vil være godt nok for alle.

… the instruction will confirm that the moto proprio is now the universal law of the church, and insist that bishops apply it. Among other things, it will call for seminarians to be trained not just in Latin, but in the older rite itself, at least so they will know how to execute it faithfully and understand what’s being said.

The instruction will also confirm that the older Mass must be available wherever “groups of faithful” request it, without specifying how many people it takes to constitute a “group.”

The instruction will likewise confirm that the older liturgy is to be celebrated during Holy Week wherever there’s a “stable group” of faithful attached to it, as well as in religious orders which use the extraordinary rite.

On the other hand, the instruction will probably not satisfy all traditionalist hopes. For example, it will probably not give a seminarian in a regular diocesan seminary the right to be ordained according to the pre-Vatican II ritual, in part because that ritual presumes ordination to “minor orders” and the sub-diaconate, which were suppressed under Pope Paul VI.

As far as the talks with the Society of St. Pius X go, signs suggest they may end with a whimper rather than a bang. …

Les hele artikkelen her.

Biskop Elliot om pave Benedikts syn på liturgien – 1

Liturgi, Paven, Teologi /

Biskop Peter J. Elliot fra Australia var nylig (11/3) i USA, (Tulsa, Oklahoma) og holdt et foredrag han hadde kalt «THE GLORY OF THE LITURGY: POPE BENEDICT’S VISION». Etter å ha innledet med å snakke om tidsaspektet i frelseshistorien og i liturgien, og om liturgiens kosmiske karakter, sier han:

His cosmological vision of the Eucharist explains the Pope’s appreciation for celebrating the Eucharist ad orientem, that is, towards the East.8 Led by the priest, the pilgrim people turn towards the Light of the risen Lord, reigning in his cosmos and coming again in his parousia. As cardinal he was well aware of the cultural difficulty of appreciating this ancient universal Christian symbolism in the secularized Western World.9 But he did not even consider that ignorant expression we still hear, celebrating Mass “with his back to the people”. That misses the whole point of the priest who is leading a worship procession towards the Lord.

As a cardinal he was not popular for putting that view. He partly challenged the most obvious and prevalent post-conciliar change, the almost universal practice of moving altars and celebrating Mass facing the people.10 As I shall explain, at the same time he gives us a way to enrich Mass facing the people by focusing on the Lord.

Moreover while he integrates the sacrificial dimension and the meal dimension of the Mass, he rejects the meal as the paradigm for the Eucharistic liturgy. The term “meal” in German and English cannot convey the depth of the liturgical action and its Passover roots.11 Nor does he accept “sacrificial meal” – which still gives the meal priority. He favors a deeper understanding of the priority of Sacrifice through a Hebrew concept of sacrifice, personalized and internalized in the self-immolation of Christ crucified and risen.

Our Pope invites us to see the glory of Christ Priest and Victim in the liturgy. He leads us into this glory, above all by his own example of a priest humbly entering the divine mysteries of the altar. By word and demeanor he reminds us that liturgy is a gift to be received in humility, not something we construct for ourselves, not a fabrication. Here he strongly rejects a decadent style of liturgy that set in soon after Vatican II. That style was contrived to be a deliberate break with the past.

Les hele foredraget her.

Carissimi-prestene firer ikke

Generelt, Teologi /

Vårt Land skrev mandag at Carissimi-prestene ikke kommer til å bøye seg for biskop Pettersens krav:

Prestene i Carissimi-nettverket i Stavanger bispedømme vil ikke etterkomme biskop Erling Pettersens krav om nattverdfellesskap.

Vi står samlet om det synet vi tidligere har fremmet. Vi kommer ikke med noe nytt utspill på bakgrunn av at biskopen nå har avsluttet dialogen med oss, sier Dag Øivind Østereng, talsmann for Carissimi-prestene. …

… … tallet er redusert fram 19 til 15?

Det er helt praktiske grunner til det. Én har fått nytt tjenestested, én er i Israel og to er pensjonister. Vi står fortsatt samlet. Vi mener at biskopens syn i homofilispørsmålet er vranglære, og står føler oss tvunget til å trekke tjenestemessige konsekvenser av det, slår Østereng fast. … …

Neste møtepunkt for prestene i Carissimi-nettverket er i Bergen 28. mars. Der vil prester fra store deler av landet samles.

Vil det komme en uttalelse fra det møtet?

Vi er invitert til å legge fram vår sak for bispemøtets arbeidsutvalg i mai. Før den tid tror jeg nok ikke vi kommer til å gå offentlig ut med noen uttalelse, sier Østereng.

www.katolsk.no med nytt utseende!

Katolsk /

Jeg vil gjerne være med og gratulere med at www.katolsk.no nå i dag har fått nytt utseende. Jeg vet at det har vært mye arbeid, at det har tatt lenger tid enn de fleste regna med, og jeg syns resultatet ser godt ut.

Les mer om fornyelsesprosessen HER.

Msgr. Keith Newton

Katolsk, Økumenikk /


Her er nyheter fra sist uke; de tre tidligere anglikanske biskopene som ble katolikker 1. januar og katolske prester uken etterpå, er nå blitt monsignorer – leder av ‘Ordinariatet», msgr. Keith Newton, har blitt monsignore av en grad jeg aldri har hørt om før. Fra ordinariatets nettsider:

17th March 2011

It was announced today that the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has been honoured by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, and has been elevated to the rank of Protonotary Apostolic.

Fr John Broadhurst and Fr Andrew Burnham have also been honoured by being elevated to the rank of Prelate of Honour.

As such, all three priests are now known as Monsignor.

Vatikanet gjør tydeligvis alt nødvendig for at dette skal kunne lykkes. Msgr. Newton kan nå gjøre 90% av det en biskop kan gjøre, uten å være biskop (som han ikke kan bli, siden han er en gift mann).

Hos Gammarelli i Roma

Generelt /

Jeg handlet hos Gammarelli på fredag, og kom hjem med «varene» i går kveld – reportasjer kommer. Litt overraskende var det at prisene ikke var særlig høye, faktisk en del billigere enn i andre lignende butikker, der jeg egentlig hadde tenkt å handle.

Dette er butikkens offisielle navn og dens adresse:

Ditta Annibale Gammarelli

via di Santa Chiara 34, Roma, RM 0018

L’Aquila nesten to år etter jordskjelvet

Generelt /

Onsdag og torsdag var vi i L’Aquila for første gang, det er en 90 minutters busstur til byen som ligger nord-øst for Roma. På veien dit hadde jeg ingen anelse om at skadene etter jordskjelvet 6. april 2009 fortsatt setter sitt preg på byen. Men fortsatt er flere tusen leiligheter i sentrum av L’Aquila stengt, dessuten nesten alle kirker og andre bygninger. Svært mange gater er avstengt, og soldater er på vakt over alt.

Av bildene over ser at den berømte vestfasaden til kirken Santa Maria di Collemaggio fortsatt står (les om den her). Vi så denne straks vi kom av bussen, men da vi dagen etter kom inn i kirken, så vi at store deler av taket hadde falt ned – og er blitt erstattet av en midlertidig metallkonstruksjon. De andre bildene taler vel for seg selv.









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