Showing posts with label sacraments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sacraments. Show all posts

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Welcome Back Old Friend

When I was new to my faith about 10 years ago, my fiance and I attended a Catholic homeschool conference at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, I'm sorry, I mean . . . the Conference and Retreat Center at the The Archdiocesan Center at St. Thomas Seminary (does anyone know who sponsored that event?). At that event, there were guest speakers of all types discussing Catholic family life, homeschooling, curriculum, and liturgy. They had a good turnout, and I recall sitting among the crowd of about 50 people and hearing one speaker opine that the Novus Ordo was not illicit because the Holy Spirit would not lead us astray for 30 years, and we as faithful Catholics must kind of "get over it". At the time I recall sniffing to HeSaid that the Catholic Church had been around for about 2000 years, and that maybe 30 years of an illicit Mass could happen without spiritual intervention. My thoughts in this area were buttressed when I attended my first Latin Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows in Hartford. I didn't become a regular attendant (my tastes run more toward the 30 minute, no-frills Mass usually offered at 7am on Sunday mornings), but I recall wondering if the Catholic Church had indeed created something invalid with the Novus Ordo. My understanding of His Mercy and obedience to the Church have matured over the years, but I had always hoped to see a liberalization or liberation of the Latin Mass in our Archdiocese. As it happens, Pope Benedict XVI felt the same way, and issued a MOTU PROPRIO today (ironically, it is in Latin, so I cannot read it) that, for our purposes, permits priests to perform a traditional Latin Mass without a waiver from Archbishop Mansell.

You can read more local reaction about this in the New Haven Register article.

We know of 4 Latin Masses in Connecticut: At a certain church in New Britain (sorry, does anyone know which Parish this is?), St. Brigid of Kildare in Moodus, Sacred Heart in New Haven, and Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Bridgeport. Please let me know of other licit Tridentine Masses, and I will list them.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Fr. Looney's Good Friday Confess-a-thon

A day late with this story, but it's worth bookmarking for next year. Kudos to Fr. Joe Looney for making the front page of the Courant's Good Friday edition:
Call it a confess-athon. The Rev. Joseph Looney of St. Margaret's Church in
Waterbury is hosting a 12-hour call for confessions today at his
parish. Frustrated with the declining number of Catholics who confess their sins
before a priest, Looney advertised a "Notice to All Sinners" in a local
newspaper this week...

The Rev. John Gatzak, director of communications for the Archdiocese of
Hartford, said the Catholic Church has seen a decline in the number of
confessions in the past two decades. Gatzak attributes the decline to society's
aversion to admitting our faults and failings."Confession is a painful
experience to look within yourself and say `what is wrong with me?'" Gatzak
said. "We would rather look at what is `right with me.'"

This is true also of certain approaches to Christianity--Catholic and otherwise--that are popular with the public right now. Good on Fathers Looney and Gatzak for reminding the whole state of a message we need to hear--especially on Good Friday. And good on the Courant for running it.