What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Today we hear what St. Cyril of Jerusalem (+387) says about faith, the faith handed down to us and which we must inscribe across our hearts. 

Our faith is a gift, a treasure for which we must given an account to the Lord.

Are you increasing the knowledge of your faith?  Are you neglecting it, as the man did who hid his talent in the ground?

Our faith, the faith in which we believe and the faith by which we beleive both guide us to a relationship with the one from whom Faith comes, the one to whom we must render our account.

To introduce Cyril we listen to Pope Benedict XVI from his 27 June 2007 Wednesday audience catechesis about this great Doctor of the Church.  Of course I parse it and drill into in all in my usual rambling way.

It’s a short one today.  I just wanted to do something on this otherwise bleak, gray, rainy autumn day to reach out, at least vocally, beyond the rain-washed windows and wet leaves.

http://www.wdtprs.com/podcazt/08_11_06.mp3

Along the way you might hear these tunes:

Jump Jive an’ Wail – Brian Setzer Orchestra
Autumn – Daniel Hecht
Credo – Missa in duplicibus minoribus I for five voices – Palestrina
Gentle Rain – Astrud Gilberto

The iTunes feed is working.  It stops and starts again… mysteriously.  Beats me!

Some of the last offerings (check out the PODCAzT PAGE):

070 08-11-01 Venerable Bede on All Saints; a collage; don Camillo (Part IV)
069 08-10-30 Augustine on Ps 103; Benedictines can sing!
068 08-08-04 Interview – Fr. Tim Finigan on the Oxford TLM conference; don Camillo (Part III)
067 08-07-29 St. Augustine on Martha, active v. contemplative lives; don Camillo (part II)
066 08-07-25 don Camillo (part I): VM - advice on getting TLMs & “pro multis”

A kind reader sent me this wonderful news and photo.

I thought you might find it interesting to know that in the Diocese of Birmingham (Alabama) Bishop David Foley (Bishop Emeritus) is now offering a regular monthly High Mass!  This has been going on for about the last three months!  Unfortunately, the time we have the church and the neighborhood in which the church is located in Birmingham cuts into our attendance, but Bishop Foley seems to really enjoy offering the Tridentine Mass.  He has taken joy in showing the altar servers (young men from the University of Alabama) revived relics from the Bishop’s childhood—to include his missal that he got when he entered the minor seminary.  In other parts of the diocese, we are experiencing much more success!  Fr. Alan Mackey has been offering the Tridentine Mass for some time now and offers the Mass every week in Huntsville in a beautiful church!  I’ve included some photos from the Bishop’s latest High Mass and some of Fr. Mackey’s first High Mass (this past Easter) which drew in excess of 400 people!  Included from the Bishop’s Mass are picutres of the Asperges, the Introit, and the Consecration.

Well… let’s have just one.



There is also a video:

Many thanks to RR of N.-D. for the gift of squid ink spaghetti!

When I go to the "big city" I may have to look for some real "squid ink".  I know a place where I can get it, with a little luck.

I very much like risotto or spaghetti with nero di seppia.  Whenever I would be in Venice I would find my beloved nero.  It is a wonderful thing to mix up sauces and have something other than red stuff.

Eat The Black. Eat The Red.

UPDATE 7 Nov 14:51 GMT

Many thanks go out to BK of NJ who sent a CD Musical Evenings In The Captain’s Cabin which picks up on music talked about in the Aubrey/Maturin books.  



I look forward to listening to this music while eating my black spaghetti!

I see there is some music by Carl Stamitz in the disk.  I played some Stamitz when young and actually used one of his concerti as an audition piece.  I think of Carl with fondness.

UPDATE 16:30 GMT

Both Mr. FedEx and Mr. UPS have been here this morning.

Many thanks go out to KF of AL for the book… one already listed in my reading list, but which I had lost somewhere in my travels: Roy Peter Clarks’s Writing Tools.  Great book and one I need to consult… often.

Also, many thanks to the unidentified soul who sent the salame.  I look forward to it!

In the wake of the election I find the news of the Taurid meteor shower (or the "Bull shower") to be especially welcome.

Here is news from SpaceWeather.com

TAURID METEORS: The annual Taurid meteor shower is underway and it could be a good show. 2008 is a "swarm year" for the Taurids: Between Nov. 5th and 12th, Earth is due to pass through a swarm of gritty debris from parent comet 2P/Encke. When the same thing happened in 2005, sky watchers observed a slow drizzle of midnight fireballs for nearly two weeks.

