A Catholic Blog for Lovers |
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A celebration of beauty, truth, and goodness, and, of course, love...and perhaps a little nastiness 
My Buddy, ONION"I agree with about 99% of what you blog" Johannes Paulus II "This is my favorite blog and wish it were mandatory reading for all" Joseph Ratzinger "I even read your blog from heaven" Mother Teresa "I wish I were alive to publish every word you write in The Catholic Worker" Dorothy Day A Catholic Page for Lovers Praise of Glory *Great* Books Center Some Catholic Blogs: "St Blog's" MY BLOG HOMEPAGE email Gerard N.B. Many of the images posted will be removed after a few weeks; the text will remain as is. Archives 
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Saturday, August 17, 2002
Sometimes I wish I were Polish..... ....watching the Pope in his homeland once again, I am struck by the numbers of Catholics of all ages who come out to greet him; the sheer number, too, of priests and religious and sisters (and, oh, those great habits!) and so many of them young; by the people who still kneel, even on the ground, during the Consecration of the Mass (and who it seems receive the Host on the tongue); and who have a common patrimony of popular hymns that are both known by all and beautiful; and who have given to the Church and the world a shining example of the best offspring of Catholic Poland - which has so enriched the Universal Church and the entire word. Thank you, Poland! Viva Polonia! Viva Papa Wojtyla! Friday, August 16, 2002
A Quiz about "Nuns" What are some differences between these two congregations of Sisters of Mercy? The first photo is of a Sister of Mercy of Rensselaer, who are written up in an article in this week's online National Catholic Reporter. The article is about a mother has decided to join this order and she is "the first new member in 12 years".  The second photo is of a novice of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, who formed themselves after Vatican II as the Mercies went off, as they saw it, the "deep end." This group of sisters, most of whom have higher degrees, has grown and attracts a sizable number of novices each year.    Viewing these four photos, can you figure out some differences and why one group has virtually no vocations and the other group is thriving? (I do not question the goodness and good work of any Sister of Mercy anywhere!). Hint: if you are not legally blind, the answer reveals itself easily to "those who have eyes to see." Thursday, August 15, 2002
Old-Fashioned? (This may get posted rather late - even as I wrote it about 3:45 PM on the Assumption - right now Blogger isn't allowing any posting for us "freebies"). Am I just old fashioned in this? For me, visiting some blogs and reading posts pointing to article upon article about more scandals and bad bishops, etc. just seems inappropriate on a major Feast Day of our Faith. It seems that the "spirit of the Church" has pretty much capitulated to the "zeitgeist" and our festivals don't mean much anymore - or so it seems to this blog visitor today. But I suppose I am truly out of it with my head buried in the sand.... not wishing to confront the obvious evil (in others). At any rate, today I rejoice in the Lord and in the glorious Assumption of Our Lady into heaven and am celebrating with good music and good food and good company (shortly). Christ is Risen. Mary is Assumed. The Church lives. Life is good. P.S. I also was taken back by the (almost breathless) announcement on some blogs that Rome had rejected the American Bishops' Charter. I just read the same in a letter from Deal Hudson. But the actual Catholic World News Report quoted unnamed "informed sources" and did not give any facts to support the news as announced. Rome has not yet made a determination. When it does, THAT will be news (until then it is speculation and gossip, however high-class). P.P.S. And I am still waiting for the name of the actively gay cardinal who was spoken about on some blogs months ago with the promise that the news would break "any day." I seem to be getting more "old-fashioned" by the minute! Ever hear of "roof envy?" A rather hilarious article in the New York Times - witnessing, perhaps in a back hand way, to the incredible importance of the papal office after all these centuries! The Baronness! Today is the birthday of another great figure of North American Catholicism:  "The Baronness" or just "B" as her friends called her, Catherine de Hueck (Doherty), was larger than life (and she was a big woman!). Along with Dorothy Day (her friend), Catherine pioneered the works of mercy and fraternal love in action in a radical way. She started with Friendship House but then began an apostolate still very alive and active today, Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario (check out its beautiful website). With Dorothy, the Baronness was a "valiant woman" and along with another great American Catholic female, Flannery O'Connor, the B could be quite "feisty". A famous example: when a society woman sniffed contemptously and told Catherine: "you smell of the Negro", she quipped back: "And you stink of hell!" Catherine made an impression! Here's what the young new convert, Thomas Merton, writes of her in his classic, The Seven Storey Mountain: "Catherine de Hueck is a person in every way big. And the bigness is not merely physical: it comes from the Holy Ghost dwelling constantly within her, and moving her in all that she does. I never saw anyone so calm, so certain, so peaceful in her absolute confidence in God. She was full of the love of God; and prayer and sacrifice and total, uncompromising poverty filled her soul. She had tremendous spiritual vitality of grace, a vitality which brought with it a genuine and lasting inspiration, because it put souls in contact with God as a living reality. And that reality, that contact, is something which we all need." Nothing sums up the spirit of Catherine de Hueck Doherty better than The Little Mandate: the "magna carta" of Madonna House. Here one glimpses the intensity of faith and a yearning to live the gospel without compromise that informed this strong, feisty, "tough", praying, giving, loving witness of Christ even to our own days: Arise - go! Sell all you possess . . . give it directly, personally to the poor. Take up My cross (their cross) and follow Me - going to the poor - being poor - being one with them - one with Me. Little - be always little . . . simple - poor - childlike. Preach the Gospel WITH YOUR LIFE - WITHOUT COMPROMISE - Listen to the Spirit - He will lead you. Do little things exceedingly well for love of Me. Love - love - love, never counting the cost. Go into the market place and stay with Me . . . pray . . . fast . . . pray always . . . fast. Be hidden - be a light to your neighbour's feet. Go without fears into the depth of men's hearts . . . I shall be with you. Pray always. I WILL BE YOUR REST. There is a website dedicated to the cause of Catherine's canonization. Wednesday, August 14, 2002
A Blessed Feast of the Dormition/Assumption  For this joyous feast of Our Lady celebrated in "east" and "west" (and with what devotion in some places!), here are two beautiful Sermons on the Dormition/Assumption (yes, they are long by today's standards!): From the "east" - A Sermon on the Dormition of the Theotokos by Saint Gregory Palamas. From the "west" - A Sermon on the Assumption by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Universal Church.  Light and Darkness: Saint Maximilian Kolbe Love truimphs in the pit of hell on August 14, 1941  Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn... (Isaiah 58: 6-8) The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1: 5). No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends (John 15: 13).  For the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady The following poem was written by one of my (outstanding!) professors of literature and poetry, Father John Duffy, C.Ss.R., who was himself an excellent poet and even a mystic (I learned that later on in life!). This poem commemorates a custom among some Catholic peoples - on the Feast of the Assumption, some would go to the ocean or sea and take a dip, believing that on this Feast of Our Lady, the waters held special blessings and curative powers. Father John Duffy recalls in this poem his own beloved mother, Bridie, on one such Feast of the Assumption: CURE IN THE WATER Feast of the Assumption, 1924 You shamed that naked goddess of the seas, 0 Bridie, barefoot in Our Lady's tide The day you begged a miracle to ease The swollen feet that life had crucified. Clothed to the knees in black, you stood and prayed. Your little son, I watched, appalled. I knew What you were praying for and was afraid Of God - and miracles - and even you. Ah, back you came, cheated of your surprise, A crone bent over, cramping on shells and stones, Our Lady's answer grieving in your eyes And Golgotha still groaning in your bones. Nothing, poor dear, poor crone ... But what you thought Blessed back to God what lust had cursed away, And with the aching in your bones you wrought A sacramental out of Quincy bay. I'd carve you in great marble if I could, My Bridie of Our Lady of the Sea, To show the sorrow of it, how you stood Praying in vain for what was not to be. Long dead, my dear... but when at last we meet - O changed forever! The Eternal's bride, Robed all in white down to the little feet Shining like His who once was crucified! Tuesday, August 13, 2002
