Author: Fr. Neil Xavier O’Donoghue
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Gaudete Sunday versus the Third Sunday of Advent
Today the Church celebrates the Third Sunday of Advent. This Sunday has traditionally been given the title Gaudete Sunday. This title comes from the first word of the Entrance Antiphon, which reads: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. This retains the first word from the older introit,…
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An Irrepressible Desire for Peace
I hear from friends that some liturgies in the U.S. have reintroduced the exchanging of the Sign of Peace. This has been fully absent from Irish liturgies since March 2020 and I miss it. In this post I don’t want to deal with polemics as to whether it is prudent to have the Sign of…
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The Chalice in a Time of COVID-19
I was in Prague recently and visited the famous Bethlehem Chapel. This Chapel played an important part in the early history of the Hussite movement in Bohemia. I took the photograph that accompanies this post from a painting of Jan Hus being burned a t the Council of Constance on the wall of the Bethlehem…
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Godparents Abolished Part II
Last year I published a post on PrayTell telling how Bishop Michele Fusco of the central-Italian Diocese of Sulmona-Valva, Italy, had abolished godparents in his diocese for a three year ad experimentum period. This weekend the New York Times reports that another Italian Diocese, that of Catania in Sicily, is starting a similar three year…
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Collect Varieties
We will never have a “perfect” translation of the Roman Missal.
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Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People
I wrote last month about Pope Francis’ letter on the Syro-Malabar liturgy. Pope Francis wanted to foster to “a uniform mode of celebrating the Holy Qurbana, considering this an important step towards increasing stability and ecclesial communion.” Now it is being reported in the press that all “456 priests of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly have…
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Pre-Signed Sympathy Cards On Sale Here
Mass intentions are an area of sacramental theology that require more theological reflection (see the recent articles by John Baldovin here and here). In Ireland the practice of giving a Mass Card when you pay your respects at a funeral or a wake is still very common. Funerals are still a major social event here…
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Biennial Lectionary for the Office of Readings 3
In September and October 2018 I published two posts on the Biennial Office of Readings. These can be found here and here. In these posts I gave an introduction to this optional two-year Lectionary for the Office of Readings and the state of play with different publications that use it, particularly in English. This post…
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Mass Rocks as a Possible Future
Over the past few weeks, we have looked at the setting for the church to gather in a number of posts. Anthony has commented on the Lay-led house churches in the Church of England and I posted on the Fr. Len Black’s Shed of the Year as an alternative setting for the Church to gather.…