The language we use, the words we choose, form lenses for the reality we are talking about. At the Sacra Liturgia conference in London on Tuesday last week, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, asked that priests begin presiding at the Eucharist ad orientem, that
Around God’s Table Read More »
Pope Francis has been making waves. The Orthodox are trying to catch up with our new context. And some people are trying to turn back the clock. Looking East or West? Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has asked that priests begin presiding at the
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Above are two of the new central-city buildings going up in post-quake Christchurch – the city whose plan was that we be a “city in a garden“. Even if “soul” is a metaphor for you, I posit that our physical environment affects us. Steel, glass, tilt-slab, reinforced concrete, and the occasional planter box, with hardly
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In cleaning the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Amiens in France, workers discovered traces of paint on the 13th century exterior. They realised that the western façade of the cathedral was originally painted in multiple colours. Having determined the exact colours as they would have originally been, elaborate lighting techniques were developed to project
Today, at 4:30pm, many were expecting to hear the final decision about what would happen to the Christchurch Anglican cathedral in the Square, damaged in the earthquakes that destroyed so much of Christchurch. The Great Christchurch Building Trust have sought to see the building brought back essentially to as it was pre-quakes. The owners, the
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Stand around the Altar in a Circle Lost in translation, in the Roman Canon (used century upon century upon century and now RC Eucharistic Prayer 1), is that we all stand around the altar. The Roman Canon has: …Memento, Domine, famulorum famularumque tuarum N. et N. et omnium circumstantium, quorum tibi fides cognita est et
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Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral has just been reopened after being closed since the Day of Pentecost to remove a “bridge” and hanging lotus-flower-type-thing that dominated (read ‘blocked’) views from the Pacific-fale-style nave to the Gothic-Revival-influenced chancel. Here is the view as it was: Simple changes in layout, and architects starting from what is wanted/needed “on
I was with a group of clergy recently where I mentioned the idea of changing the configuration of seating for different seasons of the Church Year, for example: semicircle around the altar for one season; straight lines facing each other in “choir formation”, altar at one end, ambo/lectern at the other (or similar to this
