Denominational Loyalty Among Catholics

Ellison Research has released a study (apologies, that link is PDF format,) indicating that among active church-goers, those actually practicing something, denominational attachement is pretty low.

I am encouraged to see that there hasn't been a total catechetical failure among Catholics for the past few decades, a greater number of Catholics have a loyalty to the Mass, than Protestants to their services.
That indicates many practicing Catholics do understand, even if they cannot articulate it, the uniqueness of the Real Presence gratuitously available to them in the Blessed Sacrament confected by the ordained presbyterate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. (or maybe their grannies just inculcated them with fear of going to hell if they missed Mass ;oP)

Denominational loyalty differs strongly between Protestants and Catholics. Six out of ten active Catholics would only consider attending a Roman Catholic church, and another 29% prefer this, although they do not rule out other denominations. Eleven percent of Catholics do not show a specific preference for attending a Catholic parish.

In comparison, just 16% of Protestant churchgoers will only consider attending their current denomination. Fifty-one percent do express preference for one denomination, but would also consider others. Thirty-three percent do not have any preference for one specific denomination. This is little difference between the loyalties of people who attend evangelical Protestant churches and those who attend a mainline Protestant denomination....

There are relatively few demographic differences within the findings. Denominational loyalty does not vary significantly by gender, household income, age, or type of community (rural/small town, suburban, or urban). It does vary by race/ethnicity and by region of the country.

However, these differences are driven more by the Catholic/Protestant divide than by the actual demographics. Hispanic churchgoers – a majority of whom attend a Catholic church – are the most intensely loyal to their denomination, while African-Americans – relatively few of whom attend a Catholic church – are the least loyal.

Similarly, loyalty is highest in the Northeast, where Catholicism is more common than in any other part of the country, and lowest in the South, where Catholicism has less of a presence.

Roman Catholics are far more likely to be loyal to their denomination than they are to be loyal to specific brands within [consumer categories such as automobiles, toilet paper, pain relievers, and grocery stores.] The story is much different for Protestants.

Associated Press has Reported Scores of Facts Over the Years

In fact, I daresay scores of people find the AP at least a slightly reliable news-gathering and disseminating organization.

I think for instance, their reporting has helped us to know that scores of Americans have been killed in the Iraq War, and even more scores of Iraqi civilians.

Scores of people have died of AIDS in the US in the past year.

There are scores of people losing their homes in the mortgage crisis.

Scores of Americans are being laid off and filing for unemployment this month.

The CEOs and boards of some of the companies the taxpayers are bailing out spent scores of our dollars on frivolity in the wake of the bail-out.

Do those sentences sound about righ,t to express the magnitude of the numbers of people involved? They sit okay with you?

A good piece from the Los Angeles Times by Peter Johnson went into detail about the bias that amounts to lying with the truth exhibited by many media outlets on life issues ten years ago.

Not much has changed in half a score of years.

Woolies, it is...

Well, not really, allergic, you know.
But honestly, one day? ONE LOUSY DAY in a month and a half!??!?#?$??%?^?
Yes, today was the first day since November when I did not wear long underwear or leggings under my clothing.
It was nearly 30 degrees, and it felt like high summer!
And then, by the time I walked home from a wedding I played at 5:30, it felt like the antarctic again and I knew I'd made a mistake getting dressed this morning... ah, well.

In a few months I'll be moaning about the heat.

I cannot be pleased.

Seriously though, is this the worst winter in memory for anyone else? (My utility bills indicate it.)

How can one NOT snigger?

I am not going to repeat any of them here, but.... oh, all right, jut the one:

Crapstone.

That is the name of an actual village in the UK.

Apparently, there is some officious, I mean, official move afoot to keep names open to lewd or disgusting interpretation off road signs. The NYTimes has the goods. (Or the bads.) You can read them there.

They're really not in a league with a well-known section of Pennsylvania we drove through on the B & B phase of our honeymoon.
But the British ones seem somehow, quaint. Or cute, like old people using kids' slang.

Oh, okay, just one more.

Pratts Bottom

New Cancer Drug of Great Promise

This story appears, oddly at first glance, in Zenit.
But there is nothing odd about its presence there, for it is a story of the Faith.