More Welcomes to St Blog's Dust in the Light - Justin Katz Swimming the Tiber - Sean Roberts I'm Not a Man That Likes to Swear . . . - Mark Maier Classic Catholic Literature - Robert Gotcher Hi! I'm Gordon Zaft, why isn't everyone? - Gordon Zaft A Catholic Point of View - Lover of Christian Art Musings of an Amphibious Goat - John Augustine Everything is Grace - Martin Farkus Monday, August 12, 2002
To confess on one's backside or on one's knees? As is often the case, Amy Welborn has a fascinating post and discussion going on at her In Between Naps blog. This is about the directives of a bishop to install windows in all Reconciliation Rooms. I have some strong opinions on "reconciliation rooms" and long feared they were a set up for trouble. The use of the confessional with grilles was adopted for a reason! Human nature doesn't change! I do think the post-Vatican II "ethos" largely minimized the effects of original sin and the woundedness of our human nature. The post-conciliar world to some extent oozed "sunshine and suburban cheer" to quote, I think, an old saying of Michael Novak. (He was referring, I believe, to the ICEL translation of the Liturgy). Give me the good old-fashioned confessional anyday. There seems much wisdom in the way they are built. The focus is not on the priest staring at me eye-ball to eye-ball. The relative "darkness" seems to be a way to give "space" to the Presence of the Lord who is the one who forgives. The lack of eye-ball to eye-ball contact, too, can strip one down to essentials easier perhaps. And it seems to me "right and just, fitting and proper" to confess one's sins on one's knees and to ask for forgiveness on one's knees - and not sitting comfortably in a "lounge chair" or any chair for that matter. Perhaps one "icon" of the difference of the pre-conciliar and post-conciliar Church (oversimplified, of course) is the difference between "confessing" on one's knees or on one's backside. I realize that many can experience the Sacrament positively in many ways, even in more informal settings than the modern "reconciliaton" room. I love, too, the Eastern Christian way of confessing. Both priest and penitent stand facing an icon of Christ. But for me there is no better "place/space" than the old-fashioned confessional (and due to my disability I go to confession sitting in my wheelchair - which I hardly use outside the house, thank God - and I am just grateful to be able to confess and be absolved!). I am convinced whoever built the first confessional (was it St Joseph?) has a high place in heaven. But I won't say where I fear those who introduced "reconciliation rooms" might spend their eternity..... I am just too nice a guy!  Sunday, August 11, 2002
The Resurrection of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church A surprise of the Holy Spirit  One of the great surprises of the Holy Spirit in our own days has been the unexpected resurrection of the much-persecuted Byzantine Catholic Churches in Eastern Europe. These churches were "liquidated" by the communist regimes and all their resources were turned over to the local Orthodox Church. Many bishops, priests, religious, laity were imprisioned and martyred for the faith. But it seemed to some that after so many decades of "non-existence" and even on account of Rome's rapproachment with the Orthodox, that these Churches would gradually fade away. Not so! When freedom came, hundreds of thousands of believers chose to be, once again, Catholics United to Rome. The Ukrainian Catholic Church is one great example: and now it is a growing, thriving Church with millions of members and many vocations. The Romanian Catholic Church, too, has resurrected! Perhaps not as "strongly" as the UCC, but this Church is now growing again and attracting the young and vocations as well. Unlike the situation in Ukraine, only about 100 of the perhaps 2,500 churches that belonged to them have been returned (they are building many churches as they await more returns). But this persecuted Church is showing signs of new life. Here are a few photos of the recent entronement of young Bishop Florentin as Bishop of the Eparchy of Cluj-Gherla One reason I post this item of news is that I had the privilege of meeting Bishop Florentin and, well, he is most impressive. May God grant him many years! And may the Romanian Greek Catholic Church continue to grow in holiness and zeal!  John Henry Newman: born February 21, 1801- died August 11, 1890 His motto: Cor ad cor loquitur (heart speaks to heart) There is no way I can speak adequately of this great personage: larger than life, Newman was a genius, a gifted crafter of words, a poet, a soaring intellect, a humble adoring heart, great convert, searing preacher, spiritual father, and a (yet uncanonized) saint! Many of his writings are available on line as well as much about him. Two wonderful resources are the Newman Reader and Dave Armstrong's Newman Mega Link Page. To give a glimpse into his great soul I post a few of my favorite John Henry Newman selections (and there are so many to choose from!). I hope they fittingly celebrate this anniversary of his death, one hundred and twelve years ago today.  