Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Friday, 14 April 2023

The Kiss of Peace


I suspect that I am by no means alone in feeling rather glad that the usual exchange of the Peace in the 1970 rite of Mass with its disruptive handshaking appears to have been in many instances a casualty of covid.

The New Liturgical Movement has published a revised version of a 2007 article by Michael P. Foley about the long history as well as the theology and practice of the Kiss of Peace both in the East and the West, and amongst both the clergy and the laity.  This is a piece which is clearly based on serious research and reflection and places the development of the exchange in a proper historical process. You learn something from the article which helps explain one’s dis-ease with contemporary practice. It is therefore well worth reading and sharing as a source of information.



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