Per Christum

The Sunday of so many, many names:

Second Sunday of Easter. Since the reforms of the 1960’s, this is the common name in all the liturgical texts such as the Sacramentary, Lectionary, etc.

Octave of Easter. Once the Church had many octaves throughout the year. The Octave of Easter can refer to either the eighth day or all eight days of the Feast of Easter which ends today.

In the Eastern Churches, this is known as Thomas Sunday as the gospel is always taken from John 20 and the story of doubting Thomas which occurred one week after the day of the Resurrection. Read the rest of this entry »

One of my great interests/hobbies is to visit Catholic churches. One of the reasons why I like visiting churches is because I like church architecture and sacred art. Admittedly, I don’t like all architectural styles. In general, I prefer traditional church architecture over modern architecture.

Another thing I like to do is to travel. Unfortunately, I’m not able to travel much so I have to be content with looking at pictures of churches from around the world.

Anyway, for those interested, I have compiled this list of five metropolitan cathedrals which correspond to the top five nations in terms of the number of Catholics in that country. When I say “metropolitan cathedral”, I’m referring to the chief church of a nation. Read the rest of this entry »

Saint Jozef Sebastian Pelczar, 1842 -1924

Basilian Bishop, Kyr Dionysius Lachovicz, OSBM. 
 

Four Basilian Consecrated Without Mandate This Month

In November 2007, the Catholic World News (www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=54919) reported on excommunication of Father Basil Kovpak, the head of the Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych (SSJK), a group with ties to the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) which has been active among Byzantine Catholics in the Ukraine since the early 1990s. Bishops of the SPPX –  themselves excommunicated because they were consecrated without approval from the Holy See – ordained two priests and seven deacons for the SSJK. On 23 March 2008, this past Easter Sunday (according to the Gregorian Calendar), the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) published a communiqué about the latest schism to divide its unstable ranks. Four members of the Basilian Order of St. Josaphat – Eliáš Dohnal, Metoděj Špiřík, Markian Hitiuk and Robert Oberhauser – were consecrated bishops without having been nominated by the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Synod and without a papal approval. Thus, according to CCEO, canon 1459 §1, they have automatically encurred the penalty of excommunication.  

Read the rest of this entry »

Is this a Greek Catholic Version of the SSPX?

Read the rest of this entry »

Even though I mostly enjoy the interviews on American Public Media’s Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippet, the series is usually a little fuzzy-wuzzy and left-of-center for my taste. Hey, it’s public radio, not EWTN…what do you expect?

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to see both this topic and interviewee on the show:

The Jaroslav Pelikan on “The Need for Creeds”

Audio of the interview (mp3, 53:27)

Episode webpage

The interview with the late theologian and late-in-life convert to the Orthodox Church from Lutheranism was recorded in 2003. He died on May 13, 2006.

Here’s a transcript of an excerpt I found particularly quotable:

Tippet: So, what is it about Christianity that has needed creeds?

Pelikan: Well, what it is about religious faith that needs creed is that religious faith in general, prayer addressed to “to whom it may concern”, sentiment about some transcendent dimension otherwise undefined does not have any staying power. It’s OK to have that at ten o’clock on a Sunday morning when you’re out with your friends somewhere, but in the darkest hours of life you gotta believe something specific. And that specification is the task of the creed. Because, much as some people may not like it, to believe one thing is also to disbelieve another.

Tippet: *curtly* Huh.

Pelikan: To say yes is also to say no.

See Combox for the author.

“I do not deny that there are differences between the Churches, but I say that we must change our way of approaching them. And the question of method is in the first place a psychological, or rather a spiritual problem. For centuries there have been conversations between theologians, and they have done nothing except to harden their positions. I have a whole library about it. And why? Because they spoke in fear and distrust of one another, with the desire to defend themselves and to defeat the others. Theology was no longer a pure celebration of the mystery of God. It became a weapon. God himself became a weapon!

I repeat: I do not ignore these difficulties. But I am trying to change the spiritual atmosphere. The restoration of mutual love will enable us to see the questions in a totally different light. We must express the truth which is dear to us – because it protects and celebrates the immensity of the life which is in Christ – we must express it, not so as to repulse the other, so as to force him to admit that he is beaten, but so as to share it with him; and also for its own sake, for its beauty, as a celebration of truth to which we invite our brothers. At the same time we must be ready to listen. For Christians, truth is not opposed to life or love; it expresses their fullness. First of all, we must free these words, these words which tend to collide, from the evil past, from all political, national and cultural hatreds which have nothing to do with Christ. Then we must root them in the deep life of the Church, in the experience of the Resurrection which it is their mission to serve. We must always weigh our words in the balance of life and death and Resurrection.

