Exciting times . . . !

What an exciting time it is at the moment! Since the reception of the three former Anglican bishops into Full Communion with the Catholic Church, followed soon afterwards by their ordination into the newly established Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, it's just been an incredible start to the New Year.

Now today we have the news from the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales that the long-awaited translation of the new Missal will be in use in parishes from September of this year.

"The bishops, following the Holy Father’s encouragement that this new translation is an opportunity for ‘in-depth catechesis on the Eucharist and renewed devotion in the manner of its celebration’, have decided that from September 2011 the Order of Mass in the new translation will be used in parishes in England and Wales. " Read more here.

Now, I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of catechesis will be available for us in our parishes to introduce the new translation of the Missal. No doubt there will be many who are not pleased but it is a great opportunity to think about the liturgy of the Mass and what it actually means.

I'm so excited I don't know where to put myself!

Fantastic . . . !

(Photo credit: Catholic Church in England & Wales)

What a day! Our Eldest was out of the house before me this morning - must be a first as Saturday is usually his day for a long lie-in. The reason for his early rising? To get to Westminster Cathedral in time to get a seat for the Ordination of the first priests of the new Ordinariate. And he was successful.

I on the other hand was busy here but not half as busy as in the Newton, Burnham and Broadhurst households I'll warrant. We prayed for the Ordinands at Mass this morning and afterwards I was able to have a quick look at Twitter on my phone and see how things were going. Isn't Twitter great? It's like having your own hotline to special events. With @AnnaArco, @PeterDCXW, @blondpidge et al tweeting from Westminster, you could get a sense of the excitement there.

It's amazing how fast things have moved; from being received into the Catholic Church on 1st January, ordained Deacons two weeks later and today being ordained Catholic priests.

Congratulations to the first members of the new Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham; Fr Keith Newton, the newly appointed Ordinary; Fr Andrew Burnham and Fr John Broadhurst. Plus of course continued prayers as they continue on their historic journey.

There are lots of interesting articles appearing all over the Internet even as I write. You might like to look at the homily here given by Archbishop Vincent Nichols at today's ordinations.

A sad ending to a tragic story . . .

Catholic with Attitude has a very good post on the tragic story of Raoul Moat and his dreadful behaviour which led to the death of one person and the wounding of two others.

Like many people, I followed the news as the story unfolded (it was pretty difficult to escape it, really, as it seemed to receive blanket coverage on all channels) and went to bed on the Friday night fully expecting that the stand-off between Raoul Moat and the police would be resolved peacefully.

My first reaction when I woke to hear that Mr Moat had taken his own life was 'how sad'. Of course I don't condone his awful behaviour and I feel terribly sorry for his victims and their families but it doesn't mean that I can't feel compassion for him too.

What's in an acronym? . . .

What's the difference between an RM, an RT, and an RTL . . . or even an RML?

Growing up with two bus-mad brothers these were the sort of questions that dominated my childhood. At the time, I really couldn't have given a fig and still find it hard to understand their fascination with what is (to me, at least) basically just a means of getting from A to B if you don't have access to a car; it's too far too walk or your destination is nowhere near a railway station.

However, I must admit the the new Routemaster bus showcased in the news today is rather appealing. It almost makes me wish I had a bus pass!

I expect I'll get a few comments now from my siblings!

All over the world, the Spirit is moving . . .

'All over the world, the Spirit is moving . . . ' Not one of my favourite hymns, admittedly, but the sentiment certainly strikes a chord with me at the moment.

'Is it me? ' . . . to coin another over-used expression. Ever since the news broke of the imminent Apostolic Constitution concerning the Personal Ordinariate provision which would enable existing Anglicans to 'cross the Tiber' yet still retain aspects of their Anglican patrimony, stories have been bubbling above and below the surface in the various news media.

Within the space of about half an hour over the weekend, I read of three conversion stories; one on a news channel, another here and finally here. I'm sure there must be many more similar stories out there. I wasn't looking for them particularly.

We are living in interesting times and surely we are seeing the work of the Holy Spirit in all of these happenings.

Today we can see the details of the provision of the Personal Ordinariate as the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus is published. Whilst all the experts are going through the document with a fine tooth comb, let all of us ordinary folk continue to pray for everyone concerned; Anglicans considering a possible move to Rome, Catholic Church leaders and all those who will be affected.

Another 'ban the crucifix' story . . .

What a sad day for Catholics in Italy. Catholic news sites such as EWTN are reporting on the story of the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that crucifixes in public schools are a violation of freedom, and that an Italian citizen of Finnish origin should be compensated because her children had to attend school in Italy where crucifixes were displayed in classrooms.

A statement from the Italian Bishops' Conference said,

'"It ignores or neglects the multiple meaning of the crucifix, which not only is a religious symbol, but also a cultural sign," a communiqué from the conference stated. "It does not take into account the fact that, in reality, in the Italian experience, the display of the crucifix in public places is in harmony with the recognition of the principles of Catholicism as part of the historical patrimony of the Italian people, confirmed by the Concordat of 1984."

After all, as has been argued, just because a crucifix is displayed, it does not necessarily follow that it obliges a profession of faith.