The most sweeping changes to the Catholic Mass in 40 years will be rolled out in 2011, the U.S. bishops announced Friday (Aug. 20) after receiving formal approval from the Vatican.

The new English-language translation of the Roman Missal, the official text of prayers and responses used in the Mass, will be implemented on Nov. 27, 2011, the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Vatican approval was granted on June 23, with additional changes approved on July 24.

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The Scottish Episcopal Church’s College of Bishops has approved inclusive language prayers, authorising optional changes that remove “Lord”, “He”, “his”, “him”, and “us men” from its 1982 Eucharistic Liturgy.

On Aug 2, the SEC published a list of seven permitted changes. Spokesman Lorna Finley said the changes were offered by the College of Bishops as an “interim measure” as the General Synod Liturgy Committee prepares new Eucharist rites.

The permitted changes include altering “God is love and we are his children” in the Confession and Absolution to “God is love and we are God’s children.”

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The decision of the Appellate Tri­bunal rejecting lay and diaconal presidency at the eucharist is the latest setback for the diocese of Sydney in its quest to find a means of allowing lay people and deacons to fulfil this function.

Since the 1990s, numerous at­tempts have failed, but this decision is the most serious, because the dio­cese’s current ordination policy is based on the premise that deacons can (in Sydney’s preferred termin­ology) administer the Lord’s Supper.

Under the policy that has been introduced in recent years, ordination as priests (or presbyters, as Sydney calls them) is restricted only to rec­tors of parishes. At least one newly appointed rector has been ordained priest in the same service in which he was inducted into his first parish.

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(–Per the diocesan website, the Rt. Rev. Edward Lee is Assisting Bishop for Ordinations and Coordinator of Campus/Young Adult Ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania).

Since 1976 when the current Book of Common Prayer restored the sacramental significance and centrality of Holy Baptism to the liturgical and ministerial life of The Episcopal Church, an interesting and exciting movement has been emerging and bubbling up in congregations and dioceses. Simply stated it’s called the “Ministry in Daily Life” movement. It has no formal national organization. Rather, it has local manifestations generated by people who are convinced that the Baptismal Covenant is the basis for intentional baptismal living and ministry every day of the week.

In the Diocese of Pennsylvania this movement has been spearheaded for over 20 years by the Center for Baptismal Living (CBL), a group of lay and clergy persons who have been committed to finding ways to raise the awareness of
both individuals and parishes to the question, what does it mean to be “sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever” (BCP, p. 308)? Or put another way, what does baptismal living look like Monday through Saturday after the Christian community has gathered on Sunday and exited to the dismissal, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord”?

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Christian worship usually, but not always, includes an element of music. There are traditions within Christianity that are opposed to music in worship, but they are the exception. Musical styles in worship can range from Gregorian chant to Gospel. Generally speaking, Episcopalians are musical traditionalists, and like organ music and a big, robe-wearing choir. But that is changing in some places, and you will find Episcopal churches that feature more contemporary music of various kinds.

Whatever the style of music involved, church is one of the few places where grownups still get together and sing. I think it’s awfully good for us to let down our guard and let loose on a beloved hymn, not worrying about whether we’re “good” singers or not. Those who sing pray twice, as St. Augustine supposedly said…

Which brings me to the connection I wanted to make to prayer. I think praying is another thing that we do quite naturally when we’re young, but as we grow older we tend to become intimidated and inhibited about it, until we might let it drop out of their lives completely. I wonder if it’s not pretty common to put the same expectations on ourselves about singing and praying: if we’re not good at it, we should just leave it to the professionals. Which leads to a pretty impoverished sort of way to live, unfortunately.

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“The whole look was both modern and very bland,” said Matthew Alderman, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame’s classical-design program who works as a consultant on sacred art and architecture.

“It was a kind of beige Catholicism that was ugly, but not aggressively ugly … and these churches looked like they were in a chain that had franchises everywhere. It was that whole Our Lady of Pizza Hut look that started in the 1950s and then took over in the ’60s and ’70s….”

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I have a suggestion for an area of public life where cuts in spending are in urgent need and would, I believe, be widely welcomed: weddings. Over the last several years the cost of the average wedding has ballooned to about £20,000. And as a recent survey showed: with the expectation of ever more expensive presents, the need for new clothes, hotel bills and the like, the cost of simply attending a wedding is now well over £500.

