A Treasure To Be Shared

Two Cities CCC873 The very differences which the Lord has willed to put between the members of his body serve its unity and mission. For "in the Church there is diversity of ministry but unity of mission. To the apostles and their successors Christ has entrusted the office of teaching, sanctifying and governing in his name and by his power. But the laity are made to share in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly office of Christ; they have therefore, in the Church and in the world, their own assignment in the mission of the whole People of God."387 Commentary The Church The vocation of the ordained, the bishop and his priests, is to teach, sanctify and govern the lay baptized in the Church. The World CCC898 "By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will. . . . It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which...

Église St-Esprit, which now houses the Quebec School of Circus Arts. Photo by Ruby Irene Pratka/Shareable Quebec is a cautionary tale. When the Church becomes so closely allied to a state, where the state and society go, these days especially, Catholics tend to be dragged around with them. QUEBEC CITY (CNS) — Cardinal Gerald Lacroix asked parishes in the Archdiocese of Quebec to “pause” their catechetical programs to give them the time they need to think about what comes next. The last few months, he said, have given the Quebec church an “unhoped-for opportunity” to “begin anew,” he said in a video posted online Sept. 9. “Fewer and fewer of our brothers and sisters in Quebec are Christians,” he said. “This cannot leave us indifferent. It is urgent that we evangelize and form (people) to Christian life. We must realize that our methods and ways of doing things do not bear the fruits we expect.” "Ways of doing things do not bear the fruits we expect." Are their/our ways conform...

Royal Collection Trust | David Morier | An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745 Eric Sammons initiated an exchange between "clans" by penning his article Defining the Clans. It’s no secret that infighting flourishes among traditional Catholics. [...]. But infighting seems to be more prevalent among traditional Catholics, even becoming institutionalized at times (see: SSPX vs. FSSP). https://ericsammons.com/defining-the-clans/ There is a instructive exchange in the combox between the well known Mr. Tito Edwards and a few others. Informed readers will note that, in some cases, there is a need for a clarification of terms. That is, some terms are no longer in vogue or require a sensitive application. For example: Anglican Ordinariate . Technically speaking, there is no such thing. An Ordinariate for former Anglicans would be the more accurate terminology. Anglican Use . Nowadays, 'Ordinariate Use' would be a more acceptable term. As one commenter rightly noted at the ACS ...

Giovanni Battista Castello | Christ Giving the Keys to St Peter Peter is the rock upon which Jesus builds His Church. Peter and faith are a package deal. Any attempt to disregard Peter as the first Pope and the full authority Christ entrusted to him and continues to entrust to Peter's successors is a harmful attempt to rob the Church of a necessary ministry of authority in service of the truth and unity. The rejection of Peter as pope and the rejection of the Office of Peter is iconoclastic and anarchic . When non-Catholics object to the Papacy they are merely buying into a rejection of legitimate authority, an agenda first vomited into the world by Luther and others which now fuels anti-Catholic bigotry and a rejection of accountability to the common good that fully occupies the hearts and minds of politicians and secular media. The rejection of Peter's role and the role of the Bishop of Rome is a rejection of Christ's will for His Church. One can argue until one is blue ...

Patron of Bloggers - Saint Francis de Sales | ECEF image Catholic bloggers: invite others to faith, into a loving communion with Jesus Christ and His Bride, the Church.  No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples The Holy Spirit is indeed the principal agent of the whole of the Church's mission... as can be clearly seen in the early Church: in the conversion of Cornelius (cf. Acts 10), in the decisions made about emerging problems (cf. Acts 15) and in the choice of regions and peoples to be evangelized (cf Acts 16:6 ff) (Para 21).  An essential characteristic of missionary spirituality is intimate communion with Christ  (Para. 88). Pope Saint John Paul II:  Redemptoris Missio. think with the Church ( sentire cum ecclesia ).  “Thinking” with the Church begot us at Baptism; “thinking” with the Church finds one of its filial expressions in faithfulness to the Magisterium, in communion with...

