David Ancell / Thursday, May 15, 2003 / Comments(0)
If you’ve been Catholic for long, I doubt that have gone without hearing about the latest opinion polls that say anywhere from 55-70% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence. I have seen other polls that say from 62-70% of Catholics do believe in the Real Presense. So, what’s the problem? Take a look at how problematic some questions, if posed, can be:
Do you believe the the Eucharist is symbolic?
One can actually answer “yes” to this question and still be an orthodox Catholic. The Eucharist is a symbol, but it is what it symbolizes. The problem arises when one says the Eucharist is “just” a symbol. Only in that case is one denying the Real Presence.
Do you believe that Christ is truly present in the bread and wine?
This could lead faithful Catholics to answer “no” because it smack of consubstantiation. In other words, one could be misled to believe that the bread and wine are still there but Christ is present in them. This, of course, is heresy. The bread and wine actually become Christ, and there is no longer any bread or wine there. Therefore, this, too, is misleading.
To appropriate poll a group of Catholics, a question would have to be something like the following:
Do you believe that the bread and wine are changed into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ at Mass?
This question reflects the teaching of the Church well. Only when something to this effect is asked do we get answers worth using. Even then, there may be some Catholics who are trying to be orthodox but who do not understand the teaching who may get caught. Still, such an answer would be indicative of a problem, just a different kind of problem.
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David Ancell / Thursday, May 15, 2003 / Comments(0)
As I mentioned before, I had the honor of serving as my cousin’s Confirmation sponsor. It took place at our cathedral, and it turns out that it was a diocesean liturgy even though this parish was here by itself because of the large number of candidates. This led to some music selections that were, well, interesting.
For example, you might be aware of the following phrase:
Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
Well, the diocese decided to use the ICEL translation as a responsorial psalm, which goes like this:
Lord, send out your Spirit, and make the face of the earth come alive.
We even got to rehearse it in the Marian Center underneath the Cathedral before the service started. The funny part is that the Bishop used it as part of his homily, and he used the traditional form.
The ceremony flowed very smoothly because they had the ushers direct everything very well. It is always nice to see our newly-renovated, beautiful cathedral. They gave us instructions that tell us everthing from the practical to things like “Make sure that neither you nor your candidate are chewing gum during the service.” These things ought to be common sense, but we were told that people have been known to approach the Bishop while chewing gum. My cousin said he was trying to find where it said you couldn’t bring firearms into the Cathedral. Ironically, we had a sherriff’s deputy in uniform there, and he probably did have his gun (I didn’t see).
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David Ancell / Wednesday, May 14, 2003 / Comments(0)
There are few things that I hate on the Internet more than spam. It is one reason why you can’t find my e-mail address anywhere on my pages. You can fill out a mail form, and you will find that if you view the source, my e-mail address is not visible. This prevents people from finding the address until I want them to.
It’s kind of ironic that there are now commercial tools to combat spam. I appreciate the efforts of those who develop them to fill an important need. However, I find it ironic that you have to pay someone for a tool to get rid of e-mail that you didn’t want anyway. Why can’t bulk mailers respect the fact that some people don’t want their e-mail?
My hosting provider provides us with Spam Assassin. It works better than anything I’ve seen before. The only thing that I don’t like is that it doesn’t automatically delete the messages before I download them. I still have to press the “Purge Deleted Items” on my Microsoft Outlook. It’s akin to flushing a toilet, I guess.
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David Ancell / Tuesday, May 13, 2003 / Comments(0)
My company has allowed me the next three days of time off, maybe for good behavior. I don’t know what good behavior, but surely I’ve exhibited some. I took tomorrow off specifically to go be my 14-year-old cousin’s Confirmation sponsor. It will be at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Unfortunately, it won’t be in the context of a Mass. I do not know why not. All I can say is that I will be rather aggravated if this service gets dragged on to infinity when the time could have been used to celebrate Mass.
I was hoping to take a short trip the rest of the week, but I have to work on Saturday (and possibly Sunday) to help implement the new computer system at work.
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David Ancell / Tuesday, May 13, 2003 / Comments(0)
It has been in the news that the Archdiocese of New York determined that Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York is “no longer Catholic.” Well, if truth be known, there are a lot of colleges and universities out there that call themselves Catholic but are not really. Unfortunately, since Ex Corde Ecclesiae has been watered down until it is practically useless in this country, who would know.
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David Ancell / Sunday, May 11, 2003 / Comments(0)
Here is a great article on Peter’s Net by Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J. (one of the good Jesuits) on how he celebrates Mass. I wish that many others would follow his lead, at least in most of these aspects.
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David Ancell / Saturday, May 10, 2003 / Comments(0)
Say, does anyone want to give $10 million to Patrick Madrid. Sorry, I don’t have it.
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David Ancell / Friday, May 09, 2003 / Comments(0)
Yet another great post on community building.
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David Ancell / Friday, May 09, 2003 / Comments(0)
Every year, there is a list of “Catholic” universities who invite pro-aborts to speak at their commencement ceremonies. It makes me wonder if going to a “Catholic” university would have done irreversible damage to my faith.
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David Ancell / Friday, May 09, 2003 / Comments(0)
I have been made aware of this article by Ralph McInerny on the pontificate of John Paul II. From my skimming of the article, he seems to advocate JPII as having laid the groundwork for a return to sound teaching. That he has. He says that JPII avoids war with the dissenters because he knows that the Church will survive them and that orthodoxy cannot be forced on anyone.
He is right on both of the above points. I have no doubt that the Church will survive, and provided that I live as long as my ancestors have, I expect to see at least some of the fruits of renewal in my lifetime. My concern regarding the lack of discipline taken against dissenters is not for the Church but for their souls and the souls of their followers.
Granted, some of them will simply rebel when disciplined. Many are determined to fashion a “God” after their own image and likeness and fashion Jesus as a great radical. However, what about those who hear the teachings out of the mouth of our Holy Father, and because of the lack of discipline are lulled into thinking that they can safely ignore them. Penalties such as excommnication are medicinal. It’s a way of trying to get the sinners back by letting them know how far off they are. Without it, one can easily deceive himself into thinking that what he is doing or teaching is okay because he is “following his conscience.” It is there that the lack of discipline against dissenters can take its toll.
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