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Read moreMonth: September 2010
Unintended novelty
The loss of the past is inevitable, and not to face the inevitable is psychologically, culturally, and, I suspect spiritually dangerous.
Read moreFirst things first
The Trinity, the Paschal Mystery, and music at Mass. How do they relate? Call me crazy, but I think each provides a key to the others.
Read moreThe Pope’s successful trip
By all accounts, Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to the UK was a rousing success exceeding every expectation. The Scottish bishops are even hoping for an upsurge in priestly vocations.
Read moreFemale priest for Old Catholics in Italy
As a child, she prayed to St. Rita — much venerated in Sicily — asking for her intervention to become a priest.
Read moreFirst female bishop for Lutheran Finland
Bishop Irja Askola was elected in a 3 June vote in which she received 591 votes to 567 for her rival, Matti Poutiainen. The Helsinki Times reported that one of the differences between the two candidates concerned marriage, with Askola being willing to bless same-sex couples, whereas Poutiainen held that marriage is solely between a man and a woman.
Read moreNo shows: mainline worship attendance
Many people assume that there has been a steady decline in worship attendance for all the mainline denominations since the mid-1960s—the era when most of them began to see their memberships decline. But trends in attendance—usually thought to be a better indicator of church vitality than trends in membership—have actually followed their own patterns.
Read moreA chant expert on the new chants
Bruce Ford writes: “The ICEL musicians ought to have read John Boe’s dissertation, ‘The Ordinary in English: Anglican Plainsong Kyrials and Their Sources’ (Northwestern University, 1969) before they did their work. They appear to have been unaware of all but the most obvious ‘set-forms.'”
Read moreBishops with opinions
How many ministers in the Catholic Church, bishops or priests or deacons or lay ministers, feel they must say things they don’t believe, or not say things they do believe, out of obedience?
Read moreWhat does kairos have to do with the translation?
For those born after Vatican II, like I was, this will likely be the only time in our lives that everyone who pays even minimal attention to the Catholic Church—from CNS to CNN, to families at the dinner table, couples in the car, priests from the pulpit, and church secretaries in the bulletin—will be talking about the liturgy. As many have said here and elsewhere, the event of this new translation is a golden opportunity.
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