Well, it's New Year's Eve. I haven't posted much this week even though I've been on vacation. One might intuit that I am lazy. However, if you've been keeping an eye on the home page, you'd know that I've hardly been lazy, but just developing other sections of the site.

A few highlights:

January 2007: an overview of different celebrations this month, both liturgical and extra-liturgical. This also links to the daily almanac.

Hierarchy 2007: an overview of milestones that will be reached by various members of the hierarchy, both international and national. Basically, a list of cardinals who will reach the age of 80 and bishops who will be 75.

Some January highlights: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Ordinary Time.

There are others but you can find them. I hope you enjoy and please send feedback if you have it, both good and bad.

I'll write again later.

Labels: site news

OK when I first saw this story quoted in Dom Bettenelli's blog, I cringed a bit... but then I read the whole article. Here's what Dom quoted:

Mary is a near-total cipher in terms of documented biography; like her son, she is a canvas on which different cultures and generations have painted their own notions. The result, Kimball says, has been to discard the real Miriam, her Hebrew name, and the scene at Bethlehem.

“Many people today look at the Nativity scene as if it’s a pageant . . . where everybody’s there: the kings, the shepherds, the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the angel, the star, everything,” says Kimball, who teaches at Merrimack College in North Andover and Assumption College in Worcester. That sacrifices historical reality (for instance, she says, there’s no way three kings would have attended the birth in the company of lowly shepherds).

Meanwhile, Mary has morphed into myth, reflected in the reverent titles piled on her head—queen of heaven, mother of the church—that “are pushing the figure of Mary almost to the position of an Isis,” the ancient Egyptian goddess, rather than a historical woman, Kimball says.

OK so it looks bad. But then you get this:

Kimball's research has plumbed not just scripture but ancient traditions -- extra-biblical writings, hymns, and prayers from Christianity's infancy -- to discover what the earliest Christians believed about the woman they considered the mother of God.

Moderns' biggest misconception? "How absolutely terrified she may have been at all that was happening, which was so outside of the natural process of conceiving a child without a man." As late as the 19th century, Kimball says, European Catholicism downplayed the physical in Mary's motherhood, insisting she didn't have a labor and that "Jesus just appeared."

As the mother of nine, "I have somewhat of an affinity to motherhood," Kimball says, and in her talks she stresses the physical realities of childbearing.

OK that's fair. Then this:

Kimball's own spiritual life has zig-zagged from childhood Quakerism to Catholicism to her current Greek Orthodox Christianity. Far from rejecting all that tradition says about Jesus' mother, she believes in the virgin birth and other Christian theology about Mary.

So she converts quite a bit but it doesn't seem like she's a total loon in terms of theology compatible with the Catholic faith. I don't like blog entries that are a form of proof-texting. It's important to the reputation of people that we present their views as completely as possible so as not to mislead. I think Dom was a bit unfair on this one.

[Globe source]

Labels: theology, Virgin Mary

Labels: international, politics, Vatican

I can definitely relate to these (h/t to Dom):

101 ways you know you're from Boston:

1. The Red Sox World Series win was, and will always be, one of the greatest moments in your life.
2. The guy driving in front of you is going 70 mph and you're swearing at him for going too slow.
4. You went to Canobie Lake Park or Water Country as a kid
5. You actually enjoy driving around rotaries.
7. Your social security number starts with a 0.
9. You know what a "regular" coffee is.
10. You keep an ice scraper in your car year-round.
12. Springfield is located "way out west."
14. You know how to pronounce the names of towns like Worcester, Billerica, Gloucester, and Haverhill.
15. Anyone you don't know is a potential idiot until proven otherwise.
16. Paranoia sets in if you can't see a Dunkin Donuts or CVS within eyeshot at all times.
17. You have driven to New Hampshire on a Sunday just to buy alcohol.
18. You know how to pronounce Yastrzemski.
23. You know what they sell at a Packie.
32. You're sick of the Kennedy's, but you vote for them anyway.
39. You've been to Fenway Park several times.
40. You've gone to at least one party at U Mass.
41. You own a "Yankees Suck" shirt or hat.
42. You know what a Frappe is.
50. You never go to "Cape Cod," you go "down the Cape".
51. You think that Roger Clemens and Johnny Damon are more evil than Whitey Bulger.
52. You know who Whitey Bulger is.
53. You went to the Swan Boats, House of Seven Gables, or Plymouth Plantation on a field trip in elementary school.
65. The Big Dig tunnel disaster wasn't really that much of a surprise.
94. You drive 45 minutes to New Hampshire to save $5 in sales tax.
95. You've pulled out of a side street and used your car to block oncoming traffic so you can make a left.
96. You've bragged about the money you've saved at The Christmas Tree Shop.
100. You remember Jordan Marsh, Grants, Bradlees, Caldor, Zayres, or Ann & Hope.

