August 2002 Archives

I got this, amazingly enough, in response to my post about how I was going to take over the world while John is out of town.

I wonder if those who favor the Tridentine Rite will ever attempt to gain a
legal status similar to the Eastern Rite Catholics. If that was done, then
those who prefer the rite would have their own bishops and their ecclesial
structure. I certainly do not want to isolate a community but rather
pronounce that there is a certain and distinct community that deserves to
have both its rights and its rite protected and promoted.

I suggest this legal option because Tridentine Rite Masses lose the
appearance of being a conciliatory measure. Those who adhere to the rite
would be protected by law.

I'm to the point now where the Tridentine folks would not be hurting anybody
if they had their own piece of the pie within the fold. Yes, the Church
must make sure that it is always faithful to what it claims to believe, but
that does not mean that we should force people to worship under the same
rite. Catholics equals universal, but that does not equal "standardized".

Anyone else care to comment? Canon lawyers, informed laity, or clergy are all invited to share their thoughts on this red-hot topic! (I'm joking about this being red-hot, of course. I'm simply curious to hear what other people think. I love Masses in Latin but I'm not banging on the Bishop's door demanding a Tridentine Mass in my parish.)

the picture I've so artfully placed in our comments template is of the center of the dome of the Crypt Church at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The photos along the top are from the Shrine as well. From left to right: the baldachino over the high altar, part of the mosaic "Christ in Majesty," and Our Lady of Sorrows. Thanks for telling what the baldachino is called, RC!

The left side of this page that is. Some old, some relatively new. Check them out!

James Akin
Eve Tushnet
G. Thomas Fitzpatrick - Verus Ratio
David Alexander - Man With Black Hat
Steven Riddle - Flos Carmeli
Tim Drake

(All links open in new window so you will come back here and keep reading.)

Father Rob Johansen gives his take on greeting before Mass. Excellent teaching over there.

The liturgy is not our personal property: it does not "belong" to me, or to my particular parish, or even my diocese. It is not ours to manipulate or change as we see fit to suit or own particular preferences or perceived needs. I say "perceived" because what we in any given generation or place think we "need" is very often not at all what we truly, objectively need.

Liturgists and musicians who want to monkey with the Mass, turning it into "McMass" don't see this.

Father Jim Tucker at Dappled Things gives us a lesson on the Rite of Peace.

Mark Shea has another take on the probem and suggests a practical alternative at HMS Blog.

You don't get a Catholic culture by trying to create a Catholic culture. You get a Catholic culture as a by-product of simply trying to be Catholic along with a lot of other Catholics doing the same thing. And you try to be Catholic, not by trying to be Catholic but by focusing your life on a) the Eucharist and b) turning to bring the Eucharist to the world. Culture comes from that as a by-product.

The rest of his post is worth reading - have a gander at it.

At Disputations there are some interesting thoughts as well. This is what struck me, though you should give that link a click and read what else he has to say.

What has happened, I think, is that the entire social dimension of being Catholic in America has collapsed down into one hour a week. What isn't done in that one hour isn't done, and that includes "building a sense of community." It's not my job to ensure that a sense of community is built in my parish (though it is to help build it), but I can well imagine that those who do feel this responsibility will try everything they can to succeed.

John is out of town! For the next week this blog is mine, all mine! My plans for global Catholic blog domination can proceed unfettered! I will unmask Nihil Obstat! Rod Dreher will link to me on The Corner! Priests with blogs will refer to my insightful commentary on the Liturgy! Pez will be its own food group! The Tridentine Rite will be restored! Six years of both Latin and Greek will be required in public school! Everyone will buy several copies of ALL Mark Shea's books and tapes! Ditto for Amy Welborn! The ACLU, the DNC, PETA and VOTF will close up shop and give all their money and mailing lists to Catholic Answers! Religious vocations will soar when Mattel launches "Carmelite Barbie" and "Jesuit Ken!" OCP will recall all their hymnals, cease publishing, and open up petting zoos in Guatemala! The French will declare English their national language! The next two episodes of "Lord of the Rings" will be in theaters next week! Dan Rather will begin the news saying "Dominus vobiscum!" No one will ever, ever play guitar or sing Marty Haugen tunes at Mass again! I will have my own primetime show on cable called "Cooking with the Bran Man!" The whole world will be regular thanks to me! All this will come to pass before John returns!

Actually things are going to be pretty much the same. I'll have a few original thoughts, maybe humorous ones, and I'll link to other more interesting blogs. Status quo.

Please pray for John, his wife Teresa and my dear mom and dad on their journey.

has a new blog for all our Catholic Apologetics needs and more! Check it out!

Mark Shea is my hero for telling Jim Koch to give us a real apology.

Mark Sullivan suggests some higher-quality, geographically correct beers to enjoy in the place of Sam Adams. I like the Harpoon IPA quite a lot!

