Apologies

Sorry for not posting anything of substance for a while. The new job has taken up much of my time and I need to create a balance so I can get back to writing about important things. I am planning an article on the political side of the 20th century reform movement collation with this older one. Our series on the early traditionalists is once again on hold for research purposes. Not knowing French is prohibitive because the traditionalist movement was born in France. I will post the last of the Shepherd of Hermas however and maybe one other piece this weekend.

Our friend over at Ecclesial Vigilante has an interesting piece on Bridal Mysticism and what Leon Podles calls the "Church Impotent." In short, the extension of some of St Bernard's ideas on Christ as the spouse of the faithful outside on monastic communities may have been a bad idea. I am a bit apprehensive about dissenting from St Bernard here and find his sermons on this matter very edifying, but perhaps the emotions of his sermon outweighed its actual content. The traditional belief is that Christ is the bridegroom of the Church as a whole, as the Fathers and the liturgy attest; Mattins in the Byzantine rite during Great and Holy Week (sung the night before, like Tenebrae) is called the Bridegroom service; the old episcopal rite of consecration used to admonish the new bishop to guard "the Holy Church, God's bride." The matter is worth a thought.

To tide you over, here are some images of the parish that the Fort Worth Ordinariate community, St Timothy's, currently uses. The church is St Mary's of the Assumption (what a relief to have a parish with a normal name). Many features, like the dried out wood doors in the narthex, imbue a maturity of character that reminds me of New England and European churches.