Thanksgiving Break, Advent, and the End of the Semester...

The title of this post just about sums up what's been going on the past week and a half. Enjoyed a nice trip home for the thanksgiving holiday where my sister KATIE prepared a fantastic thanksgiving meal, and now I'm back for the final push of the Fall semester. All the writing is done and now is the calm before the final exams. Advent has begun, and so I include my favorite hymn from this time of the year below.



An overflowing thanksgiving plate:


The master chef at work:


Dinner with friends at "the castel:"

Goodbye, Sadie Girl...

One of the best dogs I've ever had...

Congratulations to Vice-President Kurtz...

Archbishop Kurtz, from my own humble see of Louisville, was today elected as Vice President of the national bishop's conference. In and of itself, it doesn't seem to be coming as too much of a surprise to people out there in the "blagosphere." He seems to be well respected by all. Of course, all the buzz is not about this, but the fact that the bishops broke from their long-standing protocol and voted someone other than the standing vice president into the president's office. Naturally, much is being made about this on "both sides of the aisle" (so-to-speak).

(And now, my rant...)
I'm amused and saddened at the same time by many of the comments being posted on various blogs (try HERE): one side or the other crying victory over the other, as if this is a political election. Mudslinging, truly, is not reserved to political races it seems. Cries of condemnation. Conspiracy theories abound. Bitter name calling. I must say that I am still shocked by the vitriolic nature of it all.

Maybe I'm mistaken. Maybe I'm overly charitable, but I think enough of our bishops nowadays to trust that by-and-large they have the best interest of the Church in mind, and like your typical priest, just want to serve in the best way they know how (gasp from the crowd... did he just say that?). You can disagree with me on that (and I know some that will - you can chide me in your comments), but I guess I'm just naive enough to still believe it. We're not here to advocate one "side" over another. As Catholics, are we not one side already, witnessing to the Truth of faith? Is it not our task to conform ourselves to the gospel, as found in the teachings and Tradition of the Church, and not to campaign for one candidate over another? But alas, the kind of true openness to the gospel and the Church's authentic leaders that such requires is still lacking today. Faced with the challenge of self-abandonment to the gospel and all that it entails, we still prefer our own little lines of demarcation. We still say "I'm so-and-so type of a Catholic." I agree with this or that only, but refuse the type of "obsequium religiosum" that we must make to the entire gospel. If "your man" gets elected to leadership, then praise God. I trust that he (whoever he is) will have the best interest of us all at heart. But if "your guy" didn't get elected, then how about some openness to the guy who did, and trust that the Holy Spirit is still at the helm? It seems to me that the sooner we can get that in our heads, the better. Perhaps today we just got an important insight into why the election of the pope is not broadcast on cable news networks. And thank God, as far as I'm concerned... Can you imagine? All the political satirists and pundits sitting there in a corner of the Sistine Chapel as the Cardinal Camerlengo solemnly reads the votes aloud? Rachel Maddow and Glenn Beck, voices hushed, analyzing how many votes one cardinal got compared to another, and what it all means for the perceived "triumph" of this group over that? How can that be anything other than fracturing of the authentic oneness of faith that we are all called to? Let me be counted as one who thinks that that would be a horrible idea, and suggest that the Bishops conference should give serious thought to not indulging us when it comes to vote counts and the like. Just tell me that Archbishop Dolan was elected president, and not "that he defeated Bishop X by 17 votes." Maybe what I long for is just a bit more unity amongst Catholics ("orthodoxy" in it's truest sense, perhaps?). Just my two-cents. Now, back to my little cave of canon law...

The Mother of all Thuribles...

Any liturgist will tell you: if you're going to use a symbol, then USE the symbol... somehow, I think they might not have had this in mind. I stand in awe:

Cool Video...

OK, so I've been killing time recently (taking breaks from paper writing...) and watching some cool documentaries on NASA and the space program. I put the documentary series "When We Left Earth" in my Netflix queue a while back and have been watching them recently. I came across a very cool video of a shuttle launch that was posted on Youtube. It's a video taken by a camera they mounted on one of the fuel boosters. It provides a pretty cool external view of the shuttle launch, and even records the boosters separation and fall back to earth. Check it out:

The Studium Rotale...

