Category: Catholicism

Catholic Family Tree

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Last Thursday I celebrated the Feast of Theophany at Holy Angels Byzantine Catholic Parish with four of my Roman Rite friends. While we were there I attempted to explain how all the different rites of the Catholic Church relate to one another. I don’t think I did a very good job at explaining it, so I’m going to have another go now…

The Church began in Jerusalem (Acts 2) and, over time, major Christian centres developed in the cities of Rome, Antioch and Alexandria. It was from these cities that the major rites of the Church developed. This can be seen more clearly from the following diagram I found on a friend’s Facebook page:

Catholic Rites

The Second Vatican Council had this to say concerning the different rites of the Church:

“[In] faithful obedience to tradition, the sacred Council declares that Holy Mother Church holds all lawfully recognized rites to be of equal right and dignity, and that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way”

– Sacrosanctum Concilium

So, although the Catholic Church is one Church, it is also a communion of Churches.

Timeline Dividers

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Facebook TimelineThe meaning of BC and AD recently came up in conversation. It’s come up a few times in fact….and you know what that means…it’s time to do a blog entry about it! 🙂

And, in case you think that knowledge like this has no practical application, you’re wrong. Understanding these terms allowed me to win points on the quiz game at Dave & Busters! That’s some real-world usage, right there!

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New Resolutions

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Okaaaaay….it’s new resolution time… Here’s what 2012 has in store for me…

1. Read through the New Testament Twice: This is actually quite a modest goal if I’m honest. I did toy with the idea of reading the entire Bible this year, but in the end I favoured this goal in the hope that I will achieve the daily prayerful Lectio Divina reading that I tried (and failed) to do in 2011.

2. More dancing: This is being carried over from last year.  My goal is to be dancing weekly by the end of 2012.

3. Be more gentle with people: Later this month I’ll do a blog entry explaining exactly what I have in mind here…

4. No sodas/fizzy drinks: Sodas are the new chocolate 😉

5. Get into the best shape of my life: This is another resolution continued from last year. I’m aiming to complete this resolution by my next birthday in April. I’ve signed up for the Warrior Dash and I may do a half-marathon…

6. Complete reading list: I’m going to be a bit more purposeful in my reading in 2012. I have assembled a list of twelve books that I want to finish by the end of the year. I’ll do a post on these books when they’ve all arrived.

7. Keep proper track of finances: Last year I got some way towards achieving this goal. This year I’m going to be a bit more specific: I’m aiming to check my bank accounts and check my budget once a week.

8. Tick something off my TODO list: I usually have a list of TODOs up on the mirror in my apartment. I want to get into the habit of ticking off something every day, even if it’s just something simple like “Answer Joe’s email” or “Do washing up”.

10. Fast on Wednesday and Friday: Fasting twice a week was a practice of the Early Church and I’d like to integrate it into my life.

11. Give up Facebook for 40 days: Just to show I can 😉 I’ll probably do it after Daughters Of The King.

12. Make an effort to dress well for Mass: For years I was an altar server, so the only thing that mattered was that I wore black shoes since a cassock covered everything else. I’ve therefore never given much thought to what I’ve worn to the liturgy but a few months ago I decided that I should address this.

Is it life?

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I’ll get around to writing up my resolutions tonight, but just now I wanted to share a video I stumbled across last night. These are some comments by Planned Parenthood’s College Outreach Group. Their approach is utterly mind-boggling!

Last Year’s Resolutions

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Tomorrow I’ll post my new resolutions for 2012, but I thought I’d first do a quick review of those from last year.

1. Spend 30 minutes every day in Scripture: A lot of my time in 2011 was spent reading and studying Scripture, but I didn’t manage to achieve the quiet lectio divina style of reading for which I was aiming.

Final Grade: C

2. More dancing: I did quite a bit here. I taught a good handful of times, went out social dancing a few times, attended Swing Diego and did a couple of months of West Coast Swing classes. However, I didn’t manage to settle into a regular pattern of dancing.

Final Grade: D

3. No more rushing: I think I really nailed this one. I had a busy year, but I didn’t overbook or frantically run about from appointment to appointment.

Final Grade: A

4. No chocolate: Did it. It was horrible. I love chocolate.

Final Grade: A

5. Get into the best shape of my life: At the beginning of the year I began keeping a closer eye on my diet. However, I didn’t really get into the way of regular exercise until towards the end of the year. I began running with John in the mornings but finally signed up for Bootcamp. Within two months of joining Bootcamp I lost 4% body fat and 8lbs. I go four or five times a week.

I’m not yet in the greatest shape of my life, but I’m well on my way to getting there. I’ve signed up for the Warrior Dash in March, by which time I hope this resolution will be achieved…

Final Grade: B

6. At least five minutes of guitar practice every day: I haven’t strictly fulfilled this, but I now to play very regularly and I think I’m much improved.

Final Grade: B

7. Keep proper track of finances: Much improved from the beginning of the year. I now have a financial adviser and I have my American finances in reasonable shape now. For a good while I kept a budget and checked my bank balances, but in the latter part of the year I’ve got out of the habit.

Final Grade: C

8. Get back to England for a couple of weeks: I went and it was wonderful 🙂

Final Grade: A

So, my final report card was:

D x1, C x2, B x2, A x3

Not bad! I’ll write about my new resolutions tomorrow 🙂

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