...a medicine that has a staggering 75% success rate in treating cancer, and yet is a natural and ethical product, owned by a nonprofit company headed by devout Catholics... this little-known product, which works by rebuilding the body's own adult stem cells and destroying tumour cells, already has a 25-year track record as a highly effective cancer treatment. Called CellAdam, it is most effective in preventing the early stages of cancer. But it also impedes the malignant process, and has an analgesic effect in the hopeless stage of an advanced tumour. Because of its natural composition, it has none of the hallucinogenic effects you get with morphine. The ingredients simply include a fatty acid complex extracted from soy and sunflower.

"This is a totally unusual and huge breakthrough," says Dr. Thomas Janossy, president of Biostemworld, the company producing the drug internationally. "In the next two to three years, it will become the first anti-cancer prescription drug in the world that is nature-based."

The developers of this are a perfect example of how, if we live our lives as God measn us to, everything we do is to His glory, every task we undertake is a sacramental, a means of living the Gospel.

They were staying... at the modest Generalate of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception. Their purpose was to meet members of a Catholic hospital run by a religious order whose charism is to help the sick.

The company wants the order, which has 400 cancer researchers in Italy, to carry out human and animal research on the medicine. ...

The Catholic factor in this is significant. Rather than make large profits from CellAdam, the company wants to plough all revenues made from the drug back into research, or to help Church missions. ... "the inventor, who is a Christian, was looking for people who spoke Hungarian, were Christian-Catholic, and who had scientific and business backgrounds. ...

the company steered clear of the United States because of its heavily profit-oriented pharmaceutical industry, and instead looked toward this Italian Catholic hospital. "Their whole approach to healing is so different," Janossy says. "The president is a priest who's not picking up a salary. All the profit goes back to research or is sent to the missions. That is extremely unique. So we said, 'OK we will share this product and the potential it has.'"...

"We feel in a lot of ways that Our Lady has really inspired us," says [theri public relations person] who is also a member of the Catholic movement Focolare. "[Governments] know the system can't manage it -- they've said it. There's no way they can take care of all those people."

She pointed to the growth of euthanasia, which is gaining popularity in the West as demand for health care for the elderly increases. "My first thought when this company was forming was: bingo, this had to come because the medical establishment is saying: 'What are we going to do with all these old people?'"

Dalgarno felt it was "truly God's work," not only because it could help counter the push toward euthanasia, but also because their products are less expensive, less dangerous and more ethical. Embryonic stem cell research plays no part in this medicine.

"We put our work daily under the protection of Our Lady," says Dalgarno, "knowing she is guiding our work and the 'mission in the health field' that we feel called to."

Preferential Options...

Pro-life prayer service, very nice. Decent speaker, (though weirdly focused on animal life, to my ear,) EXCELLENT readers.
There were, essentially, 7 petitions, 7 prayers, 7 groups singled out, (or "sevened" out?) for specific mention.
The unborn, those imprisoned, the aged and infirm, the disabled, the poor... I'm blanking on the 6th.... and those in the military.

Huh?
Believe me, I have no trouble praying for those in the Armed Forces, neither ours nor those of any other nation.
(I have plenty of military in the immediate family, if it comes to that. Semper Fi)

But why would we specify the services? Why are they specially in need of or deserving of prayer? why more so then the police, who also put their lives on the line for our protection and the preservation of ideals of civilization? or the fire department, who I believe are even more at risk, statistically speaking, than law enforcement?

I'm just curious.

The "Proper" Approach to Liturgy

From the wise and wonderful blogger of Hymnography Unbound, this gem, in a combox at the CMAA discussion boards:

Two things can be "caught"--as distinct from "taught"-- by the propers
a) correct relationships, both human-divine and ecclesial, and
b) the elevation of desires.
In other words, the propers form the mind for life in the reign of God.
And that's just the words!
The singing, and the ecclesial presence brought about by singing, form the whole human being:
body, soul, and spirit.

You just might be formed differently by giving voice to the sentiments, "Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice; seek the Lord and be strengthened," than you would by, say, joining in the national anthem of the nation of Pelagia, which begins, "Let us build a house....," or celebrating the wonderfulness of yourselves, "We are called, we are chosen, we are..."

Treasures of the Triduum

A little late, but this one day workshop sounds as if it would be marvelous, (come to think of it, everything I've ever known the Liturgical Institute to offer is marvelous.)