Came across some interesting (and relatively rare) photos of the administration of the oath to new students of the Studium Rotale - the school of canon law attached to the Roman Rota. The oath is taken in the Cancellaria: the long-time home of the Rota and Apostolic Signatura on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome. It is interesting to see the Rotal Judges in their traditional togae. It was just this past March that I was in this very same room of the Cancellaria with my JCL class meeting with two of the Judges myself.

Weekend Road Trip...

Just got back last night from a weekend getaway: getting in some fishing down at the South Holston River in East Tennessee. Met up with a buddy of mine (Joe) who drove down from Louisville, and spent the weekend fly fishing. Had a great time, caught a good number of fish, and braved the elements doing so. Saturday it actually snowed on us for a while! The fish were still biting in spite of the elements. I had to put some extra school work in to be able to get away, but it was worth it. Here's a few pics and a video:

And This Week's Ground for Marriage Invalidity is...

"Canon 1103: a marriage is invalid if entered into out of force or grave fear inflicted from without, even if unintentionally inflicted, so that a person is compelled to choose marriage in order to be free from it."

Chesterton on Cigars...

Myself and a good number of my priest friends often times enjoy sharing a cigar. While some would argue this constitutes a vice, I on the other hand choose to see it as a virtue, enhancing the qualities of fraternity and relaxation. In honor of this belief, I offer a few humorous quotes about the enjoyment of a fine cigar by G.K. Chesterton:

"To have a horror of tobacco is not to have an abstract standard of right; but exactly the opposite. It is to have no standard of right whatever; and to make certain local likes and dislikes as a substitute. Nobody who has an abstract standard of right and wrong can possibly think it wrong to smoke a cigar. It is a vague sentimental notion that certain habits were not suitable to the old log cabin or the old hometown. It has a vague utilitarian notion that certain habits are not directly useful in the new amalgamated stores or the new financial gambling-hell. If his aged mother or his economic master dislikes to see a young man hanging about with a pipe in his mouth, the action becomes a sin; or the nearest that such a moral philosophy can come to the idea of a sin. A man does not chop wood for the log hut by smoking; and a man does not make dividends for the Big Boss by smoking; and therefore smoking has a smell as of something sinful."

"Incidentally, I must say I can bear witness to this queer taboo about tobacco. Of course numberless Americans smoke numberless cigars; a great many others eat cigars, which seems to me a more occult pleasure. But there does exist an extraordinary idea that ethics are involved in some way; and many who smoke really disapprove of smoking.

I remember once receiving two American interviewers on the same afternoon; there was a box of cigars in front of me and I offered one to each in turn. Their reaction (as they would probably call it) was very curious to watch. The first journalist stiffened suddenly and silently and declined in a very cold voice. He could not have conveyed more plainly that I had attempted to corrupt an honorable man with a foul and infamous indulgence; as if I were the Old Man of the Mountain offering him hashish that would turn him into an assassin. The second reaction was even more remarkable. The second journalist first looked doubtful; then looked sly; then seemed to glance about him nervously, as if wondering whether we were alone, and then said with a sort of crestfallen and covert smile: "Well, Mr. Chesterton, I'm afraid I have the habit."

"The Catholic Church is like a thick steak, a glass of red wine, and a good cigar."

Observations on the Post-Conciliar Liturgical Reform...

I am currently working on a paper involving liturgical law and the reforms which took place following the landmark Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council. This involves an analysis of the various instructions that came from the Sacred Congregation of Divine Worship directing the implementation of the precepts set forth by the Constitution. I came across a great quote from one of these later instructions, Liturgicae instaurationes, of 5 September 1970.