The one whom Thou lovest is strayed.
I have lost Thee.
I cannot find Thee.
Find me.
Seek me.
I cannot find Thee.
I have lost my way.
Thou art the Way.
Find me, or I am utterly lost.
Thou lovest me.
I do not know if I love Thee;
but I know Thou lovest me.
I do not plead my love, but Thine.
I do not plead my strength, but Thine.
I do not plead my deed, but Thine.
The one whom Thou lovest is sick.
I dare not say:
The one who loves Thee is sick.
My sickness is that I do not love Thee.
That is the source of my sickness which is approaching death.
I am sinking.
Raise me.
Come to me upon the waters.
Lord Jesus, "the one whom Thou lovest is sick."

-Father Vincent McNabb OP

Many thanks to Gerard Serafin for posting this on his LiveJournal.

A draconian potty break policy for the line workers of a national institution, the Jim Beam bourbon distillery.

Workers on the bottling line are fuming about being limited to four breaks per 8 1/2-hour shift, only one of which can be unscheduled. Extra trips to the bathroom can result in reprimands. Workers with six violations can be fired.

The United Food and Commercial Workers local said some of the 100 affected employees have urinated on themselves because they were afraid to leave the line.

Creating an environment in which employees must wear adult diapers in case they detonate between scheduled bathroom times is bad for morale. You don't have to be a captian of industry to know that. People like Larry Ellison and Bill Gates know the way to get ahead is to treat your customers as though they were wearing adult diapers. That's the key to success. But I digress. Maybe I'll give Gentleman Jim a call and find out why he would rather have his people sully their britches than be happy bottling that tasty bourboun. I'll keep you posted.

This is why I don't go mushroom hunting.

Brought to you by Jeff Miller. You can operate heavy machinery or drive a school bus while playing. Fun for the whole Catholic family! Good one, Jeff!

I am the first to admit I am not schooled in philosophy, theology, and Church history. That is why I am considering going back to school. I had the occasion today to sit in on some classes at a fine institution a little north and west of here. The lecture topic in one of the classes was how Vatican II responded to atheistic philosophies that led to some of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century, and to a large extent are entrenched in the world to this day. I've heard plenty of people say the church needed an "update" or "to get with the times." No one ever stated that Vatican II occurred so that the Church could examine its mission in the modern world and respond to the threats that grew out of those atheistic philosophies like communism, secular humanism, etc. When you look at Vatican II in that manner it is a lot different than "we get to have Mass in English."

This crucial context is missing from most discussion of with dissenting Catholics on a topic such as abortion. The culture of death has grown out of atheistic and humanistic philosophies, the same evil ideas that gave rise to Nazism and Communism. As a result people are treated as objects - the effect is dehumanizing - exactly the opposite of what Neitsche and Marx had in mind. Maybe that's just too deep for the average Jane or Joe. It doesn't take much brain power to appreciate the Church's roll in fighting this evil, you just have to see that it is evil and not progress.

In fact the idea of the inevitability of human progress - our race skulking towards utopia - is totally wiped out when looking at history. Modern humanism promised total freedom, nothing less than the complete liberation of man. That is what John Paul II has called the "Anti-word," a pseudo religion of atheism. It's obviously given rise to evil and suffering on a global scale. Uncountable lives and souls have been lost as a result. I can't speak definitively with respect to souls being lost, of course.

I'm sure the goose will be delicious.

This is Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, a "person of interest" according to the feds on the case of last year's anthrax mailings. He's filed an ethics complaint against the DOJ. "My life is being destroyed by arrogant government bureaucrats who are pedaling groundless innuendo and half-information," Hatfill said. I didn't form an opinion about this until I found out who Hatfill's lawyer is. It's Victor Glasberg, a fine attorney who represented me in a civil case last year. The "121" on the door is Vic's office on South Columbus Street in Alexandria. He normally works as a plaintiff's lawyer and does very little defense work. I was the plaintiff in our case. Having worked with him I have a unique perspective - I know he only represents the good guys. He's done a tremendous number of civil rights cases and cases involving employment law. He's a great lawyer and a great man. His politics were another matter entirely - he had letters of recognition from the ACLU framed around his office - but that wasn't why I choose him. He was absolutely fearless when it came to standing up to a big company for me. He was amazing in the courtroom as well - not flamboyant or artificial, but methodical, ethical and unrelenting. We went to trial last year after having won five of five pre-trial motions that were filed against us - a record for him in almost 30 years of practice. We expected to beat the daylights out of the opposition at trial. Alas, I lost the case at trial and spent a good while picking up the pieces. Regardless, you and I both know I was right. Actually you're going to have to take my word on that. You have to admit I had some big ones to take on a multi-billion dollar company for trying to weasel out of a contract with me. I hope Mr. Hatfill fairs better than I did. I know the good guys don't always win. Absent any other facts or details of the case, I think the man is innocent.

Meet Arthur V. Schultz, Jr. His love, patience and DNA partially formed two fine members of St. Blog's Parish - me and John. Of course the other part of our indentical DNA came from our dear mother, who showed as much love and even more patience than Dad did.

Happy	Flustered	Enraged	Melancholy	Thirsty

I think Mass should only last ten minutes - I mean Tridentine Mass.
I want a job where I only work on Sundays.
I heard you get a free subscription to Latin Mass Magazine.
I sleep with a teddy bear I've named "Cardinal Ratzinger."
I love the color black - all my leather is black.
I used to be an altar girl. That was before the surgery.
My wife says we need more good priests. Thanks to her I've been celibate for 27 years.
My cat's name is "Dogma."
Hi, I'm Nihil. Nihil Omnia.
I was raised by wolves though we went to church every Sunday.

