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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, October 11, 2003
Almost forgot an anniversary today! In 1962 on this day the Second Vatican Council opened. An historic day in the life of the Church. I remember the opening ceremony since I watched it on TV (but not EWTN!). I was at the time a Novice in the Redemptorist Novitiate and I said to "Father Master" - in a Freudian slip of the tongue? - "Today begins a new error for the Church. Ooops. I mean 'new era.'" Am I a prophet or am I not? :-) Welcome to St Blog's The Edge of the Precipice - Kenny & Elizabeth Removing All Doubt - Steven The Lowly Pilgrim Peter Mandell's Christjoy Blog - Peter Mandell Musing on Muses - Laura-lady viam pacis - Scott W Fischer Modern Music and Faith Even in our own time - contrary to the popular secular "orthodoxy" - there seems to be a connection between great music and faith. This Guardian article explores this theme. Thanks to Amy Welborn for pointing me to this piece. A Nobel Opportunity Missed By PETER STEINFELS "The Nobel Peace Prize is not awarded posthumously. That is why, with all respect to Shirin Ebadi, the inspiring Iranian defender of women's rights, the failure to give it to Pope John Paul II this year may eventually reflect badly not on the pope but on the prize..." This week in Christian history October 11, 1521: Leo X conferred the title Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith) upon England's Henry VIII for his tract "The Assertion of the Seven Sacraments," written against Martin Luther. Three popes and 13 years later, Henry severed all ties with Rome, making the Church of England a separate church body. October 11, 1531: Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli dies in the Battle of Kappel. October 11, 1551: The 13th Session of the Council of Trent opens to discuss the Eucharist. The Counter-Reformation Council affirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation and repudiated Lutheran, Calvinist, and Zwinglian eucharistic doctrines. Friday, October 10, 2003
Progress Report It seems that St Blog's has greatly improved these past months. Less typos, misspellings, mistakes. Our self-appointed and much loved proof reader, Nihil Obstat, has come to an impasse it seems, finding little to critique. Is it time for Nihil to retire, and take comfort in a job well done? The Word from Rome for this week Included a touching story of Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury. And this admission of a new awareness, thanks be to God: "The complaints journalists get typically cluster into two categories. The first is errors of fact; misspelled names, inaccurate dates, etc. The second is accusations of bias, that by the way we assemble information, the way we manipulate language, and so on, we “stack the deck” in favor of particular conclusions or points of view. Like anyone, I find both frustrating. Between the two, however, I always churn more over instances in which I open myself to charges of bias. I want “The Word from Rome” to be a source of information that people of all points of view and all backgrounds can trust, where they feel themselves respected and their views taken seriously. Which brings me to this week’s mea culpa. Last week I featured biographical notes on the new cardinals announced by John Paul II on Sept. 28. Regarding Archbishop Julian Herranz, president of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, I wrote: “He has earned a reputation as humble, approachable, and intelligent, if also staunchly traditional.” On Archbishop Marc Ouellet of Quebec City, I wrote: “In some ways he is a traditionalist, and has advocated a return to Eucharistic adoration and Gregorian chant ... Yet people who have worked with Ouellet describe him as friendly, humble, and flexible.” Several readers pointed out that I was seemingly opposing traditionalism to positive qualities such as intelligence, openness, friendliness, humility and flexibility, as if someone who is traditional is somehow less likely to be these things. This was the furthest thing from my mind; all I meant to say was that although both Herranz and Ouelette have strong personal views, they are neither closed nor arrogant. Yet I see how my language could not help but create the impression of bias, and I apologize." May more follow Allen in this belated but excellent observation. Who wrote this recently? "...The truth is that celibate priests are the happiest men in America, happier than lawyers, doctors, teachers, professors and Protestant clergy. Indeed, the research data show that celibate priests are in general happier than protestant ministers and that celibacy is less a problem for priests than marriage is for ministers. I realize that many - lay and clergy alike - will say that I'm dead wrong. Everyone knows that celibacy is the reason there are not enough vocations to the priesthood. Priests are miserable, frustrated, unhappy men. Well, folks, I have news for you. I have 2,000 cases in national probability samples that say I'm right and you are dead wrong..." Archbishop Timothy Dolan? Father Benedict Groeschel? Mother Angelica? Penny Lord? Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo? Andrew Greeley? National Catholic Reporter on the Pope's 25th Jubilee Still doesn't get it, after all these years. Better is the estimation of NCR's John Allen (though John seems to bend over to pacify the typically "liberal" readership of NCR): "...For a pope of a hundred trips and a million words, perhaps the most important lesson he’s offered is the coherence of his own life. When he urges Christians, in the words of Jesus, to Duc in Altum - to set off into the deep - it resonates even with those who seek very different shores. As Hamlet said of his father, perhaps John Paul’s admirers and critics together might be able to say of him: “He was a man. Take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.” Sweet sacrament divine An interesting article by Father Kilian McDonnell OSB (active in charismatic renewal) on the Pope's recent encyclical on the Eucharist. Some outrageous comments by Father Richard McBrienare included: "Shortly after the encyclical appeared, Fr Richard McBrien, professor of theology at Notre Dame University, Indiana, took issue with its focus on “the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ”, and the “presence” that results. McBrien correctly pointed out that in its constitution on the liturgy, the Second Vatican Council spoke also of the presence of Christ in the gathered community, in the priest celebrant, in the other ministers, and finally in the proclamation of the Word. The encyclical, McBrien continued, had a “nearly exclusive focus on the Real Presence”, leading to a “frankly problematical emphasis on adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and other eucharistic devotions outside of Mass”. Contrast that with this from a renowned liturgist: "During the 1970s the late Mgr Balthasar Fischer visited St John’s Abbey at Collegeville, Minnesota. As the founder of the liturgical institute at the theology faculty in Trier, Germany, he has trained a number of liturgists from around the world. As a scholar of international stature in liturgical studies, he took a leading role in Pope Paul VI’s council for the implementation of the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, and was intimately involved in the reform of the liturgical rites. During his visit to St John’s, the theology faculty and the graduate students were gathered in the alumni lounge for wine, cheese, crackers and conversation on liturgical matters. At one point Fischer said: “I just came from the eastern part of the United States where I was present at a Polish Forty Hours Devotion. It was absolutely marvellous: the piety of the people in their individual and communal adoration, the preaching, the singing, the banks of candles. As an authentic religious experience it was powerful. We priests, theologians, and especially we liturgists are going to have a lot to answer to God for, because we deprived the people of the whole devotional life.” Amen! Iranian Lawyer Wins Nobel Peace Prize "...Many researchers say that the pope's opposition to birth control, pre-marital sex, homosexuality and female priests seemed intolerant to many people, especially women, in Norway despite a 25-year-reign devoted to peace and reconciliation. Former Polish president and 1983 peace laureate Lech Walesa slammed the committee for passing over the Polish pope. "I have nothing against this lady, but if there is anyone alive who deserves this year's Nobel Peace Prize it is the Holy Father,'' he told the all-news TVN 24 channel...." Today in Christian history October 10, 732: The Franks under Charles Martel stopped the Moorish incursion into Western Europe at the Battle of Tours. October 10, 1560: Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius, the founder of a theology that challenged Reformed assumptions, is born in Oudewater, Netherlands. October 10, 1821: Law student Charles Finney, 29, goes into the woods near his home to settle the question of his soul's salvation. That night, he experienced a dramatic conversion, full of what seemed "waves of liquid love throughout his body." Finney later became American history's greatest revivalist and purportedly converted of 500,000 people. Thursday, October 09, 2003
A Cardinal writes traditional Anglicans At the meeting I mentioned a few days ago of traditional Anglicans in Dallas, attempting to solidify its opposition to recent decisions of the ECUSA, there was a surprise: a Letter from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Here's what he wrote: "I hasten to assure you of my heartfelt prayers for all those taking part in this convocation. The significance of your meeting is sensed far beyond Plano, and even in this city from which Saint Augustine of Canterbury was sent to confirm and strengthen the preaching of Christ's Gospel in England. Nor can I fail to recall that barely 120 years later, Saint Boniface brought that same Christian faith from England to my own forebears in Germany. The lives of these saints show us how in the Church of Christ there is a unity in truth and a communion of grace which transcend the borders of any nation. With this in mind, I pray in particular that God's will may be done by all those who seek that unity in the truth, the gift of Christ himself." Very interesting..... Russian chapel razed after gay 'marriage' LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH MOSCOW - The Russian Orthodox Church has demolished a chapel where a priest conducted a "marriage" ceremony between two men. The Chapel of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was