The beginning of a journey: THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD (written before John Henry Newman became a Catholic - but from the perspective of how this prayer was fulfilled, how magnificent is God in His Mercy!) Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom - Lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home - Lead Thou me on! Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene - one step enough for me. I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou Shouldst lead me on. I loved to choose and see my path, but now Lead Thou me on! I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride ruled my will; remember not past years. So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still Will lead me on, O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till The night is gone; And with the morn those angel faces smile Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile. Towards the end of the journey: (These words were written in Newman's classic Apologia Pro Vita Sua, after long years - with many troubles and triumphs - as a Catholic): "I have been in perfect peace and contentment; I have never had one doubt. I was not conscious to myself, on my conversion, of any change, intellectual or moral, wrought in my mind. I was not conscious of firmer faith in the fundamental truths of revelation, or of more self-command; I had not more fervor; but it was like coming into port after a rough sea; and my happiness on that score remains to this day without interruption." We Do Not Trust Each Other "Perhaps the reason why the standard of holiness among us is so low, why our attainments are so poor, our view of truth so dim, our belief so unreal, our general notions so artificial and external is this, that we dare not trust each other with the secret of our hearts. We have each the same secret, and we keep it to ourselves, and we fear that, as a cause of estrangement, which really would be a bond of union. We do not probe the wounds of our nature thoroughly; we do not lay the foundation of our religious profession in the inner man; we make clean the outside of things; we are amiable and friendly to each other in words and deeds, but our love is not enlarged, our bowels of affection are straitened, and we fear to let the intercourse begin at the root; and, in consequence, our religion, viewed as a social system is hollow. The presence of Christ is not in it." (John Henry Newman, Sermon "On Christian Symphathy") REMEMBER SUCH A ONE...... And, 0 my brethren, 0 kind and affectionate hearts, 0 loving friends, should you know anyone whose lot it has been by writing or by word of mouth, in some degree to help you thus to act; if he has ever told you what you know about yourselves, or what you did not know; has ever read to you your wants or feelings, and comforted you by the very reading; has made you feel that there was a higher life than this daily one, and a brighter world than that you see; or encouraged you, or sobered you, or opened a way to the inquiring, or soothed the perplexed; if what he has said or done has ever made you take interest in him, and feel well inclined toward him; remember such a one in time to come, though you hear him not, and pray for him, that in all things he may know God's will, and at all times he may be ready to fulfil it. (John Henry Newman's last Anglican Sermon "The Parting of Friends")  Louis Bouyer calls Newman's Parochial and Plain Sermons the greatest ever written in the English language. Great in both content and the sonorous undulating prose of this great artist of thought and word. Ignatius Press has published a beautiful edition of these sermons (as well as a beautiful bound edition of Newman's Prayers, Verses and Devotions, which I can't recommend highly enough!). Newman's grasp of the Bible is unsurpassable! His insight into the human heart, searing and comforting. And his prose is simply magnificent! I am sure you will appreciate having these volumes if you don't already. Beautiful in content and appearance - the best of what Ignatius offers so wonderfully to our generation.
Order now through Amazon: Parochial and Plain Sermons Order now from Amazon Prayers, Verses and Devotions His epitath: Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem - Out of shadows and images into the truth Declared Venerable - 22 Jan 1991 by Pope John Paul II |