Day 18...Testimonial and an Idea

From a Deacon:

Michael:

I just finished reading your book, The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can see many applications for it's use here in our parish, especially around RCIA.

Consider a gift for your pastor, deacon or DRE! We're asking the readers of this blog and Amy's Open Book to consider buying copies of her excellent book Here. Now. A Catholic Guide to the Good Life.and of my How To Get The Most Out Of The Eucharist--to spread the message.

At the end of the thirty-day period Amy and I will donate whatever royalties we earn from the sales of these books to Food for the Poor.

What Benedict is Thinking

while on vacation...

A variety of topics (one was the marriage/divorce question touched upon earlier this week here) and amazingly frank even about African vocations and a negative motivation. Fascinating reading, I offer two snipets from www.chiesa:

On the "dying" Churches of the Western world:

"The mainline Churches appear to be dying. This is true above all in Australia and also in Europe, but not so much in the United States. What are growing, on the other hand, are the sects which offer the certainty of a rock-bottom faith, and man is looking for certitude. And thus the mainline Churches, especially the traditional mainline Protestant Churches, really are facing an extremely serious crisis. The sects have the upper hand because they appear with a few simple certainties and say: this is enough. The Catholic Church is not in such bad shape as the historical mainline Protestant Churches, but it also faces the problems of this moment in history."

On permission to divorce in the Orthodox Churches:

"We are aware of the problem […] of the Orthodox Churches, which are frequently presented as a model in which remarriage is possible. But only the first marriage is sacramental: they also recognize that the others are not a sacrament, they are a reduced or lesser form of marriage, and they take place in a penitential context. In a certain sense they may go to communion, but it is with the knowledge that this is granted to them 'in economia' – as they say – by an act of mercy which nevertheless does not change the fact that their marriage is not a sacrament. The other point in the Eastern Churches is that for these marriages the possibility of divorce is granted with great ease, and thus the principle of the indissolubility and real sacramental nature of marriage is seriously harmed."

A Comment from Mary Jane...

About a comment in How To Get The Most Out Of The Eucharist:

My books just came - and lo and behold, skimming through Michael's, I found just what I needed to see right now. A description of the organist as the most distracted person at Mass - yup, that's me. Maybe I'll do better this weekend just because I saw that sentence. Thanks, Michael.

That comment about the organist was made to me when I was telling a Benedictine monk who does missions around the world about the book, I thought it was interesting and so I put it in the book but when I think about it, there is a lot of competition for "who the most distracted person is at Mass" and the monk who noticed the organist might be a candidate as well!

By the way visit Mary Jane's excellent blog where you can learn all about liturgy from a fine muscian.

666---Search the Books---Day 17 of the Appeal

The Eucharist is so central to the Faith that Jesus left the early Christians that I think it very plausible (even though Scripture was not divided into chapter and verses until centuries later that John's prophecy in Revelation about the number of the anti-Christ may be uncovered in John's gospel in Chapter 6 verse 66. A nugget from How To Get The Most Out Of The Eucharist:

When he announced the doctrine of the Eucharist in John 6 many disciples ceased to follow him because they found the teaching too difficult (see John 6:66, notice the numbers). Did Jesus yell out, “Oh, that’s okay — take what you like, ignore the rest”? No, instead ..."

Our attitude toward this great gift of Our Lord is a matter of life and death.

I'm asking the readers of this blog and Amy's Open Book to consider buying one copy of her excellent book Here. Now. A Catholic Guide to the Good Life.and of my How To Get The Most Out Of The Eucharist--you can search through either book on Amazon in the way you might in a bookstore, don't take our word for it...search the books and see.

At the end of the thirty-day period Amy and I will donate whatever royalties we earn from the sales of these books to Food for the Poor.

Interesting Account of Anglican Priest Becoming Married Catholic Priest

Including this tidbit:

Redlands Daily Facts - News:



"Does my approval mean that the Catholic Church will one day change its general policy on the ordination of married men? My reply is no. Exceptions to the rule are made every few centuries, but the rule has and almost certainly will remain. Anglican priests who left Catholicism at the Reformation in the 16th century and French Catholic priests who were forced to marry in the French Revolution of the 18th century were allowed to return to the church and keep their wives, but the general rule remained."

Well... Modern to an Extent

From the Vatican Information Service (VIS):

As previously advised, VIS will be closed during the entire month of August. Service will resume on Thursday, September 1, 2005.

This in spite of World Youth Day in the middle of it...

Audio Appeal

Here is an audio appeal--may have to do a few of these, since we will be away from computers quite a bit in the next week.

I'm asking the readers of this blog and Amy's Open Book to consider buying one copy of her excellent book Here. Now. A Catholic Guide to the Good Life.and of my How To Get The Most Out Of The Eucharist--two books that have helped others find true joy by deepening their relationship with God as Catholics.

At the end of the thirty-day period Amy and I will donate whatever royalties we earn from the sales of these books to Food for the Poor.