Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Nine months after the solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, celebrated on 8 December, today we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a feast so ancient that it is celebrated on the same day in both East and West. WEST: Giotto’s Birth of the Virgin Scripture tells us very little about the early life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. […]
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Current and former Holy Rosary Parishioners are invited to attend our farewell outdoor Mass with Archbishop Etienne and several former pastors on September 13th 2020 at Noon. Guidelines to Attend We are strictly limited to 200 in the congregation, and parishioners MUST sign up ahead of time.Those who are vulnerable are encouraged to stay home and participate in a Mass […]
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Only a handful of Popes ever get named “Great”. Today in the Ordinary Roman calendar is the feast of one of them, Pope Saint Gregory the Great, confessor and doctor of the Church (540 – 604). Gregory had been born into an ancient and wealthy Roman family. Before he was 30 years old, he had been a Roman Senator and […]
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As of yesterday, I am no longer a catechist, at least in the formal sense. Yesterday, Archbishop Etienne and Holy Rosary parish welcomed the Boylan-Nims family into Christ’s Church. And with them, our parish RCIA comes to an end, and by extension my role as its director. This was our penultimate Mass as a parish, and it seems fitting that […]
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Today is one of the more interesting feasts on the liturgical calendar, for today is the feast of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. OK, nowadays they’ve slightly sanitized the name; it’s now officially called the “Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist”, but for the sheer Catholic joy of calling a spade a spade, I’m sticking […]
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In this very volatile moment in our history, both of the United States and of the Catholic Church, where so much anger rises to the surface so quickly, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the meaning of our times. This anger and factionalism and the accompanying doom-saying is hardly unique to our age. Charles Dickens’ great classic, A […]
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Dear Saint Monica,troubled wife and mother,many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime.Yet, you never despaired or lost faith.With confidence, persistence, and profound faith,you prayed daily for the conversionof your beloved husband, Patricius,and your beloved son, Augustine;your prayers were answered. Grant me that same fortitude, patience,and trust in the Lord. Intercede for me, dear Saint Monica,that God may favorably hear […]
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On the old calendar, today is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was moved in the calendar reform to the Saturday following the Second Sunday after Pentecost. For what reason, I’ve no idea. On the new calendar, today is also a Marian feast, that of Our Lady Queen of Heaven. Whatever changes there might […]
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No, not that one. Today is the feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Born in 1090 to a noble Burgundian family near Dijon, he entered the monastery at age 23. In less than three years, he was sent by his abbot to found a new monastery in Vallée d’Absinthe on 25 June 1115. Bernard named this new monastery Clairvaux, meaning […]
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On this day in 2004, the Blessed Virgin Mary became the instrument of my conversion, and Francine’s reversion, to Jesus Christ and to His Church. Two days ago, the Marian parish to which we belong, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, was suppressed. Mary looms large in our Catholic life. Today is the Solemnity of her Assumption into heaven. Francine […]
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Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish in Tacoma is being suppressed as of August 31, 2020. This parish began through the hard work and vision of German immigrants, who gathered in the Fall of 1890 to persuade the Bishop to grant them a new parish. Over the next year, they pooled their money and resources and purchased the land […]
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Today is the feast of the Deacon martyr, Saint Lawrence. There are so many stories about him, that it’s hard to sum him up briefly. “Keeper of the Treasures” by Deacon Lawrence Klimecki In the confused days after the martyrdom of Pope Sixtus, the administration of the Roman churches fell to the Deacon, Lawrence. He was captured by the Imperial […]
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Today is the feast of Saint Dominic de Guzmán. He was born near Santo Domingo de Silos in Spain, just north of the Camino, in 1170. Legend has it that before his birth, his barren mother made a pilgrimage to Silos, and dreamt that a dog leapt from her womb carrying a flaming torch in its mouth – and it […]
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Today we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, one of the more important (if sometimes overlooked) feasts of the liturgical year. This event definitively revealed the divinity of Christ. It appears in the three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36). Two of the witnesses refer to it in their writings, but they do not tell […]
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Today is the Memorial of the dedication of one of my favourite church buildings in the world, the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, also known in English as Saint Mary Major. It is occasionally known by the title of Our Lady of the Snows. A side chapel (photos by the author) When we were in Rome back in […]
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This past Saturday – the Feast of Saint James – just after Prime, Francine and I walked out into the backyard. The hens over in our henhouse “Paradise Towers” were acting strange. Squawking and circling around. This was not the “I laid an egg” sound, or the “hey, hooman, where’s my feed and/or water” sound, or even the “danger” sound. […]
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Santiago Apóstol Today is the Feast of Saint James the Greater, known throughout the Spanish-speaking world as Santiago. He was one of Christ’s Twelve Apostles. Saint James is the patron saint of the archdiocese of Seattle, and therefore today is a solemnity within our archdiocese. May you have the joy of the feast! James and his brother John were natives […]
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