The price of Eucharistic faithfulness

The last Catholic martyr executed at Tyburn in London, St Oliver Plunkett (1625-1681) served as Archbishop of Armagh and successor of St Patrick. During a period of anti-Catholic persecution, he risked his life to provide the sacraments, ordain priests and sustain Eucharistic life among the faithful.

Canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1975, St Oliver Plunkett became the first new Irish saint in almost seven hundred years.  After spending many years in Rome while Catholics in Ireland faced severe restrictions, Plunkett returned to Ireland in 1670 following a relaxation in laws against Catholics. 

During the Stuart Restoration, Plunkett dissented from the Test Act.  The Test Act of 1673 required

Not to be taken for granted

Bees at work while the summer lasts     

It occurred to me, while at Mass last Sunday, that the kneelers were in lots of use with people in and out and up and down. In many Roman Catholic churches, the pews are positioned closely enough that people often need to step onto or over the kneelers when passing along a row – this even in spite of churches being far from packed in most places in Ireland, at least. 

Now, kneelers do not clean themselves and neither do aisle passages, seats, access porches, sanctuary carpets, altar covers, chalice palls, purificators, corporals or lavabo towels.  The bills for insurance, heating, light and water do not automatically pay themselves from year to year and church buildings need to be maintained and renovated.  The holding of a Mass necessitates that someone opens the church, puts out the required vestments or other items, lights the altar candles, switches on the microphones,

Of holy things

A chance visit to a parish church in the Loughboy area of Kilkenny City provided an interesting insight for me into church layout and symbolism. The church of St Fiacre is located beside a busy shopping area and access road on the outskirts of the city in the parish of StPatrick’s. The church building is in what might be styled avant-garde design typical of many Catholic churches constructed in the 1970-1980s. It appears, from online sources, that this church was opened around 1991.  It is arranged in a theatre or fan style with the focus on the  light coming from the sanctuary area.  The sanctuary area feels very open and accessible with minimal clutter. Still, some important and holy things are kept there including the Altar, an imposing and very large wooden cross, the Tabernacle, the lectern, the presider’s chair, the baptism font and, unusually, a box (or Ambry) containing three types of holy oil:

Edith Stein: a Eucharistic Witness unto Death

St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross – Edith Stein - died a martyr on this day 84 years ago.  She was among the Catholics of Jewish origin arrested after the Dutch bishops publicly condemned Nazi persecution of the Jews.  They were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where they were murdered in the gas chambers.  I recall seeing aghast the remains of that place when I visited there in 2011: it was a ghastly reminder of the industrial scale of evil perpetrated by the Nazi regime and its accomplices.

Edith Stein was born in 1891 in Germany in what is now modern-day Poland.  She was a gifted child - encouraged by her mother to think critically.  During her teen years, she abandoned the Jewish faith of her childhood and described herself as an atheist in her early adulthood.  She was awarded  a doctorate in philosophy at the age of 26.  A reading of the autobiography of St Teresa of Avila in 1921 made such a deep impression on her that she decided to embrace Catholic Christianity in 1922.  She is on record for saying this:

Eucharist without borders

A strange development, in recent times, has been the rise of anti-migrant sentiment among a great many Catholics including many who would describe themselves as devout and loyal members of the church. Usually couched in language of being opposed to ‘uncontrolled mass, ‘illegal immigration’, ‘open borders’, ‘endangering our women and children’ and ‘civilisational erasure’, the view is presented as middle of the road and reasonable unlike that held by ‘woke’ or ‘radical left’.  These views – spoken or half-spoken are sometimes prefaced with ‘while I am not a racist…’

Even among Christians the polarising language around immigration is now commonplace online as well as offline.  Just listen to any conversation, now, in Ireland or elsewhere.  Sometimes, it seems to me that the more devout and the more ‘prolife’ a person is the more likely they are to be exercised about immigrants.

I generalise and, now, I risk jumping to judgmental conclusions

What real Eucharistic worship means in practice

Elevation at a Solemn Tridentine Mass
in Prostějov, Czech Republic

Just over a hundred years ago, Frank Weston (1871–1924), the Anglican Bishop of Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania), delivered a rousing address in the Royal Albert Hall, London, at the conclusion of the Anglo-Catholic Congress in July 1923.

The title of his address was Our Present Duty. Weston pulled no punches: he challenged all present to leave behind their lives of ease and comfort and seek out Jesus in the slums and other places. He directly linked service to Christ in our neighbour, especially the poor, with worship of Christ in the Eucharist.

It is good to be here

Croagh Patrick, County Mayo, Ireland

The story of the Transfiguration, celebrated today throughout the Church, is one of the most dramatic moments in the Gospel. It contains surprise, excitement, fear, bewilderment, joy and even a warning. The scene is steeped in Old Testament imagery, with Moses, the Law-giver, and Elijah, the great prophet, appearing beside the promised Messiah, Jesus.

Peter, overwhelmed by the experience, immediately offers to build three tents, or ‘tabernacles’, as dwelling places for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Like many of us, he wants to hold on to a moment of light and joy, to keep it safe and permanent. Yet God's purpose is not that we remain fixed in one moment. The disciples must come down from the mountain and continue the journey.