The Gesù

Today is the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus.

On the 28th of June, after Mass at the Church of Our Lady of Peace, the Prelatial Church of Opus Dei - celebrated by Father Marin on the altar containing the body of St Josemaria - we went to see the centre of Rome.

  The tomb of St Catherine of Siena at Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

After Piazza Navona, the famous Gelateria Della Palma, the simple but beautiful Pantheon, and the Dominican Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva ( the only Gothic church in Rome), we stopped at the Church of the Gesù (The Church of the Holy Name of Jesus), the mother church of the Society of Jesus. And to our dismay, we found the main doors locked!

We saw a small side door and went through it into a corridor. Apparently there was some a kind of exhibition for a some people from Lithuania. We saw a priest standing at the other end of the corridor and Father Marin asked if we could enter the church; the priest, a Jesuit, said it was closed. However, after Father Marin explained that we were a group from Singapore, he agreed to open the church for us - because we promised to be quick (we weren't).

The Gesù is magnificent. The Society of Jesus was in the forefront of the Counter Reformation - the Church's response to the Protestant Reformation - and the church art and architecture reflect this: the building is designed to inspire awe and wonderment. The Gesù  marks the transition between the Renaissance and the Baroque styles of architecture. The Baroque artwork is intense and emotionally engaging, designed to stimulate the piety and devotion of pilgrims.

Father also explained a few other points in the church's design that reflected the era it was built in. Churches before this had several aisles  - the Gesù has no aisles, just one nave, so that the congregation's attention is focused on the high altar with the Mass and preachers proclaiming orthodox Christian doctrine; the many confessionals inside the church is another sign of the troubled times the Catholic Church was going through back then.

The main altar

In a chapel on the left side of the church lies the tomb of St Ignatius of Loyola:

And on the right is the chapel containing the arm of St Francis Xavier (the rest of his remains are in Goa, India):

When St Ignatius founded the Jesuit order in 1540, Pope Paul III gave the Society a small neighbourhood chapel - Santa Maria della Strada (Our Lady of the Road). The late 15th or 16th century image of Our Lady under that title is enshrined in a chapel, on the left of the high altar.

In 2003 Pope John Paul II named the Mother of God, under the title of Our Lady of the Road as sponsor of Roman street-cleaners. A votive lamp has been buring at this altar since November 17, 2003, the day after the pope's decree.

 We spent some time praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament, which is kept in a chapel to the right of the high altar. By then the Jesuit priest was getting a bit impatient, so we hurried out. :)

Saying sorry

Hahaha. He's such an idiot! Hilarious!!

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Thought for Food

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Sanpietrini

Little Saint Peters. The little Rocks. That's what the locals call the cobblestones of Rome.



Invented under the Pope Sixtus V, these tiles of black porphyry, were used to pave all the main streets of Rome. They support the feet of countless men and women as they go about their daily tasks, just as their namesake, Peter and his successors, provide spiritual guidance and support to countless Catholics.
 

The origin of the One Ring

Good one from xkcd.

Still in the world

I hadn’t seen mom since she was diagnosed. The red-headed, vibrant woman had been replaced with a bald, weak shell of a human being. Our reunion was awkward and bittersweet.

I masked my discomfort by falling into a regular routine. At night I’d sit on her bed, prepare her medicines, including the morphine she needed for the pain, and then swab the shunt in her chest with rubbing alcohol. Concern about an infection seemed to be an absurd worry when the tumors were destroying her from within. But I performed the task with the utmost care and pretended that it made a difference. We would make small talk as she drifted in and out of sleep.

Four or five nights after I had returned home, I began loading the needle with morphine when I felt a strange impulse, similar to the urge to jump that overcomes you when you stand on the edge of a bridge. An extra dose, I thought. That is all it would take. My family would wake in the morning to a sense of guilty relief and the welcome release of dammed up grief.