Mister Victor Lams joins in the fun on his site after a day of playing the St. Blog's drinking game. Very funny stuff! The lesbian bit crossed the line, but it must have been the sauce blogging. That's happened to all of us, hasn't it?

Send more suggestions via email and the comments. Have a blast!

brought to you by Kathryn Lively!

NOTE: Catholic Light does not advocate habitually drinking to excess. Don't play this game alone. Having pets around doesn't count.

I'm starting to appreciate getting mentioned on N.O. because it just brings more people here.

It's like watching Nascar just for the wrecks!

I don't even know why I bother to get out of bed sometimes....

Here's something I wrote many years back... Opera for the Culturally Illiterate.

Anyone who has worked with a conductor who takes the music too slow will enjoy this story.

Tenor Stomps Off Stage in Stormy Opera
Fri Aug 23, 9:13 AM ET

MILAN (Reuters) - Heartfelt performances are expected in opera but emotions spilled off stage in Sicily this week when a tenor stormed out, sticking two fingers up at the audience. Complaining the conductor was taking Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" too slowly, tenor Franco Bonisolli broke off and started yelling abuse at the orchestra pit of Taormina's ancient Greek theater.

The singer was not reachable for comment.

Fire away!

New template! Mark Shea, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! This seems a good deal faster even with the images and webcounter. I am working on getting a new comments feature set up - working out some kinks. I apologize for dumping all the old comments - the enetation service was just not reliable. Unfortunately there was no way to import them.

The owners of the company I work for have friend who is an ordained Baptist minister. He stops by the office from time to time to visit. I was introduced to him some time ago as "a believer" so he hasn't inquired about the state of my soul. That's a good thing, because as a Catholic I trust in the mercy of God and the promises of Christ but unless I've been to confession in the last three minutes or so I'm not entirely sure. My intellect isn't perfect so on any given day I just don't know. Good for me and for my soul that I go to confession regularly! Preacher Willy is an interesting guy - that much I know. I got some schooling on Baptist theology and the structure of their churches. All this after I asked a few questions about where he went to school, what it means for a Baptist to be ordained, and why the congregation votes to install a pastor. At least once I heard him refer to the Baptist church in America as the "Black Church." I didn't ask for any clarification on that point. He politics are very closely tied to his religion. He spent a good while telling me that President Bush is just as bad as Clinton was from the standpoint of vices. Clinton's vice, he said, was lust (I didn't get a chance to offer him any other vices it might appear Bill struggled with) and that "lust for drink" was Bush's. I told him it appeared Bush had a drinking problem, but if you believe what he says he's been off the sauce for quite a while. Reverend Willy said he could be drinking and we wouldn't know. I thought it was a pretty weak argument against his ability as President but I didn't get much of a chance to talk when we were talking. He railed on about abortion being a great evil and I didn't bother to ask if he ever voted on the issue. I'm guessing he doesn't.

Something he said that surprised me was that salvation and sanctification is a process. I thought their creed was "once saved, always saved." Again, I didn't ask for any further clarification. I'm sure he'll be by another day.

He said if a Baptist feels a calling to preach he approaches his Pastor, tells him he believes he's being called and they give him the pulpit for a trial run. After that he can go to seminary or not - it's up to him. He studied by correspondence with a non-denominational seminary in Indiana and was ordained this year. I think he said you don't have to go to seminary to be ordained. Ordination, in fact, means that you are recognized as a member of the clergy and can marry people and "put them in the ground." It seems ordination means you have a license from civil authorities to do such things. If you want to be a preacher then you preach, he said. If you are called to be a pastor that's another thing entirely. Baptist congregations vote to elect a pastor - which I didn't know. Most congregations want an ordained minister as pastor, and it is often a requirement to distribute communion. I didn't ask why. Maybe I'll leave that for another day.

As we were talking about his call to preach, he asked if I thought I was being called. The Catholic working at the desk next to mine, having listened to our one-sided conversation in its entirety, looked at me waiting for my response. I told him the only thing I'm sure of - God is calling me to holiness. "He's calling everyone to that!" the Reverend exclaimed. On that much we agree, Preacher Willy!

Pluto's Atmosphere is Changing

The Incarnation and Human Dignity

The Person of Christ says so much about human dignity. While humanity had been created with that dignity it is only fully revealed to us in the Incarnation. God as one of us, from all eternity He shares in our nature so that we might share in His. It leads us to the fact that we are created to that we might share in His divine life.

Still, there's so many ways that we don't realize that dignity, that we don't see that dignity in ourselves and in others, and therefore we don't live in Christ's light. Through the eyes of Christ, every person can become like Him. Through our human eyes we see differences in class and creed. And how can we love we if only see what is worldly instead of the divine dignity?

I write these thoughts in order to preach to myself, because I so often fall short of this - and yet there's a murmuring within me that calls for expression.

Steve - we didn't get many comments anyway so let's leave them off. Use email to comment to us.

