It's Official

As of September I will no longer be the Director of Music and Liturgy at my parish. I have accepted a position as Coordinator of Youth Ministry at a parish in the Archdiocese of Boston.

This new position will allow me to combine my love of liturgy and theology with a desire to help young Catholics grow in vibrant faith.

This parish has a history of being less than 100% orthodox, but I have been assured that my theological views won't be in conflict with the pastor's vision. Perhaps there is a desire to grow in orthodoxy.

I am both excited and scared, but after meeting the young people I am confident that they are looking to grow and mature in faith.

How 1930's are you?

73 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

Hmmm, interesting result. Definately not what I expected.

There is also a test for the men.

Prayer Request Update

It looks like I will have a change of ministries. I should know for sure by the beginning of July.
New parish, new city, new pastor, new ministry, new diocese. I'm scared, but I have to do what I have to do in order to be able to afford to stay in ministry.

Keep the prayers coming that I am not making a huge mistake.

Out of Context?

John Allen wrote an article on the happening at the USCCB debate on the new liturgical translations. He quotes Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco as saying

“It’s an imperfect sacramentary for an imperfect people, to be prayed by a celebrant who is also imperfect,” “I respect those who say let’s move forward and get a new sacramentary, before they all fall apart in the sacristy.”

Wow, with passion for excellence like that...
I really hope the quote means that the archbishop was merely suggesting that the bishops come to a consensus and not implying that errors and poor translations were unimportant.

Missing Crozier

Have you seen this crozier?

From the Gallup Independent:

Officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup are asking for the public’s help in the return of a historical ceremonial item that was stolen in Gallup earlier this week.


A gold-plated crosier — a pastoral staff that symbolizes the governing office of a bishop — was apparently stolen from an unlocked pickup owned by one of Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted’s assistants sometime between Sunday and Wednesday evening, according to Lee Lamb, the communications director for the diocese.


On Thursday, Lamb released information about the theft with the expressed hope that publicity would result in the crosier’s return or recovery. The crosier is about 6 feet in length and is decorated with gold-plating and jewels, which Lamb believes are glass stones. The metal crosier, which resembles a shepherd’s staff with an ornate spiral crook, is very heavy and can be dismantled into several smaller sections for storage in a black carrying case. The crosier was taken in its case.


Lamb said he didn’t know the actual value of the crosier but estimated it would cost the diocese between $3,000 and $5,000 to replace it. However, its greater value may be rooted in it its history.


“Bishop Olmsted’s crosier dates back to 1940 when Pope Pius XII named Fr. Bernard T. Espelage, OFM, the Diocese of Gallup’s first bishop,” Lamb said in an e-mail....

Roots and Wings?

Some people say that the best things we can give to our children are roots and wings. Roots, so they always have a place to call home, and wings so they can be free to explore the world on their own.

This week was a milestone in my household. I enrolled JP in one of our local Catholic schools this week. Just filling out the paperwork made me teary eyed. No, not because of the payment booklet which was being prepared for me, but because my little guy was so confident and excited.

I don't think there is anything about that school that he doesn't like. He especially loves his new uniform. We went to the uniform store so he could get fitted and he didn't want to take it off. He feels so grown up in it.

I know that when September comes, he will be fine and I will be the one crying. Until then, I will treasure the last few months where he is all mine.

Prayer Request

I have been absent from blogging for a while because there is a whole lot going on right now that I can't get into right now.

School has started up again and is going very well, even if it is more work than I planned on for this summer. I may also possibly have a new adventure which would fulfill so many of my dreams.

Please keep me in your prayers that this all works according to God's will.

Introducing Benedetto!

Thanks to the lovely people at the Rhode Island SPCA, my family welcomed a new furry member today. His name is Benny and he is 8 weeks old. He was born on March 19th (St. Joseph's Day). He is a brown tabby and white with a van pattern. His mother is a brown tabby domestic shorthair and his father is unknown. Whatever the mixture, this little guy has stolen our hearts.

If you are in the New England area, Benny has three adorable brothers who are also looking for homes.









All Photos by Domini Sumus

Fr. Spags

I found this in the newspaper last week. Please pray for his soul.

Dominic George Spagnolia, 70, of 41 Maple St. and a former Franklin resident, died peacefully at his home on Tuesday, May 6, 2008.

Born in Cambridge, October 24, 1937, a son of the late Domenic and Eloise (Nugent) Spagnolia, he was raised and educated in Belmont, and was a 1956 graduate of Belmont High School.