torn down apparently after local churchmen decided it had been defiled. The "marriage" of Denis Gogolyev and Mikhail Morozev in Nizhny Novgorod scandalized the Orthodox Church and created outrage among ordinary Russians. The priest, the Rev. Vladimir Enert, was defrocked after the men said they paid him a $450 bribe to ignore a ban of same-sex "marriages." A spokesman for the Orthodox Church said the chapel had to go, as it had been desecrated. Some local officials said it was due for demolition to make way for a new, larger church, though this would not open until 2005. A spokesman for the Nizhny Novgorod Patriarchate told the Daily Telegraph, "The chapel was dismantled because it is no longer needed." But he conceded that the homosexual "marriage" ceremony may have "sped up the process." Trust the Church of God! Trust the Church of God implicitly even when your natural judgment would take a different course from hers and would induce you to question her prudence or correctness. Recollect what a hard task she has; how she is sure to be criticized and spoken against, whatever she does; recollect how much she needs your loyal and tender devotion; recollect, too, how long is the experience gained over so many centuries, and what a right she has to claim your assent to principles which have had so extended and triumphant a trial. Thank her that she has kept the faith safe for so many generations and do your part in helping her to transmit it to generations after you. - John Henry Newman Two Homecomings Rememberd Today! 28 years ago, on the same day the ineffable grace was bestowed on John Henry Newman, October 9th, another was given the grace to be received into the Catholic Church, our own fellow St. Blogger, Lane Core Jr. Newman seems a spiritual father to Lane and countless others even today. And Lane continues the fruitfulness of JHN in his own wonderful working to bring the light of the faith to bear on all of reality. Glory to the Triune God! "O long sought-after desire of the eyes, joy of the heart, the truth after many shadows, the fullness after many foretastes, the home after many storms - come to her, poor wanderers, for she it is, and she alone, who can unfold the meaning of your being and the secret of your destiny." (John Henry Newman) Today in Christian History October 9, 1000: Leif "the Lucky" Eriksson, who later evangelized Greenland, is reported to have been the first European to reach North America on this date. But while he was certainly a member of an early Viking voyage to "Vinland" (probably Nova Scotia), it's doubtful he led the initial expedition. October 9, 1747: David Brainerd, pioneer missionary to Native Americans in New England, dies of tuberculosis at age 29. His journal, published by Jonathan Edwards, inspired hundreds to become missionaries, including the "father of modern Protestant missions," William Carey. October 9, 1845: One of the founders of the Oxford Movement in England, churchman John Henry Newman made his celebrated conversion from Anglicanism to Catholicism. From 1845-1862, nearly 250 other English clergy followed Newman into the Catholic Church. October 9, 1890: Pentecostal evangelist and national sensation Aimee Semple McPherson is born in Ontario, Canada. McPherson founded the pentecostal Church of the Foursquare Gospel. October 9, 1958: Pope Pius XII dies. Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Sorry Sometimes I miss excellent comments and find them as they're getting ready for the archives. I refer now to the comments here. Thanks so much to those who commented. I wish I had time to reply but don't and it's probably too late anyway. I hope you were not offended by my silence. I just missed them and discovered them today. Again, sorry and thanks! Another dream coming true? Since childhood I have had an intense love of "nature" and of wilderness and native wildlife. I have even been a bit of a birdwatcher and have thrilled to seeing scarlet tanagers and indigo buntings, a great horned owl (in a wooded area of Maryland), various types of hawks and falcons, and the occasional bald eagle. (No golden eagle yet). I have also been a great "devotee" of the wolf and have followed the reintroduction programs in the west with great interest and joy. And even better, the natural repopulation taking place in various areas in the lower 48. The presence of a vibrant wolf population has awakened a long held dream which I thought would never be fulfilled: to spend some time in the vast wilderness of Yellowstone National Park. I am not so interested in Old Faithful (though that may be wonderful to behold) as in the vast natural eco-system with its teeming wildlife, brought back into balance by the presence of wolves. Well, recently a friend who now lives in Salt Lake City visited me. After a nice visit he wrote and said: come on out for a visit. I'll even put you up in a hotel downtown, since there are a lot of stairs in our house. I wrote back and asked Bill: "how far is it to Yellowstone from Salt Lake City?" He replied: "about 6 hours drive." (Hmmm... doable perhaps). I asked then: "would you be interested in a trip to Yellowstone with me?" Reply: "Tell me when and I will make the time!" Gulp! Now I am beginning the process of planning the trip. Bill says he will fly me out with his free miles. I checked some of the lodging in Yellowstone and they