This is a parish church in the Philippines. I am sure the parishioners are proud of it. I am proud of them for the Benedictine altar arrangement!
Sunday, October 27, 2024
MASS THIS MORNING AT SAINT PETER’S REVEALS STUNNING RESTORATION OF THE BALDACCHINO
Pope: May we be a Church on the move, sharing the joy of the Gospel
At the concluding Mass of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis encourages us to be like Bartimaeus in today's Gospel and "entrust our blindness to the Lord" in order to be "a missionary Church that walks with her Lord through the streets of the world."
By Thaddeus Jones
Marking the conclusion of the XVIth Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis presided over the Synod's closing Mass on Sunday 27 October in Saint Peter's Basilica. The Pope gave thanks to the Lord for the "journey we have made together" in the Synod on Synodality that began three years ago with local, regional and continental meetings, culminating in month-long October meetings at the Vatican in 2023 and concluding in 2024.
The newly restored relic of the ancient Chair of Saint Peter and Bernini Baldachin featured prominently in the video coverage of the celebration. The Pope recalled how the Chair represents love, unity and mercy, and the call to service according to Jesus' command to the Apostle Peter, while the Baldachin helps us rediscover the glory of the Holy Spirit, "the true focal point of the entire basilica."
Recognizing our own blindness
In his homily Pope Francis recalled today's Gospel narrative of the blind man Bartimaeus helped by the Lord who cries out to Him asking to regain his sight. Resdiscovering his sight, Bartimaeus joyfully sets out to follow Jesus along the way.
The Pope explained how Bartimaeus represents the "inner blindness" we all can have that can holds us back from "the dynamism of life" and having any hope. This can also affect us as Church, the Pope added, where we can become "incapable of perceiving the presence of the Lord, unprepared to face the challenges of reality" and at times unable to respond adequately "to the questions of so many who cry out to us."
The Pope warned that "a sedentary Church" that "confines itself to the margins of reality" risks remaining blind and will "fail to grasp the urgency of giving a pastoral response to the many problems of our world."
Crying out to the Lord
By remembering that "the Lord is passing by", the Church can be like Bartimaeus as a community of disciples who hear the Lord, go out to seek Him, and "feel the joy of salvation...awakened by the power of the Gospel." The Church in turn does this "when it takes up the cry of all the women and men of the world" who seek the joy of the Gospel, wish to rediscover faith, or are set back by suffering, poverty or marginalization.
Following the Lord
Just as Bartimaeus cried out to the Lord in faith and hope, may we do the same, the Pope said, as we also recognize God's action in our lives and set out to follow him. Whenever we are set back by weakness or inertia, may we find the strength and courage "to arise and continue along the path", returning to the Lord and his Gospel.
As the Gospel recounts that Bartimaeus “followed (the Lord) on the way”, the Pope suggested how this offers an image of the synodal Church when the Lord calls us, helps us up when we are lacking intertia or have fallen, and restores our sight so that "we can perceive the anxieties and sufferings of the world in the light of the Gospel."
Bringing the light of the Gospel
The Pope emphasized that we need to be "a Church on her feet...not a silent Church, but a Church that embraces the cry of humanity" and is enlightened by Christ bringing the light of the Gospel to others.
In conclusion, the Pope gave thanks once again for the synodal journey undertaken and that we may "continue our journey together with confidence." And like Bartimaeus, may be "take heart" in hearing the Lord's call, entrusting our blindness to the Lord, rising up and once again carrying "the joy of the Gospel through the streets of the world."
WAS THE SYNOD ON SYNODS A COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME, MONEY AND 1970’S THINKING? BACKWARDIST?
Whatever you think Crux nails it:
An excerpt:
Francis also announced Saturday night that unlike in past synods, this time there will be no apostolic exhortation to draw conclusions – the final document will stand on its own as the closing act. In this way, Francis has short-circuited the possibility that activists disappointed with the lack of breakthroughs from the synod might hope to get them from the pope.
