Share your own view, from “0” through “7”. [Scale updated to reflect our discussion]
Read moreAuthor: Jonathan Day
I am a writer and consultant. My church home is the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception (Farm Street Church) in central London, where I serve at the altar and help with adult education at the Mount Street Jesuit Centre. I recently became the chair of Council at Newman University, a small Catholic university in Birmingham. I write here in a purely personal capacity.
A structural approach to the Latin prayers of the Roman Missal
By looking at structure before diving into syntax and vocabulary, we can make the Latin prayers easier to understand.
Read moreHow the Grinch mistranslated Christmas
The translation of the prayers for Midnight Mass is clumsy, and it misses the spirit of the Mass itself.
Read moreSay the black (more or less) and do just as you please
“Say the black, do the red” means very little in practice, even to those of a traditionalist bent.
Read moreWhat active role does the assembly take in the Tridentine Mass?
Do the laity play an active role in the Tridentine Mass? In High Masses, the rubrics anticipate that the assembly will be present, though this is not required. But — in an exterior sense at least — they don’t say or do very much.
Read moreOn the wisdom of obliquity
Some goals are best pursued indirectly. Liturgy, in particular, should not aim at delivering a particular emotional or affectual outcome.
Read moreExtraordinary blessings in the Communion queue
What blessing should extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion give to those who request one?
Read moreHas the Vatican War been Lost?
A two-hour documentary, broadcast in April on France 3 and now viewable online, covers Vatican II, liberation theology, liturgical changes and the neoconservative and traditionalist movements.
Read moreCaesar, Chomsky and Comme le Prévoit
The principles underlying the new translation of the Mass fail to make any distinction between ‘deep’ and ‘surface’ structures of language.
Read moreThis Week’s Discussion Question: The Church’s Perception of the Ministerial Priesthood
The middle of the 20th century saw a shift in emphasis, from the priest as cultic minister to the priest as a proclaimer of the Word, and as a servant-leader of the community.
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