Treasures of the Triduum 2009:

Learning from the Church's Own Music and Texts

After the success of last year's "Treasures of the Triduum" workshop, the Liturgical Institute is pleased to present a follow-up event with all new topics on the liturgies of the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday. The treasures of the Triduum can never be exhausted, and this year's event concentrates on the very texts and chants given by the Church.

The Church gives "proper" texts for nearly all of its liturgies, texts specifically chosen for each day, intended to enhance comprehension of the day's readings and prayers. By recovering the use and meaning of these texts and their musical settings, the deep intellectual and affective content of the Easter Triduum can be unlocked and made more fruitful for the faithful.

This workshop offers theological insight and practical ideas presented to inspire a deeper understanding of the mysteries and to foster more conscious participation in them. Perfect for preachers, teachers, RCIA directors, liturgy directors, musicians, the lay faithful and all who desire to enter more deeply into the heart of the Paschal Mystery. Participants will return to their parishes with theological knowledge, spiritual depth, and resources for music and liturgical practice.

Participants will take home a packet of music and notes for use in their parish settings.

"Like a slap in the face"

Archbishop Jean Jadot has died.
Requiescat in pace.

Archbishop Jean Jadot, the chief papal representative to the United States in the 1970s... died Wednesday in Brussels. He was 99...
The pope had plucked him from relative obscurity to press the American church to carry out the reforms of Vatican II, over whose final sessions the pope had presided...
Archbishop Jadot turned what had been a largely ceremonial position into a bully pulpit for the seven years ending in 1980. ...
Bishops and other church leaders railed at what was seen as rabble-rousing by Archbishop Jadot, and he received a stream of anonymous hate mail. A close friend in Rome told him “they” were “out to get him,” ... he was responsible for the appointments of more than 100 new bishops, Dr. Dick [his friend and biographer] said. At one time, Dr. Dick said, more than a third of all American bishops were Archbishop Jadot’s choices. They were called “Jadot’s boys.” ...
With time, conservative bishops appointed under the papacy of John Paul II largely replaced “Jadot’s boys.” But some critics still say that the church’s sex scandals are linked to appointments made by Archbishop Jadot, saying they were ill advised.

Dr. Dick, who discussed the subject with Archbishop Jadot, responded in the interview that the scandals surprised and saddened the archbishop but that he accepted no blame for them....
In the spring of 1973, he accepted Pope Paul VI’s request to be his envoy to the United States. The pope told him he was chosen partly because he was not part of the Vatican bureaucracy, and thus might not be as pliable in the hands of powerful American bishops.

Although Archbishop Jadot strongly adhered to most [isn't that special?] of the church’s teachings, including its opposition to abortion, his willingness to leave some questions, like artificial contraception, to individual consciences rankled some church leaders...

Despite widespread speculation that he would be named a cardinal, it never happened. Then his successor, Archbishop Pio Laghi, who had appointed conservative bishops, was named a cardinal on May 29, 1991.

That day, after lunch, Archbishop Jadot said to Dr. Dick, “It is a slap in my face.”

Pray for Life

But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother's womb.

How Discouraging

The AP is reporting it now, so it may not be true:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Two newspapers say Pope Benedict XVI has decided to lift the excommunications of four bishops consecrated 20 years ago by the late French ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

Lefebvre rebelled against the Vatican's modernizing reforms of the 1960s, including replacing Latin with local languages at Mass.

Benedict has already reached out to the rebels in the hopes of bringing them back into the Church by making it the old Mass more readily available.

The Italian newspapers Il Giornale and Il Riformista said Thursday that Benedict has now decided to meet their demand that the excommunications be lifted. The newspapers said, without citing sources, that Benedict has already signed the decrees and that they will be made public soon.

The Vatican declined comment on the reports.

Ut unum sint!

I think the Holy Father is very wise to gather the lost sheep who are nearest at hand, before going after the ones who've wandered over to the next county....

