PLEASE NOTE THE PHOTO THAT VATICAN NEWS USES TO HIGHLIGHT THE YOUTH AND EDUCATION OF NEW NUNS!

 

Newly-professed US religious 'young and highly-educated'

Ahead of the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life, a US-based research center details the characteristics of religious men and women who professed vows in 2020.

By Lisa Zengarini

Most religious men and women who professed their perpetual vows in 2020 are highly educated, come from a Catholic family background, and have first considered vocation at a relatively young age.

This is according to new research conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). 

The research was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations (CCLV) ahead of the annual World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life, to be marked on 2 February.

CARA received a response from 549 of 747 major superiors for an overall response rate of 73% among religious institutes. Of the 172 identified men and women religious who professed perpetual vows in 2020, 55 sisters and nuns and 57 brothers and priests responded to the survey for an overall response rate of 65%.

Young and encouraged

According to the survey, the average age of responding religious of the Profession Class of 2020 is 38. Half of them were 34 or younger. On average they were 19 years old when they first considered a vocation to religious life.  Three-quarters of the respondents come from families in which both parents are Catholic and 84% have been Catholic since birth.

Nine in ten (89%) report that someone encouraged them to consider a vocation to religious life. 45% were encouraged by their parish priest, 41% by a friend, and 40% by a religious sister or brother, while 30% say they were encouraged by their mother and only 18% by their father.

Highly-educated

The survey also found out that Profession Class of 2020 is highly educated.

According to the findings, a quarter of the respondents earned a graduate degree before entering their religious institute. Three-fourths (75%) entered their religious institute with at least a bachelor’s degree (71% for women and 80% for men). Moreover, almost nine-tenths (85%) of responding religious report some type of work experience prior to entering their religious order.

Regarding ethnic and race background, seven out of ten identify themselves as Caucasian, European American, or white, while 13% identify as Asian/Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, 7% as African American and 5% as Hispanic.

Three-fourths of the respondents were born in the United States. Of those born outside the US, the most common country of origin is Vietnam.

Example of Christ's love

Instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in 1997, the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life is celebrated in conjunction with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas Day, which commemorates through the blessing and lighting of candles that Christ is the light of the world.

So too, those in consecrated life are called to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to all peoples.

In view of this year’s recurrence, which US parishes will celebrate over the weekend of February 6-7 this year, Bishop James F. Checchio, chairman of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, has invited the faithful to renew their gratitude to Christ for the gift of consecrated life.

"By their prayers and apostolates, those in consecrated life provide for us an example of Christ’s merciful love, and especially during these uncertain and difficult times, they point us to the reality that Christ is our ultimate goal,” he said.

A PARTIAL TRUTH IS LIKE A LIE OR AT LEAST NOT THE REAL STORY

 

 On Saturday, Pope Francis spoke about proper catechisis  and then went on to say this about the Magisterium:

“The catechesis inspired by the Council,” said Pope Francis, “is continually listening to the heart of the man, always with an attentive ear, always seeking to renew itself.”

Pope Francis insisted: “The Council is the Magisterium of the Church. Either you are with the Church and therefore you follow the Council, or you interpret it in your own away, according to your desire, you do not stand with the Church.” He asked that there be no concessions “to those who try to present a catechesis that does not agree with the Magisterium of the Church.”

Much of what he said was off the cuff and thus Vatican News did not report everything because off the cuff remarks lead to mass confusion. 

I was a bit confused about what he said about handing on the faith of Vatican II as it is the Magisterium of the Church, which indeed it is. But was he speaking about a return to "coloring book catechesis? No he wasn't. He was speaking about Vatican II not some spirit for a liberal heterodox approach or an approach that fails to acknowledge what Vatican II taught authentically, not in the a warped interpretation.

 But this is one of the examples Pope Francis used in his off the cuff remarks which can be found in Italian in its entirety. I copy this from two comments at Praytell, the most important of which is Fr. Anthony Ruff's translation of the Italian:

Alex Sheffield says:

January 30, 2021 at 3:21 pm

Thank you for not quoting the part of the speech in which the pope presents the ordination of women as an example of ruinous departure from the church’s magisterium. I know many of us readers would have been scandalized by his words there.

Anthony Ruff, OSB says:

January 31, 2021 at 8:25 am

Hi Alex,

That wasn’t included in the report at Vatican News so I didn’t know about it. Thanks for alerting me to it.

Readers can find the entire address in Italian here: https://www.chiesacattolica.it/968876-2/

Francis speaks at some length of those bishops who led the faithful to reject Vatican II because they were supposedly the true Catholics. Then he says “today they ordain women.” Then he says the most severe attitude of guarding the faith without the magisterium leads to ruin. It is possible, as you suggest, that he is referring to both examples he just cited. It is also possible, and seems more likely to me, that “today they ordain women” is more parenthetical, and leading to ruin refers to those traditionalists supposedly “guarding” the faith, since “guarding the faith” is more redolent of the language and attitude of traditionalists.

Here is the excerpt:
“A me fa pensare tanto un gruppo di vescovi che, dopo il Vaticano I, sono andati via, un gruppo di laici, dei gruppi, per continuare la “vera dottrina” che non era quella del Vaticano I: “Noi siamo i cattolici veri”. Oggi ordinano donne. L’atteggiamento più severo, per custodire la fede senza il magistero della Chiesa, ti porta alla rovina. Per favore, nessuna concessione a coloro che cercano di presentare una catechesi che non sia concorde al magistero della Chiesa.”

