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Occupy Our Hearts
Rev. Bruce Sanguin
Occupy our hearts,
Holy One,
be our preoccupation
that we might learn
how to inhabit our planet,
our relationships,
our commons.
May Wisdom
occupy our ideologies;
may Love
occupy our need for power;
may Humility
occupy our need to be right;
may Empathy
occupy our tribal prejudices;
may Justice
occupy our instinct to dominate.
Occupy our hearts,
Holy One.
Be our preoccupation.
Amen.
Sermon
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Some Things We Have Been Reading
Catholic Church vs. Obama in Election Year Showdown
The most recent showdown between Roman Catholic Church leaders and the Obama administration over contraceptive services threatens to alienate the president's liberal religious supporters at a time when discontent with Washington is surging.
In letters read to parishioners Sunday, Catholic Church leaders across the country openly denounced the administration's recent decision mandating faith-based hospitals, charities and schools to provide birth control and reproductive services in health insurance plans.
The Catholic Church had lobbied against the new requirement, which will go into effect January 2013.
The wording in the letters, penned by individual clergy, varied widely but the theme was distinctly anti-Washington. Bishop Alexander K. Sample of Marquette, Mich., for example, accused the administration of casting aside the First Amendment, "denying to Catholics our nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty" and treating people of faith as second-class citizens. Others threatened to not comply with the new rule, which provides exemption to churches and "religious employers."
The mandate is particularly worrisome to supporters of President Obama, who had coalesced behind him despite his liberal views on abortion and reproductive rights.
"This has hurt the case that some Catholics have made that voting for Obama in some ways is a vote for Catholic social teaching," said Mathew N. Schmalz, a professor of religion and comparative studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
Read more
The latest bomb in the culture war: The prelates, the president, and the pill
Oh boy, oh boy: If the bishops weren't already locked and loaded for a fight about religious freedom, the Obama administration just handed them new ammunition. The Department of Health and Human Services issued an interim final rule today that requires Catholic organizations to include contraceptive coverage and sterilization in health plans for women, giving religious organizations a further year to comply. Archbishop of New York and U.S. bishops' conference president Timothy Dolan has already fired back, promising a fight in opposition to what Dolan calls an "edict."
No matter where you stand on the either moral issue of contraception or the policy issue of whether women should be able to get it without cost, this is going to be more than a tempest in a tea kettle, especially with an election looming. Clearly the administration has decided that what will certainly be a popular benefit for women of childbearing age is worth the political heat the Democrats will take from the bishops and Catholics opposed to contraception.
Catholic Bishops, Colleges Resisting HHS Rule On Contraceptive Coverage
Kaiser Health News Jan.30, 2012
They say they should be excluded from the new regulation, which requires insurance plans to cover birth control.
The New York Times: Ruling On Contraception Draws Battle Lines At Catholic Colleges
Many Catholic colleges decline to prescribe or cover birth control, citing religious reasons. Now they are under pressure to change.
Arizona Republic: Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted: Defy Feds On Birth Control
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix has become one of the first Roman Catholic bishops in the nation to openly defy the Obama administration over new rules forcing employers to include access to contraceptives and sterilization procedures in health-insurance coverage.
Reuters: Catholics Hear Protests Of Obama Health Ruling At Mass
U.S. Catholic bishops and priests across the country read out letters at Mass on Sunday protesting plans by President Barack Obama's administration to force religiously-affiliated nonprofit groups to offer birth-control coverage to women employees.
Catholic hospital group dropping church affiliation
Catholic Healthcare West, one of the nation's largest hospital systems and operator of four Bay Area hospitals, is ending its governing board's affiliation with the Catholic Church and changing its name to help the system expand.
The changes executives announced Monday morning underscore the marketplace pressures facing Catholic hospitals to merge or form formal alliances with other health care providers in order to survive and thrive.
The changes are intended to make mergers and affiliations easier.
"It's more like two families under one roof as opposed to 'you have to join our family,'" said Martin Arrick, a managing director at the rating agency Standard & Poor's.
"If this proves to be successful--and I have no reason to think it won't be--I think you're going to see a wave of Catholic and non-Catholic partnerships." Lloyd Dean, the president and CEO of Catholic Healthcare West, said the concerns about his system's Catholic affiliation have hampered some potential deals.