But it isn’t just about the money. For the problem with the modern wedding is that it’s too often a glitzy stage-set overly concerned with the shoes, the flowers, the napkin rings and performing to the cameras. I’m delighted for Chelsea Clinton and her new husband Mark. But judging by some press reports, the most important thing about the wedding was her two Vera Wang dresses. And yes, I blame the media here, not the happy couple. For the pervasive influence of the media on the look and feel of weddings – not least those weddings that are featured in celebrity magazines – has encouraged an atmosphere of narcissism and self-promotion to work its way into the very fabric of the modern wedding celebration….

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An Anglican vicar has been convicted of conducting hundreds of bogus marriages in a scam aimed at helping African immigrants gain illegal entry into Britain.

A jury at Lewes Crown Court, in southern England, on Thursday (July 29) found the Rev. Alex Brown had violated immigration laws by “marrying” 383 couples over a four-year period at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in the village of St. Leonards-on-Sea.

In testimony during the seven-week trial, the prosecution said Brown, who denied conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration, “knew full well that the vast majority of the marriages were shams.”

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Armed with a new $400,000 grant and the support of the Episcopal Church, a Berkeley seminary is convening priests from across the country to craft the liturgical rite for same-sex couples to receive religious blessings.

The new rite, which will take years to complete, will most likely consist of a series of original prayers, Bible readings and two essays: one on the theological meaning of same-sex blessings, and one advising priests who administer the new rite. If approved, the new blessing would be just the third addition to Episcopal liturgy since 1979.

“This is very significant,” said the Rev. Ruth Meyers, chairwoman of the church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, who is heading the effort. “It does acknowledge a fuller participation of gays and lesbians in the life of the church.”

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To get to church on a recent Sunday, the Yeldell family just walked to their own living room to greet fellow worshippers.

Members of this “house church” are part of what experts say is a fundamental shift in the way U.S. Christians think about church. Skip the sermons, costly church buildings and large, faceless crowds, they say. House church is about relationships forged in small faith communities.

In general, house churches consist of 12 to 15 people who share what’s going on in their lives, often turning to Scriptures for guidance. They rely on the Holy Spirit or spontaneity to lead the direction of their weekly gatherings.

“I think part of the appeal for some in the house church movement is the desire to return to a simpler expression of church,” said Ed Stetzer, a seminary professor and president of Lifeway Research, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. “For many, church has become too much (like a) business while they just want to live like the Bible.”

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St. Peter’s Anglican Church has long been known as an open and inclusive place.

So open, it seems, they won’t turn anyone away. Not even a dog.

That’s how a blessed canine ended up receiving communion from interim priest Rev. Marguerite Rea during a morning service the last Sunday in June.

According to those in attendance at the historical church at 188 Carlton St. in downtown Toronto, it was a spontaneous gesture, one intended to make both the dog and its owner ”“ a first timer at the church ”” feel welcomed. But at least one parishioner saw the act as an affront to the rules and regulations of the Anglican Church. He filed a complaint with the reverend and with the Anglican Diocese of Toronto about the incident ”“ and has since left the church.

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On any given weekend, _____% of U.S. churchgoers attend a megachurch.

Please note–the answer is now posted in the comments below–KSH.

Bishop Stephen Platten of Wakefield and Dean Colin Slee of Southwark debate appropriate choices for music at weddings. The segment begins at about 20 minutes and 50 seconds in and lasts about 5 minutes.

Go here to find the audio link (only available 6 more days).

A Michigan-based gay rights foundation has given more than $400,000 to a California seminary to help craft formal liturgies for the Episcopal Church to bless gay and lesbian relationships.

The Episcopal Church still officially considers marriage between a man and a woman, reflected in the marriage rite of its Book of Common Prayer. Many dioceses, however, unofficially allow priests to bless same-sex relationships and even marriages.

Because the church puts a high value on scripted liturgies, many same-sex couples want their own marriage/blessing rite since many bishops are reluctant to use the traditional husband-wife marriage liturgy for same-sex unions.

The church’s 2009 General Convention gave the green light to collecting “theological and liturgical resources” that would form the basis of an official same-sex rite that could be added to the list of approved ceremonies.

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The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has received a $404,000 grant for its work on gathering and developing rites to bless same-sex couples.

The grant, which is just over 16 times the $25,000 approved by General Convention for developing such blessing rites, will help the SCLM gather comments more thoroughly from across the church.

The money has been granted by the Arcus Foundation, which is based in Kalamazoo, Mich. Arcus describes its mission as achieving “social justice that is inclusive of sexual orientation, gender identity and race, and to ensure conservation and respect of the great apes.”

