Parish Coordinator of Religious Ed writes in the bulletin that an Old Testament reading is “in” (?) 640-609 BCE (BC). What the heck? No more plain BC (Before Christ)? And insistence on BCE (Before the Common Era), which has appeared before in the same bulletin?
Some fussbudget there is who doesn’t like that BC and has gotten to the parish staff. Or it’s the latest idea at the Institute of Pastoral Studies. Same with AD (anno Domini, Latin for year of the Lord), as in the second reading, Paul to the Corinthians, in 54 CE (AD), CE being, you guessed it, the Common Era.
We are being educated to do away with the B.C. and A.D. designations, before and after Christ, maybe so as not to offend the non-Christians who have been putting up with them for a long time but have finally decided they can’t take it any more. Maybe some other reason, one that makes sense.
From the Sycamore Trust, “an alarming recent study”:
[M]any students become pro-choice at Notre Dame. By the time they graduate, there are as many pro-choice students (42%) as in the general population. Among the reasons may be mixed signals from the faculty.
Though the University declared itself pro-life in the wake of the Obama episode, there is reason to think that a large proportion of the faculty is pro-choice, and prominent members of the Theology faculty have been outspoken in their dissent from Church teaching on abortion.
Indeed, the nation’s leading “Catholic” pro-choice advocate has welcomed the recent public dissent from Church teaching by one of Notre Dame’s most widely known ethicists.
Give Notre Dame a pro-lifer, get back a pro-choicer. Read about it here.
A couple wages a “constant battle” about whether to keep the door to the kitchen open: the man, it transpires, comes from a working-class family which habitually congregated in the kitchen; for the woman, the area was reserved for cooking, and the smell of food seeping into the rest of the apartment was deemed a “vulgarity”.
More to the point of daily life as we know it:
Touched upon (but sadly then forgotten) [by authors Billy Ehn and Orvar Lofgren] is the notion that routines of “doing nothing” have evolved from productive to consumptive ones. In the past, we might have sat with the embroidery or in the woodshed; now we are more likely to be found semi-comatose in front of the television.
On the other hand, a word for the assembly line:
Industrial society has provided plenty of scope for “doing nothing”. As the authors note, Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, enjoyed factory work because “I could daydream all day”.
To be perfectly frank, the mass does that for me, which is one reason I like it quiet and uneventful. Not quite daydream, but a sort of lightly reminding myself of its being the sacrifice for the sins of the world, including mine.
59. The reprobated practice by which priests, deacons or the faithful here and there alter or vary at will the texts of the Sacred Liturgy that they are charged to pronounce, must cease. For in doing thus, they render the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy unstable, and not infrequently distort the authentic meaning of the Liturgy. [italics added]
I like the reasoning, but I take special note of the date. This issue is neither brand new nor dating back several decades and so no longer current in the eyes of Vatican detectives and judiciary.
Definitely more later on this, as instances pile up. As I said before, for those who pay attention, it’s annoying, to say the least.
The LORD said to me: You are my servant,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.
Now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
— is pretty generic. I mean, admirable sentiments and at the heart of belief, but nothing to inspire most of us short of extensive explanation, it seems to me.
[3] And he said to me: Thou art my servant Israel, for in thee will I glory. . . . . [5] And now saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I may bring back Jacob unto him, and Israel will not be gathered together: and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is made my strength.
[6] And he said: It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel. Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.
Quite a bit more musical, of course. It has soundbites, words to walk away with and mayhap recall during the day. Like God’s being one’s salvation “even to the farthest part of the earth,” vs. that it “may reach to the ends of the earth.” The farthest part. I like that.
The reading from Paul is even more generic, even in part procedural, as goes the explanation, “Paul follows the conventional form for the opening of a Hellenistic letter,” which is helpful in its way. But what else? It “expands the opening with details carefully chosen to remind the readers of their situation and to suggest some of the issues the letter will discuss,” which is Bible study.
That’s the idea, apparently. The Vatican 2 liturgy is to make every day a Scripture lesson, so as to make us more scripturally literate. But the same people are going to church for consolation, self-improvement, encouragement, and the like as before. Which is where soundbites come in. Why do newspapers have headlines? To get people to read the stories.
Finally, the gospel, from John 1, John the Baptist beholding Jesus as “the lamb of God,” etc. Again the odious comparison with Douay-Rheims. “[34] And I saw, and I gave testimony, that this is the Son of God”? Or, currently, “34 Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God”? Gimme the first.
More substantially, contrast the selections for this “Second Sunday in Ordinary Time” (who thought that up?) with the long-ago Third Sunday after the Epiphany, which gives us the pithy Romans 12.16–21,
Be not wise in your own conceits. [17] To no man rendering evil for evil. Providing good things, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all men. [18] If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men. [19] Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. [20] But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.
[21] Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good.
Dunno know where this turns up in the current cycle of readings, but I tell you, it sings: you are pissed off at someone? Hah! Returning good for evil is the best revenge! Suck it up, you Christian, take your cue from The Apostle.