The Jubilus Course

It is hard not to be encouraged by what is going on all over the Catholic world.
And thanks to the blessing of the Internet, the news goes out to all the world!
(And though state-of-the-art technology, the mimeograph, helped trash the Liturgy in the day, the new technology will speed the clean-up.)
Gregorian Chant ...a way of singing parts of the Mass in a way that elevates it to a more contemplative, peaceful experience and adds a spiritual dimension... Today, it has found a young audience. A Gregorian chant course run during World Youth Day at St Augustine’s Church in Balmain last year drew so many pilgrims – over 200 – that they had to use the Protestant church down the road to cater for them all.
Jeremy Fletcher, a 37-year-old graduate of music at the Australian Catholic University, helped run the course, as well as one during Melbourne’s Days in the Diocese.
“If you present something to young people when you’re passionate about it and they can see you know what you’re talking about, they respond to it,” he said.
He was only two years old when Paul VI issued Jubilate Deo “as a gift” to the bishops of the world, but ever since learning the organ from an Anglican as a teen growing up in Grafton, NSW, he has been passionate about promoting music of good quality.
“I’ve always been dismayed that many Catholics have been unfamiliar with things like Paul VI’s letter to Catholics,” he said.
So he started the Sacred Music Centre in West Melbourne in 2006 and last month released the Jubilus Chant Course – based on Paul VI’s Jubilate Deo - to make ordinary Catholics more familiar with their heritage in an easily accessible way.
It is the first multi-media course in Gregorian Chant, incorporating a DVD, a chantbook, an audio CD and internet services.
Initially transferred from generation to generation by oral tradition, the need to transcribe the chant onto paper arose in the 10th century.
It was only a matter of time, Jeremy says, before chant became available through digital media.
Gregorian chant is difficult to produce, he admits, as it has its own form of notation. Compared to conventional music, the stave uses four lines instead of five, and the notes are square instead of round. Singers must also be able to sing without the accompaniment of an organ or piano.
Initially transferred from generation to generation by oral tradition, the need to transcribe the chant onto paper arose in the 10th
century.
Jubilate Deo contains simple chant settings in Latin of the parts of the Ordinary of the Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation and the Agnus Dei. It also provides musical settings for the dialogues between priest and people, such as before the Preface, and the Ite Missa est, the response to the Prayer of the Faithful, and others.
An expanded edition of Jubilate Deo was later issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship in 1987. Yet most Catholics still haven’t heard of it. Jeremy plans to change that....
“It would nourish the personal faith of everyone who is involved in sacred music – which is basically singing, which means everyone in the congregation would benefit”.

Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend Getting With the Program

Liturgy Day focuses on music

WARSAW — Study “Music in Divine Worship: Tradition and Today” at this year’s Liturgy Day gathering from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 7 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 225 Gilliam Drive. Paul French, director of the William Ferris Chorale, a 24-voice professional choir in Chicago, and music director at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Chicago, will guide the two liturgical sessions. The first session will explore the impact on liturgy, the implications for clergy, parish music directors and the worshipping community and the evolution of the United States Bishops’ document, “Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship,” has. Session two will examine the Gregorian chant. After each presentation there will be a question and answer session. Cost is $20 and must be received by Wednesday. Registration forms will be available online at www.diocesefwsb.org/WORSHIP. For information, call (260) 399-1401.

A nice shmata for his eminence?

Well, it's not as if AP has professional reporters working for them or anything....

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has blessed two lambs whose wool will be shorn to make shawls [sic, emphasis supplied] for newly appointed archbishops to wear.

My Fault, My Fault, My Most Grievous Fault

My Fault, My Fault, My Most Grievous Fault

I think my most grievous vault.... hmm, but since it is mine, can that possibly be an objective, a correct assessment?

And it's got competition, there's my laziness, my careless ways with... "details" of the truth.
Nonetheless, I think my worst trait is my score-keeping, which stems from various combinations of pride and envy (they don't call certain sins "deadly" for nothin'.)

Hmmm, I've done this for her, and she's only done that for me, so I'm ahead, no need to put myself out.

Well, why has X happened for Y, when I've done a zillion times more Z than he? I'm not going to do anymore until things even out.

How can B act so entitled to C when I'm much better than she at A? She doesn't deserve it.

IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!!

Well, it just went with the territory in my former life, so I don't feel to awful about it.

But now, when there's no excuse for it, despite my lack of skills, or perhaps because of them, I feel twinges from time to time at other musicians' situations.
And the fact is, when I look at it as objectively as possible, I would bollix up the opportunity, not for me, but the opportunity for the Church and for Her Liturgy, and for Her sacred music, if I had found myself in a more receptive parish, or with a more supportive employer, or with a less stubborn choir.

