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Monthly Archives: May 2008
A New Kind of Right-Wing Politics
This phenomenon just slays me. Enterprising conservatives scour the net for more crazy Obama supporters. Clearly, they have no leg to stand on when it comes to real issues. Activist bishops are going to push all the abortion fence-sitters into … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, The Blogosphere
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Back To Square One
Speaking for the off-computer life, it’s been a fun week. Really. The last week of school hit on Tuesday with the young miss hurling her breakfast less than a half-hour into the school day. She was fine to get back … Continue reading
Posted in Liturgy, My Family, Parish Life
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Paul’s Sunday Conversion
This news bit dovetails with the commentary on moving special observances to Sundays in parishes. In 2009, 25 January will fall on a Sunday. As part of the special Pauline year, the day’s feast of Conversion of Paul may be … Continue reading
Posted in Liturgy, spirituality
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FIYH 13: Representation
Preaching from Catholic pulpits is soft, some critics suggest, full of warm fuzzies and inanities. The bishops were aware of an undercurrent of concern and affliction that ties down believers, as opposed to a certain cultural ethic seducing people with … Continue reading
Posted in Fulfilled in Your Hearing, Liturgy, USCCB documents
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The Armchair Liturgist: Handling Solemnities at Daily Mass
Tomorrow is the solemnity of the Sacred Heart. Here’s a relatively calm purple chair issue for y’all. When a special liturgical observance like tomorrow’s falls on a weekday, what happens at your parish? What do you think should happen? In … Continue reading
Posted in The Armchair Liturgist
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Carnival of Space #56
Darnell Clayton hosts this week’s carnival at the Lifeboat Foundation blog. Mars is the big story, naturally, but the universe is much bigger than a dry-ish small planet on the inner edge of an asteroid belt.
Posted in Astronomy, The Blogosphere
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FIYH 12: Preacher As Mediator of Meaning
Lots of ink and byte-space is expended to emphasize the priest as acting in the person of Christ, but the bishops develop the notion of the preacher as a mediator: [12] The person who preaches in the context of the … Continue reading
Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem 36: Conclusion
We come to the end of our examination of Pope Paul VI’s motu proprio, SDO, and its basic prescriptions for reviving the order of deacon. 36. Finally as regards the rite to be followed in conferring the sacred order of … Continue reading
Beneath the Surface
Nancy Atkinson at Universe Today tells us why the Phoenix lander nailed the perfect landing spot in the search for subsurface water. Take a Martian arctic scene, add some water and you get a terrestrial Arctic landscape of permafrost. The … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy
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Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem 32-35: Deacons In Religious Life
SDO treats the issue of deacons within religious orders. I confess my own ignorance on this practice. Is it widespread at all? The liturgical and teaching role within a community is clear enough. Many orders practice an apostolate in line … Continue reading
Planet In The Nebula
William Herschel coined the term “planetary nebula” for those cloudy objects found in 18th century telescopes that resembled planets. These nebulae (from the Latin for “cloud”) were in fact shells of gas and dust blown from stars near the end … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy
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FIYH 10-11: Common Faith
The bishops lay out a definition of “commoon faith,” or that grounding we all share as Catholics that can and should be presumed by the local preacher: [10] To say that a community shares a common faith is to say that … Continue reading
Catholic Sensibility 
Criticism, Cynicism, Skepticism
I’ve been following the discussions on various sites about the possibility of lay people criticizing bishops. Is it good? Is it helpful? Is it a scandal? Is it needed? Is it even relevant? One blogger counts it as “useful evidence … Continue reading →