There would be no autopsy, no questions. No one would know. An extra dose of morphine and the waiting and the pain and the suffering and the dying would all come to an end.

Read the rest of Joe Carter's article here. It's sad and beautiful.

Carl Olson has been arranging his library

Before:



After:






I want a room full of books one day too!

More photos here.

How the Form of Baroque Painting Affects Prayer

Have you ever had the experience of walking into an art gallery and being struck by a wonderful painting on the far side of the room. You are so captivated by it that you want to get closer. As you approach it, something strange happens. The image goes out of focus and dissolves into a mass of broad brushstrokes and the unity of the image is lost. Then, in order to get a unified picture of the whole you have to recede again. The painting is likely to be an Old Master produced in the style of a 17th-century baroque, perhaps a Velazquez, or a Ribera, or perhaps later artists who retained this stylistic effect, such as John Singer Sargent. My class at Thomas More College recently made a trip to the art museum at Worcester, Massachusetts and there was a portrait by Sargent there that was about 12ft high and forced us back maybe 35ft so that we could view the whole.

This is a deliberately contrived effect of baroque painting. These painting are created to have optimum impact at a distance. It is sad that the art gallery is the most likely place for us to find any art, let alone any sacred art that conforms to its principles. The stylistic elements of the baroque relate to its role firstly as a liturgical art form of the Counter-Reformation. It should be of no surprise that this has an impact upon prayer.

Read the rest at NLM.

An Error Worse Than Error

Critical reason, which Newman sometimes calls “strict reason,” and which he certainly did not reject, parses arguments, examines premises, and tests hypotheses. It filters belief. Strict reason is critical, not creative. The methods of critique “will pull down, and will not be able to build up.” Clear-minded and scrupulous analysis clears the underbrush of error, but it cannot plant the seeds of truth.

Therein lies the danger. If we fear error too much, and thus overvalue critical reason, we will develop a mind active and able in doubt but untrained to move toward belief, a mentality too quick to find reasons not to nurture convictions.

Read the rest of this article, by R.R. Reno at First Things. A bit more:

In my experience, although the modern university is full of trite, politically correct pieties, for the most part its educational culture is cautious to a fault. Students are trained—I was trained—to believe as little as possible so that the mind can be spared the ignominy of error. The consequences: an impoverished intellectual life. The contemporary mind very often lives on a starvation diet of small, inconsequential truths, because those are the only points on which we can be sure we’re avoiding error.

We can worry about getting on the wrong train in the foreign train station whose signs we can’t read. But we should also worry about dithering in the station too long and thus failing to get on the right train. We could starve to death in that station if we never leave. This, it seems to me, is the essence of Newman and Pascal’s insight. Sometimes, the dangers of failing to affirm the truth are far greater than the dangers of wrongly affirming falsehood.

If we see this danger—the danger of truths lost, insights missed, convictions never formed—then the complexion of intellectual inquiry changes, and the burdens of proof shift. We begin to cherish books and teachers and friends who push us and romance us with the possibilities of truth.

Il Papa on vacation

Via Crescat. Heart-warming indeed.

And a cute photo via AmP:

The Legion in Rome and the re-evangelizing of Europe

One thing that struck me forcefully in Rome was how tightly the Catholic faith was woven into the fabric of  Roman society.

There are magnificent churches everywhere - even those that look unimpressive from the outside hide wonderful treasures of Catholic art and architecture inside.

 The Church of the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary - from the roadside you can never tell that that there is a gorgeous neo-Gothic church inside.

Priest, nuns and monks are a familiar sight, unlike anywhere else I've been to.

