My husband and I were in the Nashville area recently, closing on our new home. We attended Mass at a church where we have previously worshipped. This particular Sunday, though, we were looking through different eyes. Would this be the parish we soon joined? These might be the priest and deacon who will guide us spiritually; […]
I have been to Heaven because I have been to a Divine Liturgy. In order to explain what a Divine Liturgy is, we must start with the acknowledgment that the Catholic Church is not limited to the Roman Catholic Church. The universal Church also includes the Eastern Catholic Churches, which are in full communion […]
This past May two of my relatives passed away within a few days of each other. One had a Catholic funeral Mass, or the Mass of Christian Burial, and the other had a non-Catholic service. I have only attended five funerals outside of the Catholic Church, and the one thing they all had in common […]
There’s a certain value to nonconformity, to separation from the rest of society. In “If 6 Was 9”, Jimi Hendrix wrote of “white collared conservatives” that were hoping “my kind will drop and die /But I’m going to wave my freak flag high.” So long as you stand for something definite, something positive that the […]
I would like to offer the following reflections and practices that have helped me better participate at Mass. My hope is that reflections might help someone else enter more deeply into the mystery and beauty of the Eucharist. This column will have served its purpose if the reader realizes by its end how barely we […]
During Mass for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), which we recently celebrated, the words spoken by the priest during the Liturgy of the Eucharist resounded in my mind. In particular, as the priest prayed the Eucharistic Prayer I (the Roman Canon), I was drawn to the several […]
There is a long-debated bone of contention between various members of the Body of Christ about liturgical abuses in the Church. Not only are there divergent thoughts about the ordinary and extraordinary forms of Mass, the Spirit of Vatican II gave rise to divisive liturgical experiments. Every alteration, every renovation, had a captive audience back […]
The Diversity Within The Catholic Church One of the most wonderful things about the Catholic Church is the diversity one can find within it. Notice I’m not using “diversity” in the same sense that most of our secular culture uses the word. I’m not talking about a relativization in which we try to harmonize dissimilar […]
In 1992, my husband and I told my parents we were expecting an addition to the family. They responded with excitement. Mom expressed how happy she was that I was going to experience the joy of being a mother. Her words revealed much about herself, and the joy in her heart. It was a beautiful […]
If you enjoy controversial topics, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, I will take on one of the most contentious, emotional and persistent topics in the Catholic blogosphere: Communion in the Hand. Most people engaging in the debate are expressing emotion and opinion. Do we really know the Church’s position on receiving […]
My daughter gave me a CD for Christmas called Alma Mater: Featuring the Voice of Pope Benedict XVI. The first time I played it, I ended up on my knees in prayer. Good music will do that. Beauty in any form lifts us toward God. At a parish where our family used to worship, the pianist played […]
Even in this time of Lent in the Church, the world rolls on without any serious attention to God. Even within the Church, we often see more attention given to Fish Fry’s than we do Stations of the Cross. It’s a sad statement of our times that many appear to have chosen the wide path […]
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Particular moments and in life are too grand to be captured completely by anything new or original. While we may feel that nobody has ever experienced our depth of joy or sadness or love, we find our personal attempts fail […]
They are not always very obvious but they are not invisible either. Such is the liturgical role of the Sacristan within a parish. Many parishes have a Sacristan, but some do not. But even in those parishes that have one, the Sacristan’s duties may seem mysterious to some observers. The General Instructions of the Roman […]
Fr. Peter Irving is a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He has spent his priesthood far from the affluent parishes of South Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Woodland Hills, serving instead in poor, largely Hispanic parishes that were nearly defunct when he arrived. His most recent assignment is Holy Innocents in Long Beach. Kevin: […]
On a plane ride a few weeks ago, I found myself seated next to the founder of a Protestant church. He laughed because he was sandwiched between two Catholics, a married man who had been in Catholic seminary for a little while on his right and me, a Catholic high school Theology teacher, on his […]
I have always loved the study of what makes people tick, hence I dedicated part of my education to psychology. While I understand that not all parts of psychology mesh well with Christian ideals, there is much in psychology that can be applied to these ideals, and Benjamin Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs is one. […]
Darren Aronofsky’s film mother! starts out well enough, making masterful use of its setting and cinematography and centring on stellar performances from Jennifer Lawrence as Mother and Javier Bardem as her husband Him, a writer. And then it falls apart, climaxing with a woefully trite parody of the Mass, particularly as it is connected to […]
Why do many Roman Catholics put up so much resistance to reintroducing traditional liturgical elements to the Mass? In two recent articles, Catholic Stand writer Nicholas LaBanca interviewed two Eastern Catholic priests, Fr. Thomas Loya of the Byzantine Rite and Fr. Alexander Wroblicky of the Ukrainian-Greek Rite. Both men observed that Millennials take to elements […]
This is the second and final interview with a duo of Byzantine Rite Catholic priests on the benefits of traditional elements in worship; principally, the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ad orientem. The first interview with Fr. Thomas Loya can be found here. Today, we sit down with Fr. Alexander Wroblicky, a […]
Last year, Robert Cardinal Sarah urged pastors the world over to “return as soon as possible to a common orientation, of priests and the faithful turned together in the same direction—Eastwards or at least towards the apse—to the Lord who comes, in those parts of the liturgical rites when we are addressing God.” To worship […]
Is liturgical reform “irreversible”? And what does that mean in practical terms? Pope Francis’ August 24 address to the participants of the 68th Italian Liturgical Week included a phrase that has predictably stirred up concern and ire among his traditionalist and conservative critics. As is also predictable of controversies surrounding Francis, it’s “much ado about […]
It’s been going on two years that I’ve been attempting to lead the responsorial psalm for Sunday Mass here at St. Anne’s. The individual who used to do it is no longer with us. No one else has stepped up, so “Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.” I guess I could just […]
This past Lent and Easter I spent a lot of time at a Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic parish near my home. As someone who often gets up between 4:30 – 5:30 am for work, making daily Mass is typically pretty hard to do on the average weekday. That’s why I was blessed to have this parish […]
The Death Penalty, the McCarrick Scandal, and a Grand Jury Report
Some Catholics are pretty worked up over the news about the recent change to paragraph 2267 (the death penalty) in the Catechism. But many more are angered by the McCarrick scandal and the revelations in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report on past sexual abuse in five dioceses in PA. Catholic Church ‘news,’ any way you look […]
Ask Tony: Did the CCC 2267 Rescript Change Catholic Doctrine?
Many people argue that the rescript issued on August 2, which changed Paragraph 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to call the death penalty “inadmissible,” was a change of doctrine. In fact, some have gone so far as to treat it as a heresy on a level with denying the divinity of Christ. […]
I’m angry. I’m disgusted. And I don’t like being played for a sucker. The Requirements I Must Meet As a Catholic school teacher, I’ve been required to take several “safe touching” classes. I’ve had to sign document after document in which I agree to abide by Church teaching. I am prohibited from being in a […]
Wisdom from an Existential Jewish Mystic
I don’t think Mr. Hogg would have been employed in the first place had his predecessor not suddenly dropped dead on his way to school. Mr. Hogg was what was called in those days a ‘hippy’ and would not, in the normal way of things have been accepted as a suitable candidate to teach English […]
Mt. Tabor Moments- It Is Good That We Are Here!
After roughly three years of public ministry, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain and revealed His glory to them. They had spent day after day with Jesus as He walked from town to town, preaching the Gospel and calling sinners to repent. He told them many stories, spoke numerous parables, and worked […]
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