There is an interesting piece of information posted on Fish in a barrel about the papal altar.
When the Pope celebrates mass tomorrow at Nationals’ Stadium, he will do so on an altar my buddies Ryan and J.P. designed and built. They included in their design a spot in the wooden altar in which to insert an altar stone or “portable altar” (which contains the relics of martyrs and is the traditional, though no longer obligatory, place upon which to celebrate mass in the Latin rite.) The Archdiocese, according to my buddies, has secured the portable altar stone used by America’s first bishop, John Carrol, for use in the papal altar.
Glory!
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Dear Fr. Z.,
If true, that is very good news. I believe this is a sign that even for altars for temporary circumstances, they still will have reminders of who we are as a part of it. (The Eucharist, you will agree, is not on the altar all the time, whereas an altarstone would be in it for as long as it is used.)
My friend and Deacon David Cahoon built the Altar. He serves at Mt Mary’s Church and Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Barnesville MD. Monsignor Thomas Kane, our current Administrator suggested the Altar stone. It dates back to the St John Chapel built by then Father Carroll S.J. on his mother’s farm in 1776 and was used in the Altar from 1776 to 1790.
Father Carroll and his cousin Charles Carroll of Carrolton along with Samuel Chase and Benjamin Franklin served on a commision that went to Canada to try to get the Canadian to join our cause. Franklin later recommended Father John to the Papal Nuncio in Paris to be the Superior of the Missions (Apostolic Prefect) in the colonies. He became the first US Bishop of the Diocese of Baltimore and first Archbishop when 200 years ago the sees of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Bardstown (later transferred to Louisville0 KY.
Before being brought out of retirement to tend our parish after the tragic death of our Pastor, Monsignor Kane was assisting at Sacred Heart Church in Bowie. Meetings held there in 1783 concerned the organization of the Catholic Church in the US. This led directly to
Carroll’s becoming our first Bishop and the establishment of Georgetown University.
Every American Catholic should know this. Archbishop Carroll’s example led many protestant Americans to change their opinion of Catholics for the better. But then again there are others like Bishop John Dubois and Archbishop John Hughes, Dubois successor as Bishop of New York are giants. The deeds of the early priests and Bishops are staggering. The Holy Father knows this part of our Catholics identity. I just wish more American Catholics did.