As to why the pontiff chose this path, a variety of explanations are possible. Perhaps the example of the German synodal way, with its seemingly real risk of schism, provided a cautionary tale; perhaps the pontiff didn’t want the jubilee year in 2025 to be overshadowed by narratives of a Catholic civil war.
Whatever the reason, Francis has engineered a denouement to his synod that may not stir anyone’s imagination, but neither will it create many new fault lines. To put the point differently, the conservative wing of the church may not have been well represented in the synod hall, but it did seem to be present in the calculations of the synod’s founding father.
So, is the outcome of the synod a letdown – a case of going out with a whimper rather than a bang?
Perhaps, although there is another perspective to consider. In a deeply divided and polarized age, the fact the Catholic church could stage such a massive consultative exercise and still somehow manage to hold everyone together at the end, even if no one’s fully satisfied, has to rate as a minor miracle – and, come to think of it, maybe not so minor after all.
Friday, October 25, 2024
A "BLACK MASS" AKA "SATANIC MASS" IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ATLANTA TODAY, OCTOBER 25
Yes, this can be purchased at Amazon!
The Diocese of Charleston has advised priests to be vigilant about the distribution of the Host at Holy Communion time so that no one steals the Host or leaves without having placed the Host in their mouth.
While I am sure that in the days in which Catholics were required to kneel and receive Holy Communion on the tongue, one could, presumably, take the Host out of their mouth once they got up for nefarious purposes.
Holy Communion standing, on the run and receiving on the hand has made taking the Host elsewhere quite common and easier to do.
Every priest I know has found consecrated Hosts on the floor, in hymnals/missalettes and we know that people take the Host home. I have seen parishioners with small children break a piece of the Host off to give to their toddler.
I have had an altar server notice someone take a Host back to the pew and he went with a deacon to the person, who opened her purse and gave the Host to the deacon!
Wake up bishops of the USA and around the world. The problem with the desecration of the Host, either intentional or not, is the manner in which Holy Communion is distributed which contributes to the possibility of this desecration as it has contributed to the decline in reverence for the Lord's Eucharistic presence.
Like the Atlanta area, Augusta where I was pastor of The Church of Most Holy Trinity for 13 years, had/has Satanic and Wiccan cults. We found a cat which was sacrificed on the Church's property by the office entrance adjacent to the Church. It had been dismembered.
We had people snatch the Host form Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and bolt from the Church immediately.
In light of the Atlanta black Mass, Friday, October 25, the Diocese of Charleston sent this to all their priests:
Increased vigilance in communion distributionTo: All priests We have been informed by our colleagues in the Archdiocese of Atlanta that an act of satanic worship (a so-called black “mass”) may take place in the Atlanta area on Oct. 25, which involves the desecration of a sacred Host stolen by someone who attended Mass, received Holy Communion, and walked out of the church with the Blessed Sacrament for this sacrilegious purpose. As priests in persona Christi, there is nothing more disturbing than the desecration of the Holy Body of our brother, savior and king. Let us renew an increased vigilance in every parish. Please instruct any extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion to ensure that receiving parishioners and visitors consume the host prior to returning to their seats. Please encourage your parish to continue to pray the rosary during this Month of the Holy Rosary to beg for assistance from the Mother of Sorrows and Queen of Peace. I encourage you to pray that this blasphemous event will not proceed and for the conversion of all hearts. I invite you to consider fasting in reparation for all offenses against the holy Eucharist. At Masses this week, as we elevate the body of Christ, let us look upon him and remember the perfect duty and supreme honor placed on us to safeguard the body, blood, soul and divinity of all that we cherish and adore. May we never tire of proclaiming, defending and upholding Jesus, the Christ. My Lord and my God, have mercy! |
Thursday, October 24, 2024
MY FAVORITE POPULAR DEVOTION!