 "It makes me think so much about a group of bishops who, after Vatican I, went away with groups of lay people to continue the" true doctrine "that was not that of Vatican I:" We are true Catholics ". Today they ordain women. The most severe attitude, to guard the faith without the magisterium of the Church, leads you to ruin. Please, no concessions to those who try to present a catechesis that does not agree with the magisterium of the Church. "

My comment: Yes the Old Catholics broke away after Vatican I to preserve the true Church and today they ordain women and are quite liberal. Think too of Lutheranism and what happened with the Protestant revolt said they were the true Church and broke away.  

Today, you have bishops everywhere, but especially in Germany advocating for women's ordination, gender ideology, same sex marriage, euthanasia and women's health services to include contraception and abortion. They are not part of  Vatican II's Magisterium, they are leaving the Magisterium for their own thing!

 

 

 

I AM A PUBLISHED AUTHOR NOW, KIND OF, NO ACTUALLY!

 

I have a chapter in a newly published book out of Macon. I wrote it around 2015 while pastor of St. Joseph Church. The book came out only recently though and the editor, Dr. Andrew M. Manis, PHD sent me a copy.

PIOUS CATHOLICISM AND A POPULIST NEW MORALITY

 

I get the Augusta Chronicle on line and the Saturday version has a religion section after sports and before the want ads. Of course, my pious Catholicism states that the last is the most important, like me in procession :).

But I digress. There was an article written by a local Protestant minister who was pleasantly surprised to see for the first time a President of the USA make the Sign of the Cross when he went to the tomb of the unknown soldier. He went on to say that the new President goes to church regularly and was brought up right by his parents.

And yes, in the pre-Vatican II sense, the outward signs of the President’s Catholicism are abundant. 

But, in terms of morality the President also has been formed quite well by the spirit of Vatican II’s new morality that is built upon Social Justice not natural law or Sacred Scripture, apart from ideologizing “love.” 

Social justice Catholicism codifies in civil law secularized gender ideology, women’s health which includes contraceptive and abortion services to keep women healthy, same sex marriage, opposition to the death penalty, legalizing euthanasia and censoring and censuring those who disagree with them on any of these and classifying some speech in opposition to this new morality as hate speech. 

One can look like a traditional Catholic with the outward signs of Catholicism and its pious acts but be post-Catholic in this new morality that is really a godless, secular form of morality that is right up there with other Utopian ideologies that have brought so much grief, death and destruction to cultures and peoples, Communism and Nazism to name two.

Tied into this new morality and its super sensitivity to people and their mental illnesses is a new political correctness forced upon others in the name of social justice and love.

I experienced this for the first time yesterday at a doctor’s appointment. I had to answer several questions on an iPad like devise prior to seeing my doctor. I have done this many times at at the same doctor’s office.

But this time there were some new questions: 

1. What is your gender? Male, female, other, unknown.

2. What was your gender at birth? Male, female, other, don’t know.

3. What is your sexual orientation? Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, don’t know.

Of course I was incensed because my sexual orientation wasn’t listed. CELIBATE. Thus, I refused to answer the question on orientation. I am writing the President, my governor and my legislatures to complain about my doctor’s insensitivity to my sexual orientation. Surely it is hatred for celibates and a desire to marginalize and persecute us. 

SAINT ANNE'S MASS AND HOMILY FOR THE LEGAL PROTECTION OF UNBORN CHILDREN ON THE DAY OF THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE MARCH

My pro-life homily begins at 14:15:

I HATE TALKING POLITICS, BUT.....

 

I am not, Rocco Palma of Whispers in the Loggia is:

Much as its contents have already been hinted at by ideological gurus, so folks can see it in black & white, here’s +Gomez’s update to US bench on USCCB’s 10-man “working group” to advise on relations with a Catholic POTUS… and its planned text on Biden’s reception of Communion:

And of course the apolitical National Chismatic Reporter (NCR) laments, with crocodile tears, that the gang of ten bishops on the committee are not President Biden’s former bishop in Delaware or his current Archbishop, Cardinal Gregory, let alone Cardinal Cupich who threw a hissy-fit earlier on the day of his President’s inauguration by, and get this, going to Twitter to vent, something the former Bishop of Father Z has excoriated and very profoundly:

Bishops' working group on Biden operates in the shadows, excludes his local bishops

Jan 29, 2021

by Christopher White

 

BUT I SAY: EDITORIAL: IT’S TIME FOR THE VATICAN SHOULD INVESTIGATE THE NCR, (NATIONAL CHISMATIC REPORTER)

 

Editorial: It's time for the Vatican to investigate the US bishops' conference

Jan 28, 2021

by NCR Editorial Staff

 

OUCH, OUCH AND OUCH! FATHER Z’S EX BISHOP TURNS UP THE HEAT ON BLOGGING, TWEETING AND FACEBOOKING CARDINALS, BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND DEACONS

There might be other deacons and priests having ex bishops along with Father Z:

Copied from the blogging Deacon’s Bench:

“GET OFF SOCIAL MEDIA AND GET IN FRONT OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. STOP WATCHING SO MUCH NEWS AND START READING THE GOOD NEWS. SPEND THE TIME ON VOLUNTEER SERVICE TO HELP THE POOR INSTEAD OF WRITING ANGRY EMAILS.”

Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin has released a letter to his clergy that was reprinted today in Our Sunday Visitor.