Labels: random

This just in:

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that it had no authority to order the Legislature to vote on a ballot initiative to ban gay marriage, but the justices scolded lawmakers for shirking "their lawful obligations."

The SJC, the same court which legalized gay marriages beginning in May 2004, issued the unanimous ruling this morning in response to a lawsuit spearheaded by outgoing Governor Mitt Romney. The justices wrote that all the legislators took a vote to uphold the Constitution and will "ultimately will have to answer to the people who elected them."

Romney and 10 other plaintiffs charged that legislators subverted the state constitution Nov. 9 when they met as a constitutional convention and took no action on the voter-initiative petition. The Legislature voted, 109 to 87, to recess before deciding whether to put the amendment on the 2008 ballot.

In another crazy plot twist:

Governor Mitt Romney may refuse to move ahead on automatic pay raises for lawmakers unless they vote next week on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, a top administration official said yesterday.

The state's 200 House and Senate members are entitled to a raise on Jan. 1, but it is up to the governor to decide the exact amount and give final approval. Romney could act on the pay raises before he leaves office on Jan. 4, or leave the responsibility to Governor-elect Deval Patrick.

Legislators have scheduled a vote on the same-sex marriage amendment for Jan. 2, but many opponents of gay marriage fear lawmakers will recess without taking action. According to a senior Romney administration official, the governor is seriously considering withholding his approval if the Legislature does not act on the amendment.

It will be interesting to see if they vote on Tuesday to say the least.

Labels: moral issues, politics

Well I just played the Christmas Vigil for the Episcopalians... more on that in a later post. My friend William will enjoy my thoughts.

I'm relaxing before going to see family while watching the Holy Father's Midnight Mass which is beautiful. Some interesting things I've seen is the presence of a volunteer choir singing the psalm which was beautiful. A young guy from Bismarck read the second reading. He is a student at the NAC. Both the young boys in the choir and the old bishops look like they could fall asleep standing up! It sounds like Archbishop Foley is giving the English commentary which can be quite cumbersome to someone who knows all the prayers anyway. I wish he'd be quiet sometimes so I can hear the singing and the Holy Father!

Well, Mike Aquilina has some great things to say over at Way of the Fathers. Block out some time to read it... I must say it's beautiful and gives lots of history.

I'll be around posting here and there. Midnight for me is in Taunton tonight so who knows when I'll have a chance to post again.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Labels: Christmas, personal, Pope Benedict, Vatican

From this week's post from Cardinal Sean:

As I mentioned before, I was a prison chaplain for two years in the 1960s in Butler County, Pennsylvania. I always tell the story about giving my first sermon in prison. I was very nervous and searching for a topic when I had this inspiration of great escapes in the Bible. So I talked about Daniel in the lion’s den, the three lads in the furnace, St. Paul going over the wall in the basket and St. Peter in chains. I had their rapt attention, but the problem was, that night six prisoners escaped from the prison. I thought my first prison assignment was going to be my last!

One of the interesting things I did when I was in prison ministry was to start a painting company. In those days no one could get parole unless they had a job, so I would hire the prisoners. As you might expect, it was very hard for a prisoner to get a job while they were still in prison. Nobody would want to hire somebody sight unseen and behind bars.

So I started this painting company, but I knew nothing about painting or starting a company! I got a thousand dollars from my father to start the business. I bought paint, I bought brushes, I bought ladders and with the money that was left over I bought a car. The problem was that the car could only go in reverse, so the first job we had, we had to get there driving backwards… to get money to repair the car!

He shares his Christmas message which gave me much to consider so I share it with you:

Only a couple of days until Christmas, we all ask ourselves: “Is there anyone I forgot?” We want to give gifts to family, friends and loved ones as well as to those whose kindness and service we appreciate.

Some people are hard to buy gifts for. They seem to have everything they need or want. Still, we struggle to get the perfect gift. The question we all need to ask is, “What am I giving to the One whose birthday we are celebrating?” We undoubtedly think that Jesus is in the “has-everything-category.” But at Christmas, Our God makes Himself small and vulnerable so that we need not be afraid to draw near, so that we realize that He has come in poverty and simplicity to teach us about love and about what really matters. Does Jesus want something from me? Yes, He does. That’s why He came into the world. He seeks our friendship. He calls us to be disciples and friends.

Our gift to the Lord must be our friendship. Friendship is not inexpensive. It demands sacrifices of time, energy and resources. Friends become friends by communicating, by talking, by getting to know each other.