There are two "pastor's columns" making a bit of noise around St Blog's, (H/T to the New Liturgical Movement, incidentally.)

Oh, if ONLY....! one thinks, reading the words of Fr Markey, I should BE so lucky!

Nonsense!!!! Look at the name of the fortunate music director! Fr Markey is as fortunate in him, as he is in Fr Markey!

All of this is to say, when I relocate, I hope I am lucky enough not to be worthy of, not to be good enough for the parish to which I wish to belong, I pray that I am the least competent and knowledgeable and talented member of the schola, or intern in the beginners' choir, or better yet -- PIP! And that I am humble enough to know it, and learn from it and love it.

Oh, and if you haven't read it elsewhere, read what Fr Markey has to say:

January 18, 2009

Part I: These past two Sundays I have dedicated my Pastor’s Column to New Year Resolutions. First I recommended that following Pope Benedict XVI’s lead, people no longer receive Holy Communion in the hand, and start receiving on the tongue. Secondly I recommended that people start correcting themselves when they use the Lord’s name in vain. This week I recommend that everyone in the parish make it a point to attend the 9:30 am Extraordinary Form of the Mass at least a few times during the coming year.
To begin to understand why, perhaps it is best to ask a question: How many Catholics today even realize that there is a liturgical crisis currently going on in the Church? Many parishes during the post-Vatican II era fell into irregular liturgical practices to such an extent that Pope John Paul II needed to commission a juridical document in 2004 for the universal Church in order to address the issue: “It is not possible to be silent about the abuses, even quite grave ones, against the nature of the liturgy and the sacraments as well as the tradition and authority of the Church, which in our day not infrequently plague liturgical celebrations in one ecclesial environment or another. In some places the perpetuation of liturgical abuses has become habitual” (Redemptionis Sacramentum, 4).
Habitual abuse means that neither the clergy nor the laity at Mass even realizes that the Sacred Mass, that which offers true worship to God and forms Catholic identity like no other act, is being deformed. Such ignorance of the nature of the liturgy prompted Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, to write in 2000: “Liturgical education today, of both priests and laity, is deficient to a deplorable extent. Much remains to be done here.” Sadly these attempts by Rome to correct liturgical abuse seem to have been virtually ignored by much of the Church at the parish level.
Since I arrived here at St. Mary Church in 2003 I have tried to address these issues and as everyone knows, I have made the renewal of the liturgy a priority for the parish. The first thing I did as pastor was to simply bring St. Mary Church into conformity with the norms of the Church. In the following years, I introduced singing the Latin Mass parts into all of the Masses, depending on the Mass and the occasion, as the documents require: “...steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 54). Thirdly I reserved altar serving to boys alone in order promote vocations to the priesthood. Finally, I have tried to imbue the liturgy here with a sacred spirit, avoiding profane greetings and actions, and I sought to build a sacred music program that would truly reflect our rich and ancient heritage.
Most importantly, I have attempted to educate everyone about why I was doing all of this. I have held numerous evening classes on the liturgy over the years, given homilies and written bulletin columns, trying to explain the proper spirit of the liturgy, and the authentic liturgical norms of the Church.
Many Catholics, who have been rightly offended by the profanation of the sacred over the years, joyfully embraced these changes. Some while not familiar with liturgical theology, have grown to understand better why a reverent liturgy is a more prayerful experience, and have also supported the changes.
Nonetheless the decisions I have made have been hard for others, and there have been not a few complaints. I am sometimes saddened by the brazen words of people who come to me and criticize a St. Mary’s priest for actually prayerfully offering the Mass according to the liturgical norms. To me, the person’s comment is symbolic of the current liturgical crisis: many years of a more casual liturgy, and even habitual liturgical abuse, are hard to overcome. Furthermore, the fact that so few parishes are implementing what the Magisterium is asking us to do makes the changes at St. Mary Church appear even more strange.
Yet how many Catholics truly understand what the Mass is: the re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Christ’s crucifixion to God the Father? (Catechism #1367) Some people are still coming to Sunday Mass expecting liturgical abuses or to be entertained by the priest, rather than the real reason we come – to worship God, offering this perfect sacrifice according to the means handed down to us by Mother Church.
If only more people understood that novelties and priestly creativity in the Mass take away from this transcendent reality, and suddenly the sacred act is profaned, taking on the mere personality of the priest. No! As Padre Pio says, at Mass we are to humbly pray like St. John and Our Lady at the foot of the cross. Would that more people’s comments to me about the Mass reflected this understanding.

