Science Vs God

"Let me explain the problem science has with religion." The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

"You're a Christian, aren't you, son?"

"Yes sir," the student says.

"So you believe in God?"

"Absolutely."

"Is God good?"

"Sure! God's good."

"Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"

"Yes."

"Are you good or evil?"

"The Bible says I'm evil."

The professor grins knowingly. "Aha! The Bible!" He considers for a moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?"

"Yes sir, I would."

"So you're good...!"

"I wouldn't say that."

"But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't."

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. "He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"

The student remains silent.

"No, you can't, can you?" the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.

"Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?"

"Er...yes," the student says.

"Is Satan good?"

The student doesn't hesitate on this one. "No."

"Then where does Satan come from?"

The student falters. "From God"

"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"

"Yes, sir."

"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?"

"Yes."

"So who created evil?" The professor continued, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil."

Again, the student has no answer. "Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?"

The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."

"So who created them?"

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. "Who created them?" There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me," he continues onto another student. "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor, I do."

The old man stops pacing. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?"

"No sir. I've never seen Him."

"Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?"

"No, sir, I have not."

"Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?"

"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."

"Yet you still believe in him?"

"Yes."

"According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?"

"Nothing," the student replies. "I only have my faith."

"Yes, faith," the professor repeats. "And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith."

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. "Professor, is there such thing as heat?"

"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."

"And is there such a thing as cold?"

"Yes, son, there's cold too."

"No sir, there isn't."

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees."

"Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it."

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

"What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?"

"Yes," the professor replies without hesitation. "What is night if it isn't darkness?"

"You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word."

"In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?"

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. "So what point are you making, young man?"

"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed."

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. "Flawed? Can you explain how?"

"You are working on the premise of duality," the student explains. "You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought."

"It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it."

"Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?"

"If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do."

"Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?"

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

"Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?"

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.

"To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean."

The student looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?" The class breaks out into laughter.

"Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir."

"So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?"

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.

Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. "I guess you'll have to take them on faith."

"Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life," the student continues. "Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?"

Now uncertain, the professor responds, "Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down

Hospital Chaplincy reflections

Thursday last week I spent the whole day doing the rounds of the local hospital with the Chaplin there. I must say it defiantly is an experience. Father Chaplin is my spiritual director, so I can say that we are friends. He gave me a few pointers, but I really didn't do anything, just follow him around. I even got to see the last rites performed. Two things I will distinctly remember from the experience, one, washing hands is a pain, when you have to do it every time you enter and leave a ward (we did 12) and two, the Our Father, when said in unison is very consoling. Father said the most important thing to do, is not to dive in and ask what state are they with God, but rather to get them to pray. Once they start praying, the grace will follow and work on them, so hopefully they will be at peace with there maker when he calls.The Sacraments are all way there for the person, but the person is not all ways there for the sacrament.

Back to Blogging

Greetings all. After a long absence's from blogging, partly due to losing my internet connection and partly due to sloth, I hope to resume blogging this advent season. Now I'll get serious for a moment, Advent, everyday, especially due to me reciting the liturgy of the hours, the beauty of this season is becoming apparent to me.

"Come, Let us worship the Lord, The King who is to come"

Advent seems to me, as a time when the church prepares for the liturgical birth of Christ, but also the church prepares the faithful for Christ's coming at the end of time, as well as for the spiritual birth of Christ the hearts of the faithful. Advent really is a great time to prepare, to get our spiritual lives in order. Being a High school student, having two months off really gives you a lot of time on your hands. Most of my fellow students spend the holidays partying and being bored. I hope to recharged the spiritual life, having more time for God. Hopefully with my unrushed recitation of the office, daily Mass and more of a Monastic life, will help me, to be ready for next year, for my final year.

Pray for me my readers.

Serving for the first time in an EF Missa Cantata

Yesterday, for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I was invited to be an acolyte at St Gregory's community in Brisbane, my first time serving in the Roman Rite in the Extraordinary Form.

Having been a server for many years in the OF Mass, my overall impression is that the two forms of the Roman Rite are more closely aligned with each other than I thought. One sat there thinking - what is all the fuss over differences when there is so much commonality? - two slightly different forms of worship - one source of grace emanating from them!

