Prayers for the Dubruiel Family

I feel terrible for Amy Welborn.  I don’t know what I’d do without Travel Man, and my heartfelt prayers go out to her and to her family, and especially for the repose of Michael’s soul.  

May the Mother of God be with you and keep you protected under her mantle.

Two Opposing Views

Father Trigilio was at the papal Mass (in vestments, mind you) in DC.

The altar was prepared according to the liturgical prescriptions of His Holiness with a conspicuous crucifix and seven candles on it. Everything was done REVERENTLY and PROPERLY according to the rubrics. The Ordinary Form of the Roman Missal was celebrated with full solemnity. Hopefully, bishops and priests across the USA will duplicate Pope Benedict’s attention to lex orandi, lex credendi. No liturgical abuses, no aberrations and no nonsense. Imagine, if this took place in EVERY cathedral and every parish in the world? We would have to build new seminaries and noviates. And this is precisely B16′s plan. The more people SEE and EXPERIENCE the proper reverence demanded by the Ordinary and the Extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite, the more they will mutually reinforce in each expression the organic and intrinsic need to identify the SACRED. The HOLY and Sacred mysteries of our faith deserve nothing less than our full, complete, active and conscious participation. This can only be done REVERENTLY and of course PROPERLY (in accord with the rubrics). Off-the-cuff, spontantaneous and innovative machinations have no place in divine worship.

Father Nuehaus watched it from EWTN’s studio. (And I’ve got problems with Father Nuehaus talking over the pope and complaining during Mass, you know.)

In the response to our EWTN coverage, we received hundreds of complaints about the over-the-top stretch to be multicultural, along with some complaints by those were offended by our mentioning it. It’s hard to win on this score. And I have to remind myself that even mild criticisms of the way the Holy Father’s visit is being handled are taken amiss by people for whom even the chance to see the pope from a distance is one of the great moments of their lives. When over the years one has been present at papal events beyond numbering, one inevitably develops a measure of critical distance in which even mildly critical comments can clash with the intense piety of many of the Catholic faithful. Anything short of all-Wow!-all-the-time is taken as a sign of insufficient enthusiasm. Raymond Arroyo and I have multiple opportunities to remind one another of this dynamic.

Please take the time to read both, though. It’s important that, when discussing the Mass, we don’t all jump on the music as if that was the entirety of the Mass. Whether or not you liked (or could bear) the music, the rest of Mass was reverent. The faithful were, by and large, doing what they were supposed to. Let’s not be like the mainstream media, St. Blog Parishioners, and nitpick and pull out the ten minutes of stuff we don’t like in order to ignore the rest of the happenings.

Don’t ignore the plank, folks.

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Holy Father’s Schedule: Beginning TODAY!

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, is arriving today. Coverage begins with his 3:30 arrival, but I’d tune in early.

And skip the stupid news stations. Watch it on EWTN if you can. Then at least you know you won’t have to deal with dissenting priests and such who give the usual talking points about how young people don’t actually believe what the Holy Father teaches us. (And in case you didn’t know, the pope only teaches what Christ teaches us. He doesn’t have personal opinions on things floating around much. When he says, “No contraception, no abortion, love your enemies, pray for the conversion of the Islamic terrorists” and all, he’s giving us the same message as Christ Himself would give. That’s his job.)

Here’s the schedule:

Radio Coverage

ARRIVAL:
LIVE (90:00) Tue Apr 15 3:30 PM
Tue Apr 15 8 PM Encore

WELCOME AT THE WHITE HOUSE (2 1/2 hrs):
Wed Apr 16 10 AM
Wed Apr 16 9 PM Encore

ADDRESS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES:
LIVE (2 1/2 hrs) Wed Apr 16 5:00 PM

MASS AT NATIONAL STADIUM, WASHINGTON DC:
LIVE (2 1/2 hrs) Thu Apr 17 9:30 AM

MEETING WITH EDUCATORS AT CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA:
LIVE (90:00) Thu Apr 17 4:30 PM

MEETING WITH EDUCATORS AT POPE JOHN PAUL II CULTURAL CENTER:
LIVE (90:00) Thu Apr 17 6 PM

ARRIVAL AT JFK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, NYC:
LIVE (1 hr) Fri Apr 18 9:30 AM