Rome is the city of the Popes! When Italy was unified in the 19th Century, Rome was captured from the Pope and made into the capital of the new state of Italy. The Palazzo del Quirinale served as papal residence and housed the central offices responsible for the civil government of the Papal States until 1870 when the Papal States were overthrown. It then became the residence of the Italian monarchy and is now the presidential palace. And yet the popes have left their mark even on the seat of Italy's secular (and sometimes anti-clerical) government - you see the coats of arms of the popes on the buildings and the obelisk. The Trevi Fountain, a non-religious tourist attraction also bears the papal heraldry. No matter who is ruling in Rome, you cannot erase the impact - physical, spiritual, and cultural - that the successors of Peter have left on the Eternal City. And it's not for want of trying: the new rulers of Rome built an edifice - the National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II, also called the Altar of the Fatherland - which was meant to outdo any of Rome's religious buildings. But the people of Rome did not like it - it was considered pompous and overbearing and has attracted several derogatory nicknames.

 Pope Pius VII. On the Obelisk at the Piazza del Quirinale

Much of Europe seems to be falling away from the faith - the Church's presence in the public square is being challenged successfully n many formerly very Catholic countries. Yet the Church's liturgical seasons still shape the annual calendar in Rome and in other parts of Italy. The feast of Sts. Peter and Paul is a holiday in Rome. Pilgrims from various parts of Italy still flock to St. Peter's Basilica, and to places like Assisi.

And yet I believe that the Eternal City in in need of groups like the Legion of Mary. For a city where almost everyone is a baptized Catholic, daily Mass attendance looked low. I was browsing through John Allen's book All the Pope's Men at borders and came across the statistic that only 25% of Italians attended weekly Mass. Many are uncatechized and many do not realise the significance of the feasts and holidays, the customs and the architecture that surround them and form part of the fabric of their society. Father Marin mentioned that the owner of the laundry near our hotel (almost at the doorstep of the Vatican) did not know why June 29th was a holiday - so she did not celebrate the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The Legion of Mary was founded in Ireland - as Catholic a country as you could find, back then (things are pretty bleak in Ireland now though). And the Legion had ample work to do back then. A group of prayerful Catholics with a zeal for the salvation of souls can work wonders in revitalizing Catholic societies that have grown complacent with the Faith. I think the Catholics in Rome would benefit from such a injection of zeal.

The Opus Dei has a strong presence in Rome - and their quiet presence as leaven in the streets and workplaces of Rome must be a blessing. I think that if you see a smartly-dressed gentleman doing some personal prayer or spiritual reading in church, he probably is a member of the Work. That's how I identified one member in our 'parish' church of the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary. :D

It was on our third day in Rome - Father Marin was to celebrate Mass for us at the church. We entered the church while Father went to the sacristy to vest and prepare for Mass. Sitting in front of me was a man reading an Italian version of The Imitation of Christ. It was a small book - much like the copies of St Josemaria's Way or Christ is Passing By. That itself sparked my curiosity. When Father entered to begin Mass I wondered whether the gentleman would leave. But he stayed for Mass. Interesting. During the homily, Father talked about how we will meet many saints in Rome, and also how we should pray that we can discover our vocations, God's plans for each of us. He mentioned Pope John Paul II. Then he mentioned St Josemaria. I glanced at the gentleman and saw him smiling. Aha! He's a member! :D
After Mass, when we doing our personal prayer and thanksgiving, he approached Father and asked him if he was a priest of Opus Dei, and told him that he was a member too.

So there are people like this man, quietly and heroically living a full and faithful Catholic life in Rome - and encouraging others to do so too. But I think we need the Legion (or a similar apostolate) to do works like visiting homes, urging people to go for Mass more often, to return to the sacraments - especially Confession and the Holy Eucharist. This is the Legion's traditional work - we've done it in Ireland and the U.K. We've even done it in China.

The Legion is present in Rome. I know because I discovered signs of it, also at the Church of the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, on our very first day in Rome.