However, the thing that impressed me most with the EF is that it is better "packaged". Each element of the rite is specified, which allows us to get out of our own interpretations of things and concentrate on the sacred mysteries of salvation. This extends to the arrangements on the Altar, the sacred vessels etc. where everything is a lot tidier and more efficient than the OF form, and is intended to minimise the risk of profanation of the sacrament.

The biggest difference to me was actually the ablutions, which are done only by the priest (and under the GIRM in the new form of Mass are to be done by the priest), but to me the ritual made a lot of sense and has developed from the learnings of "good practice" and what "works" over 2000 years, and eventually codified. The absence of having to handle Holy Communion under both species and no extraordinary ministers, actually made things streamlined.

I liked that the servers play an important role as part of a team with the priest all though the liturgy. You real feel that you are being a junior or part-time cleric part of a team - for me, really motivating. In the OF you always tend to feel that you are the naughty children at the bottom of the stairs (and the result is that priests treat you like that), and an embarrassment for (progressive) liturgists.

Although I had learned the prayers at the foot of the Altar by heart I found that my colleagues recitation was too fast for me, and I spent my time looking through the Missal to locate where they were only to find that they were 2 pages ahead of me!

The only thought that I could say as a liturgist is that it is better for the faithful to receive Holy Communion using hosts consecrated at that Mass (Sacrosanctum Concilium n55), but this should not be intended as a criticism. I note in Masses celebrated by the FSSP in France is that they keep to this principle a lot more strictly. It is an element of the Mass in which SC speaks to both the new and older forms (something that I intend to elaborate on further).

It was good to go through all the readings and propers for the Mass, and reflect upon them before going to Mass, as it really aided my full, concious and actual participation in the liturgy. For those of you who attend the EF Mass on a regular or occasional basis, taking this time is far more important in the EF than the OF. One can then anticipate the readings and prayers as they are sung or recited, and not be flipping pages all the time to work out what the priest is saying.

Overall, it was a great experience and attending Mass in the EF left me tingling for the rest of the day. I have been thinking how often that happens in the OF??

St Patricks Church Fortitude Valley Brisbane

Yesterday I was priviledged to attend the Pontifical Mass (Ordinary Form) to celebrate the 125 year anniversary of one of the oldest churches in Brisbane, and an excellent example of Australian colonial gothic. Unfortunately I did not take any photographs inside as I did not have my camera with me. However, I will provide some in a later post, so you can see what I am talking about.

Sadly though it is in a bad state of repair, and has not survived the post Vatican II years very well. Thankfully the High Altar side Altars and sanctuary is in a complete state as the Vatican II "sanctuary" was built (in plywood) in front of it. The church plate is still in the sacristry (most of it heavily tarnished), but the High Altar candle sticks are missing.

Personally, I felt as people must have at the end of the protestant reformation, given a liturgy in the vernacular with a communion table in the centre of the nave. I said to Roman this afternoon to Roman that I felt more comfortable in the old sanctuary, and it was hard not to be drawn to genuflect towards the stripped High Altar (the tabernacle had been moved to a side Altar).

The archdiocese is seeking funds to restore the church

His Grace the Archbishop of Brisbane said at the end of Mass that if anybody had a spare $1 million, that the restoration of the church would be a good project to donate to. I thought thats a good idea but if I was a multi-millionaire I would be insistent that any renovations / restorations ensure that Mass can be easily celebrated in the Extraordinary Form as well as the OF before I would agree to funds being released. Not having that kind of money I would like to donate but send a letter with the donation that it should be restored for both usages.

I wonder how successful I will be? Please support the cause.

The Continuity of Tradition

God bless our Holy Father Benedict XVI!!



As a final post for the week here is the Mass celebrated for the Feast of Christ the King and presentation of the cardinalitial ring to the new Cardinals. At the end of the Liturgical year the most absurd aspect of the "new liturgies" at St Peters has been corrected with the restoration of the six candles with Altar Cross in the middle of the Altar, and the restoration of the use of the Cardinal deacons.

AND note the similarities with the following pic of Pius XII celebrating at the same Altar.

- a living demonstration of the hermeneutic of continuity.

Queer Sights in Foreign Churches.

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Pope Gregory's Street

To get to San Giovanni e Paulo, I walked up the Caelian Hill via an ancient Street called the Clivus Scauri. This was the street in which Pope Gregory the Great grew up in. His parents owned their town house here, which Gregory and his mother eventually turned into a monastery. The peacefullness of what looks like a country road in the middle of Rome, is probably very different to what would have been a very busy street in the 6th century AD.