ADDRESS AT THE UNITED NATIONS, NYC:
LIVE (90:00) Fri Apr 18 10:30 AM
Fri Apr 18 8 PM Encore

VISIT TO SYNAGOGUE & ECUMENICAL MEETING AT ST. JOSEPH’S CHURCH, MANHATTAN:
LIVE (2 hrs) Fri Apr 18 5:00 PM

MASS AT ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, NYC:
LIVE (3 Hrs) Sat Apr 19 9 AM
Sat Apr 19 8 PM Encore

NATIONAL CATHOLIC PRAYER BREAKFAST:
(90 min) Sat Apr 19 1 PM

MEETING WITH YOUTH AT DUNWOODIE SEMINARY:
LIVE (2 ½ Hours) Sat Apr 19 4 PM

VISIT TO GROUND ZERO, NYC:
LIVE (90:00) Sun Apr 20 9 AM
Sun Apr 20 11AM Encore

HOLY MASS AT YANKEE STADIUM, NYC:
LIVE (3hrs) Sun Apr 20 2 PM

POPE BENEDICT DEPARTS:
LIVE (1 hr) Sun Apr 20 7:30 PM

Television Coverage

ARRIVAL
Pope Benedict XVI arrives at Andrews Air Force Base and is greeted by President and Mrs. Bush, local dignitaries of the Church, and the apostolic nuncio.
Tuesday, April 15, 3:30PM Eastern
Encore April 15, 8PM; April 16, 4AM

THE WHITE HOUSE

Pope Benedict XVI is received by President and Mrs. Bush at a White House welcoming ceremony, followed by a private meeting between the President and the Pope, and the dignitaries of the two states.
Wednesday, April 16, 10:00 AM Eastern
Encore April 16, 2PM & 9PM.

ADDRESS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES
Pope Benedict XVI gathers with the bishops of the United States for a prayer service and address at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.
Wednesday, April 16, 5:00 PM Eastern
Encore April 16, 11:30PM. April 17, 4AM

MASS AT NATIONAL STADIUM, WASHINGTON DC – LIVE
Pope Benedict XVI offers Mass at the new Nationals Park in Washington D.C.
Thursday, April 17, 9:30 AM Eastern
Encore April 17, 1PM; April 18, 12AM

MEETING WITH EDUCATORS AT CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
Pope Benedict XVI will address hundreds of Catholic University heads and diocesan superintendents on the importance Catholic education at the Catholic University of America.
Thursday, April 17, 4:30 PM Eastern
Encore April 17, 9PM; April 18, 5AM

MEETING WITH EDUCATORS AT POPE JOHN PAUL II CULTURAL CENTER
Pope Benedict XVI meets with representatives of various religions for a prayer service at the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington D.C.
Thursday, April 17, 6:00 PM
Encore April 17, 10:30PM; April 18, 6:30AM

ARRIVAL NYC
Arrival at JFK International Airport.
Friday, April 18, 9:30 AM
Encore April 18, 4:00 PM and April 19, 1 AM

ADDRESS AT THE UN
Pope Benedict XVI will address the United Nations, after an early morning flight to New York.
Friday, April 18, 10:30 AM
Encore April 18, 2:30 PM and 8PM; April 19, 2AM

VISIT TO SYNAGOGUE & ECUMENICAL MEETING AT ST. JOSEPH’S CHURCH, MANHATTAN – LIVE
Visit to Park East Synagogue and prayer service with leaders from other Christian denominations at St. Joseph’s, founded by German Catholics, in Manhattan.
Friday, April 18, 5:00 PM
Encore April 18, 9:30PM. April 19, 3:30AM

MASS AT ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, NYC
Mass for priests, deacons and members of religious orders at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the heart of New York City.
Saturday, April 19, 9:00 AM
Encore April 20, 1PM and 11PM

MEETING WITH YOUTH AT DUNWOODIE SEMINARY
Pope Benedict XVI meets with thousands of young people from around the country; the event includes a rally/prayer service and a speech from the Pope.
Saturday, April 19, 4:00 PM
Encore April 19, 8PM; April 20, 4AM

VISIT TO GROUND ZERO
Pope Benedict XVI visits the former World Trade Center site known as Ground Zero in New York City.
Sunday, April 20, 9:00 AM
Encore April 20, 11AM; April 21, 1AM

HOLY MASS AT YANKEE STADIUM, NYC
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Holy Mass at Yankee Stadium in New York bringing his historic U.S. visit to a close.
Sunday, April 20, 2:00 PM
Encore April 20, 10 PM

DEPARTURE
Pope Benedict XVI leaves the US.
Sunday, April 20, 7:30 PM
Encore April 21, 2:30AM

All Times US Eastern

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Christine

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More Stump Speeches

The 2008 Catholic Cannonball Blogger Awards has begun.