Pope Francis writes an encyclical on the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. And it seems , clear, uncontroversial and non polarizing! A miracle of the Most Sacred Heart !!!!!
From Vatican News:
‘He Loved Us’: The Pope’s encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus
“Dilexit nos,” Pope Francis’ fourth Encyclical, retraces the tradition and relevance of thought on “the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ,” calling for a renewal of authentic devotion to avoid forgetting the tenderness of faith, the joy of serving, and the fervour of mission.
By Alessandro Di Bussolo
“‘He loved us’, Saint Paul says of Christ (cf. Rom 8:37), in order to make us realize that nothing can ever “separate us” from that love (Rom 8:39)”: Thus begins Pope Francis’ fourth encyclical, which takes its title from the opening words, Dilexit nos.
The encyclical is dedicated to the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ: “His open heart has gone before us and waits for us, unconditionally, asking only to offer us His love and friendship,” the Pope writes in the introductory paragraph. “For ‘He loved us first’ (cf. 1 Jn 4:10). Because of Jesus, ‘we have come to know and believe in the love that God has for us’ (1 Jn 4:16).”
The love of Christ represented in His Sacred Heart
In our societies, the Pope writes, “we are also seeing a proliferation of varied forms of religiosity that have nothing to do with a personal relationship with the God of love” (87), while Christianity often forgets “the tenderness of faith, the joy of serving others, the fervour of personal commitment to mission” (88).
In response, Pope Francis proposes a new reflection on the love of Christ represented in His Holy Heart. He calls for a renewal of “authentic devotion” to the Sacred Heart, recalling that in the Heart of Christ “we find the whole Gospel” (89). It is in His Heart that “we truly come at last to know ourselves and we learn to love” (30).
The world seems to have lost its heart
Pope Francis explains that by encountering the love of Christ, “we become capable of forging bonds of fraternity, of recognizing the dignity of each human being, and of working together to care for our common home,” noting the relationship between Dilexit nos and his social Encyclicals Laudato si' and Fratelli tutti (217).
And “in the presence of the Heart of Christ," he asks the Lord “to have mercy on this suffering world” and pour upon it “the treasures of His light and love, so that our world, which presses forward despite wars, socio-economic disparities, and uses of technology, that threaten our humanity, may regain the most important and necessary thing of all: the heart” (31).
When announcing the preparation of the document at the end of the general audience on June 5, the Pope clarified that it would do us great good to meditate on various aspects of the Lord’s love, which can illuminate the path of ecclesial renewal, and say something meaningful to a world that seems to have lost its heart.”
This encyclical comes as celebrations are underway for the 350th anniversary of the first manifestation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673; the anniversary celebrations will conclude on 27 June 2025.
The importance of returning to the heart
Opening with a brief introduction and divided into five chapters, the Encyclical on the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus incorporates, as announced in June, “the precious reflections of previous Magisterial texts and a long history that goes back to the Sacred Scriptures, in order to re-propose today, to the whole Church, this devotion imbued with spiritual beauty.”
The first chapter, “The Importance of the Heart,” explains why it is necessary to “return to the heart” in a world where we are tempted to become “insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of the market” (2). It analyzes what we mean by “heart”: the Bible speaks of it as a core “that lies hidden beneath all outward appearances” (4), a place where what is shown on the outside or hidden doesn’t matter; there, we are truly ourselves (6). The heart leads to questions that matter: what meaning do I want for my life, my choices, or my actions? Who am I before God (8)?
The Pope points out that the current “depreciation” of the heart originated in Greek and pre-Christian rationalism, in post-Christian idealism, and in materialism in its various guises” where great philosophical thought prioritized concepts like “reason, will, or freedom.”
“The failure to make room for the heart… has resulted in a stunting of the idea of a personal centre, in which love, in the end, is the one reality that can unify all the others” (10), the Pope writes.
For Pope Francis, it is important to recognize that “I am my heart, for my heart is what sets me apart, shapes my spiritual identity and puts me in communion with other people” (14).