One imagines that Gregory would have walked from this street towards the river past the Circus Maximus and into the Forum Borarium, where he saw the Saxon children being sold in the slave market and said non Angleli sed angeli! and got the idea of a mission to the island of Britannia. So really one could say that the English church started here.

A Case of Mistaken Identity

Talk to any liberal Catholic about Rome and you will find that they will often go into raptures about the Basilica of Santa Sabina, home to the Dominican order. What is often cited is the simple early Christian architecture inside, and indeed that is true as seen by the pic that i took one early Monday morning in October.

As you can see, unusually for a basilica of this age (constructed in the mid 5th cent), it does not have a ciborium over the Altar. When the changes were made in the 1960s I am sure that this was used as an example of the early Christianity that we were to aspire, particularly by the benedictine liturgists over the road in the San Anselmo college.

Although people might think that this is a beautifully preserved early Christian basilica, this is not so.

Pope Honorius III (1216-27) gave the church and part of his palace to St Dominic for his new order. At that time it was a parish church and so St Dominic in his wisdom put a dividing wall in the nave, with the parish to use the end near the front door, and reserving the sanctuary end for his community. In addition a cloister was added, and it was in this cloister that St Thomas Aquinas wrote part of the Summa Theologica.

In 1312 Henry of Luxembourg sequestered the property and threw the Dominicans out (Obviously he wanted it for the fine views - in Imperial times this was the equivalent of Hamilton, Bellevue Hill or Toorak in Australia). In renaissance times it was was further used as a Papal palace, and St Pius V retreated here during Carnivale time to avoid the noise and revelry, and to avoid seeing the licentious behaviour in the City below.

Domenico Fontana, architect to Pope Sixtus V, did an extreme makeover, to modernise it to the style of the time (late mannerism - early baroque). It probably looked something like San Giovanni e Paulo which I visited later in the morning (there was a wedding going on at the time)

In 1882 Santa Sabina was confiscated by the Italian Government, and opened as a museum. It was at this time that the archaeologist Professor Muñoz, restored it to its present state, using the best information available. Eventually the Church purchased it off Benito Mussolini (who would only sell at market price).

So the Vatican II generation saw this as an ideal template for the new liturgy, without taking into account that, like all older churches in Rome it had a very tortuous history, and what they are seeing is not an authentic early Christian Basilica but a reconstructed one based on a number of archaelogical assumptions.

Santa Sabina stands as an achitectural testament to the fascinating history of our church, but also as a metaphor for the archeological reconstruction of the liturgy that happened in the 1960s, based upon a number of assumptions which were later found to be incorrect.

The most startling aspect of the sanctuary of Santa Sabina is that the Altar is more of a rectangular shape and that the ciborium is missing. Modern freestanding Altars often look bare because they are totally devoid of architectural superstructures, which sets it off as the place; the mystical "tent" where God meets man.

Personally being more passionate about Baroque, I liked San Giovanno e Paulo. Here it is from outside, in the carpark, where you can see its original 11th century front facade, although the superstructure behind it is much older (ignore the 19th century dome to the right). Interestingly the front porch was commissioned by Pope Adrian IV, the only English Pope.

The Fourth Way

Recently Marian Valley's Prior gave me loan of one of his philosophy books from seminary days to read. It's called "Christian Philosophy" by Joseph M de Torre. Needless to say it is a solid book.

The unique characteristic of this book that most stood out to me was its presentation of Aquinas' "fourth way" for arguing for the existence of God. It is quite simply and without qualification the best presentation of this particular argument I have ever read and something I have been searching for quite some time.

After reading it one can see what a complete travesty Richard Dawkins makes of it in his book "The God Delusion" covered in some earlier posts. Unfortunately for a person without much training in philosophy Dawkins argument can leave one stumped. It's the kind of objection where you know he's messed things up and that it's just "weird" as they say, but to try to explicate exactly why his objection is wrong can leave one tongue tied especially with the amount of ignorance around (I've tried it on people). Unfortunately this is the only source I have read (it was published in 1980) which anticipates and obliterates Dawkin's specific objection. That includes Thomas Aquinas who more or less assumes that his reader is cognizant of the relevant distinctions.

