East is East... but is East best?

I noticed on the Deacon's Bench and on Catholic Culture News Briefs that Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa has announced in the diocesan publication The Eastern Oklahoma Catholic that when he is celebrating Mass at the cathedral he will do so ad orientem, or facing in the same direction as the people.
While he recognizes some benefits of the celebrant facing the people as has been standard following the Second Vatican Council, Bishop Slattery sees a problem in that "... it can give the appearance that the priest and the people were engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God."
I believe many others will follow Bishop Slattery's lead (my pastor may well be one of the early adopters of this return to the traditional orientation) but I am not quite sure how I feel about it. Nowhere in the documents of Vatican II was the change in orientation from ad orientem to versus populum mandated, but it has been a part of my lived worship experience for the past 40 years.
Many a lively discussion will result from Bishop Slattery's initiative, but that is part of the reason I enjoy church work so much. As the great philosopher Roseanne Roseannadanna said, "It's always something!"

The Deacon's Bench: You have never seen anything quite like this. Really.

The Deacon's Bench: You have never seen anything quite like this. Really. An amazing video and a moving remembrance.

Still the last legitimate prejudice in America

It has been apparent for years that anti-Catholicism is the last prejudice to be tolerated in secular society. Animus that would find not be countenanced should it be directed against any other religious, ethnic or racial group is treated as simple entertainment when directed against the Catholic Church and its teachings.
As an example consider the upcoming, season finale of the Penn & Teller Showtime series "Bullsh*t". On his Twitter page, Penn Jillette brags how he rips a Catholic encyclical on sexuality: “I’m dressed as Darth with a condom c--k light saber.”
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has taken out an ad in the trade publication Variety calling for CBS, the parent company of Showtime, to finally draw the line.
On its website the show is described as "...a high-octane, weird, wacky, entertaining journey through some bizarre territory that no one else is brave enough to touch," and boasts that the team of Penn and Teller are "...confirmed skeptics and pro-science atheists (they refer to God as "an imaginary friend")."
I have an overactive sense of humor and like to quip that because of this I am known as "bad Deacon!," however, even I know where to draw the line, particularly when I take into account the legacy we have inherited from this secular society which has sought to do away with God.

Can we not support health care reform?

The health care debate in the United States is rapidly devolving into the same type of shouting match that marks all too much of contemporary political discourse. Those opposed to any change in health care see more socialists than Joe McCarthy could find on May Day in Moscow. Meanwhile proponents in charge of crafting the proposals appear to be willing to sacrifice the whole package rather than yield any ground on their agenda issues such as publicly funded abortion.
In his letter of August 11, Cardinal Rigali restated the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) long standing support for health care reform with the requirement that such reform must include provisions that protect life from conception to natural death and provide for freedom of conscience for health care workers.
I support the bishops in their stance and recognize that with 50 million Americans uninsured the need for health care reform is apparent. However, I was intrigued by an editorial in The Tablet which examined the question and brought to mind that the institution of National Health Service in the UK came about without the support of Catholic bishops for similar reasons as face the church in the US. The editorial laments the bishops failure "...to put the promotion of social justice above their churchly priorities," and views that as a mistake.
The times and situations are different, however the editorial is worth reading. At least it is more reasoned and less polemic than what we are hearing in most of the US.

Maybe it is about time...

In recent weeks I have been deeply troubled by my perception of the state of the Catholic Church in the United States. When I was a child, Catholic families may have been a minority, but they were a very visible minority.
Catholics were the ones ordering the fish special in restaurants on Fridays even when the restaurant was a steak house. Catholics were the ones who invariably said, "Good morning Father" (or sister) whenever they passed a priest or religious sister on the street; and it was easy to spot the priests and religious because they always wore distinctive garb -- there was no doubt who they were. Catholics went to mass on Sunday and said grace before meals even in restaurants. Catholics crossed themselves and said a silent prayer if an ambulance went by.
In 1958, about 74% of Catholics attended weekly Mass. In its Data Composite Book for 2008, the Archdiocese of Chicago reports the "October Count" Mass attendance at 474,000 a week. That is just 20% of the reported Catholic population of 2,338,000 in the Archdiocese. The largest single religious denomination in Lake and Cook County, Illinois is non-practicing Catholics.
This is not news to the priests, deacons or lay people involved in the school and religious education programs around the archdiocese. For years we have witnessed the dynamic of parents who drop their children off for religious education classes but never seem to find their way into the church itself; couples who do not worship at any church, live together but want to have a full Catholic wedding; and parents who come requesting baptism for their children into a faith that they stopped practicing decades ago. Our parochial schools are more valued by some parents as inexpensive private education than as the Catholic schools they are intended to be.
For years our apparent response has been to say, "What'cha gonna do?" We trust God and pray that the grace of the sacraments might entice those who have fallen away into coming back. For this reason we have been hesitant to voice our reservations and made the sacraments readily available to those who do not value them.
I fear that the result of making these treasured sacraments readily available has been not to lure those who have fallen away back to the church, but rather to cheapen those sacraments in their eyes. You get what you pay for, therefore the sacraments cannot be of much value if they are offered so freely.
So again, "What'cha gonna do?" Perhaps it is time to focus our energies and resources on the "faithful remnant", that 20% who practice their faith. Where the lowering of standards in an attempt to be more "pastoral" has only continued the decline in the practice of the faith, perhaps the lived witness of the devoted few if fully supported may prove to be more efficacious in the process of evangelization and conversion.
Perhaps it will not work, but I know that continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results is insanity.

Between Vespers and Compline, perhaps a new hour called "Happy"

Catholic News Service offers the following quote from Trappist Father Isaac Majoor, prior of the Abbey of Our Lady of Konigshoeven in the Netherlands which seems to help make the enjoyment of a beverage a more contemplative and prayerful exercise.

"Don't drink it too quickly. Create an atmosphere of silence and peace. It helps you reflect on your day."

Fr. Majoor is on a tour of the U. S. promoting the new ale "Isid'or" produced by his monastery in celebration of its 125th anniversary. Another story here

Is it really better not to know?

It has been a difficult time in Chicago as 36 students of Chicago Public Schools died in the past school years as a result of gun violence. We all know that "...guns don't kill people, people kill people." The NRA makes sure that message gets out. What is surprising is that they let the number of Chicago students killed by guns this year get out.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin has an interesting commentary is today's paper on how successful the NRA has been in preventing studies that might assemble the data to inform the public on the level of gun violence in America.
The NRA acknowledges their efforts to block such research. "We've interjected ourselves when we think there would be biased, outcome-based research," Todd Vandermyde, the NRA's legislative liaison for Illinois, said Tuesday by phone. This was in reference to a study proposed by the Center for Disease Control. I guess I never thought of them as a biased group. If the truth is uncomfortable perhaps it is better not to discover it.
Ms. Marin's piece today has put me in the awkward position of reflecting on the importance of the efforts of Rev. Michael Pfleger to force Chicago to face up to the severity of the problem of gun violence in Chicago. Fr. Pfleger is a man with whom I have major issues on many matters liturgical and theological, but I readily acknowledge his willingness to speak out boldly on major issues. As one side seeks to maintain a level of ignorance, perhaps it is necessary to have a Pfleger making noise.