The bishops of England and Wales have now issued a statement, picking up on the Vatican directive that the use of the Hebrew Divine Name is not allowed in Catholic worship, as it is not part of our tradition and using it as has been the fashion is offensive to the Jews. Let`s hope the message gets through. A friend of mine approached his parish priest about this a couple of months ago and the poor priest said he`d never heard of any instruction about this. It should now get into the diocesan Ad Clerums and have an effect. So it`s goodbye to few a hymns I`ll not be sorry to see go unless they update them to be politically correct as they have done with so many hymns where the words man or men appear. I just got a sample of such a new hymn book today through the post. Looks as if the publishers will be producing yet more new additions to take this change on board.
For the full statement by bishop Roche click here.
3 comments:
Thank you, Father, for alerting us to this. The statement from Bishop Roche is a welcome and encouraging sign. I particularly like the fact that he took the opportunity to remind us of the reverence due to the Blessed Trinity as well as to the Holy Names of Our Lord and Our Lady.
Indded, Augustinus, that was a welcome point. I think it deserves a post of its own.
Given the rather bad press Bishop Roche has been receiving over the last few months, largely due to the downright vitriolic writings of Damian Thompson, it is a welcome change to see him in a kinder and more appreciative light!
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