I’m such a sorry excuse for a Catholic blog that I had to ask for a nomination. I am further a great example of a sorry excuse for a Catholic blog because I had no votes for my blog until I voted for myself. Ditto for the “Underappreciated” category. I think this shows that I am, indeed, the sorriest excuse for a Catholic blog, as well as quite underappreciated. Besides, some of those other blogs were nominated for the big Catholic Blog Awards just last month! I hardly think that they are as sorry an excuse or as underappreciated as I am.

Please go and vote for me. All voting is on the sidebar of the blog over at Crescat’s place.

(Then again, if I get a win in that “underappreciated” category, doesn’t that automatically make me not eligible for it? Hmmmm…)

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Catholic Blog Awards

I haven’t mentioned it before now, but there is still time to nominate your favorite Catholic blogs for an award.

Go here for details. (Some of my favorite blogs have been nominated! Yay!)

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Spe Salvi:Not Just for Catholics!

Our Holy Father has written another encyclical.

Did you know that these are not meant only for clergy, or, really, even only for Catholics? It is address as thus:

ENCYCLICAL LETTERSPE SALVIOF THE SUPREME PONTIFFBENEDICT XVITO THE BISHOPSPRIESTS AND DEACONSMEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUSAND ALL THE LAY FAITHFULON CHRISTIAN HOPE

And it opens with this:

Introduction

1. “SPE SALVI facti sumus”—in hope we were saved, says Saint Paul to the Romans, and likewise to us (Rom 8:24). According to the Christian faith, “redemption”—salvation—is not simply a given. Redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey. Now the question immediately arises: what sort of hope could ever justify the statement that, on the basis of that hope and simply because it exists, we are redeemed? And what sort of certainty is involved here?

Faith is Hope

2. Before turning our attention to these timely questions, we must listen a little more closely to the Bible’s testimony on hope. “Hope”, in fact, is a key word in Biblical faith—so much so that in several passages the words “faith” and “hope” seem interchangeable. Thus the Letter to the Hebrews closely links the “fullness of faith” (10:22) to “the confession of our hope without wavering” (10:23). Likewise, when the First Letter of Peter exhorts Christians to be always ready to give an answer concerning the logos—the meaning and the reason—of their hope (cf. 3:15), “hope” is equivalent to “faith”. We see how decisively the self-understanding of the early Christians was shaped by their having received the gift of a trustworthy hope, when we compare the Christian life with life prior to faith, or with the situation of the followers of other religions. Paul reminds the Ephesians that before their encounter with Christ they were “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). Of course he knew they had had gods, he knew they had had a religion, but their gods had proved questionable, and no hope emerged from their contradictory myths. Notwithstanding their gods, they were “without God” and consequently found themselves in a dark world, facing a dark future. In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus (How quickly we fall back from nothing to nothing): (1) so says an epitaph of that period. In this phrase we see in no uncertain terms the point Paul was making. In the same vein he says to the Thessalonians: you must not “grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Th 4:13). Here too we see as a distinguishing mark of Christians the fact that they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well. So now we can say: Christianity was not only “good news”—the communication of a hitherto unknown content. In our language we would say: the Christian message was not only “informative” but “performative”. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.

For those of you who read this blog and aren’t Catholic, this looks to be an excellent time for you to learn more on what Catholics mean when they speak of the “Hope of Salvation”. (Come to think of it, it’s a good time for Catholics to do that, too.)

Much of our disagreement with our separated brethren (i.e. Protestants) is a difference in how we define many of the words we have in common. I will be reading the encyclical carefully and taking notes for myself to see what new things our great pope, wonderful teacher and scholar that he is, can teach me. (I’m sure it’s plenty!)