In the legend often told to children, there is a noble and good monarch who is anxious to get to know his people so he assumes a disguise as a peasant so he can live among his subjects and experience their pains and wants and feel their aspirations. At first glance, the story might seem to parallel Christ’s coming at Christmas. But actually, Christmas is quite different. Our God came not disguised as one of us. He has become one of us. And He does not come into the world to get to know us. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He is our Creator, our Father. He comes into our world so that we can get to know Him and to be His friend. And in discovering who God is, we come to understand who we are and why we are here and what we need to do with our lives.

Christmas is the Birthday of the One who wants to be our best friend. His name is Emmanuel, God with us. Christmas is a moment to renew and deepen our friendship with the Lord. The gift the Lord is waiting for, longing for, is our heart. At Christmas, God makes a gift of Himself to us. All other gifts are as nothing compared to Christ. Every gift, nevertheless, that is given with love reflects the goodness and love of Our God who made Himself homeless so that we could find the way home. Merry Christmas!

Other links:
Cardinal Sean's Christmas schedule
The Boston Pilot (newly redesigned site)

Labels: Christmas, U.S. Church

This is truly unfortunate:

Sensing a wave of disaffection among Roman Catholics in Greater Boston, a tiny community of priests on Beacon Hill is waging an all-out campaign to win them back.

This week, the Paulist Center launched a three-year, $800,000 advertising and outreach campaign to attract Catholics who feel disenchanted with church teachings on gay marriage and other social issues, stressing that "everyone is truly welcome" at the center and that "questioning is encouraged."

The center's priests say the pain of the clergy sexual abuse crisis and the closing of parishes in the region has also alienated many Catholics, and they say they want to seize on Christmastime as a moment to bring them back.

The priests have urged their 1,500 members to invite friends, relatives, and co-workers to join them at Mass this week. The center has printed glossy cards with the slogan, "You'll feel right at home."

...

Over the past several months, Hattaway convened focus groups of new members, longtime members, and staff, asking them what made the center appealing. He surveyed 700 members, asking them to rate on a scale of 1 to 7 how willing they would be to reach out to new members. He hired a theologian, Alex Hivoltze-Jimenez, to conduct one-on-one interviews to probe members' church attendance and to learn what qualities drew them to the center.

Hattaway, who was Al Gore's spokesman in 2000 and an adviser to Governor-elect Deval Patrick this year, compiled the results into PowerPoint slides with bullet points.

The key findings show that members like the center because they see it as a home that "offers acceptance, answers questions, feeds, nurtures, and unites an otherwise scattered family." Members like singing hymns at the center, where lyrics are projected onto a wall behind the altar. And they like the focus on helping the poor.

...

After batting around ideas, they launched the first ads for the center this week, on public radio, online, and in newspapers, including the Globe, the Boston Metro, and Bay Windows, a gay and lesbian newspaper.

They also produced a 16-minute promotional DVD and 1,000 cards, similar to the ones distributed at political rallies, for members to hand to co-workers and friends. The cards feature a soft-focus image of flickering candles, a schedule for weekend Masses, and an invitation that reads, "Dear Progressive Catholic: Come Home for Christmas!"

"We decided we could no longer hide a good thing," Ardis said. "Fewer and fewer Catholics are connecting with the church. They're not necessarily finding another home, and they've, in a sense, somewhat given up. . . . This was the time to really let people know this is a place that welcomes all."

Jesus did not use focus groups and analysts to spread the Gospel. He used a simple message. Sinners were welcome, of course, but Jesus insisted that they leave their sin behind. Many rejected Jesus. It's unfortunate, but they did.

Somehow connecting an $800,000 campaign to the humble stable of Bethlehem is difficult for me. Aren't these the same people who criticize the operating budget of the Church in favor of helping the poor? They're just inviting people to "feel" something. What about conversion?

Labels: Christmas, evangelization, U.S. Church

Was reading the archives over at Biblicalia and came across this poem:

O Lord, when Thou didst call me, didst Thou know
My heart disheartened thro’ and thro’,
Still hankering after Egypt full in view
Where cucumbers and melons grow?
—’Yea, I knew.’—

But, Lord, when Thou didst choose me, didst Thou know
How marred I was and withered too,
Not rose for sweetness nor for virtue rue,
Timid and rash, hasty and slow?
—’Yea, I knew.’—

My Lord, when Thou didst love me, didst Thou know
How weak my efforts were, how few,
Tepid to love and impotent to do,
Envious to reap while slack to sow?
—’Yea, I knew.’—

Good Lord, Who knowest what I cannot know,
And dare not know, my false, my true,
My new, my old; Good Lord, arise and do
If loving Thou hast known me so.
—’Yea, I knew.’—

Christina Georgina Rossetti
Before 1893

Poetry fans will remember that Rossetti wrote "In the Bleak Mid-Winter" which I'll post over Christmas. I recite that one from memory for my students each year on the last day of school before Christmas.