After checking in at our hotel, showering and changing, we headed out to find the church and see if we could have Mass there. When we entered, a Mass was already taking place, so we thought we'd wait for it to finish. While waiting I was browsing through a rack containing miscellaneous religious brochures and booklets. One caught my eye - it was The Testament of Pope John Paul II - his last will and testament. I opened it. And inside I found a Legion Tessera in Italian (which I took back as a souvenir - talk about providence! :D )

I didn't see any sign of the Legion after that. And I think that Rome, Italy, and the rest of the continent ("where Churches with an ancient foundation exist but are experiencing the progressive secularization of society and a sort of 'eclipse of the sense of God', which pose a challenge to finding appropriate to propose anew the perennial truth of Christ's Gospel."*) needs a vibrant, devoted, and youthful (in spirit, not necessarily in age) Legion of Mary to aid in the Holy Father's mission of re-evangelizing Europe.


*Pope Benedict XVI, First Vespers of the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, June 28 2010

Make love your aim

Of late I've seen have had some distasteful experiences - both on and off the blogosphere - with some people (this is not a generalization!) who call themselves traditional Catholics. Arrogance, meanness, and backbiting are not traditional Catholic values - and some "traditional Catholics" do a great disservice and probably turn off many good Catholics who would appreciate beautiful, reverent liturgy and sound doctrine. It would do much good for the Church if we all keep in mind St Paul's beautiful words to the Corinthians - for what is the use of being perfectly proficient in Greek or understanding the nuances of Latin grammar if we have not charity - it becomes as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal; it is not enough to have an encyclopedic knowledge of liturgy and Church history, or even to have faith enough to remove mountains: without charity, we are nothing. 

Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Without at least trying (trying - because we all fail now and then; the important thing is that we keep desiring and trying) to be charitable, an enthusiasm for traditional Catholicism looks like a mere fixation on liturgy and Latin, and becomes a matter of style, a fancy - or at worst a vanity - rather than a part of one's spirituality. 

"Make love your aim." 

- 1 Corinthians 14:1

The House of Peter

Tu es Petrus - You are Peter. (Matthew 16:18)

 
 Tibi dabo claves regni caelorum - I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 16:19)

One night during the October 1999 Synod of Bishops, National Catholic Reporter editor Tom Fox and I  I had been out for dinner with colleagues, an afterwards, shortly before 11pm, we began to make our way across St Peter's Square. It was a cold autumn evening, after the peak of tourist season, the square was virtually deserted. From a distance I caught site [sic] of a tall figure wearing a long black coat, with a briefcase perched at his feet, standing alone near the obelisk in the center of the  square. It took me a moment to realise it was Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna. At the time he was just fifty-four, the second-youngest cardinal in the world and an ecclesiastical wunderkind....

Seeing Schönborn standing there alone, my first impulse was to try to wrest some insight from him about the synod. As we approached, I noticed him starng up at the windows of the papal apartments. My cynical side prevailed, so I walked up and jokingly asked: "Thinking about what kind of drapes you want when you move in?"

Schönborn was startled, then, as he placed who we were, he had the good manners to fake a sort of quite amusement. I broke the silence that followed by asking him what he was doing.

"You want to know why I'm really here?" he asked, in his polished English.


I waited.


"Because Peter is here." he said.


What?

"Peter is here," he repeated. "He was crucified alongside this obelisk when it was a Neronian circus, just over there," he said, pointing beyond the Palazzo di Sant'Ufficio. "But Peter is also up there, in the papal apartment, watching over the the Church, just as he has been doing for two thousand years. It's an awesome sensation, standing in the space that has been the focus of a tradition that goes back to Christ himself, and to the prince of the apostles. This is Peter's house."

Schönborn was not making a speech; he spoke softly, almost not caring if we heard. The words obviously came from deep within his personal spirituality, his devotion to the papacy and the person of the Pope....[I]t was an emotional moment, because it brought home how deep the feeling for the papal office runs among those for whom Christ's words, "You are the rock and upon this rock I shall build my Church," remain the expression of a living spiritual ideal.

- John L. Allen Jr., All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks. pp.188-9.