Read more
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Half a century after Vatican II, a year of faith and debate
Francis X. Rocca Jan.27, 2012
Fifty years ago this October, Blessed John XXIII and more than 2,500 bishops and heads of religious orders from around the world gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for the opening session of the Second Vatican Council.
Over the following three years, Vatican II would issue 16 major "pronouncements" on such fundamental questions as the authority of the church's hierarchy, the interpretation of Scripture, and the proper roles of clergy and laity. Those documents, and the deliberations that produced them, have transformed how the Catholic Church understands and presents itself within the context of modern secular culture and society.
Because Vatican II was one of the monumental events in modern religious history, its golden anniversary will naturally be the occasion for numerous commemorative events, including liturgical celebrations, publications and academic conferences.
Andrea Tornielli Jan.17, 2012
The true response of the superior of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X, Bernard Fellay, formulated according to the requests of the Holy See, arrived at the Vatican just last week. The first reply, received by the Vatican on 21 December, was not considered adequate by Vatican authorities, who urged the head of the Lefebvrians to redraft it, considering the first delivery as more of a "documentation" than a reply. Thus Bishop Fellay has prepared a second text, more concise than the doctrinal preamble that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent him last September. This second text is now being carefully examined by consultants from the Ecclesia Dei Commission - who follow the Lefebrvian dossier - and this could take time.
Next week the plenary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will meet in the palace of the Holy Office. On the agenda is a possible communication regarding relations with the Society of St. Pius X, but it is unlikely that the meeting will be decisive, because Fellay's second response - which accepts some parts of the doctrinal preamble while questioning others - needs time to be examined. It is likely that a more accurate decision on what to do will not be made now, but in February, during a "Feria IV", as defined by the ordinary congregations of the former Holy Office.
Read more
Approval For Celebrations Of Neo-Catechumenal Way
The Pontifical Council for the Laity today published a decree approving the celebrations contained in the Catechetical Directory of the Neo-Catechumenal Way. The decree is dated 8 January, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and bears the signatures of Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko and Bishop Josef Clemens, respectively president and secretary of the council.
. . . .
"Now, pursuant to articles 131 and 133 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Apostolic Constitution 'Pastor Bonus' on the Roman Curia, the Pontifical Council for the Laity, having received the 'nulla osta' of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, grants approval to those celebrations contained in the Catechetical Directory of the Neo-Catechumenal Way which are not, by their nature, already regulated by the liturgical books of the Church".
The Neocatechumenals get their diploma. But not the one they were expecting
Sandro Magister Jan.23, 2012
The Holy See has approved the rites that mark the stages of their catechism. But the particularities with which they celebrate their Masses still remain under observation. Some of them are permitted. Others not.
. . . .
More clearly, in his address the pope reiterated that the aforementioned decree simply "gives approval to the celebrations" present in the Catechetical Directory which "are not strictly liturgical."
This means that the rituals approved on this occasion do not in any way concern the liturgy of the Mass or the administration of the sacraments, but only the celebrations within the Way that mark the principal stages of the long catechumenate of each of its members.
Disobedient priests plan global movement
A parish priest who encouraged clergymen to be "disobedient" towards the Vatican plans to go international.
Helmut Schüller of the Preachers' Initiative said yesterday (Sun) that "2012 will be the year of internationalisation". Schüller - who previously headed Caritas Austria - said the Austrian Roman Catholic Church should "finally take members seriously".
Schüller criticised the Vatican due to its conservative approach towards key topics of the 21st century and said the institution resembled an "absolutist monarchy". The head of the parish of Probstdorf in the province of Lower Austria stressed that his initiative "receives a lot of approval from Catholic reform movements all over the world."
Read more
Church rebels worry the Vatican
Austrian Independent Jan.26, 2012
The highest representatives of the Austrian Catholic Church gathered with Vatican officials to speak about a group of priests who declared themselves "disobedient", it has emerged.
The Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper revealed yesterday (Weds) that Viennese Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn and two other members of the Conference of Austrian Bishops, went to Rome on Monday to meet with clergymen in the Vatican. The paper claimed that the gathering was organised to discuss how to react to the increasing acclaim among Austrians for the demands of Helmut Schüller's Preachers' Initiative.