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About halfway through Sunday service at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, as worshipers passed around the collection plate, a chorus of screams pierced the air.

Chunks of the ceiling in the 52-year-old church near Hickory came crashing down on the crowd of 200 or so, striking about 14, who were later treated and released from nearby hospitals. A jagged piece of the ceiling, roughly 10 feet by 10 feet, dangled from exposed wires over the back pews as deacons struggled to guide panicking worshipers from the building.

“My jaw just dropped,” the Rev. Antonio Logan said. “I thought, ‘This can’t be real.'”

Caring for old church facilities is an increasingly acute problem, particularly for mainline Protestant denominations. As membership declines and budgets shrink, the beautiful edifices of American Christianity can feel like weights dragging down churches that are forced to spend money on maintenance and repairs instead of ministry, charity and other Gospel-derived imperatives.

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The General Synod at the Church’s parliament has voted to relax the current rule which prevents couples from marrying in a church where they don’t have a strong connection to the parish.

It is hoped the move will enable the church to claw back some of the wedding business which is currently being dominated by stately homes and hotels offering civil ceremony services.

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The parish liturgy committee decided to adopt the contemporary version of the Lord’s Prayer for use during worship. From now on, at least at one of the services, we’d be “sinners” instead of “trespassers.” The next Sunday a distraught man cornered me. “You’ve taken the Lord’s Prayer away from us!”

I was shocked. What did he mean? We’d been preparing and educating people for this small change for years. How could changing a few words “take away” the Lord’s Prayer?

I thought: maybe the Lord’s Prayer was not part of this man’s daily spiritual practice. If it were, he might be using as many versions as he wanted in as many languages as he wanted or even paraphrases of his own. But maybe instead of praying it in his own time, he viewed Sunday worship as his own time, rather than as a gathering together of diverse and dissimilar people in continual growth and flux. After I came to this realization I begin hearing more “I” language: phrases such as “I came to get my ashes” on Ash Wednesday and “I had to get my palm” on Palm Sunday. My parishioners were consumers of prayer! Like customers at vending machines, they’d slide their dollars into the slot for the week’s allotment of praise, thanksgiving, intercession and petition followed by coffee hour. The formulaic general confession served as the sole opportunity for soul cleansing and maintenance. There was no preparation, no aftercare, no angels rejoicing over this one repentant sinner out of 99, no fatted calf or cloak or ring, no popping of a champagne bottle celebrating a moral victory won over self.

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“Sham” church weddings between foreign nationals are putting clergy under huge pressure, a North­ampton vicar said this week.

The Revd Michael Hills, Vicar of St Michael’s and of Holy Sepulchre, Northampton, has had three weddings raided by immigration officers as couples were about to get married. He said that his church appeared to have been targeted by people arranging sham weddings, often between illegal immigrants from Africa and EU nationals.

Couples had shown Mr Hills false passports and household bills to try to prove their address, and their entitlement to marry in the parish.

Four people were each sentenced to two years in prison last week, after admitting trying to dupe Mr Hills into marrying them using forged paperwork.

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Music plays an important part in the life of Graham Bolton whether it be singing in the choir at St Anne’s Church in Tottington, boosting the bass section at Bury Choral Society or enjoying a trip to the opera.

But next month will see him take on a musical challenge that is very close to his heart to raise money for Bury Hospice and for the charity Salve, which helps street children in Uganda.

Graham, aged 58, had planned to sing a psalm at Canterbury on behalf of a member of the congregation at St Anne’s where he has been a regular for nearly 20 years and in the choir for 10 years. His wife, Susan, is a church warden.

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I cite here the exhortation:

