The Beauty of a Wedding Anniversary | Bacon From AcornsCUDDEBACK: Among these three beautiful things, the third perhaps stands out as most notable and worthy of honor and remembrance: when a wife and husband live in harmony.
But what exactly is living in harmony? Surely there are degrees, and there can still be real harmony even in a relationship regularly dogged by misunderstanding and dissension.
It’s not uncommon that young newlyweds resolve to have a better marriage than those they have seen up close. And perhaps this is fitting. Yet often a husband and wife, sometimes sooner and sometimes later, come to a more nuanced view of the complexities and challenges of marriage. They learn that even good intentions and hard work are not in themselves a promise of living without strife, disappointment, and failure. They come to new insight into the couples they have known, and perhaps they find it easier to appreciate—and honor—those couples for what they did achieve, even amid their shortcomings.
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
A few suggestions for New Year’s resolutions for concerned Catholics
New Year’s Resolutions for Concerned Catholics: A Few SuggestionsWEIGEL: During and after the grim martial law period in the early 1980s, many freedom-minded Poles would greet each other on Jan. 1 with a sardonic wish:
“May the new year be better than you know it’s going to be!”
As 2020 opens, that salutation might well be adopted by Catholics concerned about the future of the Church, for more hard news is coming. So let’s get some of that out of the way, preemptively, before considering some resolutions that might help us all deal with the year ahead in faith, hope, and charity.
“May the new year be better than you know it’s going to be!”
As 2020 opens, that salutation might well be adopted by Catholics concerned about the future of the Church, for more hard news is coming. So let’s get some of that out of the way, preemptively, before considering some resolutions that might help us all deal with the year ahead in faith, hope, and charity.
Chinese Communist Party announces ominous new ‘administrative measures for religious groups’ for 2020
CHINA New administrative measures for religious groups: total submission to the Chinese Communist Party : As of February 1, 2020, new administrative measures will be put in place for Chinese religious groups. According to a communication published by Xinhua, published yesterday, they complete the "Regulations on religious affairs" revised two years ago and implemented on February 1, 2018.
The text of the "Administrative measures for religious groups" published by Xinhua consists of six chapters and 41 articles dealing with the organization, functions, offices, supervision, projects and economic administration of communities and groups at both a national and local level. Every aspect of the life of religious communities - from formation, gatherings to annual and daily projects - is subject to approval by the government's religious affairs department.
The text of the "Administrative measures for religious groups" published by Xinhua consists of six chapters and 41 articles dealing with the organization, functions, offices, supervision, projects and economic administration of communities and groups at both a national and local level. Every aspect of the life of religious communities - from formation, gatherings to annual and daily projects - is subject to approval by the government's religious affairs department.
The readings for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God
The Sacred Page: The Solemnity of Mary Mother of GodBERGSMA: January 1 is the Solemnity (Holy Day) of Mary, Mother of God. To call Mary the “Mother of God” must not be understood as a claim for Mary’s motherhood of divinity itself, but in the sense that Mary was mother of Jesus, who is truly God. The Council of Ephesus in 431—long before the schisms with the Eastern churches and the Protestants—proclaimed “Mother of God” a theologically correct title for Mary.
So far from being a cause of division, the common confession of Mary as “Mother of God” should unite all Christians, and distinguish Christian orthodoxy from various confusions of it, such as Arianism (the denial that Jesus was God) or Nestorianism (in which Mary mothers only the human nature of Jesus but not his whole person).
So far from being a cause of division, the common confession of Mary as “Mother of God” should unite all Christians, and distinguish Christian orthodoxy from various confusions of it, such as Arianism (the denial that Jesus was God) or Nestorianism (in which Mary mothers only the human nature of Jesus but not his whole person).
Monday, December 30, 2019
The lies of Netflix’s ‘The Two Popes’
Netflix's 'The Two Popes' Review -- The Movie's Lies | National Review: First Things has comprehensively demolished the new Netflix movie The Two Popes, starring Anthony Hopkins as a grumpy Pope Benedict and Jonathan Pryce as a radiant Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, today known as Pope Francis. Netflix is spending huge sums trying to win Oscar nominations for the picture, which was directed by the acclaimed Brazilian Fernando Meirelles. (Netflix is spending huge sums on a lot of things this season.)
Chinese Protestant pastor Wang Yi sentenced to 9 years in prison after saying ‘Communism is incompatible with Christian faith’
China Sentences Wang Yi, Christian Pastor, to 9 Years in Prison - The New York Times: A secretive Chinese court sentenced one of the country’s best-known Christian voices and founder of one of its largest underground churches to nine years in prison for subversion of state power and illegal business operations, according to a government statement released on Monday.
Wang Yi, the pastor who founded Early Rain Covenant Church, was detained last December with more than 100 members of his congregation as part of a crackdown on churches, mosques and temples not registered with the state.
Wang Yi, the pastor who founded Early Rain Covenant Church, was detained last December with more than 100 members of his congregation as part of a crackdown on churches, mosques and temples not registered with the state.
On the value of silence before the great mystery of the Incarnation
On the Value of Silence before the Great Mystery of the Incarnation. - Community in MissionPOPE: Something at Christmas urges me (a man of many words) to write of holy silence. Perhaps it is due to one of the great Christmas antiphons, which speaks of the birth of Christ as a magnum mysterium (a great mystery). During Mass recently, the words of Zechariah came to my mind:
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord … Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling (Zechariah 2:11, 13).
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord … Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling (Zechariah 2:11, 13).
When you pray, the Christ Child awakens
Christ Child AwakeningLILLES: Just as when He awoke in swaddling clothes in a manger, Christ can awaken in our hearts in prayer. In that mysterious moment, His eyes communicate the same invincible joy that they did when they gazed into the eyes of His virgin mother. We know in that single instant what she knew — that He has given Himself to us and for us, and that we are the object of His delight. If we allow ourselves to be captivated by His gaze of love, we will soon find that we cannot but give ourselves to Him in return.
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Why Catholicism’s two traumas of the 2010s didn’t draw the same attention
Why Catholicism's two traumas of the 2010s didn't draw the same attentionALLEN: Suppose that, looking back at the close of a decade, there were two great narratives about a given group of people, one a tale of scandal and dark deeds coming to light, the other a story of suffering, victimization, and vulnerability.
Suppose, further, that the former storyline dominated global headlines, finishing as one of the most covered stories of the decade along with Donald Trump and climate change, while the other was second- or third-tier, with many average people not even aware it was happening. Suppose the scandal produced an Academy Award-winning movie that grossed $100 million worldwide, but the suffering had no movie, no anthem, no real pop culture footprint.
Suppose, further, that the former storyline dominated global headlines, finishing as one of the most covered stories of the decade along with Donald Trump and climate change, while the other was second- or third-tier, with many average people not even aware it was happening. Suppose the scandal produced an Academy Award-winning movie that grossed $100 million worldwide, but the suffering had no movie, no anthem, no real pop culture footprint.
Pope Francis asks families to put down their phones on Holy Family Sunday
Pope Francis asks families to put down their phones on Holy Family feast: On feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth Sunday, Pope Francis encouraged families to get off their cell phones and talk to one another.
“In your family, do you know how to communicate with each other, or are you like those kids at the table -- each one has their own cell phone, chatting? In that table there is a silence as if they were at Mass, but they don't communicate with each other,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus address Dec. 29.
“We need to retake communication within the family: parents, children, grandparents and siblings must communicate with each other,” the pope said. “This is your assignment for today for the feast of the Holy Family.”
“In your family, do you know how to communicate with each other, or are you like those kids at the table -- each one has their own cell phone, chatting? In that table there is a silence as if they were at Mass, but they don't communicate with each other,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus address Dec. 29.
“We need to retake communication within the family: parents, children, grandparents and siblings must communicate with each other,” the pope said. “This is your assignment for today for the feast of the Holy Family.”
On the Feast of the Holy Family, the biblical teaching on marriage and family
Biblical Teaching on Marriage and Family - A Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family - Community in MissionPOPE: It is not difficult to demonstrate that most of our modern problems center around struggles and misunderstandings regarding marriage, sexuality, and the family. Collectively as a nation and the culture, we have departed significantly from the teachings of God and common sense, when it comes to our thinking and behavior regarding these three fundamental pillars.
Today’s Feast of the Holy Family presents us an opportunity to reflect, and provides a rich tapestry of Scriptures. Many of these teachings are not “politically correct,” but for that, no apology should be made. They remain God’s teachings and it is hard to argue that modern notions of sexuality, marriage and family have produced anything short of catastrophe and disaster. And as is usually the case, it is the children suffer the most.
Today’s Feast of the Holy Family presents us an opportunity to reflect, and provides a rich tapestry of Scriptures. Many of these teachings are not “politically correct,” but for that, no apology should be made. They remain God’s teachings and it is hard to argue that modern notions of sexuality, marriage and family have produced anything short of catastrophe and disaster. And as is usually the case, it is the children suffer the most.
Saturday, December 28, 2019
The 15 most awe-inspiring space images of the decade
The most awesome space images of the decade - Vox: The field of astronomy this decade delivered an embarrassment of riches: stunning accomplishment after stunning accomplishment from the exploration of space. Humans sent robots to the farthest reaches of the solar system, to the sun, to the gas giant Jupiter, and more. Meanwhile, our telescopes peered deeper into the cosmos. They showed us images never seen before, like the first-ever image of a black hole, which was just declared to be Science’s “breakthrough of the year.”
Hector Berlioz’s long-lost “Solemn Mass” for the Holy Innocents
Hector Berlioz's Long-Lost "Solemn Mass" for the Holy Innocents ~ The Imaginative ConservativeKLUGEWICZ: Its premier in 1825 marked one of the most remarkable musical debuts ever by a composer, and the score’s rediscovery 167 years later in a church attic is one of the most astounding events in musicological history. For the composer of this work eventually destroyed all but one of the surviving copies of the score.
This is the Messe solennelle of the young Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), who had defied his parents’ wishes for him to be a doctor—earning him the curse of his mother that would haunt him for the rest of his life—fleeing his home to study with the composer Jean-François Le Sueur. Berlioz had little musical knowledge when he met Le Sueur; his parents had introduced him only to a few musical instruments, the flute, the flageolet, and guitar, and in only the most rudimentary way. He never learned how to play the piano, a fact that made him stand out among his musical contemporaries and indeed among most composers in history, and also surely led to the creation of the unique sound-world of his compositions, one that made him sound so radically out of his own time that it alienated many of his contemporaries, and indeed sullied his reputation for posterity.
This is the Messe solennelle of the young Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), who had defied his parents’ wishes for him to be a doctor—earning him the curse of his mother that would haunt him for the rest of his life—fleeing his home to study with the composer Jean-François Le Sueur. Berlioz had little musical knowledge when he met Le Sueur; his parents had introduced him only to a few musical instruments, the flute, the flageolet, and guitar, and in only the most rudimentary way. He never learned how to play the piano, a fact that made him stand out among his musical contemporaries and indeed among most composers in history, and also surely led to the creation of the unique sound-world of his compositions, one that made him sound so radically out of his own time that it alienated many of his contemporaries, and indeed sullied his reputation for posterity.
The suffering love of the Savior
Beginning to Pray: The Suffering Love of the SaviorLILLES: The love of Jesus saves because it has the power to bear away sin. The witness of the Holy Innocents shows us that the powerful of this world do not have the final say about humanity. At the end of the day, no matter how much violence is unleashed, Christ's saving love will raise up the lowly and the powerless - even if they are as helpless as infants and children. Because of Christ, they suffered, but because of Him, they testify to something good and true about humanity - that the most vulnerable of our society to not admit of being used as a means to and end, that those who do so will never thwart the plan of God. For the saving power of God is greater than the power of evil.
The readings for Holy Family Sunday
The Sacred Page: The Readings for Holy Family SundayBERGSMA: The Sunday that falls in the Octave of the Solemnity of Christmas is dedicated to celebrating the Holy Family. The Readings for this Sunday focus on the rights and responsibilities of family members toward each other, and the Gospel focuses on the role of the “most forgotten” member of the Holy Family, St. Joseph, who cared for and protected the Blessed Mother and infant Jesus through the dangerous early years of Jesus’ childhood.
Persecuted and forgotten? Defending defenseless Christians...
Persecuted and Forgotten? Defending Defenseless Christians - The Catholic ThingMURZAKU: A few days ago, I went to my trusted Lebanese-American mechanic for an oil change. The Christians of the East have always had a penchant for discussing theology, politics, and race – and as far as theology is concerned, the Easterners have all the theology they could want to discuss and contest. My routine car service, therefore, usually turns into interesting discussions on theology, Church history, and – most recently – the state of persecuted Christians in the East.
