Friday, March 29, 2019

Bishop Brennan was installed today as the Bishop of the Diocese of Columbus.  The Mass was livestreamed on the Columbus Diocese website and salso hown on Catholic Faith Network.   Columbus is made of 278,000 Catholics with 105 parishes.  I hope Bishop Brennan will make us proud - he is the 6th Long Islander to be sent off the island to serve as a current Bishop.

 

Bishop Brennan honors faith heritage at installation



"In his installation homily, Columbus Bishop Robert J. Brennan paid tribute to his family’s history of faith and urged the people of his new diocese to appreciate their own faith heritage and give it to future generations through everyday sacrifice and concern for others.

“My grandfathers handed on a priceless legacy of faith, hope and love that was passed on to us by my parents,” Bishop Brennan said at his installation Mass at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral on Friday, March 29. “These are the great treasures, aren’t they? Here for us in the Diocese of Columbus, we too are the heirs … to a wonderful legacy of faith.

“We stand on the shoulders of the people who built this up for us. And now it’s our turn, It’s our turn as the new generation. The faith they handed on to us – faith, hope, and love – these aren’t museum pieces to be admired and watched, but a living encounter with the risen Jesus Christ.”

About 800 people, including 35 other bishops, filled the cathedral for the one-hour, 50-minute ceremony, at which Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United States, read the letter written Jan. 31 by Pope Francis appointing Bishop Brennan as the 12th bishop of Columbus. He had been auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, for nearly seven years."






Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Recalling Mother Angelica, prelate says Catholic journalists are to spread the gospel


".- The crisis facing the Church today calls Catholic journalists not only to “relentless and fair reporting” but also to spreading the gospel, Archbishop Georg Gänswein said in a Mass said in memory of Mother Angelica.
The March 27 Mass at Santa Maria della Pieta in Camposanto dei Teutonici in Vatican City marked the third anniversary of the death of Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, foundress of EWTN Global Catholic Network. EWTN is the publisher of Catholic News Agency."
I found this quote regarding Fr. Gommar DePauw who founded an independent traditionalist chapel on Long Island back in 1968.  The emphasis is mine:

"In matters liturgical we are committed vernacularists, but there is no denying the truth of the DePauw contention that the council's Constitution on the Liturgy permits but does not require increased use of the mother tongue.  The character of the liturgy is not a matter to be determined by popular preference, but in view of the Constitution's permissiveness, the Traditionalist request for one Mass in Latin in each parish each Sunday does not seem unreasonable, at least for an interim period in those parishes where there is some demand for such an arrangement.  It took a long time for the bishops themselves to grasp the necessity for liturgical renewal, and yet few of them, it seems to us, are showing sympathetic understanding of the shock experienced by many Catholics who (despite all the pre-council and conciliar discussion) were not prepared for the changes."


The above quote was from the National Catholic Reporter, January 12. 1966. 

Retreat in NYC with Immaculee Ilibagiza




Come to Immaculee Ilibagiza Retreat IN NEW YORK, NY On APRIL 27, 2019 WITH A SPECIAL GUEST ANNIE KARTO, CATHOLIC SINGER-SONGWRITER INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKER 
Location:
         Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
         325 East 33rd St,
         New York, NY 10016
 
8:30 AM - 4 PM

Sunday, March 24, 2019

The Brooklyn Oratory


I was surprised to see that there is an Oratory located in Brooklyn.  I do not know anything about it but I was thinking the Oratory model could be quite helpful to the Church today. 

"The Brooklyn Oratory

Saint Philip Neri, a 16th century layman, was a native of Florence who lived nearly sixty years in Rome. Always devout, out-going, funny and friendly, Saint Philip often invited friends to his one-room apartment for shared prayer, Bible study and singing. They also began engaging in acts of charity and mercy such as visiting the sick in hospitals, helping pilgrims who had come to Rome, and teaching children the basics of the Catholic faith.  These informal gatherings became so popular they had to be moved to successively larger rooms. In time, these quarters began to be described as Oratories, that is, places where prayers were led, the name being derived from the Latin “orare,” to pray.

Permanence is an Oratory's hallmark.
The lay men and women who gathered there were rightly called Oratorians, or pray-ers. The success of the Oratory naturally caused it to evolve into a more organized structure. Saint Philip was ordained a priest at age 36 and then several other bright young followers were ordained. They were formally given a church in Rome called the Chiesa Nuova, or New Church, which still stands near the Piazza Navona.

The priests and lay brothers who came to pray, live and eat together were designated a formal congregation - the Oratory - by Pope Gregory XIII in 1575. Their "work" was to assist the first, primary group of Oratorians, the laity. The Oratory priests and brothers were and are different from all other religious communities (e.g. Jesuits and Franciscans) in that they take no vows and remain together fully bound only by charity. Oratorian priests and brothers are therefore members of a Pontifical Congregation who live and work within a diocese free to serve where there is a need and a job. Oratories can be found the world over: in England, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Poland, Mexico, South America, Canada, and the United States. The Brooklyn Oratory was established by Pope St. John Paul II  in 1988."