He says, in part:

All Catholics have to be careful to engage in political life in a manner that reflects the Gospel, but clergy need to exercise special caution so that their political activity is consistent with their vocation in the Church. Bishops, priests and deacons, as individuals and citizens, obviously can vote and hold political opinions. As pastoral leaders and members of the hierarchy, however, our task is to preach and teach the Catholic faith to the laity and to lay out the revealed priority of moral issues (and indeed for pastors to fail to preach the truths of our faith is to fail in loving our people). The task of the laity is to form their consciences and apply the teachings of the Church to the spheres of politics, economy, society, and culture. Clerics should not be publicly voicing overt and purely political opinions regarding individuals, parties, election results, the current news cycle, nor engaging in ad hominem attacks. Such actions threaten to politicize the Church and divide our people even more. Furthermore, canon law places legitimate limits on clerical engagement in political activities. This is not a matter of being timid or politically correct, remaining neutral on moral issues, or protecting the Church’s tax exempt status, but of acknowledging and honoring the respective roles of the clergy and the lay faithful.

I have a suggestion for everyone, including myself. Let’s spend these months leading up to Easter in deeper prayer, penance, and almsgiving. Instead of pointing accusatory fingers at others, let’s point one at ourselves. How can I be more patient, kind, gentle, and compassionate to others, especially those I disagree with? Get off social media and get in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Stop watching so much news and start reading the Good News. Spend the time on volunteer service to help the poor instead of writing angry emails. Examine your conscience regarding the sins of calumny, rash judgment, violent anger, and malicious speech. And then go to confession.

I am not implying that we should be silent in the face of evil, injustice, and wrongdoing, but we need to stick with the moral issues and refrain from the personal attacks. If we do not even desire to heal the divisions among us, how can we ever rediscover our unity in Christ? The painful experience of these past months tells me that we as fallen human beings can become divisively tribal. We instinctively associate with the people who think, act, and live as we do. While this may be a reflexive human response due to our fallen nature, Jesus Christ calls us to a far greater reality, indeed a supernatural unity, founded in the very life of the Most Blessed Trinity.

Read it all. 

Bishop Hying, you’ll recall, was until recently the bishop of Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, a.k.a. “Fr. Z,” who garnered some attention a few weeks back for conducting “election exorcisms.”

HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL CATHOLIC FILM, BLACK NARCISSUS, 1947?

Sister Ruth = Norman! 

WHEN HOLLYWOOD MADE MOVIES THAT WERE CATHOLIC AND IMBUED WITH THE THEOLOGY OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE

 Donna Reed's portrayal of her Religious Profession as a cloistered nun in France in Green Dolphin Street movie! 

 

Only the pre-Vatican II Church could inspire a movie like Audrey Hepburn's, "The Nun's Story." But there is another movie that came to my attention today for the first time, the 1947 drama, "Green Dolphin Street" with Lana Turner and Donna Reed. It is another version of "The Nun's Story" and Donna Reed's ascendancy to her profession as a cloistered nun. 

The movie, though, isn't really about that, or is it? Yes! it is. But it unfolds in a very human and melodramatic way and mirrors the Divine Providence of the marriage of the main character's parents. 

It is powerful from the religious point of view without being a pious religious movie, although Catholic themes and theology are present. It is a masterpiece in fact and well acted. The earthquake scene won an academy award. 

Pope Francis has consistently taught that Catholicism should attract, not repel. Pre-Vatican II Catholicism attracted Hollywood's attention as well as that of novel writers but in the most positive way, not negative as the Church today is often portrayed. And when modern movies portray the Church positively it is a pre-Vatican II image of it and it is superfluous to the story told, but not so with GREEN DOLPHIN STREET!

 

THEME SONG FOR WORLD YOUTH DAY!

 

The excitement is palpable. Although it is translated into a variety of languages, the ethos and bounciness of this song is typical of Italian contemporary religious music. I am not sure how you would describe it other than Italian contemporary:

Official theme song for World Youth Day 2023 released

“Há Pressa no Ar” - the theme song for World Youth Day 2023, recalls Mary’s rush to meet her cousin Elizabeth and her “yes” to the Angel Gabriel during the annunciation of the birth of Our Lord.

By Vatican News staff writer

The official theme song of World Youth Day (WYD) 2023, scheduled to take place in Lisbon, Portugal, was released on Wednesday, exactly two years since the announcement of the city chosen by Pope Francis to host the next world meeting for young people.

Titled “Há Pressa no Ar” ("There's a rush in the air"), the song is inspired by the WYD 2023 theme: “Mary rose up and went with haste” (Lk 1:39). It recalls the “Yes” of Our Lady and her rush to meet her cousin Elizabeth, who was also with child.

Young people from all over the world are invited to identify with Our Lady when singing the song, “disposing themselves to serve, to the mission and to the transformation of the world” reads a statement accompanying the release of the song. The lyrics also evoke the "party" of WYD and the joy that comes from Jesus.

The theme song was recorded in two versions: one in Portuguese and the other in an international version that includes Portuguese, English, Spanish, French and Italian.

Chosen from among many

The lyrics to the WYD 2023 theme song were authored by João Paulo Vaz, a priest, while the music was composed by Pedro Ferreira, a teacher and musician, both from the Diocese of Coimbra in the center region of Portugal. The muscial arrangements were made by the musician Carlos Garcia.

“Há Pressa no Ar” was selected through a national contest open to the participation of Portuguese people of legal age. Participants in the contest were required to take their inspiration from the WYD 2023 theme, set by Pope Francis; the aims of WYD, highlighting the theme of evangelization; and the Portuguese culture.

The over one hundred entries that were sent in to the Local Organization Committee (LOC) were evaluated by a jury of Arts and Music professionals. The producing process was completed in 2021 with the participation of young people from all over the country, as well as some participants in the competition who, despite not being selected, were involved in the final recording.

One song to gather many

The authors of the theme song insist that the “melody was born before the lyrics.” Pedro Ferreira, 41, composed a melody “thought to congregate, to gather a community” in a small room alone by the piano. Alongside some other friends from the “Parish Band,” his musical group, Ferreira asked Fr. João Paulo Vaz to write the lyrics.