Labels: poetry

Two stories coming out of the Chinese Church today. The first on Cardinal Zen from the Telegraph:

The leader of Hong Kong's Roman Catholics has called on the Pope to excommunicate China's state-appointed bishops, as relations between Beijing and the Holy See plunge to new lows.

	Cardinal Joseph Zen

China's state-run Church has ordained bishops in defiance of Rome, despite negotiations since the death of John-Paul II aimed at restoring diplomatic ties after more than half a century.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, Bishop of Hong Kong and one of the Church's key voices on Chinese issues, said that the time had come for the Vatican to take an uncompromising stance.

In the most recent case, at the end of November, the ordination went ahead despite a clear warning from the Holy See that it would be in breach of Canon Law.

"I think people in the underground Church and also in the good part of the official Church don't expect the Holy See to ratify this ordination easily, and they don't expect the Holy See to absolve these bishops from sanctions," he said.

Canon law calls for the excommunication of both those ordaining and being ordained if it is without Church approval. Cardinal Zen said that the Vatican had acted quickly to excommunicate Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the former archbishop of Lusaka who married and then conducted four ordinations of rebel bishops.

This other is from Reuters on the deaths of two bishops:

Two Chinese bishops, including one who championed reconciliation between Beijing and the Vatican, have died in the past month, setting up another possible brush with the Holy See over the appointment of new bishops.

Zheng Changcheng, the bishop of the southeastern city of Fuzhou, died of cancer of the esophagus at 94 and Su Changshan, the bishop of Baoding in the northern province of Hebei -- who twice failed to receive papal blessing -- died of a heart attack aged 80.

Liu Bainian, a vice-chairman of the official Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, reiterated on Thursday that Beijing "could not wait for normalisation to consecrate bishops" but did not give a timetable.

China has 97 dioceses, more than 40 of which have no bishops. Several have bishops who are very old or in poor health.

Labels: international

I wasn't surprised by this story in today's Globe. Quite frankly, O'Malley is at the forefront of the new evangelization as far as I'm concerned and I've thought that for years. I look forward to these new tools that he's producing in the Archdiocese. Those of us who know his voice will undoubtedly chuckle during the first production!

The blogging cardinal is about to start podcasting.

On Sunday, Christmas Eve, Boston Catholic Television plans to launch a souped up website that will feature, among other attractions, downloadable Christmas video messages in English, Spanish, and Portuguese from Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston.

Starting early next year, O'Malley also plans to regularly record video messages for downloading from the Internet.

The Catholic Church, which lags behind some other denominations in its embrace of Internet technologies, is rapidly expanding its use of new technology in its search for souls. Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York recently started a satellite radio show, and the late Pope John Paul II, starting in 2003, offered daily text messages to cellphone users.

O'Malley, a Capuchin Franciscan friar who has taken a vow of poverty and is a frequent critic of American consumer culture, is rapidly emerging as an unlikely pioneer in the use of new media by a 2,000-year-old church.

He is the only Catholic cardinal known to have his own blog, and the archdiocese is overhauling its newspaper website and its television website as part of an effort to broaden its reach and circumvent traditional media. The archdiocese has also assigned e-mail addresses to all priests, a handful of whom have balked at using computers, and has created an intranet site that chancery officials expect will soon replace the monthly mailings used to communicate with clergy.

"The cardinal wants us to utilize the tremendous tools that we have at our disposal and to expand the reach of those tools, so that we can bring the message of the church and the good works of the church to the Catholic community," said O'Malley's communication director, Terrence C. Donilon. "He clearly understands the power of the new media that is available, and he sees an opportunity for us to reach a much wider audience with these tools."

...

Although the website of the archdiocese is still less sophisticated than those of other Catholic dioceses, the archdiocese has been redoing its media websites with an eye toward evangelization.

Thebostonpilot.com -- the website of the 175-year-old archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot -- now features breaking news about Catholicism, as well as audio and video reports and photographic slide shows. Yesterday's most e-mailed story was "Newton case highlights promotion of gay culture in public schools."

Cardinalseansblog.org, the cardinal's blog, is considered a hit by archdiocesan officials, who say they are getting feedback from around the world, including Catholics in Iraq, and that the blog is proving to be an effective teaching tool for the cardinal.

The archdiocese is now turning its attention to its television station, Boston Catholic Television, which is redesigning its main website, catholictv.org, which features live streaming of its programming, and icatholic.com, a new site that will feature short-format programming and podcasting, said the station's director, the Rev. Robert P. Reed.