Fr. Altman, as you may know, spoke the obvious: Catholics should neither vote for nor belong to a political party that actively promotes the culture of death. As a result of calling a fig a fig and a trough a trough, Fr. Altman is being chastised by his bishop; but, he has the support of another. CNA After a Wisconsin priest said in a viral video that no Catholic can be a Democrat, the priest’s bishop will attempt fraternal correction, and said Wednesday the priest has inflicted a “wound” upon the Church. A Texas bishop, however, has doubled down on his support for the priest. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/la-crosse-bishop-to-correct-catholics-cant-be-democrats-priest-fr-james-altman-37520 This oughta be good. A priest speaks to the eternal consequences for promoting a culture of death. One bishop is miffed. Another approves. CONTRA Fr. ALTMAN'S ACTIONS Bishop William Callahan of La Crosse That being said it is not only the underlying truth that needs to be evaluated but ...

88.22-carat, D Colour, Flawless, Type IIa, oval brilliant diamond One of the many gems in the Ordinariate Mass is the Penitential Rite. We pray, kneeling, the General Confession, inherited from the Book of Common Prayer. The priest turns to face the people and says... . Facing the People, the Deacon or Priest says: Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways: draw near with faith, and make your humble confession to Almighty God, meekly kneeling upon your knees. Or: Draw near with faith and make your humble confession to Almighty God, meekly kneeling upon your knees. Then all say: Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all men: We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against...

Wikipedia Hamlet: I'll have these players Play something like the murder of my father Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks; I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench, I know my course. The spirit that I have seen May be the devil: and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds More relative than this: the play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king. - Hamlet Act II Scene II For those of us tilted enough to blog, we must live with the possibility that what we blog about may very well reveal more about ourselves than our intended subject. Viewed through such a lens, it is easy to understand why certain subjects appear at certain blogs. Bloggers play to their strengths. Why wouldn't they/we? Occasionally, some more than others, they risk offerings that stretch the limits of their comprehension an...

Screenshot | ACS New Sunday Mass & Choral Evensong Livestream Feature https://acsociety.org/news/new-sunday-mass-choral-evensong-livestream-feature https://acsociety.org/

Sohrab Ahmari calls out authors fueling the present menace. Over the past four years, credentialed academics and public intellectuals published a mountain of books and articles warning of rising authoritarianism and even fascism in the United States—and offering guides on how to resist this political menace. “Save democracy” books became something of a cottage industry: If you had what publishers call a “platform” and relevant scholarly authority, you were a fool not to try your hand at the genre. The titles revealed the high stakes: The People vs. Democracy , The Twilight of Democracy , How Fascism Works , On Tyranny , The Road to Unfreedom , How Democracies Die . And on and on. Only now are we beginning to witness the damage wrought by these irresponsible exercises in middlebrow hysteria, as radicalized activists set fire to American cities on the belief that they are locked in an existential battle with the forces of political darkness. This past weekend, hard-left activists in Port...

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1004055 A Lament for Our Lady's Shrine at Walsingham (c. 1600) In the wracks of Walsingham Whom should I choose But the Queen of Walsingham to be my guide and muse. Then, thou Prince of Walsingham, Grant me to frame Bitter plaints to rue thy wrong, Bitter woe for thy name. Bitter was it so to see The seely  sheep Murdered by the ravenous wolves While the shepherds did sleep. Bitter was it, O to view The sacred vine, Whilst the gardeners played all close, Rooted up by the swine. Bitter, bitter, O to behold The grass to grow Where the walls of Walsingham So stately did show. Such were the worth of Walsingham While she did stand, Such are the wracks as now do show Of that Holy Land. Level, level, with the ground The towers do lie, Which, with their golden glittering tops, Pierced once to the sky. Where were gates are no gates now, The ways unknown Where the press of peers did pass While ...

Pope (St.) John Paul II (1985) | Wikipedia/Rob Croes Another fascinating read supplied by Mr. George Weigel. Read the entire essay at the link below. https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/08/st-john-paul-ii-a-centenary-reflection For Wojtyła, of course, the Big Questions were also religious questions. The search for answers can lead to false gods or the true God, but it will lead somewhere. In the agony of the twentieth century, which he knew from his experiences under Nazism and communism, Wojtyła saw the lethal results of worshipping false gods. Surveying the European cultural scene in the years after the Second Vatican Council, he sensed how contempt for biblical religion had led to nihilism and a diminishment of the human spirit. And like St. Paul, he wanted to turn humanity’s religious instinct toward the true God who alone is worthy of worship—the God who, being worshipped, enlarges rather than diminishes humanity. In order to do that, Christianity had to clarify who this God ...