Category: Ministry

Over at Dom’s, there’s a thread about the need that a priest’s way of life be characterized by simplicity and shun whatever smacks of worldliness. A few commenters there mentioned priests wearing lay attire at inappropriate times. I agree with their concern, but I hope nobody jumps to conclusions about a priest’s good character just because they see him out in the world from time to time without his collar on.
A few weeks ago, a friend and I went out to dinner with a friar. We started to wish that he had worn civvies that evening, because his friar’s habit tends to function as a kook magnet, even more than a diocesan priest’s black suit.
After we got to the Italian restaurant, a very devout and patriotic but eccentric woman latched onto us. She thinks she’s being led by God to spread the message of how Catholic-friendly George Washington was. Her devotion even went to the point of putting portraits of George and Martha under her images of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart. She kept coming back, chatting and showing us clippings (!), five times in all.
So if you see a priest wearing lay attire, please don’t assume he’s failing in his duties based on that fact alone. Maybe he’s just trying to eat a little spaghetti and have a conversation in relative peace.

Here’s a trend: Time says the Church is just booming down South, and it’s full of believing Catholics, not mere “cultural Catholics”. Rejoice!

Poland comes to the rescue again! Only 1100 of the 3000 parishes in the Czech Republic have resident priests, so the bishops have obtained about 200 priests from the Polish dioceses and religious orders to serve alongside them.

[Fr. Piotr] Krysztofiak[, O.P.], meanwhile, said that after seven years in Prague, he does not feel homesick. “I don’t look out of the window and miss Poland. I have a good relationship with the seven other Dominican friars in the priory here.
“And I feel personally closer to Czech Catholics than to Polish communists, or Polish nonbelievers.”

The Prague Post has an article, and Radio Prague prepared a radio feature for the Insight Central Europe magazine show. It’s available on the net in RealAudio format. (The feature starts at 11’25” into the program.)

Baltimore deacon Mark Ripper has assembled a useful web site with information on the Faith. I came across his St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Resource Site while looking for the text of the rite of Ordination, and indeed he has all three versions. Thanks, Deacon Mark!

Holy Name of Jesus Church in Providence is celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by demonstrating the depth of Christian unity that exists in the Catholic Church: they’re offering seven days of Masses with celebrants of various countries and rites. What a neat idea!