"Let us pray for Christian unity."

Post by News.va English.

A review by David Abulafia of ‘Inventing the Individual’, by Larry Siedentop

Saint Thomas Aquinas, Companion and Patron

From 2012:

Eclectic Orthodoxy: Saint Silouan and the Mystery of God

2013-0214 Bannan Institute

Sponsored by the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education at Santa Clara University. The theme for this academic year: What Good is God?

An intro statement:

Banna Institutes are yearlong thematic programs that address matters of significance within the Jesuit, Catholic intellectual tradition, foster an ethic of dialogue among persons of diverse religious and philosophical commitments, and facilitate opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange across the University and broader community.

Except that no such thing as the broader community actually exists - a purely 'academic' exercise, indeed. Most academics live in their own little world and contribute very little to the reform of moral and political life.

Winter Quarter 2014: God and Reality
Spring Quarter 2014: God and the University

The winter quarter session could be of interest, but will there be a critical examination of 'evolutionary biology' or contemporary physics? As for the spring quarter session will they profess adherence to the ideals put forth in Ex Corde Ecclesiae? I doubt it.

Upcoming Bannan Institutes:

The 2014–15 Bannan Institute will dive deeply into what distinguishes Ignatian leadership and the role and responsibility that is has, both locally and globally.

Should the Jesuits still be trying to form the elites of 'society' when Christendom no longer exists? Perhaps they should focus on teaching Christians, the leaven, in accordance with Tradition.

Related:
2014 Explore Journal
Bannan Institutes

Solemnity of the Conversion of St. Paul

Zenit

NLM: Fr. Jungmann's Study of the Roman Rite "Missarum Sollemnia" Available for Download - Views from the Choir Loft

St. John the Baptist Cathedral: 01.24.14. Living Tradition in the City. Talk by Sister Dr. Vassa Larin

Breathing with Both Lungs of the Church

It would seem that this division between East and West apply to the Chalcedonian churches. How will this
statement and metaphor need to be modified if the Oriental Orthodox and the Church of the East are fully reconciled?

Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy: ROCOR Says Overlapping Dioceses are Canonical: An Ecclesiological Analysis by Nathaniel McCallum

Byzantine, Texas

What if...

The Assyrians had been successful in evangelizing China?

Pravoslavie: Burial of Nestorian Christians Discovered in China

Daily Mail: Carthaginians Sacrificed Own Children - Antiquity

Catholic Online: The Monk Named Benedict in the Vatican Cloister and the Need for a Monastic Revival

What to do about Vatican II?

Fr. Hunwicke on "The Big Lie" and Moving On by Peter Kwasniewski
Fr. Z

Related:
Beyond Pius V, by Andrea Grillo - Review by Dom Alcuin Reid

A Foretaste of Wisdom: Liturgical History and the Novus Ordo

The Legacy of Joseph Ratzinger?

Two new books from Ignatius Press:

Joseph Ratzinger Collected Works, Theology of the Liturgy

This major volume is a collection of the writings of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) on the theology of the Liturgy of the Church, a subject of preeminence to him as a theologian, professor and spiritual writer. It brings together all his writings on the subject, short and long, giving his views on liturgical matters and questions over many years and from various perspectives.

He chose to have his writings on the Liturgy for the first volume published of his collected works (though listed as vol. 11) because, as he says in the Introduction: "The liturgy of the Church has been for me since my childhood the central reality of my life, and it became the center of my theological efforts. I chose fundamental theology as my field because I wanted first and foremost to examine thoroughly the question: Why do we believe? But also included from the beginning in this question was the other question of the right response to God and, thus, the question of the liturgy."

Pope Benedict Sets the Course by Gero P. Weishaupt
The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI and the Explanatory Letter to the Bishops

Dr. Anthony P. Andres on Chance

TAC: Lecture, Dr. Anthony P. Andres: “Does God Play Dice With The World?”

OP East: A Guide to Happiness: Audio Recording

Coptic Monastery of Saint Shenouda (website):

Post by Coptic Monastery of Saint Shenouda.

Christology and the Council of Chalcedon, by Fr. Shenouda M. Ishak

Sandro Magister: The Curia of Francis, Paradise of the Multinationals

Blobs of Tissue

Here Are 12 Unborn Animals In The Womb. They're Absolutely Beautiful...Especially The Dolphin.

Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood - Saint Petersburg

Eastern Christian Books: Female Deacons in the East

What has been the teaching and historical practice of the Church of the East and the Oriental Orthodox churches regarding deaconesses? I have read the claim that the Greek word for "ordination" or "ordained" was used without specifically referring to the sacrament of orders, but I don't know how true this claim is. (For that matter, what is the position of the non-Chalcedonian churches on clerical celibacy/continence?)

Sr. Vassa Larin on Peanut Butter Toast

Post by Scott Tietje.

Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection

Eastern Dominicans: February 2014 Vocation Weekend

Why is Vatican II So Vexing? by Peter Kwasniewski


A subtitled version of the presentation given by Mons. Brunero Gherardini at the conference organized by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, Rome, December 2010.

Transcript

2014 Pan-Orthodox Liturgical Music Symposium
June 12-15, 2014
NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY, HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY (Greater Cincinnati)

"The services will feature liturgical music composed mostly in the last 20 years and will be conducted by Irene Riazanova."
So, not so traditional?

City Journal Review of The Church Building as a Sacred Place: Beauty, Transcendence, and the Eternal

City Journal: Sacred Revival by Colette Arredondo
A Catholic architect calls for churches that “look like churches.”

I actually received this book as a gift for Christmas - looking forward to reading it. Now if only Mr. Stroik would do a study of Byzantine architecture...

Duncan Stroik - faculty page
Hillenbrand Books


alt





Originality and Tradition

Duncan Stroik's YT channel

This essay, "Where East Meets West is Best," got me thinking about an English Gothic and Byzantine hybrid design for a temple. Not like the 'wholly' Byzantine style of Westminster Cathedral. I can visualize how a temple without a dome might incorporate some features of Gothic architecture, Gothic arches - it might be more (neo-)Gothic than Byzantine, in some respects - imagine transforming St. Ignatius Church with an iconostasis, for example. A neo-Gothic temple that is more of a square than the Latin cruciform shape - is that possible? Is it possible to construct a wooden dome, with ribs/slices? I think there are some Orthodox temples near here that have domes not made from stone or concrete, but I could be wrong about the construction material.

NLM: Fr. Cassian Speaks on Summorum Pontificum at Brompton Oratory - OSB Norcia

"Summorum Pontificum and Liturgical Law"
podcast

Check out the monastery's wall calendar for 2014!

Sacred Liturgy

Post by Sacra Liturgia 2013.

Has Ignatius Press become more friendly to Roman-rite traditionalists? (Possibly due to the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI?)

Remnant: Episode 5 - Tradition - Minded vs. Traditionalist What's the Deal

A satisfactory defense of Roman-rite traditionalists?

Eastern Christian Books: Dhimmitude

Eastern Christian Books: Dhimmitude - Bat  Ye'or, Understanding Dhimmitude

DVD of Bishop Borys Gudziak's First Pontifical Divine Liturgy

Post by St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church.

They may be willing to ship to the US/Canada for extra?

website for the church

Interview with Archbishop Agostino Marchetto on EWTN Radio's "Celtic Connections"

Post by EWTN.

Don't know if the audio file will be made available for download somewhere.

Directory Journal: The Splendor and Beauty of Russian Churches

What Orthodox Families Must Do to Keep the Kids Orthodox by Fr. Geoffrey Korz

Studies in Christian Ethics: Andrew Louth, "Virtue Ethics: St Maximos the Confessor and Aquinas Compared" (pdf)

Aquinas distinguishes the cardinal virtues from the theologial virtues, as Louth points out, but he also distinguishes between the infused virtues and the acquired virtues, a distinction which is missed by Louth in his essay. The infused cardinal virtues are subordinate to the theological virtues (also infused) but they cannot be acquired through practice, though it would seem that they can be strengthened to practice. (Does St. Maximus make this distinction between infused and acquired virtues?) The infused cardinal virtues are distinguished from the theological virtues by reason, but united in exercise, through grace and charity. If Louth were to take this distinction between the infused and acquired virtues into account, how would his treatment of Aquinas differ?

Medievalists.net: Christian warriors and the enslavement of fellow Christians by John Gillingham

Leftist communitarians are naive, utopian, or sheltered in their assumptions of what is required for "community." They think that it is easy to create community; one only needs a common end or purpose, something other than friendship itself (and what that necessities). This common end or purpose is sufficient to create and sustain a community, even though obtaining the goal may require some work (as in the case of scaling down or simplifying the economy). Their conception of community is more akin to a team (such as what one finds in a workplace, rather than a sports team). Even if MacIntyre is more realistic in his assumptions, recognizing the contribution of language, culture, and tradition to the formation of culture, and he recognizes that these are bound with historical ethnic groups, leftist communitarians (of whom MacIntyre may be said to be one in other respects) do not acknowledge or seem to be ignorant of the historical origins of identity.