January 25, 2009

Part II: Yet beyond the lack of fidelity to the Vatican II liturgical norms there is still a deeper question which has only now begun to be addressed by Pope Benedict XVI: whether the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council that we have today was what the Fathers of the Council intended. Addressing the discontinuity between the Council’s idea of liturgical renewal and the final form of the Vatican II Mass, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote: “(I)n the place of liturgy as the fruit of development came fabricated liturgy. We abandoned the organic, living process of growth and development over centuries, and replaced it –as in a manufacturing process- with a fabrication, a banal on-the-spot product.”
For example, today much of what Catholics think is the Second Vatican Council liturgical reform did not in fact come from the Council: “To the ordinary churchgoer,” wrote Cardinal Ratzinger, “the two most obvious effects of the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council seem to be the disappearance of Latin and the turning of the altars towards the people. Those who read the relevant texts will be astonished to learn that neither is in fact found in the decrees of the Council.” There is a long list of other changes as well that are simply not in the Vatican II documents either: removing altar rails, Communion in the hand, altar girls, etc.
For this reason Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to liberalize the Traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form) is essential to reconnecting us with our lost tradition, and understanding what authentic worship of God is all about. This Mass was the Mass of our forefathers, of countless saints, and which in its essence dates back to the earliest Church.
Inspired by the Holy Father, I began the Extraordinary Form at the parish every Sunday over a year ago. As your Pastor I wish more people in the parish would understand that we have been given a treasure here at St. Mary’s with this Extraordinary Form, and while the Mass is definitely growing, it is still a disappointment that more people do not recognize what this is all about.
If we look at the full array of Masses here at St. Mary’s, we see that there is a progressive solemnity to each of the liturgies on Sunday, with the 9:30 am Extraordinary Form representing the fullness of our liturgical patrimony. The Ordinary Form at 4:00 pm, 7:00 pm, and the 8:00 am are done reverently, and has the fixed parts of the Mass (Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei...) sung in Latin during Advent and Lent. The Spanish 1:15 Mass has a beautiful choir which sings the Latin Mass parts all year round. The 11:30 am Ordinary Form of the Mass has the largest volunteer choir, with the Gloria, Credo, and Pater chanted in Latin every Sunday, and at least once a month the entire Mass is done in Latin, ad orientem (facing East). Finally, once again as the fullness of our liturgical patrimony, we have the Solemn High Extraordinary Form of the Mass, with a professional schola singing the Mass parts in Gregorian chant and renaissance polyphony, and a full set of servers.
I encourage people to come and attend the 9:30 am Extraordinary Form so that they will experience what is in my opinion is the fullness of Catholic worship, and which communicates the Sacred to a higher degree than the other forms. The Ordinary Mass is a simpler version of this more ancient form, yet points to this fuller expression of worship.
I ask you to attend a few times because it sometimes takes a little while to appreciate its subtly, beauty and order. Even if you prefer the Ordinary Form of the Mass, your attendance at the Extraordinary Form will at least help you understand our history and the Ordinary Form better.
With all of the liturgical growth here at the parish over the past five years I hope that these two Pastor’s columns would help people to understand the big picture of why I am making these decisions. It is not my own personal whim which motivates me, but my desire to have our parish think and worship with the mind and heart of the Church.
Furthermore I think it more than a coincidence that the crisis in the liturgy over the past forty years coincided with so many other ecclesial crises: the radical decline in priestly and religious vocations, the shrinking and closing of Catholic schools, the breakdown of the family and the growth of the culture of death, the painful clergy scandals, etc. The Mass is the heart and source of our faith. If is the Mass is deformed and weak, then so is the rest of the body. As Pope Benedict XVI has written, “I am convinced that the crisis in the Church that we are experiencing today is, to a large extent, due to the disintegration of the liturgy.”
In conclusion, nothing will affect a renewal in the Church and in the culture more than a renewal in the liturgy. The Mass not only expresses what we believe, it shapes what we believe. Come, open yourself to what the Holy Spirit is doing at this point in history, and worship our Lord in the coming year in spirit and truth.