He is survived by his sister, Maryjanice Ingram and her husband, David of Saco, Maine; 2 nephews, Jason and Justin Ingram; and his devoted partner Richard Connor of New Bedford.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend his funeral Saturday, May 10th at 2:00PM at his late residence, 41 Maple St., New Bedford, and may call on Friday from 6-9PM and Saturday from 10AM to 2:00PM. Interment will take place in the family lot in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge Monday at 11AM.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory sent to the Olive Branch, 10 Main St., Franklin, MA 02038 would be appreciated.

Funeral arrangements are under the care and direction of the Charles F. Oteri & Son Franklin Funeral Home, 33 Cottage St., Franklin.

www.franklinfuneral.com.

Dominic George Spagnolia is Fr. D. George Spagnolia, a priest formerly of the Archdiocese of Boston who was removed from his pastorate, at St. Patrick's in Lowell, 6 years ago by Cardinal Law after allegations of homosexuality activity and sexual abuse of a child were made against him.

Fr. Spagnolia had been a main critic of Cardinal Law's, and his predecessors, handling of the sexual abuse crisis in Boston. Spagnolia was portrayed as a hero in the movie "Our Fathers" where he was played by Brian Dennehy.

A Kingdom for a Kingdom

Would you trade an eternal kingdom for a almost non-existant chance to gain an earthly kingdom? I wouldn't but Autumn Kelly did.

Autumn Kelly is a Canadian woman who married Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne and is 11th in line for the British throne. Great Britan still holds to the archaic rule that anyone who becomes Catholic or marries a Catholic loses their claim to the throne. Kelly is a Catholic who renounced her faith and joined the Anglican church so Peter wouldn't lose his place in line. No matter what the media claims, she didn't have to renounce her faith. Other British royals have given up their unrealistic claims without problems. They aren't beheading anymore.

If either of them think Peter Phillips has any chance of becoming king, they are kidding themselves. Unfortunately, there is a real kingdom is in their reach, but the allure of gold and jewels and a royal life has seduced Autumn. I hope she has a happier life as a member of the royal family than the others who have gone before her.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Sang Tan, Pool

Wedding Season

Wedding Season is here. I have a wedding next weekend and I met with two couples this weekend. I am tired of the "traditional" wedding repertoire, but my attempts to persuade couples away from these tired selections is in vain. They all seem to want the soap opera wedding. I am often tempted to ask them if they also want what comes after. Yes, the soap opera or fairy tale wedding is lavish and some may consider it beautiful (I don't), but how many couples ask for the soap opera marriage?

Most of the couples who come through my office hold the delusion that love will get them through anything. They are so much in love that nothing could possibly ever rock them. As great as that feeling is, it's not reality.

We don't know what happened after Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, or Snow White married the prince, but we do know that their courtship left much to be desired. They fell madly in lust and decided to marry. They know nothing about each other, but they marry anyway. Then Prince Charming carries his bride off into the sunset on his white steed. We never find out what happens next, but I have my suspicions that it isn't happily ever after.

Couples getting married today do much of the same. The Church requires that couples participate in marriage prep classes and in my diocese they also must take the FOCCUS. Prospective brides and grooms tend to view this as an unfair hoop they must jump through to satisfy the Church. They never consider that this may help prevent future problems. The FOCCUS results are often frightening. Many couples have never discussed the simplest matters of faith, children, and finances.

I don't understand how a couple can marry without knowing anything about the other party. I have even met brides who didn't know what their fiances did for work! Still, they claim to be in love. They aren't! Then are in lust, infatuation, excitement, anything you want to call it.

Many couples walk into marriage blindly and their plan their wedding Masses the same way.

Couples: Reconsider the "traditional" wedding that you want and ask yourself if it really sends the message you want to say. Consider walking into the church together. The bride and groom are equal partners in marriage, but are unequal during the wedding. The tradition where the groom stands near the altar while the bride walks down the aisle with her father goes back to the days when a woman was considered the property of her father or husband. It is literally a delivery and transfer of property. Of course, that isn't how brides think of it. They see themselves as the princess. The center of attention. They are going to meet their prince at the altar.

When both the bride and groom walk in the procession together or with their parents, they demonstrate that they are equal partners. It's not all about the bride and she isn't becoming the property of the groom. They are entering to marriage as equals and are exercising their roles as the ministers of the Sacrament. Yes, a bride and groom marry each other with the priest there to solemnize and bless the bond.