Schüller - who was president of Caritas Austria for some years before withdrawing to Probstdorf in Lower Austria to head the local parish - presented the guidelines of his movement half a year ago. He said the Preachers' Initiative wanted the Vatican to allow Austrian priests to give Holy Communion to divorced people. The rebellious group also want female priests in the Catholic Church and an abolition of celibacy.
Read more
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Lay Wisdom Leads Away from the Church
Stephen Boehrer, STD Jan.27, 2012
There is no returning for the vast majority of bishop members of the Purple Culture, no returning to a time when error or imperfections could be admitted. The assumption of perfection and infallibility has permanently disabled members of the culture from emitting such human utterances as "I was wrong," and/or "I am sorry." When wrong or sorrow is obliquely admitted, it comes out with fingers pointed outward as in "certain theologians were at fault." Those cultural assumptions lie buried beneath consciousness and often creep into prelates' giving mouth to trivia.
We need not be surprised that a third of Catholics have left the Church in this country. The wisdom gleaned by the laity in the everyday grindings of work and human relationships hones their experience to recognize the basic truths of living and loving. They also recognize the gap between their lived experience and that of the 'let's pretend' experience common to those enclosed in the purple culture. This recognition is especially true for younger generations who have never permitted fear, gathered from teachings and preaching, to gain root in their psyches. Nor do they accept a portrayal of God as more beast than loving creator. The centuries-old instilled fear of damnation is so incongruent with a loving God, they reject it spontaneously. If it's all about love, then God wants love to motivate us, not fear.
And so these young people go elsewhere - to a more promising spirituality or church.
French president rejects calls for secular values to be in constitution
Bishops' conscience model makes light of practical reason
David DeCosse Jan.23, 2012
What if the clashes over conscience between the American Catholic bishops and the Obama Administration are driven in great measure not by anti-Catholicism nor by creeping totalitarianism but by the very model of conscience used by the bishops themselves?
The next year may provide a decisive answer to this question.
. . . .
At present, the model of conscience used by most bishops is problematic in two ways. First, it emphasizes obedience, law, and hierarchical authority and thus departs from the Catholic tradition's close linkage of conscience, practical reason, and freedom. Second, on account of this departure, these bishops needlessly lapse into using a sectarian model of the Catholic conscience ill-suited to the Church's mission in a democratic pluralist society like the United States.
. . . .
It's time for too many Catholic bishops to stop heading for the barricades and start making for the negotiating table to try to figure this thing out. The Catholic conscience demands it.
Curial horror greeted John XXIII's announcement of ecumenical council
Desmond Fisher Jan.25, 2012
Wednesday, the Catholic church should have celebrated -- but didn't -- an important anniversary, the day 53 years ago when Pope John XXIII invited 18 Curia cardinals to accompany him to a ceremony at St. Paul Outside the Walls. It was the feast day of St. Paul, who is believed to have been executed in Rome about 67 A.D. and buried where the basilica named after him now stands.
It was also the final day of the Octave for Christian Unity, an objective close to the pope's heart. Presumably because of the attendance of so many Vatican higher-ups, the ceremony lasted longer than usual. The result was that the content of the carefully timed announcement the pope made to the cardinals had been released to the media before the cardinals were told.
What they heard stunned them. The new pope -- he had been elected only three months earlier -- told them he intended to summon an ecumenical council and would they please give him their views about it.
One would not need to be in the Vatican very long before knowing what the cardinals would think about an ecumenical council. If they had been asked to vote on it, they might have turned their thumbs firmly down.
Read more
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Bulgarian bishops were communist spies
THE ghost of communism has resurfaced in Bulgaria, with 11 of the country's 15 top bishops exposed as former secret police agents, shaking the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and its image just as it readies to choose a new patriarch.
A list published by the parliamentary archives committee has singled out 97-year-old Patriarch Maxim and three other bishops as the only members of the church's top authority, the Holy Synod, not to have collaborated.
The other 11 were listed as agents of the most notorious part of the Darzhavna Sigurnost, the political police who spied on people for suspected "anti-communist behaviour".