I guess this is one of the benefits of my being a Church historian. It happens that my mechanic was fresh back from Lebanon, which he had visited for his mother’s funeral. He had a lot to tell me about the persecution and harassment Lebanese Christians are suffering at the hands of the Muslim majority and about recent protests – Hezbollah is currently the major political force in the country.
I guess this is one of the benefits of my being a Church historian. It happens that my mechanic was fresh back from Lebanon, which he had visited for his mother’s funeral. He had a lot to tell me about the persecution and harassment Lebanese Christians are suffering at the hands of the Muslim majority and about recent protests – Hezbollah is currently the major political force in the country.
How to reduce digital distractions: Advice from medieval monks
How to Reduce Digital Distractions: Advice From Medieval Monks: Medieval monks had a terrible time concentrating. And concentration was their lifelong work! Their tech was obviously different from ours. But their anxiety about distraction was not. They complained about being overloaded with information, and about how, even once you finally settled on something to read, it was easy to get bored and turn to something else. They were frustrated by their desire to stare out of the window, or to constantly check on the time (in their case, with the Sun as their clock), or to think about food or sex when they were supposed to be thinking about God. They even worried about getting distracted in their dreams.
You can still buy homes for $1 in beautiful towns all over Italy — here’s a roundup
$1 homes in Italy still for sale -- here's a roundup | CNN Travel: While most good things get more expensive, one dream got ridiculously cheap in 2019 thanks to the rise of the €1 home in Italy.
CNN Travel broke the news 12 months ago that the village of Sambuca in southern Italy was selling off abandoned, dilapidated homes for just over a dollar as it tried to reverse a trend of rural depopulation.
The story quickly went viral, drawing global interest, particularly as other towns and villages from the northern Alps to sunny Sicily were attempting the same thing.
Soon, some of these towns found themselves besieged by buyers. Mayors fielded thousands of requests, websites crashed, sleepy villages were invaded and locals freaked out.
CNN Travel broke the news 12 months ago that the village of Sambuca in southern Italy was selling off abandoned, dilapidated homes for just over a dollar as it tried to reverse a trend of rural depopulation.
The story quickly went viral, drawing global interest, particularly as other towns and villages from the northern Alps to sunny Sicily were attempting the same thing.
Soon, some of these towns found themselves besieged by buyers. Mayors fielded thousands of requests, websites crashed, sleepy villages were invaded and locals freaked out.
Joliet Bishop Daniel Conlon announces medical leave of absence
Joliet Bishop Conlon announces medical leave of absence: The Diocese of Joliet announced Friday that Bishop Daniel Conlon will take a medical leave of absence from leadership of the Illinois diocese.
During Conlon’s absence, “Bishop Richard E. Pates, Bishop Emeritus of Des Moines, will serve as Apostolic Administrator of the diocese,” the diocese said in a Dec. 27 statement. “Bishop Conlon expresses his deep affection for the clergy, religious and laity of the Diocese of Joliet and will keep them in his prayers during his time away. He also asks for their prayers,” the statement added.
The diocese did not say what health problems Conlon is facing.
During Conlon’s absence, “Bishop Richard E. Pates, Bishop Emeritus of Des Moines, will serve as Apostolic Administrator of the diocese,” the diocese said in a Dec. 27 statement. “Bishop Conlon expresses his deep affection for the clergy, religious and laity of the Diocese of Joliet and will keep them in his prayers during his time away. He also asks for their prayers,” the statement added.
The diocese did not say what health problems Conlon is facing.
Friday, December 27, 2019
From Scrooge to the Grinch, Christmas conversions in classic Hollywood films
Christmas Conversions in Classic Hollywood FilmsMANN: So I was talking to Matt Swaim on the Son Rise Morning Show about G.K. Chesterton’s great appreciation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and he mentioned that many Christmas-themed movies feature conversions like Scrooge’s: he brought up The Grinch Who Stole Christmas or The Grinch as an example, and It’s a Wonderful Life. But as Turner Classic Movies and other cable stations are showing movies with Christmas settings, I began to think of many more Christmas conversions — changes of heart, family reconciliations, and renewed hope brought about by the “spirit of Christmas.” Even all those Hallmark Channel Christmas movies are about some kind of conversion: from career to family; from expedient marriage to finding true love, etc.
As long as Catholics continue feasting, Christendom still exists
As Long as Catholics Continue Feasting, Christendom Still Exists! | Classical Catholic EducationLANGLEY: What is a perennial truth if nothing other than a truth which springs up every year?
We who are strangers and sojourners in the city of man, we who aspire towards citizenship in the city of God, we know that Christmas is all about celebrating Christ’s birth.
All of Christian literature, all of the literature that celebrates or dimly shadows Christendom stands in testimony that Christendom is the Feast! Search your Homer. Search your Virgil. Sit with Beowulf at the mead-benches in Hrothgar’s Heorot or with Gawain at the halls of Arthur or King Bertilak. All of us, pilgrims proceeding to Canterbury know that our pilgrimage begins and ends with feasting!
We who are strangers and sojourners in the city of man, we who aspire towards citizenship in the city of God, we know that Christmas is all about celebrating Christ’s birth.
All of Christian literature, all of the literature that celebrates or dimly shadows Christendom stands in testimony that Christendom is the Feast! Search your Homer. Search your Virgil. Sit with Beowulf at the mead-benches in Hrothgar’s Heorot or with Gawain at the halls of Arthur or King Bertilak. All of us, pilgrims proceeding to Canterbury know that our pilgrimage begins and ends with feasting!
This Sunday, the pain and high purpose of family life
This Sunday, the Pain and High Purpose of Family Life | The Gregorian Institute at Benedictine CollegeHOOPES: The family is essential to society’s health and a rock of emotional security to all who give themselves to it.
Family life is difficult drudgery and can have a heart-numbing effect on our dreams and hopes.
This Sunday, the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Year A, the readings show both.
For Joseph in today’s Gospel, family life is a combination of high purpose and hard work.
The Gospel begins with the departure of the magi and the message of an angel. It is hard to imagine a more exalted moment for a father, when great men have sought out his child and angels intervene for his safety.
Family life is difficult drudgery and can have a heart-numbing effect on our dreams and hopes.
This Sunday, the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Year A, the readings show both.
For Joseph in today’s Gospel, family life is a combination of high purpose and hard work.
The Gospel begins with the departure of the magi and the message of an angel. It is hard to imagine a more exalted moment for a father, when great men have sought out his child and angels intervene for his safety.
What’s the one thing journalists need to learn from the Christianity Today firestorm?
What's the one thing journalists need to learn from the Christianity Today firestorm? — GetReligionMATTINGLY: Let’s consider this an educational moment. Since journalists are paying lots of attention, right now, to Christianity Today and other things linked to the late Billy Graham, let’s do a flashback to some poll numbers published in the fall of 2018.
This polling was done by the Billy Graham Center Institute at Wheaton College, working with LifeWay Research. One of the goals was to understand why evangelicals voted the way that they did in 2016.
Lots of things grabbed my attention, but here are some numbers that I think journalists need to ponder at the moment in light of the recent CT editorial by departing editor Mark Galli. You may have heard about it. The headline proclaimed: “Trump Should Be Removed from Office.”
This polling was done by the Billy Graham Center Institute at Wheaton College, working with LifeWay Research. One of the goals was to understand why evangelicals voted the way that they did in 2016.
Lots of things grabbed my attention, but here are some numbers that I think journalists need to ponder at the moment in light of the recent CT editorial by departing editor Mark Galli. You may have heard about it. The headline proclaimed: “Trump Should Be Removed from Office.”
Christmas: The end of the power of wickedness
Christmas: The End of the Power of Wickedness | Bacon From AcornsCUDDEBACK: When we come face to face with wickedness it can seem overwhelming, as though it carries all before it. The good in life seems more vulnerable, and subject to being undermined by human malice.
But perhaps we are not seeing things as they are. If once evil was dominant, now everything is changed. From now on wickedness tends to nothing. This is not just wishful thinking. It is another aspect of how reality is actually better than we have yet realized.
But perhaps we are not seeing things as they are. If once evil was dominant, now everything is changed. From now on wickedness tends to nothing. This is not just wishful thinking. It is another aspect of how reality is actually better than we have yet realized.
McCarrick’s gifts: $600,000 to high-ranking prelates
McCarrick’s gifts: $600,000 to high-ranking prelates : News Headlines | Catholic Culture: The disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick sent more than $600,000 in cash gifts to Vatican officials and other influential prelates during his term as Archbishop of Washington, the Washington Post has revealed.
A legendary fundraiser, McCarrick brought in $6 million in tax-exempt donations to an “Archbishop’s Special Fund,” over which he had complete control. He drew on that fund to send gifts that included, for instance, $19,000 to Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of State; $6,500 to then-Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, the sostituto who handled everyday Vatican administrative affairs; $5,000 to the late Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, who was the papal nuncio in Washington; and a one-time gift of $250,000 to Pope Benedict XVI shortly after his election.
A legendary fundraiser, McCarrick brought in $6 million in tax-exempt donations to an “Archbishop’s Special Fund,” over which he had complete control. He drew on that fund to send gifts that included, for instance, $19,000 to Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of State; $6,500 to then-Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, the sostituto who handled everyday Vatican administrative affairs; $5,000 to the late Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, who was the papal nuncio in Washington; and a one-time gift of $250,000 to Pope Benedict XVI shortly after his election.
The mathematics of the 12 Days of Christmas
The Mathematics of the 12 Days of Christmas – Jimmy AkinAKIN: This year, I went to a Christmas Eve Mass for families with children, and the priest gave a homily based on the song The 12 Days of Christmas.
He used it as a way of helping children think about different aspects of the Faith, based on the (baseless) idea that it was composed as a crypto-catechism for Catholic children when it was illegal to practice (or fully practice) Catholicism in Britain.
He wisely threaded the needle by calling the truth of this claim into question, without definitively saying that it’s false.
He used it as a way of helping children think about different aspects of the Faith, based on the (baseless) idea that it was composed as a crypto-catechism for Catholic children when it was illegal to practice (or fully practice) Catholicism in Britain.
He wisely threaded the needle by calling the truth of this claim into question, without definitively saying that it’s false.
Christmas, freedom, and obedience
Christmas, freedom, and obedience - Denver CatholicWEIGEL: On December 17, the day the first “O Antiphon” signaled the intensification of preparations for Christmas, the Church read the genealogy of Jesus from Matthew’s gospel: writing for a predominantly Jewish-Christian audience, the evangelist stresses that the blessings promised to and through Abraham, and the dynastic promises made to King David, are about to be fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Almost three weeks later, the Church will read the second Jesus-genealogy, in Luke 3:23-38. There, on the cusp of the Epiphany and the public manifestations of Jesus as Lord, the historical lens opens farther: Luke also traces Jesus’s ancestry through David and the patriarchs of Israel, but then extends the line back through “…the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”
Why do we think of Our Lord’s birth as a nighttime event?
Why Do We Think of Christ's Birth As a Nighttime Event? - Community in MissionPOPE: O Holy night! Yes, a silent night! And it came upon a midnight clear! Christmas, it would seem, is a festival of the middle of the night. Jesus is born when it is dark, dark midnight. We are sure of it. And why shouldn’t we be?
Even though we are not told the exact hour of His birth, we are sure it must have been at night. Scripture does say that the Shepherds who heard the glad tidings were keeping watch over their flock “by night” (cf Luke 2:9). Further, the Magi sought Him by the light of a star, and stars are seen at night, deep midnight. None of this is evidence that Jesus was born at 12:00 midnight but it sets our clocks for night, deep midnight.
Even though we are not told the exact hour of His birth, we are sure it must have been at night. Scripture does say that the Shepherds who heard the glad tidings were keeping watch over their flock “by night” (cf Luke 2:9). Further, the Magi sought Him by the light of a star, and stars are seen at night, deep midnight. None of this is evidence that Jesus was born at 12:00 midnight but it sets our clocks for night, deep midnight.
The Word Made Flesh speaks in silences
Beginning to Pray: Welcome the Christ-Child into Your HeartLILLES: The Word of the Father has entered into the world with great gentleness and discretion. Not violent, but tender toward humanity, how He has come into human history unveils how he comes into the mystery of each heart. He does not come to diminish or impose, but to build up and to enrich. Not to come to adore Him is to lose out on the whole purpose of life, but many who seek Him are baptized into so much meaning that their hearts can no longer hold it in. It is precisely his vulnerability and his poverty that unveil his power and riches.
Muslim Jihadists claim execution of 11 blindfolded Christians in Nigeria
ISIS terrorists execute 11 blindfolded Christians in Nigeria: ISIS-aligned jihadists have released a video claiming to show the execution of 11 blindfolded Christian men in Nigeria, in what analysts say was a barbaric act that was clearly timed to coincide with Christmas, according to reports.
“This is a message to Christians all over the world,” a masked man says in the one-minute video posted online late Thursday by the terror group’s Amaq news agency.
