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I will pray fervently -- especially to St. Cecelia, St. Gregory the Great, St. Boniface, and St. Lioba.

When you meet with the Archbishopp and his people, be sure all of you are wearning St. Benedict medals.

When you meet with the Archbishopp and his people, be sure all of you are wearning St. Benedict medals.

Why? To ward off evil? From who?

As a a secular Benedictine myself, and a wearer of the medal--which is embedded in my crucifix--I find these remarks somewhat disturbing.

Have we stopped to consider that the Lord may have something better in store for them? Perhaps, the Lord wants to teach these Catholics to rely more on him and less in their own resources. Perhaps the Lord wants them to love their bishop like children do their fathers, and to trust in his judgment; perhaps the Lord is set to bless this filial obedience with more actual graces and a renewed mission. You will know when you ask for it.

These are a but number of the intentions worthy of intercessory prayer. Preparations for spiritual combat when the perceived adversary is "the Archbishop and his people," as if they were somehow foreign to the Church and tainted, are preposterous, and an offense against charity.

-Theo

Siobhan, thank you for the ping. St. Cecilia and St. Gregory the Great are two of my "favorites." I will add prayers to St. Catherine of Siena - may the parishioners of Holy Trinity have the ability to be truly heard by Archbishop O'Malley the way St. Catherine spoke to the Pope of her time - and St. Anthony of Padua - may he knock some sense into another Franciscan.

Pandora the Great, I think part of your strategy is right in your post. How impressed will Benedict XVI be by the closing of the only German National Parish in New England? Someone might want to ask the question in a rhetorical manner during your meeting. When you wrote "Fr. O" did you mean Archbishop O'Malley? If so, why would the archbishop invlolve himself in such minute details as choirs? Or were you referring to a priest at Holy Trinity?