The archives law does not entail any legal consequences for the former agents, but Prime Minister Boyko Borisov was quick to declare himself shocked.
Meanwhile, a handful of priests from southwest Bulgaria slammed their leaders in a declaration on Friday and urged them to resign.
Read more
Vatican official warns pope of corruption
Nicole Winfield - AP Jan.25, 2012
An Italian news program has obtained letters from a top Vatican official to the pope in which he begs not to be transferred after exposing corruption in the awarding of Vatican contracts that cost the Holy See millions of euros (dollars).
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano was removed in October as the No. 2 administrator of the Vatican city-state and was named the pope's ambassador to Washington. While the job is highly prestigious, the posting took Vigano far from headquarters and out of the running for the Vatican's top administrative job, which carries with it the rank of cardinal.
The investigative news program "The Untouchables" on the private La7 network broadcast a series of letters Vigano sent Pope Benedict XVI and the secretary of state last year in which he claimed to have exposed corruption and abuse of office in the running of the Vatican's administration.
Vigano said he corrected them during his two years as secretary-general of the Vatican city-state, the Vatican department that is responsible for everything from maintaining the pope's gardens to running the Vatican Museums.
But in the process of cutting costs, Vigano made enemies who he blamed for launching a smear campaign in the Italian media in 2011 calling for his removal that, he claimed, sealed his fate.
"Blessed Father, my transfer in this moment would provoke confusion and discouragement for those who thought it was possible to clean up so many situations of corruption and abuse of office" that for a long time have been rooted in the Vatican administration, Vigano wrote Benedict on March 27, 2011.
Read more
Vatican downplays charges of financial 'corruption'
Francis X. Rocca - CNS Jan.26, 2012
Insisting on the Holy See's continuing commitment to transparency and rectitude in economic affairs, the Vatican's spokesman downplayed references to "corruption" in a letter apparently sent to Pope Benedict XVI by a Vatican official who is now apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press Office, criticized as "partisan," "partial and banal," an Italian television news program, which, on Jan. 25, broadcast portions of letters addressed to Pope Benedict and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State.
Read more
September trial date set for KC bishop, diocese
The trial of Bishop Robert W. Finn and the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., the first bishop and diocese to face criminal charges in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis, has been set for September.
Finn and the diocese were charged in October by a grand jury in Jackson County, Mo., with separate counts of failing to report suspected child abuse in the case of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a diocesan priest who was arrested last May for child pornography.
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Bishops, religious to attend major conference on preventing abuse
Cindy Wooden Jan.30, 2112
Representatives of most of the world's bishops' conferences and 30 religious orders will meet in Rome in early February to launch a global initiative aimed at improving efforts to stop clerical sexual abuse and better protect children and vulnerable adults.
The conference, "Toward Healing and Renewal," will be held Feb. 6-9 at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University and is being supported by the Vatican Secretariat of State and several other Vatican offices.
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Is eliminating communion in the hand the next change to the Mass?
If you haven't had enough change with adapting to the new translation of the Roman Missal, two Australian priests are hoping to make another amendment to our current worship practices: mandatory reception of communion on the tongue.
Fathers Andrew Wise and John Speekman of the Diocese of Sale have started an online petition calling for Pope Benedict to change current communion practices to eliminate receiving the Eucharist in the hand. The petition is accompanied by a blog that details their case and some of the support they've received.
The petition cites "great spiritual harm inflicted on the Christian faithful" by the current practice and claims that receiving communion in the hand causes "the profanation of the Blessed Sacrament."
Read more
Morris affair contains lessons for Church hierarchy
Fr. Frank Brennan, SJ Jan.24, 2012
The Toowoomba Diocese has been without a resident bishop now for nine months since Pope Benedict removed Bishop Bill Morris, who refused to submit his resignation when requested by three curial cardinals who formed an adverse view of him.
Morris had offered to retire by August last year provided only that the sexual abuse cases in the diocese had been resolved. This timetable was judged inappropriate by the Vatican cardinals who conducted an ongoing inquiry into Morris' fitness for office. They wanted him out, now. Nine months later, no one is able credibly to defend their methods.