“This is a message to Christians all over the world,” a masked man says in the one-minute video posted online late Thursday by the terror group’s Amaq news agency.
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the sky, is acting strange, and astronomers are buzzing
Betelgeuse is acting strange, and astronomers are buzzing: The constellation Orion is one of the most recognizable patterns in the night sky, visible around the world. But if you’ve looked at Orion recently and thought something seemed off, you’re not wrong: The giant red star Betelgeuse, which marks the hunter’s right shoulder, is the dimmest it’s been in almost a century.
Normally, Betelgeuse is among the 10 brightest stars in the sky. However, the red giant began dimming in October, and by mid-December, the star had faded so much it wasn’t even in the top 20, Villanova University’s Edward Guinan reported in an Astronomer’s Telegram.
Normally, Betelgeuse is among the 10 brightest stars in the sky. However, the red giant began dimming in October, and by mid-December, the star had faded so much it wasn’t even in the top 20, Villanova University’s Edward Guinan reported in an Astronomer’s Telegram.
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Pope Francis on Christmas: Christ’s light is greater than the darkness of world’s conflicts
Pope Francis on Christmas: Christ's light is greater than the darkness of world's conflicts: On Christmas, Pope Francis prayed for Christ to bring light to the instability in Iraq, Lebanon, Venezuela, Yemen, Ukraine, Burkina Faso, and other parts of the world experiencing conflict.
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
The well-fought fight
The well-fought fight - Denver CatholicWEIGEL: The incorporation of Anglican hymnody into English-language Catholic worship is one of the great blessings of the past 50 years. And within that noble musical patrimony, Ralph Vaughan Williams surely holds pride of place among modern composers. Well do I remember the summer day in 1965 when I heard a massed chorus of men and women under the direction of my old choirmaster, Robert Twynham, rock the Baltimore Civic Center with all eight verses of Vaughan William’s masterpiece, “For All the Saints,” the processional hymn at the opening Mass of what used to be known as a “Liturgical Week.” It was stirring beyond words. And if a retrospective look at the program of lectures and seminars that followed reveals hints of choppy waters ahead in implementing the liturgical reforms mandated by the Second Vatican Council, the bright memory of that great hymn being sung by thousands of voices nonetheless lingers, and without alloy.
Christmas festivities begin in Bethlehem
Christmas festivities begin in Bethlehem | PBS NewsHour: Thousands of Christian pilgrims descended on the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, ahead of Tuesday’s annual Christmas Eve celebrations.
The Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus was born, was set to host Palestinian dignitaries and pilgrims from around the world for a midnight Mass.
Uniformed Palestinian scouts wearing yellow and gold capes paraded past assembled visitors in Manger Square, bedecked with a large Christmas tree, playing drums and bagpipes.
The Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus was born, was set to host Palestinian dignitaries and pilgrims from around the world for a midnight Mass.
Uniformed Palestinian scouts wearing yellow and gold capes paraded past assembled visitors in Manger Square, bedecked with a large Christmas tree, playing drums and bagpipes.
Fatima to Vatican II: Mary, ‘Mother of the Church’ and our loving Mother
Fatima to Vatican II: Mary, ‘Mother of the Church’ and Our Loving Mother – Catholic World ReportTSAKANIKAS: The title of Mary, “Mother of the Church,” was officially promulgated alongside Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) in 1964. It was instituted by Pope Francis as a liturgical memorial only last year. Henceforth, it is celebrated the Monday after Pentecost Sunday. Its fixed structure in the liturgical calendar signifies Mary’s continued motherly mediation from heaven; that today she still gathers with us and calls down the Holy Spirit upon the mystical body of her Son. The establishment of this memorial, this lex orandi (law of praying), specifically renews the apostolic lex credendi (law of believing).
Monday, December 23, 2019
Can the American casket duopoly — a main culprit behind the rise of cremation over Christian burial — be disrupted?
Can the American casket monopoly be disrupted?: As Ben Franklin once quipped, death is one of the only certainties in life. And with that certainty comes an endless supply of customers.
Every year, 2.8m people die in the US. Around 40% of them opt to be buried — most commonly, in a casket. A $550m-per-year business, caskets make up a healthy portion of the much larger $20B death industry.
The market for burials has never been more flooded with options. You can now spend your post-life years buried in a bodysuit fashioned out of mushrooms, in a pod that turns you into a tree, or in an IKEA-style casket you assemble yourself. Whatever your post-mortem niche, there’s probably a startup for it.
Every year, 2.8m people die in the US. Around 40% of them opt to be buried — most commonly, in a casket. A $550m-per-year business, caskets make up a healthy portion of the much larger $20B death industry.
The market for burials has never been more flooded with options. You can now spend your post-life years buried in a bodysuit fashioned out of mushrooms, in a pod that turns you into a tree, or in an IKEA-style casket you assemble yourself. Whatever your post-mortem niche, there’s probably a startup for it.
100 gallons of holy water blesses town via crop dusting plane in Louisiana
100 Gallons of Holy Water Blesses Town Via Crop Dusting Plane in Louisiana: We should do this everywhere!
St. Anne Church of the Cow Island community in Abbeville, La., blessed their town and farms with 100 gallons of holy water with the help of a crop dusting plane.
The Diocese of Lafayette posted several photos of the blessing on Facebook. They also wished readers a Merry Christmas.
St. Anne Church of the Cow Island community in Abbeville, La., blessed their town and farms with 100 gallons of holy water with the help of a crop dusting plane.
The Diocese of Lafayette posted several photos of the blessing on Facebook. They also wished readers a Merry Christmas.
A late Advent message from the Lord
A Late Advent Message From the Lord - Community in MissionPOPE: As the end of Advent approaches, the Office of Readings features some final admonitions from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. On the one hand they console; on the other, they challenge us to remain firm. Isaiah addressed a people in exile who still awaited the first coming of the Lord. Today, these texts speak to us in difficult times when, exiled from Heaven, we await His magnificent Second Coming. Let’s look at these admonitions from the Lord, which were addressed to three different groups in ancient Israel. However, let’s apply them to three groups in our own times: the faithful remnant, the foolish rebels, and the fainthearted at risk.
Cardinal Cupich approves Constitutions of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius
Cardinal Cupich Approves Constitutions of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius: On December 23rd, the Feast of St. John Cantius, the documents and Constitutions of the first General Chapter of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius were signed and approved by Cardinal Blase Cupich. At the signing Cardinal Cupich stated “I hope you continue to prosper and grow. I am really pleased to sign this decree accepting the Acts of the General Chapter and updating the Constitution and also the Ratio Formationis that you have for your community.” These documents update and expand upon the Constitutions of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius approved by Cardinal Francis George in 1998. The Constitutions guide the community as they live their charism of ‘Restoration of the Sacred’ in service to the Church and the people of God.
Christmas is almost here! Get ready by studying the readings for the Nativity...
The Sacred Page: Christmas is Here! Readings for the NativityBERGSMA: The Christmas Solemnity has distinct readings for four separate masses: Vigil, Midnight, Dawn, and Day. They stay the same from year to year, so below are my annual comments, only lightly revised. To start with, we have been reading from Isaiah all the way through Advent and now reach a particularly dramatic and beautiful oracle.
Zion/Jerusalem was the capital city of the nation of Israel, the city of the Temple, and mystically the New Eden. Israelites considered it the navel of the universe, the center of the earth, and in Isaiah it becomes the heart and embodiment of God’s people. Jerusalem is more than a city, it is a mystical reality. The Apostles and New Testament authors understand Jerusalem to be the Church, the bride of Christ
Zion/Jerusalem was the capital city of the nation of Israel, the city of the Temple, and mystically the New Eden. Israelites considered it the navel of the universe, the center of the earth, and in Isaiah it becomes the heart and embodiment of God’s people. Jerusalem is more than a city, it is a mystical reality. The Apostles and New Testament authors understand Jerusalem to be the Church, the bride of Christ
The Bransfield report: Washington Post publishes secret Vatican document as parishioners demand answers
The Bransfield report: Post publishes secret Vatican document as parishioners demand answers - The Washington Post: For months, civil authorities and Catholic parishioners have sought access to a secret church report about Michael J. Bransfield, the West Virginia bishop ousted for alleged sexual and financial misconduct. Law enforcement authorities in two jurisdictions contend that they could aid investigations they have launched, and parishioners have said they could help them understand how Bransfield’s behavior went unchecked for so long.
Why are Catholic homilies so short and light on Scripture?
Why Are Catholic Homilies So Short and Light on Scripture?LANDRY: On Dec. 16, as Catholic clergy were in the heart of their Advent preparations for Christmas and getting ready to mount the pulpit for one of their most important preaching opportunities of the year, the Pew Research Center released an intriguing, first-of-its-kind study entitled, “The Digital Pulpit: A Nationwide Analysis of Online Sermons.”
Using advanced computer technology, the study examined the websites of 38,630 Christian churches in the U.S., found 6,431 that publish audio or video recordings of the Sunday sermons and homilies in English and analyzed them, among other things, for length and vocabulary. The results were rather striking.
Using advanced computer technology, the study examined the websites of 38,630 Christian churches in the U.S., found 6,431 that publish audio or video recordings of the Sunday sermons and homilies in English and analyzed them, among other things, for length and vocabulary. The results were rather striking.
The mystery of the Church in Advent
The Mystery of the Church in Advent - SpiritualDirection.comLILLES: Advent is a season for us to rediscover the mystery of the Church. She is the Bride who awaits the Bridegroom with eager anticipation. The shining glow of a secret joy glistens in her eyes. To glimpse her fierce majesty is to be drawn into her invincible dynamism. For she awakens a longing that nothing can overcome and in the deepest center of the heart, brings to birth a new certitude.
The Bride knows, in a way that no one else can know, the truth and goodness that the Bridegroom imparts, and each new gift that he gives makes her yearn for Him all the more. Conversely, without the Church, we are deprived of the passion that the Christian faith demands. We can only strain for what lies ahead as we learn to see the goodness of the life that He has given us now. The life of the Church spans the “here and now” with an eternity of new beginnings so that as she journeys, He makes all things new.
The Bride knows, in a way that no one else can know, the truth and goodness that the Bridegroom imparts, and each new gift that he gives makes her yearn for Him all the more. Conversely, without the Church, we are deprived of the passion that the Christian faith demands. We can only strain for what lies ahead as we learn to see the goodness of the life that He has given us now. The life of the Church spans the “here and now” with an eternity of new beginnings so that as she journeys, He makes all things new.
Brunei is getting as bad as Saudi Arabia, and Christmas is now banned
Foreigners vacate Brunei, where Christmas is banned ucanews.org: Foreign workers are gathering their families, packing their bags and leaving Brunei, where a ban on celebrating Christmas has been enforced since 2014 by an authoritarian regime happy to impose stiff penalties for any breaches of the law.
Fearing Muslims would be led astray and convert to Christianity, the sultan of Brunei imposed full Sharia law in April, a culmination of an all-imposing Islamic legal system that was introduced step by step over the last six years.
In a move that bears striking similarities to Biblical stories from the Roman occupation of the Holy Land, Christians are only allowed to celebrate Christmas within the privacy of their own homes and only after they have notified authorities.
Any breaches can result in jail terms of up to five years and fines of up to US$20,000, or both, following the growing influence of Wahhabism, a harsh brand of Islam followed by the likes of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that has its roots in Saudi Arabia.
Fearing Muslims would be led astray and convert to Christianity, the sultan of Brunei imposed full Sharia law in April, a culmination of an all-imposing Islamic legal system that was introduced step by step over the last six years.
In a move that bears striking similarities to Biblical stories from the Roman occupation of the Holy Land, Christians are only allowed to celebrate Christmas within the privacy of their own homes and only after they have notified authorities.
Any breaches can result in jail terms of up to five years and fines of up to US$20,000, or both, following the growing influence of Wahhabism, a harsh brand of Islam followed by the likes of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that has its roots in Saudi Arabia.
Remember, life is about so much more than politics
Christmas Season: Hope Beyond Impeachment | National ReviewLOPEZ: It was a week before Christmas and I found myself anxious and angry. I realized I was paying more attention to minute-by-minute politics than I had paid any other day of the year. It was Impeachment Day. I was seeing all kinds of “Impeachmas” references and merriment about the proceedings in the House. At the Mass I went to that day, the Franciscan friar prayed, without partisanship, about the “grave” matters in Washington. The priest called upon Saint Joseph to intercede so that there might be wisdom there. That seemed like a countercultural act of faith at a time of such cynicism.
Evangelize by example, not pushing your faith on others, says Pope
Francis: Evangelize by Example, not Pushing Your Faith on Others | Matthew SchneiderSCHNEIDER: Recently, Pope Francis answered questions from high school students and suggested they convert non-Catholics through their authenticity and example. In so explaining, he suggested they don’t push their faith on unbelieving students. This is generally a good, practical strategy. Unfortunately, some misread what he said. They read it just as not doing the latter without seeing the former. I want to point out what Francis said, then explain two points: practical evangelization and “proselytism.”
