Tuesday, April 01, 2008

The Annunciation



Today, in the diocese of Arundel and Brighton, is the Solemnity of the Annunciation, yesterday was the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, tomorrow for St Patrick's, Woodingdean is their Patronal Feast. Alright, we are not quite in communion with the universal Church, but we do our best!

Our problem is we haven't got, in the words of The Tablet's perfidious Robert Mickens, "a trained liturgist". Ultimately, "doing the red and saying the black" is about communion with the Universal Church.

Liturgy isn't just about how we say our prayers but how we live our lives, it is not "a bolt on" but it should govern even times and seasons, feasting and fasting.

I agree with the phrase SAVE THE LITURGY, SAVE THE WORLD, it was the liturgy, the proper ordering of times and seasons and festivals that bound the people of Israel together. No wonder the calendar was really, according to Bede, the main substance of the Council of Whitby and the main cause 0f the division between the Celtic and Catholic Church. It was only when the calendar was dealt with, that true religion could follow, (religion = religare: meaning to bind again).

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the clarification. I was baffled when you announced that the Feast day was on Tuesday as my Diary (Catholic) and two calendars - one French and one English Missionary both gave the feast day as Monday!

I had no idea that our diocese was in a different time zone from the Universal church.

Physiocrat said...

Talking of liturgies, I once went to a Justice and Peace liturgy. It was horrendous. But I have come across an amazing liturgy book. It is called Graduale Romanum. There is even a version with extra information about how to sing the music, called Graduale Triplex. Accompanying it is a book for congregations called Liber Cantualis.

All the books are in print. In fact we already have 40 copies of Liber Cantualis.

What if I was made the parish liturgist and was sent as delegate to the diocesan meetings? Then I could tell everyone else about these amazing books? They explain exactly what to do and then nobody would have to bother with dreaming up special liturgies on every pretext. Do you think the other liturgists would be interested? And could we get enough copies so all the congregation can have one as well as a hymn book? I think they are about UKP 12.50, probably less in bulk.

Anonymous said...

Arundel and Brighton is, in fact, the same as Spain
It is a confusing time

Anonymous said...

And what, pray, is a "trained liturgist"? Is it related to a "trained chimpanzee"? Would one come if I threw it a banana?

Physiocrat said...

A trained liturgist is, properly speaking, the Master of Ceremonies. Who needs to be sufficiently committed to attend regularly and be methodical in training, rehearsing and organising the servers, processions, etc, and in adapting the rubrics to the particular circumstances as they affect it, for example, the layout of the church, to ensure that all runs smoothly.

Somehow I doubt if that is quite what the diocese has in mind just now. Which is a pity because the A and B diocese has an excellent MC - I believe his name is Michael Ryland - who should be passing on his knowledge and experience - he came to Mary Magdalen's once and an hour's run through with him beforehand really paid off as a complicated ceremonial went off without a hitch.

Anonymous said...

I've got an old book at home called "The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described" by Fortescue and O'Connell. Will that do to train a liturgist?

Fr Ray Blake said...

A trained liturgist should be:
#a person of profound prayer & deep humility
#familiar & love both forms of the Roman Rite
#have a deep grounding in dogmatic and sacramental theology
#know the Church's Laws
#should know well Latin & Greek, and be familiar with the other liturgical languages
# should know the Church's musical tradition
# should rooted in the tradition and anxious to pass it on

Anonymous said...

You only have 39 copies of the Liber Cantualis.

The 40th... is on my dining room table.

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