Richard Chonak: July 2008 Archives

Thanks to United Church of Christ minister David Runnion-Bareford!

Mr. Runnion-Bareford leads a movement of evangelical and conservative Christians working for Biblical renewal within the UCC, and he recently sent a kind message to Boston Catholics and to our archbishop, Cardinal O'Malley.

In his letter to the Cardinal, Mr. Runnion-Bareford expressed his sorrow at UCC involvement in a recent schismatic attempt to ordain some women heretics as priests, and in a separate message, he challenged the UCC minister who hosted the would-be ordination ceremony about her actions.

Personally, I think repairing the UCC is a lost cause, but it's good to know some members and ministers of that denomination want to maintain their commitment to the saving Gospel of Christ as they once received it.

I sent a note to Fr. Z. today:

According to a press report, the new English Mass will say, "Lamb of God,
who takes away the sins..."

As far as I can tell, that's a grammar error, putting the verb "take" into
the third-person form, whereas the sentence is addressed to the second
person. It should be "who take", as in "you who take".

Is that press bit right, and do we need to ask CDWDS to head this bug off?

--rc

The reply:

Thanks for that!

I wrote to Card. Arinze about it.

Fr. Z

Quis custodiet custodes? Well, OK, I will. :-)

But this might just be an error on CWN's part. A WYD musical setting of the Mass used the new text approved in Australia, and it says, "Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world...."

That's not ideal, as it doesn't follow the structure of the Latin clauses, but it would be better than having a grammar error ensconced in the official Mass text. I'd be gritting my teeth for decades if that were to happen.

We'll find out what the case is eventually.

A new site has opened here at stblogs.org. Paul Zalonski, a postulant at St Mary's Abbey (OSB) in Morristown, NJ, is writing a blog under the title Communio.

Paul has been until recently a prep school teacher; he studied theology at Weston School of Theology (now part of Boston College) and liturgy at Notre Dame. I look forward to the fruits of his contemplations!

Yesterday's Boston Globe had an article about some feminist provocateurs staging a pseudo-ordination; it was the usual mix of gushing and vagueness, and failed to get across the important point that, according to Catholic teaching, the "ordination" ceremony will have zero sacramental effect on the poncho ladies who undergo it.

In this case, the e-mail responses sent to the writer were actually more interesting than the original article!

I hope the Archdiocese will make it clear that normal ecumenical relations among the Christian denominations and the Church are damaged by an event like this, and will remain damaged until there is an apology and a promise to reform. That is because this service is not being held in some neutral civic building, but in the house of a particular Protestant assembly in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, called "The Church of the Covenant". It is not so much a religious service, really, as a demonstration, openly fomenting heresy and rebellion against the Catholic Church; it is an attack on the Church, an open attempt to divide the Church, and thus a breach of normal respect.

In this case the Protestant house of worship has two denominational affiliations: United Church of Christ and Presbyterian Church USA. I think the Archdiocese of Boston should cut off normal ecumenical contacts with those two denominations until they deliver some expression of regret for the offense their member group has so thoughtlessly given.

Anglican writer David Virtue notes:

In the DIOCESE OF NORTHERN INDIANA, Bishop Edward Little and his Roman Catholic counterpart, Bishop John D'Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend, jointly sponsored an event, titled "An Introduction to the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue." During the evening event, which began with prayer in the church, both bishops underscored the need for closer ties and better understanding of one another's churches. The Anglican presentation focuses on the importance of local clergy and laity beginning to receive and study the work of the 40-year-old Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue and relationship. "It is time to break down the very big theological agreements into stages of reception, so that these agreements can become part of the daily life in the churches. Embittered relations have surely run their course, especially in today's world of ever more intricate networks."

Much as I appreciate Bp. D'Arcy, isn't he wasting his time? It would be more realistic to say that the official Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue has run its course. It produced various common declarations, each of them fruitless.

In contrast, the new and less structured dialogue between conservative Anglicans and the Catholic Church may actually result in some Christians moving into visible unity.

Grant this, O Lord.

The Madonna House Apostolate, the secular institute founded in Canada by Russian-born Catholic Catherine de Hueck Doherty (1896-1985), showed today that the spirit of their community's founder is alive and well among them.