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Confessions of a feminist heretic
Confessions of a Feminist Heretic | Church Life Journal | University of Notre Dame: During the advent of my first pregnancy, in 2012, I was comfortably settled into my own unique brand of postmodern feminist Christianity. I remember lounging on the couch amidst waves of debilitating nausea, watching news coverage of the controversial Contraceptive Mandate, rolling my eyes in anger and disgust at those regressive Catholic priests in their prim white collars, telling women what to do with their bodies.
Yet almost exactly two years later, I would be standing before such a priest at the Easter Vigil Mass, publicly confessing my desire to be received into the largest, oldest male-helmed institution in the world, the Roman Catholic Church. My sudden swerve into Catholicism prompted a dramatic worldview inversion on a number of issues related to feminism and sexuality, including the central feminist tenet that abortion is good for women. I can trace my paradigm shift on abortion to two underlying recognitions that dawned slowly during those two short years: a recognition of unborn personhood, and a recognition that the feminist ideal of autonomy sets a woman at war with her own body.
Yet almost exactly two years later, I would be standing before such a priest at the Easter Vigil Mass, publicly confessing my desire to be received into the largest, oldest male-helmed institution in the world, the Roman Catholic Church. My sudden swerve into Catholicism prompted a dramatic worldview inversion on a number of issues related to feminism and sexuality, including the central feminist tenet that abortion is good for women. I can trace my paradigm shift on abortion to two underlying recognitions that dawned slowly during those two short years: a recognition of unborn personhood, and a recognition that the feminist ideal of autonomy sets a woman at war with her own body.
The ultimate Zion National Park travel guide
The Ultimate Zion National Park Travel Guide | Outside Online: The first time I road-tripped from Los Angeles to Zion National Park, I remember thinking that the Virgin River Gorge, which cuts a deep slash across Arizona’s northwest corner, was something like a certain literary wardrobe: you entered on one side via the quiet Nevada desert, then emerged a handful of twists later into the magical expanse of Utah, which practically vibrated with otherworldly sights. But the journey was nothing compared to the destination—Zion brims with bucket-list backdrops, from its intoxicating blend of brilliant colors to its serpentine canyons and sheer cliffs, that since my very first visit have never failed to leave me awestruck.
On the 250th anniversary of his birth, the little-discussed faith of Beethoven...
The little discussed faith of BeethovenMAURO: Germany and Austria are preparing for a year-long string of events to honor the 250th birthday of Ludwig Van Beethoven, one of the Western world’s greatest and most prolific composers. The activities will be centralized in the German city of Bonn, where Beethoven was born, and the Austrian city of Vienna, where the composer spent most of his life and composed the majority of his works.
The event will proceed under the moniker BTHVN2020. DW reports that each of the 5 letters in the logo corresponds with a German word for five key aspects of the composer’s character: Beethoven as a citizen, as a composer, a humanist, a visionary and a nature lover. Coordinators refer to these as “pillars” of Beethoven, and events are expected to bring these themes into their presentations.
The event will proceed under the moniker BTHVN2020. DW reports that each of the 5 letters in the logo corresponds with a German word for five key aspects of the composer’s character: Beethoven as a citizen, as a composer, a humanist, a visionary and a nature lover. Coordinators refer to these as “pillars” of Beethoven, and events are expected to bring these themes into their presentations.
Is a Catholic “victims’ rights” movement the next frontier in abuse reform?
Is a Catholic ‘Victims’ Rights’ movement the next frontier in abuse reform?ALLEN: For most of human history, when someone was accused of a crime, whatever passed for a trial to assess guilt was a simple affair: Victim v. Defendant. Unsurprisingly, such “trials” often boiled down to who was more powerful, wealthier or better connected, and had only a passing relationship to justice.
In the late 17th century, Enlightenment philosopher John Locke argued that the progress of civilization required the state to supplant the victim as the accusing party in a criminal trial, in order to ensure neutrality and fairness.
In the late 17th century, Enlightenment philosopher John Locke argued that the progress of civilization required the state to supplant the victim as the accusing party in a criminal trial, in order to ensure neutrality and fairness.
Crisis at Christmas — A homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent
Crisis At Christmas - A Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent - Community in MissionPOPE: Today’s Gospel gives us some background for the Christmas feast that we need to take to heart. It speaks to us of a crisis at Christmas.
We tend to sentimentalize the Christmas story as we think of the baby Jesus in the manger. It is not absolutely wrong to be sentimental, but we must also be prayerfully sober about how difficult that first Christmas was, and about the heroic virtue required of Mary and Joseph in order to cooperate with God in making it come to pass.
We tend to sentimentalize the Christmas story as we think of the baby Jesus in the manger. It is not absolutely wrong to be sentimental, but we must also be prayerfully sober about how difficult that first Christmas was, and about the heroic virtue required of Mary and Joseph in order to cooperate with God in making it come to pass.
The Pope’s latest speech to the cardinals has a backstory — one that was supposed to stay secret...
The Pope's Latest Speech To the Cardinals Has a Backstory. That Was Supposed To Stay Secret - Settimo Cielo - Blog - L’EspressoMAGISTER: This time as well, in the speech he gives every year to the Vatican curia before Christmas, Pope Francis has come out swinging at his unfortunate listeners.
Last year he went after the the Judases “who hide behind good intentions to stab their brothers and sow weeds.”
Two years ago he had pilloried the “trusted traitors” who “let themselves be corrupted by ambition or vainglory and, when they are gently removed, falsely declare themselves martyrs of the system, of the ‘uninformed pope,’ of the ‘old guard,’ … instead of reciting the ‘mea culpa’.”
And who is in the pope’s crosshairs this year? Below are the most biting passages from the speech given by the pope to the Roman curia on the morning of Saturday, December 21.
Last year he went after the the Judases “who hide behind good intentions to stab their brothers and sow weeds.”
Two years ago he had pilloried the “trusted traitors” who “let themselves be corrupted by ambition or vainglory and, when they are gently removed, falsely declare themselves martyrs of the system, of the ‘uninformed pope,’ of the ‘old guard,’ … instead of reciting the ‘mea culpa’.”
And who is in the pope’s crosshairs this year? Below are the most biting passages from the speech given by the pope to the Roman curia on the morning of Saturday, December 21.
“Brothers and Sisters, Christendom no longer exists” — At curial Christmas address, the Pope’s “hermeneutic of change”
Whispers in the Loggia: "Brothers and Sisters, Christendom No Longer Exists!" – At Curial Christmas, The Pope's "Hermeneutic of 'Change'"PALMO: Over the last two pontificates, what's formally known as the Pope's Christmas "greeting" to his Curial chiefs has gone well beyond glad tidings – if anything, the forum has arguably made for the most significant in-house speech of the year for Benedict and Francis both.
The traditional opening "bookend" to Vatican Christmas – which closes in early January with the "State of the World" address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See – at today's appointment, the reigning pontiff yet again focused on his continuing effort on the reform of the Roman Curia, the wholesale thrust of which might finally be executed in the New Year with the most sweeping makeover of the church's central government since Vatican II. Yet while Francis employed today's talk to deliver a pointed counter to his predecessor's 2005 manifesto on "continuity," the Pope's message of "change" was exponentially amplified with his announcement that the Curia's most powerful figure of the last generation would leave his final post.
The traditional opening "bookend" to Vatican Christmas – which closes in early January with the "State of the World" address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See – at today's appointment, the reigning pontiff yet again focused on his continuing effort on the reform of the Roman Curia, the wholesale thrust of which might finally be executed in the New Year with the most sweeping makeover of the church's central government since Vatican II. Yet while Francis employed today's talk to deliver a pointed counter to his predecessor's 2005 manifesto on "continuity," the Pope's message of "change" was exponentially amplified with his announcement that the Curia's most powerful figure of the last generation would leave his final post.
Oh-so familiar Top 10 religion stories list (with a few exceptions)
Final 2019 podcast: Oh-so familiar Top 10 religion stories list (with a few exceptions) — GetReligionMATTINGLY: Near the end of every year, the Religion News Association (the flock previously known as the Religion Newswriters Association) posts its list of the year’s Top 10 religion-beat stories.
It’s tough work, but somebody has to do it. I don’t envy the scribes who have to create the list of events that go on the ballot.
The archive on the RNA website only goes back to 2002, but I have been writing annual columns on this topic since forever, or close to it (click here for my Internet-era archive). As you would expect, this was the top of the final “Crossroads” podcast for 2019 (click here to tune that in).
It’s tough work, but somebody has to do it. I don’t envy the scribes who have to create the list of events that go on the ballot.
The archive on the RNA website only goes back to 2002, but I have been writing annual columns on this topic since forever, or close to it (click here for my Internet-era archive). As you would expect, this was the top of the final “Crossroads” podcast for 2019 (click here to tune that in).
Pope’s Sunday Angelus: This Christmas, imitate St. Joseph’s trust in God
Pope Francis: This Christmas, imitate St. Joseph's trust in God: In a difficult situation, St. Joseph put his whole trust in God and was obedient, an example for all Catholics to imitate, Pope Francis said during the Angelus Sunday.
St. Joseph “does not preach, does not speak, but tries to do the will of God; and he does it in the style of the Gospel and of the Beatitudes,” he said Dec. 22.
“The example of this meek and wise man urges us to lift our gaze and push further,” he continued. “It is a matter of recovering the surprising logic of God who, far from small or large calculations, is made of openness to new horizons, towards Christ and his Word.”
St. Joseph “does not preach, does not speak, but tries to do the will of God; and he does it in the style of the Gospel and of the Beatitudes,” he said Dec. 22.
“The example of this meek and wise man urges us to lift our gaze and push further,” he continued. “It is a matter of recovering the surprising logic of God who, far from small or large calculations, is made of openness to new horizons, towards Christ and his Word.”
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Cool Uncle Tricks: Turn a dollar bill into a fighter jet
Cool Uncle Tricks: Turn a Dollar Bill Into a Fighter Jet | The Art of Manliness: The holiday season is in full swing, which means lots of gatherings where you’ve got the chance to demonstrate what an extremely awesome uncle you genuinely are. If you were just a pretty good uncle, you could probably get away with giving your niece or nephew a dollar. But dang it, you’re a certified cool uncle — one who knows a bevy of cool uncle tricks. That’s why you’ll give them a dollar that you’ve folded into a jet fighter right before their eyes.
Church reform takes personal conversion, Pope Francis tells Roman Curia
Church reform takes personal conversion, Pope Francis tells Roman Curia: To carry out the continuing reform of the Church requires a willingness to change and a commitment to personal conversion, Pope Francis said Saturday, during his annual Christmas greeting to the bishops and cardinals of the Roman Curia.
Francis quoted St. John Henry Newman, who said, “here on earth to live is to change, and perfection is the result of many transformations.”
“For Newman, change was conversion, that is, an inner transformation,” the pope said Dec. 21. “Christian life is actually a journey, a pilgrimage.”
Francis quoted St. John Henry Newman, who said, “here on earth to live is to change, and perfection is the result of many transformations.”
“For Newman, change was conversion, that is, an inner transformation,” the pope said Dec. 21. “Christian life is actually a journey, a pilgrimage.”
Friday, December 20, 2019
A lonely plea: ‘Anybody need a grandma for Christmas?’
A Lonely Plea: ‘Anybody Need a Grandma for Christmas?’ - The New York Times: A woman from Tulsa, Okla., with no place to go for the holidays became a painful reminder of the isolation felt by many older Americans.
Paid family and medical leave and the USCCB
USCCB Should Propose Paid Maternity Leave | Matthew SchneiderSCHNEIDER: The other day, a friend noted on Twitter that his wife was not granted paid maternity leave by her employer, the Catholic Church. He noted that he made enough for her to take unpaid maternity. This led me to look into what the US Bishops have proposed regarding maternity leave. Now, I want to share a little of that investigation.
J.R.R. Tolkien, Advent and the light that conquers darkness
Tolkien, Advent and the light that conquers darkness - Voyage Comics & PublishingKOSLOSKI: December is a month in the Catholic Church where the liturgical year ends and is renewed by the season of Advent. It is a month where we see the general theme of the liturgical season being echoed in nature. Darkness has crept over the world, and is increasing each day. Yet, there is hope for soon the days will begin to lengthen and the sun will conquer the night. The earth reveals that there is a light in this dark place and that Light reigns victorious.
The Vatican’s financial bait-and-switch
The Vatican’s financial bait-and-switch | Catholic CultureLAWLER: If you asked loyal Catholics to subsidize a film dramatizing the life of Elton John, you’d get a disappointing return. But ask them to contribute to the needs of the Holy Father, and you’ll see real generosity.
