we would all be in big trouble.

But if I were (please indulge me while a cold shiver runs up your spine), I would institute one change to the Mass: I would require that it be celebrated ad orientum, which is a fancy way of saying, “towards the East,” which means that the priest would be facing the same direction as the people, instead of in opposite directions (i.e. facing each other).

I don’t think such a change would solve every problem with how the Mass is currently celebrated, but I think that one minor change would go a long way. By turning the priest around, the people would be reminded that he is leading us towards something (God) and that the Mass is not a conversation between the priest and the people, but worship of the All-Mighty Triune God. I think it would also greatly reduce “performancitis” – the disease which afflicts many priests during the Mass in which they feel they must turn the Mass into a performance which entertains the people.

Well, I may not be pope (again, thank God for that!), but the Bishop of Tulsa has decided to implement ad orientum at his cathedral church. He gives some of his reasons for favoring this form of worship, which show a deep appreciation for the importance of proper worship in the Church:

Having the priest and people celebrate Mass ad orientem was the liturgical norm for nearly 18 centuries. There must have been solid reasons for the Church to have held on to this posture for so long. And there were!

First of all, the Catholic liturgy has always maintained a marvelous adherence to the Apostolic Tradition. We see the Mass, indeed the whole liturgical expression of the Church’s life, as something which we have received from the Apostles and which we, in turn, are expected to hand on intact. (1 Corinthians 11:23)

Secondly, the Church held on to this single eastward position because of the sublime way it reveals the nature of the Mass. Even someone unfamiliar with the Mass who reflected upon the celebrant and the faithful being oriented in the same direction would recognize that the priest stands at the head of the people, sharing in one and the same action, which was – he would note with a moment’s longer reflection – an act of worship.

And note that there is no church regulation which states that the Mass cannot be celebrated ad orientum. In fact, it is simply an option to celebrate it “facing the people,” an option which quickly became the de facto norm.

Please pray for Bishop Slattery and pray that more of our shepherds will take the celebration of the Mass as seriously as he does.

As I blogged previously, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, one of the seven “initiators” (they don’t like to be called founders) of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, is celebrating his 50th anniversary as a priest this year. There are plans for a big celebration:

LOCAL CATHOLICS TO HONOR FATHER BENEDICT GROESCHEL WITH 50th ANNIVERSARY MASS

Celebration Will Highlight Infuential Clergyman’s Life and Priesthood

NUTLEY, New Jersey — Laypeople, church officials, friars and Catholic leaders will celebrate the anniversary of one of the church’s most visible and respected priests on Oct. 18 with a special mass and public celebration marking 50 years of Father Benedict Groeschel’s priesthood.

Father Benedict is perhaps best known both within and outside the Catholic community as a prolific author, the host of the popular Sunday Night Live with Father Benedict Groeschel program, and an outspoken activist who has championed civil rights and the teachings of the Catholic church. He’s also an internationally known speaker, a psychologist, a founding member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and co-founder and chairman of Good Counsel Homes. Good Counsel, a Hoboken-based non-profit that provides homes and long-term support for new and expectant mothers and their babies, is honored to plan Father Benedict’s 50th Anniversary mass.

While Father Benedict is known internationally through his writings and weekly program on EWTN — the world’s largest religious media network — his priesthood has been distinguished by a dedication to the poor and disadvantaged, work he has carried out through his involvement with Catholic-based charities. In addition to his role as co-founder and chairman of Good Counsel Homes, Father Benedict is involved with several other Catholic charities focused on providing education, shelter and youth programs.

“Tens of thousands of people have benefited from his writing and through his media communication,” said Archbishop John J. Meyers of Newark. “But I feel confident he is most grateful to the Lord not only for the gift of priesthood, but also for the fact that both he himself and his brothers in the community have reached out to God’s lowly ones. What a joy to work with him to serve our brothers and sisters who often find themselves in such difficult circumstances.”

Christopher Bell, who co-founded Good Counsel with Father Benedict, remembers a conversation in 1985 that inspired the two men to found the charity, which has since provided homes, nourishment, life skills training, and transitional support for more than 5,200 women and babies.

“When I shared with him my frustration over the scarcity of the housing and support services for homeless expectant mothers, Father Benedict challenged me to do something about it,” Bell recalled. “I couldn’t do this alone. He volunteered to help before I even voiced my concern.”

Bell described Father Benedict as one of the nation’s most beloved priests, “truly an American Mother Teresa, with total concern for serving Jesus Christ.”