MacIntyre himself does not think there are genuine differences between the sexes and any differences between ethnic/culture groups do not seem to factor into his considerations of multiculturalism and pluralism. Even if he thinks that pluralism is possible because there is not one "community" but many, how would he respond to those who object that the long-term consequences of pluralism are not sustainable if the state or megacity at large hits a crisis point that can only get worse?

Orthodox Chant-One is Holy(Corean ver.)

Pertinacious Papist: William L. Portier on the nouvelles and neo-scholasticism

Catholic Theological Union Duns Scotus Lecture: Paul Moses

A Good Reason to Visit LA This Year

At the Getty Villa from April 9 to August 25, 2014: Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections

And at the Getty Center from March 25 to June 22, 2014: East Meets West: Byzantine Illumination at the Cultural Crossroads

National Gallery’s ‘Heaven and Earth’ showcases Byzantium’s artistic riches

THE CHURCH ALIVE (Ep.13): The Catholic Eastern Churches

Duns Scotus

Still haven't seen the movie...


Rome Reports

RUSSIAN AMERICA: Hidden Sanctuary of the Orthodox World

Hierarchical Divine Liturgy: Nativity of the Theotokos in Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral NYC

Posting this for the ciborium/baldachin over the altar.

Te Deum

Te Deum laudamus, Gregoriano, T. Simplex; SCHOLA GREGORIANA MEDIOLANENSIS, Giovanni Vianini, Milano.It.

"The Te Deum. PLENARY INDULGENCE when recited publicly on the last day of the year. Otherwise partial. (Enchiridion indulgentiarum, 60)"

Do some Catholics mistakenly hold to a Pelagian mindset? (I'm not addressing Pope Francis on this question.) A mentality of
"works righteousness"? Does an extreme focus on indulgences in some forms of popular spirituality help us grow in charity? Or does it lead us to wrongly focus on subjective rewards instead? A truncated Christian spirituality... Orthodox/Eastern Catholics are puzzled by talk about indulgences; some even think the doctrine erroneous. How do we properly motivate people to prayer and acts of charity?

Tick Tock

VN, CMT, and PT - here to stay? Or has the realization of irrelevance not hit us yet? It may take a generation or two for a certain Uhmerican mindset to go away.

Orthodox Georgian Psaltic Chant

Derived from Byzantine chant, I think.

More on Icon "Writing"

A Symptom of Modern Blindness – Further Thoughts on the Phrase “To Write an Icon” by Andrew Gould

The Guardian: Peter Geach obituary by Jane O'Grady
Prominent Catholic philosopher admired for his mastery of logic and work on ethics

Martyrdom

Saints Cyril & Athanasius of Alexandria Institute for Orthodox Studies
February 2014 Symposium: Martyrdom - Past, Present and Future
San Francisco: February 15-16 (there is also an event in Riverside, CA)

Early registration ends on December 31. ($20 discount)


This has been making the rounds on Facebook, a talk by Cardinal Burke on the call to martyrdom.

Antiphon Articles on Bouyer

In 16.2 of Antiphon: Keith Lemna, “The Liturgical and Ascetical Heart of Louis Bouyer’s Trinitarian Theology” - Should see if I can find this article somewhere.

In 16.1: Alcuin Reid, “The Reformed Liturgy: A ‘Cadaver Decomposed’? Louis Bouyer and Liturgical Ressourcement”

Fr. Gabriel Bunge Explains His Journey to Orthodoxy

Pravoslavie: "WE HAVE TO RETURN TO OUR ROOTS." A CONVERSATION WITH FR. GABRIEL BUNGE

He recounts reading various history books and how he came to see what were the exaggerated claims of the papacy. Do such claims destroy its credibility or authority? What is official teaching? What is affirmation or interpretation of the Tradition? Can problematic statements be reconciled with a more 'moderate' understanding of the primacy of Rome?

What is the proper use of history in this case? What is its relation to the theological virtue of Faith? (That is a problem, how is the teaching authority of the Church to be understood with respect to the pope?) A historical study is necessary for us to understand how the papal office was exercised in the first millennium, what claims were made by bishops of Rome and what was accepted by other bishops.