You can read the entire thing for yourself (or print it off to read later) at the Vatican website. Oh, and you can see his end notes at the link above, as well.

[image - chosen specifically for the beautiful vestments! - credit]

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YIPPEEEE!!!!!

I’m going to Washington, DC!

Next April!!!

Please, someone tell me how to get tickets to the Mass!!!!!!

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Don’t Forget to Go to Mass!

It’s All Saints’ Day!

[image source - includes explanation]

Christian Parents: Be Aware of Compass Themes!

(Update: Below, I have added a link to Paul’s post on the topic and inserted the link to the L.A. Times article. Sorry for leaving that out the first time.)

I’ve posted before about The Golden Compass and the trilogy from which it comes. Philip Pullman himself has said that this series is about “killing God” and it is basically the anti-Narnia.

Now, I might just have to borrow the book from the library and find out for myself, but in the meantime, I am getting my information from trusted sources. I’ve now found that the famed Snopes has a page up about the books and forthcoming movie.

What bothers me is the line that they are “dumbing it down” or “removing the anti-religious parts” for the movie. This makes no difference when children watch it and then get the books from the library or for Christmas. Then they get the full-tilt anti-Christian propaganda.

Don’t be snowed on this one. This series of stories, as well-written as they might be, are about killing God. They are about indoctrinating our children with atheism.

Other recent stories in the news:

• Fox News: “Christian Groups Claim Pro-Atheist ‘Stealth Campaign’ in Nicole Kidman Fantasy Film ‘The Golden Compass’” – excerpt:

Pullman has not been shy in the past about verbalizing his beliefs — or, some might say, nonbeliefs — and his intentions in writing the “Dark Materials” novels.

The novelist has said they are in response to C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia,” the popular children’s fantasy series of which “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” is the first book — written by Lewis to teach Christian ideals to kids.

“I loathe the ‘Narnia’ books,” Pullman has said in previous press interviews. “I hate them with a deep and bitter passion, with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a falling away.” He has called the series “one of the most ugly and poisonous things” he’s ever read.

• The Catholic League has a video up on the topic. (It was the opening page for the videos this morning, and I’m sure it will remain so for now.) They also have put together a pamphlet on the movie which is available for purchase.
• Regular Guy Paul has his own thoughts on the topic in “Why Homeschool, Part 14“

One amazingly dim piece I read on the movie (and books) was from the L.A. Times. It contained this bit of “logic”:

Pullman’s refutations aside, Catholic theology in the books is depicted as sinister and the villains are often cardinals and priests. The “Church,” or the “Magisterium,” answers to the “Vatican Council,” and kidnaps children, tortures witches and aims to suppress all natural impulses and control the world. In one book, “Dust” is described as the physical manifestation of Original Sin.

In the film, however, there’s no mention of the Church or Catholicism. The bad guys are known only as the Magisterium, which in fact is the term the Roman Catholic Church uses to describe its body charged with interpreting “the Word of God.” Weitz, who described himself on one fan site as “a lapsed Catholic crypto-Buddhist,” explained those changes to fans in 2004 as a way to allay the studio’s early concern that the “perceived anti-religiosity” of “His Dark Materials” would make the franchise “an unviable project.”

With all this, how can they say that it has no anti-religious (or anti-Catholic) themes? How can Nicole Kidman, who professes to be Catholic and came back to the faith recently, star in a movie that is based on a book so blatantly anti-Catholic??

And why do these Hollywood people not think that the same children whose parents would feel okay about them going because it’s supposedly not anti-Christian will later pick up the books and get the full dose? It’s like a vaccination!

You make the decisions for your family, but make an informed one. If you’re a Christian, check out what Christian organizations are saying about this movie and the trilogy of books on which it is based.

Previous posts at Domestic Vocation on this topic:

• The Golden Compass Points Children Away from God
• Where Does the Compass Point?

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I am getting very excited about the Catholic Carnival this week! I’m hosting for the first time, and I decided on a theme ahead of time. It was amazing how well everything could fit into the theme, too.

Remember to get your submissions in if you want to be included! The deadline is tonight!

(Check my sidebar for information on the carnival and how to submit.)