If you ask Catholics to invest in the London real-estate market, or in a shady Italian bank, or a bankrupt hospital, don’t expect much. But say that the Pope has charitable projects in mind, and the checkbooks will open.
So for years the Vatican has asked the faithful to support the Pope’s needs, emphasizing his charitable projects—and then invested the returns in London real estate, a shady Italian bank, a bankrupt hospital, and, yes, a film about Elton John.
If you ask Catholics to invest in the London real-estate market, or in a shady Italian bank, or a bankrupt hospital, don’t expect much. But say that the Pope has charitable projects in mind, and the checkbooks will open.
So for years the Vatican has asked the faithful to support the Pope’s needs, emphasizing his charitable projects—and then invested the returns in London real estate, a shady Italian bank, a bankrupt hospital, and, yes, a film about Elton John.
The well-fought fight
The well-fought fight - Denver CatholicWEIGEL: The incorporation of Anglican hymnody into English-language Catholic worship is one of the great blessings of the past 50 years. And within that noble musical patrimony, Ralph Vaughan Williams surely holds pride of place among modern composers. Well do I remember the summer day in 1965 when I heard a massed chorus of men and women under the direction of my old choirmaster, Robert Twynham, rock the Baltimore Civic Center with all eight verses of Vaughan William’s masterpiece, “For All the Saints,” the processional hymn at the opening Mass of what used to be known as a “Liturgical Week.” It was stirring beyond words. And if a retrospective look at the program of lectures and seminars that followed reveals hints of choppy waters ahead in implementing the liturgical reforms mandated by the Second Vatican Council, the bright memory of that great hymn being sung by thousands of voices nonetheless lingers, and without alloy.
How to understand the readings for the 4th Sunday of Advent
The Sacred Page: Letting God In: 4th Sunday of AdventBERGSMA: As Christians, we tend to assume that the idea of God coming into ones’ life is always an attractive concept. However, that’s a bit naïve. Having the almighty creator of the universe come into one’s reality could also be an upsetting prospect. When doing evangelism, I have encountered people who understood the concept of “letting Jesus into your life” very well, but didn’t want that to happen, because it might upset the apple cart, so to speak. A God living within you might want to change things. He might want to take over. Are we ready for that?
Fifty Years On
Fifty Years On - Crisis MagazineRUTLER: The year of 1969 was a time of the finest and the worst, when most institutions, equipped with the polished trophies of new science, seemed to be having a mental breakdown. A man walked on the moon. But there were riots, protests, and a moral fragmentation whose detritus now controls the seminal arbiters of culture. The tone of thought at the heart of it was a composite of bewilderment, fascination, and obtuseness. I have rarely written about the days when I was formed into a particular way of ordering my thinking, with a reluctance born of an intuition that looking back might make me brittle as a pillar of salt or soft as sentiment, for nostalgia can be a lethal alchemy. The sound and scene from fifty years past do not need to come alive again, for they never faded in my recollection. It seems like yesterday that I sat in a chapel of the ambulatory of the cavernous Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York. I signed an oath of conformity to the Thirty-Nine Articles with a quill pen from a silver inkstand and then processed behind a verger with a heavy mace to the sanctuary of the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, as it proudly called itself. For on the twentieth day of December in 1969, I was ordained an Anglican priest in a ceremony grand in itself but still small in the perspective of the important events of that year, unaware that seventeen years later I would become a Catholic priest in another cathedral in the same city a short distance away.
We are closer than ever before to the Second Coming of Christ
This Sunday, Imitate Joseph; Christ Is Closer Than Ever | The Gregorian Institute at Benedictine CollegeHOOPES: We are living in the world’s “fourth week of Advent” — the end days, according to the Church; “the last hour.” It’s time for last-minute preparations, the same preparations as Joseph made.
First, Joseph took his wife’s cross onto himself.
When Mary is found with child, “Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.”
You don’t have to know anything about the ancient world to understand what this means. If a man’s new wife is found with child, he could noisily complain, saying she is pregnant and not by him, shaming her. Or he could slip away without a word. That would make everyone assume he impregnated her then abandoned her. That would shame him.
First, Joseph took his wife’s cross onto himself.
When Mary is found with child, “Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.”
You don’t have to know anything about the ancient world to understand what this means. If a man’s new wife is found with child, he could noisily complain, saying she is pregnant and not by him, shaming her. Or he could slip away without a word. That would make everyone assume he impregnated her then abandoned her. That would shame him.
Idol speculation and the Incarnation
Idol Speculation and the Incarnation – Fr. Dwight LongeneckerLONGENECKER: Did the pagans really worship idols? If so, what was going on?
To be precise, they did not worship idols as such, but they worshipped the gods who they believed the idols represented.
But it was more than that. They also believed that the idols became the channels for the invisible god. If you like the spirit of the god channeled in and through the idol.
In other words, they believed their demon gods and goddesses could infest the physical objects.
To be precise, they did not worship idols as such, but they worshipped the gods who they believed the idols represented.
But it was more than that. They also believed that the idols became the channels for the invisible god. If you like the spirit of the god channeled in and through the idol.
In other words, they believed their demon gods and goddesses could infest the physical objects.
What little children can teach us about prayer
What Little Children Can Teach Us About Prayer - Community in MissionPOPE: When it comes to our struggle in personal prayer there are some things that we need to unlearn. For too many, private prayer is often a formal, even stuffy affair, that drips of boredom and unnecessary formality and has lots of rules. Perhaps we learned some of our lessons too well.
And yet many of the youngest children have not learned these lessons, and they seem to pray with great ease. They are unassuming and will say almost anything to God. It is true that children may have a lot learn about public and liturgical prayer, but when it comes to personal and private prayer they have much to teach us.
And yet many of the youngest children have not learned these lessons, and they seem to pray with great ease. They are unassuming and will say almost anything to God. It is true that children may have a lot learn about public and liturgical prayer, but when it comes to personal and private prayer they have much to teach us.
This will be my last Christmas as the Archbishop of Philadelphia
Archbishop Chaput’s Weekly Column: Christmas 2019 – Archdiocese of PhiladelphiaCHAPUT: Today, a lifetime of 75 years later, the world is infinitely different and implacably the same. Different in its marvels of medicine, technology, and science. Different in its deliverance of many millions of people from illness, illiteracy, and poverty. But the same in the millions more who are homeless, or persecuted, or refugees, or locked in poverty, or killed casually on an industrial scale by abortion. Times and circumstances change. Human nature doesn’t. The world still needs – urgently needs – “the birth of the Savior” and “the cure for its wounds in the peace of Christ.”
This will be my last Christmas as the serving Archbishop of Philadelphia. Ministry in this archdiocese is one of the great gifts and joys of my life. My memories of Philadelphia’s priests, deacons, people, and religious are and always will be a treasure to me. I thank you for welcoming me among you — I arrived as a stranger, and you made Philadelphia my home — and I hope that all of us will remember throughout this season to thank God for our baptism, for the Church, and for each other.
This will be my last Christmas as the serving Archbishop of Philadelphia. Ministry in this archdiocese is one of the great gifts and joys of my life. My memories of Philadelphia’s priests, deacons, people, and religious are and always will be a treasure to me. I thank you for welcoming me among you — I arrived as a stranger, and you made Philadelphia my home — and I hope that all of us will remember throughout this season to thank God for our baptism, for the Church, and for each other.
Benedict XVI creates foundation for Catholic journalism in Germany
Benedict XVI creates foundation for Catholic journalism in Germany: In what came as a surprise to many members of the Catholic elite in Germany, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has launched a foundation for Catholic journalism in his home country.
“I want the Catholic voice to be heard,” the retired Roman pontiff, who has resided in a Vatican monastery since his 2013 resignation, said of his decision.
“I want the Catholic voice to be heard,” the retired Roman pontiff, who has resided in a Vatican monastery since his 2013 resignation, said of his decision.
Why is J.K. Rowling being denounced? Because she said No to a lie...
Why is JK Rowling being denounced? Because she said No to a lie | Catholic HeraldPECKNOLD: Progressives are denouncing JK Rowling this week, insisting that she has ruined Harry Potter in a single tweet. One can almost hear them cry, “burn the books!” What’s puzzling about this is that JK Rowling is hardly a conservative opponent of all things liberal. On the contrary, she’s the consummate liberal with all the right opinions for an elite culture producer. So what opinion of hers could possibly warrant such severe sanctions? What could she say that has the power to ruin Potter forever?
Thursday, December 19, 2019
‘O Radix Jesse’: An Old Testament prophecy of the Messiah
‘O Radix Jesse’: An Old Testament prophecy of the MessiahJANCZYK: It may be that today’s O Antiphon reveals an unfamiliar title for Christ: Radix Jesse, or Root of Jesse. Who is Jesse? Why is Christ the root of this man? In 1 Samuel we learn that Jesse, the son of Obed and the grandson of Ruth, had eight sons, and the youngest was David. During the reign of King Saul, the Prophet Samuel was sent by God the Bethlehem to anoint the next king of Israel. David was summoned from the flocks he was tending, and was anointed by Samuel (1 Sam. 16:13). After slaying Goliath, and later surviving King Saul’s attacks, David became the great King of Israel.
Cardinal Pell’s Christmas in prison
Cardinal Pell’s Christmas in PrisonPENTIN: Cardinal George Pell may be allowed to receive Holy Communion in his prison cell on Christmas Day but he will still not be permitted to celebrate Mass, sources close to the cardinal have told the Register this week.
Since the cardinal was jailed and placed in solitary confinement in February, the Melbourne Assessment Prison where he is imprisoned has forbidden the former prefect for the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy from celebrating Mass.
It remains unclear if he has been able to regularly receive Holy Communion, although one source said he has been able to do so, “but not necessarily on Sundays.” The cardinal remains “a very much hated figure here which is why it’s out of the question for him to celebrate Mass,” the source said.
Since the cardinal was jailed and placed in solitary confinement in February, the Melbourne Assessment Prison where he is imprisoned has forbidden the former prefect for the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy from celebrating Mass.
It remains unclear if he has been able to regularly receive Holy Communion, although one source said he has been able to do so, “but not necessarily on Sundays.” The cardinal remains “a very much hated figure here which is why it’s out of the question for him to celebrate Mass,” the source said.
A review of ‘Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker’
SDG Reviews ‘Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker’GREYDANUS: What should Star Wars be? Not what was it 40 or 20 years ago, but what should it be today?
Five films into the Disney era of Star Wars, with a completed third trilogy ostensibly bringing the Skywalker saga to an end, there are two conflicting ideas — neither of which, as yet, definitively has the upper hand.
One vision immerses us in a warm bath of nostalgia; another dashes revisionistic cold water in our faces. The former is a gauzy slideshow tour of well-known characters and types, locations, images, themes and story beats; the latter, a demolition project in the pursuit of renovation, of change and growth.
Five films into the Disney era of Star Wars, with a completed third trilogy ostensibly bringing the Skywalker saga to an end, there are two conflicting ideas — neither of which, as yet, definitively has the upper hand.
One vision immerses us in a warm bath of nostalgia; another dashes revisionistic cold water in our faces. The former is a gauzy slideshow tour of well-known characters and types, locations, images, themes and story beats; the latter, a demolition project in the pursuit of renovation, of change and growth.
Richard Dawkins means well, but he simply is not (and never will be) a thinker for adults
Richard Dawkins Discovers His Ideal Idiom and Audience | Church Life Journal | University of Notre DameHART: Some writers struggle for years to achieve a proper harmony in their work between style and substance. For some, that precious concinnity remains elusive till the end. So it is always something of a happy surprise when an author discovers his or her ideal idiom in the twilight of a long career. In a sense, Richard Dawkins has always been a writer of books for children—or, at any rate, for readers with childish minds—but not until now, it seems, has it occurred to him to write explicitly as a children’s author. Tο this point, he has made a good living out of a relative paucity of gifts. As a third-tier zoologist, a popularizer of both scientific truths and pseudo-scientific speculations, and a tireless enemy of all religious beliefs (whether he understands them or not), he has gone far on an engagingly mediocre prose-style and an inflexible narrowness of mind. But, while his ambition has always been toward a certain intellectual gravity, even his putatively most serious (or most self-important) books have had an undeniably infantile quality about them. The Selfish Gene, for instance, was really little more than a cartoon of the molecular biology it pretended to explicate, a simplistic genetocentric reductionist fantasia so fraught with obvious logical errors and so prone to inadvertently and ineptly metaphysical claims that no truly mature mind could fail to recognize its fatuity. The God Delusion was, if anything, even more of a nursery entertainment: puerile rants, laboriously obvious jokes, winsomely preposterous conceptual confusions, a few dashes of na�ve but honest indignation, attempts at philosophical reasoning so maladroit as to be touching in their guileless silliness. And I think it fair to say that nothing Dawkins has written for public consumption has lacked this element of beguiling absurdity—the delightful atmosphere of playtime on a long golden summer afternoon, alive with small figures shouting happily in shrill little voices and stumbling about in their parents’ clothing, acting out scenes from what they imagine to be the daily lives of adults. But the bewitching effect has also always been diluted by his unfortunate failure to embody his ideas in a form suitable to their triviality.