Position of the Moscow Patriarchate on the problem of primacy in the Universal Church

Updated
FIRST WITHOUT EQUALS
The Russian Veto Against Francis and Bartholomew

Thinking a question through to a tentative answer... who doesn't enjoy doing that? There are days when I miss "doing philosophy."

Divine Personhood and the Critique of Substance Metaphysics - Fr. Dominic Holtz OP

INTRO to the Divine Liturgy of EASTERN CATHOLICS: Byzantine : St.John Chrysostom

Divine Liturgy at Monastery of the Transfiguration, Ellwood City

Divine Liturgy - Sunday before Nativity


2nd Day of the Nativity Divine Liturgy


Monastery of the Transfiguration

Canon of The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in different languages (the 9th ode)

1st ode

GOARCH: Encyclical of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for Christmas 2013

Mary Lowell on "Write" versus "Paint"

Is “Write” Wrong?: A Discussion of Iconology Lingo

Rev. Fr. James Cox

A Shepherd of the Jobless by Mark Barrett

First Things: Celibacy as Political Resistance by Grant Kaplan
Explaining Johann Möhler’s political theology to subvert state domination.

God is With Us!

Bread, A Substance?

Or an aggregate/mixture, even if it is one made through human skill? Of what relevance is the question? Transubstantiation. A doctrine of the Latin churches, or a theologoumenon given much weight? If bread is not a substance, I would think that Trent's teaching would need to be reconsidered, as the 'physics' is inaccurate, or "substance" as applied to bread would need to be understood analogously, as referring more properly to the components of bread that are substances in themselves.

The Antiquity of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation

Καλά Χριστούγεννα!

χριστός γεννάται! δοξάσατε! Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Peter Geach, R.I.P. by John Schwenkler

Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P. on the Date of Christmas

Why December 25th??

An affirmation of the possibility of Peter Faber being a relevant example today - St. Peter Faber: Model for a New Reformation by William Doino Jr.

More Modelling

‘Impossible’ Sodium Chlorides Challenge Foundation of Chemistry

NLM: Point and Counterpoint: Was the Liturgical Reform a Success?
New Website Makes Available All of the Documents of the Vatican II Liturgical Commission

Fr. Hunwicke's Stowe Test

'Organic Development' yet again

60 Minutes on Egypt's Copts

Here

Eastern Christian Books: Constantinopolitan and Byzantine Architecture

Katherine of Alexandria Official Trailer

BBC: Medieval Latin Dictionary Completed After 100 Years - Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources

Jesuit Favoritism?

Pope Francis Set to Declare Jesuit Priest a Saint

He should be honored for his tireless apostolic work during the Catholic Counter-Reformation, but is there any local or universal cult to him? The age of the Protestant Reformation (and the Catholic Counter-Reformation) is gone and one might think that the reforms needed then are not complete still. He might still be relevant, an example for us now?

Cathen
NCR Blog
Ignatian Spirituality

Edit. Vatican News

Fr. Z Pope approves canonization of St. Peter Faber, waiving the usual process

RR


RR

Mathematical Models...

Nature: Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram by Ron Cowen
A ten-dimensional theory of gravity makes the same predictions as standard quantum physics in fewer dimensions.

A book
The Holographic Principle

Pravmir: Contextual and Pastoral by Archpriest Michael Oleksa
An Essay on the 30th Anniversary of the Repose of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann

Pravmir: The 30th Anniversary of the Repose of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann

Post by Orthodoxy and the World.

His last homily.

How can there be "decentralization" within the Western patriarchate (the model being used here for convenience, not because it necessarily corresponds to ecclesial reality - we could just say the Roman-rite churches) if the metropolitans and bishops don't do what they can now, with the authority they've always had, to reform their dioceses first (and if necessary, to create new dioceses from within old ones)? How can members of a national conference of bishops discuss "national" questions if they do not even properly understand the problems besetting the local church?

Rorate Caeli: For the record: The stunning situation of the Franciscans of the Immaculate
Apostolic Commissioner: problem with FI is its "crypto-lefebvrian and definitely traditionalist drift"
* Seminary closed * no ordinations for one year * ordinands must take an oath accepting the Novus Ordo

Bishop of Rome as Universal Teacher?

A proof text which applies not only to the apostles collectively but to Peter singularly? Matthew 28: 19-20 Euntes ergo docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eos in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, docentes eos servare omnia, quaecumque mandavi vobis. Et ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi.