“Father Benedict has helped hundreds of thousands of people, from the most humble to people constantly in the public spotlight,” Bell said. “He always does it with great dignity and personal humility.”

The 50th Anniversary mass will be celebrated on Sunday, October 18 at Holy Family Church in Nutley, New Jersey. Among the guests are concelebrants Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Apostic Nuncio to the United Nations and Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, as well as diocesan leaders, members of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and lay leaders of Catholic charities and projects Father Benedict has contributed to.

The Mass is open to the public, and media organizations are invited to attend. In addition, friends of Father Benedict who are unable to attend the mass can send their greetings and congratulations on his 50th anniversary through a special Tribute Journal.

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For more information on the celebration, or to schedule an interview with one of Good Counsel’s founders, call Nik Bonopartis at 914-815-5369 or James Schaffer at 203-912-2802.

I’ve always noticed that after I talk to a religious sister who has embraced her vocation that I walk away with a smile on my face. It doesn’t matter what we might have been talking about, there is just such a tangible joy radiating from the sister that I can’t help but smile.

It appears that I’m not the only one who has had that experience:

After two years of contemplating a religious vocation, Virginia Cotter thought she was finally ready to visit some orders for a closer look. When she arrived at the Sisters of Life convent in New York last year, she was in for a shock.

“Most women, and certainly girls, would be shocked at the joy that they will experience with a visit,” Cotter said. “I was on cloud nine for a week after I first visited. I could not believe the genuine joy there; all of these sisters just, like, beam.”

Ms. Cotter decided that she was called to live that joyful life herself and has entered the Sisters of Life:

Even so, deciding to dedicate her life to God as a consecrated woman meant a major change in lifestyle for the 28-year-old. She will have to sell her house and other belongings, leave the company of her friends and family, learn a different way to work and dress, and a new way to pray.

“Not many lay persons pray for four or five hours a day, and that’s what the Sisters of Life do,” she said. “I’ll be going on an act of faith. But my parents raised me to do what God called me to do.”

Her parents, Mary and Tim Cotter of Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Greenville, sent their daughter to Our Lady of the Rosary School for eight years. She graduated from Mauldin High and then from Franciscan University of Steubenville [no surprise there - Franciscan produces a great abundance of our nation's religious vocations], a Catholic school in Ohio that was recommended by her maternal grandparents, Elizabeth and Richard Wolcott.

Among her post-graduate experiences was a year in Los Angeles living in community with the Volunteers For Life and working in a maternity home for teens. She moved to Wyoming to work with troubled youth and then returned home to work at St. Joseph’s Catholic School.

She has been a college counselor at St. Joseph’s for three years, but Cotter will leave the post to enter the Sisters of Life convent on Sept. 5. Her application to the order was accepted on July 13.

The Sisters of Life are a wonderful order and we should all pray for their continued growth and all their new novices, including Ms. Cotter.

My first thought when I read this headline:

40 percent of Twitter messages ‘pointless babble’: study

was that it must have been a flawed study, as 40% seems extremely low. Turns out I was right, as the rest of the article indicates the following:

Conversational messages — defined by Pear as tweets that go back and forth between users or try to engage followers in conversation — accounted for 751 messages or 37.55 percent.

In other words, pointless babble that goes back and forth between users.

Pear said tweets with “pass-along value” — messages that are being “re-tweeted” or passed on by users to their followers — accounted for 174 messages or 8.70 percent.

AKA: pointless babble that is passed along to other users.

Self-promotion by companies was next with 117 tweets or 5.85 percent

Corporate pointless babble.

followed by spam with 75 tweets or 3.75 percent.

Nigerian and “enhancement” pointless babble.

It said tweets with news from mainstream media publications accounted for 72 tweets or 3.60 percent.

Considering that most of what the mainstream media has produced over the past 40 years has been pointless babble, I’d say this category falls under that heading as well.

So my rewritten headline:

100 percent of Twitter messages ‘pointless babble’

On the Feast of the Assumption this past Saturday, my family was discussing heaven at the dinner table. My kids, specifically, were discussing what they would want to do in heaven. A few examples:

• “I would want to climb a tree sooo high, and then when I got to the top, I would jump into God’s palace.”

• “I would want to be in a house filled with books and just read.” (A child clearly after her father’s heart).

• “I would play in a baseball game, and St. Peter would be the cleanup hitter for my team.” (At this point, my 6-year-old son went into a long discussion of playing a team from hell and crushing them).

• “I would take a hike in the forest for miles and miles and miles.” (Okay, I admit, this was mine).

