Blessing for the Church? How she handled it may be a blessing for the Church, but the act iself?
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Friday, March 20, 2015
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Jean Duchesne on Louis Bouyer
The second segment... "L'Esprit des Lettres accueille également Jean Duchesne pour son livre Louis Bouyer, édité chez Artège. L'auteur veut nous donner des clés de lecture pour comprendre et approfondir la pensée puissamment originale du père Louis Bouyer, souvent considéré comme l'un des grands théologiens du XXe siècle."
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Eastern Christian Books: In Honour of Thomas Hopko
Eastern Christian Books: In Honour of Thomas Hopko: The news has been circulating for more than a week that the Orthodox presbyter and theologian Thomas Hopko is in his last days. I met him b...
Figuring Him Out?
Chiesa: Vatican Diary / The two-step of the Argentine pope
Perfectly in keeping with tradition when he talks about abortion, divorce, homosexuality. But also open to changes in doctrine and practice. An anthology that intensifies the mystery
Perfectly in keeping with tradition when he talks about abortion, divorce, homosexuality. But also open to changes in doctrine and practice. An anthology that intensifies the mystery
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Actuosa, Again
NLM: A Note on Participation: What Can We Learn from the Word Actuosa? by Peter Kwasniewski
Funny that he cites Fr. Bouyer: "Louis Bouyer's definition is therefore perfectly on target: “Participation in the liturgy is the reception of sacramental grace through a living faith illumined and enflamed by the liturgy itself.”" After all, Fr. Bouyer was no Latin traditionalist.
Interior participation is nonetheless founded upon intelligibility of the liturgy.
Funny that he cites Fr. Bouyer: "Louis Bouyer's definition is therefore perfectly on target: “Participation in the liturgy is the reception of sacramental grace through a living faith illumined and enflamed by the liturgy itself.”" After all, Fr. Bouyer was no Latin traditionalist.
Interior participation is nonetheless founded upon intelligibility of the liturgy.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Progress in the Spiritual Life
As one makes progress in the mystical life, do the different roles of the Persons of the Trinity become more apparent? And does one become more explicitly oriented to God the Father?
Sunday, March 15, 2015
The Devotion to St. Joseph
Saint Josemaria and the Role of Saint Joseph in Christian Life
Devotion to St. Joseph and to the Holy Family - one can say that in the industrial west, with the loss of the family and misandry, there is a need for the devotion to St. Joseph as foster-father to Christ, husband to the Theotokos. Would it have gained such prominence if deification and supernatural adoption had remained at the forefront of Western spirituality, though? And we were thus properly engaged with Christ's and our relationship with God the Father? (Similarly, is devotion to the Holy Family as circumscribed as the Western devotion to the infant Christ at Christmas (which Louis Bouyer critiques in Liturgical Piety)?
Again, there may be a need now for St. Joseph as a role-model for men who wish to be good husbands and fathers. And perhaps depictions of the Holy Family, with Christ as a child, are not so out of place when we remember that icons of the Theotokos also have Christ depicted as a child. Is it part of Byzantine canon for St. Joseph to be depicted with the Christ child?
While there may be an older Latin devotion to St. John the Baptist comparable to the one in the East, it does not seem to be so prominent, at least in American churches?
The Importance of Devotion to St. Joseph
QUAMQUAM PLURIES
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON DEVOTION TO ST. JOSEPH
Devotion to St. Joseph and to the Holy Family - one can say that in the industrial west, with the loss of the family and misandry, there is a need for the devotion to St. Joseph as foster-father to Christ, husband to the Theotokos. Would it have gained such prominence if deification and supernatural adoption had remained at the forefront of Western spirituality, though? And we were thus properly engaged with Christ's and our relationship with God the Father? (Similarly, is devotion to the Holy Family as circumscribed as the Western devotion to the infant Christ at Christmas (which Louis Bouyer critiques in Liturgical Piety)?
Again, there may be a need now for St. Joseph as a role-model for men who wish to be good husbands and fathers. And perhaps depictions of the Holy Family, with Christ as a child, are not so out of place when we remember that icons of the Theotokos also have Christ depicted as a child. Is it part of Byzantine canon for St. Joseph to be depicted with the Christ child?
While there may be an older Latin devotion to St. John the Baptist comparable to the one in the East, it does not seem to be so prominent, at least in American churches?
The Importance of Devotion to St. Joseph
QUAMQUAM PLURIES
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON DEVOTION TO ST. JOSEPH
Saturday, March 14, 2015
St. Josemaria Institute Podcast
Opus Dei: New Prayer Resource
Talks and meditations by priests of Opus Dei. Recent additions include 3 talks on “Pope Francis: His Life and Papacy and the Synod on the Family,” and meditations for the Sundays in Lent.