Of course, that sort of wedding makes "Here Comes the Bride" sound a little ridiculous. The processional hymn which was played at my Nuptial Mass was also used as a processional at the Papal Mass in Washington DC. You can hear it here at 4:50. The hymn is "Go Up to the Altar of God" by Fr. James Chepponis. It was played at my wedding on organ, trumpet and tympani and it truly said how we intended to begin and live our marriage together.

Don't want into marriage blindly and don't allow your Nuptial Mass to be planned blindly according to traditions of questionable quality.

Puppy Names

I am looking for names for a male black lab puppy. We don't have him yet, but hope to have him soon. So far JP's favorites are Salty and Athanasius. Yeah, I know...quite a difference. He's an eclectic sort of kid. :-)

Put any suggestions in the combox.

Prayer Request

My blog was found today by someone in Texas who was searching for post-abortion care information. Please pray for this person and all those who have had abortions, are considering one, and will consider one in the future.

Pope Well After Fall

For all of you who have wondered why the Masters of Ceremonies hold the hem of the Holy Father's alb when he climbs stairs, here is your answer.

It's a long garment which needs to be lifted so one doesn't step on the alb and fall. It's something I have seen many times at Mass and Pope Benedict gave everyone an example of exactly how it can occur last Sunday at the Pentecost Mass.

Rome Reports has the story and video.

The good news: The Holy Father was unhurt and continued his day as planned.

Cardinals Face New Trial in Pollution Case

From USA Today:

Italy's top criminal court overturned the acquittals of a Vatican cardinal and another top churchman accused of environmental pollution involving a Vatican Radio transmission tower near Rome, news reports said Tuesday night.
The Court of Cassation ordered a new appeals trial for Cardinal Roberto Tucci, formerly head of the radio's management committee, and the Rev. Pasquale Borgomeo, its former director general, the ANSA and Apcom news agencies said.

Calls to lawyers and to Vatican Radio were not answered late Tuesday.

The two churchmen were acquitted last year after in an appeal of their 2005 conviction in a lower court, which sided with consumer groups representing people living near the tower who claimed its electromagnetic emissions were a health hazard and violated environmental limits.

The lower court had sentenced the two each to 10 days in jail, but sentences were immediately suspended during their appeals.

It was not known when the new appeals trial would take place, as the Court of Cassation must first publish its reasoning for the decision.

A Vatican-Italian government commission was set up as part of a 2001 agreement between both sides to monitor tower emissions. The Vatican has said that measurements show it has respected limits since signing the agreement.

Halfway There

I have finished my second year of college. When I first started it seemed like it was going to take forever. It didn't help that everyone in one of my first courses was a senior. Listening to them talk about graduation just made it feel like an endless process.

Now, here I am half way through. There is something about the halfway point that makes it seem like the end is coming too quickly. I am starting to check out grad schools and will be taking the GRE in just about a year. Wow!

I have two weeks off before I get back to school because I take summer classes, but I get the entire month of August off. I plan to spend the next two weeks reading things I actually want to read. So far, I have read two chapters of Archbishop Piero Marini's latest book, A Challenging Reform.

Convert Baptized by Pope Writes Book

Here are some excerpts which were published in Corriere della Sera from Magdi Christiano Allam's new book “Grazie Gesù. La mia conversione dall'islam al cattolicesimo” [Thank You Jesus. My Conversion from Islam to Christianity] . In the book, Allam, who converted from Islam to Catholicism recounts his road to conversion. In these excerpts he describes his baptism:

It was the best day of my life. Receiving the gift of the Christian faith on the day of Christ’s Resurrection from the hand of the Holy Father is a matchless privilege and inestimable blessing. For me, at the age of almost 56, it was a unique, unforgettable historic event that signalled a radical, definitive change with respect to the past. During the night of 22 March 2008, on the occasion of the Easter Vigil, at the solemn liturgy celebrated in the magnificence of the Basilica of St Peter’s, the cradle of Catholicism, I was reborn in Christ. At the end of a long, protracted struggle, lived out as a Muslim by reason of the legacy inherited from my parents and with a personal history of lacerating doubts and torments, there ignited within me, by divine will and responsible choice, the light of the true Christian faith. My spiritual metamorphosis unfolded from nine o’clock over three hours that seemed as if they would never end. I passed those hours in uncontrollable excitement, outwardly betrayed by my tingling nerves, over the radical nature of the life experience that was taking place inside me and, I admit, in part because of the cold that gripped me and stayed with me from the beginning of the imposing ceremony in the atrium of the Basilica, accompanied by rain and icy temperatures.