have, in some housing, an "early bird special" from May 14-20. I am now thinking of taking advantage of the price reduction (an accessible room in the Old Faithful Snow Lodge would be $109 for double, instead of its regular $168). I fear it may be too early, though. I want to enjoy the outdoors and the views and hopefully even take a few "strolls" in accessible areas. I could go later but then the weather can be so unpredictable anyway. At least we would beat the crowds! And maybe see some of the new born animals and birds as well. I can hardly believe my good fortune once again. Of course, I may not make it that far (who knows the future?); and other things may come in the way. But already I am experiencing a hopeful enthusiasm (with some anxiety as well) and rejoicing in the possibilities opening up today. If anyone has visited that area in early Spring I'd love to get an opinion. I haven't yet made the reservations but will soon, God willing. Today in Christian history October 8, 451: The Council of Chalcedon opens to deal with the Eutychians, who believed Jesus could not have two natures. His divinity, they believed, swallowed up his humanity "like a drop of wine in the sea." The council condemned the teaching as heresy and created a confession of faith which has since been regarded as the highest word in Christology. October 8, 1085: St Mark’s Cathedral in Venice was consecrated. Nota Bene In the post immediately below this, Right or Wrong?, I am not asking whether or not you think having the dog as ringbearer right or wrong. I am just asking whether you think that the groom's life long friend made the right choice in choosing not to attend the wedding because of the dog's presence. (I can attest that both Brian and Amy do not trivialize either marriage or their Catholic faith - indeed if only we had more like them! This is not, however, a judgment on their choice - with the priest's OK - to have Griff be ringbearer). Thanks for feedback! Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Right or Wrong? On Saturday I attended the wedding of two wonderful persons, Brian and Aimee. Both are extraordinary in many ways, warm, joyous, caring, and faithful Catholics. I have known Brian since he was a little child (his family is like my "family away from family"). Like his two other brothers, Brian always attended Sunday Mass, through high school, college, even while at Ocean City, MD, for extended stays. He goes to confession! Aimee, who I have come to love very much, seems to be a believing and practicing Catholic as well. They are a lovely couple! And they looked so handsome and beautiful: Brian in his Celtic tux and kilts, Aimee in a long white dress with long flowing veil. For whatever reason, they chose to be married in a ceremony without the Nuptial Mass. One reason might have been the following: Aimee is a devoted "owner" of a delightful Golden Retriever named Griff and for the surprise of the wedding Griff was to be the ringbearer! Everyone loved it and it was done well (and it was, too, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi). I had my reservations, but knowing them as I do and knowing whose feast it was I accepted it with joy and enjoyed it along with everyone else. I noticed the absence of a dear and long-standing friend of Brian's. A companion since youth, a roomate during college and afterwards, who entered the seminary a few years ago. A great guy! But Rob chose not to come to the wedding, I was told, because of the presence of Griff inside the church. I could, I think, understand. I hope and pray the friendship survives and prospers. Did Rob make the right choice? (I think not). Episcopalians 'stand' against gay bishop A council of war for conservative Episcopalians gets under way today, when 2,200 of them meet in Dallas to consider ways to protest the recent confirmation of a practicing homosexual priest as the new bishop of New Hampshire. Episcopalians from all 50 states will meet until Thursday afternoon at the Wyndham Antole Hotel in Dallas to listen to speakers, pray and network together during a gathering labeled "A Place to Stand." Conferees include 40 bishops, 729 priests, 43 deacons, 91 seminarians and 1,219 laity....  Foolish prayer
By Carol Zaleski Six years before he died, American philosopher William James filled out a questionnaire about religious experience. He was asked, among other things, "Do you pray?" His answer was forthright: "I can't possibly pray. I feel foolish and artificial." And yet James wrote, in "The Varieties of Religious Experience", that prayer is "the very soul and essence of religion" and that in prayer "work is really done, and spiritual energy flows in and produces effects." It's well known that James longed to experience such effects in his own life, yet he remained trapped in his pragmatic corridor, generously holding open the door to prayer for others but unable to enter it himself. I wonder if it ever occurred to William James that feeling foolish and artificial is as good a starting point as any for prayer. Prayer is like courtship; of course it feels foolish and artificial. It's not something you can work out inwardly and then execute outwardly. It's a series of improbable and ungainly gestures, learned by imitation, that make it possible to fall in love. Perhaps I see it this way because as a chronic beginner at prayer, I often feel