Fr. Vaz recalls not changing the melody. With “a guitar in my hands, I started writing, just like I usually do,” said the 51-year-old priest.

The song style is “a popular song, cheerful, young, easy to learn and easy to translate and to adapt” according to the requirements of the national contest. Ferreira says that musician Carlos Garcia, the one behind the musical arrangements, did a remarkable job of not changing the song’s structure or form, yet enriching it uniquely. Ferreira is also the founder of the Portuguese band “Anaquim.”

Fr. Vaz recalls that the theme of the Portuguese edition: “Mary rose up and went with haste” (Lk 1:39) helped him revise his own relationship with Our Lady, and then the lyrics creative process became “a very deep time of praying.”

For more information, you can visit the official website of WYD 2023

A STINGING REBUKE OF CONTEMPORARY CATHOLICISM THAT DOES NOT ATTRACT THE MAJORITY OF THE YOUNG OR OLD

I just received this comment from the post below this:

Faith is a gift of God. He offers it to all of us. God offers salvation to those who look to Jesus Christ, imitate him, love him, and hope to spend eternity with him. Others accept consumerism, communism, fascism, and currently the very popular "wokeism." The latter replaced the Book of Life (Bible) with Face Book. They do not believe in heaven or hell only in cyberspace which is a kind of hell. There they form hate -communities, consuming communities, and just generally loose themselves in an artificial nirvana. This new kind of existence is all consuming, leaving no room for forming authentic human relationships, or time to contemplate creation, eternity, or the meaning of life, or what is true or what is false. As a society, and I would include the Catholic Church, not its written theology but its current public face as represented by Pope, bishops, religious and very public lay members believe truth (dogma) is relative. There is nothing special there. Catholic truth is equal to atheist truth because who are we to judge? Unless the Church is willing to offer a more compelling alternative to secular fashions of the day it will continue to loose. And it should as it is currently dominated by apostles more in sympathy with Judas than with the other 11.

Wherein I concur:

There are clergy and laity who scoff at promoting the purpose of Christ's Incarnation, birth, hidden years, public ministry, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, sending of the Holy Spirit and His Second Coming and Last Judgement. They scoff at the Church as being founded by Jesus Christ specifically for the salvation of souls. They scoff at proclaiming the opposite of eternal life in heaven which is eternal life in hell, first for the soul and second for body and soul at the Final Judgement, the bodies of the saved joined to the souls in heaven too.

If Catholics no longer believe in the two options after death, either heaven or hell; if  they don't believe in the personal judgement at the hour of death and the general judgement at the Second Coming, what in the name of God and all that is holy is the point of being a Catholic? To hold hands and sing Kumbaya? To do good works only?

An atheist or agnostic can find fellowship, real fellowship in a variety of places with like minded people. They can assist the poor and disenfranchised by helping the Salvation Army or going into politics and public service.   

But if they don't believe that the Catholic Church is the Church founded by God Incarnate Himself and that this life is a pilgrimage either on the narrow road to heaven or the wide highway to hell, then why in the Name of God and all that is Holy should any person be a Catholic. Become a Democrat and let that suffice! 

THE NATIONAL CHISMATIC REPORTER (NCR) PRESENTS AN ARTICLE ON HOW TO KEEP THE YOUNG BUT IT IS THE OLD GOING TO THE ALTERNATIVE PARISH IN A GARAGE

 Fr. Brendan Buckler, center, pastor of St. Elizabeth of the Hill Country Catholic Church in Boone, North Carolina, celebrates a Latin Mass (Tom Rokoske)

This is an interesting article in light of our discussion on how to keep the young Catholics who are actually coming to church from leaving.

This is NCR’s take on a parish in Boone, NC whose pastor, four years ago, began to take the parish to the right and how people my age and older decided that they would create a garage Mass.

They abandoned the young parishioners in the parish for their own clique.

Of course if there were no young priests and seminarians inspired by Pope St. John Paul II, there would be no priests or seminarians. This is what NCR would prefer, a lay run Church where priests and seminarians are not needed since the Francis effect isn’t producing them as the John Paul effect still does. 

NCR comments; you bloviate; press title:

In came Latin, incense and burned books, out went half the parishioners

Post-Vatican II North Carolina Catholics seek a spiritual home

HOW TO KEEP THE YOUNG PEOPLE WE HAVE; ARE WE TO WRITE OFF THE ONES WHO NO LONGER ATTEND?

I received this comment on another post:

Most young people I know, family members, their friends, co-workers, if they were baptized as Catholics and raised as Catholics, have left the Church. It is not part of their lives and when it comes to moral teachings, they have made up their minds long ago on particular issues and the "teaching of the Church" does not play into it. Like most people who have responded, I know young Catholics, individuals and families, who go to the Traditional Mass, but they are in the minority. 

And this comment just came in on another post but is pertinent to this one:

 Most Catholics, old or young, are not obsessed with interior church design, which direction the priest is facing, debating church music or art, intramural church politics, English vs. Latin, etc. Amazing but true: This discussion group of elderly Catholic white men in no way represents the laity as a whole. Young people, especially, are concerned about how Church policies affect them, their families, their friends and their real life in the real world. They often care more about doing good in the world rather than making a full-time vocation of condemning “bad” )meaning different) in the world. If they feel that the Church has essentially written them and their concerns off, then traditionalism is a tough, tough sell. The Church is in the same difficult situation as many corporations and institutions. “Because I said so,” and “Because that s the way it was 100 years ago” doesn’t really work as moral suasion or a practical argument. That just the way it is.