‘The world can change beginning from the heart’
It is the heart that unites the fragments and “makes all authentic bonding possible, since a relationship not shaped by the heart is incapable of overcoming the fragmentation caused by individualism” (17). The spirituality of saints like Ignatius of Loyola (accepting the Lord’s friendship is a matter of the heart) and John Henry Newman (the Lord saves us by speaking to our heart from His Sacred Heart) teaches us, writes Pope Francis, that “before the Heart of Jesus, living and present, our mind, enlightened by the Spirit, grows in the understanding of His words” (27). This has social consequences, as “the world can change beginning with the heart” (28).
‘Actions and words of love’
The second chapter is dedicated to the actions and words of love of Christ. The acts by which He treats us as friends and shows that God “is closeness, compassion, and tender love” are evident in His encounters with the Samaritan woman, Nicodemus, the prostitute, the adulterous woman, and the blind man on the road (35).
His gaze, which “examines the depths of your being” (39), shows “how attentive Jesus was to individuals and above all to their problems and needs” (40), in such a way “as to admire the good things he recognizes in us,” like in the centurion, even if others ignore them (41).
His most eloquent word of love is “being nailed to the Cross,” after having wept for His friend Lazarus and suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, aware of His violent death “at the hands of those He loved so much” (45, 46).
The mystery of a heart that loved so much
In the third chapter, “This is the heart that has loved so greatly,” the Pope recalls how the Church reflects and has reflected on “the holy mystery of the Lord’s Sacred Heart.” He refers to Pius XII’s Encyclical Haurietis aquas, on the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1956). He clarifies that “devotion to the Heart of Christ is not the worship of a single organ apart from the Person of Jesus,” because we adore “the whole Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, represented in an image that accentuates His heart” (48).
The image of the heart of flesh helps us contemplate that the love of the Heart of Jesus Christ not only understands divine charity but also extends to human affection (61). His Heart, Pope Francis continues, quoting Pope Benedict XVI, contains a “threefold love”: the sensitive love of His physical heart and His twofold spiritual love, both human and divine, in which we find “the infinite in the finite” (67).
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a synthesis of the Gospel
The Pope clarifies that the visions of some saints, particularly devoted to the Heart of Christ, “are rich sources of encouragement and can prove greatly beneficial,” but “are not something the faithful are obliged to believe as if they were the Word of God.”
At the same time, he reminds us, along with Pope Pius XII, that this devotion “cannot be said ‘to owe its origin to private revelations.’” Rather, “devotion to Christ’s heart is essential for our Christian life to the extent that it expresses our openness in faith and adoration to the mystery of the Lord’s divine and human love” and “in this sense, we can once more affirm that the Sacred Heart is a synthesis of the Gospel” (83).
The Pope calls for renewing devotion to the Heart of Christ, especially to counter “new manifestations of a disembodied spirituality” that are multiplying in society (87). It is essential, he says, to return to “the incarnate synthesis of the Gospel” (90) in the face of “communities and pastors excessively caught up in external activities, structural reforms that have little to do with the Gospel, obsessive reorganization plans, worldly projects, secular ways of thinking and mandatory programmes” (88).
The experience of ‘a love that gives itself as drink’
In the last two chapters, Pope Francis highlights two aspects that devotion to the Sacred Heart should unite to “to nourish us and bring us closer to the Gospel”: personal spiritual experience, and community and missionary commitment.
In the fourth chapter, “A love that gives itself as drink,” he revisits the Scriptures, and with the early Christians, recognizes Christ and His pierced side in “the one whom they have pierced,” a prophecy from the book of Zechariah in which God refers to Himself as an open fountain for the people, to quench their thirst for God’s love, “to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (95).
Various Church Fathers have mentioned “the wounded side of Jesus as the source of the water of the Holy Spirit”—especially St. Augustine, who “opened the way to devotion to the Sacred Heart as the place of our personal encounter with the Lord” (103).
