David Ancell / Sunday, January 12, 2003 / Comments(0)
Check out my post on fasting in Spiritual Pyromania. I doubt that I’ll blog much today. I’ve spent way too much time in front of a computer lately. I’m still redesigning my web page.
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David Ancell / Saturday, January 11, 2003 / Comments(0)
Do you know any priests that you don’t want to confess to? I know of three whom I have tried to avoid, conveniently located in three nearby parishes. One of them I avoid because he once gave me an absolution using a formula of questionable validity. The other two just like to yell at me. I’m a strong believer that a priest who yells at a penitent is abusing his sacramental ministry.
Anyway, I went to two different churches only to find that two of those priests were in the confessional. I left both churches and went off to the bookstore, having made it way too obvious to the others why I was leaving. I decided to go back to one of the churches to pray. When I did, a man asked me if I had been in there. He was probably concerned about having cut in front of me. I said that I didn’t know if I wanted to go to him. He just told me that he was tough, and to pray for him. I finally summoned up the courage to go in there. It really wasn’t that bad.
The man who talked to me approached me after I got out. He had some difficulty communicating with this priest. He told me that in having heard what I said it reminded him of something that he wanted to share with me. He thought about how he felt, and he realized that it would be good to be grateful that we have priests here who do have the faculty to give absolution. He is in need of more understanding, but we need to pray for him.
How I often need people to set me straight! I was grateful for this gentleman, and I was quite humbled.
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David Ancell / Saturday, January 11, 2003 / Comments(0)
As soon as I tell you I have no thoughts, I think of some.
Take a look at this page on the University of San Francisco’s web site. Remember that this is supposed to be a Catholic university. However, their recommendations for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections are not different than those of secular universities. They give such great ideas as:
Correctly and consistently use prevention such as condoms or other latex barriers, which the CDC has identified as greatly reducing the risks of STI and HIV transmission.
Use clean needles if injecting intravenous drugs. (Yeah, that’s what the Church teaches.)
Have regular checkups for STIs even in the absence of symptoms, and especially if having sex with a new partner. These tests can be done during a routine visit to the doctor’s office, or for free at local clinics and testing centers
There’s another one on the site that is too disgusting for me to mention. I find it simply outrageous that a Catholic university would keep a site like this on its web page.
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David Ancell / Saturday, January 11, 2003 / Comments(0)
I’m glad to hear that Campion College is off and running now. It sounds like a kind of junior college for Catholics who wish to have a solid base of knowledge of their faith before going where they will ultimately get their degree. Then again, it looks like the graduates will be going to Catholic universities after they leave.
At any rate, I hope it becomes popular. I hope it becomes a place where young people can get formation to prepare them to live as a Christian wherever they may be. As I have said before, we need good formation for our Catholic lives.
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David Ancell / Saturday, January 11, 2003 / Comments(0)
I’m having quite a weekend so far. Please pray for me. I hope to have some thoughts for you, but I’m kind of tapped. I think I’m done with the worship rants, though.
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David Ancell / Thursday, January 09, 2003 / Comments(0)
I just had to link to this post by Victor Lams. He pretty much spells out the problem with using the psychological appeal approach to judging appropriateness of music, and it said it much better than I ever could.
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David Ancell / Thursday, January 09, 2003 / Comments(0)
Don’t worry, I will eventually run out of stuff to say about worship. I’ve been writing a little about what worship is, and there is one other point that I haven’t gotten out yet.
If you get Jim Cowan’s Millenium III CD’s, you’ll see that two of them feature a song written by Cowan known as “Prayer of Commitment.” It repeats lines such as “Come Into My Heart” and “Cleanse Me of My Sin.” At the end of the song, someone makes what seems to be an altar call. They make some kind of prayer of commitment.
Now, I’m not against the idea of asking Jesus into our hearts. We Catholics often call this “spiritual communion.” I have begun the practice of doing this every day that I don’t get to go to Mass. However, something about the way this is carried out seems Protestant, and it carries the same problem. Do these “commitments,” made in a moment of high emotion, really last? I can see people singing and clapping and cheering getting all excited and saying “Yes, Lord, I give you my life.” Will these commitments be able to survive the Cross?
I’m not against emotion, either. It can be a help. However, it is not to be relied on as it is highly changeable. The mere fact that emotions were aroused do not make for a true worship experience. In fact, there may be more merit when someone worships when he/she doesn’t feel like it. Holiness does not consist of a feeling. We must change the way we think and live.
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David Ancell / Thursday, January 09, 2003 / Comments(0)
I touched a little on worship here that was a response to Greg Popcak’s post here. He describes the singing of the tacky songs as a powerful experience of “worship.” To elaborate more on what has been said, I must ask: What is worship?
I guess I’m thinking from the standpoint of having heard The Way We Worship by Michael Crumbie from St. Joseph Communications. Is this kind of thing really worship?
Our Catholic worship was commanded by Christ. When he instituted the Eucharist, he said “Do this in remembrance of me.” Protestants (though not all), from my standpoint, tend to view worship and the Church as consequences ofthe Gospel brought forth by people. Therefore, they take much more liberal view of worship than I do. I am leaning towards the idea that all true worship has the Eucharist at its heart. However, where would that leave the Liturgy of the Hours? Any comments? Does anyone know of any good Catholic literature on liturgy and worship?
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David Ancell / Thursday, January 09, 2003 / Comments(0)
Emily and Greg are busy trashing Trading my Sorrows. I hope Darrell Evans isn’t reading the HMS blog. He wrote the song. Ironically, his version of the song is my least favorite.
This song has been published and republished on several compilations, most recently by Catholic singer Steve Angrisano. Guess what! It’s published by OCP. In the album notes, he says that the song “rocks the house” when it is played in church. Rather that is the sound of cheering or the running footsteps of those leaving the building I do not know.
Really, the song isn’t bad. I do listen to it. I just think the chorus is incredibly silly, and I don’t think it belongs at Mass in any way, shape, or form. People who play this song at Mass should be sentenced to six years of pharmacy school.
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David Ancell / Wednesday, January 08, 2003 / Comments(0)
Greg Popcak unveils his latest post regarding liturgical music. However, note that he compares a cathedral pipe organ to a “Festival of Praise” in Steubenville. Well, the only thing I’ll say to that is that I heard much of the “praise and worship” music at the Defending the Faith conference in Steubenville, and I can tell you that I don’t think that it belongs in liturgy. In fact, I was disappointed when I went there because that was the stuff they played.
However, I am really wanting to write about something else that related and that has been on my mind. I have seen some churches that offer these “praise and worship” services, and I wonder what to think. My own parish has one on Sunday nights, and another parish nearby has one on Tuesday night. The only time I’ve been to one is when it was part of another event I was attending.
I actually like the music when I’m listening in my home (not at Mass). I even listen to Trading my Sorrows (see Greg’s post), which could have been a great song if it weren’t for the silly chorus. Of course, there is nothing wrong with praising God; we should. I’ve been trying to incorporate more praise into my prayer lately.
However, I have mixed feelings about these services. While the basic concept is not bothersome, I feel as though they are Protestant worship services. In following that line of thought, I have to wonder where they fit in to Catholic spirituality. We already have the highest form of worship, the Mass. We have the Liturgy of the Hours, which is the prayer of the Church. Eucharistic adoration is available in many areas (including Memphis). So – my question is: What purpose does the “praise and worship” service serve? The only real problem I would have is if someone thought we needed something like what the Protestants have.
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