I wrote about the words of hymns. Now about the music: Why do we feel the need to imitate worldly music in church? Even if this were to be a good thing (and there is no reason why it should be) we do it so badly. The much loved Eagles’ Wings sounds like a bad Barry Manilow number. The other trite stuff is written in a pastiche style which imitates Broadway or Bob Dylan or Joan Baez.  Many of the... Read more

I have this guy who emails me from time to time trying to pick a fight. He tells me how out of date the Church is and how it needs to get with the times and how this is the twenty first century not the first century blah blah blah. The foundational problem here is the typical progressive fallacy that assumes that somehow or other things are better now than they were before and we are always moving forward into... Read more

In most Catholic communities there is debate over the worship music. With the range of music available for churches it’s no wonder that there are differing opinions. The vast range of tastes reflects the vast range of music types. What we must do is trying to choose liturgical music is sort out some basic questions: First of all, what is music at Mass for? It is not to make us feel good or even feel holy. It is to give... Read more

What is this? Vote in the poll in the right sidebar. Here’s an interesting article on the Shroud. Read more

Our Destiny. Notice how much smaller the figures of the apostles are. Jesus is gigantic. Read more

A lot of questions this Lent about the ‘no meat on Friday’ rule. “Why do we not eat meat? I don’t really like meat that much, and I like macaroni and cheese better, and what if we went for a nice seafood dinner on Fridays, that wouldn’t be much of a hardship, so why not meat?” Lots of good reasons: No meat because is it is a way to do something together. No meat because it makes you stop and... Read more

This photograph has emerged of the Alternative Lent Liturgy published here last week. OK, a few liberties have been taken with the liturgy itself, but that is not a problem, after all it’s all about bring our own gifts and ideas to the liturgy isn’t it? Read more

I’m a pro-choice Catholic. That is to say, I’m in favor of doctors and nurses having the choice of whether they’ll participate in abortions or not. Has anybody else noticed the blatant hypocrisy of the pro-choice crowd? Choice, choice, choice, but no choice if a medical professional wants to choose not to do an abortion. I had an email saying that on Tues. March 3, Fr. Mitch Pacwa on EWTN informed his audience that the legislature is giving the public... Read more

I have been asked to explain further the ‘deep or wide’ anecdote about Anglo Catholics. I really did not mean to offend, and sincerely apologize if the comment caused offense. What I meant was this: that the external differences between Anglo Catholicism and Catholicism present a rather narrow gap. Indeed, the theological and liturgical differences also present a fairly narrow gap (at least between Catholics and what we might call ‘historic’ or orthodox Anglo Catholics) However, the chasm between us... Read more

That the Church is the interpreter of the Scriptures: “To him that believes, all will be plain, if he read diligently the Scripture with the aid of those who are the priests in the Church, and in whose hands, as we have shown rests the doctrine of the Apostles.”  –  St Irenaeus,  Adv. Heres. 1.iv.c.52 “Those who are out of the Church cannot have any understanding of the Divine Word…they all quote Scripture, but without the sense of Scripture.” Hilary... Read more