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Monthly Archives: June 2011
How the Liturgy Should Be Impersonal
(This is Neil) My first conviction is this: Liturgy is never my own possession, or my creation. It is something we are given, from the Father. Therefore my own tastes, my own preferences, my own personality, my own view of ecclesiology, … Continue reading
Posted in Liturgy, Neil
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The Church as Sacrament of Hope?
(This is Neil) Some of the last words of Gaudium et Spes– the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World – read: By thus giving witness to the truth, we will share with others the … Continue reading
Posted in Gaudium et Spes, Neil
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Is There Any Hope For the Church?
(This is Neil) Let’s say that someone tells you, with both finality and unmistakable sadness, “There is no hope for the church.” You, hoping that she has used “hope” in a somewhat indefinite way, say, “Look, there might be no … Continue reading
Varietates Legitimae 61: Liturgy of the Hours
61. The Liturgy of the Hours has as its goal the praise of God and the sanctification by prayer of the day and all human activity. Episcopal conferences can make adaptations in the second reading of the office of … Continue reading
John’s Nativity: A Scriptural Goulash
I hardly ever get to Mass on Friday–my day off, and usually a time for catching up around the house. Today’s list: balancing the checkbook, mowing the yard, folding my clean laundry. I alert you to an interesting blend of … Continue reading
Posted in Scripture
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Jay Study Lead Defends Report
Dr Karen Terry steps up to respond to the “Blame the 60’s” theme. And other criticisms of last month’s JJC Report on Clergy Sexual Abuse. Most readers have their own assessments, opinions, and such about this. I’m not going to … Continue reading
Posted in Church News
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Varietates Legitimae 60: The Liturgical Year
Some direction on adding or suppressing liturgical feasts: 60. As regards the liturgical year, each particular church and religious family adds its own celebrations to those of the universal church, after approval by the Apostolic See. (Cf. Normae Universales de … Continue reading
Some Sanity
My sister-in-law has made the trek back east for my brother’s memorial service in the city of his and my birth. Family infighting seems to be trickling out here and there. I’m fairly glad I’m not there right now for it. … Continue reading
Posted in Music, My Family, spirituality
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Varietates Legitimae 59: Blessings
59. The blessing of persons, places or things touches the everyday life of the faithful and answers their immediate needs. They offer many possibilities for adaptation, for maintaining local customs and admitting popular usages. (SC 79, De Benedictionibus, Praenotanda Generalia, … Continue reading
Or Perhaps, Tradition Does Not Rescue
NCR is all over a passel of news coming out of Kansas City today. On the liturgy front … Bishop Robert Finn directed the diocesan worship office today to remove its participation in a special Latin-language “Solemn High Mass” being … Continue reading
Posted in Church News, Ministry
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Tradition to the Rescue
Before: After: Jimmy Mac alerted me to this liturgical gesture for Kansas City unity. Where to start? It’s like “themed” Masses in the immediate post-conciliar Church. A Mass for Love. A Mass for Peace. Now a Latin Mass for Unity. … Continue reading
Posted in Church News
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Varietates Legitimae 58: Funerals
In addition to weddings, funerals are also a more common point at which the practices of non-Christian religions and cultures intersect with Church practice: 58. Among all peoples, funerals are always surrounded with special rites, often of great expressive value. … Continue reading
On The Exodus
Much has been made on a few Catholic sites (like dotCommonweal) about the so-called Marriage Crisis. I have little to add to 100-post threads and the usual hand-wringing. At the risk of some overlap, I’ll sum up my thoughts and experiences: … Continue reading
Posted in Church News, Ministry
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Varietates Legitimae 57: Rite of Marriage
Marriage, unlike Christian Initiation, is nearly universally observed culturally. And naturally, it predates the Judeo-Christian tradition. 57. In many places it is the marriage rite that calls for the greatest degree of adaptation so as not to be foreign to … Continue reading
Part of the Solution
Seminarians on board. How about the bishops? I noticed that Cardinal Rigali was off to central Europe instead of the Pacific Northwest last week. No bishops’ meetings for the embattled archbishop. I didn’t know that John Neumann was from Europe, … Continue reading
Posted in Ministry
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Catholic Sensibility 