Recently, eight prominent politicians of the Christian Democratic Union (Angela Merkel’s party) called on the bishops work for the admission of married men to the priesthood.
Read moreMonth: January 2011
Pope on the new online world
Pope Benedict XVI told Catholic bloggers and Facebook and YouTube users Monday to be respectful of others when spreading the Gospel online. Benedict didn’t name names, but the head of the Vatican’s social communications office, Archbishop Claudio Celli, said it was certainly correct to direct the pope’s exhortation to some conservative Catholic blogs.
Read moreEucharistic Congress
The Archdiocese of Saint Louis is hosting a Eucharistic Congress, June 24-26, 2011. This type of gathering has the potential to invite us to reflect on many questions, including: How does the Eucharist challenge us to proclaim the Gospel faithfully?
Read moreIn keeping with the embrace of tradition
Chant Cafe has an interesting setting of an English Gloria – use it while you can, it has a shelf date of 11/20/2011. I like the notation, and I think this is a good example of the ‘hermeneutic of continuity’ in action.
Read moreThe Chattering Classes Are Us
by George Weigel at First Things.
“Catholics once had an intuitive understanding of sacred space: To enter a church, especially in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, was to enter a different kind of environment, one of the hallmarks of which was a reverent silence.”
And with your spirit
by Fr. Dwight Longenecker.
“We seem to have exchanged the banal and dumbed down version from the seventies with stuff that sounds like an eighth grader trying to write Shakespeare.”
Sacred music in crisis?
Zenit posts an interview with Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci, long time director of the Sistine Choir who was recently made cardinal by Pope Benedict.
Read moreSelf-explanatory liturgy?
There is certainly a sense in which the symbols of the liturgy ought to speak for themselves and not require constant explanation. Butit is not necessarily a failure of a rite if its formulations are subject to misunderstanding.
Read moreNational Catholic Youth Choir video!
Here is a lovely promo video of the National Catholic Youth Choir. Calling all Catholic high-schoolers going into grades 10, 11, and 12 to apply. Camp next summer is June 14 – 28.
Read moreMay 1, 2011: Confluence of Events?
Not only does May 1 fall this year on the Second Sunday of Easter which “has been observed since 2000 as ‘Divine Mercy Sunday’…associated with a 20th century Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska, who was a visionary and mystic to whom John Paul II had a strong personal devotion” but “ironically, May 1 is also ‘May Day,’ traditionally associated with the international Socialist movement, which is striking given that the collapse of European Communism is often flagged as John Paul’s central political accomplishment.”
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