Fridays with Benedict • Feb 10, 2012
This week, Illness as an opportunity, suffering as a necessity, Pre-lent and a the Church stands tall but with head bowed…
The Podcast about Our Catholic Faith on the Digital Continent
Mother Angelica of EWTN always used to say “put us between your gas and electric bill” when encouraging her viewers to consider a regular donation to what would become the largest Catholic television network.
At The Catholic Underground we’re supported by our listeners in a new era of The New Evangelization and so we ask you to put us between your Internet Service Provider bill and your sizeable gaming allowance!
We can’t do it without you!
At The Catholic Underground we’re supported by our listeners in a new era of The New Evangelization and so we ask you to put us between your Internet Service Provider bill and your sizeable gaming allowance!
We can’t do it without you!
10 February 2012 | 
Fr. Ryan | 
Fridays with Benedict • Feb 3, 2012
The pope mourns an American Cardinal and then gets set to visit the fine people of Cuba. Prayer, Christ our Light and bogus lawsuits are also on the docket!… Read the rest
Life is Still Worth Living, Series II, Episode 3
This week, Fr. Ryan lays out the ins and outs of religious freedom and contraception! A must listen!
Download or Listen:
CU Episode 182: And Also With Youuuur Spirit.
The Missal has launched. Hilarity ensues, we;ve got some of the stories. Shopping much? IRL or CyberMonday? Mark Twain and Communicating without saying anything. Also, how to prepare for Christmas!
Real Live Human Entertainment
So last night, September 20th, I travelled one hour north to Bossier City, Louisiana to see Taylor Swift live in concert. I’m certainly a fan of music and I like Taylor Swift well enough… I don’t like sparkly sequins, glitter or hysterical girls screaming at the top of their lungs, but that’s for another post.
I went to this concert, though, not so much because I wanted to see Taylor Swift – I have her new album, I can listen to it any time I like and videos are available on YouTube – but because I wanted to be entertained by a real human being and her show is supposed to be an amazing visual experience. It did not disappoint! The show was amazing. Pyrotechnics, great light effects, amazing set and prop design, really sharp choreography and really, really well done video and skrim work. I’d guess that they’ve got $2-$3 million in the production of the show and who knows how much more in the crew and other miscellany. She was a sincere performer who looked authentically appreciative of every person there and she played to her stated audience (teenage girls) superbly. Even her cheesy transitions from one song to another were endearing and entertaining. Her modesty and her cutesy-ness would seem fake coming from most people, but I was surprised to be drawn in by it. I’d certain recommend the Speak Now tour to everyone (especially children) and encourage you, also, to consider getting the Behind the Scenes DVD that is coming out this November.
As I watched the show, knowing (and thanking God) that I was not the primary demographic, I appreciated so much the humanity of the whole thing. This wasn’t a movie! This wasn’t a digital reproduction – lifeless and soulless. This was a real person – … Read the rest
Homily for Sepember 11, 2011
Do you remember where you were ten years ago today? I was in college seminary at the time, a sophomore, working on a project which would become the annual Abbey Youth Festival. We were meeting when the conference coordinator’s wife phoned him to ask the monks and seminarians to pray for those involved in what was thought at the time to be a freak accident — a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers.
We said a quick prayer and completed our meeting. I was one of the only seminarians who had figured out how to get television reception in his dorm room, so a few of us watched in horror at the events that would follow. Monks and other seminarians stopped in to witness the second plane hitting the South Tower. We watched in terror until Mass time as two more planes were hijacked, the Pentagon was aflame, and reports of a plane crash in Pennsylvania came into the newsrooms.
At Mass, we prayed a Mass for Peace – a particular set of prayers asking God for mercy in a time of unrest. Classes were cancelled the rest of the day, and we spent much of it huddled around the televisions, silently praying for the victims, for our country, and I found myself praying for the ones who had arisen that morning with the intent to kill. As strange as I found it to be moved to pray for those who were deliberately taking the lives of others, I remembered Our Lord’s challenging Gospel to pray for those who hate us.
The words of Sirach we hear from the Old Testament today are particularly jarring, especially as we consider the seeming coincidence of the Sunday readings with the sad anniversary we mark of ten years ago … Read the rest
To Travel is Privilege; To Enjoy, Divine.
“A privileged event” is probably putting the notion of taking a vacation mildly for most. When I finally get a chance to take a holiday, I see it as not only a privilege, but also as a life-saving event! I usually make sure that there’s a mini pilgrimage built into wherever I go so I get to see the Church in a particular diocese and how it reflects God’s presence uniquely. Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks this is a good idea!
The Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers spoke of the importance of the ability to visit other places in a statement released in anticipation for World Tourism Day on September 27. Also announced is VII World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Tourism, taking place April 23-27 in (surprise?) Cancun, Mexico. Insert your mental images of cardinals in vintage bating trunks here.