For those not familiar with the argument, the fourth way is taken from the gradation of perfections in beings, of truth beauty and goodness and argues that this implies a maximally good, beautiful etc being which we call God.

Dawkin's juvenile counterpunch is that if Thomas' logic holds good then because there are beings in the world with degrees of smelliness there must a preeminently peerless stinker. Essentially it is an attempt to make a mockery of the argument.

Where the argument goes wrong, and what the book "Christian Philosophy" does so well to point out is that there are two types of perfection of being. The first is called "predicamental perfections" the other "transcendental perfections". The argument is based upon the latter while Dawkin's example (assuming that smelliness can be called a perfection) is of the former type. Hence Dawkin's whole argument falls due to an equivocal use of terms in the premise (he is not using perfection in the sense meant by the argument). Of course I will now explain why the distinction is important and why it works for (or is only applicable to) one set of perfections and not the other type. But what one can know is that the argument has not been answered (or even interacted with) in the "God Delusion" as its author has found a straw man version of it to shoot down.

But perhaps we can have some sympathy for Dawkin's weak attempt. The first line that de Torre writes is "This is the most difficult of the five [ways]."

Here I will present a slightly simplified version of what de Torre says that will hopefully flesh it out.

So firstly there are predicamental perfections. What is a predicamental perfection? It is a perfection of the essence of something which is founded on what's called the "formal act" (form is is what determines the essence to be what it is). So it is a perfection of essence as essence not a perfection of essence as being. So in the example de Torre gives it is the perfection "of dogs as dogs not as this actually existing dog (with the act of being), but of dog as an essence, in the abstract." He then covers what perfections such an essence has. He says formal perfections such as, and he lists, "materiality, substantiality, life, sensitivity. All of these are are perfections of the dog as essence "without considering the act of being."

He then comes to a crucial question that people are probably asking "Do these perfections have a 'more' and a 'less.' Yes. But do they imply a subsistent maximum? Can a maximum, say, of sensitive life exist by itself. No, sensitive life exists in the dog, but not by itself. In predicamental perfections there is no subsistent maximum. Their maximum would only be in the field of ideas: we can conceive a maximum life and a maximum of dogness, but that is just a pure idea, which does not imply actuality of being." (de Torre p 141).

So why are transcendental or pure perfections different? Because says de Torre they are "founded directly on the act of being, and therefore to be found only in actually existing substances, not in ideas, or abstractions or essences."

To follow the argument further one must understand the interrelationship of goodness beauty and truth. A being is more perfect as a being the more actual it is and the more something is the better it is, the truer it is and the more beautiful it is. The are all different sides of the same coin.

Now beings have these perfections in varying degrees. They have these perfections by participation. And these perfections do imply a subsistent maximum.

They participate in these perfections and so must have them from another. Why can't they have these perfections by themselves? Because if they did then they would have to have them in their fullness because being as such implies no limitation. They must have a cause for those perfections which is those perfections in their fullness. Or as de Torre puts it "being itself, unity itself, truth itself, goodness itself, and cause of all these perfections as well as of the predicamental perfections, in all participated beings."

And this what we call God.

Rememberance Day

I was going to publish a particular note about the latest Liturgy Lines in the Catholic Leader but since the Warden at Cooees from the Cloister has done this so eloquently I will desist.

The only thing I can say is that this is a regurgitation of another article written in February 2000. Read this:

In Australia, this way of looking at liturgical celebrations began to emerge during the Second World War. Amongst the many things that the Second World War taught us about liturgy, it made us look at liturgical laws a little differently. At this time we were trying to celebrate good liturgy by following the rules. But in extraordinary circumstances like the battlefront, it was not always possible to follow all the rubrics. There was no sanctuary, no altar, no candles, no vestments. Yet the experience of worship in the eucharist was often more powerful and therefore more fruitful than many a "correct" parish liturgy.

In this sense, Australia was well prepared for the liturgical reform of the 1960s. Although we appear to have had little contact with the Liturgical Movement and the liturgical scholarship of Belgium, France and Germany, we have had long experience of adapting the Roman liturgy to the extraordinary conditions of the Australian setting – since the days when our pioneer priests travelled overland on pastoral visitation, celebrating the Mass with what they could carry in a saddle bag. Even today, remote rural churches do not have the facilities of every European or city parish church as presumed by the liturgical books.

