In light of the recent dust storm concerning the topic of racism, I’ve been doing some thinking. Why don’t we Catholics make a bit more of our non-racist credentials?

Of course the liberal media has tried to stick the Church with all kinds of “isms” in modern times, and in most of the time establishing the real truth is rather complicated. For example, the claim that the Church is inherently sexist (by which they really mean “misogynist”) is untrue. The Magisterium certainly has never taught that women are morally inferior to men. But, the war of the sexes having raged relentlessly for time out of mind, it no doubt is true that, practically speaking, women have sometimes gotten the worse end of it, in Christian societies as in others. Furthermore, establishing what the relations between the sexes should be is itself a bear of a question. The end result is that we’re not likely to hear the end of that charge anytime soon. Moving on to another sore point: the claim that the Church is “homophobic” is true in a way, since she has always unambiguously condemned sodomy as sinful. In this case, the trick is not establishing what the Church thinks; rather, one must argue that no injustice is being done here because, in fact, the Church is right. With some people, as we know, that’s a tough sell.

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Especially for those of you in the NYC area – this looks like lots of fun:

Roman Forum Spring Ball
to honor
THE BIRTHDAY OF ROME: 753 B.C.-2008 A.D.

Saturday, April 26th, 2008, 7:00 P.M. through Midnight
Feast translated from April 21

7 Piece Rich Siegel Ballroom Orchestra
Grand Imperial Buffet and Dessert
BYOB

Well Done Roma! Festivities and Spontaneous Outburst of Joy 10:00 P.M.

On Rome’s Birthday (April 21, 753 B.C.) and the Parilia
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This sounds so lovely that I wanted to pass it along. Unfortunately, I can’t be there – but if you’re in the mid-Michigan area, do make an effort at some point to get to Detroit and at least visit these churches, if you cannot attend Mass at them. St. Joseph’s is completely untouched, no wreckovation, and no Novus table to be seen anywhere; it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. St. Josaphat’s, a very short distance (by car) away, is the location of the regular weekly Tridentine. So this is also a nice announcement because, at least on this one Sunday, there will be a wealth of old rite Masses (relatively speaking) in downtown Detroit. (I wonder if there is any particular occasion for this event?) This is a wonderful thing for an archdiocese that, at least in the past, wasn’t favorable to the old Mass – and, in general, the bishops in the whole of the state haven’t been too supportive.

One of our cluster parishes, St. Joseph will be having a Solemn High TLM with orchestra this Sunday.

Mass in G – Franz Schubert

Benediction: 3:00 PM, Mass: 3:15 PM

Celebrant: Fr. Bloomfield, Deacon: Deacon Bloomfield, Subdeacon: Fr. Hrytsyk. Fr. Mark will probably be hearing confessions.

St. Joseph’s Church is at
1828 Jay St.
Detroit, MI 48207

This is a beautiful church, and they have a very nice website at www.saint-joseph-detroit.org

As always St. Josaphat will be having a TLM 9:30am this Sunday.

A couple of times in the last month I’ve been accosted by Evangelicals wanting to “witness” to me about their faith. I think this is more likely to happen to you if you live in the South, if you’re young, if you’re female, and if you like walking for exercise so that you’re often on foot in places where you might be accosted. Also my husband says that something about me must attract people who like to talk. He’s amazed how often random strangers (on planes, in line at the DMV, over the counter at the deli, etc.) will open up and start telling me all about themselves. Maybe I look friendly?

Anyway, unless I’m in a hurry to be somewhere, I usually let them tell me about Jesus. The conversation usually starts by either 1) offering me a Bible (which of course I don’t need) or 2) inviting me to some local church. In the latter case I promptly explain that I am Roman Catholic. This does not usually lead to the end of the conversation. They obviously think Catholics very much in need of conversion.

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Since we’ve been in a mood for analyzing the Novus Ordo Mass of late, I thought I’d mention one other thing that seems to be preventing it from reaching its full potential: missalettes.

If my personal experience is any guide, the vast majority of parishes in America use those OCP missalettes, published four times a year and left in the pews of most Catholic churches. I expect this is done mainly for reasons of convenience. Missalettes are easy to use. Mass producing them brings the cost down, and when every parish uses the same missalettes, people become familiar with them and have no trouble following along when they’re visiting in a new parish. These are tangible benefits.

The downsides are pretty serious, however. Some relate to content. For example, by having a monopoly on missalettes, the OCP is able to keep a stranglehold on Catholic music in America and keep everyone singing Eagle’s Wings and Here I Am, Lord. But even without that problem, missalettes should not be used as a constant and permanent way for lifelong Catholics to follow along at Mass. As a “starter kit” for beginners, they’re fine. As a permanent fixture of Catholic life, they shape the sensibilities in exactly the wrong way.

