Deacon Greg notices that the subject of married priests does not come up on the agenda of the Synod for the Family and comments here. Here are a few of his observations:       If—and it’s a big if—the rules regarding priestly celibacy are one day relaxed, it does not mean that priests will start dating.  Those already ordained will not be allowed to marry. This has never been a practice in the church, even in the Eastern rites (which have... Read more

I’ll call him Father John. He was charismatic Anglo Catholic priest. A friend of my brother Daryl’s we’ll call Henry died suddenly in a plane crash and he was upset because although Henry was a believer he was away from God when he died. So Fr John said, “We have to have a requiem Mass for Henry.” They went into church and locked the door for privacy’s sake.  Another priest we’ll call Fr George celebrated the Mass. Henry was about... Read more

I posted a comment on Facebook this morning that has proven quite popular: If a woman’s chosen form of contraception is to keep her clothes on does her employer have to pay for her wardrobe? It reminds me of the British slang for the rather sturdy form of women’s underwear: They call them “Passion killers.” Certainly the swimming attire pictured here would help young men with the problem of lustful thoughts at the beach and pool this summer. Seriously now,... Read more

You can look at St Peter and Paul as the twins who founded the new Rome–the new Romulus and Remus if you like, but another way is to consider the balance between the body and the mind. In other words, we need both a muscular Christianity and an intellectual Christianity. Too much action without thinking and too much thinking without action are both disastrous. In this article for The National Catholic Register I spend some time thinking about the unlikely... Read more

When faced with the horrors of Islamic terrorism it is mighty difficult to step back and ask whether there is mercy for Muslims. Can there be mercy for those who have no mercy? When a horde of fanatical thugs burn churches, behead their enemies, rape nuns, murder priests and threaten mass murder it is not easy to be calm and observe that all Muslims aren’t like that and hope that peaceful Muslims will prevail and common sense and ordinary human... Read more

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of my ordination as an Anglican priest in Eastbourne in the Diocese of Chichester. I served as an Anglican priest for ten very happy years, first as a curate at St Peter’s, Bexhill on Sea, then for two years as chaplain to Kings College Choir School in Cambridge and then for six years as Vicar of Brading and Yaverland on the Isle of Wight. We were received into full  communion with the Catholic Church in... Read more

Wesley Smith writes here about some of the creepy new “funeral” services in a secular age. A recent front page story in the New York Time reported on a new funeral fad during which the recently deceased are posed as if still alive and engaged in a favorite activity…Those who don’t want burial but wish to dispose of their remains without contributing to global warming through cremation now in many places can have their remains liquefied and poured in the sewer. He then... Read more

I found it interesting how people understood yesterday’s post about the Cain Syndrome. It was meant to be an observation about a general trend within human nature and especially within religious behaviors. Some readers, however, interpreted as being only about the liturgy wars. By liturgy wars I mean the traditionalists who believe only the Latin Mass is valid and good and the progressives who wish the Latin Mass were outlawed. Both sides saw themselves as Abel not Cain–when the whole point... Read more

T.S.Eliot’s boyhood home in St Louis. This is in Westminster Place just two blocks behind the Catholic Cathedral. The Cathedral would have been under construction in the last years of Eliot’s time here. It was completed in 1914–the year Eliot moved to England. Read more

Today I stood outside the house in St Louis where T.S.Eliot spent his teenaged years. Then I saw the Mississippi. Here are the lines from Eliot’s Dry Salvages about the great river. I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river Is a strong brown god – sullen, untamed and intractable Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier; Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce; The only a problem confronting the builder of bridges The... Read more