Yes! It really is an awesome feeling to walk into St Peter's Square. I was thrilled, and almost bursting with joy. It's a place I've seen many times on TV - and I was finally there, actually walking on the cobblestones of the focal point of the Catholic Church, surrounded by Bernini's beautiful colonnade, which reaches out to embrace Rome and the World, a fitting reminder of the universality of the Church and the Petrine ministry.

  

Once we walked to St Peter's Square in evening - the place was quiet and sleepy, resting after the hectic rush of pilgrims and tourists that takes places every day. And the windows of the Pope's rooms were lit - Pope Benedict was presumably in his room. It felt a bit unreal to be gazing up at the Holy Father's rooms - Peter's house - hoping he would come to the window for a breath of fresh air, or to take in the peaceful scene outside.
 

Traditions are there for a reason :D

A German priest, for example, began working some years ago in a dicastery and was assigned an office whose windows faced in the direction of St Peter's Square. When he walked in, he found the window had been painted shut. He inquired with his superior why this was so , and was informed, "It was like this when I go here." This German, a moderate-to-progressive who grew up on the Second Vatican Council, regarded this restriction not merely as silly, but a metaphor for everything that was wrong with the contemporary Church and its failure to live up to Pope John XIII's spirit of "throwing open the windows" of the Church. One day he bought a chisel and a small knife and knocked out the paint, opening up the window. He regarded this as a small but symbolic victory for the postconciliar Church. Business called him out of the office for several hours, and when he returned he discovered the logic for the tradition - a gaggle of pigeons had settled down of his desk, his filing cabinet and everywhere else in  the office. After spending a clumsy, and messy, afternoon getting rid of the pigeons, the paint went back on the window. The priest has not stopped pressing gently for reform, but also moves with a more modest appreciation that sometimes there are reasons things are the way they are.

- John L. Allen Jr., All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks. p.139.

Saturno

A nice photo of Papa in his red saturno, from the audience of Wednesday June 30. I was there! :D

 
Getty Images

Hapax legomenon

You discover interesting stuff on Wikipedia :D

A hapax legomenon (pronounced /ˈhæpɨks lɨˈɡɒmənɒn/ or /ˈheɪpæks/^[1]) (pl. hapax legomena, sometimes abbreviated to hapaxes) is a word which occurs only once in either the written record of a language, the works of an author, or in a single text. While technically incorrect, the term is also sometimes used of a word that occurs in only one of an author's works, even though it occurs more than once in that work. Hapax legomenon is a direct transliteration from the Greek form ἅπαξ λεγόμενον, meaning "[something] said [only] once".

The related terms dis legomenon, tris legomenon, and tetrakis legomenon refer respectively to double, triple, or quadruple occurrences, but are far less commonly used.

Hapax legomena are quite common, as predicted by Zipf's Law,^[2] which states that the frequency of any word in a work or corpus is inversely proportional to its rank in the frequency table. For large corpora, about 40% to 60% of the words occurring are hapax legomena, and another 10% to 15% are dis legomena.^[3] Thus, in the Brown Corpus of American English, about half of the 50,000 words are hapax legomena within that corpus.^[4]

 

Opus Dei featured again on Rorate Caeli

More pride and lack of charity (coupled with a generous dose of ignorance) from the commenters at Rorate Caeli - once again (see here for their last piece) they're taking it upon themselves to judge the Opus Dei on its commitment to the Extraordinary Form. Yawn.

Here's one of the stupidest comments:

mairedecortichon said...

'This " middle path" behavior is seen by St Thomas Aquinas as an intellectual mediocrity, because this behavior does not seek the defense of absolute truth, but tries to conform itself to the prevailing mood in the Church, they did it after the council, and they are doing it now, as this Pope is trying to bring some more sacred elements in the liturgy'

They constantly denigrate the Novus Ordo Mass which Pope Benedict celebrates and has affirmed is the Ordinary form for the Church. And then they have the arrogance to say that members of Opus Dei are opposing the Holy Father's programme of bringing more sacred elements into the liturgy. They also conveniently forget the praise that Pope Benedict has for the Opus Dei.