It depends on what part of the country or the world one is, but we know that participation at Mass and those who no longer see themselves as practicing the faith with no intention in the immediate future of returning have left for a variety of reasons. In some places maybe 12% of Catholics attend Mass on Sunday. I think in our diocese, pre-pandemic it would have been 30% or slightly lower.

The secular culture has been their primary formation in terms of worldview and morality. And the morality they profess is one of love but not in the traditional sense. It is a love that respects individual choices especially in the area of sexuality, abortion, marriage, no marriage, monogamy or no monogamy. 

The transcendent for the most part is kept out of the picture. Truth is one's own version of that. 

Catholics young people who stay may want a more contemplative, tell me how to live approach to Catholicism with social gatherings a part of it but not high on the list of priorities. 

Time will tell what toll this will take on these individuals and society in general who have become nones and rely purely upon their own truth.

Given the fact that we are writing off those who have left the practice of the Catholic Faith, how do we keep those who are coming and may be looking for something counter-cultural or something deeper and transcendent?

In my diocese, the EF Mass attracts a small number of Catholics when compared with the number of Catholics in our diocese who actually attend Mass. I don't think that is a realistic venture to think the EF Mass alone will keep young Catholics.

Many parishes have worship and praise music at their Masses. I have no idea how music keeps or repels younger Catholics. I know that music in the Mass in general is a point of contention for many people.

Good preaching can keep some. But good preaching that is counter cultural today, what is called prophetic, also turns many people off especially in the area of sexual morality.

What to do? What to do? Oh, what is a pastor and a bishop to do?

WHAT A SHAME, BUT AT LEAST THIS WRECKOVATION COULD EASILY BE UNDONE!

I copy this from Facebook’s “I’m fed up with ugly churches.”

I wonder what the majority of parishioners felt when this cathedral’s sanctuary was, well, to be nice, wreckovated? 

 St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral, Thibodaux, Louisiana.

Pictured: 

- 1964 Baccalaureate Mass for the local university

- A wedding from the same angle

Since the ‘60s, they’ve knocked out the altar rail and a bunch of pews to extend the sanctuary and put the new altar on it. They’ve also apparently repainted the walls in the sanctuary, but the new picture doesn’t show them very well- they still have a pattern painted on them. Also, the St. Joseph side altar has been converted into a stage for the LifeTeen Mass’ band, so on St. Joseph’s Day (March 19) the St. Joseph Altar (a New Orleans-area tradition) has to be set up on the Marian side altar.

Before:

After:

Unfortunately no after, after, but maybe one day! 

WITH POPE FRANCIS SUFFERING FROM SCIATICA, CARDINAL KOCH PRESIDES OVER EVENING PRAYER II CONCLUDING THE WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY ANNUAL CELEBRATED AT THE BASILICA OF ST. PAUL OUTSIDE THE WALLS,

 Cardinal Koch’s liturgical style and vesture is more pontifical than Pope Francis pedestrian vesture and way of celebrating.

Please note that the MCs for the Solemn Sung Vespers hold the cope as the good Cardinal processes, something not seen since Pope Benedict:

IS CATHOLIC LIBERALISM ON THE ASCENDENCY OR IS IT THE LAST HORRAH OF AN AGING GROUP OF BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND LAITY?

 

My comments first. I was schooled in liberal Catholicism and about eight years into it, I became somewhat disaffected by it and the loss of Catholic identity that liberal Catholicism foments. Bishop Lessard who lived at the Cathedral when I arrived there in 1985 mentored me into a more mature Catholicism, a solid Catholicism of the post-Vatican II era. Bishop Lessard would be considered a progressive in his embrace of Vatican II, he was solid on what Vatican II taught but unfortunately bought into the meme of bishops of the 1970’s that the church could heal all kinds of aberrations and reintegrate aberrant people back into the full life of the Church. Psychology and spiritual direction would accomplish this miracle. It was a Utopian pipe dream that has caused untold tragedy and grief in the Church from victims of sexual abuse of priest supposedly healed of it through therapy, prayer and reintegration. Bishop Lessard was not alone in this ideology unfortunately but he was a part of it and for only one priest that I am aware of who has cause grief galore for so many but who now is mercifully dead and reaping his just reward.

But with that said, Ross Doubthat thinks liberalism is on the ascendancy in the Church at large, with President Biden who epitomizes the “spirit of Vatican II” Church of liberalism and Pope Francis who does also but with more nuance than Biden, thank God.

There are bishops, priests and laity, my age, young and older, who still want to recover the heady days of the 1970’s before Pope St. John Paul II. I am 67 years old. They seem to be having their day under Pope Francis. 

We know in the political realm of the USA liberalism is on the ascendancy among many young Americans who would be in the Bernie Sanders and Ocasia camps. 

But I am not sure of young Catholics who are informed in their faith. I live in a bit of a bubble in Richmond Hill but it seems to me that 20, 30 and 40 somethings in my parish long for tradition and stability and are not necessarily enamored with Pope Francis. But Richmond Hill is a bubble and a very conservative community. 

Where do you think young Catholics are today, especially those of college and graduate school age?

I copy this from the Deacon’s Bench which he copies from the New York Times:

The conservative Catholic columnist for The New York Times, Ross Doubthat has some thoughts on how the new president represents and defines a kind of liberal Catholicism — and what that means:

Many emergent forces are changing liberalism’s relationship to religion — wokeness, secularization, even paganism. But the new president personally embodies none of them. Instead he has elevated his own liberal Catholicism to the center of our national life.

