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Going back east

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A couple of months ago I found myself back around my old stomping ground of Washington DC. It was great to return to one of my favourite US cities, catching up with friends and re-visiting all my favourite places.

As providence would have it, I had the opportunity to hear Deacon Sabatino Carnazzo speak at the Catholic Information Center (CIC).  Deacon Sabatino is founder of the Institute of Catholic Culture, a Virginia-based organization about which I have previously written.

Since writing that earlier blog post, I visited Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Nebraska and did a double-take when I saw an office with his name on it! Clearly this guy gets around! his brother’s name on it!

Anyway, during this “Year of Faith”, the CIC has been hosting a series of lectures on the documents of the Second Vatican Council and I just so happened to be in town for Deacon Carnazzo’s lecture on Orientalium Ecclesiarum, the Decree concerning the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, a subject close to my heart.

ICC

No, I’m not a Roman Catholic…

Deacon Carnazzo is himself an Eastern-Rite Catholic and during his talk he explained the origin of the Eastern Churches and gave a brief introduction to life as an Eastern Catholic. In his talk he encouraged all Western Catholics to become familiar with the Eastern Church. How is this to be done? Well, if you want to get to know someone, you share a meal with them. For Catholics, this means sharing in the Eucharistic feast.

So, in the spirit of this, I have set up a Facebook event and invited my friends to come with me to celebrate the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul at the end of the month at my local Byzantine parish. If you’re in town and you’d like to come, feel free to shoot me an email.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

The article Going back East first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net

TEA: How to read the Bible like a Catholic (St. Ignatius)

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Bible Rosary

During Lent, I gave two talks at St. Ignatius Catholic parish in Los Angeles. Here is the first talk I gave on reading Sacred Scripture:

“How to read the Bible like a Catholic” (Download)

Q&A (Download)

 

— Questions —

• What does Jesus mean when he says that, to be his disciple, we must “hate mother and father”?

• What is apologetics?

• What kind of Bible would you recommend?

• If I want to read a book of the Bible, where should I start?

• Why do some people leave the Catholic Faith?

Can these dry bones live?

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For the last few weeks I’ve had Ezekiel 37 stuck in my head:

[The Lord] set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” – Ezekiel 37:1-3

The Lord then tells Ezekiel to speak to the dry bones and say:

“I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life…” – Ezekiel 37:5-6

We are then told that “there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them”. The Lord then commands Ezekiel to speak again, saying:

“Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live” – Ezekiel 37:9

Breath enters them, they come to life, “a vast army”…

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Read the Cat!

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Yesterday I posted the MP3 recordings of “Dei Verbum”, the document on Sacred Scripture from the Second Vatican Council.

I decided that today I’d also post the section of the Catechism on Sacred Scripture, which draws extremely heavily from that Council document.

Catechism On Scripture (PDF) (MP3)

Speaking of the Catechism, did you know that Flocknote have a service which will email you a short section of the Catechism each day?

Sunday Lectionary: King of kings

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Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time: October 16th, 2011

This week’s Readings focus on the distinction between the kings of this world and the LORD. The Gospel asks us the question: what do we owe to our rulers and what do we owe to our God?

In the First Reading we learn that it is the Lord, and not the King of Persia, who is subduing the nations. In the Psalm we are told repeatedly to give the Lord the praise which He is owed. In the Second Reading we hear the response of the Thessalonians to God’s great grace. Finally, in the Gospel we are told in no uncertain terms – give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but give to God what belongs to God…

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The Shape of the New Testament

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One of the wonderful treasures of the Catholic faith in the Roman Rite is the Lectionary.

Pope Benedict and the Lectionary

Every Sunday the congregation hears large chunks of Scripture selected from different parts of the Bible, from both the Old and New Testaments:

1. Old Testament passage
2. Psalm
3. New Testament Epistle
4. Gospel Reading

Making Connections

The Readings selected for each week are usually united by a common theme. This is especially true for the Old Testament passage and the Gospel Reading. The brilliance of this arrangement is that it shows the unity between the Old and New Testaments. As the great Early Church Father, St. Augustine, wrote:

“The New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New”
– St. Augustine of Hippo, “Quaestiones in Heptateuchum” 2.73

However, as good as this arrangement is, I have found that it can lead to certain difficulties. In particular, Catholics can sometimes have difficulties understanding how the Readings they hear on Sunday relate to the respective books of Scripture from which they are drawn, and also how those books fit into the the New Testament as a whole.

What can be done to address this problem? Well, when leading small Bible study groups, I always begin by asking those present to walk me through their New Testament’s “Table of Contents” page. I do this because, as with most things, once one comprehends the overall structure of something, the contents becomes less intimidating and more memorable because one already understands the framework and context in which that content has been placed.

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Friday Frivolity: Catholic Simpsons

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The relationship between “The Simpsons” and religion has always been a rather interesting one.  There was a bit of a hoopla in the press and blogsophere recently when an article in the Vatican newsletter, L’Osservatore Romano, had the headline “Homer and Bart are Catholics”.  It was a silly piece which caused, in my opinion, a lot of fuss about nothing.

Having said that, the article was in reference to an analysis done by a certain Fr. Francesco Occhetta which concerned one of my favourite Simpsons episodes: “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star”, where Homer and Bart come into contact with the Catholic Church.  So, for this week’s “Friday Fivolity”, here are some of my favourite quotations from that episode…

Marge: “All of that standing, sitting and kneeling…It’s like ‘Simon Says’ without a winner!”

Marge:“Catholics can be a peculiar bunch. No birth control, no meat on Friday…”

Homer:“No MEAT?! What do they eat, light bulbs?!”

Homer:“Face it, Marge. Catholics rule! We got Boston, South America, the good part of Ireland, and we’re makin’ serious inroads in Mozambique, baby!”

Marge:“Homer, you’ve been gone all night—and you look like you accepted someone as your personal something. Were you at that Catholic Church?”
Homer:“Look, I know I was supposed to yell at that priest, but he’s so cool! He plays drums in a band with a bunch of other priests!”
Marge:“I knew they’d try to convert you! That’s what they do! Well, I’m not having another twelve kids.”
Homer:“Marge, no one’s saying twelve. Nine, ten, tops!” (Gets out a pamphlet entitled ‘Plop ’til You Drop’)

Bart:“This is a Catholic church. Chicks got no authority here”

Bart:“Don’t you get it? It’s all Christianity, people! The little, stupid differences are nothing next to the big stupid similarities!”

Homer: (after finishing confession) “Woo-hoo, I’m clean! In your face, Lord!“
Fr. Sean:“Not yet, Mr. Simpson. I can only absolve you if you’re a Catholic”
Homer:“Uh-huh. And how do I join? Do I whale on some Unitarians?”
Fr. Sean:“Well, it’s a little harder than that. It starts with looking deep inside yourself…” (Homer groans) “But it ends with bread and wine”
Homer:“Woo-hoo!”

 

A slight “oopsie” when they had Ned, an Evangelical, praying before the statue of a Saint…

I hope you enjoy.  Now, since it’s Friday, I’m off to go and eat some light bulbs… [wave]

UPDATE 01-Feb-2021:

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