AN OUTSIDE VIEW

John Paul II 1978 Benedict XIV 2005 Francis 2013

No going back on the liturgy Pope Francis says post-Vatican II liturgical reforms are irreversible.

Catholic Mass obligations With the Tridentine Masses suspended for the holidays, I could not face the Novus Ordo vernacular Masses with Lutheran hymns which were all that was on offer in the Catholic church locally. I would come out feeling irritated and unsatisfied, if not outright angry at the liturgical vandalism verging on abuse. The question that arises is this. Catholics have an obligation to go to Mass every Sunday. I have not missed going to Mass every Sunday, but the Masses I have attended have been Orthodox liturgies. Is this a sin that needs to be confessed? Can it even be confessed? Can a priest give absolution? If, at some point in the future I am received into the Orthodox church, what is the situation then? The following reply came to my response on Fr Blake's blog Physiocrat, I generally find that when somebody asks if something is a sin which needs to be confessed, they already know the answer - yes. Our Lord did not invite us to pick up our crosses and fol...

A great blessing The choir in our local Serbian church is now back in full force. They sing in the Russian tradition, in the same style as this broadcast. How fortunate can one be to have such a thing almost on one's doorstep?

The local situation The Catholic church in my part of the world is apparently in quite good shape. However, the liturgy is resolutely Lutheran in style and content. Far from the influence of Rome, it has become so thoroughly Lutheranised that Catholic services are almost indistinguishable from those of Svenska Kyrkan ; any traditional Catholic music which happens to make its way into a Catholic Mass does so through a smörgåsbord approach to liturgy which draws primarily on Lutheran and English Anglican and Nonconformist sources. Sometimes, the result is hilarious, as when Britain’s favourite funeral hymn, “Abide with me”, was used a couple of years ago at an ordination! I do not agree with the view of some Catholic traditionalists, that the Novus Ordo Mass is not valid. My objection is to the way it is almost invariably celebrated, which contravenes the guidelines in Sacrosanctum Concilium and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal to the point of abuse. Thus, in practice, if ...

The state of the Catholic Church A few years ago I visited Riga, the capital of Latvia. At 9.30 in the evening, a crowd of young people came streaming out of a Catholic church in the city centre. This speaks of a church in a healthy condition. It is exceptional for Europe. In most of Western Europe, it is in accelerating decline. The picture is better in Poland but there too, it is not what it was, as secularisation takes hold. In France and Germany, and in formerly solid Catholic countries such as Spain and Italy, the Catholic church has seen near-collapse. It is the same story in the English speaking world: Britain, the USA, Australia; the Irish Republic, formerly a bastion of Catholicism, have experienced a precipitous decline in Mass attendance and vocations to the priesthood. In other former Catholic strongholds around the world, including South America and the Philippines, the loss has been to the evangelicals, supported from the US with vast financial resources behind them....

The new GW electrification is noteworthy for the chunkiness of the overhead structures, which are heavier than the notably solid gantries installed for the 1500kV Great Eastern electrification which was installed in 1949. One of the reasons for the adoption of 25kV electrification was that the smaller current flows made it possible to use thinner and lighter contact wires, and consequently lighter and cheaper structures. The Great Western's tunnel of steel must come at a commensurately heavy price, which has helped to push further electrification schemes into the realm of the unaffordable. The overhead structures for the 15kV system used in Switzerland, Germany and Sweden are like gossamer in comparison. What has happened to let loose this orgy of over engineering?

I have tried without success to discover the underlying reason why major UK electrification schemes have been cancelled. As I understand it, electrification costs have increased due to new regulations which require more generous clearances in relation to 25kV overhead wires and on-train equipment. What I have not been able to find out is where these new regulations have come from. As far as I can mak out, their immediate source is  the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), which has adopted Electricity at Work Regulations. But when and where have these come from? Has there been an input from the EU's regulatory bodies? If they are an EU requirement, was there an application for derogation having regard to the special circumstances in the UK? If not, why not? To whom, if anyone, is the ORR answerable?

I became a Catholic in 1975. The circumstances of my conversion are summarised here . The subsequent four decades proved to be a something of an ordeal as the Catholic church underwent a period of radical change, to the point that I can hardly recognise it as the church I joined. This manifested at parish level in ways that were distressing for a great many. The reforms were a major factor in the implosion of the Catholic church in recent times. There was a widespread loss of faith. A handful went off to SSPX. People returning after a break during their teens found a church so different that they were unable to relate to it. My own experiences of this period are recorded in this series of seven blogs, Four decades of Catholic music . From the mid-1990s, however, it looked as if a recovery was beginning, following the publication of books by the then Cardinal Ratzinger, such as "The Spirit of the Liturgy", and Fr Michael Lang's "Turning towards the Lord". Then,...

Yesterday morning's BBC4 Sunday Worship was from a Catholic establishment in Northern Ireland. With a slot of only 45 minutes, there is no time for a Mass, but there was no reason why the music played could not have drawn on the ancient tradition of the Catholic church. There was none. All we got were a few hackneyed popular hymns: Holy God, Morning has broken and Amazing Grace. The recording is available until 10th September.