Maple Sugaring

A free picture collage by Smilebox

Pictures from Maple Sugaring in New Hampshire--Parker's.

Christian Manga

Jonathan Lin and his Manga Comic for WYD 2011

What is manga?

Manga is a popular, and fast spreading Japanese comic book art form.  You've probably seen it around.  It is identified by characters with large emotional eyes.  Styles can differ but the major characters are slender, expressive, and detailed.  Some good people, like Jonathan Lin, the founder of the company Manga Hero want to use manga to explain and attract people to Catholicism.

Jonathan uses manga to tell the lives of the saints and biblical characters.  And this summer Manga Hero will come out with a manga for World Youth Day.  It will be called "Habeus Papem," and features Pope Benedict XVI.  It will tell some of his life, and explain to the world who and what he is.

Because of manga, the Japanese know and respect Catholics.  Only a very small percentage of Catholics in Japan are Catholic, but they love the manga priests who are portrayed as good heroes fighting evil.  Sometimes the characters are nuns or angels, but they are portrayed respectfully and heroically.  They are usually depicted as using their faith to confront evil spirits.

Most people like the characters and stories.  The kids do, that's for sure, but adults like manga, too.  The content of the comic varies depending on the intended age.  Some are for adult audiences only.  Let us pray that this new art form, "Manga Comics," draws people to want to learn more about God and His people.

The Concept of Sin

Sin is a conscious decision.  This is the definition my cloistered brothers deduced, in our study group.  We are reading Josef Pieper's The Concept of Sin.

Sin is a failure to act normal.  It is deviant.  It is just not the way human beings should act.  Pieper says the same thing Aquinas says.  " Every sin is contrary to nature."  That the root of sin is pride (superbia) and desire (cupiditas).  We thought money was the root of all evil, but wouldn't the acquisition of money be a source of pride?

Sin is an interesting subject.  Here is a question left unanswered; if sin is contrary to human nature, then how come sin is such a natural desire?  Or is it?

Canticle of Simeon

Remembering my brother.   Funny, I feel more sorrow now, than then.

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.   Cicero

The Handshake

Archbishop Timothy Dolan relates a story on his blog that tells of a conversion of heart, and incidentally makes some good points.  While at the airport a man came over to him and asked him if he were a Catholic priest.  When Bishop Dolan answered in the affirmative and reached out to introduce himself, the man did not shake his hand.  The man, through clenched teeth, snarled, "I can't look at a priest now and not think sexual abuser."

Interestingly, Bishop Dolan thought of slugging the guy.  But actually, he was coping with that type of emotion, tempered with helping the man.  He ended up saying that he felt sorry that he felt that way, but he understood the feelings.  They continued talking and comparing priest sexual abusers with those in other professions.

Near the end, the man asks a very good question, "How come we only hear this about priests?"

Yeah, I want to know, too.

The level headed Archbishop responded with, “For one, we priests deserve the more intense scrutiny, because people trust us more as we dare claim to represent God, so, when on of us do it – even if only a tiny minority of us ever have — it is more disgusting.”
“Two, I’m afraid there are many out there who have no love for the Church, and are itching to ruin us.  This is the issue they love to endlessly scourge us with.”
“And, three, I hate to say it,” as I wrapped it up, “there’s a lot of money to be made in suing the Catholic Church, while it’s hardly worth suing any of the other groups I mentioned before.”

Bravo!  Thank you Archbishop Timothy Dolan!  Cut these reasons out and paste them in the front of your catechism.  Memorize them, next time you are called upon to defend our priests. 


The encounter ended happily.  The man put out his hand for the Archbishop to shake.

Cooperation NOT Compromise

Image via Wikipedia

I get a kick out of some of the comments left on articles.  In an article from Russia beyond the headlines, is a headline story about Metropolitan Hilarion seeing areas where the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church need to cooperate.  He's not saying Uniatism, at all!  He's saying that the two churches need to cooperate and work together as allies.  Comprising is not in the picture.  Collaboration and Cooperation is the aim.

Together the two churches would be better able to combat the worldly challenges that both face:
erosion of the family, moral decay, liberal theology, terrorism, prejudice, and pressures from within our own religious frameworks.

Isn't this just common sense?

Well, some of the commentators find fault.  Some don't want cooperation.  But what interests me are the ones that are afraid that the Latin Church will seduce the Eastern Orthodox.

How come no one's afraid that the Eastern Orthodox will seduce the Romans?

Missals at Mass

Today's Zenit, has an article written by Father Paul Gunter, on Using Missals.  I'm very interested in the current church opinion on missal usage.  Being a Lector, I know that we frown upon people reading the Readings, as we proclaim them.  I mean, the people should be listening to the Word.  What the Lector proclaims should be clear and loud and leave no need to want to read along.  In fact, it's rather insulting to the Lector.

That being said, I'm one of those pew sitters who follow along in my Magnificat.  I pray with the priest AND I read what the Lector proclaims.  That's because I'm a visual person--not auditory.  If I listen to a lecture I'll probably fall asleep.  I need the book to see what is said.  I guess I need both, because if I'm truthful, I will admit that seeing reinforces listening.

This is where I'm coming from.  This is why I've copied and pasted the article here. It's proof that reading along during Mass is perfectly acceptable.

The Use of Missals and Missalettes During Mass

Printed Aides Could Make a Comeback With New Liturgy Translation

ROME, MARCH 25, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The use of missals by the laity, at least on mainland Europe, extends for considerably more than two centuries, providing access to the riches of the liturgy for lay people increasingly interested in the liturgical action unfolding before them.

In countries where religious persecution was a reality, such as in Great Britain during penal times, the possession of such a book would have provided opponents of the Catholic faith with adequate evidence of adherence to "popery." It was not, in the British context, unknown in recusancy, for the texts of certain Masses as well as the ordinary of the Mass to be printed within a broader devotional manual aimed at a catechesis of the faithful.

