September 2007 Archives

Giving credit where it's due

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Wow! I'd better take my temperature. Hugo Chavez, that anti-Catholic tinpot Commie dictator-wannabe, is saying something that sounds laudably sensible!

Apparently some Venezuelans have turned plastic surgeries into routine quinceañera gifts, an idea which is, on the CL scale of foolishness, "nuttier than a cheese log". Hugo agrees with me.

Good job, Hugo! I'm sending a whole "peace sign" your way today; usually, I'm only willing to give you half.

The wimps at Oxford have made their Shorter English Dictionary slightly shorter by dropping most of the hyphens from compound nouns. I'd get all bent out of shape about it, but it's not a surprise. The Brits have been minimizing their use of punctuation for years, dropping apostrophes from possessives and periods from abbreviations. Do they think they're saving electrons?

Kathy Shaidle blogs about the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a washed-up teaching order whose 200 remaining members have an average age of 86. They haven't let that statistic stop them from undertaking a $56 million eco-renovation on their headquarters near Detroit.

At this point, they owe $37 mil on the construction costs, and Heaven knows if they can ever foot the bill. I certainly wouldn't want to be their creditor.

The sisters seem to be very progressive-minded, but may have overlooked a possible justice issue somewhere: taking on debts that you know you can never repay. Or is this a sort of reverse mortgage, where the sisters get to enjoy the loan now and pledge to give up the property later?

Eventually the building can be sold and converted into a Museum of Dead Religious Movements or a John Cardinal Dearden Cultural Center. (Oh; same thing.)

Update: Here's another angle on this: if you have $56M to spend, consider the option of not spending it. Conservatively invested, it would generate about 10% a year, or $5.6M. You can do a lot of building maintenance with that, and still have money left to buy some carbon-credit indulgences.

nashua-2007-09-16.jpgToday, St. Patrick Church in Nashua took the honor of being the first church in New Hampshire to host a celebration of Mass in the Extraordinary Form since 1969. About 600 people attended, including many students from the nearby Thomas More College of Liberal Arts. Some enthusiastic supporters drove as much as 135 miles to attend the ceremony. Parishioners hope that the pastor Fr. Martin Kelly will start to offer Mass in the old form twice a month at St. Patrick's.

Music was provided by organist Chris Bord, while music director Michael Havay joined the parish choir to sing the Mass VIII ordinary. Members of Boston's Schola Amicorum joined local cantor Jim Gordon on the plainchant propers.

For pastors planning celebrations of the Extraordinary Form, here's a tip which I should offer to Fr. Kelly: you can compensate for the absence of a classic altar rail by setting up a row of prie-dieus at the steps to the sanctuary. They can be set up before Mass with a gap at the aisle, or put into place by the servers before Holy Communion. While many people will be able to kneel at the sanctuary steps even without any structure in place, having the prie-dieus makes the process easier for more people.

Confession is so difficult

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A Connecticut priest pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges relating to embezzlement from his parish. Yet his admission of guilt sounds strangely remote:

"It's my understanding, your honor, that I used church monies, parish monies for means and for needs other than means and needs of the parish or the parishioners of the parish," Fay, dressed in a dark suit with a bandage on his hand, said in court. "My understanding is that it's by fraud."

"It's my understanding..." -- as if he had only recently come to know the information: as if he were just barely persuaded of its truth.

Here's a tip for readers: don't try that phrase in the confessional. It's better to just come out with your sins.

What were they thinking?!?

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The CMAA has scheduled its 2008 colloquium (June 16-22, 2008) in conflict with the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City (June 15-22, 2008)!

Quelle folie!

Flannery O'Connor, call your office

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This item reminds me: if you haven't read her wickedly funny story "Good Country People", you now have an opportunity to enjoy it online.

My suburban church is hit by lightning

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070908_stoneham_steeple.jpg

Here's an audio transcript of the event:

[The Saturday afternoon Mass is in progress, and the congregation is singing.]

Cantor and congregation: Here I am, Laud...

[SUDDEN NOISE: CRRRAACCCKKK!]

Ciao, Luciano

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I grew up on Pavarotti recordings and was sad to hear of his death this morning. No trained tenor could ignore what you could learn from him - he was a master of bel canto, his voice had beauty, stamina, power and passion. I stayed away from his renditions of Calaf (the lead tenor in Turandot) and Radames (lead in Aida) and listened to older, live recordings of Bellini and the other bel canto composers. Even if the sound quality wasn't great, you heard a voice in its physical prime and in its prime repertiore. I never heard him live, since by the time I was old enough to drive and pay for my own tickets he was doing concerts for 12,000 at the DC Armory - not a venue to hear a master. One of his best recordings is his debut singing the Verdi Requiem in his home town. He was young, relatively slim, clean-shaven and sang "Ingemisco" like his was destined for greatness. May he rest in peace, and may he continue to point people's hearts to God through his beautiful voice.

derjavnaja-icon.jpgThis icon, the image of the Mother of God "Reigning", is visiting Russian Orthodox churches in the United States this month as part of a celebration at the restoration of full communion between the Patriarchate of Moscow and the Russian Orthodox diaspora. Tonight it's at a church in Boston.

It has an interest for Catholics too, related to its history. This icon became known in Russia in 1917, and it was discovered in a village church on the very day Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne.

The miracle-working “Reigning” icon of the Mother of God was found the same day on which Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne— March 2/15, 1917. The Russian Orthodox people accepted this occurrence as a witness that the ultimate authority over and care for Russia had passed to the Heavenly Queen Herself.

The idea that Our Lady, the Queen of Heaven, was also becoming the particular protector of Russia reminds us, of course, of the Fatima message, which Our Lady disclosed to the seers there starting on May 13, 1917. It is therefore rather nice that she started to reveal her role as Queen of Russia on February 13 of that year:

On February 13, 1917, the Most Holy Mother of God appeared in a dream to the peasant girl, Eudocia Adrianova, and spoke to her these words: “There is a large, dark icon in the village of Kolomenskoe. It must be taken from there; the people must pray.” On February 26, in a second dream, the girl saw a white church and a majestic Lady within it. The peasant girl decided to search for the church she had seen in her dream. On March 2 in the village of Kolomenskoe, near Moscow, she recognized the Church of the Lord’s Ascension as that very church. A diligent search by the girl and the church’s rector revealed a large, dark icon of the Mother of God—the very image that had revealed itself to Eudocia in her dream.
The icon's name corresponds to its iconography. The Theotokos is represented as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. Dressed in a green gown and red garments reminiscent of an imperial mantle, She is seated upon a throne, her right hand bearing a scepter, her left hand resting upon the monarchical orb. Upon Her head is a crown encircled by a golden halo. The Infant Christ sits upon her knees, His right hand raised in blessing, His left hand pointing towards the monarchical orb.

What? Who?

On life and living in communion with the Catholic Church.

Richard Chonak

John Schultz


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