Gradually, this wounded side, recalls the Pope, “began to be associated with His Heart” (109) and he lists several holy women who “in recounting their experiences of encounter with Christ, have spoken of resting in the heart of the Lord as the source of life and interior peace (110).”
Among the modern devotees, the encyclical first mentions St. Francis de Sales, who presents his spiritual proposal with “a single heart pierced by two arrows,” (118).
Apparitions to St Margaret Mary Alacoque
Under the influence of this spirituality, St Margaret Mary Alacoque recounted the apparitions of Jesus at Paray-le-Monial, between the end of December 1673 and June 1675. The core of the message conveyed to us can be summed up in the words heard by St Margaret: “This is the heart that so loved human beings that it has spared nothing, even to emptying and consuming itself in order to show them its love” (121).
Teresa of Lisieux, Ignatius of Loyola and Faustina Kowalska
Dilexit nos goes on to speak of St Therese of Lisieux, who described Jesus as the One “whose heart beat in unison with mine” (134); and of her letters to Sister Marie, which help avoid focusing the devotion to the Sacred Heart suffering, “since some had presented reparation primarily in terms of accumulating sacrifices and good works.” Instead, “Therese, for her part, presents confidence as the greatest and best offering, pleasing to the heart of Christ” (138).
Pope Francis also dedicates several passages of the encyclical to the place of the Sacred Heart in the history of the Society of Jesus, emphasising that in his Spiritual Exercises, St Ignatius of Loyola suggests to those following the method “to enter into the Heart of Christ” in a heart-to-heart dialogue.
In December 1871, he notes, Father Pieter Jan Beckx consecrated the Company to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; and Father Pedro Arrupe did so again in 1972 (146).
The experiences of St Faustina Kowalska, Pope Francis recalled, re-proposed the devotion “by greatly emphasizing the glorious life of the risen Lord and his divine mercy”; and motivated by these reflections, St John Paul II also “intimately linked his reflection on divine mercy with devotion to the Heart of Christ” (149).
Speaking of the “devotion of consolation,” the encyclical explains that seeing the signs of the Passion preserved by the heart of the Risen One, “it is natural, then, that the faithful should wish to respond not only to this immense outpouring of love, but also to the suffering that the Lord chose to endure for the sake of that love” (151).
Pope Francis also asks “that no one make light of the fervent devotion of the holy faithful people of God, which in its popular piety seeks to console Christ” (160). God, he says, “offers us consolation ‘so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction, with the consolation by which we ourselves are consoled by God’” (162).
Devotion to the Heart of Christ sends us to the brethren
The fifth and final chapter of the encyclical, “Love for Love,” develops the communitarian, social, and missionary dimension of any authentic devotion to the Heart of Christ, which, as it “leads us to the Father,” also “sends us forth to our brothers and sisters” (163). Indeed, love for one’s brothers and sisters is the greatest gesture we can offer Him “to return for love for love’ (166).
Looking at the history of spirituality, the Pope recalls that St. Charles de Foucauld's missionary commitment made him a “universal brother”: “Allowing himself to be shaped by the heart of Christ, he sought to shelter the whole of suffering humanity in his fraternal heart” (179).
Pope Francis then speaks of “reparation”: as St. John Paul II explained, “by entrusting ourselves together to the heart of Christ, ‘over the ruins accumulated by hatred and violence, the greatly desired civilization of love, the Kingdom of the heart of Christ, can be built’” (182).
The mission to make the world fall in love
The Encyclical recalls again with St. John Paul II that “Consecration to the heart of Christ is thus ‘to be seen in relation to the Church’s missionary activity, since it responds to the desire of Jesus’ heart to spread throughout the world, through the members of His Body, His complete commitment to the Kingdom.’ As a result, ‘through the witness of Christians, ‘love will be poured into human hearts, to build up the body of Christ, which is the Church, and to build a society of justice, peace and fraternity” (206).
