The architect for our sanctuary renovations, Rafael Morales, visited us in Flat Rock June 20-22. Below are pictures from his presentation at St. Edmund's, and his visit to choose marble slabs for our new altar. He is pictured below with his wife Colleen and Stephen Advent at Rozell Stone in Easley, SC, where the marble for the altar will be fabricated.

Thanks to all who joined us for the St. John the Baptist Nativity Evensong and celebration in South Carolina - it was a great time!

Let's start with what the Code of Canon Law says...

Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.

Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.

Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.

Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.

Here is what our US Conference of Catholic Bishops here in the US declared in its 1966 document, Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence:

Paragraph 24:
“Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is in the entire year. For this reason we urge all to prepare for that weekly Easter by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial and mortification in prayerful remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ.”

Paragraph 25:
“Among the works of voluntary self-denial and personal penance which we especially commend to our people for the future observance of Friday, we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat.”

Paragraph 26:
“We do so in the hope that the Catholic community will ordinarily continue to abstain from meat by free choice as formerly we did in obedience to Church law. We stress this because we recognize, as the Catholic tradition has from earliest times, that there is no better way to practice penance on Friday than by abstaining from flesh meat.”

Paragraph 27:
“It would bring great glory to God and good to souls if Fridays found our people united in a common observance of penitential discipline, freely chosen and motivated by love. Every Catholic Christian understands that the fast and abstinence regulations admit of change in accordance with the condition of the Church in different times and places. But we emphasize that the spirit of penance will not be preserved and fostered unless the individual Catholic exercises it regularly in ways that are personal and sincere.

While it is no longer binding under sin to abstain from meat on Fridays outside Lent in the US, I have found it easiest and most effective in both the family and wider community to give first place to abstinence from meat as our standard Friday penance. It also can be a great witness and is normative in much of the Catholic world and in fact has been restored as binding in some countries, like the UK & Wales. That is why I encourage it. While not excluding personal penances, having a communal penance binds us together and helps create a culture for our children in which an important Christian tradition can be passed on.

That being said, tomorrow is the biggest civic holiday for us as Americans, a day in which the American tradition of grilling is celebrated. Therefore, I think tomorrow would be a day one could reasonably substitute another penance or work of charity. People and families might consider doing an extra prayer, rosary, Daily Office, etc in thanksgiving for our country and asking for God's protection. On the other hand, if you determine it a good witness and most effective for you to abstain, that is good too!

Keep in mind, Ordinariate members do have two additional days of abstinence that are binding by law: Ember Fridays, which come quarterly and will be announced.

While allowing for the use of the vernacular in the Liturgy, Vatican II declared that "the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites."

The Divine Worship Missal, which was authorized for use by Pope Francis in 2015 for Ordinariate parishes, is a form of the Latin Rite. One of our particular "treasures to be shared" is our "Sacral English," English choral music and English chants. 

Nonetheless, since we are a part of the Latin Rite, and seeing that the Vatican II directed that "steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them" we have been taking steps to learn the Latin parts of the Mass.

For most of the summer, we will continue singing the Asperges, Pater Noster and Credo in Latin at the 11am Mass, but will return to some of the beautiful English music from our Anglican heritage for the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei.