Washing of the Feet on Holy Thursday And More on Days of Abstinence
Perhaps I should be embarassed, but I didn't know you shouldn't use chicken broth on days of abstinence.
‘Queer studies,’ Catholic Style – DePaul launches ‘LGBTQ’ minor
Father James Halstead, chairman of the school’s religious-studies department, said DePaul supports church teachings but also encourages critical, thoughtful learning about “any topic we can afford to teach.”He added that a university should not be an “indoctrination center.” Rather, students should have the opportunity to explore the “burning issues” of their time.
Isn't hell-fire a burning issue?
"A Catholic school presenting Fiddler on the Roof? It may seem unorthodox, but it's certainly kosher." ...full story
Belgian Priest to Stand Trial for Hatred for Citing Fears of Coming Islamic Persecution
I'm not sure what the photo on that page is about.
Here's the source of the problem:
His offending statement: “Every thoroughly islamized Muslim child that is born in Europe is a time bomb for Western children in the future. The latter will be persecuted when they have become a minority.”
VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) – The Catholic Church needs to seek frank dialogue with Islam and must insist on reciprocity where rights of Christian and Muslim minorities are respected and protected, said a British cardinal.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminister, England, was interviewed March 27 by Vatican Radio here, during which he discussed the March 23 pre-consistory meeting of the pope and the world’s cardinals, reconciliation with Lefebvrite traditionalists, collegiality in the church, migrant works in London and dialogue with Islam.
He said that the situation of Muslim-Christian dialogue is “very complex,” but the church has to be clear not to allow religion to be used as an excuse for terrorism. ...more
This looks like it will be hard for even CNN to skew.
Cash-strapped Spokane Diocese has stopped paying its lawyers.
The diocese for the past 16 months has paid both its own legal bills and the bills of lawyers for victims, and is running out of money even as the two sides try to settle.
So let me get this straight: lawyers on each side get to keep billing until they settle. Spokane foots the bill. Anyone wonder why they are into their 2nd year of settlement talks?
Cuba's Catholic have more freedom since the mid 90s, but that doesn't mean the faith is alive and well there.
After a boom following the constitutional change and papal visit, church attendance has leveled off. Of the indicators used to measure church participation in Cuba's largest archdiocese of Havana, only the number of baptisms exceeds numbers in a comparable U.S. diocese. And though Havana's 34,000 baptisms in 2004 represented a sizable number, Becerril noted the special circumstances."Most people who bring their children for baptism are not practicing Catholics. They say to me, 'I don't want what happened to me to happen to my child.' They want to be ready if there is another period of repression."
The problem is that only 10 percent of baptized Catholics in Cuba are believed to attend Mass regularly, and, as the priest added, "the older they get, the less they participate." The number of confirmations bears him out: only 740 in all of Havana in 2004, this in an archdiocese of 85 parishes spanning three provinces with a population of over 3 million. The city's 413 Catholic marriages in 2004 was the lowest since 1993. ...full article
I was out of town last week when Bishop Loverde of Arlington conducted the greatest manuever in public relations ever. EVAH!
First, he announced that individual parishes would be permitted to have altar girls as long as the pastor, other clergy & pastoral council can come to a consensus about their desire to have them.
Then, he announced that two parishes would have permission to celebrate the 1962 Latin Mass. (press release here)
Reactions have been predictable:
Conversatives went "Yay!" then "Boo!"
Liberals went "Boo!" and then "Yay!"
Bishop Loverde and everyone at the chancery gave each other high fives and are still chortling about dodging the bullet with these two hot topics.
Some Arlington parishes already had altar girls at last Sunday's Masses and rushed to proclaim that "We're no longer gender-restricted." I'm sure I'll hear some misguided talk about women priests in the next several months (in which case I'll send them here.)
For another blogger perspective, visit Father Jim "Dappled Things" Tucker.
My reaction - altar girls have been inevitable since the Vatican ruled on the issue. The interesting issue with Arlington is there will be a divide among most parishes who allow them, and the several that won't. Letters will be written. Acrimonious pastoral council meetings will last late into the night. Some pastors will hold the line and not allow any sway. Most pastors will go with the flow.
The Tridentine Mass will be similar - the folks who want that will flock to the two parishes that celebrate, the rest of us will do latin and greek sparingly, or the more popular option: never. A "Kyrie" and "Angus Dei" here and there won't really add up to using chant and latin in the way that Church liturgy documents extol them. The divide will be greater, and the perennially discontented will continue to write letters, protest and generally disrupt life for the rest of us.
So who's going to have more latin at their standard Masses? Who's going to do more chant and sacred polyphony? Who's going to make sure altar servers are better trained and present themselves properly for their sacred work?
I'm sure for the vast majority of parishes it will be business as usual.
Still - changes in discipline (and both these items are related to Church disciplines and practices, not doctrinal items) are a good time to revisit what's really important and what needs to change.
Hopefully we can use this moment to make all Masses in Arlington more prayerful and sacred.
"Rome is young, the Church is always young again" ...more
Pope Benedict's liturgies to change, says papal master of ceremonies
Archbishop Marini said each pope is different in his approach to the liturgy, particularly the large international celebrations he is called to lead."With John Paul II, I was a bit freer; we had an implicit agreement because he was a man of prayer and not of liturgy," the archbishop said.
[irony]I guess we can say good bye to those loosey-goosey liturgies that Pope JPII was famous for[/irony]
I'm sorry. He didn't get arrested for his music. It's a domestic violence arrest.
Three Jewish Attackers Toss Firecrackers Into Nazareth Church, Sparking Riot
What could these three people possibly want? International recognition of the plight of Israel? Additional foreign aid? 15 minutes of fame?
One thing's for sure: if this happened in another part of Israel and was perpetrated by others, it wouldn't have involved firecrackers.
From the life of St. Senan, Bishop (c. 488-560)
As a boy of Magh Lacha, Ireland, Senan was so precocious in his piety that once, while walking with his mother, having observed her eating berries that she had plucked along the way, he reprimanded her for snacking between meals.
from the March 2006 Magnificat.