To avoid the great risk, underlined by Saint Paul VI, “amid all the things we say and do, we fail to bring about a joyful encounter with the love of Christ who embraces us and saves us” (208), we need “missionaries who are themselves in love and who, enthralled by Christ, feel bound to share this love that has changed their lives” (209).
The Prayer of Francis
The text concludes with this prayer of Francis:
“I ask our Lord Jesus Christ to grant that His Sacred Heart may continue to pour forth the streams of living water that can heal the hurt we have caused, strengthen our ability to love and serve others, and inspire us to journey together towards a just, solidary and fraternal world. Until that day when we will rejoice in celebrating together the banquet of the heavenly kingdom in the presence of the risen Lord, who harmonizes all our differences in the light that radiates perpetually from his open heart. May he be blessed forever.”
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
LET ME BE SO PRE-VATICAN II: CAN A CATHOLIC IN GOOD STANDING GO AND WATCH CONCLAVE? IF THEY HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY FOR THE TICKET, YES!
I will go to see it.
This is what the National “catholic” Reporter’s commentary is, in part:
Laced with the poignancy of a homily and unfolding with the nail-biting intensity of a whodunit, the most miraculous achievement about Edward Berger's "Conclave" is how it bridges its pulpy thrills with its spiritual commentary.
Adapted from Robert Harris' 2016 novel of the same name, the film follows fictional cardinals tasked with selecting a new pope when the acting Holy Father suddenly dies. A movie about the electoral process may not seem rife with cinematic potential, but the creative rendering of the particulars of this ceremony, coupled with a decisive commitment to portraying the trappings of corruption and power, make the proceedings both entertaining and thought-provoking. In a time of deserved mistrust against religious institutions, "Conclave" makes a compelling and ecclesial call for a renewed spiritual stewardship characterized by humility, meekness and, curiously, doubt…
IF THIS ISN’T THE KETTLE CALLING THE POT BLACK, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS! IT IS TO LAUGH, TO LAUGH I SAY!
The National Catholic Reporter has a news story about a publication in Wisconsin calling itself “Catholic” when it isn’t published by the Church but a partisan political platform.
And the National Catholic Reporter? Is that a Church published publication. What a joke! it really must be a joke?????
Press title:
Who's mailing the Catholic Tribune? It's not the church, it's partisan media.
Monday, October 21, 2024
EARLY VOTING BEGINS TODAY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND I VOTED AND WILL GO TO CONFESSION LATER!
First day of early voting in South Carolina and I am in line on Hilton Head Island, 1 Sand Shark Lane…
SAINT PETER’S CHURCH IN VOLLO, ILLONOIS…
A former parishioner of mine from St. Anne’s in Richmond Hill was married over the weekend at St. Peter’s Church in Vollo, Illinois.
The parish and its pastor understand that there should only be one main altar, not two, thus they use the historic altar for the Modern Mass.
It boggles my mind that so much money was wasted to destroy old altars, or place new altars in front of the original altar, but lower and less important looking.
The old rubrics for building altars, even if detached from the reredos, promotes reverence for the Mass and the Most Holy Eucharist. The Protestantizing of the Mass and our churches have left reverence and piety as it concerns the Mass, its celebration and respect for the Most Holy Eucharist, in shambles.
Sunday, October 20, 2024
MAKING DOUBLE ALTARS LOOK LIKE ONE ALTAR!
When we were restoring and renovating Saint Joseph Church in Macon, I insisted that we update the sanctuary as a part of the major overhaul of the interior.
The old high altar, was three steps up and higher than the flimsy free standing altar placed there around 1966. The free standing altar consumed all the space of the sanctuary.
Thus with the renovation, I insisted that the sanctuary be raised higher and extended a bit into the nave. A new marble altar was designed and executed and placed on the same level as the high altar, giving the appearance from the nave that there was only one altar, not back to back altars as you can see in the photo above taken this past week.
