THE BISHOPS of England and Wales have appealed to Rome to change the Good Friday prayer for Jews as it is said in the Extraordinary Form. The prayer reads: “Let us also pray for the Jews: that our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge Jesus Christ is the Saviour of all men.”
The prayer was revised by Benedict XVI in 2008 after he permitted wider celebration of Mass in the older form with his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum. Previously the prayer had included references to the “blindness” of Jewish people and their “immersion in darkness”.
But the prayer remains different from the Novus Ordo version introduced after the Second Vatican Council, which reads: “Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant.”
Archbishop Kevin McDonald, chairman of the bishops’ Committee for Catholic-Jewish Relations, said the difference had caused “great confusion and upset in the Jewish community”. He said: “The 1970 prayer which is now used throughout the Church is basically a prayer that the Jewish people would continue to grow in the love of God’s name and in faithfulness of his Covenant, a Covenant which – as St John Paul II made clear in 1980 – has not been revoked. By contrast the prayer produced in 2008 for use in the extraordinary form of the liturgy reverted to being a prayer for the conversion of Jews to Christianity.”
He said the English and Welsh bishops had “added their voice” to that of the German bishops, who had already asked for the prayer to be amended. Archbishop McDonald said: “Such a change would be important both for giving clarity and consistency to Catholic teaching and for helping to progress Catholic-Jewish dialogue.” Joseph Shaw, president of the Latin Mass Society, said: “It is surprising that the bishops are unhappy with a prayer composed by Pope Benedict as recently as 2008, which, like the prayer it replaced, though in more measured language, reflects the theology and imagery of 2 Corinthians 3:13-16.” Blogger Fr John Hunwicke said he hoped the bishops would clarify “what exactly it is in the prayer which contradicts which precise affirmations of [Vatican II document] Nostra Aetate.”
News in brief✣
Bishop hails Burma’s first election result
BISHOP DECLAN Lang of Clifton has welcomed the results of Burma’s first free election in 25 years, saying it was the sign of a “brighter future”. While “now is not a time for complacency”, he said he hoped a “genuinely free” society could be built.
‘Focus on Confession during Year of Mercy’
BISHOP philip Egan of Portsmouth has urged Catholics to go more regularly to Confession during the Year of Mercy, in a pastoral letter to his diocese.
Cardinal Burke draws hundreds during visit
US CARDINAL Raymond Burke drew 300 people last week to St James’s, Spanish Place, London. At the Mass 36 were confirmed.
Benedictine monks at Douai Abbey celebrate 400 years
THE BENEDICTINE monks of Douai Abbey, now in Berkshire, celebrated the 400th anniversary of their foundation last Friday on the feast of their patron, St Edmund.
They were joined by abbots and monks and nuns from most of the Benedictine monasteries in England. A Pontifical High Mass was celebrated by Abbot Geoffrey Scott of Douai and the homily was preached by Abbot Cuthbert Madden OSB of Ampleforth. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor read out a message of greeting from Pope Francis.
In the evening, Vespers was sung with Cardinal Vincent Nichols presiding and the Rt Rev Martin Seeley, the Anglican Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, preaching. After Vespers the cardinal blessed a new statue of St Edmund by Peter Eugene Ball. The statue was the gift of the parents of the Catholic pupils of Winchester College.
The 400th anniversary of the community’s founding in Paris in 1615 has been celebrated in a variety of ways, including with a Mass and reception in Paris in June, an exhibition of 17th-century vestments in the Douai Library and the issuing of a commemorative illustrated booklet.
Fatima relics tour Southwark
RELICS of Blessed Francisco and Blessed Jacinta Marto, two of the seers at Fatima, are touring the Diocese of Southwark. The relics are accompanied by a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. This weekend the statue and relics will stop off at St Pius X Church in Kingston-upon-Thames; on December 6 they will be at St Thomas a Becket Church, Wandsworth; and on December 12 and 13 they will be at Our Lady and St Peter Church, Wimbledon.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.