What’s the point of spending time and money to add solemnity to a liturgical occasion? What difference does it make if a Mass is celebrated by a holy priest with devotion or by a corrupt priest with an attitude of contempt? Both are infinitely valuable. But: 1/

https://twitter.com/thecatholicengr/status/1983246064800219191

Their infinite value is their intrinsic value. In the same way God’s glory is infinite, so why do we glorify Him? Because his infinite glory is intrinsic and ther is another kind: extrinsic glory. 2/

A thread about headcoverings. Whenever it comes up people say 'it was the custom of the time' as a reason to ignore St Paul's emphatic command and subtle theological explanation of the practice. But it was not the custom of the time, and demonstrably so. 1/ St Paul demands 2 things: women cover their heads; men uncover. For centuries this was more relevant more to men than women: hats off in church! But St Paul's point is the *distinction* between men and women as symbols of Christ & the Church, His Bride. 2/

Does the Traditional Mass contain texts 'hostile to the Jews'? I have an article in this month's Homiletic & Pastoral Review on a document by the Jewish American Committee that claimed this in 1961. What were the concerns, and how did the Holy See respond? 1/ The Jewish American Committee's main objections were to texts that had been used historically to justify antisemitism: according to them, above all the Johannine Passion and the Improperia (Reproaches), both used on Good Friday. 2/

As is evident from the replies, one problem is that there is no consensus on what needed to be changed. Propers in English, Ordinary in Latin? The other way round? English chant? Vs. populun? Audible canon? The fact is, the reform was a coherent package. 1/

https://twitter.com/jdflynn/status/1906549264873873734

Bugnini said that the Roman Canon is too long and theologically dense to proclaim aloud week after week in the vernacular. He wasn’t wrong. Most priests who use it at all use the drastically shortened option. 2/

This is my last comment on the lady-chasuble discourse, much as I have enjoyed it. I’ve not made any personal judgement about a young woman I know nothing personal about, but tried to explain the rather visceral reaction of my fellow Catholics on Twitter. 1/ I’ve also distanced myself from the more abusive ones, and do so again: personal attacks, name-calling and so on are in this case absurd and unjust, are evidently not going to change hearts, but rather gives scandal. Don’t do it, my brothers and sisters in Christ. 2/

I’m not aware of anyone claiming that the TLM gets more than a tiny fraction of total Mass-goers. What’s interesting is not its supporters boosting it—that’s predictable enough—but its opponents having the heeby jeebies. Why does it scare them so much? 1/

https://twitter.com/backwardsfeet/status/1803472247505539158

Maybe because, unlike the ‘reverent Novus Ordo’, it re-attaches priests and people to the Church’s past. Once you realise that the ancient liturgy didn’t need to be burnt to the ground, you can take a second look at the old art, spirituality, and doctrine. Scary stuff. 2/

Thank you for considering the matter. I come to this way of thinking as a result of a range of influences and attitudes I have found in the teaching and practice of the Church and the Lives of the Saints. A short 🧵

https://twitter.com/MagdalenaHuds18/status/1552313747112353795

1. Sacrosanctum Concilium 10: 'the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows.' Liturgia est culmen ad quod actio Ecclesiae tendit et simul fons unde omnis eius virtus emanat.

Future generations will be astonished at the lack of hygiene in the distribution of the Orecious Blood at Communion. Catholics in the past would have been shocked as well. 1/

https://twitter.com/FrHilderbrand/status/1493289507982086149

The post V2 legislation specifies ‘small’ and ‘homogenous’ congregations. This is routinely ignored, but would mitigate the chance of cross-infection. 2/

The ludicrous Mike Lewis @mfjlewis tries to tar me by association with ‘radical’ conservative Catholics. He can’t summon up a single quote of mine to hang an accusation on, however, and fails to notice that I have never written for the Remnant 1/ wherepeteris.com/traditionalist… and stopped contributing to the New Liturgical Movement more than ten years ago. Not that it makes any difference. My writings can also be found in the moderate conservative @CatholicHerald the now defunct centrist Universe and the progressive @The_Tablet and Pray Tell. 2/

If there is anything we should have learned from the pontificate of Pope Francis, it is that insults directed at whole categories of people - clergy, large families, whatever - are not medicinal. They only create grief, bitterness and paranoia. 1/ Over the years I have defended ‘trad’ women against the accusation that they look as if they have ‘escaped from an Amish farm’ lmschairman.org/2014/06/tracey… 2/