Readers, be alert for more of these in the nights ahead. The best time to look is anytime after dark. The constellation Taurus (where Taurids appear) rises at sunset and hangs high overhead at midnight: sky map.

From a reader:

Bishop Conley to celebrate Latin Mass

The public is invited to join Denver Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley as he celebrates a Tridentine Mass, the Latin-language liturgy used before the Second Vatican Council, on Nov. 9.  

The solemn high pontifical Mass, which can only be said by a bishop, will mark the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which is the official ecclesiastical seat of the bishop of Rome.

The Mass is being offered in thanksgiving for the archdiocese’s hospitality to the Tridentine Mass community.

The Mass is set for 2:15 p.m. at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, 1530 Logan St. in Denver.  All are welcomed to attend.

This from a reader:

Anyone interested in attending a Barak Obama inauguration rally while wearing t-shirts that say "I am John Galt" and waving signs that say "No You Kant"?

 

ROFL!

Remember my prediction?  I opined that in the wake of the election of Pres.-Elect Obama, there would be spill-over in the Church.  Some would apply their political paradigm to the internal workings of the Church.

This is an interesting piece from the Times.

Black Pope could follow Barack Obama’s election, says US archbishop
Richard Owen in Rome

The election of Barack Obama as the first African-American US President could pave the way for the election of the first black Pope, according to a leading black American Catholic.

Wilton Daniel Gregory, 60, the Archbishop of Atlanta, said that in the past Pope Benedict XVI had himself suggested that the election of a black pontiff would "send a splendid signal to the world" about the universal Church.

Archbishop Gregory, who in 2001 became the first African American to head the US Bishops Conference, serving for three years, said that the election of Mr Obama was "a great step forward for humanity and a sign that in the United States the problem of racial discrimination has been overcome". Like Mr Obama Archbishop Gregory comes from Chicago, and was previously Bishop of Belleville, Illinois.

He said that recent Popes, beginning with John XXIII and Paul VI, had brought prelates "from all nations and races" to Rome to take up senior positions in the Curia, the Vatican hierarchy. This offered "an international vision of a Church rich in diversity", he told the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

Pope Benedict — whose next encyclical is on globalisation and social justice — had a "world outlook" as a theologian whose thought had "opened hearts and minds on five continents", Archbishop Gregory said. The former Joseph Ratzinger, who as a young man in his native Germany had witnessed "the horrors of the Second World War", spoke a "universal language".

Archbishop Gregory said that the next time cardinals gathered to elect a Pope they could "in their wisdom" choose an African pontiff. "My own election as head of the US Bishops Conference was an important signal. In 2001 the American bishops elected someone they respected regardless of his race, and the same thing could happen with the election of a Pope."  [Or it could be a Chinese Pope, you know.  Or French Canadian.  Or a Honduran.]

He said that in a papal conclave, the cardinal-electors were "guided by the Holy Spirit to choose the person who best responds to the exigences of the moment". At the last conclave in 2005, after the death of John Paul II, it was widely thought that the cardinals would choose a Third World pontiff, perhaps from Africa or Latin America. [Many spoke of Card. Arinze.]

The choice of Cardinal Ratzinger, who had been at John Paul II’s side for over twenty years as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was seen by many as a vote for a man who embodied continuity and had stressed the need to shore up the faith in the West itself in an age of secularism and materialism.

This week Pope Benedict XVI congratulated Mr Obama on his "historic" victory, offering his prayers for the President-elect "and for all the people of the United States".

Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said that the Pope’s message was "personal" and would therefore not be published. However he said that the papal message referred to the "historic occasion" of the election and congratulated Mr Obama, his wife and family.

"He assured him of his prayers that God would help him with his high responsibilities for his country and for the international community," Father Lombardi said. The Pope had also prayed that "the blessing of God would sustain him and the American people so that with all people of good will they could build a world of peace, solidarity and justice." The message was sent via Mary Ann Glendon, the US ambassador to the Holy See.

 

There is nothing sinister in this, so do not misinterpret what I am posting.  What Archbp. Gregory said was all correct and plausible.

What I found interesting is the timing and the way it was phrased.