The altar railing was restored but now at the level of the nave where it is easy for communicants to kneel on the first step where the railing is. This not only makes the railing safe to use, since the communicants don’t have to go up any steps, but also does not fence off the sanctuary or constrict it.
I find the interior of St. Joseph to include its sanctuary to be the nicest renovated old church, apart from Most Holy Trinity in Augusta, in Georgia.
Thursday, October 17, 2024
A DUTCH CARDINAL AS THE NEXT POPE? FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, THIS ONE YES!
It appears that this Dutch Cardinal would agree with the common sense recommendations of the Real Presence Coalition and certainly this Cardinal as pope would not pit himself, liturgically, against the great liturgical pope, Pope Benedict XVI and his astute and pastoral allowance for those who think the TLM is superior to the Novus Ordo, to celebrate it exclusively. That’s synodal to say the least!!!!
From Rorate Caeli (press title for full interview):
Dutch Cardinal: Don't repeat our mistakes! Those among our churches where truth is proclaimed and liturgy is well celebrated are full. Put Christ at the Center!
Cardinal Eijk, of Utrecht (primate of the Netherlands), in an interview with Catholic periodical COMMUNIO:
The church must speak with one voice
Cardinal Eijk on mission, secularization and the World Synod
The Church in the Netherlands was once regarded as very progressive. Disillusionment and collapse followed. Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk warns in an interview: Don't repeat our mistakes! In an extremely secularized society, the Archbishop of Utrecht is counting on a new missionary awakening.
By Willem Jacobus Eijk, Benjamin Leven, Lambert Hendriks
COMMUNIO: The Netherlands is considered one of the most secular societies in Western Europe. How Christian are the Netherlands still?
Read more »
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
THE CHURCH BUT ALSO THE SEMINARIANS
This is a Diocese of Charleston Church which I really like apart from the double main altars.
I am a priest of the Diocese of Savannah but in retirement live in the Diocese of Charleston where I have facilities to celebrate Mass and Confessions. These are their seminarians. But the church captured my attention:
POPE FRANCIS SNUBS WASHINGTON’S WILTON CARDINAL GREGORY
FROM CRUX: (my astute comments embedded in red within the text.)
Speaking of the American context specifically, recently three of your fellow American cardinals and synod delegates had a meeting with Pope Francis to discuss challenges in the American Church. Many were surprised that you weren’t also part of that meeting. Is there a reason you didn’t participate?
I didn’t get the invitation. I didn’t get the invitation. I have no idea. I don’t know if they asked for the meeting or that the Holy Father asked them. I simply don’t know.
In a press conference Cardinal [Joseph] Tobin said he had requested the meeting with the pope…
I have no idea.
If you had been there, what do you think are some challenges that were important to discuss?
I would think the health of our ecclesial community would be one. Are we a healthy Church? That is, are we a healthy Church that’s rooted in the truth and living in the faith as best we can, practicing charity? And are we a Church that has something to say to the rest of the world? Why become a Catholic? (This is an astute comment and may be the reason the other three cardinals and the pope didn’t want him there as they don’t want to listen this kind of reasoning which is orthodox. Synodal Catholicism is infected with worldly concerns and talking, chattering, talking and incessantly talking about this, that and the other. It is neurotic talking. Did I say it is obsessed with talking?)
How do you think synodality can help in responding to these challenges?