Talks and meditations by priests of Opus Dei. Recent additions include 3 talks on “Pope Francis: His Life and Papacy and the Synod on the Family,” and meditations for the Sundays in Lent.
The One Christ
The One Christ: St. Augustine's Theology of Deification by David Vincent Meconi, SJ
Google Books
From earlier this year: Renowned Thomist Fr. Meconi Delivers Lecture to Christendom
At Steubenville: Being Transformed in Christ
He is currently editing a volume of essays on deification in the Latin tradition.
Google Books
From earlier this year: Renowned Thomist Fr. Meconi Delivers Lecture to Christendom
At Steubenville: Being Transformed in Christ
He is currently editing a volume of essays on deification in the Latin tradition.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Adam DeVille Interviews Fr. John P. Manoussakis
Philosophy, Theology, and the Search for Unity: An Interview with John P. Manoussakis
Is the local or particular Church the national Church? Or the church of a "city," over which one bishop presides? Is it a mistake to think of the national Church as the "local" Church? I think so... especially when it comes to properly understanding the office of the primate (or patriarch) and the limits of his office.
AD: I was of course especially interested in your chapter on Petrine Primacy, and I genuinely appreciated your direct but courteous disagreement (fn. 26, p.31) with my proposal (in Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy: Ut Unum Sint and the Prospects of East-West Unity) for a permanent ecumenical synod, which I was modeling more on the "synodos endemousa" of Constantinople than the idea of a permanent ecumenical council which, following Zizioulas (with whom I agree) is indeed an event rather than an institution. Is there value for a permanent or standing synod around the one who exercises the Petrine primacy so that it does not become unilateral or unbalanced--that the papal "monarchism" of the past does not rear its head again?
That’s a good question. I think that the confusion here might be due to a certain equivocity. There are to different bodies that bear the designation of a synod: the synod of one particular Church, assembled around its primus or prōtos, and the ecumenical synod or council. The latter is indeed an event and not an institution and therefore it cannot be a permanent body. The former, however, is an institution and it is characterized by permanence. The difference is the following: the synod of a Church is comprised by hierarchs of that Church alone: a bishop who does not belong to that local Church cannot participate in it. While the ecumenical synod aspires to the maximum representation of all hierarchs of all local Churches (it is for this reason that no synod in the Orthodox Church has been designated as ecumenical after the separation from Rome). One needs to respect the difference of these two bodies, even though they both are synods of bishops. To create a hybrid third synod that would borrow the regularity of the local synod but also be comprised by hierarchs of other local churches, as in the case of an ecumenical council, is, in my view, problematic. Nevertheless, there is a point of cardinal importance implied in your suggestion which is the need to inscribe primacy within synodality (that is, the primus, even “the universal primus,” is always in reference to a synod) and, conversely, every synod (even the ecumenical synod) is headed by a primus. This principle, however, does not necessitate that the synod of the primus on the universal level be also a permanent synod: for whoever this primus is, he is also the primate who presides over the synod of his local church, and that is a permanent body of ecclesial governance. The risk of monarchism would be accentuated were we to grant to one primate the presiding role of two permanent synods at the same time, one of his local Church, the other of the universal Church.
Is the local or particular Church the national Church? Or the church of a "city," over which one bishop presides? Is it a mistake to think of the national Church as the "local" Church? I think so... especially when it comes to properly understanding the office of the primate (or patriarch) and the limits of his office.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
What if you had a conference and nobody cared?
Vatican event tackles tough question of women's role in church
White knights shielding a delusional woman:
The moment of female Islamic theologians has come, they are an antidote to extremists
Is she a recognized Muslim "theologian"? No, a Catholic one, teaching in Rome, not in Iran or in the Middle East:
"A theologian and professor of Islamic studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, Shahrzad Houshmand Zadeh studied Islamic theology in Qom and Teheran. In Italy she gained a degree in Catholic Theology from the Faculty of Theology in Reggio Calabria (South Italy). The mother of three has always been engaged in the field of Islamic-Christian dialogue. She is co-founder and president of an association called “Donne per la dignità” (“Women for dignity”) and has worked with Rome’s Inter-confessional Center for Peace (CIPAX) since 2005."
Just a fluff piece trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. Vatican Insider loses respectability as any sort of outlet of critical journalism.
White knights shielding a delusional woman:
The moment of female Islamic theologians has come, they are an antidote to extremists
Is she a recognized Muslim "theologian"? No, a Catholic one, teaching in Rome, not in Iran or in the Middle East:
"A theologian and professor of Islamic studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, Shahrzad Houshmand Zadeh studied Islamic theology in Qom and Teheran. In Italy she gained a degree in Catholic Theology from the Faculty of Theology in Reggio Calabria (South Italy). The mother of three has always been engaged in the field of Islamic-Christian dialogue. She is co-founder and president of an association called “Donne per la dignità” (“Women for dignity”) and has worked with Rome’s Inter-confessional Center for Peace (CIPAX) since 2005."
