No one wants to be at a funeral. It means that a loss has occurred, hearts broken. But there are few other instances in which doing something we dread so deeply can mean so much.
Liturgy
Posted inFaith, Short Take
I just don’t get the controversy over the traditional Latin Mass
Recent edicts and explanations of edicts out of Rome have ignited a familiarly unpleasant conflict in the U.S. church. And yet, though this will infuriate a vocal minority of my fellow Catholics, I just don’t get the brouhaha over the traditional Latin Mass.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
The Catholic Guide of Dos and Don’ts for Christmas Mass
Our return to an in-person celebration of the birth of Jesus is also an opportunity to think about how we have done Christmas in the past—and perhaps even make some adjustments.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Vatican clarifies rules for the celebration of the Tridentine Latin Mass
A new document from the Vatican congregation that oversees Mass and the sacraments offers responses to questions some bishops have asked about restrictions on the celebration of the pre-Vatican II liturgical rite.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Good homilies matter — and inspiring preachers need inspiration, too.
How do our religious leaders launch this spirited season of Advent in the hope of spiritual healing? Above all else, Saint Paul counsels: “Don’t stifle the spirit!”
Posted inFaith, Letters
Letter to the Editor: A response to Senator Dick Durbin on abortion and holy Communion
The Most Rev. Thomas John Paprocki, the bishop of Springfield in Illinois, and the Most Rev. Kevin W. Vann, the bishop of Orange in California, write in response to America’s interview with Senator Durbin.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Cardinal Cupich: Pope Francis’ Latin Mass reforms are necessary to secure Vatican II’s legacy
Pope Francis wants all Catholics to recognize that Vatican II and its reforms are not only authentic actions of the Holy Spirit but also are in continuity with the tradition of the church.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Pope Francis did not create the divisions around the Latin Mass. He inherited them.
What Francis has done is to reestablish the priority of Vatican II in our liturgical life. He is saying, essentially, that no one can take an end run around it.
Posted inEditorials, Faith
The Editors: Reverence for the Eucharist transcends politics
The disagreements we have in the Catholic Church in the United States around the Eucharist are largely about discipline, not doctrine.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Archbishop Roche: Vatican II’s reform of the Mass is ‘irreversible’
In his first public lecture as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Archbishop Arthur Roche left no doubt as to the direction the congregation will take under his leadership.