Calling a form of religion “liberal” can mean two different things: On the one hand, a theological liberalism, which seeks an evolution in doctrine to adapt to modern needs; on the other, support for policies and parties of the center-left. In practice, though, the two tend to be conjoined: The American Catholic Church as an institution is caught between the two political coalitions, but most prominent Catholic Democrats are liberals in theology and politics alike.

But more than a set of ideas, liberal Catholicism is a culture, recognizable in its institutions and tropes, its iconography and allusions — to Pope John XXIII and Jesuit universities, to the “seamless garment” of Catholic teaching and the “spirit” of the Second Vatican Council, to the works of Thomas Merton and hymns like “On Eagle’s Wings” (which Biden quoted in his victory speech).

And, of course, invocations of Pope Francis. A decade ago it was a commonplace to regard liberal Catholicism as a tradition in decline. Its period of maximal influence, the late 1960s and 1970s, had been an era of institutional crisis for the church, which gave way to the conservative pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Conservative Catholics felt that liberal ideas had been tried and failed, liberal Catholics felt that they had been suppressed.

But then Francis gave the liberal tendency new life, reopening controversies that conservatives assumed were closed and tilting the Vatican toward cooperation with the liberal establishment and away from associations with conservatism.

The papacy does not issue political endorsements, but there seems little doubt that many figures in Francis’ inner circle welcome a Biden presidency. When the American bishops’ statement on his inauguration included a stern critique of his position on abortion, there was apparent pushback from the Vatican and explicit pushback from the most Francis-aligned of the American cardinals. So the conservative Catholics who spent the election year arguing that Biden isn’t a Catholic in good standing find themselves (not for the first time) in tacit conflict with their pope.

…If you wanted to make a case for its prospects and potential influence, you would emphasize three distinctive liberal-Catholic qualities: an abiding institutionalism, in contrast to the pure dissolving individualism of so much American religion; an increasingly multiethnic character, which matches our increasingly diverse republic; and a fervent inclusivity, an anxiety that nobody should feel discriminated against or turned away.

POPE FRANCIS DECREED THAT THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME IS ALSO TO BE OBSERVED AS THE SUNDAY OF THE WORD OF GOD—IS IT A FLOP SO FAR?

 

Did you parish celebrate the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time as the Sunday of the Word of God?  And if you did, was there anything different about the Liturgy? What did your parish do, either at Mass or otherwise?

Last year was the very first time for this new addition to the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time. I asked that parishioners bring their home Bible to Mass to be blessed. After the Universal Prayer and as a part of the closing prayer of the Intercessions, we asked all to raise their Bibles for the blessing and then the Bibles were blessed with Holy Water. 

At the Mass, the Gospel was chanted.

This year, I forgot to ask people to bring their Bibles from home to be blessed. So all I did was to chant the Gospel. Our tradition at St. Anne’s is to repeat the Alleluia after the Gospel. I know this is reserved only for the bishop at Mass, (and this is just between you and me) but I blessed the congregation with the closed Book of the Gospel as the second alleluia was sung. 

That was it—no other novelty for the Mass, except in my introduction to my homily I explained it was the Word of God Sunday and the Word of God must take root in our hearts and show forth in our actions, faith and good works. 

And you???????

THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME AT GEORGETOWN’S HOLY TRINITY CATHOLIC CHURCH WHERE PRESIDENT BIDEN ATTENDED

 President Biden attended Mass this Sunday at Georgetown’s Holy Trinity Catholic Church, a Jesuit Church. The Mass doesn’t begin until about four and a half minutes into the video below, but get your gin and tonic and enjoy the soothing bar music as you prepare for Mass. Also look at the church building. There are many aspects of it that I like. The altar and ambo are beautiful and go with the architecture of the building. Things are clean and tasteful. But that cross, nice but not there. A crucifix is needed.

For about the first 11 years of the my ordination and because I was formed by the Sulpicians who staffed my seminary in Baltimore, I would have been creative with the altar candles as they are at Georgetown. And the Sulpicians and Jesuits are very similar liturgically. And guess what, Sulpician Father Eugene Walsh lived in Washington, DC during his most influential time on the liturgy. What you see here is Fr. Walsh’s ethos for the liturgy. He influenced the Jesuits countrywide. 

I knew Fr.Walsh very well. He was best friends with my pastor at my first parish assignment in Albany, Georgia where Fr. Walsh would visit frequently. He was there for Holy Week and attended from the congregation. I had the Good Friday liturgy at which he took a photo of me holding up the cross for veneration. It made it to the cover of one of his pamphlets.

You see Fr. Walsh’s influence on this celebrant who is maybe my age or a bit older. Fr. Walsh influenced a whole nation of priests and seminarians in the 1970’s and well into the 80’s. This influence created very friendly, smiley, folksy celebrants for Mass where the friendliness of the priest was the single most important thing for the celebrant with a lot of off-the-cuff banter prior to the penitential act, prior to the readings, during the homily and after the post Communion Prayer. Banter, banter, banter or mini homilies here, there and everywhere! The cult of the personality of the priest at Mass is due in large part to Fr. Eugene Walsh. 

And no Gloria at this Sunday Mass. We were taught in the 70’s if a hymn isn’t sung, don’t say it!

I was puzzled watching the video before Mass began as to where the celebrant’s chair is. There are two side chairs, is one of those it??? And of course the altar is removed from the top of the three steps where it originally was. But it appears that nothing is up there. It looks so vacant. But is that true, nothing is up there? Make sure you watch the beginning of Mass to see where the priest presides and sits. 

As I post this, I did not watch the entire Mass (great camera system by the way) so I don’t know if this is the Mass President Biden attended or not. This parish is very progressive. It is what I was taught in the late 1970’s  a post Vatican II parish should be liturgically and otherwise. 

