Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
My annual camp/cabin trip was this past weekend. Basically it’s the same group of guys every year, with the occasional comings and goings. Back in the day, we camped. One particular weekend, about seven or eight years ago now, it rained so hard that it put out our campfire. Since then, it’s been U.S. Forestry service cabins. This is the […]
» Read moreThis bright, brilliant Tuesday is the “Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels” or, in the old calendar, the “Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Michael the Archangel”. Whatever you call it, the most common name is Michaelmas. It is one of several harvest festivals celebrated throughout Christian Europe. In England this is one of the “quarter days”, which […]
» Read moreWhat kind of life could the child possibly look forward to? He was born with a cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida. In these progressive days, the child very well might have been aborted after the doctor showed the mother her first detailed fetal ultrasound. But the child had the great fortune to be born in 1013, a much […]
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Just a quick update with a few new items from each of the three transitioning Tacoma parishes. Saint Joseph Shortly after I published Episode 10, a parishioner of the Tacoma branch of the North American Martyrs FSSP parish wrote to tell me: Thought you might like to know and pass along that at today [Sunday -ed.] at Sts. Peter and […]
» Read moreOf all the photos I took on our 2013 Camino – and I took thousands of them – this is the one that for me best sums up the spirit of the pilgrimage. Francine in the Mists of Galicia It was taken as we walked through the Galician forests on our way to the Royal Monastery of Samos. It reminds […]
» Read moreWhither is thy Beloved gone, O thou most beautiful among women? Whither is thy Beloved turned aside, and we will seek Him with thee? We begin with the first antiphon of Lauds for today’s feast of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Monastic Diurnal. The Blessed Virgin Mary is sometimes called Our Lady of Sorrows – […]
» Read moreToday is celebrated in the western Church as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Exaltatio Sanctæ Crucis). In the eastern Church, it is known as “the Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-creating Cross”. The feast commemorates a number of events: the finding of the True Cross in 326 in Jerusalem by Saint Helena, the later dedication […]
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Some fairly hefty information for the Tacoma parish changes at Holy Rosary, Visitation, and Saint Joseph, so let’s dive right in, shall we? Saint Joseph The incoming pastor, Rev. Michael Stinson, FSSP, preached at this evening’s Mass at Saint Joseph. He will likewise preach at the 10:00 Sunday Mass tomorrow. The following weekend, he will be available following both Masses […]
» Read moreAs both of my long-time readers know, I am a fan of Fr. Robert Barron. His Catholicism Project is to religion what Carl Sagan’s Cosmos was to science. Therefore, it is with undisguised glee that I share this with you: This afternoon, Bishop-elect Robert Barron will be ordained Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles during the Mass of […]
» Read moreGod is truly a poet to confound the mathematicians and a mathematician to confound the poets. Nine months after the solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, celebrated on 8 December, today we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a feast so ancient that it is celebrated on the same day in both East and West. If I may be […]
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Here is the text of the Q & A documents we handed out earlier this weekend. It includes the new Sunday and daily Mass schedules for Holy Rosary and Visitation. Coming Together in Christ Transitions at Holy Rosary and Visitation, No. 4 Father Wichert and the parish transition team are committed to answering your questions and keeping you informed about the upcoming […]
» Read moreOnly a handful of Popes ever get named “Great”. Today in the Ordinary Roman calendar is the feast of one of them, Pope Saint Gregory the Great, confessor and doctor of the Church (540 – 604). Gregory had been born into an ancient and wealthy Roman family. Before he was 30 years old, he had been a Roman Senator and […]
» Read moreSo, this little blog doesn’t get an enormous amount of traffic. Normally, we peak during Advent and around Easter – about what you’d expect. The other day, however, I had the largest number of hits ever in a single day. That was the day I published my post about Father Maurer’s farewell. Go figure!
» Read moreReleased today and, weirdly, also dated today, Pope Francis has published some instructions pursuant to the upcoming Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Some highlights: How Indulgences are to be Granted: I wish that the Jubilee Indulgence may reach each one as a genuine experience of God’s mercy, which comes to meet each person in the Face of the Father who […]
» Read moreFather Maurer’s last Sunday Masses at Holy Rosary and Saint Joseph were this past weekend. Following the Noon Mass, a tremendous celebration was held for him in the old convent building. The noon Mass was positively packed. The last time I saw so many folks crowded into Holy Rosary was when Archbishop Sartain celebrated Corpus Christi here in 2013. I […]
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Here is the text of the Q & A documents we handed out earlier this weekend. It includes the new Sunday and daily Mass schedules for Holy Rosary and Visitation. Coming Together in Christ Transitions at Holy Rosary and Visitation, No. 3 The parish transition teams are committed to answering your questions and keeping you informed about the upcoming changes […]
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Charles Dickens’ great classic, A Tale of Two Cities, begins with words that could apply to any tumultuous age, ours included. Perhaps especially ours. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, […]
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