The full reference is here.

The whole tone of the article is bizarre. It says that because we were faced with the pioneering days and two world wars we have the ability to make liturgies creative. Not only that, liturgy on the Kokoda trail and Gallipoli seems to form a lesson for liturgy today; no rubrics, no vestments, no churches. The horrors of the World Wars apparently prepared us for Vatican II,as they liberated us from rubrics! This is simply not true. The photographs show the Usus Antiquor celebrated with such reverence and dignity in the most appalling conditions, that is so incredibly moving. Why is it that even with the Classical Mass being celebrated in the mud on a makeshift Altar consisting of basically a plank, that it still has this inspiring beauty? These photographs have a timeless quality that this is the Mass of the Ages, celebrated in particular contexts of world history. And whats more that these Masses were celebrated in a style that EH detests, and yet she says that they were powerful and fruitful.

Frankly the woman has no idea on what she really wants, and she wasnt there. In fact she is insulting the priests who celebrated according to the rubrics in these condtions.

Btw. A story that comes down through our family comes from an ancestor who served at the Altar in one of the field Masses on the Somme in the winter of 1917-18. It was so cold during Mass that the wine and water froze in the cruets. I remind our servers of this when they complain on a winter Sunday morning in Brisbane!

Thats all for tonight. Soon my computer will be back to normal, and pictures will return. St Isidore, Patron of the internet, Pray for us!!

What is right with this picture??

Yes it has actually happened! It was only a 3 weeks ago that I posted "What is wrong with this picture?" in which I wondered how the new Papal Master of Ceremonies Mgr Guido Marini (not to be confused with the Vatican II dinosaur Piero) would fix Altar arrangements. Well after a couple of weeks in the job here is the result.

Lewisham and Sydney trip

Whilst in Sydney I did have the pleasure of attending the Fssp Chapel of Lewisham. Their Liturgy is simply awesome, but they don't deserve all the credit, from what I'm told by all my reibale sources is that Fr Naugten the wonderful Franciscan started such an Liturgical delight there. Above is a photo of the side altar to St Michael, it is here were I prayed and obtained the graces I needed to overcome certain vices, Thank you St Michael!
Ah one of the Young Fssp Seminarians, looking cool with my sunnies. I bet he can't wait for the day that he is finally tonsured.
I also had the delight to consume many a great food whilst staying in Sydney. The best I'd say was this desert here, so good I just had to take a photo of it.
Here is a photo of some of us, we had a very good lunch along with an interesting discussion.
To rap this post up I'll leave with a photo that I'm quite proud of that I took. A nice scenic train station. I'd like to apologies about my lack of posts, but School has been getting a bit demanding with study, assignments and exams, Pray that I may get good results. Be sure to expect some more after I'm finished the year.

Pontifcal backstage

As all would have know, I traveled down to Sydney for the pontifical High mass said by the Cardinal. It was an awesome experience to serve for such a historic event. I was but a humble torch bearer, but still I got one of the best seats in the house, I got to sit (for most of the Mass) directly in front of the Cathedra !Here are the few photos I personally took of the servers before Mass.
Here everyone is going thought the trouble of finding an alb that fits them, along with an amice and cinture.

A few of the servers relax having found their vestments well before hand.

Here Is a nice shot of the sacristy walk way to the church

Here we have the Cross that was used as the metropolitan cross

Be sure to stay tuned for more posts from the trip.

More on Altars and Crucifixes

Apart from annoyances such as the poor location of the Altar Cross at St John Lateran, there are other issues with versus populum facing Altars constructed in the post Vat II years. In many existing churches of the time, the new table Altar was placed at the bottom of the Altar steps, in front of the existing High Altar. In some places, the High Altar was completely removed and the priests chair put in its place, and the tabernacle located elsewhere. In other places, the old high Altar was adapted into a modern table Altar.

This of course makes:

1. the church look lopsided, as it was designed for ad-orientem celebration


2. the Altar look like a minor furnishing in the sanctuary rather than the total centre of worship (ie just a table).
   

One of the less disturbing examples is shown here.

Altars facing versus populum in the the Roman basilicas were designed with a different purpose to "making the contact with the people easier".

