Year of Faith

[Nick Baty]

I won't even ask what that means.

[BobHayes]

I won't even ask what that means.

No subtle meaning intended Nick.

Just an observation that in our twenty-first century age of rapid communication the parish must be semi-detached if word of Pope Benedict XVI's inauguration of the Year of Faith, and Archbishop Patrick's call for a monthly Holy Hour of Faith, failed to get through. If nothing else, it certainly challenges the stereotype of the Catholic Church as highly centralised!

[Nick Baty]

Bob, do you have any other hobbies apart from constantly criticising others?

[musicus]

Whoa there! Let's post respectfully of each other, even if we disagree. Attack the arguments, not the person.

[Southern Comfort]

My information is that there is a tremendous amount happening under the YoF umbrella in some dioceses, and little or nothing in others. Some people are vitally interested and are trying to link this with the New Evangelization, others are finding it yawn-producing and tedious. Communications are both excellent and awful.

It all depends on where you are. I don't think we should be criticising people if they don't happen to have heard what's going on (if anything is). In my diocese, instead of trying to have a bonanza launch at the Cathedral we decided to offer a Holy Hour in every parish to launch the year. That meant that probably a lot more people heard about it than might have been the case in those of our parishes where anything to do with the cathedral or the bishop is simply never passed on to the people by the PP.

[BobHayes]

No doubt there are many and varied initiatives and different levels of enthusiasm for the Year of Faith. It is a great shame to hear that it is seen by some as 'yawn-producing', especially given its role in the New Evangelisation.

I am certainly not criticising laity because the message has not got through. I unreservedly apologise to Nick if that is the impression given by my posts on this topic.

Now if PPs are not passing on communications to the laity that is an entirely different matter! They have taken an oath of obedience and I for one would not expect them to act as censors deciding what information from or via the (arch)bishop - including that from the Holy Father - should be withheld from the faithful.

[alan29]

Our Bishop Davies of Shrewsbury is very keen on it as might be expected.
(My favourite recent liturgical photo is of him wearing a mitre that could quite possibly pick up SKY HD .
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/files ... .29.30.png)

However for the sake of an old Vat II type, could someone give me a one sentence summary of what the Year of Faith is actually about. A follow-up sentence on the New Evangelisation would be very helpful too. I seem to be stuck emotionally in the era of Liberation Theology, so I guess there is no hope for me.

[Nick Baty]

I seem to be stuck emotionally in the era of Liberation Theology, so I guess there is no hope for me.

No hope for me either. We must look to the youngsters to guide us through birettas, communion rails, mantillas and clerical collars. And perhaps we'll have to say goodbye to music like this.

[BobHayes]

Ah yes, Bishop Mark at the Shrine Church of Ss Peter and Paul and Philomena in New Brighton earlier this year. A splendid day.

Sum up in two sentences - ooh, err..... Here goes, but not initially in my words:

The New Evangelisation: '... a good opportunity to usher the whole Church into a time of particular reflection and rediscovery of the faith'. Pope Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei (CTS, p. 6).

Year of Faith: An opportunity for the whole Church to regain, 'exact knowledge of the faith, so as to reinvigorate it, purify it, confirm it, and confess it'. Pope Paul VI, Petrum et Paulum Apostolos launching the Year of Faith on the nineteenth centenary of the martyrdom of Ss Peter and Paul (1967) quoted in Porta Fidei (p. 7).

In my own words... I understand both the Year of Faith and the New Evangelisation aim to ensure we faithful worship and live our lives through an understanding of our calling; not merely through custom and practice. In coming to a greater understanding of our faith we are better able to perform our role as custodians of the faith, passing it on to others through our profession and our lives lived in Christ Jesus.

Anyone else like to take-up the two sentence challenge?

[alan29]

I seem to be stuck emotionally in the era of Liberation Theology, so I guess there is no hope for me.

No hope for me either. We must look to the youngsters to guide us through birettas, communion rails, mantillas and clerical collars. And perhaps we'll have to say goodbye to music like this.

All those are part of my long-term memory which gets stronger as my years advance. Am I in danger of losing contact with my short-term memory as a consequence of these initiatives?

[gwyn]

IncenseTom

. . . I would rather draw on our rich heritage of sacred liturgy to help people more deeply understand the faith

Indeedy. Maybe it's no accident that the Year of Faith falls in line with Cycle C, predominantly the gospel of Luke. For the liturgical musician there's much to draw upon, so many hymns and worship songs arise from Luke's poetic and descriptive text.

[Southern Comfort]

Here's Cardinal Peter Turkson writing in 2007, before he became a cardinal, about evangelization in general:

The early years of the church were all based on evangelisation. When the [institutional] structures began to evolve and develop it became catechetical, notional – you teach people certain things, they can repeat them, then you baptise them. The emphasis on the thrust of evangelization – provoking conversion in people – and helping people find a real relationship with a personal God – that gradually was missed out.

That seems to me to be a very useful comment, counterbalancing those who bewail the fact that (as they see it) no one is taught any doctrine any more and the Church is going to hell in a handbasket.

And, more recently, Robert Mickens in the latest issue (3 November 2012) of The Tablet:

If the synod's style and its liturgies are any indication, it looks like the New Evangelisation is not so much about employing new methods or ways of expressing and living the age-old Catholic faith, but repackaging the old forms for a new generation.

I suspect there's more than a grain of truth in that. His article is headed "Old ways for the new world" and the subtitle runs With hundreds of bishops leaving Rome this week at the end of the synod, the focus will be on encouraging their dioceses to renew people's faith and restore the disaffected to the Church. But nostalgia for the past seems the main solution offered. [My emphasis]

[BobHayes]

If memory serves me right Robert Mickens was fulminating against Pope Benedict XVI's choice of vestments at an ecumenical prayer service during his visit to Germany last year. I dare say Robert Mickens' evident embarrassment about so much of the Church's heritage will ensure that he never runs out of 'if only...' columns for The Tablet.

[Nick Baty]

Robert Mickens' evident embarrassment about so much of the Church's heritage

Can you give us some examples from his columns in The Tablet over the last few months, please?

[IncenseTom]

Here in the Leeds Diocese we have been given cards with prayers on for the YofF. The cards are made up of the Angelus on one side and the Anima Christi on the other.

About 2 minute before Mass, Fr comes out and leads the congregation in the Angelus - at every Mass.
Individual praying of the Anima Christi is encouraged after communion. I'm slightly worried that this might lead to folk groaning when they see Soul of my Saviour down as the communion hymn, which would be a shame.

I'm not aware of any events at Diocese or Parish level yet - possibly something to do with Archbishop Arthur moving to the continent and plans not being firmed up?