This month, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops began offering a podcast of daily Mass readings, and American cardinals are exploring more intensive use of the Internet. The furthest along is Cardinal Adam J. Maida of Detroit, who has a regular podcast on his archdiocese's website.

Labels: evangelization, technology, U.S. Church

Forgot to post this yesterday from CNS:

Unless the Catholic Church can show the world concrete models of male-female cooperation in positions of responsibility and decision-making, the church will continue to struggle against charges that it is chauvinistic, said Mary Ann Glendon.

The Harvard law professor and president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences said church teaching that women and men are equal, but not identical, is a healthy corrective to the feminism of the late 20th century, which, she said, promoted a "unisex society."

Glendon and Lucetta Scaraffia, a professor at Rome's La Sapienza University, spoke at a Dec. 15 Rome conference on "Feminism and the Catholic Church."

Both women argued that, despite a widely held prejudice, for centuries the Catholic Church has been a key promoter of women's dignity and equality, particularly by offering them education and through women's religious orders, which raised up generations of strong, creative leaders.

While most people, including Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, recognize more must be done to include women in church decision-making, Glendon said, "the right things have been said at the highest levels."

When Glendon speaks, I listen. I have a lot of respect for her. I remember reading her article "The Hour of the Laity" in First Things in response to the sex abuse scandal [read it here]. What a wonderful daughter of the Church!

Labels: feminism, Vatican

Look out for these guys:

Rival groups of monks wielding crowbars and sledgehammers clashed Wednesday over control of a 1,000-year-old monastery in a community regarded as the cradle of Orthodox Christianity, police said.

Seven monks were injured and transported by boat to receive treatment. They were released after several hours, police said. No one was arrested but three monks were banned from re-entering the Orthodox sanctuary of Mount Athos, located on a self-governing peninsula in northern Greece.

Esphigmenou monastery is the scene of a long-running dispute between Orthodox Church authorities and rebel monks who occupy the facility. Both Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of the Orthodox Christian church, and Greece's highest administrative court have ordered their eviction, but the monks have refused to budge.

The rebel monks vehemently oppose efforts to improve relations between the Orthodox Church and the Vatican.

The fighting Wednesday broke out between the rebel monks and a group of legally recognized monks who were outside. The outsiders attempted to force their way into the monastery's offices in Karyes, the administrative center of the monastic community, to begin construction of a new building.

Occupying monks attacked those outside with crowbars and fire extinguishers.

Esphigmenou's rebel abbot, Methodius, said his monks had been provoked.

"We were attacked and had to respond," he said. "They should be ashamed to call themselves men of the cloth."

In October, a court in the nearby city of Thessaloniki handed down two-year suspended sentences against nine monks and former monastery members for illegally occupying Esphigmenou's offices. Supplies to the rebel monastery are brought in by supporters using dinghies from the nearby island of Thassos.

Esphigmenou is one of 20 monasteries on Athos, where women are banned.

Labels: international, Orthodox

So I check my site statistics fairly regularly (daily actually). It helps me see where people are visiting and what they're looking at so I can make reasonably good decisions about where to develop content. Well, since I started the site back in March, mostly friends and acquaintances visit and not too many others. I flirt with the number 100 in terms of daily page requests. Not a lot by conventional web standards but for a little site like mine which I just do because I enjoy it, I was pretty thrilled. In fact, I always enjoyed the days when it was over 100!

For the past month we've been over 100 almost everyday. For the last two weeks, I've been flirting with and even occasionally surpassing 200! I can't quite figure out why. Who's visiting?? Feel free to introduce yourself in the comment box or via email: thekeysaremightier [at] gmail.com.

I've checked the referrer reports (they tell you what page people were looking at when they come to your site) and I don't see any sites out of the ordinary. Also, I googled the name of the site and didn't come up with anything so no one new is linking to me. So anyone who can shed some light, let me know. I'll be sure to post when page requests get over 200 for any period of time. For now, just keep visiting and let me know what you think.

Labels: site news

Literally one minute ago, I received an email from Ignatius Press. They are having a rather unconventional end-of-the-year celebration.

They are offering a 20% discount off everything!

The promotional code is: YES006. It expires on December 26 so use it while you can!

Labels: random

Father McNamara in today's Zenit gives a nice little history of the Christmas liturgy:

Like many liturgical practices the origin of the three Christmas Masses (midnight, dawn and during the day) is not totally certain.

Christmas as a liturgical feast falling on Dec. 25 originated at Rome, in or around the year 330. It is very likely that the feast was first celebrated in the newly completed basilica of St. Peter.