Those who accuse me of sacrificing Orthodoxy to a blind obsession with love, have a very poor conception of the truth. They make it into a system which they possess, which reassures them, when what it really is, is the living glorification of the living God, with all the risks involved in creative life. And we don’t possess God; it is He who holds us and fills us with His presence in proportion to our humility and love. Only by love can we glorify the God of love, only by giving and sharing and sacrificing oneself can one glorify the God who, to save us, sacrificed himself and went to death, the death of the cross.

Read the rest of this entry »

Even though most of us Westerners tend to naturally make a huge deal about Christmas (for good reason!), sometimes we can forget that Easter is a very important feast and Church season too. In fact, technically, it is Easter that is the high point of the liturgical year, not Christmas. Of course, Christmas and Easter are not in competition, and are on the same team, since both celebrate important components of the mystery of our redemption by Christ.

Have a look at what the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar says about Easter and the Easter season:

- The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as one feast day, or better as one “great Sunday.” These above all others are the days for the singing of the Alleluia.

- The Sundays of this season rank as the paschal Sundays and, after Easter Sunday itself, are called the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Easter. The period of fifty sacred days ends on Pentecost Sunday.

- The first eight days of the Easter season make up the octave of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord.

- On the fortieth day after Easter the Ascension is celebrated, except in places where, not being a holy day of obligation, it has been transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter

- The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

As you can see, Easter is a very important time in the liturgical year. In fact, every day of the Octave of Easter (today included) is celebrated as a solemnity. So, enjoy the Easter season. Feast. Celebrate. Yell out those “Alleluias” at Mass and during Morning and Evening Prayer with gusto, and celebrate the resurrection of Christ like…well…like it’s Christmas!

“Easter Lights” image from christmas-decorations-gifts-store.com

As a little background there is a documentary coming out of the Netherlands dealing with the violent side of Islam. Getting it released to theaters is pretty well impossible. These days, showing it on TV is rather out of the question too.

And then there is the net. Or is there?From Jihadwatch.org: Read the rest of this entry »

H/T: Stephen Braunlich 

Emmaus and the Eucharist

This “Emmaus Problem” is still with us. When the priest elevates the Host, many people still see only bread. Even those of us who believe that Christ is truly present need to grow in our ability to recognize who Christ is for us in the Eucharist and thus enter into fuller, more personal communion with Him.

Read all of “The Emmaus Problem“

H/T: Mercysong’s Weblog

Blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno
1825-1888

Saint Edmund of East Anglia

Call to end bar on Catholic monarch.

By Gerri Peev - Political Correspondent

THE government is to consider abolishing the 300-year-old Act of Settlement that prevents Catholics ascending to the throne.The move was revealed by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, after he unveiled his sweeping draft Constitutional Reform Bill yesterday. While the bill did not include any move to abolish what Catholics say is legalised discrimination, the matter was raised in the Commons by the Livingston Labour MP, Jim Devine, a Catholic.Describing the act as “legalised sectarianism which has no role in the 21st century”, he called for it to be scrapped.Mr Straw told him the position was complicated by the monarch’s position as head of the Anglican church but accepted the law was seen as “antiquated” and said: “We are certainly ready to consider this.”

However, abolishing the Act of Settlement would also require changes to the Act of Union, which safeguards the role of the Protestant Presbyterian Church in Scotland. And, given Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s fears of the influence of Nationalists, the government may be reluctant to unpick parts of the legislation that formally holds the UK together.READ ALL

Huh. Well, who knows!

Thanks Governors Ted Strickland & Mike Rounds!

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D) and South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds signed into law bills that require abortion clinics to provide fetal ultrasound to those women contemplating abortion. I want to publicly thank them for that. Those states join eleven other states that require ultrasound before an abortion and that is literally turning the tide on the abortion debate in favor of life. There is a entity called Womb with a View that does ultrasound and their selection of that name says it all.The Ohio bill, was passed by their Senate on March 14 and before that their House passed it in December 07. It is named the Ultrasound Viewing Bill, HB 314.

Read All

A Zenit article with some of my comments below.

In a private audience with Benedict XVI, the general director of the Legionaries of Christ renewed the congregation’s loyalty to the Pope at the start of a new stage in its history, following the Jan. 30 death of the founder.

Read the rest of this entry »