Parish as flexible friend

Horhausen in Germany presents

Carnival

Wine tasting

And SacroPop!

Moratorium necessary on all acts of liturgical vandalism

after the Pope's recent Motu Proprio. As in international politics, a moratium should be followed by a ban.

But they don't think so at St Patrick's Church in Edinburgh.

A correspondent tells me

This glorious baroque church, first built for Episcopalians

(Cathcon- ironic indeed that a protestant group should boast about having "bishops" when it is the Catholic Bishops' Conferences who are the biggest obstacle to reform in the Catholic Church)

and sold immediately after in the 19th century to us, as it was not big enough for them, is under the care of the Redemptorists, who had lately intended to leave, until they discovered the financial potential of their site.

They have recently sold a large prominent corner of their walled churchyards for a development of flats, now being built, which greatly compromises the formal setting of the church, which it abuts. More importantly, it gives them a lot of money.

It is their intention to reorder the church.

You will see the saints have all gone from their niches over the last couple of years, some are on the floor in a side chapel, and have been replaced with painted icons.Now the plan is to remove much of the altar and reredos, and the marble communion rails, and provide a modern new liturgical setting, to complete their post Vatican II liturgy.

Now, of all times, after the Motu Proprio!!!

The Church of St Patrick

The Church is also the last resting place of the Venerable Margaret Sinclair, Sister Mary Francis of the Five Wounds of Christ who often received Christ at these very altar rails and who would have rather died than receive Communion in the hand.

Holy Smoke

highlights act of liturgical vandalism.

"You may have thought that this sort of vandalism went out in the 1970s. But we at the Catholic Herald saw this happen just a few years ago. St Joseph’s is in the same building as the newspaper. Members of staff used to go to Mass there at lunchtimes. They don’t any more: they go to another church. The wrecking of St Joseph’s by the diocese of Westminster is recorded in Moyra Doorly’s book No Place For God. "

I comment!

This reordering (if that is what you can call it) broke the hearts both of the architect who made St Joseph's the gem that it was and the former parish priest. Catholic Herald staff are not the only ones that walked to be replaced with pseudo-elite of well-thinking people, not remotely connected to the realities on the surrounding estates. The present parish priest should go and the Church returned to its former glory. The Cardinal owes this not just to the Catholics of the parish but all those who love the beautiful and the good. I and I suspect many others would be delighted to form a group raising the money to put the Church right.

Magnificent indeed that you highlight such a tragedy.

I also had a letter at the time in The Tablet about the whole fiasco.

It is unfortunate that Fr Healy, the priest of St Joseph's Church, Bunhill Row in London, should describe the parish when he arrived as "neglected, hidden in a back street and inward looking" (“Together in stillness”, 17 January). This is the reverse of my experience: a few years ago, it was a jewel of Catholic faith, art, liturgy and devotion, as anyone who visited the church and assisted at Mass will testify. Many of my friends from the continent visited the church to be greeted by excellent local members of the parish. It could hardly be described as inward looking.

I comment further
I am told by urgent email that Fr Healy has now left to be a hermit (can't do much damage then!) and the parish is administered from Moorfields, where Fr Peter Newby, Chairman of the Diocesan Art and Architecture Commission, is rector. A golden opportunity to right past wrongs.

St Joseph's Church, Bunhill Row has been the victim of two acts of liturgical vandalism.

This was the High Altar in 1922.

And this was the altar in 1988 following a so-called remodelling by a Fr Denis Watters in 1988, and apparently opened with praise by Cardinal Hume as an example of a model reordering (!!!!)

This was restored again and but the restoration was destroyed with the spiritually devastating results seen on Holy Smoke.

Sadly, not confined to the 1970s- St Konrad's Church in Linz has just been remodelled to allegedly bring it into conformance with the demands of Vatican II. It was pretty bad before but just sufficiently old to have known the Latin Mass.

Look what I found!

A museum dedicated to Pope St Pius X.

Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

History of the devotion

Mary's Immaculate Heart is also her Sorrowful Heart that was pierced at the foot of the Cross on Calvary, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows being celebrated on the 15th September, the first full day of the implementation of the Pope's wishes for the Latin Mass.

But in the end will her Immaculate Heart will triumph.

In the Second World War, when Boulogne was in the German-occupied half of France, four statues of Our Lady were built on large open trailers in the form of a boat. They were pulled through many towns all over France, eventually arriving in Boulogne, to encourage people to pray to "our Lady of the Great Return" - the return of refugees, of prisoners, of soldiers, and of peace.

A card showing Our Lady of Boulogne

"You have seen hell where the souls of sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If you do what I tell you many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war will end, and if men do not cease to offend God another worse one will begin. When you see a night lit by a strange unknown light, you will know that it is a sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger and the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father. To prevent it I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the reparatory Communion of the First Saturdays. If My desires are fulfilled, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church; and good will be martyred and the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated.

But in the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph.

The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me and she will be converted and the world will enjoy a period of peace. In Portugal, the Dogma of the Faith will always be conserved. You must not tell this to anyone except Francisco." Source.