VEni eMMANUEL — o COME EMMANUEL
To the clergy and faithful of the Old Roman Apostolate,
and to all who seek the truth of Christ,
grace and peace in Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Carissimi, Beloved in Christ,
As Advent deepens and the Church again takes up the ancient supplication Veni Emmanuel, this edition of Nuntiatoria stands deliberately within that cry. It is a prayer shaped not by abstraction but by circumstance—by ecclesial uncertainty, cultural disintegration, and the growing sense that many of the structures meant to safeguard truth, worship, and the common good have lost both nerve and direction.
The articles gathered here are not disparate interventions but parts of a single examination of conscience. A substantial portion of this edition addresses episcopal governance and clerical culture: appointments, public controversies, patterns of silence, and the quiet but consequential reshaping of sacramental life. These pieces do not dwell on personalities for their own sake. Rather, they ask what vision of the priesthood and episcopate is now being enacted in practice—and whether authority has been reduced to management, and fatherhood to function.¹
Alongside this ecclesial focus runs a sustained engagement with the public square. Several articles examine policing, education, legislation, and free expression, tracing a consistent trajectory: institutions once tasked with protecting pluralism now increasingly arbitrate moral orthodoxy. Language is refined, definitions expanded, and dissent quietly reclassified as harm. The effect is not neutrality, but a narrowing of permissible belief—felt most acutely by those whose convictions are rooted in religious truth rather than ideological fashion.²
This edition also returns repeatedly to a theme modern discourse struggles to name: the growing invisibility of Christian marginalisation. Whether through hostility that goes unacknowledged, or through narratives that minimise or reframe religious suffering, the result is the same. Faith is tolerated only insofar as it remains silent, private, and politically convenient. Several contributions insist, soberly and without melodrama, that such patterns must be named if they are to be resisted.³
At the heart of the edition, however, lies the question of worship. Multiple articles attend carefully to posture, reverence, and the interior logic of the liturgy—not as matters of taste, but as matters of formation. The way the Church worships shapes the way she believes, and the way she believes shapes the way she endures. Advent teaches restraint, silence, and expectation. It reminds the Church that salvation is not produced by innovation or consensus, but received through fidelity.⁴
Finally, this edition situates these ecclesial and civic crises within a wider cultural vacuum. As Christianity recedes from public life, ritual and meaning do not disappear; they are displaced. Several pieces examine the resurgence of substitute spiritualities and ritual forms, not as signs of renewal, but as symptoms of a civilisation that has forgotten the source of truth while still longing for transcendence.⁵
Taken together, these articles resist both despair and false reassurance. They do not offer a programme for institutional recovery, nor do they indulge in nostalgia. Instead, they return the reader, insistently, to first principles: truth before accommodation, worship before strategy, conversion before reform. Veni Emmanuel is thus not merely the motto of this edition; it is its argument. When human authority falters, when law becomes confused, when the Church herself appears uncertain of her inheritance, the answer is not reinvention but return.
May this edition steady those who feel disoriented, fortify those who labour quietly for fidelity, and remind all who read it that Advent hope is not optimism. It is confidence rooted in promise. Emmanuel comes—not because the world is ready, but because God is faithful.
Veni Emmanuel. Veni, Domine Iesu.
Haec est Via.
✠ Jerome Seleisi
Titular Archbishop of Selsey
Primus of the Old Roman Apostolate
Footnotes
¹ Episcopal Appointments and the Crisis of Fatherhood; The Orphaned Altar: Authority, Silence, and the Modern Episcopate; Clerical Culture After Vatican II: From Sacrament to Function; Holiness of Priests and the Consequences for the Faithful.
² Policing, Ideology, and the Problem of Moral Neutrality; Redefining Harm: Speech, Belief, and the New Orthodoxy; Education, Conscience, and the Narrowing of Permissible Thought; When Law Ceases to Be a Shield: Faith Under Administrative Pressure.
³ Christians as the Invisible Victims; Naming What Is Refused to Be Named; Selective Language and the Disappearance of Religious Suffering; Toleration Without Protection: The New Settlement.
⁴ The Forgotten Disposition: Posture, Reverence, and Communion; Why the Traditional Posture for Communion Matters; The Loss of Sacramental Culture and Its Human Cost; Advent Restraint and the Formation of Christian Expectation.
⁵ Paganism, Ritual, and the Vacuum Left by Christianity; The Return of Ritual Without Truth; Post-Christian Britain and the Search for Meaning.
THIs WEEK’s EDITION
Latest
- Today’s Mass: October 30 The Blessed Martyrs of DouaiA group of 158 priests trained at the English College of Douai, in France. They were martyred in England and Wales during the century following the foundation of the famed college by Cardinal William Allen in 1568. All perished at the hands of English protestant authorities while labouring to reconvert the island. Simply being a Catholic priest was high treason in England at this time, with the penalty of hanging, drawing and quartering. Eighty alumni of Douai were beatified in 1929.
- THE PRAYER WAS IN THE LETTERNewly released Vatican correspondence contradicts claims regarding the refusal of Ad Petri Sedem pilgrims’ request to pray for Pope Leo XIV in St Peter’s Basilica. Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s homily at St Mary Major emphasised the Church as Mother of all Catholics and the importance of the traditional Roman liturgy, highlighting ongoing tensions surrounding ecclesiastical authority and traditional worship.
- Today’s homily: St Narcissus of JerusalemThe homily reflects on the role of St Narcissus as Bishop of Jerusalem, highlighting his dedication to preserving faith amidst adversity. By turning water into oil for the Paschal Vigil, he exemplifies the importance of stewardship in worship. It calls Christians to actively nurture their faith and responsibilities within their communities.
- Today’s Mass: October 29 St Narcissus, Bishop of JerusalemSaint Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem, was renowned for his piety and dedication to the church. Consecrated at an advanced age, he displayed unwavering vitality in governance. He presided over the Easter council, performed miracles, and faced wrongful accusations. Ultimately, he returned to serve until his death, exemplifying true Christian virtue.
- Today’s Mass: October 28 SS Simon & Jude, ApostlesToday, we honour Apostles Simon and Jude, believed to have been martyred together. Simon, known for his zeal, preached in various regions and is recognised as the patron saint of tanners. Jude, a relative of Jesus, authored an epistle urging faith and perseverance amidst challenges. Their joint feast is celebrated on October 28.
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