Just a fluff piece trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. Vatican Insider loses respectability as any sort of outlet of critical journalism.
Naturally Human, Supernaturally God: Deification in Pre-Conciliar Catholicism
Fortress Press
"Naturally Human, Supernaturally God seeks to open a small window upon an interesting case of theological convergence between three of the most important theologians of the pre-Conciliar period of Catholic theology, Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange O.P., Karl Rahner S.J., and Henri de Lubac S.J.,..."
Google Books
"Naturally Human, Supernaturally God seeks to open a small window upon an interesting case of theological convergence between three of the most important theologians of the pre-Conciliar period of Catholic theology, Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange O.P., Karl Rahner S.J., and Henri de Lubac S.J.,..."
Google Books
Lecture by Dr. Marcus Plested
First time I've come across this: The Dumb Ox and the Orthodox: A review of Orthodox Readings of Aquinas by Andrew Louth
Fr. Matthew would have been keen to follow any developments in the dialogue between Byzantine theology and Thomism...
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Communion with Christ
Writings and life of Edith Stein shed light on what "Communion with Christ" really means
Fr. Bouyer has high praise for the three 20th century Carmelite saints; maybe Sr. M. Regina van den Berg should do a book tour.
Fr. Bouyer has high praise for the three 20th century Carmelite saints; maybe Sr. M. Regina van den Berg should do a book tour.
Be Careful of Who You Get in Bed With
Latins and Westerners have no problem saying this about Patriarch Kirill and Putin...
Misapplication of Human Virtues to God?
Does God not reveal His glory in His creation? And even more so in the deification of men? (And of angels?)
Monday, March 09, 2015
50 Years
NLM: Dom Alcuin Reid on the 50th Anniversary of Mass in the Vernacular by Gregory DiPippo
RC: The 50th Anniversary of Paul VI's First Italian Mass
Some hard truths about the "1965 Missal" and the Liturgical Reform
Edit.
RC: Pope Francis on liturgical reform and Vatican II: no turning back
RC: The 50th Anniversary of Paul VI's First Italian Mass
Some hard truths about the "1965 Missal" and the Liturgical Reform
Edit.
RC: Pope Francis on liturgical reform and Vatican II: no turning back
Sunday, March 08, 2015
Saturday, March 07, 2015
Farewell, My Friend
May Our Eternal Priest bring you to the Father and bless us with His Spirit, bringing us to Him so that one day we meet again in Paradise.
Αἰωνία ἡ μνήμη, Memory Eternal.
Friday, March 06, 2015
Thursday, March 05, 2015
New Book on the Spiritual Teachings of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Insight Scoop: New: "Communion with Christ According to St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross"
Now available from Ignatius Press:
Communion with Christ According to St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross By Sister M. Regina Van den Berg
Now available from Ignatius Press:
Communion with Christ According to St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross By Sister M. Regina Van den Berg
Ho Hum
Vatican Insider: Approval of new statutes has produced neither winners nor losers by ANDREA TORNIELLI
The internal debate over the powers to be attributed to the Secretariat headed by Cardinal Pell has led to a balanced result. Which can still be improved
The internal debate over the powers to be attributed to the Secretariat headed by Cardinal Pell has led to a balanced result. Which can still be improved
Martyrdom in the 21st Century
Chiesa: Saint Milad Saber and His Twenty Companions
Their story is the same as the Acts of the Martyrs of the first centuries. Killed by the sword of Islam out of pure hatred for their Christian faith
by Sandro Magister
Their story is the same as the Acts of the Martyrs of the first centuries. Killed by the sword of Islam out of pure hatred for their Christian faith
by Sandro Magister
Wednesday, March 04, 2015
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Monday, March 02, 2015
Sunday, March 01, 2015
Fr. Theodore Jurewicz
Icons
From 2013: New York's answer to the Sistine Chapel: Priest spends six years covering every wall of his church in vivid byzantine style religious paintings
(also published at NY Daily News)
St. Stephen Orthodox Church, Lackawanna, New York
From 2011: ICON-IC: Priest working on New Haven's church murals for 28 years (video)
Fresco Project
New Gračanica Monastery
Photo and photo
ByzCath thread with links
Iconographers - Linkedn
From 2013: New York's answer to the Sistine Chapel: Priest spends six years covering every wall of his church in vivid byzantine style religious paintings
(also published at NY Daily News)
St. Stephen Orthodox Church, Lackawanna, New York
From 2011: ICON-IC: Priest working on New Haven's church murals for 28 years (video)
Fresco Project
New Gračanica Monastery
Photo and photo
ByzCath thread with links
Iconographers - Linkedn
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Psychosomatic Unity Realized in Prayer
Stand, Bow, Prostrate: The Prayerful Body of Coptic Christianity