From Rome the celebration of Christmas then slowly spread eastward and little by little was incorporated into the liturgical calendar of the principal Churches. Some of these Churches had celebrated Christ's birth on Jan. 6 and they have continued to give more importance to this date even after accepting Dec. 25.

During this period the Church at Jerusalem had established some particular customs.

Egeria, a woman who made a long pilgrimage to the Holy Land from 381 to 384, described how the Christians of Jerusalem commemorated the Christmas mystery on Jan. 6 with a midnight vigil at Bethlehem, followed by a torchlight procession to Jerusalem arriving at dawn to the Church of the Resurrection (Anastasis in Greek).

Fifty years later at Rome, Pope Sixtus III (432-440) decided to honor the proclamation of Mary's divine maternity at the Council of Ephesus (431) by building the great basilica of St. Mary Major on the Esquiline hill.

Among other elements Sixtus III built a chapel that reproduced the cave of Bethlehem. (The relics of the Crib, still found today in St. Mary Major's, were not placed in this chapel until the seventh century.) Sixtus III, probably inspired by the custom of the midnight vigil held in Jerusalem, instituted the practice of a midnight Mass in this grotto-like oratory.

In Rome the custom already existed of commemorating important feasts with two distinct offices, one held at night and the other toward dawn. It is easy to see how the simple feast initiated by Sixtus III at St. Mary Major's increased in importance and developed. The first development was that the oldest Christmas office, which was sung at St. Peter's, began to be also held at St. Mary Major's.

A further development occurred around 550. The Pope, and some members of the curia, celebrated a second Mass sometime before dawn at the Church of St. Anastasia.

At the beginning this happened because St. Anastasia's feast day also fell on Dec. 25 and had nothing to do with Christmas. Later however, probably inspired by the practice of the dawn Mass in the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, and coupled with the similarity of the name Anastasia, this celebration was transformed into a second Christmas Mass.

After this almost-private Mass, the Pope would go directly to St. Peter's where a large assembly of faithful awaited the solemn dawn office of Christmas. This custom continued at least until the time of Pope Gregory VII (died 1085).

Initially the privilege of three celebrations at Christmas was reserved to the Pope. The first evidence we have of a single priest celebrating the three Masses is from the Monastery of Cluny before the year 1156.

All priests may still avail of this privilege and celebrate three Masses on Christmas Day providing they respect the proper hours. The first Mass is celebrated at Midnight (the vigil Mass of Dec. 24 does not count as the first of the three Masses), the second at dawn and the third at some time during the day.

Labels: Christmas, history, liturgy

The movie today went quite well. The students actually said they enjoyed it and they were very well behaved. I would totally take them out again because of their cooperation today. What a nice bunch!

Lessons and Carols yesterday went well also. My playing was hardly of the caliber that is expected, but it was fine nonetheless. I enjoyed working with the three singers who were easy-going and very talented. The crowd was unfortunately small, but those that were present seemed to enjoy it a lot.

Last, but certainly not least, my playing schedule for Christmas (subject to change slightly, of course):

Sunday, 12/24: 12:00 noon at Saint Anne's (4th Sunday of Advent); 5:00pm Church of the Ascension.

Monday, 12/25: Midnight at Saint Anthony's in Taunton (violin); 8:00am at Saint Anne's.

It's a busy schedule but I'm looking forward to travelling around a bit. In fact, I wouldn't mind picking up another one on Christmas Day. I'll be heading back to the Riv sometime on Saturday after (hopefully) having a bit of a "Desert Day" to give the Lord some time before Christmas since Advent has been a busy blur.

One week until the birthday of the Savior... enjoy the O Antiphons and I'll catch everyone tomorrow.

Labels: personal

OK... a multi-purpose post:

Pray for me... this afternoon is the Lessons and Carols performance in Fall River. Rehearsal yesterday was rough for me, although a page-turner today will solve many of my problems.

Rocco has a post up about the new archbishop of Toronto. Seems like a character (I think I would like him). He tells people his phone number from the pulpit so that they can call him if they have an issue! And apparently Pope Benedict was auditioning him for the job at his recent ad limina visit. Interesting stuff!

Cardinal Sean's post this week has his homily from this past week's episcopal ordinations and pictures from it also. Well worth a look.

I've begun posting audio files for a Christmas novena. Check that out.

Between practicing, the performance, and the ride back west, not sure what else I can do today, but God bless you all and have a pleasant Sunday!

Labels: personal, random, site news

Now is the time to prepare our hearts for Christ's coming at Christmas!

Begin your Christmas novena before it's too late. If you begin on the 16th, you'll end on the 24th. This link to info on the O Antiphons might provide some fertile soil for your Advent prayer: http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/acahall/antiphons.html. Thanks to David for the heads up.