foolish and inept. Lately I have been learning about prayer-courtship from the rosary. What could be more improbable and ungainly than this prayer of incessant repetition, learned by imitation and practiced by rote? According to Friedrich Heiler's 1932 classic "Prayer", rote prayer is a sign of hardening of the spiritual arteries: Prayer is at first a spontaneous emotional discharge, a free outpouring of the heart. In the course of development it becomes a fixed formula which people recite without feeling or mood of devotion, untouched both in heart and mind. At first prayer is an intimate intercourse with God, but gradually it becomes hard, impersonal, ceremonial, a rite consecrated by ancestral custom. . . . Even among primitive peoples this process of petrification and mechanization . . . transforms free prayer into precise and rigid formulas. To many Christians the rosary embodies all the vices of "petrification" to which Heiler alludes: precise and rigid formulas, vain repetition, conformity, credulity and works-righteousness, compounded by Mariolatry, triumphalism and superstition. Many have been ready to see the practice die out - not only Protestants who consider the petrification of prayer a peculiarly Petrine liability, but also Catholics for whom the rosary is like a woolly mammoth blocking the door to liturgical reform. But it hasn't died out. How many thousand Hail Marys, Our Fathers and Glory Bes are being struck on the rosary strings at this very instant across the globe? The rosary encircles the world like a magnificent Tibetan prayer wheel, spinning out adoration. It's a giant carousel you can climb upon at any point and step off again, knowing that the prayer will keep going with or without you; tradition has seen it as the liturgy in miniature, mirroring in its 15 decades the 150 psalms, as a potent means of intercession, a weapon against the forces of darkness, a reparation for human sin, and a tried-and-true means of initiation into the mysteries of Christ. Like the Jesus Prayer of the Christian East, the rosary is cherished as a compendium of the Gospels, a temple of the divine name and a heaven-sent method for fulfilling the biblical injunction to "pray without ceasing." The rosary is also a school of prayer for lifelong beginners like me, and increasingly it is being rediscovered as a way of prayer for all Christians. Within the Anglican communion it has flourished for some time. Evelyn Underhill loved the rosary and so did Austin Farrer. John Macquarrie commends it in his book Mary for All Christians. With his apostolic letter of last October, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope John Paul II set a small fire under this process of ecumenical rediscovery by offering an intensely Christocentric and contemplative interpretation of the rosary. Most remarkably, he introduced a fourth series of mysteries on which to meditate: the lucis mysteriis, or "mysteries of light," focusing on events in the public ministry of Jesus Christ: his baptism in the Jordan, first miracle at Cana, preaching of the kingdom, transfiguration, and institution of the Eucharist. According to the pope, the rosary is a Christian zakar (remembrance) of Christ through Mary. One thinks of the Sufi zikr, remembrance of God through repetitive prayer. My Tibetan friend Dechen practices buddhanusmrti, remembrance of the Buddha, with the aid of his 108-bead rosary. To outsiders such practices may look like mumbo-jumbo, but those who pray them know how they can train the spirit to make a free and loving response to the divine call. Our heart beats repetitively while our mind wanders. The rosary brings the straying mind down to the repeating heart, quiets the mind and centers the gaze, with Mary, on the face of her beloved son. "Pray as you can," John Chapman used to say, "not as you can't." We can be dry as dust, bored, distracted and insensible to God's presence. Still we can pray, mechanically if need be, taking refuge in whatever means have been given. We can rest on the rosary as a climber rests on his fixed rope--it's safe to dangle as long as the rope is anchored in rock. We may not have a mystical bone in our bodies, but no matter. God is waiting for us, and if we make even the smallest gesture of availability he will be there, whether we feel his presence or not. Carol Zaleski is professor of religion at Smith College Pope Prays for Peace at Pompeii POMPEII, Italy (AP) -- Defying skeptics who thought the ailing pontiff's travel days were finished, Pope John Paul II flew to a shrine Tuesday near the ruins of ancient Pompeii and prayed for world peace. Only last month, the 83-year-old pontiff, stooped and slowed by Parkinson's disease and other health problems, struggled through a four-day pilgrimage to Slovakia, and a cardinal last week said John Paul was approaching his dying days.....  Today in Christian history The naval Battle of Lepanto was fought in the Mediterranean on this day in 1571 between Austrian Imperial and Turkish fleets. The Spanish novelist Cervantes was a young sailor in the battle and lost the use of his left hand. He was called “el manco de Lepanto,” the one-handed man from Lepanto. Today's feast of the Holy Rosary indicates the role attributed to the rosary in this victory. Monday, October 06, 2003
