Once again, the church is entering a critical period of renewal and reform of liturgical language and practice. In March 2003, the translation and application for the United States of the 2001 edition of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal was approved by the Holy See, and a translation of t
Not every Mass is going to be a great and deeply moving experience, not for the vast majority of us anyway. But there is a great deal to be said for simple fidelity to our worship. St. Ignatius Loyola says in the Spiritual Exercises that the person who is experiencing some desolation (dryness,
What makes good liturgy? That is the question with which a squad of talented Catholic liturgists have been wrestling in the pages of America over the past nine weeks. Beginning with the most basic liturgical minister of allthe assemblythese men and women have probed the arts of presiding and preachi
I was startled. One of my Jesuit confreres had just introduced me to a fellow graduate student, not by name but as “our superior.” We were classmates; we lived in a small community, but somehow I had turned from Drew into “Father Superior.” I was no longer an individual. I wa
cartoon by pat byrnes
Natural Method
I was exceedingly pleased to read in Signs of the Times (4/5) that Pope John Paul II said, The administration of water and food, even when delivered using artificial means, always represents a natural method of preserving life and not a
There is another killer disease besides AIDS, but it receives far less attention in the wealthy nations of the Northmalaria. Malaria has been almost completely eliminated in the United States and other developed countries. It is often included among the so-called neglected diseases, neglected in the
First Communion is a powerful church and family ritual; no one who has been present can miss its importance for the children taking part.