Here is a pic that I took of Santa Maria in Trastavere. This church was first constructed by Pope Julius I (reigned 337-352) and enlarged by Pope Gregory IV (828-844). The current building that I visited is a rebuild by Pope Innocent II (1130-43). As you can see building in the basilica form with the bishop's throne at the end of the apse, and a versus populum Altar under a ciborium was the orthodox manner of church arrangment well into the high Middle Ages.

Lets take a walk into the sanctuary and look at the proper arrangement of the Altar.

The sanctuary is separated from the nave by a substantial arrangement of stairs and walls, which reminded me of the arrangement of the Old St Peters. the Altar itself is surmounted on two steps with a timber third step (or pradella) being that on which the priest celebrates upon. The whole Altar is framed by the ciborium.

When versus populum Altars came back into fashion in the last half of the 20th century, the architectural setting to make it look truly the Altar of sacrifice was totally forgotten. For instance the first thing that I notice upon return to Australia is that the Altars are too low and look too much like tables. I am sure that this is deliberate intent, in view of the mistaken theologies which run rampant in the local church.

I am not opposed to versus populum Altars per-se, but they need to be constructed with dignity worthy of the Holy Sacrifice. Most churches in Rome seem to see the Altar cross as a distraction , but here is the view of one (St Nicholas in Carcere), which has done it correctly with four candles and the cross in the middle (click on pic for a better look). Also here is a close up of the Altar and ciborium which shows the step arrangment.

Of course these churches would have had the celebration of Mass in the evolving classical form until 40 years ago. There was no problem with celebrating the Tridentine Mass versus populum so I cannot see what the problem is with the Ordniary form (Novus Ordo) Mass being celebrated ad orientem.

More on the "Reform of the Reform"

As I predicted earlier in the year on this blog, Summorum Pontificam has begun to raise questions about the Reform-of-the-Reform and where it will go next. Over at the New Liturgical Movement there is an interesting discussion of the "Reform-of-the-Reform" movement and what its real agenda is.

There are a number streams of thought in the article:
Stream #1 is that the RofR movement is seeking a return to organic growth and an interpretation of Sacrosanctum Concilium that focusses on its Vatican II's desire for organic growth and a mild amount of mofification of the Roman Missal and questions the direction of the liturgical reform from 1962 to 1970 and beyond.

Stream #2 is that the RofR movement simply accepts what is done with the 1970 edition of the Missal (and the 2002 update) and apply it as accurately as practicable (ie. Say the Black - Do the Red or as NLM terms it the STBDTR movement).

Leading from this are the assertions that Stream 1 is the authentic RofR. The chief criticism made by the author of the Shrine of the Holy Wapping is that the RofR is becoming more narrow focussed and hitching its wagon to the "classically tradtionalist" agenda and being excessively restorationist. The author claims that this has led to certain parishes being labelled as "flagship parishes" that reflect what certain RofR proponents want rather than what the "movement" set out to achieve.

Confused? You are not the only one.

This is my take on all of this. I agree that SP has completely changed the RofR agenda. I believe that one of the original driving forces of the RofR was the assumption that the TLM was gone and would never be a viable force, had problems, and that the RofR was an alternative way that would be acceptable to the church hierarchy. I think that this was probabaly some of the driving force behind St Agnes in St Paul Minnesota and the Brompton Oratory. Under this agenda, Stream #1 was more dominant than stream #2.

SP has "pulled the rug" from the stream #1 thought. I believe that the Ordinary Form is what it is. It cannot be "tridentinised" as it is a child of its particular time in church history. Therefore stream #2 should be driving the RofR agenda, and personally I am of the STBDTR persuasion.

If I want to tridentinise the Mass I go to an Extraordinary Form Mass and do it properly. If I want to go to an Ordinary Form Mass because I want a greater range of scripture readings, hear and participate in the Mass in English, I will do so. The fact that Holy Communion is in the hand, the Mass is celebrated versus populum, there may be lay ministers of Holy Communion, is part of that package. The thing that I am concerned about is that the liturgical books are followed accurately and with maturity. What I do not like is "pick and choose" approaches to the GIRM. It is in these areas that the RofR needs to focus.

Incidently in Brisbane we have no parishes that could be seen as RofR flagships. The liturgy is in disarray to varying degrees in all of them.

