{"id":49660,"date":"2019-10-25T12:04:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T17:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=49660"},"modified":"2019-11-04T16:24:43","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T22:24:43","slug":"the-end-of-frankincense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/","title":{"rendered":"The End of Frankincense?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>N.B. this is a post about incense and not a Halloween-themed post on Frankenstein!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the 2017&nbsp;<em>Societas Liturgica&nbsp;<\/em>conference in I was very impressed by the tour of Chevetogne Abbey and in particular of their&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.monasteredechevetogne.com\/shop\/magasin_encens\">incense workshop<\/a>. I did not fully understand the explanation of the theoretical framework of the creation of incense and the relationship between modern science, medicine and ancient philosophy that they use for the creation of particular varieties of incense. However the enthusiasm that the monk responsible for the workshop had was contagious. I was fascinated by the process that they showed us.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I was sad to read a disturbing&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/07\/05\/science\/frankincense-trees-collapse.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share\">article<\/a>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;<em>New York Times<\/em>&nbsp;on the threat to the world\u2019s population of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/npgsweb.ars-grin.gov\/gringlobal\/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=310554#Economic\">Boswellia papyrifera<\/a>&nbsp;trees. The&nbsp;<em>Times<\/em>&nbsp;reported how a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41893-019-0322-2\">study<\/a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<em>Nature sustainability<\/em>&nbsp;found that \u201cthe trees [producing most of the world\u2019s incense] were old and dying, and most hadn\u2019t produced a young tree in half a century. Models suggested that with no intervention, populations would collapse.\u201d The study forecast that, barring a radical intervention, the world\u2019s incense production would half in twenty years. This is particularly worrying, given that the Christian Churches are not the only users of incense, it is also being increasingly used in natural products and remedies and is an important ingredient in some of the better perfumes such as Chanel No. 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This challenge to the world&#8217;s incense supply can be considered to be  yet another example of the problems that our lack of stewardship of our world is creating.&nbsp;&nbsp;While&nbsp;<em>Laudato Si\u2019&nbsp;<\/em>does not mention incense, number 235 speaks of the importance of \u201cbodiliness\u201d in liturgy that is very relevant here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>The Sacraments are a privileged way in which nature is taken up by God to become a means of mediating supernatural life. Through our worship of God, we are invited to embrace the world on a different plane. Water, oil, fire and colours are taken up in all their symbolic power and incorporated in our act of praise. The hand that blesses is an instrument of God\u2019s love and a reflection of the closeness of Jesus Christ, who came to accompany us on the journey of life. Water poured over the body of a child in Baptism is a sign of new life. Encountering God does not mean fleeing from this world or turning our back on nature. This is especially clear in the spirituality of the Christian East. \u201cBeauty, which in the East is one of the best loved names expressing the divine harmony and the model of humanity transfigured, appears everywhere: in the shape of a church, in the sounds, in the colours, in the lights, in the scents\u201d.&nbsp;For Christians, all the creatures of the material universe find their true meaning in the incarnate Word, for the Son of God has incorporated in his person part of the material world, planting in it a seed of definitive transformation. \u201cChristianity does not reject matter. Rather, bodiliness is considered in all its value in the liturgical act, whereby the human body is disclosed in its inner nature as a temple of the Holy Spirit and is united with the Lord Jesus, who himself took a body for the world\u2019s salvation\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>However, there is some good news, in this respect. Some people are worried about the sustainability of incense production. The&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.boswelliasproject.org\/\">Boswellia Project<\/a>&nbsp;,which is based in Ethopia\u2019s Tigray Region, is an example of one such project. Here some French scientists have teamed up with the local Christian community to help create a sustainable agricultural project. So far 40,000 Boswellia trees are being cultivated in 1,000 acres of protected forest. A video showing the natural beauty of the project can be seen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DkChMuGHRd8\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, particularly with the current Synod, there is a lot of talk about ecology and the need to respect nature. Maybe we should reflect on how the  &#8220;bodiliness&#8221; of our liturgy can help sustain the world and particularly how our parishes can help promote integral human development and respect for nature even in the small decisions such as which brand of incense we use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>N.B. this is a post about incense and not a Halloween-themed post on Frankenstein! During the 2017&nbsp;Societas Liturgica&nbsp;conference in I was very impressed by the tour of Chevetogne Abbey and in particular of their&nbsp;incense workshop. I did not fully understand the explanation of the theoretical framework of the creation of incense and the relationship between [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":49661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3119,2972],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-plaza-new-ws","category-environment-and-ecology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The End of Frankincense? - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The End of Frankincense? - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"N.B. this is a post about incense and not a Halloween-themed post on Frankenstein! During the 2017&nbsp;Societas Liturgica&nbsp;conference in I was very impressed by the tour of Chevetogne Abbey and in particular of their&nbsp;incense workshop. I did not fully understand the explanation of the theoretical framework of the creation of incense and the relationship between [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-25T17:04:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-04T22:24:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/incense.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1608\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Neil Xavier O&#039;Donoghue\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Neil Xavier O&#039;Donoghue\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1\"},\"headline\":\"The End of Frankincense?