Morris was denied natural justice. No one, including the Australian bishops, quite knows why he was sacked - or at least they cannot tell us; the charges and the evidence remain a moving target, a mystery. Clearly Morris has not been judged a heretic or schismatic. He has maintained his standing as a bishop, being asked to assist with Episcopal tasks in his home diocese of Brisbane.
Read more
Panicked Catholics flee violence in northern Nigeria
As many as 35,000 people have fled their homes in northern Nigeria after continuing attacks from the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. Their numbers include a large number of Catholics who report that churches have been destroyed.
"There is panic. Many just leave everything behind, and run for safety, because they do not know when violence might flare up again," a source told Aid to the Church in Need on Jan. 24.
On Jan. 20, Boko Haram killed at least 185 people in attacks that rocked Kano city, located in the state of Borno, the Associated Press reports. The coordinated attacks used cars with heavy explosives and suicide bombers who targeted police stations. Men in security uniforms gunned down government officials.
Churches have also been destroyed in Maidiguri in Borno and the city of Bauchi, in Bauchi state.
"It is the stated goal of Boko Haram to make the whole of the north free of Christians," one source told Aid to the Church in Need.
Read more
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Silence is key ingredient to meaningful communication, pope says
Amid the deluge of information and nonstop chatter in today's media, the church needs to help people find safe havens of silence, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Far from being the enemy of calm and quiet, social media and the Internet can lead people to virtual sanctuaries that offer silent reflection, thoughtful dialogue and true meaning in life, he said.
"Attention should be paid to the various types of websites, applications and social networks which can help people today to find time for reflection and authentic questioning, as well as making space for silence and occasions for prayer, meditation or sharing of the word of God," he said in his message for the 2012 celebration of World Communications Day.
Even brief posts and viral tweets can carry potent messages when people use those tools -- not for spamming or for scanning the latest gossip -- but for sharing a real part of themselves, he said.
Read more
Austrian Priest Publishes Names of Ex-Catholics
The Vienna archdiocese has apologized for the publication of a list of people who have formally left the Roman Catholic church.
A statement says those affected have been asked "for forgiveness," noting making the names public "is not allowed by state or church rules."
The statement was issued Thursday after a priest in a village north of Vienna listed local church-leavers in the diocese newspaper. The archdiocese says the priest has since "apologized in the form of a Mass and has written those affected a letter" of apology.
William H. Slavick Jan.26, 2012
A few days after the 2010 same-sex marriage referendum nullified Maine legislation granting marriage rights to same-sex couples, the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference gave Portland Bishop Richard Malone a standing ovation.
Recently, a parish cluster administrator acknowledged that the referendum repeal campaign was, for the church in Maine, "devastating." No explanation was necessary. We know. The lack of charity occasioned wide discomfort. Some left, often among the better educated and more generous. More stopped attending Mass after weeks of campaign bullying. With $200,000 of diocesan referendum contributions unexplained, many refused to make contributions from which the bishop received a cut. That includes the Sunday offertory collection.
In a recent documentary that went inside the referendum campaigns, the diocesan legislative lobbyist and campaign chair, Marc Mutty, acknowledged that its claim that the legislation would lead to "teaching homosexuality in the schools" was unfounded.
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VESTMENTS - a novel by John Reimringer
MILKWEED EDITIONS. 432P $16 (PAPERBACK)
Review by Doris Donnelly Jan.30, 2012
From the Latin vestimentum and the French vêtement, the word "vestments" means clothing, the kind that covers the body, protects it and sometimes intentionally camouflages what is underneath. It also refers to garments worn by members of the Catholic clergy, "men of the cloth," at church services. Either way-or in this case, both ways-it is the fitting one-word title for this engrossing debut novel by John Reimringer and the insider's glimpse it offers into the life and loves of a contemporary priest, James (Jim) Dressler, and his struggles with the black garb and white collar of his calling.
. . . .
Unlike its predatory character Mick, Vestments has us wondering whether there might be a place in the church someday for a generous, flawed, gentle, committed man like James Dressler to satisfy two noble desires-one for the priesthood and another for a wife and family. The bittersweet ending of the book says "not now," and Jim Dressler must make a choice between two loves.