A few days ago I heard the following story from a priest:

“I was preaching a retreat to a group of Missionary of Charity sisters. They did not want me to go easy on them and tell them how great they were, so I challenged them as much as I could. I told them that their temptations against poverty were not going to be buying a convertible or a big house. It would be that small box of stuff you keep next to your bed. It might be worthless, but it is ‘yours’ and therefore against the radical vow of poverty you have taken.

A few days later a sister came up to me and said, ‘I did it!’

‘What did you do, sister?’

‘I had a needle for the past two years that I kept hidden and used to patch and sew my habit. I am not supposed to have such a possession and I turned it back in to the superior.’”

Gives a whole new meaning to the words of Christ, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).

I’ll try to remember that needle the next time I feel attached to my house or car or laptop or whatever it is that attaches me to this world.

My site was down for the past 8-10 hours due to technical issues. Isn’t technology grand?

This is a great idea: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced that they will be producing DVDs which will help both clergy and the faithful properly celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, aka the Latin Mass.

Although I personally love a well-said, reverent Norvus Ordo Mass, I think the restoration of the Latin Mass was a great move by Pope Benedict. My hope is that the increased exposure to the Latin Mass will seep into the practice of the Norvus Ordo, leading it to be celebrated in a more reverent, traditional manner.

Taylor Marshall at his Catholic Perspective on Paul blog asks the interesting question:

Does N.T. Wright’s theology lead to Catholicism?

I have just begun reading Wright’s works this year, so his theology had nothing to do with my own conversion 17 years ago, but I think this is a valid question. If you have heard Scott Hahn speak on Paul’s writings, you will notice that he often mentions two (Protestant) names: E.P. Sanders and N.T. Wright. These are two leading figures in the “New Perspective on Paul” movement which is attempting to pull Paul and his writings out of the 16th century Catholic-Protestant debates and restore them to their 1st century context.

One of the great disservices that Martin Luther did to the Church was to reinterpret Paul and his debates with the Judaizers so that they matched his own debates with the 16th century Catholic Church. This became the template through which both Protestants and Catholics read Paul: Protestants claiming that Paul supported their rejection of the Church, and Catholics responding that he did not. Yet the underlying premise – that Paul was dealing with the same issues that Luther dealt with – is extremely faulty. As Sanders and Wright show, the Judaizers were not preaching a “salvation by works” and therefore Paul was not countering with “salvation by faith alone.”

How do these findings impact the almost five-century-old Catholic/Protestant debate? To my knowledge, Wright does not directly address this question. But many Catholics (including Hahn) have noticed that if Luther was so radically wrong in this area of biblical interpretation, where does that leave Protestantism?

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Anyone who knows me or has read this blog for even a few days knows that I love the richness of Eastern Christianity: I love their liturgy, their theology and their spirituality. I try to attend an Eastern Catholic liturgy at least a few times a year, as much as my schedule allows. My favorite Eastern Catholic church is the Melkite church, which is the “sister” church to the Antiochian Orthodox church.

So it goes without saying that I was very excited when I found this:

The Melkite Church at the Council: Discourses and Memoranda of Patriarch Maximos IV and of the Hierarchs of His Church at the Second Vatican Council

(Yes, I am geek enough to be excited about finding hundreds of pages of documentation from church proceedings).

These texts are really a treasure-trove, as they document the great influence the small Melkite church had on the universal Church during Vatican II. As Fr. Robert Taft explains in the introduction, the Melkites, due to their history, were able to “discern what is essential (i.e., Catholic) from what is contingent (i.e., Latin) in Catholicism, enabling them at Vatican II to witness to a pensee complementaire, another, complementary way of seeing things, as a counterbalance to Latin Catholic unilateralism”.

Reading the documents is quite enlightening, as it shows that the Melkites were able to push for greater ecumenism, communion under both species, vernacular in the Mass, and many other changes that occurred at Vatican II or immediately following it. They were instrumental in preventing the Council from devolving into a strictly Latin and provincial affair. We Roman Catholics can be thankful in many ways for their contribution to the Council.

However, one section of this book is eye-opening in a more negative sense. In Chapter 15, there is the text of a Council speech from 1964 by Melkite Patriarch Maximos regarding birth control. In the speech, the Patriarch makes it obvious that he believes that the Church should relax their condemnation of artificial forms of birth control, stating, “Frankly, should not the official positions of the Church on this matter be revised in the light of modern science, theological as well as medical, psychological, and sociological?” In doing so, he joined a large chorus of voices of the time that were calling for such a relaxation. In fact, in his speech, he appears hopeful the Pope Paul VI will soon revise the Church’s teachings.