Election 2020: What U.S. presidential candidates are doing to court religious voters
Election 2020: What U.S. presidential candidates are doing to court religious votersLISI: President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponents are courting voters with less than a year before the 2020 election – and many of them are chasing support from a variety of religious voters.
The Trump campaign announced last week that the president's re-election efforts would include launching three coalitions: “Evangelicals for Trump,” “Catholics for Trump” and “Jewish Voices for Trump.”
Despite being impeached by the House, the Trump campaign’s focus on these three religious groups aims to expand the president’s support, especially in battleground states where the former real-estate mogul won in 2016.
An analysis of the 2018 midterm elections conducted by Pew Research Center found continuity in the voting patterns of key religious groups. For example, white evangelicals voted for Republican candidates at about the same rate they did in 2014, while religiously unaffiliated voters and Jews again largely backed Democrats.
The Trump campaign announced last week that the president's re-election efforts would include launching three coalitions: “Evangelicals for Trump,” “Catholics for Trump” and “Jewish Voices for Trump.”
Despite being impeached by the House, the Trump campaign’s focus on these three religious groups aims to expand the president’s support, especially in battleground states where the former real-estate mogul won in 2016.
An analysis of the 2018 midterm elections conducted by Pew Research Center found continuity in the voting patterns of key religious groups. For example, white evangelicals voted for Republican candidates at about the same rate they did in 2014, while religiously unaffiliated voters and Jews again largely backed Democrats.
An unkind world needs St. Joseph, the perfect patron for 2020
An Unkind World Needs Saint Joseph, the Perfect Patron for 2020 | Word on FireSCALIA: Having the book in my hand on the same day in which Joseph is featured in our readings felt a bit like one of those moments when the Holy Spirit is giving me a pronounced slap upside the head, saying “pay attention.” For that reason (and a few others) I am asking St. Joseph to be my patron for 2020, and to teach me what he knows. Bold of me, perhaps, but in general I think “teach me what you know” is precisely what we should ask of the saints and, in my experience, if you ask for the lessons, they’ll supply them to you by the handful. Given all of my failures in 2019, it seems wise for me to go to a master teacher for some one-on-one tutelage on how to live and work and love with steadiness and a truly grounded faith. That would mean going to Joseph.
No, the Pope isn’t wearing a secret medical device... but what if he were?
No, the pope doesn't have a secret medical device ... but what if he did?ALLEN: Last Friday, Pope Francis took part in the inauguration of a new headquarters in Rome for Scholas Occurrentes, a high-tech network of schools around the world inspired by the pontiff. The first lady of his native Argentina, Fabiola Yañez, was on hand, as were the first ladies of Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia and Belize.
At one stage Francis and Yañez exchanged a hug of greeting, which was captured by a photographer who later discovered a curiosity in the image: On his right hip, under his white papal cassock, Francis was wearing a small black electronic device with a green light and various buttons.
On Dec. 18, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruini told Crux the device was a rarely used radio microphone, which had to be put on the pope in that tight space because of the angles and acoustics involved.
At one stage Francis and Yañez exchanged a hug of greeting, which was captured by a photographer who later discovered a curiosity in the image: On his right hip, under his white papal cassock, Francis was wearing a small black electronic device with a green light and various buttons.
On Dec. 18, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruini told Crux the device was a rarely used radio microphone, which had to be put on the pope in that tight space because of the angles and acoustics involved.
How long should a homily be? It depends...
Sermon Lengths Should Vary - Community in MissionPOPE: Catholic clergy are generally considered to be poorer preachers than their Protestant counterparts, and I would argue that the shorter sermon length has something to do with that. The expectation that a sermon be brief, about twelve minutes, affects what is said and how it is said. It also makes a number of forms of preaching, some of them among the most satisfying for the congregation, impossible.
Some years ago, a brother priest asked one of his parishioners who had left for a large Protestant denomination why he had done so. “They teach the Word,” was the man’s answer. We can certainly lament that the man would not have left the faith had he understood the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but people also have a hunger for God’s Word effectively taught and presented. For this reason, a good sermon deeply rooted in a biblical text is very satisfying. Long before I was ordained a priest, I listened to recordings of Protestant preachers like Adrian Rogers and Tony Evans. I marveled at how these men could take a text and teach from it line by line, creatively applying it to life. Even if I did not agree with every point they made or thought that they missed something that a Catholic would see, they saw the text as full of meaning and served up rich spiritual fare for their listeners.
Some years ago, a brother priest asked one of his parishioners who had left for a large Protestant denomination why he had done so. “They teach the Word,” was the man’s answer. We can certainly lament that the man would not have left the faith had he understood the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but people also have a hunger for God’s Word effectively taught and presented. For this reason, a good sermon deeply rooted in a biblical text is very satisfying. Long before I was ordained a priest, I listened to recordings of Protestant preachers like Adrian Rogers and Tony Evans. I marveled at how these men could take a text and teach from it line by line, creatively applying it to life. Even if I did not agree with every point they made or thought that they missed something that a Catholic would see, they saw the text as full of meaning and served up rich spiritual fare for their listeners.
5 years after desecration by ISIS, cathedral in Iraq’s largest Christian town to be rebuilt in 2020
Cathedral in Iraq's Largest Christian Town to be Rebuilt in 2020: The Great Al-Tahira Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Bakhdida remains charred black inside, five years after the Islamic State plundered and set it aflame; however, in 2020 the Syriac Catholic cathedral will be restored as Iraq’s largest Christian community fights to rebuild and regain what was lost.
“It is a very significant church because it was built from the donations of local people, agriculture workers,” Father Georges Jahola, a parish priest from Bakhdida, told CNA.
“It is a very significant church because it was built from the donations of local people, agriculture workers,” Father Georges Jahola, a parish priest from Bakhdida, told CNA.
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Pope Francis talks up viral Nativity image called “Let Mum rest”
Pope Francis enjoys viral Nativity image called “Let Mum rest”: Pope Francis said that for his birthday on December 17, he was shown a unique Nativity scene, dubbed “Let Mum Rest.” In the depiction, which has been making the rounds this year on social media, Mary is sleeping and Joseph is holding a tired Baby, with his arms outstretched in a typical newborn pose.
The pope said the image shows “the tenderness of a family, of a marriage.”
“How many of you have to share the night between husband and wife for the baby boy or girl who cries, cries, and cries,” he reflected.
This is, precisely, the message of the Nativity scene, the pope explained.
The pope said the image shows “the tenderness of a family, of a marriage.”
“How many of you have to share the night between husband and wife for the baby boy or girl who cries, cries, and cries,” he reflected.
This is, precisely, the message of the Nativity scene, the pope explained.
Can Mr. Rogers nostalgia help cure today's culture?
Can Mr. Rogers nostalgia cure today's culture? | Angelus NewsLOPEZ: Tom Hanks has brought the beloved Fred Rogers to major motion picture screens this holiday season. What is it about his tenderness we seem to long for? What is it about his model for caring for children and one another that we need to recapture?
Erica Komisar is a psychoanalyst in New York City and author of “Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters.” In recent weeks, she’s written powerfully about Fred Rogers, political correctness, and the faith of children as a columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
Angelus contributing editor Kathryn Jean Lopez asked her some questions about parenting, nostalgia, and what our renewed interest in Mr. Rogers in 2019 might promise for the future.
Erica Komisar is a psychoanalyst in New York City and author of “Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters.” In recent weeks, she’s written powerfully about Fred Rogers, political correctness, and the faith of children as a columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
Angelus contributing editor Kathryn Jean Lopez asked her some questions about parenting, nostalgia, and what our renewed interest in Mr. Rogers in 2019 might promise for the future.
James “Radio” Kennedy, inspiration for 2003 film, dies at 73
James Radio Kennedy Dies: Focus of SI Feature, 2003 Movie - Sports Illustrated: In 1996, Sports Illustrated's Gary Smith wrote about the close friendship that James "Radio" Kennedy, a man with an intellectual disability, had with members of a high school football team in South Carolina. The story eventually became the inspiration for the 2003 film "Radio." On Sunday morning, "Radio" Kennedy, the man integral to the Anderson, SC. community, died, T.L. Hanna High School announced.
Kennedy, 73, had been battling health problems and former head football coach Harold Jones said that he died at a hospice facility in Anderson.
Kennedy, 73, had been battling health problems and former head football coach Harold Jones said that he died at a hospice facility in Anderson.
Liberal Catholics and the Real Presence: A wakeup call that shouldn’t be swiftly dismissed...
Liberal Catholics & the Real Presence | Commonweal MagazineSTEINFELS: No signature phrase from the Second Vatican Council is so completely affirmed across the entire theological and political spectrum of the Catholic Church as that the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” Liberal Catholics are particularly wont to quote it, either in support of the Council’s reform of the liturgy, or in lament that many of the faithful, for want of sufficient numbers of ordained ministers, are deprived of the Eucharist.
Overcoming scrupulosity with moral conversion
Overcoming Scrupulosity with Moral Conversion - Magis CenterCLARK: In 1984, Hollywood released “Gremlins,” a film about a father who brings home an unidentifiable furry little animal as a Christmas present for his son. Turns out, this little guy is even more unique than they realized. If you feed it after midnight, it spawns intelligent and vicious lizard-like creatures who are intent on mayhem. I’m not sure there’s an insightful moral of the movie, but there’s an unmistakable surface-level message: otherwise-innocent things can become monsters if you improperly feed them. Therein lies a message to the scrupulous.
Hilaire Belloc on observing Christmas
Belloc on Observing Christmas | Bacon From AcornsCUDDEBACK: Christmas is not the birth of Christ; what the birth of Christ was, and is, will never change. Christmas is a celebration, a remembrance and marking of the birth of Christ – and it has changed, and is still changing.
“People ask themselves how much remains of this observance and of the feast and its customs.” So mused Hilaire Belloc over ninety years ago in his essay, “A Remaining Christmas.” Cognizant of a general loss of age-old Christmas traditions, Belloc set out to record how Christmas was still celebrated in his home in Sussex. Much more than a tale of quaint holiday practices, the essay is a profound reflection on the place of such observances in human life.
“People ask themselves how much remains of this observance and of the feast and its customs.” So mused Hilaire Belloc over ninety years ago in his essay, “A Remaining Christmas.” Cognizant of a general loss of age-old Christmas traditions, Belloc set out to record how Christmas was still celebrated in his home in Sussex. Much more than a tale of quaint holiday practices, the essay is a profound reflection on the place of such observances in human life.
The single factor that endangers our society’s future
The single factor that endangers our society’s future | Catholic CultureLAWLER: When social scientists study family life, one factor trumps all others. Study after study confirms what common-sense suggests: children are better off when they are raised in an intact home, raised by their mothers and fathers together.
The data are overwhelmingly, and they all point in the same direction. Children raised in a single-parent household are, statistically...
The data are overwhelmingly, and they all point in the same direction. Children raised in a single-parent household are, statistically...
Marian consecration in the month of December
Marian Consecration… Reflections For The Month Of December The Wanderer NewspaperFOLEY: December is not only the time when we prepare for Christmas, but also the month when we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
The belief underlying this feast, that our Lady from the first moment of her existence was, unlike the rest of humankind, free from original sin, goes back to the early days of the Church. But it was only officially dogmatically defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854, in the bull Ineffabilis Deus, which declared it to be an article of faith for Catholics.
Four years later, when the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette at Lourdes, she told the young seer that she was the “Immaculate Conception.” But even before Lourdes, during the apparitions at the Rue du Bac convent in Paris in 1830, during the final visitation on November 27...
The belief underlying this feast, that our Lady from the first moment of her existence was, unlike the rest of humankind, free from original sin, goes back to the early days of the Church. But it was only officially dogmatically defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854, in the bull Ineffabilis Deus, which declared it to be an article of faith for Catholics.
Four years later, when the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette at Lourdes, she told the young seer that she was the “Immaculate Conception.” But even before Lourdes, during the apparitions at the Rue du Bac convent in Paris in 1830, during the final visitation on November 27...
Gary Larson’s “The Far Side” comic strip is finally online
About the Far Side comic strip by Gary Larson | TheFarSide.com: Created by Gary Larson, the single-panel cartoon ran daily in newspapers from 1980 to 1995. In those fifteen years, The Far Side went from garnering controversy to becoming one of the most beloved cartoons of its time. Until now, it has never been offered online. We encourage you to read Gary's Letter to find out why. (Yes, he is definitely still alive.)