Reimringer knows well the landscape of St. Paul, Minnesota. He knows, too, the landscape of the Catholic Church-seminary mentoring, rectory loneliness, the bonding of men of the cloth-and he writes about these things with a combination of affection and ruthless honesty. He also knows the fragility of the human heart, broken as is the body of Christ at Eucharist, with an embedded promise of healing. We hope for an intense dose of that healing for James Dressler and men like him as we close this book.
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Euthanasia should be banned across Europe, rules Council
Simon Caidwell Jan.30, 2012
The Council of Europe has ruled that euthanasia and assisted suicide should be banned in every country across the Continent.
In a declaration that will have huge implications on human rights laws in its 47 member countries the Strasbourg-based organisation announced that such practices "must always be prohibited".
The move will represent a major setback to assisted dying campaigners in the UK who want Britain to follow Holland, Belgium and Switzerland in allowing doctors to help to end the lives of their patients.
. . . .
The Council of Europe was set up in 1949 to further European integration by harmonising human rights laws, although it is unable to pass laws itself. Its new resolution on euthanasia will, however, help to define the principles that should govern the application of living wills across its member states. It will be therefore hugely influential in helping governments to resist pressure to weaken or abolish laws prohibiting assisted suicide and euthanasia.
The Council bases its work on the European Convention on Human Rights. It includes the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the convention and to which Europeans can bring cases if they believe that a member country has violated their rights.
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Patriarch Kirill says his meeting with Pope is not possible yet
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia again said there are no preconditions for his meeting with the Pope.
"I still believe conflicts need to be resolved more energetically, if not fully, in order for this meeting to be successful," the Patriarch said in an interview with the Serb newspaper Vecherniye Novosti (a translation of that interview has been posted on the Moscow Patriarchate website).
Patriarch Kirill said the media reiterated "only the sensational aspect of a possible meeting," saying he "would not like its effect to be reduced to sensation."
"In order for such a meeting to be really useful for further development of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, we need to work together to radically improve the atmosphere of these relations by resolving the problems that exist between us," the Patriarch said.
Read more
Bishop's Hitler comment another black eye for Catholic image
So next time a bishop gets in front of a microphone or a television camera, perhaps they should be less concerned with making "dramatic illustrations" and more focused on simply delivering the message of Jesus--the one that teaches love, acceptance, and unity among all of God's people. They may still be met with opposition, but at least they'll have nothing to apologize for.
House shopping?
Price Available Upon Request
No. C24582 Listing Id: lc233
This apartment was once the private residence of Pope Innocenzo X. The palace, which is still the splendid setting of Piazza Navona, was built by the architects Rainaldi and Borromini and commissioned by Pope Innocenzo X on the occasion of his election to the position of pontiff in 1645. The construction of Palazzo Pamphilj was completed unusually quickly in 1650. This wing was originally a part of the Palazzo dei Mellini and the Mellini's family's coat of arms is still visible at the base of Borromini's beautiful spiral ramp, which leads from the street to the entrance of this apartment.
Read more and see pictures
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Reactions to the Third Edition of the Roman Missal
Fr. Anthony OSB Ruff discusses why we got new translation guidelines, which are a complete reversal of the previous ones, and what the results are in the English text of the missal - both its strengths and its deep problems. He examines how the new missal reflects the exercise of authority in the Church, which is becoming less collegial and more centralized. Fr. Ruff reflects on the many ways a faithful Catholic might respond to this dilemma, ranging from collaboration to resistance.
Fr. Ruff is a monk of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN. He teaches liturgy, liturgical music, and Gregorian chant at St. John's University School of Theology Seminary. He is widely published. He is the author of Sacred Music and Liturgical Reform: Treasures and Transformations, and of Responsorial Psalms for Weekday Mass: Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. He does priestly ministry at the local county jail and the neighboring community of Benedictine Sisters.
Listen
Put Pen to Paper...
Soon, the Church, in the English-speaking world (in the United States and Canada at least), will have experience of The Third Edition of the Roman Missal for more than three months.
What has praying with the new English translation of the Roman Missal been like for you, for your parish?
For some, the New Roman Missal (NRM) is a blessing. For others, their reaction may be one of "New words? They are okay, I can live with them." But for many like us, the NRM is a step backward in time, is not prayerful, and distances us from the love of God, and the list of concerns and issues go on...