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-25T17:04:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-04T22:24:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":714,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/incense.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"4_THE PLAZA\",\"Environment and Ecology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/\",\"name\":\"The End of Frankincense? - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/incense.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-25T17:04:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-04T22:24:43+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/incense.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/incense.jpg\",\"width\":2940,\"height\":1608},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/25\\\/the-end-of-frankincense\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The End of Frankincense?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit &amp; Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1\",\"name\":\"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue\"},\"description\":\"Neil Xavier O\u2019Donoghue is originally from Cork, Ireland. He is a presbyter of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ who has ministered in parishes on both sides of the Atlantic. He has spent many years as an academic mentor to seminarians. Neil currently serves as Programme Director for Liturgical Programmes at the Pontifical University and as Acting Director of the National Centre for Liturgy. Since 2020 he has also served as the Executive Secretary for Liturgy to the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference. He has studied at Seton Hall University (BA, MDiv), the University of Notre Dame (MA), and St Vladimir\u2019s Orthodox Theological Seminary (MTh). He holds a Doctorate in Theology (Ph.D.) from St Patrick\u2019s College, Maynooth and is in the process of completing a second doctorate (D.D) in the Pontifical Facultad de Teolog\u00eda Redemptoris Mater in Callao, Peru. Neil has published a translation of the Confessio of St. Patrick: St. Patrick: His Confession and Other Works (Totowa, NJ, 2009), as well editing the third edition of Fredrick Edward Warren\u2019s The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church (Piscataway, NJ, 2010). In 2011 the University of Notre Dame Press published The Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland an adaptation of his doctoral thesis and in 2017 the Alcuin Club published his Liturgical Orientation: The Position of the President at the Eucharist. His articles have appeared in The Irish Theological Quarterly, New Blackfriars, The Furrow and Antiphon. He writes a monthly article on some aspect of the theology of Pope Francis in the Messenger of St. Anthony and blogs regularly at PrayTell.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/nxodonoghue\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The End of Frankincense? - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The End of Frankincense? - Home","og_description":"N.B. this is a post about incense and not a Halloween-themed post on Frankenstein! During the 2017&nbsp;Societas Liturgica&nbsp;conference in I was very impressed by the tour of Chevetogne Abbey and in particular of their&nbsp;incense workshop. I did not fully understand the explanation of the theoretical framework of the creation of incense and the relationship between [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2019-10-25T17:04:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-04T22:24:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2940,"height":1608,"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/incense.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/"},"author":{"name":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1"},"headline":"The End of Frankincense?","datePublished":"2019-10-25T17:04:14+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-04T22:24:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/"},"wordCount":714,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/incense.jpg","articleSection":["4_THE PLAZA","Environment and Ecology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/","name":"The End of Frankincense? - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/incense.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-25T17:04:14+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-04T22:24:43+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/incense.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/incense.jpg","width":2940,"height":1608},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/25\/the-end-of-frankincense\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The End of Frankincense?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit &amp; Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1","name":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1","caption":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue"},"description":"Neil Xavier O\u2019Donoghue is originally from Cork, Ireland. He is a presbyter of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ who has ministered in parishes on both sides of the Atlantic. He has spent many years as an academic mentor to seminarians. Neil currently serves as Programme Director for Liturgical Programmes at the Pontifical University and as Acting Director of the National Centre for Liturgy. Since 2020 he has also served as the Executive Secretary for Liturgy to the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference. He has studied at Seton Hall University (BA, MDiv), the University of Notre Dame (MA), and St Vladimir\u2019s Orthodox Theological Seminary (MTh). He holds a Doctorate in Theology (Ph.D.) from St Patrick\u2019s College, Maynooth and is in the process of completing a second doctorate (D.D) in the Pontifical Facultad de Teolog\u00eda Redemptoris Mater in Callao, Peru. Neil has published a translation of the Confessio of St. Patrick: St. Patrick: His Confession and Other Works (Totowa, NJ, 2009), as well editing the third edition of Fredrick Edward Warren\u2019s The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church (Piscataway, NJ, 2010). In 2011 the University of Notre Dame Press published The Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland an adaptation of his doctoral thesis and in 2017 the Alcuin Club published his Liturgical Orientation: The Position of the President at the Eucharist. His articles have appeared in The Irish Theological Quarterly, New Blackfriars, The Furrow and Antiphon. He writes a monthly article on some aspect of the theology of Pope Francis in the Messenger of St. Anthony and blogs regularly at PrayTell.","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/nxodonoghue\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/incense.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49660"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49665,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49660\/revisions\/49665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}