Feast of Christ the King. Final Sunday of the Liturgical Year. Cycle A November 26 2017
People have been known to ask me why I go to Church, I am too polite to reply that I find it hard to believe that anyone can get through the week without it. For all that, I miss Mass too often, so this blog is going to be my way of trying to get me to do the least that can be asked of any Catholic, to turn up. A word of warning, I am far too prone to express my own ideas without conditioning them, so be aware that I am a terrible Catholic and while I will try my best to avoid heresy, or even heterodoxy, I'm sure I will lapse into it. If you want to know what Catholicism teaches you need to look up the Catechism.
St Andrews Cathedral in Dundee has its civic and university Mass on Christ the King, so the bishop gets to walk the tightrope of proclaiming the Kingdom while respecting the division of Church and State and the autonomy of the university in front of MPs, MSPs, the Principals, the Provosts and so on. Of course we (Catholics) don't think there is any inherent contradiction because, as the Nicene Creed puts it, "through him all things were made". Ideally reason reconciles all the different realms of authority; however that is not the political case. Even more tricky proclaiming the universal dominion of Christ in a country where Catholicism is the minority faith. I was surprised how little discomfort or annoyance any of the university or city people expressed after Mass, even though the bishop articulately expressed Pius XI's initial reasons for instituting the Feast in 1925; the threat to peace from turning away from the laws of God. The political moment is not a liberal one, so there is possibly an easier audience for the proposition that peace and freedom might be rooted in a substantive commitment to the good rather than the ultimate autonomy of the individual.
When I was younger I was not fond of elaborate masses, but as I've got older I appreciate how a longer mass let's you appreciate its structure. Even on a normal Sunday I like the Gloria in Latin plainchant, though this week the choir did an elaborate version. They also sang the Mozart Ave Verum Corpus. A joy to hear such wonderful music in a full church with many of the people I work with there to share it.
People have been known to ask me why I go to Church, I am too polite to reply that I find it hard to believe that anyone can get through the week without it. For all that, I miss Mass too often, so this blog is going to be my way of trying to get me to do the least that can be asked of any Catholic, to turn up. A word of warning, I am far too prone to express my own ideas without conditioning them, so be aware that I am a terrible Catholic and while I will try my best to avoid heresy, or even heterodoxy, I'm sure I will lapse into it. If you want to know what Catholicism teaches you need to look up the Catechism.
St Andrews Cathedral in Dundee has its civic and university Mass on Christ the King, so the bishop gets to walk the tightrope of proclaiming the Kingdom while respecting the division of Church and State and the autonomy of the university in front of MPs, MSPs, the Principals, the Provosts and so on. Of course we (Catholics) don't think there is any inherent contradiction because, as the Nicene Creed puts it, "through him all things were made". Ideally reason reconciles all the different realms of authority; however that is not the political case. Even more tricky proclaiming the universal dominion of Christ in a country where Catholicism is the minority faith. I was surprised how little discomfort or annoyance any of the university or city people expressed after Mass, even though the bishop articulately expressed Pius XI's initial reasons for instituting the Feast in 1925; the threat to peace from turning away from the laws of God. The political moment is not a liberal one, so there is possibly an easier audience for the proposition that peace and freedom might be rooted in a substantive commitment to the good rather than the ultimate autonomy of the individual.
When I was younger I was not fond of elaborate masses, but as I've got older I appreciate how a longer mass let's you appreciate its structure. Even on a normal Sunday I like the Gloria in Latin plainchant, though this week the choir did an elaborate version. They also sang the Mozart Ave Verum Corpus. A joy to hear such wonderful music in a full church with many of the people I work with there to share it.
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