We all know what actually occurred: Pope Paul VI shocked just about everyone and issued Humanae Vitae, which upheld the Church’s consistent ban on artificial forms of contraception.

In my mind, nothing is a more practical proof of the need for a true primacy of the Pope than these events. If the Pope did not have true authority, then the Patriarch would have been free to condone artificial birth control in his church, which it seems likely that he would have done (possibly along with other Eastern Catholic churches and as the Orthodox Church in America later did). But by its communion with the Pope (and acceptance of his authority), the Melkite church still upholds the traditional teaching of Christianity in this regard (as can be seen here).

During the 1960′s, it was very difficult, if not impossible, to see the destructive nature of artificial birth control. It is understandable that many good and devout Christians were calling for the relaxation of the Church’s condemnation. But the Lord in his divine goodness gave his Church a means by which to withstand short-sighted and culturally-influenced pressures: the rock of Peter on which he built his Church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it.

It has come out that Rick Pitino, a Catholic and head coach of the men’s basketball team for the University of Louisville, impregnated a woman (not his wife) and then financially assisted her in procuring an abortion.

This means that, under Canon 1398, Pitino might be automatically excommunicated from the Church. This canon states:

“A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.”

This does not just include the mother of the child, but all formal conspirators of the abortion, such as those who financially assist in the payment for the abortion, as Mr. Pitino did.

However, it is possible that Pitino is not automatically excommunicated, as Canon 1323 stipulates that those ignorant of a law do not incur the sanction attached to it. Obviously, Pitino’s actions are a violation of the 5th commandment and must be confessed, but it is the duty of his confessor to determine if he needs to have the excommunication lifted by his bishop.

Before anyone thinks that this law is unduly harsh, remember that all excommunications are intended to be medicinal in nature. They are not “punishments” but treatment for a disease. In this case, Mr. Pitino has committed a grave sin and is responsible for the death of an innocent child (his own). The possibility of excommunication will hopefully bring home the gravity of his actions and lead him to the forgiving embrace of the Divine Physician, Jesus Christ.

Please pray for Pitino and all involved in this sordid affair.

(More information about Canon 1398 can be found on EWTN’s website).

Update: It appears now that Pitino is claiming that he gave the woman money for health insurance, not specifically for an abortion. Obviously, if he did not know that she used the money for an abortion, that directly impacts his potential excommunication.

Reader Tim responds to my latest Medjugorje post:

I am a recent convert to Catholicism through Medjugorje. Once agnostic, I am now a devout Catholic. For me, Medjugorje has been a beautiful gateway to the Lord’s Church

This is wonderful news and I praise God for your conversion! As I mentioned, my own conversion to Catholicism was influenced by the Medjugorje phenomenon. I have met many people likewise who have been positively impacted either by visiting Medjugorje or by those who have visited it. There is no question in my mind that God has worked miracles through the events of that small village.

You wrote earlier that it is your opinion that it is extremely unlikely that the Blessed Mother is appearing to the visionaries in Medjugorje. What plausible alternative explanation do you have? The Satan theory is the one all skeptics resort to because there isn’t any other earthly explanation. The Satan theory makes no sense because the Blessed Mother in Her apparitions focuses on being devout to Christ and His Church – hardly something Satan would ever do.

I think there are a number of plausible alternative explanations, the “Satan theory” being the least likely, in my mind. I really do not know, but if I had to guess, I would suggest that one of two possibilities are most likely: either the whole things started as a hoax and then spun out of control, or that those involved had psychological episodes in which they really believed that they saw the Virgin Mary (possibly fostered by the local Franciscans).

I have a number of reasons to be very skeptical of the heavenly origin of the visions themselves, but my main reason is the disobedience of those who are closest to the visionaries to the local bishop. Christ has given us a authoritative Church to follow, and the realization of that authority in the local church is the bishop. Every local bishop has condemned the apparitions, and Rome has done nothing to reverse those decisions. As Catholics, we do not follow visions of Mary, we follow the Pope and the bishops in union with him.

But regardless of the origin of the apparitions (and note that I’m not 100% ruling out that Mary is really appearing, I’m just extremely skeptical of that possibility), that does not rule out that God is really working there; in fact, I think we can say with certitude that God is working there. Even if the origin of the apparitions is demonic, that does not mean that God – who is infinitely more powerful than Satan – cannot produce good fruit out of it. Again, I don’t really buy the “Satan theory,” but I do think that God can work good through any situation. It is quite possible that the originators of the Medjugorje phenomenon had less-than-virtuous motives, yet God used their actions for His greater good. Stranger things have happened in salvation history.

