A famous phrase was coined after the Nuremberg trials..."the banality of evil." Wishing to stand things on their head I wonder sometimes about the evil of banality. I'm thinking of the banality of much religious life which is given over to dull talk about theology, rules, regulations and rubrics. It's boring. It's banal and perhaps the [...]
Eleven years ago Christine Mayr Lumetzberger was excommunicated because she attempted to be ordained as a Catholic priest. A mischievous and misleading article by British journalist Peter Stanford entitled Meet the Female Priest Defying Catholicism for her Faith recounts her story. Ms Lumetzberger says she knew from childhood she was called to be a priest. She [...]
Some time ago I posted a picture of worship at St Peter’s. There was a crowd of altar servers, robed clergy in procession and clouds of incense. Someone criticized, “Would Jesus recognize this as worship?” It sounded like a common misunderstanding of the roots of Catholic worship and the nature of Jewish worship in Jesus’ time. [...]
Symbolism and the Language of Liturgy In his conversations with the journalist Bill Moyers, the mythologist Joseph Campbell commented on the power of lived symbolism in communal life. When the judge comes out in a black robe, sits behind a high desk and calls the court to order with a gavel he is no longer an [...]
Protestants sometimes charge Catholics with "vain repetition" in praying the rosary. This is a reference to Matthew 6:7 where Jesus instructs, "When you pray to not babble with vain receptions as the pagans do." Sure, when we pray the rosary there is a lot of repetition. The problem is not repetition but vain repetition. If repetition were the [...]
This report says that while the Vatican has yet to confirm the date, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia has indicated that Pope Francis will visit the city for next September's World Meeting of Families. If the pope is planning to visit the City of Brotherly Love next fall what's the big deal? Kathy Schiffer reports here that the pope [...]
Here is this week's article for Integrated Catholic Life. Readers of the blog will notice that it is re-worked ideas that have been posted here previously. The love of God is sweet and tender, but it is also astringent and tough. We have to be sweet and salty at the same time. We have to be [...]
Do you remember that stylish film The Matrix? The hero, Neo Anderson, exists in a dull, conformist, monotone and monochrome world. Then he wakes up and is "born again" and enters the world of adventure and risk which is the real world. What I find curious about modern American Catholicism is that it is similarly monotone and [...]
I posted a picture the other day of worship at St Peter's. There was a crowd of altar servers, robed clergy in procession and clouds of incense. In the combox someone observed, "Would Jesus recognize this as worship?" I don't know the commenter and his background, but it sounds like the comment is based on [...]
Guest blogger Mantilla Amontillado is the founder of Veritas Vestments. She holds a degree in Ecclesiastical Haberdashery from Salamanca University. She has done the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella three times on horseback and is engaged to the famous matador, Senor Augusto Torquemada. Hey hon! I sorry I not been talking for so long, but my [...]