Divine Liturgy at Marian Valley

More on Altar Crucifixes

My last post has generated quite a bit of discussion (for this blog anyway) on Altar crucifixes. I was intending to make this post in quite a different context, but given the discussion, have decided to put it down anyway.

Whilst in Madrid I took a trip out to the Valle de los Cai'dos (the Valley of the Fallen). This is the basilica which was commissioned by General Francisco Franco to commemorate the fallen of the Spanish Civil War. The basilica is carved out totally underground. I am not sure what the depth from the top of the mountain to the roof of the nave of the basilica, but it would be at least 100 metres. The mountain is surmounted by a cross of over 100 metres high. The arms of the cross are about 40 metres across. The pic here is of the front door, which is surmounted by a giant bronze pieta. You can see the base of the cross

As you can see the day that I was there it was raining, which greatly added to the mystique of the place. I found that the fascist architecture quite confronting as well.

The basilica is inside the mountain and consists of three naves. The central nave is the only one that you see, and go into. The other two naves are mausolea for the fallen, and contain 50,000 corpses, 25,000 in each nave. The nave was deliberately designed to be slightly shorter than the nave of St Peters Basilica.

The High Altar is freestanding and located at the intersection of the nave, transepts and the choir., underneath a dome showing the fallen heroes of the Civil War being raised up and returned to Christ (mmmm shades of the Act II of De Walkÿre for those Wagnerites out there).

The High Altar looks to be a modern post Vatican II freestanding Altar except that there is a giant cross carved from juniper wood in the middle of the Altar. Although we were not allowed to photograph inside the Basilica, I took a sneek picture from one of the transepts, shown here.

The location of the giant Altar Cross located in the middle of the Altar precludes Mass "facing the people". I could see from the arrangement of the microphones on the Altar (and the conventual mass of the nearby Benedictine monastery is celebrated here every day), that when the Mass is celebrated for the monks, (seated in the choir) the Mass appears to be celebrated facing out into the nave. This was confirmed by the presence of two microphones to facilitate a concelebrated Mass. At Masses for when there is a congregation the only way is for the Mass to be celebrated facing the choir. The location of the celebrant's chair on the same side as celebration seems to confirm this.

The Blessed Sacrament Chapel is a separate chapel at the end of one of the transepts. Mass is also celebrated here and I was pleased to see that it is celebrated ad orientem. All Masses appear to be celebrated in the ordinary form, as there was nothing on any noticeboard to suggest otherwise.

The basilica is cared for by the Benedictine Monastery located on the other side of the mountain. To access the choir at the apex of the church for the office, the monks go though a tunnel into the mountain and go down in a lift and enter behind the High Altar (very "Get Smart" lol).

In front the the High Altar is buried Josè Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Spanish Falange party (the Spanish Fascist Party) , and behind it is the resting place of General Francisco Franco, dictator over Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. Apparently it is a good idea to stay away from this place on 20th November, the anniversary of his death, as Falange supporters take over the place and goose-step around and make the fascist salute over his grave (I noticed that there were fresh flowers on Franco's grave). The basilica is also controversial because there is strong evidence to suggest that prisoners of war and political prisoners were used to build it.

What is wrong with this picture?

To quote Pope Benedict from his book "Spirit of the Liturgy"

Moving the Altar cross to the side [of the Altar] to give an uninterrupted view of the priest is something I regard as one of the truly absurd phenomena of recent decades. Is the cross disruptive during Mass? Is the priest more important than the Lord? This mistake should be corrected as quickly as possible; it can be done without further rebuilding. The Lord is the point of reference. He is the rising sun of history. That is why there could be a cross of the Passion, which represents the suffering Lord who for us let his side be pierced, from which flowed blood and water (Eucharist and Baptism), as well as a cross of triumph, which expresses the idea of the Second Coming and guides our eyes toward it. For it is always the one Lord: Crhist yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8).

This is the High Altar of the Basilica of St John Lateran. So we hope that the new Marini (recently appointed Papal MC) will address this. Just a job that would take a few seconds cost=0, level of effort = 0, benefits to the people - boundless.

By the way, this is the oldest church in Rome, being commissioned and financed by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who has his statue (carved in his lifetime) at the front door. It was dedicated this church to the Holy Saviour sometime after hs defeat of his rival Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312AD.

