Catholic Stuff
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An interesting piece at the National Catholic Register. No, make that fascinating, not just interesting. I guess it intrigues me because it's somewhat similar to some things I've been thinking. I said something the other day about the Church having been vandalized, and about the reversal of that damage that's been taking place over the…
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I think this is pretty funny, even though I probably don't get all the visual jokes–I don't recognize most of those people. While I'm at it, I've been meaning to clarify or explain the mild misgiving I've had about our new pope. It's really not about him in the sense of thinking that he won't…
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One of Chesterton's more well-known aphorisms holds that if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. It is in that spirit that I generally approach a book review. I really don't enjoy doing them, because I feel obliged to do it in such a way as to give the prospective a reader…
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Contrary to what I said a few days ago, although it's not fair to compare a blog comment to an essay–but Jeffery Mirus really covers it very fairly and thoroughly: Critical responses have ranged from a mild concern about the larger impact on rubrical observance of the Pope’s decision to outright condemnation of the Pope, as…
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As most everybody knows (well, most everybody who would be reading this blog, anyway), Pope Francis stirred up some controversy in the Maundy Thursday service by including women, including a Muslim, in the group of people whose feet he washed. Some think it a liturgical outrage, some think that outrage is an outrage. For my…
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Maybe I just wasn't paying as much attention, or maybe I've forgotten, but I don't remember there being quite so much fuss at Benedict's election. I do remember all the leftists who smeared him as an unrepentant Nazi, and of course the progressive Catholics who had always disliked him (to put it mildly), and the…
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Every Lent, when I get to about the 4th Sunday, I think it really should be over, and the remaining weeks seem impossibly long. It's ridiculous, because I'm not making any great sacrifices. I'm not very good at all at self-denial. But now we're at the 5th Sunday, and Holy Week never seems like exactly…
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So far almost everything I’ve read about Pope Francis has been very encouraging, and there seems to be very good reason to expect very good things from him. However, there is one small storm cloud on my personal horizon, and that of everyone involved in the Anglican Ordinariate. The Anglican bishop of Argentina claims that…
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In honor of the election of Pope Francis, and suggested by Sally Thomas’s comment on this post of Janet’s, I will take a break from my Lenten musical fast, and offer you this, from that great penitent Franz Liszt. Has anyone heard definitive word on which Francis(es) Pope Francis has in mind?
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A Jesuit who takes the name Francis? "thought to be close to Comunione e Liberazione"? "known for personal humility, doctrinal conservatism and a commitment to social justice"? "lives in a small apartment, rather than in the palatial bishop's residence?" (Wikipedia) I don't think I even knew his name before today, but sounds very good.
Light On Dark Water 