In fact, the priest, bishops and lay people who embrace Medjugorje are some of the most devout and conservative Catholics.

Yes, I agree that many who embrace Medjugorje are very devout. However, I have seen many of them twist the words of the local bishop and even the Vatican to try to justify the apparitions. As I said earlier, if a Catholic is faced with a choice between following a vision or following his bishop, there really is no choice: you follow the bishop. This is the practice of all the saints throughout the ages, even those who were themselves (wrongly) condemned by their own bishops. If the visionaries of Medjugorje and their supporters had submissively silenced themselves after the local bishop asked them to, I would have been more likely to believe that it really was Mary appearing to them. However, they have chosen to continue to promote the apparitions (at financial benefit to themselves, I might add), even in the face of opposition from the bishop. This speaks volumes to me.

The truth is that Our Lady IS appearing to the visionaries. It is just so incredible that some can’t accept the reality of God granting us such a wonderful gift in our time. But Christ and His Mother have been rejected before, both in their earthly existence and through other visionaries, such as Sr. Faustina. What I think causes people to reject Medjugorje is a deep seated fear of the true reality of God in our lives. If we as Catholics believe in the presence of the Lord in each of the millions of Eucharistic Hosts presented throughout time and throughout the world, how is it so difficult to believe that His Mother would appear and give us messages of hope, love and a path to Her Son?

I do not doubt that God can send the Blessed Mother to our world to give us messages of hope and love. I simply do not believe that this occurred at Medjugorje. One does not have to accept every claimed vision to believe that visions do really happen.

As Catholics, we do not put our trust in modern visions or apparitions. We put our trust in Jesus Christ, which we know through the Church he founded upon Peter. Until such time as that Church gives a positive appraisal of Medjugorje, I will remain skeptical, all the while thanking God for the wondrous fruit He can produce, even from sickly trees.

Again, praise God for your conversion and welcome to the Church!

Imagine you have a daughter who just finished high school. You have taken care of her for 18 years and have invested your life into her. You have fed her, educated her, and taught her how to live as a mature person in the world. You have saved money for years so that she might go off to college and then become a productive member of society. Then, one night, she sneaks out of your house and joins a cult-live group of men (only men!) who, by all accounts, are religious fanatics.

Congratulations! You may be the parent of St. Clare (whose feast day is today).

When reading the stories of the saints, we can sometimes mitigate the radical nature of their lives, because we already know the end of the story: that they gave their lives to Christ and were following his will. But imagine if you were Clare’s father and your daughter behaved as she did. You don’t know if these “friars minor” are legitimate, and frankly, it looks doubtful that they are anything other than crazy men following a cult leader. Do you really want your (respectable) daughter to join them?

But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a radical calling, one that supersedes familial ties. If Christ calls you, it does not matter what your parents or anyone else may think – you must respond. Following Christ may be simple, but it is not easy.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life – Matthew 19:29.

When I am asked by people what is the difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, I will either answer “very little” or “a whole lot”, depending on who is the asking and the context of the question.

If the questioner is a Protestant, I will most likely answer the former: very little is different, as least in comparison with the differences between Protestantism and the apostolic Churches. We both have sacraments, authoritative bishops, reverence for Mary, prayers for the dead – and the list could go on quite some time.

If the questioner is a Catholic and knowledgeable about the Faith, I will more likely answer that a “whole lot” is different. The filioque, authority of the pope, purgatory, the Immaculate Conception of Mary – and the list could go on quite some time.

When a Western Christian first explores the East, he cannot get over how alike it is to Catholicism. It seems to be simply a different view of the same beliefs. However, the more one explores the East, the more one realizes that in many ways, the East is not even using the same playbook as the West, and this leads to subtle, yet very important, differences in our views of God and His plan of salvation. Whereas I truly believe that most of these differences are reconcilable, I do accept that they really are differences – Orthodoxy is not simply Catholicism without the pope.

The blog Vivificat!, run by a Roman Catholic who was at one time Eastern Orthodox, has a very nice post which lists 12 beliefs of the Orthodox which are fundamental to their identity but are not consistent with Catholic belief (at least not consistent based on our current understanding of doctrine). Read it here:

Twelve Differences Between the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches