Posted on 04/13/2007 6:54:57 AM PDT by Frank Sheed
Two years into his reign, Pope Benedict XVI is finally poised to make a major mark on American Catholicism with a string of key bishop appointments and important decisions about the future of U.S. seminaries and bishops' involvement in politics.
Benedict's election on April 19, 2005, shook liberals and comforted conservatives who expected a doctrinal hard-liner. So far, they have found an easier hand - and someone who has not made the United States much of a priority.
When Benedict has gained attention, it has mostly been on the world stage, focusing on the re-Christianization of Europe, Islam and mending relations with Orthodox Christians. He also has stressed universal themes of faith and reason.
``The last two years have been much quieter years as far as the papacy is concerned because you have a very different personality'' than John Paul II, said Monsignor Robert Wister, chairman of the church history department at Seton Hall University's School of Theology.
``Many Americans were surprised - some happily, some disappointed - that he did not turn into the pit bull of dogma. He is taking a very pastoral approach, and I think people resonate very positively with that.''
Yet America's turn may be coming. At the top of the list is a looming generational shift among the nation's bishops, whose decisions at the local level greatly affect Catholics in the pews and can carry national weight. For instance, church leaders recently closed parishes in Boston and New York, while the St. Louis archbishop has clashed with a heavily Polish parish over control of its assets.
Key appointments are expected in New York, Baltimore and Detroit, where cardinals have reached retirement age - 75. And retirements or appointments are likely in at least seven other archdioceses...
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Not soon enough.
Not soon enough.
See post 18.
If you’d posted anything that reasonable and fact-based, nobody would have said a word.
LOL I beg to differ, and I have the FReepmails to prove it!
No sale.
BTW, my Savannah-based s-i-l entered the Church this past Easter Vigil.
She had been raised in the Church of Christ denomination. Father and brother are ordained pastors in that community.
Tempus fugit!
I think the hardest thing for us converts is not the theology, but the little details that "everybody" (i.e. cradle Catholics) draw in with their mothers' milk and don't even have to think about. Like -- how much is considered appropriate as an offering when you sign up to have a Mass said for a relative?
I've gotten past looking out of the corners of my eyes to see what everybody else is doing. If I don't know . . . I just ask.
"Can anything good come out of Murfreesboro?" (You say it, "Murfsbrruh," if you're a local.)
Interesting article, though, especially the connections between the Handel oratorios and the contemporaneous events. I had no idea!
That should be, “O Tempo, fuge!!!!!” (please)
Thank you. I knew my conjugation was incorrect, but I misplaced all my foreign verb tenses several moves ago, leaving me to chat with my Spanish-speaking neighbors in the Eternal Present.
Not me....Livius was right-on.
. . . I've read a good deal about Handel in general and the Messiah in particular. The connection to Zadok is obvious to anybody who listens, the whole idea that it's anti-semitic is nonsense.
The English really did think of themselves as the new "chosen people" . . . I mean, think of the British-Israelites. This is more or less the period (he was about 20 years younger) when you had Sam Johnson roaring in big caps that he was a "TRUE BORN ENGLISHMAN!" . . . and that was the context that the English considered the Old Testament in. I don't think anti-semitism was really on their radar, other than the usual casual and dismissive attitude the English have always had to the non-English of any stripe. Certainly not important enough to make it the focus of an entire oratorio!
. . . wonder why the writer didn't zoom in on the fact that Handel was actually . . . oh the horror! . . . German.
. . . and I'm not SURE that mine is correct for the imperative and vocative . . . I didn't look it up.
Plenty.
But she's been married to my practicing Catholic brother for five years and attending Mass every Sunday for that time - even during the almost three years he's been away in Iraq.
The thing that really appealed to her, that really brought her over the wall, is the full doctrine of the Eucharist. It was completely alien to her tradition, but it intutively made sense to her.
And the fact that her parish has many other military wives her age who do things together - wholesome outings for the children, volunteer work, etc., has created a real feeling of community for her in the parish as well.
I also met and spoke with the Monsignor there when I stood godfather to my niece: a very solid, orthodox, no-nonsense guy - affable and sensitive to the concerns of young families.
That’s me, keepin’ it real in the present indicative!
Our Monsignor is a darling too. . . . a no-nonsense Irishman of the gruff but genial variety.
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