God comes to reign
God Comes to Reign | Word on FireBARRON: I am sure that every religious person, every believer in God, at some point wonders, “why doesn’t God just straighten everything out?” Why doesn’t the all-powerful and all-loving Creator of the universe simply deal with the injustice, suffering, violence, and sin that so bedevil his world? Well, we can hear precisely this cry in the prophets of ancient Israel. All of them—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Zechariah, etc.—utter some version of “How long, O Lord?” One form that this expectation takes is a yearning that the God of Israel would come to reign as king, which is to say, as one who has the power and authority to right every wrong. The first reading that the Catholic Church proposes for Mass on Christmas morning is a passage from the 52nd chapter of the prophet Isaiah, and it speaks exactly in these terms: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one bringing good news, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, saying to Zion, ‘Your God is King!’” (Is 52:7). The prophet is envisioning the great day when Yahweh will take charge and set things right, when he will “bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations” (Is 52:10), that is to say, roll up his sleeve, asserting his dominance over his enemies.
You stink. That’s why we have Christmas...
You Stink. That's Why We Have Christmas | The StreamMILLS: She wasn’t the happiest person you could meet. A Christian, but one who saw this world as a progression of sins and sorrows, and nothing to smile about. I knew this old woman when I was young. She used the old Scottish line about man passing from the stench of the diaper to the stench of the grave.
She wasn’t wrong, though. Even secularish me knew the world didn’t work right, and that I wasn’t who I should be. You stink at your beginning. You stink at your end. And you stink in between. That’s basically the Christian doctrine of original sin. A low, low view of man and a gloomy view of human life.
She wasn’t wrong, though. Even secularish me knew the world didn’t work right, and that I wasn’t who I should be. You stink at your beginning. You stink at your end. And you stink in between. That’s basically the Christian doctrine of original sin. A low, low view of man and a gloomy view of human life.
When you’re the last one alive, you float
When You're the Last One Alive, You Float | Hour of Our DeathMILLS: An old friend wrote that he just lost his younger brother, who was his last family member. He was the oldest of four, and his sister and his other brother died in the last few years, as did his mother and father. I wrote him:
I’m so sorry to hear about Mark. It’s hard. My sister and I were not very close, until those last six months after she found she had terminal cancer. Being able to spend almost all of the rest of her life with her was a great blessing. When she died, I felt the loss, of course.
But I also felt that all my past disappeared with her. There’s no one on earth who remembers me from long ago. I don’t remember much about me from long ago. I don’t remember all that much about our parents and grandparents. The one person besides me who really remembered them has gone and taken her memories with her.
I’m so sorry to hear about Mark. It’s hard. My sister and I were not very close, until those last six months after she found she had terminal cancer. Being able to spend almost all of the rest of her life with her was a great blessing. When she died, I felt the loss, of course.
But I also felt that all my past disappeared with her. There’s no one on earth who remembers me from long ago. I don’t remember much about me from long ago. I don’t remember all that much about our parents and grandparents. The one person besides me who really remembered them has gone and taken her memories with her.
NBC Today: Meet the millennial nuns sharing the faith through social media
Meet the millennial nuns sharing faith through social media: Sister Emily Beata and Sister Chelsea Bethany are both nuns in the Alexandria, Virginia, order known as The Daughters of Saint Paul. See how these millennial nuns are using social media to spread the word of God.
Is the will really “fixed” at death or do we get another chance?
ASK FATHER: Is the will really “fixed” at death or do we get another chance? | Fr. Z's BlogZUHLSDORF: Hell, which is not-God and un-bliss, is something chosen by the one who is damned and that choice is irrevocable.
To understand why it is irrevocable, it helps to understand why angels cannot change their minds. With extreme brevity, angels have no bodies and, therefore, they have no passions which can lead them into errors. Angels don’t have appetites which pull them now here and now there, as ours do. Angels don’t learn through senses. They know directly. There is no process for them. Angels can make mistakes, but when they make errors, they stay wrong. They can’t change their minds because they have no passions or appetites to draw them to another good.
We can change our minds now because we have bodies. When our soul separates from our body we will no longer have the appetites and passions which can draw the will to change. In life, the habits that form from following appetites and passions can be corrected. Not so after death.
To understand why it is irrevocable, it helps to understand why angels cannot change their minds. With extreme brevity, angels have no bodies and, therefore, they have no passions which can lead them into errors. Angels don’t have appetites which pull them now here and now there, as ours do. Angels don’t learn through senses. They know directly. There is no process for them. Angels can make mistakes, but when they make errors, they stay wrong. They can’t change their minds because they have no passions or appetites to draw them to another good.
We can change our minds now because we have bodies. When our soul separates from our body we will no longer have the appetites and passions which can draw the will to change. In life, the habits that form from following appetites and passions can be corrected. Not so after death.
“O Adonai”: Salvation history in four lines
“O Adonai”: Salvation history in four linesJANCZYK: “Adonai” simply means “Lord” in Hebrew, and in the Old Testament this word can be found some 450 times. The second O Antiphon, in its four short lines, is a sweeping review of salvation history. The first line reminds us that the Israelites are the chosen people led by God himself as Creator and Sustainer. The reference to Moses and the burning bush in the second line calls to mind the whole story of the Israelites’ captivity in and exodus from Egypt. The law, or the Ten Commandments, draws us into proper relationship with the living God and with one another. And, finally, redemption by means of outstretched arms naturally turns our minds to the cross.
This Russian family went 40 years without ever seeing another human, until...
New Advent: This Russian family went 40 years without ever seeing another human, until...: Sometime you just need to get off the grid. In today's amazing video we are looking at one such Russian family that fled to the wilderness and raised children completely isolated from all other human beings.
Aleppo priest says dire Christmas awaits Christians trapped by Syria’s civil war
Aleppo priest says dire Christmas awaits Christians trapped by Syria's civil warSANMARTIN: It’s been almost nine years since the beginning of the war in Syria, and a local priest says the situation in the war-torn city of Aleppo continues to worsen, becoming ever more “dramatic.”
In a letter sent to a group of his Italian contributors- one of whom forwarded it to Crux - Franciscan Father Ibrahim Alsabagh said that he is beginning to feel like “there is no future for the Middle East,” because “the interests of the powerful are obvious, and Syria continues to be the battleground of the great nations.”
“I apologize, I know it’s been a long time since the last time I wrote, the motive is very simple: I don’t know where to begin,” wrote the priest, from the Latin Parish of St. Francis in Aleppo. “In the west side of the city the bombing continues, and they once again approach our region. There are still many civilians dying.”
In a letter sent to a group of his Italian contributors- one of whom forwarded it to Crux - Franciscan Father Ibrahim Alsabagh said that he is beginning to feel like “there is no future for the Middle East,” because “the interests of the powerful are obvious, and Syria continues to be the battleground of the great nations.”
“I apologize, I know it’s been a long time since the last time I wrote, the motive is very simple: I don’t know where to begin,” wrote the priest, from the Latin Parish of St. Francis in Aleppo. “In the west side of the city the bombing continues, and they once again approach our region. There are still many civilians dying.”
Ending the pontifical secret is a milestone, but there’s accountability beyond the law
Ending pontifical secret a milestone, but there's accountability beyond lawALLEN: Tuesday’s news that Pope Francis essentially has abolished the requirement of pontifical secrecy for clerical sexual abuse cases means that robust cooperation with civil authorities is now a cornerstone not only of Church practice, but also Church law.
That’s an important distinction, because in the U.S. and some other parts of the Catholic world, the pontifical secret had already been reinterpreted by bishops and canon lawyers to permit such cooperation, seen as essential not merely in the interests of justice but also to prevent the Church from being exposed to both civil and criminal liability.
That’s an important distinction, because in the U.S. and some other parts of the Catholic world, the pontifical secret had already been reinterpreted by bishops and canon lawyers to permit such cooperation, seen as essential not merely in the interests of justice but also to prevent the Church from being exposed to both civil and criminal liability.
Former Anglican chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II converting to Catholicism
Former Chaplain to the Queen of England Converting to Catholicism: Gavin Ashenden, a former Honorary Chaplain to the Queen in the Church of England who was consecrated a bishop in a Continuing Anglican ecclesial community, will be received into the Catholic Church on Sunday.
He will receive confirmation Dec. 22 during a Mass at Shrewsbury Cathedral from Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury.
His wife, Helen, became a Catholic about two years ago in the Diocese of Shrewsbury.
“Having come to believe that the claims and expression of the Catholic faith are the most profound and potent expression of apostolic and patristic belief, and to accept the primacy of the Petrine tradition, I am grateful to the Bishop of Shrewsbury and the Catholic community in his diocese for the opportunity to mend 500 years of fractured history and be reconciled to the Church that gave birth to my earlier tradition,” Ashenden has said.
He will receive confirmation Dec. 22 during a Mass at Shrewsbury Cathedral from Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury.
His wife, Helen, became a Catholic about two years ago in the Diocese of Shrewsbury.
“Having come to believe that the claims and expression of the Catholic faith are the most profound and potent expression of apostolic and patristic belief, and to accept the primacy of the Petrine tradition, I am grateful to the Bishop of Shrewsbury and the Catholic community in his diocese for the opportunity to mend 500 years of fractured history and be reconciled to the Church that gave birth to my earlier tradition,” Ashenden has said.
The anti-parent: How to raise upright kids in an upside-down world
The Anti-Parent: Raising Upright Kids in an Upside-Down WorldMCKINNEY: The year: 1880. The place: Springfield, Ohio. The year: 1662. The place: Genoa, Italy. The year: 122. The place: Alexandria, Egypt.
Times and places far distant from one another. So, too, their cultures. What do they all have in common? Historians might debate the answers, but one thing all could agree on: The family — or the clan or the tribe — was the undisputed teacher of the youth. For better or worse, they were the dominant shapers of the next generation. Consequently, what most children absorbed when young, they retained when old. Those who opposed the guardian adults had little or no reach into the child’s world. Their power to mold him into their image was minimal, if they had any at all.
Times and places far distant from one another. So, too, their cultures. What do they all have in common? Historians might debate the answers, but one thing all could agree on: The family — or the clan or the tribe — was the undisputed teacher of the youth. For better or worse, they were the dominant shapers of the next generation. Consequently, what most children absorbed when young, they retained when old. Those who opposed the guardian adults had little or no reach into the child’s world. Their power to mold him into their image was minimal, if they had any at all.
Learn how to fillet every kind of seafood, from sardines to squid
New Advent: How to fillet every kind of seafood, from sardines to squid: Sharpen your knives and come to attention because class is in session!
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
On Dec. 17 we have the first “O Antiphon” — “O Sapientia”
WDTPRS: O Antiphons – 17 December – O Sapientia | Fr. Z's BlogZUHLSDORF: On December 17th we enter into that final stretch of our Advent preparation. In the Church’s solemn prayer of the hours, at Vespers, the great “O Antiphons” are sung. Today we have the first.
Years ago, I made a little webpage for the O Antiphons. It might be useful.
By way of introduction, here are a few points every Catholic should know.
First, the song Veni, veni Emmanuel is a musical presentation of the themes of the O Antiphons.
Second, the first letters of the “addressee” of the Antiphon, arranged backward spell out “Ero cras… I will be (there) tomorrow”. So, there is a clever “count-down” in the antiphons.
Years ago, I made a little webpage for the O Antiphons. It might be useful.
By way of introduction, here are a few points every Catholic should know.
First, the song Veni, veni Emmanuel is a musical presentation of the themes of the O Antiphons.
Second, the first letters of the “addressee” of the Antiphon, arranged backward spell out “Ero cras… I will be (there) tomorrow”. So, there is a clever “count-down” in the antiphons.
Archbishop Luigi Ventura, accused nuncio to France, resigns post
Accused nuncio to France, Luigi Ventura, resigns post: Pope Francis Tuesday accepted Archbishop Luigi Ventura's resignation as apostolic nuncio to France. Ventura was accused of sexual assault earlier this year.
The Vatican revoked Ventura's diplomatic immunity in July, paving the way for a possible trial.
The Vatican revoked Ventura's diplomatic immunity in July, paving the way for a possible trial.
Pew analyzes 50,000 online sermons, finds Catholic homilies are shortest by far...
An Analysis of Online Sermons in U.S. Churches | Pew Research Center: Many surveys have asked Americans about their religious affiliations, beliefs and practices, including what religious group they belong to – if any – and how often they attend services at a church or other house of worship. But less is known about what churchgoing Americans hear during religious services. Frequent churchgoers may have a good sense of what kind of sermons to expect from their own clergy: how long they usually last, how much they dwell on biblical texts, whether the messages lean toward fire and brimstone or toward love and self-acceptance. But what are other Americans hearing from the pulpits in their congregations?