What they mean is: if you're not dour, whining, narrow-minded and extreme like them, looking down on everything that seems modern, you are intellectually mediocre.

Anyway - who gave them the role of Extraordinary Form police?

Thankfully there are some - including a contributor to Rorate Celi itself - who do bring some fairness into the discussion.

I liked this anonymous comment, refering to the one above:

Based on my personal experience (and that alone), Opus Dei is not concerned about anything other than the salvation of souls. Period. And, in keeping with the virtue of prudence, one must realize that the salvation of souls involves different tactics in different contexts.

BTW, the comment of "mairedecor...whatever" is a classic example of the "straw man' tactic...misdefine the opponent's position, then attack the false position. So classic that it should be used as a teaching case in Rhetoric Courses. But also could be used in Moral Theology courses as an example of how to act unjustly.

and this:

"The praises of the founder of Opus Dei by cardinals and the like that you'll see in the Opus Dei literature are mostly from liberals."

That list also includes, prominently, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.

As well: it damns by association, a fallacy, and as noted here, an injustice.

"While I'm at it, let me warn you that beneath the undoubted sincerity and piety of the members of Opus Dei is an ultimately incoherent set of principles that are not at all traditional by any definition, and of dubious orthodoxy for good measure. But demonstrating that is a matter for another day."

To fallacies we also add slander?

I have been around the Work for 25+ years. NEVER have I heard, seen, or read anything on retreats, at Mass, etc, that was other than orthodox teaching on the moral and faith level. Period.

Yes, they emphasize freedom, but never license; yes, they work quietly, but offer their work for the Pope and all souls.

Even you, who slander them.

If some members of the Work are tepid about Trads, well, there might be a reason.

The members of the Work I know would also forgive, right away.

Pressure groups

From another Time article - before the election of the successor of Paul VI:

The ultraconservative religious movement Civilta Cristiana plastered Rome with posters demanding "a preacher of crystal-clear doctrine and a custodian of truth against the current heresy." Other right-wingers who follow France's semischismatic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre drew up a broadside linking certain papabili (possible Popes) with Freemasonry. At the other end of the ideological spectrum, the U.S.-based Committee for the Responsible Election of the Pope issued in Rome a list of necessary papal traits, among them happiness, holiness and willingness to "trust others."

Trying some long-distance lobbying, 300 American nuns attending a convention in Pittsburgh of the National Assembly of Women Religious issued an open letter beseeching the all-male College of Cardinals to incorporate into the election "the voices of those whom present church structures exclude from participation." Minnesota's Archbishop John R. Roach, vice president of the U.S. bishops' conference, even named names. Because the next Pope must be a "very strong evangelizer" above all, Roach said, he favors George Basil Hume of England, who is considered an extremely long shot.

A Swift, Stunning Choice

Suddenly, more than an hour after the puzzling signals began to billow forth, the Vatican's Pericle Felici, ranking Cardinal-deacon in the Sacred College, appeared at the opened Window of the Benediction in the center of St. Peter's Basilica. His Latin words boomed out over loudspeakers: "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habemus Papam!" (I announce to you a great joy. We have a Pope!) The crowd was hushed as Felici went on: "He is the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Albino Luciani, who has taken the name of John Paul the First [in Latin, Joannes Paulus Primus]."

The name was unusual—and unprecedented. No Pope had ever adopted a double name; none had selected a first-of-its-kind name in a millennium. Apparently, the new Pontiff wanted to signal originality and also a bond of continuity with his two immediate predecessors: the reformer, John XXIII, and the moderator, Paul VI. Or was he evoking their New Testament forebears?