Here is something to plan around if you are within striking distance of Chicago on 11 January ‘09.  (WOW… not that far away!)

From a reader:

On Sunday, January 11th, the Most Reverend Joseph N. Perry, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, will celebrate a Pontifical High Mass for the External Solemnity of the Epiphany at the Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in Chicago.

Specializing in classical choral music, The Chicago Chorale will sing Victoria’s Missa O Magnum Mysterium and a variety of motets. This Pontifical Mass will be the finale to the “Gregorian Chant Workshop for the Serious Student”, which will be offered at the Shrine by Father Wulfran Lebocq, choirmaster of the Institute’s seminary in Griciliano, from January 9-11.

More information regarding this special event will soon be posted on the Institute’s website at: www.institute-christ-king.org

Please do me a favor when sending photos.

Please don’t embed them in the body of your e-mail.

Attach them as files.

Embedding them creates more work for me.  When I see more work staring me in the face, I am disinclined to do anything with them.

FWIW

Does anyone have photos of His Excellency Most Reverend R. Walter Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa celebrating in black vestments last weekend?

My friend Fr. Jeff Moore is in Switzerland, at the Collegio Papio in Ascona.

The place was established by St. Charles Borromeo.



He celebrated the Feast of Holy Relics in a way the saint would have easily recognized.

Here is an alarming note from a reader:

I just came across the following information regarding the group Call to Action and their national conference to be held Nov 7-9, 2008 in Milwaukee, WI.

I did not know the  nature  of this group so  I  visited the website regarding this conference and found the that retired Bishop Remi De Roo is to speak on women’s "ordination" to the priesthood. [For it, or against it?]

Perhaps, you may consider writing a post about this conference/group as there are  probably others like me that are unaware of this sort of thing  going on.

Thank you for your consideration and  time.  Below are the links.

Main site for  conference information  http://www.cta-usa.org/conference2008/intro.html

Section of site for speakers ( Bishop Remi De Roo) http://www.cta-usa.org/conference2008/keynotes.html

Some background here.

From a priest reader… finally a good use for something sent out by OCP.

From a reader:

I have a question that I haven’t been able to find an answer to. During Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, when the priest traces the sign of the cross with the monstrance, should the members of the congregation simultaneously make the sign of the cross? Is this a matter of local custom, or is it governed by rubrics? Our university parish has Exposition and Benediction twice a week, and the congregation makes the sign of the cross, which always feels awkward to me, since the priest moves the monstrance so slowly. However, whenever I see Benediction on EWTN, no one in the congregation moves.

 

You are blessed to have Exposition and Benediction at your university.

You haven’t found an answer because there isn’t one.

There is no "standard" way by which people should cross themselves at Benediction. 

As a matter of fact, while it is entirely natural to do so, it is not obligatory to cross yourself at all. 

This is one of those moments in which you are free to do as you please, as the spirit moves you.  You can do so together with the actions of the one giving Benediction, or before or after or during, or not at all.

"Give us back our black!"

Let this be the cry of the Catholic in the age of reclaiming continuity.

This is from a reader:

Photos from the first Tridentine Requiem in 43 years in the cavernous Upper Church of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston. The Tridentine Mass community moved to the Cathedral from Holy Trinity last July, and has been Celebrating the Mass every week in the Lower Church. On All Souls, there being no scheduling conflicts, the Chant High Requiem for the Feast day was Celebrated by Fr Agustin Anda (Parochial Vicar at St Columbkille, Brighton, who has been Celebrating the EF since the Motu Proprio) in the Upper Church, usually reserved for Ordinations, etc.



The Altar at the crossing was used, but Ad Orientem, Black Vestments (of course), Gregorian Chant throughout, and very well attended. Fr Anda Celebrated with great carefulness and dignity, and delivered a moving Homily on praying for our beloved departed.

November is an appropriate time to have Requiem Masses.

Another fine image is from Chicago, where at St. John Cantius they tend to do things right.



Here is an encouraging shot:

Fr. Z, here are some photos of my pastor in Black vestments. I’d posted a link but someone suggested I send the pictures to you.  This is Fr. Paul Weinberger, St. William the Confessor, Greenville, Texas…Dallas Diocese

I am especially happy to see father’s tricorno and the chalice with veil and burse  All is right with the world.  There also seem to be an adequate number of angel statues.