Dear friends, and you especially on whose souls I have cure and charge, on — – next I do intend, by God’s grace, to offer all such as shall be godly disposed the most comfortable sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, to be taken of them in remembrance of his most fruitful and glorious passion: by the which passion we have obtained remission of our sins, and be made partakers of the kingdom of heaven; whereof we be assured and ascertained, if we come to the said sacrament with hearty repentance for our offences, stedfast faith in God’s mercy, and earnest mind to obey God’s will, and to offend no more. Wherefore our duty is to come to these holy mysteries with most hearty thanks to be given to Almighty God for his infinite mercy and benefits given and bestowed upon his unworthy servants, for whom he hath not only given his Body to death, and shed his Blood, but also doth vouchsafe, in a sacrament and mystery, to give us his said Body and Blood to feed upon spiritually. The which sacrament being so divine and holy a thing, and so comfortable to them which receive it worthily, and so dangerous to them that will presume to take the same unworthily: my duty is to exhort you, in the mean season, to consider the greatness of the thing, and to search and examine your own consciences, and that not lightly, nor after the manner of dissimulers with God, but as they which should come to a most godly and heavenly banquet; not to come but in the marriage garment required of God in the Scripture; that you may (so much as lieth in you) be found worthy to come to such a table. The ways and means thereto is, first, that you be truly repentant of your former evil life; and that you confess with an unfeigned heart to Almighty God, your sins and unkindness towards his Majesty committed, either by will, word, or deed, infirmity or ignorance; and that with inward sorrow and tears you bewail your offences, and require of Almighty God mercy and pardon, promising to him (from the bottom of your hearts) the amendment of your former life. And amongst all others, I am commanded of God especially to move and exhort you to reconcile yourselves to your neighbours, whom you have offended, or who hath offended you, putting out of your hearts all hatred and malice against them, and to be in love and charity with all the world, and to forgive others as you would that God should forgive you. And if any man hath done wrong to any other, let him make satisfaction and due restitution of all lands and goods wrongfully taken away or witholden, before he come to God’s board; or at the least be in full mind and purpose so to do, as soon as he is able; or else let him not come to this holy table, thinking to deceive God, who seeth all men’s hearts. For neither the absolution of the priest can any thing avail them, nor the receiving of this holy sacrament doth any thing but increase their damnation. And if there be any of you whose conscience is troubled and grieved in any thing, let him come to me, or to some other discreet and learned priest, taught in the law of God, and confess and open his sin and grief secretly, that he may receive such ghostly counsel, advice, and comfort, that his conscience may be relieved, and that of us (as the ministers of God and of the Church) he may receive comfort and absolution, to the satisfaction of his mind, and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness; requiring such as shall be satisfied with a general confession not to be offended with them that do use, to their further satisfying, the auricular and secret confession to the priest; nor those also which think needful or convenient, for the quietness of their own consciences, particularly to open their sins to the priest, to be offended with them that are satisfied with their humble confession to God, and the general confession to the Church: but in all things to follow and keep the rule of charity; and every man to be satisfied with his own conscience, not judging other men’s minds or consciences; whereas he hath no warrant of God’s Word to the same.

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Almighty and everliving God, whose servant Thomas Cranmer, with others, did restore the language of the people in the prayers of thy Church: Make us always thankful for this heritage; and help us so to pray in the Spirit and with the understanding, that we may worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

More than 4,000 Christians put denominational differences aside and united as one for a special event to praise God and the city of Oxford today.

Christians from dozens of different nationalities cancelled their usual Sunday worship to join together for a mass prayer in South Park in which they were told Christianity is more relevant than ever in today’s world.

Congregations from an estimated 40 Oxford churches including Anglican, Baptist, Pentecostal, Russian Orthodox, and the Chinese fellowship were blessed with fine weather as they sang hymns under one marquee roof.

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A graduate student at DePaul University, atheist activist Hemant Mehta avoided being a church hater by becoming a church rater.

Enlisted four years ago on a lark to attend about a dozen Chicago-area churches and honestly rate his experience, Mehta’s beliefs did not change, but his attitude toward organized religion did.

His journey inspired an interreligious group of entrepreneurs to recently launch ChurchRater, a new approach to church shopping modeled after Yelp, a popular website where users rate local businesses. By inviting ordinary worshipers to post reviews from the pews, the website aims to help Christians navigate the more than 330,000 churches across the U.S. to find where they fit on Sunday morning.

The Rev. Jim Henderson, an evangelical pastor from Seattle and one of the site’s founders, insists that Sunday morning worship is when most churches choose to open their doors to the public, and hence invite critique. Churches should welcome the evaluations at churchrater.com, he added. While Henderson and his staff work to filter unnecessarily vile material to keep reviews useful, he said hard truths can hurt and help.

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(The) REV. GEOFFREY KERSLAKE is a priest of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Ottawa.

In order to understand Catholic thinking about music, dance and the liturgy we need to remember that all sacred arts in the liturgy are meant to glorify God and to draw us deeper into the heavenly reality that we experience in our liturgy.

In helping us to discern what expression of music is appropriate for the liturgy we have three criteria: “beauty expressive of prayer, the unanimous participation of the assembly at the designated moments and the solemn character of the celebration” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1157).