In Italy, the influence of the Synod of Pistoia in 1786, three years prior to the French Revolution, had its effects on the Italian liturgical movement (1672-1750) begun by L.A. Muratori, which stressed the need for increased access to the texts as intrinsic to any process of liturgical reform. Between 1788 and 1792 there appeared translations into Italian of the Mass both in the Ambrosian and Roman rites with explanations given about principal feasts, which were contained within a guide to prayer for pious faithful.

Similar happenings were found in France and Germany that mushroomed when inspired by the liturgical initiatives of Dom Prosper Guéranger during the 19th century. The use of missals fostered a manifestly liturgical association with the liturgy which incorporated the literate into the intricacies of the liturgy celebrated in Latin and schooled them in liturgical prayer.  

Missals often included the texts of vespers for Sundays, which became a feature of many parishes especially in France, the Netherlands and Germany. During the 20th century, missals increasingly contained with catechetical material about the liturgical year, commentaries on sacred Scripture and about eucological texts. Responding to the Liturgical Movement heralded by Pope St Pius X, the Cabrol Missal and the Missal of St André were in the forefront.

Symbol of unity, identity

In our present day, at celebrations of the extraordinary form, missals are a considered pre-requisite, not only as a means of participating in texts which are often intentionally silent, but, more crucially, as a means of following the texts of Scripture as well as those of particular rites attached to certain days which would not be familiar. They contain an abridged version of the rubrics when compared to those contained in the altar missal. They also provide a collection of texts and illustrations of sacred art found conducive to prayer and meditation and which help to detract from inevitable distractions. Since missals could be as artistically beautiful as expensive, the faithful make sacrifices to possess one. Correspondingly, they have developed with time into a symbol of Catholic identity and pride.

In the context of the ordinary form, the purpose of a missal for participating at Mass is less clear. Though many people choose to possess one, maybe culturally inspired by the previous example, and who bring it diligently to Mass each week, the hermeneutic of participation has changed. This change has affected people to the extent that many have simply stopped using them. However, a missal remains a huge support to those who are deaf or hard of hearing and in situations where the proclamation of texts is, in practice, barely audible.

Speaking at cross-purposes about what is meant by a missal in the ordinary form is a risk. For laypeople, it is the book they use if they desire to follow the texts at Mass. In an updated style, a missal contains all that is needed in one volume, together with whatever liturgical and scriptural commentaries the edition decides to include. For the clergy, the missal is to be distinguished from the lectionary since the missal does not contain the scriptural readings proclaimed at Mass.

The majority of Catholics have grasped, if only from what they have witnessed in recent generations, that the Liturgical Movement of the 20th century strove to reform the liturgy. Few have necessarily appreciated that, when "Sacrosanctum Concilium" called for the reform of the liturgy, it did so by calling for its reform in partnership with its promotion ("Sacrosanctum Concilium," No. 1). Far from being diminished in importance, the liturgical life of the Church was to grow in prominence.

In order for it to do so, it was necessary that the liturgy communicate effectively what it celebrates so that the minds and hearts of those who celebrate it would be able to articulate themselves what was being promoted. That hermeneutic underpinned the direction of "Sacrosanctum Concilium": "Pastors of souls must therefore realize that when the liturgy is celebrated, something more is required than the mere observation of the laws governing valid and licit celebration; it is their duty also to ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite and enriched by its fruits" (No. 11).

Set aside

Steadily, since Vatican II, missals have been depended on less in the promotion of liturgical life within the celebration as people have learned their responses and to make them together "as befits a community" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium," No. 21). The readings are read aloud with the assistance of a sound system and from an ambo that faces the assembly. Many of those who once followed texts in missals became lectors, thus discovering a new and sincere piety as they found themselves exercising a genuine liturgical function.

Clergy, encouraged by "Sacrosanctum Concilium," based their preaching on the readings of the day, with the result that sermons gave way to homilies rooted in liturgical preaching. Consequently, as they grew familiar with the rites, people needed, less and less, to read accompanying material to give them structural indications. They would, in greater numbers, subsequently, set aside their missals.

Also, for the first name in centuries, they would begin to use the word "homily" as "homilists" spoke throughout the liturgical year, now moved by "Sacrosanctum Concilium" Nos. 51 and 52, whose opening phrases are "The treasures of the Bible" and "By means of the homily." Clergy were further reinforced by the centrality of a liturgical communication of Scripture by "Dei Verbum": "Clergy must hold fast to sacred Scriptures through diligent sacred reading and careful study […] so that none of them will become 'an empty preacher of the Word of God outwardly who is not a listener to it inwardly'" (No. 25).

Ironically, the use of missals and of missalettes are about to make a comeback as parishes grapple with the new translations of the third edition of the Roman Missal. It remains to be seen if the renewed publication of missals for the ordinary form in the light of forthcoming new translations will augur a new interest in their communal use in the liturgy in the long term. What is certain is that these publications need to be imbued with the spirit of the liturgy and encourage conformity to what the Church is asking of us in this renewed opportunity for an authentic catechesis on the Mass gleaned from insights of the new translations.  

In order that the faithful should be led anew to a genuinely "fully conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium," 14), those entrusted with the implementation of the new missal will need a refresher on "how to observe the liturgical laws’ ("Sacrosanctum Concilium," 17). Then, missals and other supplementary material will bring forth the beacon of unity that is a celebrated liturgy, faithfully reformed and promoted, so that it is "taught under its theological, historical, spiritual, pastoral and juridical aspects" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium," No. 16).

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Benedictine Father Paul Gunter is a professor of the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy Rome and Consulter to the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.