 

 This video describes how well Holy Trinity Church ministers in a welcoming, non judgmental or no call to repentance sort of way (Third Sunday's Gospel, year B completely negated) to an elite group in the parish with a powerful ideological thrust. And this faithful Catholic thanks God that Holy Trinity was led by the LGBTQetc movement to negate the Word of God, especially the Gospel for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B:

 

FOR THESE CATHOLICS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS THEIR PRIMARY FORMATION IN MORALITY, NOT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH—IDOLATRY ANYONE?

Turn the image into a donkey:

 From Pew Research: 

Religion/Political Party

U.S. Catholics’ favorability of abortion rights trended to fall based on political affiliation. In the survey, Catholics identifying as Republican (63%) believed abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while 77% of Democratic Catholics said the opposite.

This is pretty much in line with Americans overall, reports Pew.

More than half of U.S. Catholics (56%) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while roughly four-in-ten (42%) said it should be illegal in all or most cases, according to the 2019 Pew Research Center survey. Although most Catholics generally approve of legalized abortion, the vast majority favor at least some restrictions. For example, while roughly one-third of Catholics (35%) said abortion should be legal in most cases, only around one-fifth (21%) said it should be legal in all cases. By the same token, 28% of Catholics said abortion should be illegal in most cases, while half as many (14%) said it should be illegal in all cases.

Compared with other Christian groups analyzed in the data, Catholics were about as likely as White Protestants who are not evangelical (60%) and Black Protestants (64%) to support legal abortion, and much more likely than White evangelical Protestants (20%) to do so. Among Americans who are religiously unaffiliated – those who say they are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – the vast majority (83%) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

IT JUST MAKES NO SENSE DOCTRINALLY, THEOLOGICALLY OR VISUALLY!

 Adding a new altar in front of a magnificent older altar and placing the new altar much lower than the old creates eye disorientation. Which is the most important piece of furniture in this cathedral? Most people religious or not would say the old higher altar—that which is highest is the most important. 

But with the addition of a post Vatican II free standing altar placed at the lowest spot in these two photos, the hierarchy of importance becomes three-fold with the most important now the least important.

In these photos, intuitively ones knows that the high altar the most important; next would be the bishop’s throne and the various chairs strewn about three steps lower than the high altar and three step higher than the low altar and of course the least important is the free standing altar. 

Really?

ARCHBISHOP CORDILEONE OF SAN FRANCISCO EXERCISES THE POWER OF HIS OFFICE, WHICH IS THE POWER OF SERVICE TO GOD’S PEOPLE, FRATERNAL CORRECTION OF HIS PARISHIONER, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, NANCY PELOSI

 

Speaker of the House and Catholic Nancy Pelosi is corrected by her San Francisco Archbishop, Salvatore J. Cordileone. Thank you Archbishop Cordileone for this fraternal correction of your parishioner.

 Most Rev. Salvatore J. Cordileone January 21, 2021

Archbishop Cordileone’s Response to Speaker Pelosi’s Comments About Pro-Life Voters

On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized prolife voters who voted for Donald Trump on the abortion issue, saying their votes cause her “great grief as a Catholic” and accusing them of “being willing to sell the whole democracy down the river for that one issue.”

Most Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, issued the following statement in response:

“To begin with the obvious: Nancy Pelosi does not speak for the Catholic Church. She speaks as a high- level important government leader, and as a private citizen. And on the question of the equal dignity of human life in the womb, she also speaks in direct contradiction to a fundamental human right that Catholic teaching has consistently championed for 2,000 years.

“Christians have always understood that the commandment, ‘Thou shall not kill,’ applies to all life, including life in the womb. Around the end of the first century the Letter of Barnabas states: “You shall not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shall you destroy it after it is born’ (#19). One thousand, eight hundred and sixty-five years later, the Second Vatican Council affirmed: ‘Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes’ (Gaudium et spes, n. 51).

“Pope Francis continues this unbroken teaching. Addressing participants in the conference, ‘Yes to Life! - Taking Care of the Precious Gift of Life in Its Frailty’ on May 25, 2019, he condemned abortion in the strongest possible terms: ‘is it licit to eliminate a human life to solve a problem? ... It is not licit. Never, never eliminate a human life ... to solve a problem. Abortion is never the answer that women and families are looking for.’ And just yesterday (January 20, 2021) Archbishop Gomez, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, reiterated the declaration of the U.S. bishops that abortion is for Catholics the ‘preeminent priority.’ In doing so, he acted rightly and collaboratively in his role as USCCB President, and I am grateful to him for doing so.

“Preeminent does not mean ‘only,’ of course. There are certainly many evils we must confront and many goods we must pursue. In his inaugural speech yesterday, President Biden gave a moving call to unity and healing. He offered what I would call a ‘Litany of Compassion’ – bringing before the eyes of the nation the suffering of people across a wide spectrum of issues. In my experience, advocates for unborn children also work diligently to be of service in many of these causes as well. Speaker Pelosi has chosen this week to impugn the motives of millions of Catholics and others for choosing to make voting on the issue of abortion their priority and accuses them of ‘selling out democracy.’ This is not the language of unity and healing. She owes these voters an apology.

“I myself will not presume to know what was in the minds of Catholic voters when they voted for the Presidential candidate of their choice, no matter who their preferred candidate was. There are many issues of very grave moral consequence that Catholics must weigh in good conscience when they vote. But one thing is clear: No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion. ‘Right to choose’ is a smokescreen for perpetuating an entire industry that profits from one of the most heinous evils imaginable. Our land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and it must stop.