Someone commented on the post below that I should dump the enetation comments to speed up the blog. They are frequently offline and very slow. Let's see how that works.

but it's really trying my patience. I will probably choose another template this weekend. I dumped all the pictures on the site that were linked from elsewhere (the ones in the template anyway) and even changed the settings to display only posts from the last three days. Those changes didn't help. Perhaps we're on an overloaded blogger server. Most of our fellow St. Blog's parishoners don't seem to be having the same problem.

says President Bush.

CRAWFORD, Texas — President Bush plans to announce a major policy shift toward logging in national forests Thursday, one that he contends will reduce the risks of wildfires but which also has some environmental groups howling.

Bush's plan -- to be unveiled at an southwestern Oregon fairground near the still-smoldering Squires fire -- will make it easier for timber companies to get approval to cut wood in fire-prone national forests.

Several Western governors, and even some environmental groups, have been urging such changes, which they say are necessary to clear forests of decades-long buildups of highly flammable underbrush and dead trees.

"For the good of our economy, we need common-sense forest policy," Bush said during a stop at Mount Rushmore last week. "We can and we must manage our forests. We must keep them disease-free. We must have reasonable forest policies so as to prevent fires, not encourage them."

This year's wildfires across the West have renewed the perennial debate between conservationists who oppose cutting in federal forests and logging interests who argue that underbrush and deadwood increase the risk of fire.

I don't think conservation is letting forests grow unchecked so that they are prown to massive fires. I know that's how nature would work without us, but after all we're stewards of this planet. I don't believe that means we should leave things totally alone. I think we have a responsibility to manage the growth and utilization of natural resources. Of course, national forests in this country are one thing - rain forests in other countries are a different matter altogether.

Work has kept me very busy over the last few months, which is why Steve has been doing most of the blogging. Candidly, I feel like I use the blog to vent frustration rather than be uplifting (which is what I wanted to express with the Catholic Light title, knowing I'd end up talking about Catholic Lite a little...) I'm going to try to set aside the frustration in favor of more humor and more Light... Then my wife won't say that I sound *real* cranky on the Blog sometimes.

Yeah this is entertaining. Check back tomorrow - it will be different.

...the Incarnation.
I find myself planning music for Christmas around this time of year, and I try to spend some time thinking about the meaning of the Incarnation. Target will have their Christmas decorations up soon, and you'll begin to hear the homilies decrying the commercialism of Christmas.

It's the beginning of our salvation - God is one of us. God is like us. God is among us. And He became like us, so that we can become like Him. Even for Christians, it's easy to miss the significance of the Incarnation and think of Jesus as our pal - the footsteps Jesus (I'm sure you remember that poem read at least 6 times a year at Youth Rallies.) It's God on earth - the paradox of Jesus our blood-brother and our God at the same time.

Amazing stuff, and worthy of meditation even in August.

I was reading the latest copy of the Adoremus bulletin last night. They have some great articles for the July-August edition. They June articles are online. In this piece Hugh Ballantyne deconstructs flawed translations of the Sanctus.

If Adoremus is the kind of thing you want to read on a regular basis you should subscribe. It looks like they could use the money.

- all brought to you by other blogs!

Mark Sullivan put a world of hurt.com on the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Mass. They got enough pressure from St. Blog's and other objectors with conscience and common sense to take down their "War is Terrorism" billboard. Way to go Mark! There a tons of comments and follow-up posts worth every bit your time.

At Xavier+ is an interesting post linked to a news article on how the war on Iraq is already underway. Of course it is - do you think a bunch of teenagers are still running this country?

For your ediifcation I will link again to a washtimes.com article from August 10 entitled Every generation tested by evil. This is it, folks, the test of our generation. I never thought I would quote Ghandi (again from Mark Sullivan's joint) but our "allies" in Europe should take heed:

He who cannot protect himself or his nearest and dearest or their honor by non-violently facing death, may and ought to do so by violently dealing with the oppressor. He who can do neither of the two is a burden.

Three thousand people, many of them from other countries, faced a sudden, violent death at the hands of madmen almost a year ago. We must continue to fight this foe and their supporters until this war is won.

She spent the evening on the Larry King Live show.
I can think of many other places I'd rather be on my birthday than with Larry King.

I just returned from the funeral Mass of Msgr. Browne. Bishop Paul S. Loverde presided with many Arlington priests. The Pastor at my parish in Vienna was the homilist. His extemporaneous style of speaking and preaching produced a wonderful eulogy for a priest who had served Virginia Catholics for more than half a century. He said it was Msgr. Browne's greatest joy in life to bring souls to Christ and to bring Christ to souls. What more do we need from someone who is ordained another Christ? The Bishop spoke very warmly and with a surprising amount of emotion about Msgr. Browne. He said Christ is calling other men to the priesthood to take Msgr. Browne's place. Let's all pray for our future shepherds that in this time of difficulty for our Church the grace of God is poured out on them to answer that call.

Alexandra reports that the statue of the Virgin Mary was stolen from St. Andrew's in Clifton, VA. It was in a pro-life memorial garden right outside the church. Apparently the rich kids out in Clifton can't think of anything better to do on the Feast of the Assumption. Let's pray for those lost souls and for the safe return of the statue. I think I have a picture of it - if I can find it I'll post it.

for attempting to seize land owned by a Christian group. They wanted to sell it to Costco Wholesale Corp. so the town could get more tax revenue.

