The View Up Here

(Longer read here, folks.) Recently a friend of mine suggested that I write something about why I prefer the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM - or as another friend quipped, "the Totally Latin Mass") over the Novus Ordo (NO) Mass, since the reasons I'd presented made sense to her and were not grounded in problematic ideological stances (see how I danced around that one?). At first I thought it would be a useless thing to do, as there has been so much already written. However, after a couple of days, I was led to reconsider.  So here I present the whys and wherefores of my liturgical preferences to anyone who cares. The main reason I prefer the TLM over the NO is easily summed up in four words:  I can pray better.  Please let me explain: 1. Silence.      I am not forced to speak out loud or sing banal intonations at various points, or to twist around waving at people to show them that I do not hate them before going to Communion. In all seriousness, when I'm forc...

When God closes a door... or in this case, opens a door I wasn't expecting. I was invited to interview for and then got the position of Director of Faith Formation/Director of Religious Education/Catechetical Leader II (all synonymous and interchangeable in the Diocese) at a new parish about 30 minutes east of Rochester. So yes, I have moved (again...) and have started a position with more responsibility in a wholly different kind of parish. Today was Day 4 at the new gig, and it was as chaotic and wonderful as could be. For now, I'm staying with friends until I get a place that suits me (hopefully soon!), so most of my things are in storage. It is, as you can imagine, very disorienting. But, it's good change, and I've felt that it was the right thing to do from the beginning. So God opened this door and I was free to say no or to say yes. I said yes, but I do need more in the way of total surrender. Things at this parish are very different than they were in my las...

The other day I was at a party at the home of dear friends of mine. One of the party-goers waited until we had all sat down with our paper plates of deliciousness and (I swear) waited for me to shovel a mouthful of food in, and then asked me, "So, as our only Catholic representative, what do you have to say about the ... terrible things going on...?"  It was a moment out of a cartoon, where everyone stopped talking all at once. You could hear a plastic spoon drop. I had inwardly prepared for this moment, because I do know well this particular group of friends. I responded evenly. I looked at him and said, "It's horrific. It's beyond-words-horrific. We need to do better. We will do better, because this is the Church Jesus Christ founded." Someone suggested the cause was "men priests" and others hinted at celibacy as the problem. I wound up the conversation by saying something about the deep need for reform on many levels (without getting into s...

Well you can't very well write about Good Friday and not write about Easter! I spent the weekend with a good friend in Binghamton, so am just getting around to writing a bit tonight. On my drive back from Binghamton, this prayer entered my heart: "Lord, let me see myself in the Light of Your Resurrection." Our ideas about our lives and our very personhood are too often determined by others, when the only Person who can speak who we are is God. A God who knows the realities of human existence, but who offers the final Word - LIFE. There is joy, humility and peace here. The joy of knowing that humanity is resurrected in Christ, and that by His stripes, I am healed.  I went to Easter Sunday Mass at my friend's church, and although I knew no one else besides my friend, I felt totally at home and welcomed. People had friendly faces and friendly spirits (oh that it were so in every Catholic parish!). But it soon became clear that we chose to sit near a family with ...

I'll start with this quote from Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P. (Dominican priest) from CatholicAnswers (website and radio). He's quoted as saying/writing: The Lord told us to ask for what we need—not because he doesn’t already know, but that we come to him in love, humbly acknowledging our complete dependence on him—and willingly accepting whatever and however he chooses to respond. The prayer of petition is a matter of loving trust and absolutely nothing else. To that I would add that God wants us to co-create with God. My charismatic community in L.A. taught me the phrase "agreeing in prayer," which means that we are agreeing with each other and with God's will (whatever that may be) for the best possible outcome - even if it's not the one we'd prefer. This acknowledges that God sees far more than we can in our limited scope, while offering ourselves as a community and individually to be God's presence to others in a difficult situation, as God longs ...

A friend posted this on Facebook today, and it took my breath away with its honesty and exactitude. All I can say in answer to this 11/17/15 blog post by John Paplovitz is: YES. THAT. WHAT HE SAID. http://johnpavlovitz.com/2015/11/17/freeing-christians-from-americhristianity/ *NB I had copied the full text of his post and put it up here, but then I decided it wasn't cool to do that without permission. Please visit the link to read his statement in full.