“That is why, as Catholics, we will continue to speak out on behalf of those who have no voice to speak for themselves and reach out to, comfort and support those who are suffering the scars of the abortion experience. We will do so, until our land is finally rid of this despicable evil.”

 

DID YOU SEE THIS ON CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC OR NBC OR ANY OTHER NATIONAL NEWS OUTLET?

 Lifesite news can be and often is vitriolic and not the most trusted news service except when they report news that is verifiable. This is one such story and it includes a local TV station’s news video:

Pro-abortion protesters storm pro-life Mass in Ohio cathedral with signs demanding free abortions

The activists were displaying posters with messages that read: ‘Fund abortion, not cops,’ and, ‘Abortion on demand, end Hyde now.’

Fri Jan 22, 2021 - 3:21 pm EST

ELECTIONS HAVE RAMIFICATIONS AND AN ELECTION OF A PRO-CHOICE CATHOLIC PRESIDENT MEANS CATHOLIC BISHOPS AND PRIESTS HAVE TO BE PROPHETIC

President Biden, now a parishioner of the Archbishop of Washington, DC, Wilton Cardinal Gregory issued a White House statement about Roe v. Wade on Friday, January 22nd, the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize abortion and the Cardinal Gregory’s parishioner, President Biden did so on the very day that Cardinal Gregory prayed the Mass for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children, which is offered each January 22nd.
Shortly, we can only pray, Cardinal Gregory will issue his own statement decrying his parishioner’s virulent pro-choice agenda under the guise of women’s health which this President states he will promote worldwide. We can only pray too, that Pope Francis will issue a statement of lament about the worldwide ramifications of this Catholic President’s statement which is American Imperialism and ideological colonization of other parts of the world which the Pontiff has often excoriated.

As I celebrated Mass on Friday, the yearly anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion, and prayed for the legal protection of unborn children, our new Catholic President, Joseph Biden made clear that he would codify that right to choose to kill/murder a child in her mother’s womb. A Catholic did this, not a Protestant President, like President Trump or an atheist or agnostic president. A Catholic President pledged this.

Make no mistake, the gushing that President Biden is a devout Catholic is meant to win Catholic votes and it will win pro-choice Catholic votes as this sort of nonsense has done since Vatican II and the demolition of the Democrat party, which prior to Vatican II  most Catholics, who were pre-Vatican II, chose to call their party.

Would President Biden have won the election if he was pro-life and claiming the “seamless garment” first put forward by Cardinal Bernadine of Chicago? I think he would have won most of the Catholic vote. 

Would President Biden have won the election by aligning himself with Pope Francis’ political positions, such as welcoming the immigrant, concern for climate change/ecology and who also calls for laws to protect the unborn calling those who provide abortions “HITMEN” hired by the ones wanting the abortion? More than likely and instead of President Biden being hell bent on changing the Catholic Church, he should be heaven bent on changing the Democrat Party!

Thank goodness for the President of the USCCB who wrote a letter to President Biden on the day of his inauguration sounding the alarm about the President’s support of Roe v. Wade, gender ideology and euthanasia. Thank God for the other bishops who supported Archbishop Gomez’s statement. 

And thank God for the Archbishop of San Francisco who called out his parishioner, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for her nonsense about believing Catholics who voted for President Trump. 

But scandal of scandals, and in the truest sense of what scandal means, this is what our Catholic president said on the very day that the Catholic Church in the USA prays for the legal protection of the unborn:

Statement from President Biden and Vice President Harris on the 48th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

JANUARY 22, 2021 • STATEMENTS AND 

Today marks the 48th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade.  

In the past four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been under relentless and extreme attack.  We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care – including reproductive health care – regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status. 

The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to codifying Roe v. Wade and appointing judges that respect foundational precedents like Roe.  We are also committed to ensuring that we work to eliminate maternal and infant health disparities, increase access to contraception, and support families economically so that all parents can raise their families with dignity.  This commitment extends to our critical work on health outcomes around the world. 

As the Biden-Harris Administration begins in this critical moment, now is the time to rededicate ourselves to ensuring that all individuals have access to the health care they need.

THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!

I have bloviated that there is no need and it should be forbidden for new churches to have two main altars, an older altar with attached reredos imported from a classically designed closed church and then another fixed free standing altar three steps below it. It makes no sense whatsoever to created something new like this. 

The renovated Chapel of the Immaculate Conception at Seton Hall is what I’m talking about. They installed what I presume is a new reredos for the restored central tabernacle, but it doesn’t have an attached altar. Rather the new altar, free standing, is in front of it but clearly designed to match the reredos. 

That’s what I am talking about. And the Mass can be celebrated on either side of the freestanding altar:

When you look at the new renovation above, I noticed that the restoration of the side chapels has our Blessed Mother on the right side (Epistle Side) and St. Joseph on the left side or Gospel Side. I was under the impression that if the image of the Sacred Heart or of Christ Himself is used in a church, that it is placed on the Gospel side and the BVM is moved to the right or Epistle side of the Church. But the opposite is above with St. Joseph and St. Mary. Should their placement be reversed above?

But the 1910 look of this chapel, the original look, by the way, has St. Joseph and St. Mary juxtaposed in as in the photo above. Any explanation for this?

For more photos and the story go:

Before and After: Chapel of the Immaculate Conception at Seton Hall

by Shawn Tribeon January 22, 2021Architecture

We have shown many very recent 'Before and After' projects, but I wanted to turn the clock back to the year 2008 when Granda Liturgical Arts and Evergreene Architectural Arts completed a renovation of the Immaculate Conception Chapel at Seton Hall University in New …

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