Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Although it no longer appears on the Universal (Roman) calendar, today is one of two feasts of Saint Benedict celebrated by Benedictines throughout the world. This is the day in the year 547 when Saint Benedict of Norcia died. Saint Benedict is generally considered the founder of western monasticism, and his Rule spread throughout the west as the Roman Empire […]
» Read moreNormally, we ask the servers, lectors, and extraordinary ministers to arrive thirty minutes before Mass. I was coming from work, and due to the train schedule I arrived an hour before Mass was scheduled to begin. I walked from the train station to the church in a refreshingly cool evening rain. Father was hearing Confessions, and there were a small […]
» Read moreCecilia is one of the most famous and most venerated of Roman martyrs, even though the facts of her martrydom are a little vague. Legend has it that she, her husband Valerian, and her brother-in-law Tiburtius were martyred during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus, about the year 230. Her name appears in the First Eucharistic Prayer (the Roman Canon) […]
» Read moreDom Mark Kirby, the Prior of Our Lady of the Cenacle Monastery (Silverstream Priory) has written a thoughtful and important article to which I’d like to draw your attention. Speaking in Vienna this week, His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke said, “The Church’s discipline can never be other than true to her doctrine.” His Eminence was, in effect, articulating a […]
» Read moreBoth of my readers will no doubt recall that these days I’m praying the Hours with the Monastic Diurnal. I’ve mentioned before that the rankings of the various feasts in the old Monastic calendar are relatively straightforward. But on both Monday’s Vespers for Michaelmas and today’s for the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, there’s something odd. Follow me, here. […]
» Read moreThe Most Rev. J. Peter Sartain, having carefully assessed the needs of the People of God in the Archdiocese of Seattle, and after careful consultation with the Christian Faithful and the Priest Personnel Board, makes the following pastoral appointments in accord with the 1983 Code of Canon Law, effective July 1, 2014, unless otherwise noted.
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Today on the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, I was privileged to serve at Mass for the fifth anniversary of the ordination of a good and holy priest, Rev Jacob Maurer. I rearranged my work from home day to be at the 8:00AM Mass. Our visiting seminarian, Peter Guthrie, was the principal server. I enjoy serving with Peter because […]
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I‘m a frustrated Oblate today. Perhaps I should explain. Today is the (combined) feast of four great Abbots of the Benedictine Order: Saints Odo, Majolus, Odilo, and Hugh. They were all good and holy men, and during the course of their reigns over the Abbey of Cluny and its associated priories, they reformed western monasticism – indeed, it could be […]
» Read moreYesterday’s anniversary of Sacrosanctum Concilium was tackled by a number of Catholic blogs, but I’d like to draw your attention to two of them specifically. Andrew Casad, Director of the Office for Liturgy at Archdiocese of Seattle, offers his reflections Celebrating Fifty Years of Sacrosanctum Concilium.
» Read moreCecilia is one of the most famous and most venerated of Roman martyrs, even though the facts of her martrydom are a little vague. Legend has it that she, her husband Valerian, and her brother-in-law Tiburtius were martyred during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus, about the year 230. Her name appears in the First Eucharistic Prayer (the Roman Canon) […]
» Read moreThe following official and semi-offical items were released today by Rome and the US Bishops: Decree from the Holy See, USCCB press release, and VIS announcement with English translations. In Eucharistic Prayer II: that with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with blessed Joseph, her Spouse, with the blessed Apostles … In Eucharistic Prayer III: with the most Blessed […]
» Read moreThe redoubtable Fr. Z reports: Decades after John XXIII placed the name of Joseph in the Roman Canon, it seems that the name of the great Patron of the Dying, Terror of Demons, will be in the Eucharistic Prayers II, III and IV in the 3rd edition of the Missale Romanum. I received a copy of a document from the […]
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Yesterday, while Catholics all over the planet were joining Pope Francis in an historic hour of worldwide Eucharistic Adoration, we in Tacoma were doing our little part. You may recall that we had scheduled a procession through the streets of the city (and across the Interstate), to be led by Archbishop Sartain. Your humble author was the Master of Ceremonies […]
» Read moreFresh off the wire from the Liturgy Office of the Archdiocese of Seattle: Appointment of Liturgy Director. The Most Reverend J. Peter Sartain has appointed Andrew Casad as the new Liturgy Director for the Archdiocese of Seattle. Andrew currently serves as the Director of Liturgy and Catechumenate at Saint Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He holds […]
» Read moreTomorrow is forty days since Easter, the Solemnity of the Ascension, when Christ ascended into heaven in what has to be one of the great comic scenes in the Bible: [A]s they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly […]
» Read moreNow here’s something you don’t see every day: two popes chatting. Yesterday, the two Popes – the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis now gloriously reigning – met for lunch at Castel Gandolfo. They went to pray together in the private chapel there, and …the Pope emeritus offered the place of honor to Pope Francis, but he said: “We […]
» Read moreBlessed John Paul II famously said “Europe has two lungs, it will never breathe easily until it uses both of them” (Euntes in mundum, 1988). He was referring to the division between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, split in about the year 1054 over matters more relating to politics and misunderstanding than to doctrine or dogma. Over a […]
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