Vatican chases millions in bid to stop Malta fund from ‘abusive’ sale
Vatican chases millions in bid to stop Malta fund from ‘abusive’ sale: Millions in euros in Vatican bank cash are at stake in a Maltese court case, as lawyers for the Holy See are now asking the courts to prevent an investment firm from selling its assets to a Hungarian company.
God’s bankers were caught up in a “menacing web of intrigue and suspicious transactions” – lawyers for the Vatican’s bank claim – in an alleged €17 million ruse by Italian financiers who run Maltese investment firms.
God’s bankers were caught up in a “menacing web of intrigue and suspicious transactions” – lawyers for the Vatican’s bank claim – in an alleged €17 million ruse by Italian financiers who run Maltese investment firms.
The second part of Advent is upon us, and the “O” Antiphons have begun...
The O! Antiphons and the O! in Our HeartsFENELON: That’s not a casual phrase I’m using to describe the coming of Christmas. It’s a long-standing custom of the Catholic Church that’s been part of our liturgical season of Advent since at least the eighth century.
Although it is tied to specific calendar dates, it’s more about the liturgy itself. Every year from Dec. 17 to 23, we see a slight change in the daily Mass readings. The Gospels are now taken from the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke, reminding us that Jesus soon will be born. Now the First Readings are taken from the Hebrew scriptures and are chosen to match the Gospel.
For example, notice that on December 19 the First Reading is taken from the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Judges. In it, Manoah the Danite’s wife, who is barren, is told by an angel that she will conceive and bear a son. She did indeed give birth to a son, and named him Samson. Samson became a legendary Israelite warrior.
Although it is tied to specific calendar dates, it’s more about the liturgy itself. Every year from Dec. 17 to 23, we see a slight change in the daily Mass readings. The Gospels are now taken from the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke, reminding us that Jesus soon will be born. Now the First Readings are taken from the Hebrew scriptures and are chosen to match the Gospel.
For example, notice that on December 19 the First Reading is taken from the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Judges. In it, Manoah the Danite’s wife, who is barren, is told by an angel that she will conceive and bear a son. She did indeed give birth to a son, and named him Samson. Samson became a legendary Israelite warrior.
‘O Sapientia’: To start the last week of Advent
‘O Sapientia’: To start the last week of AdventJANCZYK: O Sapientia (O Wisdom) is the first of the great O Antiphons that ushers in this last week of Advent. “O Wisdom,” the Church cries out, “Come and teach us the way of prudence.” Wisdom certainly pertains to knowledge or experience, perhaps having good judgment, but in the Scriptures, Wisdom plays an even more important and substantial role. Throughout the Old Testament Wisdom is personified, having a role in creation (Wis. 9:1-6), teaching the law (Bar. 4:1-4), and protecting and saving the righteous (Wis. 10:1-9).
Advent in music — Seven antiphons, all worth discovering again
Advent in Music. Seven Antiphons, All Worth Discovering Again - Settimo Cielo - Blog - L’EspressoMAGISTER: From today, December 17, until the day before Christmas Eve, at the Magnificat during vespers in the Roman rite, seven antiphons are sung, one per day, all of them beginning with an invocation to Jesus, although he is never called by name.
The antiphons are very old, going back to the time of Pope Gregory the Great, around the year 600.
At the beginning of each antiphon, in order, Jesus is invoked as Wisdom, Lord, Root, Key, Star, King, Emmanuel. In Latin: Sapientia, Adonai, Radix, Clavis, Oriens, Rex, Emmanuel.
The antiphons are very old, going back to the time of Pope Gregory the Great, around the year 600.
At the beginning of each antiphon, in order, Jesus is invoked as Wisdom, Lord, Root, Key, Star, King, Emmanuel. In Latin: Sapientia, Adonai, Radix, Clavis, Oriens, Rex, Emmanuel.
Advent Hymn: Rorate Caeli Desuper
Advent Hymn: Rorate Caeli Desuper - Community in MissionPOPE: One of the least well-known, yet most theologically important, Advent hymns is “Rorate Caeli Desuper.” Some congregations know it under its English title: “Drop Down Ye Heavens from Above.” One of the reasons for its lack of popularity is that it is chant-like rather than metrical and thus harder for a congregation to sing. It is in the form of an antiphon and verses. The text of the antiphon is from Isaiah 45:8, and the verses are drawn largely from Isaiah 63-64. The hymn as a whole gives exquisite poetical expression to the longings of patriarchs and prophets, and symbolically of the Church, for the coming of the Messiah. The verses point to the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people. The antiphon plaintively seeks a savior:
A Catholic’s guide to Star Wars
A Catholic’s guide to Star Wars - Denver CatholicLAMBERT: “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...”
These words flash in blue across the screen, and the epic John Williams score echoes, almost instinctively, in the mind of any Star Wars fan. Come Dec. 20, these words will appear once more in theaters all around the world as the hugely anticipated next entry in the revered Star Wars series, The Rise of Skywalker, is finally released. A grueling two-year wait since 2017’s The Last Jedi has left Star Wars fans both casual and die-hard speculating about what shocking revelations The Rise of Skywalker will bring with it, and soon, all will be revealed.
These words flash in blue across the screen, and the epic John Williams score echoes, almost instinctively, in the mind of any Star Wars fan. Come Dec. 20, these words will appear once more in theaters all around the world as the hugely anticipated next entry in the revered Star Wars series, The Rise of Skywalker, is finally released. A grueling two-year wait since 2017’s The Last Jedi has left Star Wars fans both casual and die-hard speculating about what shocking revelations The Rise of Skywalker will bring with it, and soon, all will be revealed.
Do you think about Iraq? We owe it to the people there to do so...
Iraqi Christians & Religious Minorities Need the West’s Help | National ReviewLOPEZ: Impeachment is on the brain and, it would seem, not much else. Our limited attention spans don’t seem to allow it. But we had better make room for the Iraqi people. At the start of the month, Chaldean archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil visited New York and spoke at the United Nations Security Council about the situation in his native Iraq. Warda has been housing and caring for people, primarily Christian, who fled ISIS in Mosul in 2014. He’s been working to secure some semblance of a future for them and has established a Catholic university there. (While in the United States this month he also announced a partnership program with the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.)
Why does GetReligion want to keep doing that journalism thing that we do?
New podcast: Why does GetReligion want to keep doing that journalism thing that we do? — GetReligionMATTINGLY: I have never really enjoyed listening to infomercials, to tell you the truth. But, like it or not, creating one of those was a small part of the agenda in this week’s “Crossroads” podcast (click here to tune that in).
Yes, host Todd Wilken and I talked about GetReligion’s upcoming move to the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi, where I will also be a senior fellow linked to events focusing on religion, news and politics. I announced that in a post the other day with this headline: “Religion news, the First Amendment and BBQ: GetReligion will soon have a new home base.” And, yes, we talked about the fact that GetReligion needs to raise some money in order to do what we do in the future.
However, I think it’s significant how we got to that topic. We started off talking about the doctrinal wars over LGBTQ rights at George Fox University, which was addressed in this post: “Here we go again (again): RNS/AP offers doctrine-free take on George Fox LGBTQ battles.”
Yes, host Todd Wilken and I talked about GetReligion’s upcoming move to the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi, where I will also be a senior fellow linked to events focusing on religion, news and politics. I announced that in a post the other day with this headline: “Religion news, the First Amendment and BBQ: GetReligion will soon have a new home base.” And, yes, we talked about the fact that GetReligion needs to raise some money in order to do what we do in the future.
However, I think it’s significant how we got to that topic. We started off talking about the doctrinal wars over LGBTQ rights at George Fox University, which was addressed in this post: “Here we go again (again): RNS/AP offers doctrine-free take on George Fox LGBTQ battles.”
Stone walls, iron bars, paper and pens: A look at writers and prisons
Stone Walls, Iron Bars, Paper and Pens: A Look at Writers and PrisonsMINICK: For two years in the early 1990s, I taught adult basic education twice a week in a prison in Hazelwood, North Carolina. My students and I met for classes in a trailer, where, depending on their capabilities, they worked on everything from learning to read to preparing for the GED. Most of them were serving time for selling or possessing drugs, though two were murderers, and one, a young man missing teeth who should have received help in a mental institution, was a child molester.
Some of these men shared their aspirations with me: welder, carpenter, and long-distance truck driver. One guy, who often spent some class time drawing impressive pictures of cars, expressed an interest in art.
Some of these men shared their aspirations with me: welder, carpenter, and long-distance truck driver. One guy, who often spent some class time drawing impressive pictures of cars, expressed an interest in art.
For the rest of Advent, try screen-free evenings
For the rest of Advent, try screen-free evenings – SIMCHA FISHERFISHER: Every year, I threaten it. Some years we actually try it. This year, we’re doing it! We’re screen free from seven to nine o’clock during Advent. It may not sound like a big deal, but in our house there are . . . a lot of screens. Phones, tablets, laptops, game systems. It’s really hard to moderate how much time we spend on them, and I’m the worst offender. I won’t bother to go into a long description of why too much screen time is bad for us. Everybody knows this already.
Instead, I’ll describe what happens when 7 PM comes during Advent. I look at the time and start yelling, “SCREEN FREE! SCREEN FREE!” The wifi gets shut off and devices get put away. Everyone is cranky and annoyed. People petition for exceptions. Someone lopes off to the bathroom and stays in there for a suspiciously long time.
Instead, I’ll describe what happens when 7 PM comes during Advent. I look at the time and start yelling, “SCREEN FREE! SCREEN FREE!” The wifi gets shut off and devices get put away. Everyone is cranky and annoyed. People petition for exceptions. Someone lopes off to the bathroom and stays in there for a suspiciously long time.
5 ways Christmas is countercultural
Five Ways Christmas is Counter-Cultural | The Gregorian Institute at Benedictine CollegeHOOPES: The lessons of Christmas are like a miracle. They are well known to us — but still have the power to come as a shock each year, as if we had never heard them before.
Christmas is counter-cultural in significant ways, and by meditating on Jesus and the creche we can heal places in our heart where we have allowed the ways of the world to make us callous.
First, Christmas teaches that babies are as important as (or more than!) adults.
Our decade began as the most child-averse in memory. Nearly 1 in 5 American women ends her childbearing years without having borne a child, double the number who did so in the 1970s. The most educated women are the most likely to have never had a child.
Christmas is counter-cultural in significant ways, and by meditating on Jesus and the creche we can heal places in our heart where we have allowed the ways of the world to make us callous.
First, Christmas teaches that babies are as important as (or more than!) adults.
Our decade began as the most child-averse in memory. Nearly 1 in 5 American women ends her childbearing years without having borne a child, double the number who did so in the 1970s. The most educated women are the most likely to have never had a child.
No matter how bad your sins, or how long you’ve been away, don’t be afraid — go to Confession!
Trade Your Fears for Christ’s Peace — Go to Confession!CLARK: Disneyland might claim to be “the happiest place on Earth,” but for my money, nothing beats a Catholic Church that is holding a Penance service just before Christmas. They are attended by those who regularly go to Confession as well as those who haven’t been to Confession in many years. Either way, there is a palpable and profound sense of joy among those who receive absolution in the Sacrament of Penance.
Sadly, however, some people will be reluctant to go to Confession this Advent. If you’re one of them, please consider the following.
Sadly, however, some people will be reluctant to go to Confession this Advent. If you’re one of them, please consider the following.
Pope Francis lifts pontifical secret from legal proceedings of abuse trials of clerics
Pope Francis lifts pontifical secret from legal proceedings of abuse trials of clerics: Pope Francis declared Tuesday that the pontifical secret will no longer apply in cases of accusations and trials involving abuse of minors or vulnerable persons, and in cases of possession of child pornography by clerics. With the instruction published Dec. 17, “On the Confidentiality of Legal Proceedings,” Pope Francis intends “to cancel in these cases the subjection to what is called the ‘pontifical secret’ bringing back instead the ‘level’ of confidentiality, dutifully required to protect the good reputation of the people involved,” according to Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.
Monday, December 16, 2019
U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households, study finds
U.S. has world's highest rate of children living in single-parent households | Pew Research Center: For decades, the share of U.S. children living with a single parent has been rising, accompanied by a decline in marriage rates and a rise in births outside of marriage. A new Pew Research Center study of 130 countries and territories shows that the U.S. has the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households.
Almost a quarter of U.S. children under the age of 18 live with one parent and no other adults (23%), more than three times the share of children around the world who do so (7%). The study, which analyzed how people’s living arrangements differ by religion, also found that U.S. children from Christian and religiously unaffiliated families are about equally likely to live in this type of arrangement.
Almost a quarter of U.S. children under the age of 18 live with one parent and no other adults (23%), more than three times the share of children around the world who do so (7%). The study, which analyzed how people’s living arrangements differ by religion, also found that U.S. children from Christian and religiously unaffiliated families are about equally likely to live in this type of arrangement.
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