I first read about this on Dave Pawlak's blog and saw linked news and commentary at washtimes.com and townhall.com.

Apparently the land was seized by the town under the power of eminent domain. A Federal Judge ruled that a town with a 25% budget surplus has no compelling state interest to give the land to Costco. From townhall.com - "The framers of the Constitution might be surprised to learn that the power of eminent domain was being used to turn the property over to a private discount retail corporation," he noted wryly. I don't suppose that a town with a huge budget deficit could justify seizing that land. Next to the worldly glitz and glimmer of Disneyland is a great place for Christian church.

Most troubling about the city council's action was the utter disregard for the interests of the group that owns the land. If it was a commericial interest or dare I say owned by another religious institution (let's say for the sake of argument a Mosque) they wouldn't have even considered this ill-conceived and unconstitutional scheme. Discrimnation against Christians is alive and well in this country.

Go read it. Please!

radio program - the conversion of a Jehovah's Witness to Catholicism. This requires Real Audio.

How do you keep them from coming to your door? Join the Jehovah's Witness Protection Program!

by Wayne Olson. This has been linked to on other blogs and is a great resource on the writings of the Church Fathers. As Catholics we do not reference (at least I don't) know enough about or use the writings of the Fathers to defend our faith.

I was at the vigil Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary today, and afterwards John, Teresa (John's wife) and I are greeting the our new associate pastor who was ordained this year. He says to me "Blessed are you among women!" I laughed nervously not quite knowing what he meant. He said that's what they say to guys in the seminary who they see talking with women. So that's a little seminary humor for you.

Well, maybe not so fun considering the legacy of anti-Catholicism in this country. Even so, it gives me another reason to respect Ronald Reagan.

He's got all the links - this is just his text.

The Saint Gregory Society of New Haven is a lay association that promotes the Traditional Latin Mass, regularly celebrated at Sacred Heart Church in that city. The society supports a professional Schola Cantorum that provides the proper Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony for all sung liturgical functions.

They look like my kind of people! Thanks for posting that info, Mark!

The Vatican will tell the US bishops' conference that the zero tolerance policy for pervert priests adopted in Dallas is not acceptable.

One of the reasons the Vatican rejected the Dallas charter? It's failure to address root causes of sexual abuse. What they are saying is "Crush the head of the serpent not the tail."

He's the one who used to be Catholic. I was chatting with him this morning here at work and I come to find out that he graduated from Notre Dame in 1994. He had to take two semesters of philosophy and theology in school. Get this - his theology professors weren't even Catholic. One of them was a Baptist minister! No wonder this cat ain't Catholic anymore!

Jim Traficant night at the ball park. Fans who go to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers minor-league baseball game on Wednesday should ditch the glove and take a toupee. The Class-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians has made August 14 "Jim Traficant Night," and hairpiece wearers and sons of truck drivers get in free.

The hairpiece pass is easy enough to validate - but how does one demonstrate that they are son of a truck driver?

I wouldn't normally post a comment here since there is already a link, but I couldn't left our readers miss this. This was in response to the post below about RCIA problems. RC - whoever you are, thanks very much for your thoughtful and true comment!

Let me riff on one of your points.

"You can't put God into a box" is not just a cliche', it's anti-Incarnational. God already has put Himself into a "limited", "contained" physical nature when He became a man; He continues to be present in the world in some very specific and concrete ways: the seven Sacraments and the living Church, which is the presence of Christ in the world today. He protects that Church from error when she gives voice to truths about God in the specific and particular words of the Creed.

We are talking about the "scandal of particularity" -- the seeming strangeness that the immaterial and transcendent God would work in particular people, places, acts, and things. It is an understandable human reaction to the claims of a revealed religion. It is, let us recognize, a doubt. Christ, our Incarnate and Crucified God, confronts that doubt; He meets it and answers it head-on when he came and gave his life and rose for us. To believe that those particular events -- Incarnation, Atonement, Resurrection -- are the supreme revelation of God is precisely what we accept when we accept the Gospel. They are what Jesus calls us and all mankind to accept.

The Body of Christ -- His earthly human body, His Eucharistic body, His mystical Body -- is the "box" in which God offers Himself to us as a gift. Giving people a flesh-and-blood Jesus, a tangible Communion, a Church that lets its Yes be Yes and its No be No -- this is not imposing our personal idea on the Church; it is simply letting Jesus speak.

Any suggestions you might have for this reader would be much appreciated! Mine are below.