Coptic monastics were indeed wary of the hesychastic practices of the Jesus Prayer that developed later in the Eastern churches, and it may seem that such suspicion is somehow a teaching against engaging the body in formalized asceticism – for example, of sitting in silence and using the recommended breathing exercises. Yet the suspicion of hesychastic practice is not, in fact, a suspicion of the use of the body in prayer, but instead simply a rejection of the complicated system of hesychasm. Fr. Matta el-Meskeen, for instance, in his book on Orthodox Prayer Life, comments that hesychasm made the method of unceasing prayer lose its former simplicity. He claims that the method of unceasing prayer “shifted from its ascetical position as a humbling practice by itself to a mystical position, with programs, stipulations, technical and mechanical bases, degrees, objectives, results…”[4] Instead, he prefers the simplicity of praying while working and in common human duties, which is likewise a practice found in both Eastern and Western Christian monasticism, stating that this allows for God to share in human work, and helps the person to discern God’s calling in regards to work.[5] It is believed that work by itself does not help to save a monk or nun from distractions and temptations, but that the necessity of repeating short prayers along with working helps to keep the mind occupied. Labor mingled with constant prayer, whether short formulas of Psalms or the Jesus Prayer, allows the person to express his love for God continuously. This practice of praying unceasingly while working became one of the accepted forms of prayer in the Coptic Church.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Thursday, February 26, 2015
A Nice Ecumenical Gesture or a Papal Act That Deserved Second Thoughts?
St. Gregory of Narek: Was the New Doctor of the Church a Catholic? by Dr. R. Jared Staudt
St. Gregory is the first Doctor of the Church to have lived outside direct communion with the Bishop of Rome.
Maybe some Latin traditionalists have been receptive to the news because they think this increases the possibility of Msgr. Lefebvre being canonized some day?
St. Gregory is the first Doctor of the Church to have lived outside direct communion with the Bishop of Rome.
Maybe some Latin traditionalists have been receptive to the news because they think this increases the possibility of Msgr. Lefebvre being canonized some day?
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The Burden Is on the Ukrainians First
Let them go in peace. How many Ukrainians really want to sacrifice their men to keep under their government those who wish to leave? Or is this really about territory and resources?
Post by Risu English.
Still Too Early in the Pontificate
Making Sense of Pope Francis by Carrie Gress, Ph.D.
Austen Ivereigh’s The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope offers many insights into Francis, but does have a serious weakness
(via Insight Scoop)
Austen Ivereigh’s The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope offers many insights into Francis, but does have a serious weakness
(via Insight Scoop)
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Patriarch John X Visits Patriarch Kirill
Patriarch of Great Antioch and All the East arrives in Moscow
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Antioch
Primates of Antiochian and Russian Orthodox Churches celebrate Liturgy at Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on Forgiveness Sunday
Patriarch John X of Antioch’s homily on Sunday of Forgiveness
Primate of Orthodox Church of Antioch completes his visit to Russia
Misc.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Antioch
Primates of Antiochian and Russian Orthodox Churches celebrate Liturgy at Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on Forgiveness Sunday
Patriarch John X of Antioch’s homily on Sunday of Forgiveness
Primate of Orthodox Church of Antioch completes his visit to Russia
Misc.
Theotokos Institute for Catholic Studies
Vatican Observers Observing
Chiesa: Vatican Diary / Kangaroo hunt and other stories
Australian cardinal Pell encircled by adversaries. Sant’Egidio eclipsing the secretariat of state. A new Argentine vicar for Opus Dei
Australian cardinal Pell encircled by adversaries. Sant’Egidio eclipsing the secretariat of state. A new Argentine vicar for Opus Dei
Monday, February 23, 2015
Ecumenism According to Joseph Ratzinger
Ecumenism according to Ratzinger: Pluriform unity
In a speech delivered in 1993 the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith talked about the path toward unity between the Churches and about possible “intermediate solutions” before full communion could be achieved: “There is a duty to let oneself be purified and enriched by the other”
ANDREA TORNIELLI
In a speech delivered in 1993 the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith talked about the path toward unity between the Churches and about possible “intermediate solutions” before full communion could be achieved: “There is a duty to let oneself be purified and enriched by the other”
ANDREA TORNIELLI
A Nice Gesture But..
Do we need these sort of honorary titles given by papal fiat if we are working towards reconciliation? It may strike some to be more of the mindset of promoting "diversity" in a Rome-centered Church that guides the selection of cardinals. Does the Christian East pay any attention to such titles?
Vatican Insider
Armenian Weekly
Vatican Insider
Armenian Weekly
Why can't we have temples like this in the U.S.?
Supposedly this is a photo of Resurrection Church in Kfarakka, Lebanon.
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