Inside the Basilica, the lights had been extinguished. I was outside with six other adult catachumens waiting to receive the sacraments of Christian initiation, seated on the part of the parvis most exposed to the wind. It was in that damp cold, which usually makes me a little agitated and means I have to concentrate more to listen, reflect, assess and elaborate concepts, that I began to relive the film of my inner life. Half a century was reviewed frame by frame and sliced up with the now uncompromising, now compassionate scalpel of religion, calm enough for one last unconscious confirmation of a decision already taken consciously yet at the same time with sufficient urgency to recompose the overall framework of my existence into a harmonious whole, joyfully to register the image of the long-awaited, soon to be accomplished, Event, as I reinterpreted my past while redefining and revolutionising my future. (...) From the atrium, Benedict XVI led the procession towards the altar after the deacon, chanting the Lumen Christi for the third time, had brought the splendour of light back to the Basilica.

Then began the crucial stage of my conversion to Christianity, to which evidently I was called by the grace of God that had accompanied me from my youngest days, bringing into my path a series of “coincidences” that were anything but fortuitous, concealing as they did the will of the Lord that discreetly comes to meet us without making its presence palpable. As I slowly walked down the nave at the rear of the procession, my mind at once went back to the key event that started me on the route of interior spirituality at the age of four, and would more than half a century later culminate in my conversion to Christ. It was September 1956. I still have clear in my mind the day on which my long travails began. I had burst into tears as my mother Safeya, aided and persuaded by the Caccias, the family of wealthy Italian textile magnates resident for generations in my native Cairo, handed me over to Sister Lavinia. She hid me under her habit so I would not see my mother entrusting me to the education and affection of the Combonian sisters and their devotion to St Joseph. Later on, from the last year of primary school to the last year of my scientific secondary school, I studied at the Salesian Don Bosco Institute.

For fourteen years, I lived in boarding schools run by Catholic religious orders (...) I was able to gain first-hand experience of the lives of women and men who had chosen to devote their lives to God in the Church by serving their neighbours, regardless of religion or nationality, and who bore witness to their Christian faith in works for the common good and the interest of the community. There I began to read the Bible and the Gospels with interest and involvement, particularly enthralled by the human and divine figure of Jesus. I was able to attend the church of St Joseph opposite the Combonian sisters’ school and the church of Don Bosco at the Salesian Institute. Every so often, I went to holy mass and once I actually approached the altar and received communion. From the religious point of view, it was an act without significance since I hadn’t been christened but it clearly signalled my attraction for Christianity and my desire to feel myself part of the Catholic community. (...) My conversion did not come about in a flash after some traumatic, joyful or sad event, nor was it merely a rational adherence prompted by reading sacred texts, or a purely intellectual confrontation with supporters or opponents of the Catholic faith.

Instead conversion was the ripe fruit of a long journey through a life of study and direct familiarity with the sources of wisdom but above all, with experiences of otherness that involved me entirely, slowly laying down in my soul and mind ever thicker layers of spiritual and rational adherence to the love and faith of Jesus. (...) Finally came the crucial moment of Baptism. I was being reborn in Christ and was about to take my first steps as an authentic Christian. I stood up and walked to the baptismal font, accompanied by my godfather. For the first time, I stood before Benedict XVI. I knew that at that precise moment, the destiny assigned to me by divine grace fifty-six years earlier, from my birth, was being fulfilled. I bowed with the respect and humility of a believer in the religious primacy of the Pope as Christ’s vicar on earth. I approached the font, stooped and Benedict XVI poured the blessed water over my head. “I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost”. (...)

The moments immediately preceding my baptism and the baptism itself I experienced as an authentic liberation. For fifty-six years, I perceived myself as a Muslim and others around me identified me as a Muslim. At the age of fifty-six, I was born again as a Christian, cancelling out the Islamic identity that I have consciously and deliberately rejected. Inside me and outside, everything will change. Nothing will remain as it was before. For those who, like me, consider religious faith and the sphere of absolute, universal, transcendent values to be the foundation of life, thought and action, adherence to Christianity takes the form of a radical change in the whole of personality and existence. Naturally, it will take some time for this adherence to faith in Jesus to grow increasingly full and heartfelt. I feel like a child taking his first hesitant steps in his new Christian life. But I have a great desire to walk and run as a Christian! Thank you, Jesus.