Because music is intended to help orient us towards God, if it serves as a distraction or if it becomes the focus itself of the liturgy, it has lost is true purpose. The music that praises God most appropriately is derived from Sacred Scripture and from liturgical sources (CCC1158). These criteria do not mandate any single genre of music, but common sense tells us that some musical genres do not inherently point us to God, but rather focus our attention elsewhere. Conversely, sacred music like Gregorian chant, because it exists solely as sacred music and nowhere else, has a natural or inherent ability to orient us towards God because we associate it only with worshipping God in the liturgy.

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Cynics might argue that the hymn’s words are little more than Hallmark card banalities. Newman himself worried that his fellow Victorians sentimentalised them and he strongly discouraged their use at funerals. But if the hymn was simply a bromide how did it nourish Gandhi as he suffered imprisonment, assault and near-death fasts? The Indian leader thought the phrase “one step enough for me” contained an entire political philosophy. It reminded him, as he faced one crisis after another, to act in the present and not to worry about the future.

Gandhi’s interpretation of the hymn might have surprised Newman, but it wouldn’t have scandalised him. Although he is portrayed as a ghostly intellectual Newman had a strong social conscience. As a cardinal he was entitled to live in Rome but he insisted on remaining a parish priest in blighted Birmingham.

When Benedict XVI beatifies Newman on 19 September he is not simply proclaiming that the cardinal was a holy man. He is saying that Newman’s life and teaching are of universal significance. Gandhi’s love of “Lead, kindly Light” proves that Newman is not just for Catholics. With its primordial imagery of dark and light the hymn speaks to anyone who is struggling, amid the gloom, to take the next step towards truth.

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One of [Syracuse, New York’s]…oldest candle makers is planning to slash its work force in part because of decreased demand from a shrinking number of Catholic churches to buy its products.

Emkay Candle told its 46 employees that as many as 38 of them will be laid off in 90 days. That would leave just eight people to make candles at the company, which has been making them at the same location since its founding in 1925.

Rolly DeVore, Emkay’s general manager, said the actual number of layoffs may wind up at less than 38, but not much less. “I think maybe 15 will remain after the whole thing is done, but I don’t know,” he said. “It all depends on what the order input is going to be in the next two months.

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Glory to our ascended Lord, that he is with us always.

Glory to the Word of God, going forth with his armies, conquering and to conquer.

Glory to him who has led captivity captive, and given gifts for the perfecting of his saints.

Glory to him who has gone before to prepare a place in his Father’s home for us.

Glory to the author and finisher of our faith; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion now and for evermore.

The 300-odd hymns that James Quinn composed in New Hymns for All Seasons (1969, Chapman) and Praise for all Seasons (1994, Chapman) appear in most modern hymn books whether used for Roman Catholic or Anglican congregations.

His aim, while composing, was to produce a “catechism in song”. “Hymns fundamentally declare the Christian faith,” said Quinn, a Jesuit. “They are our source book for teaching and for sermons.”

His inspiration came from the writings of the saints, the psalms and ancient texts that reflected on church teaching, Scripture or the Eucharist.

“Hymns form a rich scriptural quarry,” he said. “They are to convey the words of Christ memorably.” The language used should be “clear but not banal and above all simple”. He did not write “modern” hymns that relied only on current vocabulary, and encouraged people who did not understand the terminology to make the effort to learn.

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A major motive for being a Christian and participating in its rituals and disciplines is about to collapse. This is going to make a lot of Christians panic, but I believe the recent development will be all to the good.

The development is the discovery that hallucinogenic drugs can give people an experience seemingly identical to powerful religious experiences. A recent New York Times article by John Tierney describes the experience of retired clinical psychologist Clark Martin. Martin had been treated for depression for years, but counseling and antidepressants did nothing to help. At age 65, he enrolled in an experiment at Johns Hopkins medical school that gave people psilocybin, a psychoactive ingredient found in some mushrooms.

When Martin was administered the drug, he says, “All of a sudden, everything familiar started evaporating ”¦ . Imagine you fall off a boat out in the open ocean, and you turn around, and the boat is gone. And then the water’s gone. And then you’re gone….”

His experience, writes Tierney, is not all that unusual, and he says, “Scientists are especially intrigued by the similarities between hallucinogenic experiences and the life-changing revelations reported throughout history by religious mystics and those who meditate.”

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