David Ancell / Wednesday, March 05, 2003 / Comments(0)
I need not tell my readers that today is Ash Wednesday. I guess I also need not say that I haven’t given up blogging for Lent. I do anticipate blogging less just due to the fact that I have some things that I’m planning to do for Lent.
Honestly, the best beginning for me is to wear my ashes to work. To be honest, when one does this in the south it becomes a source of entertainment to watch the reactions of those around you. Few people in the south have been exposed to real Catholicism. They know nothing of the customs. I have people tell me that I have something on my forehead. Yet being willing to be seen in this matter is a way of showing that I’m not ashamed of my faith. I’m not ashamed of the ashes. Let us proceed on to our life today with no shame except for that for our sins.
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David Ancell / Wednesday, March 05, 2003 / Comments(0)
I wonder if the people who did this survey polled students at Franciscan University of Steubenville. I suspect they did not. The point of this survey was to show that Catholic students’ views fall away from Church teachings during college. In fact, it appears that more fall away from the Church. This occurs whether or not they attend Catholic schools.
Need I comment?
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Monday, March 03, 2003 / Comments(0)
After reading an article similar to this one in the brief’s of this week’s Our Sunday Visitor, I just had to find an article to link to. A donkey with bombs strapped to it was sent near an Isreali bus and blown up, killing the donkey. PETA’s concern was not that a bombing occurred but that a donkey was used to carry it out.
Why don’t they just come right out and say “Kill all the people you want; just don’t hurt any animals.”
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David Ancell / Monday, March 03, 2003 / Comments(0)
A friend of mine e-mailed me wondering whether genuflection before Communion was forbidden. Here is an EWTN question and answer he sent a link to. Yet another friend seemed to think that this wasn’t really the law of our local Church.
Their arguments center around the fact that those who genuflect before or kneel to receive Communion should not be refused Communion. My interpretation of that same statement is, regarding kneeling or genuflection, “Well, they aren’t really supposed to do it, but if they do, it is not grounds for refusing Communion.”
Does anyone else wish to chime in? I’d sure like to hear some more thoughts.
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David Ancell / Sunday, March 02, 2003 / Comments(0)
Our pastor spent some time on the pulpit discussing new norms for the reception of Communion and a few other things. He mentioned that we now need to bow our heads as we approach to receive Communion. He also said that he has seen people genuflect as a matter of private devotion, but that was not appropriate.
I remember that there was a big discussion on this on the HMS blog a long time ago. There was some discussion about the committee of the U.S. Bishops Conference who determined that kneeling to receive Communion was not appropriate. I’ve also heard some discussion about why one should bow rather than genuflect. Some people cannot genuflect, at least not easily. The bow of the head allows everyone to perform the same gesture of reverence. The Mass is not our private prayer.
I will honor such intentions, and I will obey the directive. Anyone who knows about it and doesn’t obey is substituting his/her personal preference for obedience. However, I’m not so sure that there is anything wrong with saying that everyone must genuflect unless you can’t, and then those people can bow. Maybe having to perform the more conspicuous action will help awaken some people to faith in the Real Presence.
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David Ancell / Sunday, March 02, 2003 / Comments(0)
I remember being in a meeting of my church’s young adults’ group (Frassati Society) when the topic of Call to Action came up. Our speaker was our recently-ordained associate pastor. He defined them as “the dying gasps of liberalism.” Indeed they are dying out, though, as as this post indicates, they don’t wish to admit it.
It makes sense that they would die out. They are utterly depressing. Who wants to put time and energy into a Church that is nothing in particular? There is no commitment, no divine calling, just some warm fuzzy feeling that doesn’t really indicate anything. Then again, the warm fuzzy feeling itself is an illusion since many of these people are bitter that the Church won’t do what they want.
Colleen Caroll’s book The New Faithful is encouraging. Many people my own age or younger are turning away from the nonsense and towards the truth. However, is this the entire picture? Is this all that is taking place? I think not.
Some yong people, having taken the heterodox views to their logical conclusion, have just stopped going to Mass. Through the efforts to make Mass more entertaining, they still manage to find better entertainment elsewhere. Through the demystification of the faith, they have found nothing unique to believe in. When faith in the Real Presense is lost, what is the point in being in the Church? After all, God is omnipresent.
Others remain, but are lukewarm. They go to Mass, but they may leave right after Communion. They don’t practice the faith outside the Church. They have no idea that there is anything to practice. Some could not even recite an Our Father or a Hail Mary from memory.
So, there is hope, but there is also a lot of work to do. We should be encouraged by the dying of the faithless heterodoxy that values “conscience” over Church teachings (funny, I thought we used to call that sin). However, let us not think that the battle is over.
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