Posts By Date - Catholic Herald

January 17, 2019

Dear Fr Rutler: how can a priest and recovering alcoholic consume the Precious Blood?

January 17, 2019

Dear Father Rutler, I’m a priest and a recovering alcoholic, and I dread the day I have to drink a large amount of Christ’s Sacred Blood left over after a Mass. What should I do? Anonymous Congratulations on your recovering. The word itself is a gerund, or verbal noun. Think of the rarer gerundive in

Fall of a celebrity priest

January 17, 2019

On January 7, the Washington Post reported that in 2005 Opus Dei paid the astonishing sum of $977,000 to a woman who accused Fr John McCloskey (pictured), one of its priests, of groping her. The revelation was a shocking one, for reasons that go beyond McCloskey’s indefensible behaviour. But it did explain one mystery. Until

Catholics belong at Burns Night

January 17, 2019

Last January 25 and next January 25, I took and shall take part in a ritual at once solemn and amusing, timeless and spontaneous – not part of the Church’s liturgy, yet at the same time a fitting companion to the more liturgical observances of the Month of the Holy Name. Despite it being observed

Long Island’s little secrets

January 17, 2019

As you approach the final stretch of Long Island, New York, the land mass splits into twin forks, as equally beautiful as they are distinct in culture and reputation. At the apex of that split is a town called Riverhead, sitting, as its name suggests, at the mouth of the Peconic River. It is the

Struggling for sustenance

January 17, 2019

We all struggle not to give in to coldness and hatred. This was even a struggle for Jesus. Like the rest of us, he had to struggle, mightily at times, to remain warm and loving. It’s interesting to trace this out in the Gospel of Luke. This is the Gospel of prayer. Luke shows Jesus

Hopkins can console believers who struggle with depression

January 17, 2019

In the year 1866, Gerard Manley Hopkins feels like an exile. He’s publicly announced his intention to convert to the Catholic faith from his native Anglicanism and the news has dropped like a lead weight in the environs of Oxford. He’ll have to leave, of course. Catholics aren’t allowed to make a success at Oxford,

Heretic of the week: Mani

January 17, 2019

Mani (216-274) was an Iranian who lived during the transition of power in Persia from the foreign Parthians to the native Sassanid dynasty – and enjoyed favour among the latter, at least for a time. He was born during a period of great religious ferment in the Near East. The dominant religion in Persia was

Prize crossword 0576

January 17, 2019

Cryptic across 7 Girl getting support at new church is a token of peace (5,6) 8 Unexpected drink after a mother gets bargains here? (5,3) 9 Cross with opening set-back (4) 10 Ready to sit, shaking after big dipper? (7) 11 Wise one in the making is one that does give a hoot (5) 13

Mass readings

January 17, 2019

Ordinary Form Divine Office Week II Sunday, January 20: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 62:1-5; Ps 96; 1 Cor 12:4-11; Jn 2:1-11 Monday, January 21: St Agnes Heb 5:1-10; Ps 110; Mk 2:18-22 Tuesday, January 22: Weekday in Ordinary Time or St Vincent; Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children (US)

How to … Honour the Holy Name

January 17, 2019

The feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, which falls on January 3, has been and gone – but the entire month of January is devoted to the Holy Name, so it is a good focus for some simple New Year resolutions. The first is obvious: to avoid the serious sin of taking the Holy

My first time celebrating a baptism in the Extraordinary Form

January 17, 2019

I have celebrated a baptism in the Extraordinary Form for the first time. I mention this not as the opening salvo in some campaign, rather to emphasise how I came to it without preconceptions. My reactions are based not on some a priori position or nostalgia, since my only experience hitherto has been my own

Omnium Gatherum

January 17, 2019

This week we encounter a liturgical unicorn. We shall celebrate the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, and the Second Sunday after Epiphany in the Extraordinary. What makes this Sunday rare is that the collect is the same prayer in both. Although the Council Fathers of Vatican II