Greek

Archdiocesan Byzantine Choir Presents "Blessed are the Peacemakers" - November 30, 2013

CNA: Focolare Movement asks that founder's cause be opened

Chiesa: Liturgical Reform, a History to Rewrite
Half a century after “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” all of the preparatory texts are being made available to the general public for the first time. For a new comparison with the ways in which that document has been put into practice

The Federalist Option of the Bishop of Rome
More autonomy for the national episcopal conferences. And more room for different cultures. The two points on which “Evangelii Gaudium" most distinguishes itself from the magisterium of the previous popes

The Good Shepherd

Post by News.va English.

Orthodox Arts Journal: “The Icon is Making its Way in America”, an interview with Ksenia Pokrovsky

New Aidan Nichols Book from Ignatius Press

Insight Scoop: New: "Figuring out the Church: Her Marks, and Her Masters" by Aidan Nichols, OP - IP

The Drama Continues?

The Eponymous Flower: "Absolute War" Against the Franciscans of the Immaculata? The Unspeakable "Blemish"

The Liturgical Institute Summer School for 2014 features Fr. Uwe Michael Lang who will be teaching the course "Eucharist: Origins and Structure." Also teaching: Sr. Sara Butler ("Eucharist: Theological Issues") and Denis McNamara ("The Liturgical Movement").



Not to be confused with the Liturgy Institute.

The Reform of the Liturgy and the Position of the Celebrant at the Altar by Uwe Michael Lang
Latinitatis Corpus, Reginaldo Procuratore

Consecration of Bishop Kurt R. Burnette

Video streaming by Ustream

Eparchy of Passaic
New Byzantine Catholic bishop in Passaic continues 1,000-year tradition
Fr. Kurt Burnette made head of Ruthenian Eparchy of Passaic

50 Years After Sacrosanctum Concilium

The Liturgy, Fifty Years after Sacrosanctum Concilium by Dom Alcuin Reid
NLM: Is Your Liturgy Like What Vatican II Intended? by Peter Kwasniewski
Fr. Z: 50 years ago today: BUGNINICARE!
A Council Not Yet Fully Realized by Kathleen Pluth
Sacrosanctum Concilium Turns 50

Then you get the stuff over at a certain blog...
V2-50th Anniversary III: “A Reflection on the Ecumenical Impact of Sacrosanctum Concilium“
Pray Tell Live – Massimo Faggioli Interview

Sacrosanctum Concilium

Sound Bites, Even From 'Ecclesial' Sources, Are Annoying

Vatican Radio: Laity called to more formation, greater responsibility

“The lack of formation among the laity is a real serious issue because lay people are not equipped to take their full responsibility in the Church and in the world,” said Donna Orsuto, professor of theology and lay spirituality at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Parishes have a big responsibility to form the laity, she said, not only for service in the Church but also in civil society.

“The first thing is that we need a change of mindset,” she said. “When people come to church on Sunday, the primary commitment is to help them to be equipped to go out and share the Gospel in social, political and economic sectors and in their families. Even parish life and homilies... need to be constantly inviting lay people to be nourished by parish life but then to go out into the world and to share the Good News.”

St. Sabbas

Post by Holy Fathers.

† Our Venerable, Godbearing Father Sabbas the Sanctified (533)

DSPT: Dominican Colloquia in Berkeley: Philosophers & Theologians in Conversation
What Has Athens to Do with Jerusalem?
DSPT - Philosophy and Theology Colloquium
Dialogue between Philosophy and Theology in the 21st Century

July 16-20, 2014, Berkeley, California

Registration to begin January, 2014

St. John Damascene

The LAST Church Father: 7 things to know and share

† Our Righteous Father John of Damascus (760)

Byzantine Concert at Balamand Monastery P3: Hymns for St John of Damascus

St. John of Damascus, Doctor of Christian Art

Random:

The Counter-Attack?

Continuing the revolution started by the Consilium.

From Liturgical Press (what else?):
Beyond Pius V: Conflicting Interpretations of the Liturgical Reform by Andrea Grillo

It reminds me of Piero Marini's memoirs and his being a disciple of Bugnini - Challenging Reform: Realizing the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal, 1963-1975 - the old guard of the Pauline (and Pian?) reform.

This might be a more even-handed treatment of the current state of affairs in the Roman rite (and Pope Benedict XVI's efforts):
Care for the Church and Its Liturgy: A Study of Summorum Pontificum and the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite by William H. Johnston