Any other ideas for preparing for Christmas?? Let me know either in the comments or via email.

Labels: Advent, prayer

A few items of things going on at school for those who enjoy information about my life:

• The students who were involved in the accident are doing very well so thank you for the prayers. Two are home and the one in the hospital is recovering nicely.
• On Monday I'm taking the senior class to see The Nativity Story. Pray that they like it! I'm afraid I've built it up a little too much (surprise surprise!).
• Tonight is the hockey home-opener. A big deal apparently. All I know is that it means I have to drive all the way back to school tonight! Since I enjoy watching live hockey, I'm sure I'll have fun.
• Juniors are reading parts of Evangelium Vitae. My job is to make teenagers enjoy an encyclical. This is the part where you feel bad for me and wonder how I'll ever do it. Of course, I think it's a page-turner. I'm well aware that I'm in the minority of people who think so.
• Having nothing to do with school: this weekend is Lessons and Carols at Saint Mike's in Fall River. I'll be at the organ. It's at 2, David Deston is preaching. Be there.

Enjoy your Friday!!

Labels: personal, school

As promised... From today's issue of the school's newspaper:

On an average day last week, I walked into Mr. Lepage’s Theology class. He introduced a topic, which, at first, completely threw me off. “Pimp My Classroom” were involved in his choice of words. I took a moment to screw my jaw back in only to listen to what he had to say next.

His ideas are focused on the preparations for Christmas, also known as the time of Advent. He prattled off his ideas, obviously excited and eager to tell us just how thrilled he is come this time each year. His first idea was the Advent Wreath. This wreath is composed of paper hands, all green, to symbolize the evergreen commonly found in the season of Christmas, for it’s the only thing that can survive. The four candles inside represent the four Sundays leading up to Christmas.

This massive wreath is hung directly behind the students’ heads in class. Surrounding this wreath is what Mr. Lepage calls the “O Prayers”. These all begin with ‘O’ and are titles of Jesus that are all in Latin, which allows students to get a real feel for the tradition.

Along with this, Mr. Lepage, with his intense ideas, wants all students to learn and remember the importance of St. Nicholas Day. So, following the tradition, all students brought in a pair of shoes to leave overnight in his classroom only to come in the following day to find them filled with treats.

The final commemorating celebration of the Lepage ingénue is creating the Jesse Tree. It is a large, green paper tree that reminds everybody where Jesus came from. Each ornament hanging from the tree is a story of the Bible that the students made themselves. In class he went over the ornaments to allow the students to expand their knowledge on stories important to know. To make sure we remember them, he will challenge us on which story is depicted by which decorative item.

Ignoring what Mr. Lepage dubbed this Advent extravaganza, these activities allow each and every student to have the opportunity to feel like a part of a collaboration of the Christmas season and spirit. Touching upon as many traditions as would allow him, the students now feel a sense of understanding that we haven’t felt before.

Labels: Advent, Catholic education, personal

From tonight's Zenit:

From now on, Rome's four patriarchal basilicas will be called "papal" basilicas.

Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, made that announcement Monday.

At a press conference, the cardinal clarified that "many thought that the title 'patriarchal' referred to the fact that through the latter the Pope exercised his title of 'Patriarch of the West,' in contrast to the 'Patriarch of the East,' something which is not at all true."

For historical and ecumenical reasons, Benedict XVI has decided to give up the title "Patriarch of the West."

The basilicas to be known henceforth as "papal" rather than "patriarchal" are St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Paul's Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major.

"The four basilicas had been given in the past by the popes, as a base in Rome, to the Catholic Eastern patriarchs, not as an official title," clarified the cardinal. "Therefore, the Pope has decided that from now on the four major basilicas will be called 'papal' basilicas."

Labels: Pope Benedict, Vatican

The local TV station has some video segments on the accident that some of my students were involved in:

Initial Report

Follow-up Report
(features a colleague of mine)

Players' Reactions

Thankfully, they're all expected to make a full recovery, but it won't be easy for them. Please continue to remember them in prayer.

Labels: personal, prayer

Miserere mei, Domine, quia infirmus sum; sana me, Domine, quoniam conturbata sunt ossa mea, et anima mea turbata est valde.

I received word about an hour ago that three of my seniors were involved in a rather serious car accident last night. The pastor was kind enough to call and let me know that while their injuries are not life-threatening, they are serious. Of course, we must rigorously respect the privacy of others in these cases, so I won't say anymore. But I do ask all of my readers to please remember them in your prayers.