I have been on the RCIA team now for about 7 years. With each attendance at conferences on RCIA, with new dictates about how things should be done, I find our leaders are moving further and further from imparting any real catechesis regarding the true teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and are busy having group "feeling discussions". How can anyone know how they feel about the teachings of the church if they don't know what they are? How can people make a statement of commitment if they don't know what they are committing to? Feeling God's presence is important. Growing in prayer both in community and in private is important, and the Holy Spirit will do it's work in this area, and yes, we are to have a personal relationship with Jesus (which many who come to us have, but without knowing anything about the Church and it's teachings), but CATECHESIS is the basis of a true decision about faithfulness to the teachings of OUR CHURCH, not just any church. It seems that too many people are getting there masters and ph.d.'s and thus must keep busy writing trivia. When I became a Catholic, if this group feeling-sharing stuff had been the main emphasis, I would have walked away. I wanted to know what the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH stood for in the face of the world in which I found myself living, and did it hold up the TRUTH. The dangerous stuff I hear from some of our RCIA leaders is in controversy with the magisterium, holds up individual conscience as more important than submission to the truth of the Church. It is very upsetting and I find myself fighting against a 'they are educated' mentality. But what about the source of their education? We know that the enemy is within. Any suggestions. I must admit, I don't even trust my Bishops to do what needs to be done because I know the agendas of the head of the Diocese Education Department, and the agendas of the teaching nuns, especially the ones that go from church to church giving programs (not necessarily the resident sisters.)

Forgive me, this is a very difficult subject, and painful to me personally. Again, any suggestions?

Thank you and God Bless you.

Last night I had some friends over, a married couple, Bryan and Alexandra. Alexandra was raised in the Catholic Church, Bryan is a convert from the Baptist church. I convinced him to write about his experience with RCIA when he was in the program two years ago. While I don't think his education on the faith was as bad as what you are describing, I know some of his experiences were negative because activities and discussions were heavy on the personal feelings of the catechumens. I'll let you know when that is posted. It will be on her blog (http://oremus.blogspot.com) rather than mine. Alix has a great blog if you haven't seen it.

I totally understand your dilemma - people should not be imposing their view of Catholicism on converts. No doubt they think they are doing good work, and I agree that in most cases you won't know the fruits of that work for some time to come. Perhaps it will turn out better than it seems now, perhaps worse. The fact is you and I are in complete agreement - teachers should teach the faith - the whole faith and not some mamby-pamby version of it. It's ok to discuss feelings but they have to be done in the context of the program. I have a priest friend who says he welcomes discussions on matters of faith (and feelings) because you can't come to an understanding without discussion. Dictating rules of faith does not work. Even so, the truth of some of the church teachings, particularly on sexual morality and human reproduction can be hard for some converts to accept. The way to understanding much of what the church teaches is that our very being is a gift from God - our whole being. If we look at our existence as separate gifts we lose that crucial context.

I think the other concept that is missing in most catechesis is that of universal Truth. Truth is what the Church teaches. It does not limit God or the ways of God, it helps us understand them. I hear from many Protestant friends of mine say "you can't put God in a box." Just because Truth is put forth in the Magisterium doesn't mean we are limiting God. In fact we are drawn closer to Him in our understanding.

I wonder if important aspects of the faith such as the origin of Scripture and the roll of the Church Fathers is discussed in RCIA. Apostolic succession is another important aspect of the true Church of Christ.

Too often we put the teachings of the Church in a modern context or a subjective context. We read the Scripture and immediately say "What does this mean to me?" instead of understand the historical context,
from the times during which the passages where written throughout Church history to the present. We can't overlook that. We should see the world through the Scripture and the history of the Church, we should not look at the Scripture through the lense of only our present time and limited experience.

I don't understand how anyone can bring converts to the Church without discussing the above concepts and reminding catechumens of Christ's promise that "the gates of Hell would not prevail against it." (Matthew
16:18) How are the current scandals being addressed in RCIA?

I will think about this more and post some practical advice. One thing that has helped me immensely is reading books on Catholic apologetics. When you understand the Catholic faith with respect to other Christian faiths that can help meet some of these catechumens where they are. It's important not only to communicate what the Church teaches but also why. I'll post some good resources later.

This is a bit off season, but it's good to know people are doing the Reproaches and also good to know that people are actually reading our archives!

I came across the bit about the Reproaches for Good Friday. I'm Music Director at Fatima Church in Lafayette, Louisiana. We also sing the Reproaches...in Latin and Greek. The choir can sing the popule meus antiphon in their sleep now, I think. Also, we sing the customary antiphons at the Mandatum for Holy Thursday, as well as the Pange Lingua, ending with the Tantum Ergo for the Transfer of the Blessed Sacrament. Orthodoxy is not dead....everywhere.

And a related piece from NRO - Flunking with Flying Colors by Victor David Hanson.

I'll probably take some time to create thumbnails and add some more pictures later this weekend.

During the Mass Father James Poumade made his profession as a Third Order Dominican. Fr. Poumade is a priest at St. Mary's Parish in Alexandria, Virginia. Pictured here are Dr. Jacobson, director of the Washington Capella Antigva, and Fr. Poumade.
Here some of the group is getting lined for the procession.
Dr. Jacobson on the left and Fr. David Beaubien are pictured here in the sacristy. Fr. Beaubien is associate pastor at St. Ann's Church in Washington, DC.

Read this. Mark has a handle on the irony of Fr. Sibley's imposed silence.