The document stresses the importance of seeing a vacation as simply “getting away”. The ability to travel should also be observed as an “enrichment of each one’s own reality.” Further, a call goes out especially to bishops and pastors of churches who have a responsibility to present the cultural patrimony of The Church as it exists in each corner of the globe:
“Among these concrete proposals there is the elaboration of the idea of touristic travel offering visitation to the places that are most important in the religious and cultural patrimony of the diocese,” the message stated. Other initiatives including extending the hours that museums and churches are open, as well as formation programs for tourist guides.
View the article from ZENIT or read the full text of the document.… Read the rest
Real Social Justice
Like so many Catholic Priests, I have found myself disillusioned with the words “Catholic Social Justice” as they have been used for the last 30 years. All too often, “Catholic Social Justice” is just NewSpeak (code word) for some weird marriage of Marxism, New Age-ism, Anti-Roman-ism and the whatever the cause of the week is among politicians and celebrities.
That leaves me, as a priest, with two options: ignore Catholic Social Justice or reclaim the phrase and the idea behind it. I preach on Social Justice frequently reminding the faithful that justice is about giving God His due and giving each man (or woman) his (or her) due according to an authentic understanding of human dignity. We also have to be careful to remember that suffering properly understood is NECESSARY for holiness of life and that poverty is something which Jesus embraced – meaning it is not fundamentally evil. What’s more, poverty has to be carefully defined… In the US, poverty is often something ridiculous like running out of Coke or not being able to afford luxury items like TV Dinners…
Of all of the issues of Catholic Social Justice that should be a concern to faithful Catholics, the issue of abortion should be at the top of the list. No other issue even comes close. War, homelessness, nuclear proliferation, climate concerns, educational funding, and a hundred other causes simply don’t add up. All suffering in this world can be used by God to bring about salvation. Death cannot. Murdering the unborn is the new slavery. Too many Catholics deceive themselves into believing that a list of six causes can trump the “one issue” of abortion which is not one issue at all. It’s 1.2 million issues per year. It’s more than 50 million issues… Issues legally murdered (many with … Read the rest
Effortless Catholicism
Hat Tip to the Ever Sardonic Crescat for this quote:
… do you know some one who prefers to attend a congregation centered parish? You know, those churches where every one wears flip flops and swim trunks and Jesus is just glad you bothered to show up.
Well every time I hear an argument made in favor of such an environment all I hear is blah blah blah blah I’m too lazy to make any real effort blah blah blah blah.
While it’s a bit harsh, it’s not wrong. Jesus didn’t ask us to casually wander in the direction of that-a-way, He told us to take up our cross and follow Him… Too often, we try to make everything to do with Christianity as simple and painless as possible. Why? Perhaps it’s because we’ve become infected with the corporate mentality that the Church is a business trying to attract customers and competing the “Christian Worship Center” down the road. In fact, only the Catholic Church has the sacraments and so we’re not really competing at all… At least, no more than the First Class $200 Steak House is competing with Burger King. Of course one is easier and faster and cheaper – but the burgers can legally come from 14 different cows!
On a more pleasant note, I wrote this short article for my parish bulletin on the need to balance hard work and effort with rest – which is really another word for trust in God.
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.
A character from film
Modernizing The Church – Architecture & Graphic Design Mashup
Fr. Tim Finigan over at The Hermeneutic of Continuity has a great article (with very good pics) about a parish priest in the UK who has taken up the work of re-order the interior of his Church.
At first, the Church seemed confused about its purpose… Furniture was strewn in seemingly random positions which made very poor use of the space… An OCD priest like me would just about explode walking in there! But this priest did some rearranging and some construction to call attention to particular pieces of furniture (the altar, the baptismal font) and has really succeeded. A graphic designer like Fr. Chris can really appreciate how important it is to make a clear and direct statement with your design – whether you’re making a poster or a Church. Any good designer knows how to instruct the viewer\reader where to look. If a poster, for example, is designed well, the reader’s eye will naturally go to the central item which will have a larger, bolder font and stand out from the other elements by means of color or white space. Then, the designer will take his knowledge of psychology to assume that western people read from left to right and from top to bottom to create a pathway through the poster. We’ve all seen poster which are written in ALL CAPS and contain tons of text… God help us!
The same can be true of architecture. If the altar, pulpit, chair (sedilia), baptismal font and everything else are just thrown around – all seemingly equal – it’s like an ALL CAPS sanctuary: nothing stands out so nothing is clearly communicated. But… When the Altar has its prominence and there is sufficient “white space” or open space between the furnishings and the baptistry has its special location, the message … Read the rest
GET SOCIAL