Of course looking at the Altar from this angle (the position of the celebrant) I am facing perfect East to the front doors of the church.

Behind me is the glorious Papal Throne, surmounted by a mosaic of the Blessed Trinity. The mosaic has been altered at least twice, the latest being during the reign of Nicholas IV (1288-92). Pope Nicholas had himself added to the mosaic with St Francis and St Anthony of Padua, as he was a Franciscan Pope. It did wreck the composition a bit as Our Lady (the first figure on the left of the cross) was changed from the orans attiude of prayer to resting one hand upon the Pope's tiara.

This is certainly what Benedict was talking about in his book.

13th of October

Ah the 13th of October, a tricky day, 3 great events and people had to pick. Call to holiness, Rosary Procession thought the city or a Big day at Marian Valley. Needless to say I put my loyalty to Marian Valley first, after all I am it's MC.Here Father, Brother and I get ready for reposition
Here we have the procession in.
Father Incenses the Altar with the MC and Thurifer assisting.Just a few photos from the massHere Fr Andrew the previous Prior visiting from Rome blesses the Statue of JP2Here's another photo encompassing the statueLike always the day ended with a procession to the grotto and benediction. The day was great, the turn out was around 650. Which is surprising due to other great events happening at the same time. What I heard and hopefully someone will come forward with photos, that the same number turned out for the rosary procession through the city. Although I was asked to MC the procession (just look after a crucifer and two acolytes), I decline, but it gave my friends who served it a valuable learning experience, that of the necessity of an MC.

The blog is coming out of hibernation and stay tuned for great posts from our reporter Steven.

The Roving reporter

Yes the roving reporter has returned, after spending time in the USA, Spain and Italy. It is good to see the blog re-activating after a month in hibernation. I hope our readership has not totally disappeared - Please come back!!

In the next few days and weeks I will be informing you with commentary on churches and liturgical practices in the places I visited, and what it means in the context of current day trends in the church.

As for Mass attendance, the US leg was very secular, so I did not get to attend any Masses there. In Spain, Sunday Masses are few and far between which was a bit of a surprise in this "Catholic" country, and no liturgical celebration did not coincide at all with our schedule.

In Rome I had the pleasure of attending Solemn Mass in St Peters Basilica on 30th September (Ordinary Form - Latin), and Low Mass at the FSSP (Extraordinary Form) chapel of San Gregorio in Muratorio (thats St Gregory of the Bricklayers) on 7th October. I had the pleasure of meeting Fr Brendan Gerrard FSSP and Fr Joseph Kramer FSSP after the Mass. This morning it will be strange to attend a Mass in English - I will provide you with my reactions later!

San Gregorio is a tiny church and looks much bigger on the website than it really is. The nave is wider than it is long, and would be about the same size as my lounge / kitchen / dining area at home. The Altarpiece is in serious need of cleaning and a big donation would enable the fathers to restore it to its Baroque splendor (please dig deep!). However, with all the soot and rising damp, it is a part of what the Roman holiday experience is all about, and unlike going to Mass at St Peters there are no crowds no queuing and no electronic screening to attend Mass.

When I left after the 9.00am Low Mass the choir had arrived and were warming up for the 10.30am High Mass. I would have liked to have stayed around, but there was some serious Museum crawling to be done.

Latin Mass at the Throne

Well it gives me great pleasure to inform you that I received an e-mail informing me that I am allowed to advertise the Solemn Pontifical High mass at the Throne that will be celebrated by his eminence Cardinal Pell on the 3rd of November at his Cathedral at 10:00am

I will personally travel down for this event and am Already on the servers list. If any of my reads would like to give me a shout and say they read my blog I will cheerfully thank them.

It is a mementos occasion so i encourage you all to come for the mass.

Death of the Nuncio

I have received news that Australia's Apostolic Nuncio, American born Archbishop Ambrose De Paoli, has died. This news has hit me hard, such a great man, such a great bishop. Unlike some people I will not blame God or stop beliving, but rather I take this as God showing me that he is the only one that will not change, My rock, My fortress I stand firm.
I had the great Pleasure of meeting the Nuncio at the annual corpus Christi procession up here in Brisbane and even had the great honor of being his MC. Let us offer up 1 pater, 1 ave and a gloria for his intention.

requiescant in pace