If the election's speed was surprising, so was the identity of the 263rd Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. In the first days after Paul's death, Luciani, 65, Patriarch of Venice, had been mentioned only as a remote compromise candidate if the conclave reached a deadlock. Now he was in the window, a frail-looking, slight, bespectacled figure in ponifical vestments, lifting his hands gingerly in the papal salute, offering blessing with a brisk gesture of his right hand, nodding smilingly at the excited crowd below

Read the rest of this very well-written 1978 article from Time magazine here.

Mary Anne Marks

H/T: J.P. Sonnen.

In April, Harvard’s Commencement Office holds an open speech-writing competition for graduating seniors. Long ago, these orations were given in Greek, Latin, or Hebrew, and were mainly thesis defenses. But times have changed, and students now address current issues and events, or speak of lessons learned from their years at Harvard — all in just five minutes (and only one speech is in Latin).

Final auditions involve a live reading in front of an audience and take place in late April. A panel of professors, deans, and other officials measures each candidate; after all, these are the only speeches delivered during the Morning Exercises ceremony, and they have to be good.

Fun fact: Only graduating seniors are given translations of the Latin speech. So unless you’re versed in the ancient language, you’re out of luck.

Mary Anne Marks, Latin oration

Mary Anne Marks (Photo by Kris Snibbe | Harvard Staff Photographer)

Queens, N.Y., native Mary Anne Marks is a classics and English joint concentrator who fell in love with the Latin language by studying Cicero’s Catilinarian Orations. “The links between Latin and Romance languages are fascinating, and, at the same time, Latin has the ability to say things in ways that are not available to Romance languages or to English,” said Marks. “I mused about ideas for the speech for weeks before setting pen to paper, and, once I’d picked a topic, I consulted with friends and acquaintances from various departments to make sure it spoke to their experiences at Harvard.” In the fall, Marks is headed to Ann Arbor, Mich., to enter a community of Catholic teaching nuns called the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, where after three years of classes in the convent on theological and ecclesiastical topics, she’ll attain a teaching certificate at a local university and teach in Catholic schools. “I’ve always thought about being a nun but came to Harvard planning to go to graduate school and perhaps also do some other things before entering,” she recalled. “I decided in January of last year to enter right after college, but a master’s or Ph.D. is still a possibility. One of the exciting things about being a nun is that one never knows what the future holds!”

So wonderful! God bless her! :)

Read more about the Harvard commencement here.

Can You Be Excommunicated For Stupidity?

Prepare thyself for the stupidest thing you will read today!

Ron Modras, professor of theological studies at St. Louis University and author of Ignatian Humanism, writes at the National Catholic Reporter about the rash of excommunications. It is so singularly stupid that I don't know if I should be outraged or sorry.

A commenter responded:

This article is riddled with flaws. The virtue of excommunication does not have anything to do with its practical effects. In other words, excommunications are not levied to bring about some practical end. An excommunication simply signals that a rupture has occurred in the Body of Christ, either through a member's grave sin or through a violation of the Church's disciplinary norms. As numerous theologians have pointed out, then, it's not really precise to talk about a Bishop excommunicating someone, as if the Bishop had arbitrarily made the decision on his own. More precisely, members of the Church automatically excommunicate themselves through actions that violate existing norms. Building on this point, the validity of said norms does not depend on whether or not a certain number of Catholics honor them. In all ages of the Church, there have been and will be a large number of the baptized who live in unrepentant sin or who willfully live in discord with Church teaching. The Church's task is to faithfully transmit and teach the totality of revelation. She cannot guarantee that a certain percentage of her children will follow this teaching, any more than a parent can guarantee that her children will never rebel after they reach an age of maturity.

And yet another commenter warned that even reading NC Reporter that a Catholic may incur latae sententiae excommunication.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

I haven't the time right now to point out all the flaws in the piece, but feel free to do so...

Read the entire blog post at CMR

St Josemaria on video

He's probably the most videoed saint ever. Until Pope John Paul II and maybe Mother Teresa are canonized.

Heart and Soul

:)



Ahh oldies! :) :)

Frasier has some nice musical bits.