The MisguidedMissal Team has put together THREE ways that you may make your concerns, thoughts and feelings known to our leadership, especially our Bishops.
1. Sign our petition. To sign petition click here.
2. "My Two Cents" comment card. Click here for more information - see Part One on this page.
3. Letter writing campaign. Click here for more information - see Part Two on this page.
. . . .
Campaign: To have individuals write letters (at least) to...
- Their bishop
- The Papal Nuncio for their country
- The president of their country's Conference of Catholic Bishops
- To post their letters so that they might arrive in the above offices during First Week of Lent, beginning February 26, 2012.
Read more for addresses and ideas for letter writing
Email from Louisville Liturgy Forum Co-chair
From: Joseph Martos
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 12:41 PM
Subject: Networking
Dear Mr.Edgar,
I am a member of ARCC and subscribe to ARCC Light. I am also co-chair of a local group, the Louisville Liturgy Forum, which was first organized in 2010 in response to the new translation of the Roman Missal.
Now that the RM3 is an ecclesiastical fact, our active group of about 15 members and about an equal number of less active members are looking for ways to serve progressive Catholics in the Louisville area.
One thing we would like to do is network with people who are members of organizations such as ARCC but who do not know how to find like-minded Catholics in our area.
Is there any way that we could contact them through you?
Joe Martos
Louisville, KY
PS: You might want to take a look at our web site, www.LiturgyForum.com. You will find a link to the ARCC web site in the left column of our home page.
ARCC News response:
We encourage our Louisville area readers and their colleagues to become involved with LLF by contacting Joe (josephmartos@yahoo.com). If you are not in the Louisville area, be sure to look at their website for ideas about starting something similar in your vicinity.
The 'schoolboys' have no real authority
Fr. Norbert F. Dlabal Jan.24, 2012
. . . .
I am now 76 years old. I have served the church as a priest for the last 40 of those years. I don't think I will live long enough for anyone to convince me that the new translation is so much better, so much more spiritual, so much more pleasing to God, and will make me a so much more holy person to say, as we are now required to say at the beginning of the Second Eucharistic Prayer: "You are indeed Holy, Oh Lord, the fount of all holiness" than to say, as we used to say: "Oh Lord, you are holy indeed, the fountain of all holiness." Or how about this? What is so much better about saying, "Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father," as we are now required to say, than to say "Pray, brothers and sisters, that this our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father," as we said until recently?
Making changes for the sake of making changes, not for the sake of improving anything, is a way to let everyone know who is in charge in the church these days.
. . . .
The church is now 2,000 or so years down the line from its infancy and ought to be exhibiting a capacity for a little more solid food rather than pabulum. The fact is, there are many in the church who are ready for solid food. But they are not "running things" right now. And it seems like some of those who are running things actually want to keep her members in an infantile condition.
"The schoolboys are running things" now, but it won't always be that way, because they have no real authority. It only seems that way. It's an illusion. It's an aberration. It is out of order. And it will not always be like this, simply because "the Lord sits in the heavens and laughs ... then in his anger he speaks to them, he terrifies them in his wrath ... Happy are all who take refuge in him" (Psalm 2:4-5, 12).
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We recommend that you watch these sites during the transition to the new translation:
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Upcoming Event
New Ways Ministry's Seventh National Symposium
to be held March 15-17, 2012
From Water to Wine: Lesbian/Gay Catholics and Relationships, New Ways Ministry's Seventh National Symposium, will be held March 15-17, 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland, Major speakers: Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, Luke Timothy Johnson, Patricia Beattie Jung, Richard Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson will facilitate a pre-symposium retreat day. Workshop topics: marriage equality, transgender issues, youth and young adults, lesbian nuns and gay priests/religious, Latino/a issues, African-American issues, and coalition building. For more information: info@NewWaysMinistry.org, (301) 277-5674 or www. NewWaysMinistries.org. |
Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church
(870) 235-5200
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Other voices
Another Voice
Questions From a Ewe
Challenges Facing Catholicism
(Bishop Geoffrey Robinson in converation with Dr Ingrid Shafer) |
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