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Greg J. Markey
Pastor

Point of information...

Beyonce did not sing "Etta James'" At Last....

She sang Harry Warren's At Last.

Movie Ratings, Movie Advertizing, Movie Messages

I was watching some bits of the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie, (get that condescending, disapproving grimace off your face this instant! it was purely for research. Honest! For a project. Honest!)
(Honest.)
Anyway, may I just say, that it is disgusting?
The grim ugliness of the opening, including that child being hanged is simply appalling, and it goes downhill from there.
I believe the rating was PG 14; but if I had a fourteen year old, I don't think I would want him watching it.
The first in the series was also sort of awful, but from what I can recall, (I never saw all of it, only the parts I needed for my research, YES, research...,) I would not have judged it offensive to the sensibilities or innocence of a fourteen year old.
I'm assuming it had the same rating, but whether it did or not -- I should think the expectations of anyone who saw the first, or read the first of such a series might be that the others would be appropriate for an audience of the same level of maturity.

And I don't think that is unreasonable.

But unfortunately it is no longer true -- if it ever was.
Now that I think of it, the second Indiana Jones movie was full of gore and nastiness that the first would not have led one to expect.

And not a series, per se, but I'm sure that more than one parent had to deal with a traumatized child after the Disney Hunchback, despite having been charmed by B&tB, or Little Mermaid.

Now, certainly authors or film-makers are entitled to change direction/genre/style/target audience.
(IIRC, Judy Blume took some unwarranted criticism for daring to write a novel aimed at adults.)

My problem is more a lack of truth in advertizing.

I think it is reprehensible to make your product look like something it is not, in the hopes of luring those who not only would not otherwise have given it a shot, but will almost certainly hate it when they are drawn in, (and perhaps hate you, for tricking them.)

This seems to happen far too often with movies, and films, in pursuit of "the Big Opening Weekend."
Advertizing, PR, hype, can accomplish their purpose very nicely, very deceitfully if you don't give a tinker's dam about the subsequent word of mouth.

I went to see Despereaux over the holidays. It is the first movie I have paid to see since the the final Indiana Jones installment, (ah, the joys of SAG membership! although I didn't actually pay for Despereaux, either, I was given a gift certificate.)

The ad campaign, regardless of the fact that the book on which it was base, (which I hadn't read,) was aimed at ten to twelve year olds, made it look cute, cuddly, uplifting; and enjoyable and safe for much younger children, even toddlers.
There were enough mothers with small children in the theater to show that I was not the only one thus fooled.
I talked with some afterwards, and they were justifiably angry.

The ugliness, and even hints of sadism in the violence, whether depicted, threatened or indicated to be happening off-screen, was pretty startling.

Having complained about all that, I should add that I, a middle-aged person, enjoyed it quite a bit -- the art direction was fabulous, the animation quite lovely, the references to classic art beautiful, the references to classic movies by turns witty charming and ironic, (I loved the Alexander Nevsky figures when the characters in a book came to life,) and the voice characterizations almost uniformly excellent.

My biggest non-age related complaint, and now that I think of it, this is age-related too -- the incredibly heavy-handed polemic masquerading as narration.
What happens when you make something illegal that is just a natural part of the world?
(Hmmmm... natural part of the world...mind-altering substances? homosexuality? killing of other members of ones own species? what did you have in mind?)

I don't think it was accidental.

An adult could ignore it, or take it, for good or ill, for what it was, but I can't help thinking it was intended to stealthily talk children into a point of view that would be far from universally held by their parents.
We're not talking about who-can-argue-with-that? messages like love your neighbor, obey your parents, clean your plate.

(And now that I think of it, that may be why it was advertized skewing to smaller viewers than it should have been. Get'em while they're young.)

I can't be the only one who thought there was some kind of dig at organized religion in the close-minded cowardly council of mice. (And why shouldn't Soup Day be "bigger than Christmas," especially since they're both fabricated, basically secular holidays, huh?)

And it wasn't even honest to its principles within it's "tolerance is the ultimate virtue" and "beauty is only skin deep" parameters.

Because rats did turn out to be villainous as a group, (as a race? as a lifestyle?)

And homely people did turn to be meant to spend their lives.... with pigs.

"The Lord of History"

Marvelous phrase, used by a British priest in giving his blessing to close out an episode of an EWTN program called "The Journey Home."