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because this one has started out a bit wonky. On the plus side, the trees all along our street bloomed just in time for Easter. They are gorgeous. I love flowering trees.

On the other hand, after a beautiful, spring-like Good Friday and Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday dawned chilly and grey. Today, Easter Monday, it actually snowed. I live in the south, mind you. Even in January we hardly ever get snow.

Sad weather notwithstanding, we had a nice and memorable Easter Sunday, but somewhat more hectic than my Easter Sundays of years past. We had people over for Easter dinner, so I got up early to start cooking, and spent much of the day either cooking or entertaining, except of course for the time spent at Mass (the non-Catholic friend we invited to dinner also came to Mass with us, which was nice). What with the unusually complicated musical repertoire, Mass was rather hectic as well. It’s quite an adventure trying to hold together a little band of mostly-inexperienced singers, doing a solid 25 minutes or so worth of music that we’ve barely had a chance to practice. For the honor of our Risen Lord, however, we gave it everything we had. And then, after 15-plus hours of cooking, singing and entertaining, I finally dozed off on the couch sometime after midnight.

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Happy Easter to everyone! The Doctor and I have just returned from the Easter Vigil. Last year we spent Easter apart, so it was a blessing to be together this year for the happy occasion. On the other hand, I could not help but yearn for the beautiful Easter Vigil of St. Michael’s parish in Scranton, which I had the privilege to assist at these past two years. Here we don’t have a Latin Mass parish, so we had to go to the Novus Ordo for most of the Triduum.

They did a reasonably good job of it, with even parts of the ordinary in Latin, but ah! the Novus Vigil is really such a humdrum thing next to the exquisite beauty of the traditional liturgy in its full splendor. I have been spoiled. The Exsultet in this Novus Mass was done reasonably well, but it just could not capture the firm, joyous dignity of the old one, and saddest of all, it omits my favorite line: “O vere beata nox, quae sola meruit scire tempus et horam, in qua Christus ab infernis resurrexit!” (Oh truly blessed night, which alone deserved to know the time and hour when Christ rose again from the tomb!)

You have to get it in full context to properly appreciate it, but last year I remember tears pricking my eyes when we came to that line. This is not a thing that happens to me often.

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Today, Good Friday, I’ve been meditating on the line from Matthew (27:25), spoken by the enraged Jews in response to Pilate’s continual efforts to set Jesus free: “His blood be on us and on our children.”

These words appear only in the Gospel of Matthew. It isn’t clear what we should literally take them to mean in any case — it seems unlikely that the crowd shouted this “all with one voice,” as it were, though we can fairly suppose that words to this effect must have been heard from multiple mouths. Gibson took some grief for putting this phrase into his Passion film, on the grounds that it has sometimes been used as a justification for tormenting the Jews as “Christ-killers.” He eventually agreed to take it out… but in fact he only removed the English subtitle, not the actual words, which rock-star-atheist Christopher Hitchens immediately took as evidence for Gibson’s true anti-Semitism.

Nobody should let the furor of all that silliness obscure their meditations on these profound words. I sometimes feel that the “felix culpa” puzzle of St. Paul is all encapsulated in this one line. Here we see the Jews ostensibly (and in their own minds) asking for something very evil — that Our Lord, though wholly innocent and good, should be put to death. But at the same time, in fact, they are pleading for something wonderful — that His blood should mark them and their children forever. For, as we know, the Blood of the Lamb has the power to redeem them from this and all their other sins. We can hardly help but think of the blood of the Passover, which marked the doors of their ancestors and thus saved their children from the angel of death. Mankind’s greatest sin, and its plea for redemption, are captured all in this one sentence.

I was looking through the Catena Aurea this morning, hoping to find something on this passage, but there was nothing. If anyone knows of anything good that has been written on it, please do share.

Maundy Thursday is a bit of an eclectic day in some respects. It’s hard to know what to make of it precisely because it’s packed with so many things. The Last Supper. The washing of feet. The institution of the Holy Eucharist. The agony in the Garden. Our Lord’s arrest. A rather significant sequence of events unfolds very quickly, so it’s hard to take a single point for reflection at the outset of the Triduum.

This year my Maundy Thursday was quite full with (somewhat more mundane) activities of my own so I didn’t post this in time for the day itself. Still, I thought I might say a few words on the one part of the story that, in my childhood, seemed to me positively humorous — the Apostles’ inability to stay awake in the Garden of Gethsemane.

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Last Friday I opened a thread on the subject of classification. The goal was to come up with a mutually agreeable term for referring to those Catholics who prefer to assist in the Novus Ordo Mass, otherwise known as the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite. People like me who assist at the Traditional Latin Mass are often termed ‘Traditional Catholics’ or ‘Latin Mass Catholics’, and it seemed to me necessary to have a corresponding term for those who assist at the Novus Ordo Mass. Continue reading