In 1976, Doherty received her adopted country's highest honor: she was made a member of the Order of Canada, in recognition of a lifetime of dedication to social justice and to the poor. This year, though, the Order is being debased, as the Governor General has decided to confer it upon a person antithetical to the most fundamental element of justice, the right to life. Namely, it is being conferred upon a notorious illegal abortionist.

This morning representatives of Madonna House made an act of witness: they visited Ottawa and returned Doherty's award citation and medal to the Governor General's office at Rideau Hall.

God bless them: I'm convinced that this is exactly the way Catherine Doherty would have proceeded in the face of such a negation of values.

In Boston, the traditional Latin Mass has moved from its former home at Holy Trinity Church to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross; today's celebration was a Low Mass in the lower church, and 101 souls attended, about as many as attended at Holy Trinity. Fr. Bernard Shea, SJ, has been a frequent celebrant of the old Mass. Holy Trinity's music director emeritus George Krim served as organist, and the chant choir Schola Amicorum sang.

For the anniversary of the announcement of Summorum Pontificum, we sang the Oremus pro Pontifice.

Another of this year's Eurovision pop songs has a Christian significance, the Bosnian song "Pokusaj" ("I'll try").

The singer Laka dances in poses that remind us of the development of man and apes, but according to his lyric, evolution isn't all that important: Man didn't come from the monkeys or out of the sea, he came from love:

The musical style is stadium pop, sort of an homage to Springsteen.

June 29:
The last Masses were offered Sunday morning at Holy Trinity Church, and the administrator read the decree from Cdl. O'Malley ordering the suppression of the parish at noon on June 30.

The decree includes provisions that the nearby Cathedral parish receive the goods and obligations of Holy Trinity, and assume responsibility for the special liturgies and music ministry Holy Trinity provided.

That last part is probably intended to refer to the traditional Latin Mass, to observances of German-American heritage in the parish, and to the parish's sacred music concert series.

Accordingly, the incoming Cathedral rector "with the encouragement of Cardinal Sean" is starting a Gregorian-rite Mass next Sunday at 11 AM. The outgoing Cathedral rector also invited the congregation of the ordinary-form Mass to join the Cathedral's principal English Mass at 11:30 AM. The overlapping times will let the two congregations meet together after Mass.

The 11 AM EF Mass will use the lower church. In my opinion this is OK, as the lower church, while not perfect, is more attractive and traditional in appearance than the upper church, whose sanctuary is badly in need of a restoration.

Update: I was wrong. On visiting the cathedral today (Saturday, July 5), I found that the upper church, while not ideal, is looking better than I remembered it; the main altar is not obstructed by the bishop's chair, and is attractively maintained.

The lower church, on the other hand, is looking worse. There is even some construction disarray: Some of the back pews were removed from the lower church in some maintenance or refurb effort, but it was aborted when asbestos was found in the flooring under them; the budget for the project wasn't enough to cover the expense of removing that.

But there are ample pews, and the altar is accessible with one step up - a plus for priests with knee troubles, such as Fr. Shea, the celebrant this Sunday.

AFP reports on Ingrid Betancourt's return to France after her liberation from FARC captivity:

A fervent Catholic who called her release a "miracle of the Virgin Mary," Betancourt has also been invited to meet Pope Benedict XVI. "It is a meeting that one cannot pass up," she told AFP.

Just to prove that we Americans don't have all the bad taste in the world, here's an AP report about how the Aussies are just as able to choose bad funeral music:

Australians making odd choices for funeral songs

5 minutes ago

Hymns are being replaced at funerals in one Australian city by popular rock classics like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," a cemetery manager said Wednesday.

At Centennial Park, the largest cemetery and crematorium in the southern city of Adelaide, only two hymns still rank among its top 10 most popular funeral songs: "Amazing Grace" and "Abide With Me."

Leading the funeral chart is crooner Frank Sinatra's classic hit "My Way," followed by Louis Armstrong's version of "Wonderful World," a statement said.

The Led Zeppelin and AC/DC rock anthems rank outside the top 10, but have gained ground in recent years as more Australians give up traditional Christian hymns.

"Some of the more unusual songs we hear actually work very well within the service because they represent the person's character," Centennial Park chief executive Bryan Elliott said.

Among other less conventional choices were "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" by the Monty Python comedy team, "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," "Hit the Road Jack," "Another One Bites the Dust" and "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead."