July 16, 2012 - Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown

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Page 8 The Catholic Register, July 16, 2012 Word of Life The Pope Teaches By Pope Benedict XVI Pallium Sign Of Tie To Heaven And Earth VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After placing a woolen band around the shoulders of 44 new archbishops as they knelt before him, Pope Benedict XVI told them it was a reminder of their ties to heaven and earth and of their loyalty to Christ and the successor of Peter. “You have been constituted in and for the great mystery of communion that is the church, the spiritual edifice built upon Christ as the cornerstone, while in its earthly and historical dimension, it is built on the rock of Peter,” the pope said June 29 during his homily on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. However, he added, the “church is not a community of the perfect, but a community of sinners, obliged to recognize their need for God’s love, their need to be purified through the cross of Jesus Christ.” The pallium is presented every year to new archbishops or those who have been assigned to a new archdiocese. The archbishops included Archbishops Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia; William E. Lori of Baltimore; Samuel J. Aquila of Denver; and William C. Skurla, who leads the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh. In his homily, the pope said Sts. Peter and Paul represent a “new brotherhood” in which differences can be harmonized in unity with love for Christ. That unity extends not just among Catholics, but all believers in Christ as they pursue full communion, he said. “Together we are all cooperators of the truth, which as we know is one and symphonic, and requires from each of us and from our communities a constant commitment to conversion to the one Lord in the grace of the one Spirit,” he told the archbishops. CNS Photo/Giancarlo Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo PRESENTS PALLIUM: Pope Benedict XVI presents a pallium to Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput. ONE MORE TIME: The Shrine of Saint Ann on the grounds of Mount Saint Ann, Ebensburg, was dedicated on October 5, 1958, and has, ever since, been the setting for the Saint Ann Novena sponsored by the Sisters of Saint Ann. This year’s novena opens Wednesday, July 18 and will conclude Thursday, July 26, the feast of Saints Ann and Joachim, with a Mass to be celebrated at 7:00 p.m. by Bishop Mark L. Bartchak. The strong, hot wind of a Midwestern prairie summer was blowing from the south the day my brother and I went out to the farm to check on the crops. It’s a necessity for him. With large acreages and three different farmers who tend his land, my brother needs to be a frequent presence. As for me, I have a third of our dad’s family farm, which doesn’t amount to a lot, but has come in handy as I’ve paid college tuition for my youngest. Our mother passed away only three years ago, and we inherited our parents’ land then. For me, a trip to the farm is akin to a religious experience. After getting out into a field or two to make my own ill-informed inspection, I mostly remained in the car, shielded from the hot sun and reflective as my brother trudged through long rows of fledgling soybeans and hail-battered corn. What had been a marvelous crop early in the season was devastated by hail in May. Hail and drought -- the farmer’s great nemeses -- and this year we’ve experienced one and fear the other. I grew up near these fields on a farm that’s now completely plowed over for crops. My childhood farmhouse, the big barn with the hayloft in which we romped, the windmill, the pig yards -- all gone now, with waving green fields disguising the fact that people ever called these acres home. My brothers and I were the fourth generation to live on that land -- my brother shares the same name, Thomas, as our great-grandfather who first tilled the soil with a horse-drawn team. Every Thomas since then has had some hand in working those fields. My brother looks a bit like my great-grandfather, and as I saw his bent figure off on the horizon looking at the newly replanted soybeans and at the partially shredded corn leaves, I felt engulfed by the contrast between the swift passage of time and the eternal sameness of the land. Lines from the psalms drifted through my thoughts. “As for man, his days are like the grass; he blossoms like a flower in the field. A wind sweeps over it and it is gone; its place knows it no more” (Ps 103). Or perhaps Psalm 90: “A For The Journey By Effie Caldarola A Rural Summer Day Offers A Gift Of Thanksgiving thousand years in your eyes are merely a day gone by before a watch passes in the night.” I wondered if the spirits of people hover over the places where they toiled. The great Irish theologian and philosopher John O’Donohue speaks of “thin places,” where the world as we know it comes close to the unseen world in which we have faith. I felt near to another world as I imagined my great-grandfather, my grandfather, my dad, moving about these fields. I had a sense of remembrance of the little girl I once was who walked those windy lanes. I think it would be good for everyone, all of us so used to the hurry and the bustle of a world filled with people and noise, to experience the solitude of a summer day in rural America. It offers the consolation of Psalm 100: “Good indeed is the Lord, his mercy endures forever, his faithfulness lasts through every generation.”
Q. Recently, my wife and I attended Mass at a small parish church in the southwestern part of England. The priest’s homily was fine, and the congregation participated with enthusiasm. In fact, it was the first Mass I can remember where no one left church until the priest left the altar. But here is my question: The priest used an iPad for the liturgical readings as well as for the Mass prayers. There were no liturgical books in sight. This struck me as very different, although it clearly accomplished the task. Is it permissible now to use an iPad instead of the Lectionary and Roman Missal? (Roanoke, Va.) A. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, which serves as a preface to the book you see at the celebrant’s chair Crosiers Question Corner By Father Kenneth Doyle Can The Priest Use An iPad At Mass? Joachim and Anne first century July 26 Not mentioned in the Bible, Joachim and Anne are first named as the parents of Mary in the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, which may date from the second century. In this story, they are old and childless, like the Old Testament Hannah, mother of Samuel, when angels deliver the news that Anne will conceive a child. Anne was an especially popular saint in medieval England, and her feast was celebrated in the West by 1350; Joachim’s feast was authorized or suppressed by various popes, but was joined with Anne’s in 1969. They are the patrons of married couples; Anne is also the patron of childless women, expectant mothers and miners. Saints and on the altar during Mass, provides the “rules” for the celebration of the liturgy. That instruction (not surprisingly) makes no mention of iPads or other electronic media but refers only to the “liturgical books.” Prior to Mass, the priest is directed to set out the Roman Missal at the presider’s chair and the Lectionary on the ambo (reading stand). It is noted in No. 349 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal that these books, used to proclaim the Word of God, should be “truly worthy, dignified and beautiful.” In 2010, Father Paolo Padrini, a consultant to the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications, designed an iPad application, which offered the text of the Roman Missal in several languages. At the time, he said the use At one point in history, with the invention of the printing press, worship aids changed from hand-lettered scrolls to bound books. In recent years, Pope Benedict XVI has called repeatedly for creative use of new media in efforts toward evangelization. It may well be that, after an appropriate period of adjustment, the use of an iPad at Mass could actually enhance the experience of prayer. of the iPad would not detract from liturgical decorum, noting that “as far as I can see, there is no liturgical rule saying a printed instrument must be used,” and that is where the matter still stands. I have participated in many Masses where, instead of using a Lectionary, all of the readings were typed ahead of time and included in a plain but presentable loose-leaf binder placed on the lectern. This seemed to contribute to the smooth flow of the service because readers did not have to flip through the pages of a large book to find the proper place. Recently, I led a parish pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Italy, and the deacon who accompanied us had downloaded the Lectionary and the Missal onto his iPad. This proved to be invaluable since we couldn’t find English-language liturgical books in some of the places where we wanted to celebrate Mass. Still another advantage (for the graying clergy population) is that the font size on an iPad can be expanded. Objectors may point to the Vatican’s 2001 document “Liturgiam Authenticam,” which requires that the liturgical books “should be marked by such a dignity that the exterior appearance of the book itself will lead the faithful to a greater reverence for the word of God and for sacred realities.” But it would seem that aim could be achieved by covering an iPad in a red leather case (which would also mask the manufacturer’s logo). At one point in history, with the invention of the printing press, worship aids changed from hand-lettered scrolls to bound books. In recent years, Pope Benedict XVI has called repeatedly for creative use of new media in efforts toward evangelization. It may well be that, after an appropriate period of adjustment, the use of an iPad at Mass could actually enhance the experience of prayer. Questions may be sent to Father Kenneth Doyle at askfatherdoyle@gmail.com and 40 Hopewell St., Albany, N.Y. 12208. The Catholic Register, July 16, 2012 Page 9 Parish Diary By Father Peter J. Daly Educating Ourselves About Religious Liberty Our parish is doing a “teach-in” on religious liberty. Back in the 1960s, during the days of the Vietnam War, universities did “teachins” to discuss the war as a way of learning. We are following that pattern, but our topic is religious liberty. Knowledge of history is important. Intellectual honesty is necessary. Consistency is good. As a church, we will do ourselves and our society a favor if we are historically accurate, intellectually honest and philosophically consistent in our approach to religious liberty. If we demand religious liberty for ourselves, we should and do support it for everyone. Our teach-in has shown us that the Roman Catholic Church has not always been a defender of religious liberty. Until 1965, our official position was opposed to religious liberty. That is why non-Catholics were nervous about electing a Catholic as president in 1960. Thencandidate John F. Kennedy had to go to Houston to allay the fears of Baptist ministers that a Catholic president would take away their religious freedom. For centuries before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), some say the Catholic Church was opposed to religious liberty. We lived in a time of “error has no rights,” interpreted by some to mean that all erroneous religions (any “non-Catholic” religion) had no rights. The church thought governments would “institute” Catholicism as the official religion of any nation if Catholics were the dominant group in the population. We also said that government should stamp out false (non-Catholic) religions. This view was expressed most clearly in a declaration known as the “Syllabus of Errors” promulgated by Pope Pius IX in December 1864. The pope listed 80 “errors” of the modern age. Among the “errors” condemned by Pius IX was error No. 15, which said that it was an error to think that “Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.” In error No. 55, the pope said it was wrong to say that “the church ought to be separated from the state and the state from the church.” Error No. 77 said it was wrong to think that “in the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the state, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship.” Pope Pius further said that non-Catholic religions should not be permitted to worship freely in Catholic countries (error No. 78.) It was not until 1965, in Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty (“Dignitatis Humanae”) that the Catholic Church official recognized religious liberty as a human right. “Dignitatis Humanae” said in No. 2: “The human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.” The declaration was mostly drafted by John Courtney Murray, an American Jesuit. Murray’s idea of religious liberty was a change in policy for the church. “Dignitatis Humanae” was the last document promulgated by Vatican II before it adjourned. It almost did not get adopted because of bitter opposition by ecclesiastical conservatives such as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who left the church largely over his disagreement on religious liberty. An honest reading of history teaches us the importance of religious liberty to humanity. An honest reading of church history teaches us to be a humble in our lecturing others on religious liberty.
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July 16, 2012 - Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown

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