I am cancelling cable and getting a big fish tank. TV turns your brain into peanut butter you know. And the devil is in that box. I mean DEBBIL. That damn debbil TEEvee!

of some members of the Washington Capella Antigua from the Feast of St. Dominic yesterday evening. Everything went great except I very stupidly wore brand new shoes the whole day. The pain was somewhat distracting. Also the Capella's vestments make us look like an exclusive club of yore that I would never want to be associated with. Without the hoods I mean. When I post the pictures you'll see what I mean.

He's "been asked to be silent in the public forum for the next six months." We will miss his blog which ran the gamut from profound to hilarious to impishly satirical. In the short time that he has been blogging he's had a huge impact on our community. I imagine that he's been asked to keep a lower profile. Perhaps he's been given an obedience. Conjecture on the subject is useless. The fact is that in showing obedience to whatever request was made for whatever reason, Fr. Sibley has shown himself to be the priest I want. Let's all pray that God blesses him in his ministry today and every day.

New job - airport security. Old job - village idiot.

To any visitors to this blog who live in the DC area and like to sing: My choir at St. Mark's could use some more hearts and voices as we go into the Fall and Christmas season. We do a wide range of music, from Palestrina to Durufle, from Latin to Russian (sometimes!) and English. Our Hymnal is Ritual Song and we tend to do a balance of hymns and congregational verse/refrain songs. I do my best to balance the repetoire and leave the cheese in the refridgerator.

Location: St. Mark Parish in Vienna, VA
Rehearsals: We have a Wed night rehearsal starting on 11 Sept and meet at 9:15am for a 10am Mass on Sunday.

Upcoming Events: All the choirs are also doing a Mozart concert on Nov 22nd so we'll have some added rehearsals for that.
Christmas - We do the 10pm Mass Christmas eve with a program of choral music before Mass.

So e-mail me if you are interested or shoot my info to someone who you think might be. We need voices in all parts.

I have a new friend in the seminary who calls OCP hymnals "music tissue." Get it?

Richard Chonak sends in this rather unecumenical and uninclusive hymn.

While leafing through some mailing-list archives, I
found a 1999 post from the
'fatherhood'
men's list.

It contains the following spirited hymn, which the German choir at
my parish
had recently sung. Maybe converts and apologists
will want to sing it together over beer, but the ecumenically
sensitive might not approve!

--RC

---quote---

Katholisch bin und bleibe ich,
Nichts soll mich von der Kirche trennen!
Sie liebt wie eine Mutter mich,
Und ich, ich darf ihr Kind mich nennen.
An ihrer Hand entgehe ich
Mit Gottes Gnade sicherlich
Dem ewigen Verderben.
Katholisch ist gut sterben!

(My english adaptation: not an exact translation)

I'm Catholic and will remain;
From Mother Church will naught remove me!
A child of hers - this is my name,
And like a mother she doth love me.
Her guiding hand preserves me
Far from th'eternal flood
It's good to die a Catholic!
Safe in the grace of God.

Welch' Glueck, dass ich Katholisch bin,
Und stets geschuetzt vor falschen Lehren!
Katholisch sein ist mein Gewinn,
Nie soll der Irrthum much bethoeren.
Katholisch bin und nenn' ich mich,
Katholisch leb' und sterbe ich;
so werd' ich nicht verderben.
Katholisch ist gut sterben!

I'm Catholic: this is my joy,
protected from the ways of error,
I'm Catholic -- this is my prize:
False teaching will deceive me never.
A Catholic I'll live and die,
In fact and in profession,
It's good to die a Catholic!
And never see corruption.

Phillip Vaccaro considers Jesus his best friend.

So to him, Jesus seemed perfect for a writing assignment the 7th-grader got this spring in his language-arts class in Brookfield, Ohio: write a friendly letter to someone who dramatically changed his life.

But his teacher didn’t like his choice of correspondent.

"She told him he could not write that letter because Jesus wasn't a real person -- that he didn't exist," Phillip’s mother, Peggy Koehler, said.

"How dare they throw their atheistic values upon my child?"

I'll comment on this later today as time allows. Feel free to add your comments below in the meantime!

Here's a great email from a reader about her experience with Catholic formation. I would welcome other comments!

My own religious education was divided between pre and post Vatican
II. I'm 51, and from grades 1 through 8, I went to a Catholic school. We were taught from the Baltimore Catechism and had Bible classes too. We went to Mass every day but Wednesday, and that day we had Rosary and Benediction (I LOVE Benediction). That gave me a love for the transcensdant beauty of the Mass that I will carry with me forever.

Yes, the Baltimore Catechism is rote learning, but it did give me a solid background, and if the teaching style hadn't changed, I probably would have gone on to study theology more deeply in high school.

But the Catholic high school closed, and I went on to CCD classes. In the fervor of Vatican II, the teachers tossed all the curiculum out the window. All I can remember of that time, are strumming guitars, and "Jesus Loves You" week after week. (have you ever heard what we called the "Cannibal Hymn" - the chorus is:)

Eat His Body
Drink His Blood
And we'll sing a song of love
Alleu, Alleu, Alleu, Alleluia

I was too polite to say what was on my mind, "Well, of course I know Jesus loves me, when are we going to learn something?" So there was a waste of four good years.

Thank goodness, that I am a curious person by nature, and I love to read. So I got books by Catholic writers, and taught myself.

