I'm the Pope of me

'Everyone gets to be their own pope. Catholics are often no exception to this trend and many seem perfectly willing and able to dispense with whatever doctrines displease them and still declare themselves to be a “good Catholic.” For such as these faith has no apparent communal dimension, nothing outside oneself which should require adherence in order to qualify for membership. No, such a notion that someone other than me gets to say what is the true faith is obnoxious to many. They insist that faith be a purely private declaration of what seems true “to me.” To suggest that certain criteria ought be met in order to “be Catholic” offends against their God-given right to design their own faith and, I would argue, their own God.'

RSCJ Sister: "Maybe...I am not the measure for what touches people’s minds and hearts."

"And nowadays everyone has an opinion and everyone is an expert. I was surprised one day recently when the presider started using the humeral veil to cover the chalice and paten and walk them in and out in procession. And just as a shudder was going through me, wondering “where is this going to lead?” a man in front of me turned to the woman at his side and said: “He’s the only one who does it right.” I was also present for two homilies, one which disregarded both the liturgical texts and the liturgical season, using as its starting point the words of a Christmas song illustrated by personal stories, and the other, an old fashion fire and brimstone homily on purgatory preached to octogenarians who had gathered to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary. In both instances these homilies seemed singularly inappropriate to me; in both instances I heard: “Great homily, Father.” I have been forced to conclude: Maybe bright as I am, right as I am, trained as I am, I am not the measure for what touches people’s minds and hearts."

From:  http://www.npm.org/Articles/Hope&Harmony.pdf

Population numbers down

"Europe, Korea, and Japan have gone into panic mode," says Carl Haub, a senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau. A declining population impacts a country's economic growth, labor market, pensions, taxation, health care, and housing, according to the U.N. Globally by 2050, the number of older persons in the world will exceed the number of young for the first time in history, according to the U.N. The imbalance will create havoc in the pension systems and make it difficult to support retired and elderly persons, Haub says.

Theology of the last few decades: "...almost ridiculous."

The Holy Father's extemporaneous comments last Thursday -- awesome, amazing:
"Io seguo la teologia dal ’46...e quindi ho visto quasi tre generazioni di teologi, e posso dire: le ipotesi che in quel tempo, e poi negli anni Sessanta e Ottanta erano le più nuove, assolutamente scientifiche, assolutamente quasi dogmatiche, nel frattempo sono invecchiate e non valgono più! Molte di loro appaiono quasi ridicole."

("I have followed theology since '46...and therefore I have seen almost three generations of theologians, and I can say: the hypotheses which at that time, and then in the Sixties and Eighties were the newest, absolutely scientific, absolutely quasi-dogmatic, in the meantime have become old and have no more worth! Many of them appear almost ridiculous.")

NYT: "all-hands-on-deck drive to implicate the pope"

"No question, the Times’s worldview is secularist and secularizing, and as such it rivals the Catholic worldview. But that is not unusual with newspapers. What makes the Times unique—and what any Catholic bishop ought to understand—is that it is not just the nation’s self-appointed newspaper of record. It is, to paraphrase Chesterton, an institution with the soul of a church. And the church it most resembles in size, organization, internal culture, and international reach is the Roman Catholic Church. Like the Church of Rome, the Times is a global organization. Even in these reduced economic times, the newspaper’s international network of news bureaus rivals the Vatican’s diplomatic corps. The difference is that Times bureau chiefs are better paid and, in most capitals, more influential. A report from a papal nuncio ends up in a Vatican dossier, but a report from a Times correspondent is published around the world, often with immediate repercussions."

My two cents' worth: Yes, it is rather like a church -- I know many people who worship the New York Times!

1970 Missal: "A paraphrase instead of a translation"

From Father Stravinskas in America Magazine

"Older than dirt"

Current disputes about the liturgy? Not so current: here's an article from TIME, from 1962, which has a depressingly familiar set of themes..........

So, the present form of the debate and the same contentious issues are now OLDER THAN I AM (and one seminarian has informed me I am "older than dirt"!!!!).

Sigh.

America on Maureen Dowd

http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=42045865-3048-741E-1802050355000941

I'm speechless (not in a good way)

What's that old saw? If this is poverty, then bring on chastity?!?? I had to read it several times..........................am I the only one rummaging through the cabinet over the sink for some ROLAIDS?

Breathtaking (not in a good way)

That visitation? Long overdue I'd say:

You can take it with you (when you leave the Church): "Benedictine Inc." takes their community's assets with them on their way out the door.