Humans vs. Pre-Humans

Catholic News Service reports that in the May 5-6 edition of L'Osservatore Romano, was written by Italian evolutionary biologist Fiorenzo Facchini claims that although apes evolved pre-human creatures, but God that turned them into humans.

"The formation of human beings necessitated a particular contribution by God, though it remains that their emergence was brought about by natural causes" of evolution, it said.

Rather than saying that humans evolved from chimps, Faccini wrote,

"No, it might be better to say that at some point God willed a spark of intelligence to light up in the mind of a nonhuman hominid and thus came into existence the human as a being, as a subject capable of thought and the ability to decide freely," it said.

In other words, pre-humans did not become human until their recieved the breath of God.

Fire at Our Lady of the Lake

There is currently a fire burning in the main building at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. The fire was contained an hour and a half ago, but please keep those affected in your prayers.

WOAI TV reports:

Firefighters continue to battle a fire at Our Lady of the Lake University on the West Side.

The call came out just before 8 p.m. on the 400 block of SW 24th Street. Thirty-eight fire units have been dispatched to the scene.

The fire is believed to have started on the fourth floor of Main Building on the campus. The building was evacuated. Some people had to be treated for smoke inhalation. The flames appear to have consumed the roof of the building.

Firefighters have prevented the fire from spreading to other nearby buildings.

Students and staff gathered across the street from the school. Many were in tears as they watched the flames.

"This is definitely going to be a loss to the city of San Antonio," Chief Randy Jenkins.

A woman who was inside the building when the fire started told News 4 she did not smell any smoke prior to being evacuated. The student said they didn't think it was anything serious until they got outside and "saw the flames shoot up from nowhere."

The Red Cross has dispatched crews to help the firefighters. They are also sending a disaster relief team to the scene.

Firefighters went room-to-room to make sure everyone was evacuated. The San Antonio Fire Departrment said all of the students have been accounted for. accommodations are being made for the students who were displaced by the fire.

San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood said it was stubborn fire and that strong winds fueled the flames.

The university was founded in 1895 by the Sisters of the Congregation of Divine Providence, a religious order begun in 18th century Lorraine, France. Construction on the main campus began in 1895 and classes started in 1896.
Our Lady of the Lake University was the first San Antonio institution of higher education to receive regional accreditation.

Photo credit: AP Photo/San Antonio Express-News, William Luther

Toddler Theology - Part 2

Children have a knack for making adults look at things differently. All
the things that we take for granted are brand new to them. The wonder on
their faces when they see the ocean for the first time or find a shiny
rock should make us realize the wonders of creation.

Children also have a knack for coming up with incredibly deep thoughts
right at bedtime. I don't know if it's because the stimulation of the
world is finally turned off and they can think, or the stimulation of the
world is finally turned off and we are paying attention, or if they are
trying anything and everything to stay up for a few extra minutes.
Whatever the reason, sometimes these thoughts give me reason to think.

After several days of balking at the idea of bedtime prayers, JP was very
interested in praying tonight. He sat in my lap and we went through the
litany of petitions which he prays every night.

When that was finished he said, "Mama, I want to talk with Jesus. Can you
help me".

He then started to say the Glory Be. I helped him with the words he
couldn't remember and we moved on to the Our Father. He is just starting
to learn that one. He did his best to repeat after me and to add whatever
words he remembered.

Afterwards, he said, "Mama, I want to kiss Jesus".

So, I took his crucifix off the wall and handed it to him. He covered the
small bronze corpus with kisses, then holding the crucifix against his
cheek he said, "It's going to be ok, Jesus. I love you. My mommy will make
it all better".

JP then sat very quietly looking at the corpus. "Why doesn't he have his
clothes?" he said.

I tried my best to explain that bad people had taken his clothes. The look
of shock startled me. "They took his CLOTHES?" he said. "Why, was he bad?"

"No, JP", I said. "He was very, very good, and he tried to tell the bad
people to be good. They didn't like that".

After questioning and arguing about why Jesus lost his clothes, JP got
very quiet again and hugged the crucifix to his cheek. This time he said,
"Jesus, I want to be good and I promise I won't take your clothes."

Then he handed the crucifix back to me to return to the wall.

Even at the tender age of three, JP knows that taking someone's clothes
away was stripping them of the last shred of human dignity. I think I will
meditate on the stripping of Christ tonight.