A Confession Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa In the 60s I was a promoter of the folk Mass and thought that Ray Repp's "Here we are all together now" a better "hymn" for Mass than "Adoro Te Devote" - or anything in Latin for that matter. I was thrilled with the vernacular (pushed for it from the late 50s to the scandal of many), liked the first ICEL translations - so free of the old sacral language - and tended to think that everything pre-Vatican II was bad; everything new was good. The heady days of Vatican II! Got many of my cues from the daily news, Time Magazine, and The National Catholic Reporter, etc. as Vatican II unfolded, day by day. And I also considered myself a "dissenter" in loyal opposition... Yes, I had the credentials for being, in those days, a "liberal". I admired Hans Kung and some even called me "Hans." I am not sure when I began to find the new "folk/hootenany" Mass vabid* (see Tom's comment for an explanation of this happy typo) and empty for me, hollow and superficial. I know that it was closer contact with great Catholic families and a discovery of my own weaknesses and failures that led me to a "conversion" to Catholic orthodoxy. The earlier modernistic reductionistic Catholicism just didn't sustain me in my struggles and sorrows, nor could it give voice to my joy. Little by little, I rediscovered the treasures of the Catholic Liturgy (so many of which had been thrown out so enthusiastically and thoughtlessly). I found myself growing to sense the inadequacies and distortions of much of the ICEL translations. I yearned for some Latin not just for its own sake but as a sign of the continuity of tradition and a tapping into the vast resources of the Catholic heritage of sacred music. I even began to wonder if the priest facing the congregation (AT EVERY MOMENT!!!) was good and wholesome. I came to believe the hour has come for a "new liturgical movement" to recatholicize the reformed Liturgy stemming from the implementation of Vatican II. To give more space for worship, adoration, silence, beauty, good ritual, and a rediscovery of the "heavenly liturgy" in which we are privileged to share in our own liturgical celebrations. Right now, I am so blessed to belong to a parish that fulfills my hopes. At Saint Benedict, music is integrated into the whole celebration (I always go to the 11 AM Mass, the main Mass). Hymns are sung which tend to highlight the theme of the day or season, God-focused and filled with praise (we use Worship III). The Mass is sung and everyone knows the parts so well - the choir supplements as they sing along. Beautiful. We use the same music for a long long time and only change for the seasons, especially Lent. The choir will often sing a communion motet in Latin (this past Sunday they sung, beautifully, Mozart's magnificent "Ave Verum"). We have an excellent cantor who does the psalms prayerfully. In this parish I am blessed to hear the Gregorian chant version of "Veni Sancte Spiritus" on Pentecost! (And there are clouds of incense every Sunday!). To be truthful, every once in a while we sing (less and less it seems - it's been over half a year) a few hymns I do not like at all such as "Gather Us In." But that is a rare exception and we usually sing meaningful hymns with excellent words and beautiful music. And, of course, EVERY verse. Having a diet such as this, I can't even bear the thought of attending another "folk Mass". And I know, from personal experience, given the right leadership and ingredients, CATHOLICS CAN SING! (P.S. Thanks for the excellent comments below in the post on the "Heavenly Hootenany"). Today in Christian history October 6, 1552: Matteo Ricci, the first Roman Catholic missionary to China, is born in Macareta, Italy. Other missionaries criticized his complete adoption of Chinese customs and alliance with Confucianism (which he believed merely a civil cult, unlike Buddhism and Taoism). Ricci is still studied as a model of "inculurated evangelism."  October 6, 1979: Pope John Paul II visited the White House, the first Pope to do so. Sunday, October 05, 2003
Heavenly Hootenanny How folk music - and the counterculture - entered the Catholic Church No time now to comment on this interesting piece but hopefully I will get a chance soon. In the meantime, if you read it, I'd love to get your own feedback. Pope, Appearing Stronger, Names Three New Saints  Today in Christian history October 5, 869: The Fourth Constantinople Council opens. During its six sessions, the council condemned iconoclasm and anathematized Constantinople Patriarch Photius. It was the last of the usual listing of ecumenical council held in the East, but Eastern Orthodox Christians don't consider it a true ecumenical council. It is a complicated story, some of which can be read here in an article by the highly respected church historian, Msgr Francis Dvornik (an expert on this period and the various councils and personalities). October 5, 1703: American evangelical preacher and Congregational theologian Jonathan Edwards is born in East Windsor, Connecticut. The leading theologian of his day, he is known most commonly for his Great Awakening sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," which he delivered in a quiet monotone. In fact, the content of the sermon is rather atypical for Edwards. (I had the good fortune to read this famous sermon of Edward's sitting on the same outdoor site from which he preached it in Enfield, CT). |