Taking Communion from the Tabernacle

 Did you know that taking Communion from the Tabernacle is a problem? It distinguishes a break between the Mass celebrant and the people.  The congregation and the celebrant are offering the Communion TOGETHER.  There usually is enough consecrated bread for all, so there isn't usually a problem.  Occasionally, the Tabernacle has to be opened for extra Communion.  This was prescribed by Vatican II and the General Instruction on the Roman Missal.

General Absolution

An article by Kathleen N. Hattrup | Mar 20, 2020 in Aletheia explains how General Absolution might be used during this COVID-19 pandemic.  

My first thought was what a boon this would be for Catholics who feel estranged from the church.

However, memories recollected brought back my wedding ceremony.

The celebrant was Father Paul Keyes.  The date was July 4, 1971.  Since it was a holiday and the church was a little crazy then in the years immediately after Vatican II, Father agreed to my request to give the congregation General Absolution.  But I noticed many in the congregation didn't receive Communion.  How Come?  They just received absolution!

Later when the occasion arose, upon talking to some of the people who had attended my wedding, why they didn't receive Communion, they responded that they didn't understand what it was.

So with that incident in mind, I don't think people would understand if they were given General Absolution.  Somewhere I read that people have to hear something three times to hear it to understand.

So would General Absolution have any meaning?  Would it matter?

Year of Faith

Faith

A year dedicated to me--me--me-me--me--ME--ME!  Imagine that!  Thank you very much.

Pope Benedict XVI has dedicated the year from October 6, 1212---November 24, 1213 to FAITH.

See where I'm coming from?

This morning at Mass, I learned that this October is the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.  During this Year of Faith, Catholics are asked to study and reflect on the documents of Vatican II and the catechism.  Let us pray, that the fruits of this study will deepen everyone's faith.

"The 'door of faith' (Acts14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church."---Pope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei for the Indiction of the Year of Faith.

The upcoming Year of Faith is a “summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Savior of the world” (Porta Fidei 6). In other words, the Year of Faith is an opportunity for Catholics to experience a conversion – to turn back to Jesus and enter into a deeper relationship with him. The “door of faith” is opened at one’s baptism, but during this year Catholics are called to open it again, walk through it and rediscover and renew their relationship with Christ and his Church.

Source: http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/new-evangelization/year-of-faith/

Dominican Chauvinism

In an End of the Year of the Priests Talk given by Bishop Anthony Fisher, O.P. to Irish Dominicans, the Bishop explains why being a friar, specifically a Dominican is an enhancement to the priesthood.

Bishop Fisher is funny and informative.  This essay is a keeper.  He begins by looking at the dichotomy between a monk and a secular priest.  Do Dominican friars suffer from a multiple personality disorder?  Are Dominicans religious clerics or clerical religious?  


Actually, both comfortably fit a Dominican friar.  In Lumen Gentium, there is a distinction between the common priesthood of the baptized and the ministerial priesthood.  But the times of the era required Vatican II to promote the vocation of the laity out in the world.  The priesthood, of course is special, but it was not touted, here.  (A Council can't cover everything.)
The People of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word of the living God (1 Pet 1:23; Acts 6:7; 12:24), which is quite rightly sought from the mouth of priests (Mal 2:7; 1 Tim 4:11-13; 2 Tim 4:5; Tit 1:9). For since nobody can be saved who has not first believed (Mk 16:16), it is the first task of priests as co-workers of the bishops to preach the Gospel of God to all men (2 Cor 11:7). In this way they carry out the Lord's command "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mk 16:15) and thus set up and increase the People of God... Priests owe it to everybody to share with them the truth of the Gospel (Gal 2:5)...[15]


Both the clerical, religious and lay vocation are all Christological.  They are similar yet have different ways of participating in the salvation of souls.  Baptism has a certain chronological, logical and ontological priority: it is the sine qua non of faith, membership of the Church, all other sacraments and professions, and the promise of eternal life. But as, Lumen Gentium tells us, the common and ministerial priesthood are ordered together--the baptized exercise their royal priesthood best by participating in the Eucharist--which can only be affected by a ministerial priest.   To that extent,  being a baptized Christian, along with being a professed Dominican, and also an ordained priest, draw a friar closer to Christ, and give him specific Christic inspirations and arenas of activity, so that they are integrated in Jesus Christ.


Wowza.