It gets us talking to each other. One of the things that I am most impressed with, both last year’s gathering, this year’s gathering, is the fact that it’s an environment in which people can honestly speak to one another, hear one another, and not condemn one another. It’s a delightful opportunity to have someone raise an issue of significance that challenges me, to listen, to attempt to understand what’s prompting that opinion and maybe even to learn. A conversation that you enter into where you already have the answer is not a conversation. (And this is what Catholicism is reduced to under synodalism. It is all about, talking, talking, talking. Where are the perennial truths? Where is the call to perfection as St. Teresa of Avila demanded? Where is the call to repentance and individual reform, especially in the areas of ethics, addictions, self absorption and sexuality, most needed today? Where is any of that. No, neurotic and power hungry Catholics zwant power, decision making and their sinful lifestyles confirmed. They want nothing to do with sin, repentance and the call to holiness and a moral way of life. What a disaster for the Catholic Church, what Cardinal Pell stated, the last 13 years have been a catastrophe!)
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
I AM CONVINCED THAT THESE COMMONSENSE RECOMMENDATIONS WOULD WORK— BUT ONLY CATHOLICS WITH COMMONSENSE WILL UNDERSTAND THAT IT WILL WORK!
Single largest survey of Catholics ever completed in the United States.
Today the Real Presence Coalition (RPC) announced the release of the findings of its survey of U.S. Catholics to the general public. The survey results can be found at https://realpresencecoalition.com/results/
In conjunction with the public release, the RPC also issued an open letter to U.S. bishops urging them to consider the survey’s findings as they proceed in their National Eucharistic Revival campaign.
“This is the single largest survey of Catholics ever undertaken in the United States,” said Vicki Yamasaki, spokesperson for the RPC. “Surveys from organizations such as Pew Research and Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) come nowhere close to the number of Catholics participating in this survey.”
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) launched a multi-year National Eucharistic Revival campaign in 2021 in response to a Pew Research study which revealed a majority of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
“The Pew survey revealed a very concerning problem, and the RPC designed and initiated this survey to specifically get at the root cause of this problem and probe the question of why lay Catholics believe there has been a loss of faith in the Real Presence,” said Jim Hobart, a partner with Public Opinion Strategies (POS) who assisted in the survey effort.
The RPC survey revealed that the loss of faith in the Real Presence has been precipitated by a combination of factors, including
1) Receiving the Eucharist in the hand;
2) Scandal of offering the Eucharist to public sinners who reject Catholic teaching;
3) Lack of reverence on the part of both the laity and priests;
4) Lack of solid catechesis; and
5) Lost sense of the supernatural.
Survey respondents also offered a number of specific recommendations to U.S. bishops on how to restore belief in the Real Presence, including:
1) Encouraging the practice of receiving the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling;
2) Catechizing the faithful;
3) Promoting greater reverence for the Eucharist;
3) Eliminating the use of Extraordinary Ministers;
4) Withholding the Eucharist from public sinners; and
5) Increasing Eucharistic events such as Adoration and Benedictions.
“The overall findings of this survey can be best summarized by ancient Latin maxim ‘lex orandi, lex credenda’” said John-Henry Westen, a RPC member. “There’s currently a disconnect between the way we worship and what we believe. There’s no single ‘silver bullet’ answer to solving this problem. An integrated, multifaceted approach will be required.”
“How will we know when there’s been a restoration of belief in the Real Presence?” asked Fr. Chad Ripperger, an RPC member. “When the line for confession is at least as long as the line for receiving the Eucharist.”
Public Opinion Strategies (POS) is a nationally recognized research firm that has conducted 25,000 research projects and 11 million interviews across 50 states. POS was engaged to assist in the survey design as well as the interpretation of its results.
The Real Presence Coalition (RPC) is an informal group of influential Catholics working to restore belief in Jesus Christ’s Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. Its mission is to provide valuable input to U.S. bishops in their multi-year effort to restore belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
The massive RPC survey resulted in nearly 16,000 responses with an 80% completion rate and generated more than 250,000 words of open-ended feedback. While the survey was open to all U.S. Catholics, those who responded could best be characterized as “highly engaged in their faith,” with over 97% of respondents attending Mass on at least a weekly basis.
The Real Presence Coalition urges the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to consider these findings as they work toward a Eucharistic Revival. The survey’s insights provide a roadmap for restoring faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
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