Regular visitors to this blog will know that I have an affinity for the "Extraordinary Form" of the Roman Rite, and that I have been celebrating it for many years now. It has always been my observation that this form of the Mass has had a particular attraction amongst younger people of my generation. This has always come as a bit of a surprise to those not in favor of this form of the Mass, who often characterize this attraction on our parts as a misplaced longing for the past, a fruit of a kind of liturgical scrupulosity, or worse. I don't believe that this is truly the case for most, however. It seems to me (speaking personally) that the attraction of younger people to the "Extraordinary Form" is based primarily on two things. First is that participation in that form of the Mass recalls so poignantly that what one is engaging in in the Church's liturgy transcends the boundaries of one's limited community of the faithful (granted that the conditions of the local community do have a part in the liturgy, especially in the content of the homily, the choice of various legitimate styles of music and vesture, and various other elements of the Mass). This longing for membership in a larger community - an identification with the Church universal - is particularly strong for us. Secondly, this form of the Mass emphasizes the nature of the liturgy as both a spiritual and physical directing of the community towards God. I would argue that this is due largely to the common orientation of the priest and congregation ad orientem, and thus strictly speaking is not unique to the "Extraordinary Form."

As I read these various documents of the liturgical reform, I can't help but identify these liturgical principles present in them. It also seems to me, a person born well after the council (i.e. 1975) and after this initial period of liturgical renovation, that there is a bit of objectivity that one can bring to bear on the liturgical reforms that ensued. It seems that as the reform progressed, there was a greater drawing-back and reigning-in of the liturgical experimentations that were occurring. At least one gets the sense of that from the tone of the various instructions as they were issued one after another. I keep reading these documents and keep thinking that in some ways the liturgical experimentations can be likened to a gorilla who was let out of its cage, and these instructions were attempts to coax him back in. Perhaps we're still trying to accomplish that. Anyway, I post one of the more interesting quotes from the document here. I think that Sacrosanctum Concilium and all of these instructions should be mandatory reading for all those involved in the Church's liturgy today:

The effectiveness of liturgy does not lie in experimenting with rites and altering them over and over, nor in a continuous reductionism, but solely in entering more deeply into the Word of God and the mystery being celebrated. It is the presence of these two that authenticates the Church's rites, not what some priest decides, indulging his own preferences.
Keep in mind, then, that the private recasting of ritual introduced by an individual priest insults the dignity of the believer and lays the way open to individual and idiosyncratic forms in celebrations that are in fact the property of the whole Church.
The ministry of the priest is the ministry of the universal Church: its exercise is impossible without the obedience, hierarchic communion, and the will to serve God and neighbor. The hierarchic character and sacramental power of the liturgy as well as the respectful service owed to the believing community demand that the priest fulfill his role in worship as the "faithful servant and steward of the mysteries of God," without imposing any rite not decreed and sanctioned by the liturgical books

(Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship; Instruction Liturgicae instaurationes, 5 September 1970: AAS 62 [1970] 692-704. Art. 1)

Fall Break II: Extraordinary Form Nuptial Mass...

While I was home for fall break I had the privilege of celebrating a wedding Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St. Martin's. Congratulations to Scott ("Scotus") and Emily ("Aemilia"). Thanks also to Charlie for the pics:

Fall Break...

I'm just getting back to DC after a week spent at home during the school's fall break. Had a great week catching up with friends, getting in a little fishing, celebrating Mass at St. Martin's (including a wedding last Saturday in the Extraordinary Form), and just generally doing my best impersonation of a bump on a log. As always, it was nice being home, seeing the guys, and being reminded that my time in JCL studies will soon be coming to an end...

Here's a quick video of some of last week's fishing:



A few pics of a particularly beautiful sunrise on the drive back to DC this morning:

And a Reds Fan Weeps...

And here I thought that being a Reds fan was going to be less painful this year...

Continuing the Baseball Theme...

Since we're on a baseball kind of theme around here right now, here's a video of some baseball memories of mine growing up. The late 70's and 80's are filled with memories of going up to Cincinnati to watch Reds games, spending most weeknights at the old Cardinal Stadium watching the Redbirds play, or stopping to catch the occasional UofL college game over at the old Parkway Field. Here's a few pictures I've come across of them all:

Reds: NL Central Division Champs!

What a game it was last night. Won on a solo homerun by Jay Bruce in the bottom of the ninth, the Reds clinched the National League's central division for the first time since 1995. It's their first season in 9 years to have a .500+ winning percentage. Finally, it feels good to be a Reds fan again! I guess that little shrine my sister set-up did the trick...





ahh, remember when...