Tuesday, October 30th, 2012
Daily Archive
30 October 2012
The Archdiocese of Seoul has initiated it for Confirmation. Online resources can be especially helpful to engaged couples. Around thirty percent of the marriages celebrated in my parish involve some degree of separation: one or both engaged persons are away because of work or school, a priest friend from elsewhere is officiating, a couple may be preparing in a nother diocese and marrying here, a few couples prepare with us and get married in the church of one of their parents.
But confirmation: is this a good idea to offer a series of ten one-hour classes and a test for each one?
30 October 2012
A transition from a chapter heavily backed by Church teaching, as we move into thirty numbered sections in which we will examine the role of art, and the people who create it.
§ 139 § In this chapter, the liturgical actions of the Church provide the guidelines for the building of a church. There must be space for the variety of the community’s prayer, which extends from the primary worship of the Eucharist to popular devotions. The complex balance of all these factors and of the people who participate in them is the most important dimension for the education, planning, and execution of a building plan for a community. The following chapter will reflect upon the use of the arts and the importance of planning for their proper placement early in the design process.
Balancing various concerns can be complex, especially when the budget is limited and a community chooses not to do some things it wishes it could.
All texts from Built of Living Stones are copyright © 2000, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
30 October 2012
Posted by catholicsensibility under
bishops,
Liturgy 1 Comment
I see on CNS that the US bishops do indeed have a new document on preaching in the pipeline. Considering that so many good ideas found in Fulfilled In Your Hearing went untouched, I did wonder many months ago why the JPII/B16 American episcopacy felt the need to reinvent the wheel. Or maybe they believe that FIYH has been fully implemented and it’s time to explore new ground. Archbishop Robert Carlson:
Everyone gets a chance to put their oar in the water. That’s what makes it a better document.
Eight USCCB committees is “everyone”? What about the people who have to listen to the homily? Archbishop Carlson on his dad’s input:
My dad used to say, “I know what happened 2,000 years ago. I need to know how to live my life today.”
I wonder if he invited his dad to give input on this new document.
The US bishops were on the right track in the 1980′s when they consulted widely on important matters of peace and the economy. Say what you like about the end result, but in theory, they listened to the laity and considered their broad input a contributing factor to each effort.
I am sure the final result will, if absorbed by the Church’s preachers, improve the overall level of the liturgical homily. The real connection that needs to be made, above bishops-laity, is bishops-priests. You priests out there: do you need a document on preaching from your bishops? And once it comes out, how do you plan to engage with it: individually, in priest support groups, on a diocesan level, with your bishop directly, or some combination?
30 October 2012
We have reached a new phase of this 1975 document with today’s post. Here we transition to a longer section (67-72) in which we will look at, in turn the pope, the bishops, women and men in religious life, lay people in the world, the family, and young people before examining qualities such as collaboration, formation, and attitude (73-74). After pondering the role of the Holy Spirit (75) we will wrap up with a discussion of the qualities of evangelizers (76-80) and then a final encouraging word from Pope Paul VI (81-82). The end is in sight. But that gets ahead of ourselves.
So, who’s responsible for evangelization? You should know the answer by now. Every believer:
66. The whole Church therefore is called upon to evangelize, and yet within her we have different evangelizing tasks to accomplish. This diversity of services in the unity of the same mission makes up the richness and beauty of evangelization. We shall briefly recall these tasks.
First, we would point out in the pages of the Gospel the insistence with which the Lord entrusts to the apostles the task of proclaiming the Word. He chose them,[Cf. Jn 15:16; Mk 3:13-19; Lk 6:13-16] trained them during several years of intimate company,[Cf. Acts 1:21-22] constituted[Cf. Mk 3:14] and sent them out[Cf. Mk 3:14-15; Lk 9:2] as authorized witnesses and teachers of the message of salvation. And the Twelve in their turn sent out their successors who, in the apostolic line, continue to preach the Good News.
And while the Holy Father pointed out the Twelve and their successors, the Gospel call to witness to Christ is really the responsibility of all. Over the next week, we’ll look at how that responsibility is optimally exercised.