When our parish began an RCIA program, I was asked to participate, but the materials we were given to work with were long on feelings, and short on substance, very much in the vein of my high school years. I tried to inject some substance, but got tired of rowing against the tide. The priest who was our pastor then, had the horrid habit of referring to The Matthean author, the Lucan author and the Pauline author etc. and the DRE was really touchy-feely. Most of the sessions ended up as mini-Oprah shows or sessions of the Jesus Seminar. When I told of the love and gratitude I felt toward the church, some of the "facilitators" seemed to think I was odd for not being filled with anger.

I had to quit because of work pressures, but maybe someday I will go back and try it again. The Catholic Church, its rituals, history, and everything abouy it fills me with a sense of wonder and awe. Maybe someday, I can convey my own love of the Church to those who are exploring it.

His burning question for today is Who is Shirley Q?

Take it from me - if you have a hot cup of coffee in your hand put it down before you click on that link.

I was checking our referrals and found that one of our readers got here by doing a search on Yahoo! for "Gather Us In" in MP3 format. Sorry, reader, you won't find that here!

I found this out about Debra Haffner from Fr. Paul.

All you gotta do is go to www.google.com and search on "Debra Haffner" and some word like "religious" or "SIECUS" or "Planned Parenthood". She's got quite a long history as an enemy of the Church. And now she's studying to be a Unitarian Universalist minister.

How does one study to be a Unitarian Universalist minister? I thought all you had to do was read the New York Times or the Washington Post. I have a very unecumenical joke about Unitarians - I call them the Church of the Irrelevant Perspective.

From foxnews.com - Catholic Protest Group Leader Stirs Up Controversy

Regarding their Catholics for Free Choice President, Frances Kissling:

Kissling spent six months as a nun in the 1960s. Now, she reportedly doesn't attend mass or pray.

"I spent 20 years looking for a government to overthrow without being thrown in jail, " she said. "I finally found one in the Catholic Church."

I've been getting some email from fellow bloggers who are being squashed by some ninny moderator of the VOTF message boards. Apparently the Voice of the Faithful is only interested in being the voice of the "faithful" who agree with them. One of the links on the VOTF board says, "Tell Us How You'd Support VOTF's Mission." I guess demanding honesty and integrity in discourse and faithfulness to Church teachings is not the kind of support they want.

This seems like a great time to dig up our rather facetious orthodoxy rating system and put VOTF in their proper place.

This Blog and Cardinal Ratzinger's office	Does not contain nuts
	May contain nuts
	Slighty nutty bouquet with fruity overtones
	Somewhat nutty and fruity
	Flaky and nutty
	Exceedingly fruity and nutty
	Nuttier than a cheese log
Voice of the Faithful

Update 8-04-2002 - VOTF says the message boards will be down for the month of August. Do you think they were paying by the post and ran out of DNC money?

A Catholic Lite friend of mine (formerly Catholic now Episcopal) mentioned to me yesterday that he and his wife saw the movie "Stigmata." He called it "thought-provoking." "Did you know that there was a Gospel that the Vatican hid from the world until 1940?" he asked. I told him that was a steaming pile of garbage and attempted to give him a short lesson in the tradition that the Scripture came from. He wasn't buying it. He said the movie showed that we don't really need the priesthood. A movie shows us we don't need the priesthood? That's just absurd. I've heard non-Catholics using Scripture to defend their position against the necessity of the priesthood, but a crappy movie? He didn't see a problem with that.

I've known many people who have grown up in the Catholic Church and turned away from it by converting to an easier path or simply following a path of their own. I fell away from the Church in college and returned about four years ago. I'm continually reminded that the catechesis I received in my youth was woefully inadequate. "Jesus loves each one of us like there was only one of us. Have some punch and cookies." Even adult converts to Catholicism have told me their preparation in RCIA lacked depth. I would welcome any readers' comments about their experiences in RE or RCIA. If you have lengthy comments please email me and I will post them.

Jeff Miller writes Atheist to a Theist.

Sorry if you visited earlier this evening and didn't see any pictures - I was having web server problems. Everything is a-ok now!

From a story on foxnews.com about the Pope's visit to Mexico.

The service included readings in seven Indian languages and included unusual borrowings from pre-Catholic Indian religious ceremonies. An Indian woman brushed herbs over the pope and other clerics, a practice originally meant to cleanse one of illness and harmful spirits.

Why is something like this happening during a Mass?

turns out to be fake. According to CNN

...Traficant wears a "small hair piece," not a piece that fully covers his head. Jail rules require that toupees be removed.

"For security reasons, we have to check for contraband and weapons," Pongracz said.

However, jail officials allowed Traficant to wear the toupee while his mug shot was taken.

Contraband and weapons under a hairpiece?

My Daily Crumbs by Karl Kohlhase. He lives in Embarass, Minnesota. There is a joke there some place. His journey of faith is pretty interesting - I hope he tells us how and why he converted to Catholicism!

I think this proposed replacement for the Twin Towers is an abomination. I think they should be rebuilt exactly the way they were. Once again I defer to Mr. Goldberg: Rebuild It, Bigger

The European “Miracle”