Or the olden-time gospel passage, Matthew 8.1–13, with tight narrative, hardly a word wasted:
[1] And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him: [2] And behold a leper came and adored him, saying: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. [3] And Jesus stretching forth his hand, touched him, saying: I will, be thou made clean. And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed. [4] And Jesus saith to him: See thou tell no man: but go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. [5] And when he had entered into Capharnaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him,
[6] And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and is grieviously tormented. [7] And Jesus saith to him: I will come and heal him. [8] And the centurion making answer, said: Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof: but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. [9] For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers; and I say to this, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. [10] And Jesus hearing this, marvelled; and said to them that followed him: Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel.
[11] And I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven: [12] But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [13] And Jesus said to the centurion: Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee. And the servant was healed at the same hour.
I hope this selection also appears, even in one of our Sundays in ordinary time.
Questioning whether Francis George’s is “the keenest crozier at the conclave,” he recalls the great man’s initial meeting with psychiatrist Sara Charles, Kennedy’s wife.
“I’ve looked into your book” — Authority: The Most Misunderstood Idea in America — “and I’ll tell you where you’re wrong.”
“It’s too Jungian,” George began, but my wife cut him off: “There is nothing Jungian in it. It’s based on the work of the Catholic philosopher, Yves Simon.”
“It is?” the startled George replied but did not wait for an answer.
[It’s a 1997 book, co-authored by Kennedy, by the way. We take Kennedy’s word for the implications here; he does not say when it happened or in what circumstances. Not a receiving line, we must presume, for instance.]
Law — who, as his great patron put him in line to become archbishop of Chicago as soon as he heard that Cardinal Bernardin had a fatal illness — “went into exile.”
I guess so, but remaining on six powerful Roman congregations, being in charge of a prestigious basilica and living in splendid apartments does not sound like Elba to most people.
[Yes. Law blew it in Boston, got transferred (in style) to the home office. George can’t or won’t get this.]
Asked if he was surprised that New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan was elected president of the U.S. bishops’ conference over then-vice president Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas,
thereby breaking the conference’s tradition of selecting its outgoing vice-president as its new president, George cuts right to the chase: “Yes and no.”
Oh my. Painful to watch.
[As Gene K. presents it. But the rest of what George said is important here, which I failed to check. Sloppily. After the easily criticized “yes and no,” George:
I expected [the election] to be very close, but . . . had assumed the custom would be followed. . . . The discussion [about the election] was going on [among the bishops], and we [he and Kicanas] knew it. It was fed by many factors, which have been analyzed and discussed. Some interpreted it ideologically, but I don’t know there’s that much ideological difference. Some saw it in terms of different eras – new bishops and old bishops. Obviously, Bishop Kicanas has the capacity and the personality to be president of our conference, and so does Archbishop Dolan. Maybe some bishops simply thought, since both are worthy candidates, why should we be bound by a rule we didn’t make?
[This last sentence makes no sense that I can see, but at least he didn’t let it go at “yes and no.” He also defended Kicanas as working “extraordinarily” hard at coordinating bishops’ committees, which is fair enough. All in all, his remarks on this matter were forthcoming enough, if not persuasive.
[As for his wanting to study and read more in retirement, it was a relaxed interview and he was candid in a personal matter. Retirement? That’s the biggest issue raised in the whole article. Does he mean to do so at 75, in a year?]
In In re Manhattan College, (NLRB, Jan. 10, 2010), a National Labor Relations Board regional director held that the judicially and administratively developed exemption from NLRB coverage for colleges whose purpose is the propagation of a religious faith does not apply to New York’s Manhattan College.
Its adjunct faculty wanted to unionize, the college claimed not be required to brook it.
The decision concludes that the evidence shows the purpose of the college is secular. It finds that there is little risk that exercising NLRB jurisdiction will lead to unconstitutional entanglement of government and religion because the “school’s stated purpose does not involve the propagation of a religious faith, teachers are not required to adhere to or promote religious tenets, a religious order does not exercise control over hiring, firing, or day-to-day operations, and teachers are given academic freedom…” [italics added]
The union had argued that the college “does not meet the test of a religious institution,” the NLRB bought the argument, in the face of this from the college president:
[T]he fact that we are a welcoming, pluralistic community is being presented as proof that we cannot be an authentic Catholic college. Questions about the number of brothers in various roles imply that the work of lay faculty, staff, and administrators is negligible in forwarding our mission, and betrays a complete incomprehension of a full generation’s hard and faithful work in passing forward the charism of religious orders to lay colleagues. [italics added]
Oh my, this “charism” business, which is trundled out whenever people notice that priests or brothers or sisters are distinctly minority figures on campus, as if years of training and lifetime commitment can be transfused to the unordained, the non-vowed, the non-religious-disciplined on demand.
(POSTED: 1/12/11)“I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!”
— Percy B. Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind”
“We lepers.”
— Fr. Damien to his flock on Molokai
The Rev. Michael Pfleger is no Shelley, but he has a Romantic’s intensity of personal experience and self-absorption. He’s also a paradigm of latter-day Roman Catholic activism who has found in Robert McClory his perfect delineator.
Indeed, it could be argued that Pfleger has answered the call to action more perfectly than any other, making him and McClory a match made in Detroit, home of the Call to Action movement with which McClory is closely identified.
Neither is big on a Divine Providence approach to being Catholic. Instead they put their chips on a firm belief in the power of human beings to change the course of history. . . . .
Blithe Spirit 