(When we first received this channel on our cable, the "TV guide", rather amusingly, I think, described this as a program about people returning to the land of their ancestors. But I digress.)

The Lord of History's Church must be the Church of History.

I am fascinated by how often converts, (in the commonly accepted meaning, I understand that most of the people to whom I refer were already Christian, and did not "convert", but rather "were received into the Church," or into full communion with the Church,") are historians in one way or another.
A deeper awareness of where one has come from is always going to provide a surer guide of where one ought to go from here.
It seems to me that anyone who delves into the origins of Christianity, and believes, cannot rationally belong to any denomination.

There is either the Church, or there is, not even congregationalism, but individualism.

There is either Catholicism, or there is making it up as you go along, and acknowledging it. (The latter is defensible.)
I can understand the sense of betrayal that often leaks through in combox comments from "converts" (in the sense described above.)

Imagine being struck by Splendor of Truth revealed in the Catholic Church, the Universality Her message, the historicity of Her claims -- and then learning that your local Office of Worship, for the Diocese of West Singanewchurchintobeing, not only promotes manufactured prayer and sacred music and holy days, but actively discourages or suppresses any facet of Ritual that might connect you with anyone in the Communion of Saints who was naive enough to have existed before the flowering of the Faith that occurred in the latter part of the 20th century; or hearing Father Scooter Wedontgointforthatmedievalstufftheolgyhasevolvedpastit preach; or finding out your local parish is Saint Thewaywedoithere's.

There is, as a read somewhere, a reason "parochial" means what it has come to.
Can "diocesan" as a pejorative be far behind? or "conferential"?

"We don't care how they do it in Rome" is all well and good until you realize that people who say that often really mean "we don't care how anyone does it who isn't right here right now," or "we don't care how the Church Universal does it."

Training Wheels

Another thought on my cowardice in singing that funeral yesterday...

I did not learn to ride a bicycle, until I was, what 11? 12? can't remember, but somewhere really "up there." This is in contrast to everyone else in my large family, all of whom learned at 6 or 7, or eight at the latest, as is more usual.
Oh, I had reasons, I had excuses... but that's not the point.

I'm essentially a coward. I will take no risks, unless I am forced.

Everyone who has ever played a largish role on stage is aware that there is a point in the memorization process (the perpetual civilian question: HOW do you LEARN all those LINES?!??!??!?,) when the script actually hinders your progress. You must, as it were, take the training wheels off and risk falling, or rather, risk going up completely, or not only will you not know if you can do without, you actually can not do without the crutch of the written word.

There must be the moment of free-fall.
And I know it, but I am one of those actors who stays on book until the director expressly orders it out of my hand.

I realized looking at some music this morning that I will NEVER achieve any real skill at solfege, and never proper facility with square-note as long as, when push comes to shove and I'm on my own, and absolutely must sing, I can turn to my modern notation Liber.

Now, an actual liturgy is not the time to take those risks, so it's a good thing for me that my parish, in the bad-old-pre-VCII-days, before the joys of Glory and Praise were known, used modern notation, and in a forgotten drawer there awaits my little crutch.

But at home, I should put the modern notation Liber, (which I cadged for a fantastic price on eBay a few years ago,) on a high and nearly inaccessible shelf, or in a box in the attic, or under something and try to forget what.

Saint Agnes

Hmm...
Are the "About Todays" on Universalis usually so colorfully and conscience-tuggingly written?

As with so many of the early Roman martyrs, very little is now known about Agnes’ life. Partly this is because the details have been obscured by the light that shines from her martyrdom and the cult that it inspired, and partly because if you are martyred at the age of 12, your life has not really acquired that many details in any case. Agnes was filled with the love of God from an early age, vowed herself to celibacy, and when the opportunity of martyrdom arose, she did not hide away but stepped forward and took it.
That is really all that is known: but it is enough. We who are used to compromising with the world at every turn, and would find excuses to avoid any inconveniences that our faith might cause us, let alone martyrdom (“yes, of course I would die for my faith in principle, but wouldn’t I be able do more good in the long run if I stayed alive just now?”), should admire the simple wisdom of Agnes, [emphasis added] realise that there are moments where compromise and moral ambiguity just will not do, and pray for the strength to live up to such moments when they happen.