March for Life

Washington State coverage can be found here.

Washington, DC coverage can be found here.

Either will likely be far more accurate than the MSM.

Christmastide in Combermere

An unexpected opportunity to visit Madonna House last week turned this Christmas season into a very holy and happy one.

Used to bread and cheese for Friday supper, I arrived on Dec. 30 to the feast of the Holy Family and a sumptuous supper, at least by Madonna House standards.

New Year’s Eve brought a holy hour and praying for every nation on earth. It was both simple and profound at the same time. 

Sunday was the celebration of Mary, Mother of God and the first of three days off for staff and guests.  It was a joy to be at daily Mass and simply be present to the day’s liturgy.  The absence of overtones of the liturgy wars, both during Mass and in general conversation, was notable. The Masses were all Latinn rite, but the December schedule was still up and I noticed they had a Byzantine liturgy (Melkite rite) on December 8 for the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Beyond daily Mass and Adoration, catching up on old friendships and meeting new people was good. The women’s dorm had the usual Canadian and US guess, plus the recent presence of several Korean women, with a housemother from Hungary. The men’s dorm was very international, ranging from North American to France, Ukraine, Belgium, someone from South America(?) and several others that I don’t remember. The cultural diversity was seen in the “entertainments” after supper, frequently carols in various native languages.

It is difficult to convey the context of what “days off” mean to a community who choose to live a life that reminds them of others’ poverty.  Try using the outdoor jon when it’s zero degrees Fahrenheit.  At the very least, one does not dawdle.  It is only when one is unplugged on a daily basis from the internet, cell phones, iPhones, etc. that one can appreciate the pickup hockey game, pinochle, hand and foot, Apples to Apples,  and videos.   Mostly though, people talk with each other. 

It was indeed a very blessed time.

Twas the Thursday before Christmas…

…and since this might be my last opportunity to get near a computer, this is to wish a blessed Christmas season to one and all.

Fiat

So much can be said about Our Lady of Guadalupe – patroness of the Americas, patroness of pro-life people and activities, and the wonderful story itself.  But today, what  comes up above those comes  from today’s Gospel – Mary ‘s fiat – let it be done to me according to your word.

The Obligatory Translation Post

This post was almost titled Liturgical Angst Ennui.  It seemed like the hype around the new Missal (and concommitant “well, I suppose we have to”) seem an extension of the liturgy wars/battles.  Besides, I’ve been through this (major liturgical change) before. Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt. 

The new translation does not seem that new to me. Then again, I’m part of the much-maligned generation that saw the changes, pre-Vatican II, post-Vatican II, and everywhere in between. Most – not all, but most – of the people who are the most hyped about the new translation are those who have entered the Church after the changes: converts and cradle Catholics too young to remember those changes.

Yes, it’s good to give a thorough catechesis, preparation for what will be new for many. Yes, for all my familiarity with the more literal translation, I’ll probably slip and stumble in the weeks to come.  But having been through various changes, licit and illicit, and different rites, I’ve noticed that the form of Mass, the language used, the translation dynamic – none of these are a magic wand that inherently makes good Catholics.  I’ve seem the range from those knowledgeable and practicing their faith, to those who don’t know or understand their faith in all the above variations.

When people live the Gospel – that’s what matters.

 

The Day of Beauty

The day of beauty was a drizzly, chilly, gray day outdoors. Inside the chapel on the campus of St. John Fisher College,  the 8th annual Chesterton conference titled Transforming the Culture was a day of beauty indeed.  Hats off to Lou and Jeannne Horvath and all who put together Saturday’s conference. It was well attended, drawing people from Rochester, Buffalo, and north of Toronto.

In Lou Horvath’s introduction, he said today’s mass media with their focus on physical appearance would have missed greats such as Taft, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abe Lincoln.

Tom Martin, who teaches philosophy at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, quoted Chesteron’s observation that America is the only nation in the worl founded on a creed (the Declaration of Independence).

Joseph Pearce, who teaches literature at Ave Marie University and has written several biographies, spoke about love, reason, and beauty and how each brings us closer to God.

Kevin O’Brien, whose Theater of the Word bring the message of salvation through dramatizations, did a wonderful rendering of Belloc defending Chesterton and then a section of Chesterton’s writing on heresies.

Dale Ahlquist, co-founder of the American Chesterton Society, didn’t mention the title of his talk – Apocalypse Later – but did enjoy saying apocalytic conflagration.  He quoted Chesterton: “the end of the world is more real than the world it ends” and spoke of the importance of an awareness of the need of repentence before that end.

The above hardly does justice to such excellent, informative, and entertaining speakers.  St. Irenaeus Ministries recorded the presentations and will make it available.

 

 

Time is running out.

The deadline for comments about the mandating health insurance plans to cover contraceptives and the gross violation of conscience through the very narrow definition of the so-called “conscience clause” – the deadline is this Friday, September 30.

It astounds me that I haven’t heard anyone in  this area mention this. Granted, I’m probably out of the communication/social/whatever loop locally, but this underscores what I’ve said all along – the disunity among orthodox Catholics allows for the nonsense, this evil nonsense,  to thrive.

To add your comment, here is the USCCB web page that directs you to the NCHLA (National Committee for a Human Life Amendement) with a message already composed.  There’s also information about the Support Respect for Rights of Conscience Act.

Priest banned from saying Mass

A sign of the times is this report of a Canadian priest banned from saying Mass for saying that people should not support what goes against Catholic doctrine.

An instance to remember Romans 8:28

Like the proverbial saying, I had to pick my jaw up from the floor when I first heard the news of Fr. Pavone’s “suspension,” subsequently clarified to his being recalled to his diocese, still in good standing. Ed Peters has some observations on publicly known information on the situation. 

As surprising as the news of Fr. Pavone’s recall to his diocese was, God will bring good out of it.   Yet another  instance to remember Romans 8:28.

Ten Years Later

Among all the remembrances this week about 9/11, the most on-target came from Fr. Rutler, a guest on EWTN’s World Over program.  He said it was “an attack of evil on Judeo-Christian civilization.”

Whenever another nation had a victory of any sort over God’s people, it was because God’s people had lapsed in faithfulness to God’s word.  Tomorrow, Archbishop Dolan will celebrate Mass at 4pm (to be carried by EWTN).  The current issue of the local “alternative newspaper,” which can always be relied on to express liberal talking points, is still playing the “Blame America” card.

The battle lines are drawn. After a vigilant pause tomrrow, it will be time once more to be in the fray.