Father,
your Son accepted our sufferings to teach us the virtue of patience in human illness. Hear the prayers we offer for our sick brothers. May all who suffer pain, illness, or disease realize that they are chosen to be saints, and know that they are joined to Christ in his suffering for the salvation of the world, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Labels: personal

I greeted this week's news of the Holy See's agreement with Bishop Bruskewitz's excommunication decision of certain fringe groups ten years ago with joy. Although excommunication is never joyful, it can sometimes be necessary. These groups, on both the right and left of the theological spectrum, are so far from the middle that they've literally fallen off the radar.

Take Call to Action, for example. There's nothing wrong with being in favor of relaxing the discipline of mandatory celibacy for priests of the Latin Rite, since it is just a discipline (one that I happen to love, by the way) and could be changed. However, existing in order to protest women's ordination and the Church's teaching on artificial contraception is an exercise in futility. These will not (and cannot) change and beginning a "Catholic" group in order to oppose them just promotes disunity and is waste of energy. If you want to fight for justice, first figure out what that means, then work with the Church, not against it.

In a statement released by Call to Action yesterday, they continued beating their drum against the hierarchy of the Church. They even resorted to the very tired argument that Jesus sometimes challenged the religious hierarchy of his day. It seems these folks so easily forget that Jesus set up a hierarchy when he founded the Church.

In the same statement they also rail against the penalty of excommunication, calling it "medieval" which we all know is a dirty word in today's world. While excommunication is not always the best solution to a problem, sometimes it seems we have to exercise some standard of membership in order to preserve the unity of the Body of Christ.

They say that they believe in the Nicene Creed. Whatever happened to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church? Lower our standards, abandon our tradition, and ditch our structures of authority and you have what many other Christians experience today: disunity, misunderstanding, constant disputes with no recourse to authority, and a lack of corporate memory. These often lead me to wonder that if you don't have a past, can you have a future?

If we, as Catholics, have these wonderful things at our disposal (a unified structure that is faithful to a common tradition) we should embrace it because it truly is who we are. Those who don't like it should really examine why they are Catholics at all. This is how we believe that we can stay faithful to the mission of Jesus. After 2,000 years of varying historical circumstances including both good and bad, how can we not trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

Labels: dissent, reflection, U.S. Bishops, U.S. Church, Vatican

I "pimped my classroom" for Advent! I've been promising a lot of you pictures all week so here they are:


Yesterday we put our shoes out for Saint Nicholas and today we had a little treat in class! Many of my juniors and seniors had never heard of this!


This is the back wall of the class. In the center is the Advent wreath and all around it are the O Antiphons in Latin with the English prayers attached underneath.




A close-up of the wreath. Each of the students traced both their hands on green construction paper and I put them together to make the wreath. There are about 150 hands in there!


Here are some of the O Antiphons.


On the bulletin board, I posted some general Advent information.


Finally, our Jesse Tree, which is about 9 feet tall. The students made the ornaments. I'll be sure to take a few close-ups of some of the nicer ones this week.

There's a story being written about my decorations and all my general Advent craziness for the next edition of the school newspaper. I'll be sure to post that once it's published.

Labels: Advent, personal

Interesting comments from the new head of the Congregation for Clergy, especially considering the Vatican's recent affirmation of the discipline:

An influential Brazilian cardinal says the Roman Catholic Church should reconsider its ban on allowing priests to marry.

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, who was recently named to head the Vatican's office in charge of priests around the world, made the comment about two weeks after the Holy See reaffirmed the requirement of celibacy for priests.

"Celibacy is a discipline, not a dogma of the church," Hummes was quoted as saying by the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. "Certainly, the majority of the apostles were married. In this modern age, the church must observe these things, it has to advance with history."

Labels: priesthood, Vatican

I'm not sure I'm jumping on this bandwagon just yet:

The Internet has a patron saint - St. Isidore of Seville - and on sunny days, a stained-glass window of his likeness now radiates its multi-colored glow onto Boston College's newly renovated data information systems.

...
According to Butler's Lives of the Saints, Isidore insisted that "freemen and bondmen" were equal in the eyes of God, a radical idea in 620 A.D. A prolific teacher, the pious pedagogue was sometimes called "The Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages."

Indeed, such is the sweep of one of his scholarly works, the Etymologies, that it's sometimes esteemed as a pioneering prototype of the modern-day database.

Partly for that reason, an advisory group to the Vatican concluded that the learned bishop was the ideal choice to be the patron saint of the Internet, BC said.

And now in St. Clement's Hall, a stained-glass window of St. Isidore sheds its light on BC's relocated data center.

"It's absolutely beautiful," BC spokesman Jack Dunn said of the window. "And it's charm is that the old is illuminating the new."

More...

Labels: Catholic education, saints