Tag Archives: Christianity

Newman Club Holy Week Activities

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I’m sorry for not posting this sooner.

This year for Holy Week Carnegie-Mellon is hosting what amounts to the full Monastic liturgical schedule of the Divine Office. The Office is the public prayer of the Church, consisting mostly of psalms and biblical readings. The Vespers said on Sundays at the Oratory and Compline said daily at CMU are parts of the Office, but for Holy Week we will be breaking out the full liturgy. We will also be turning CMU’s chapel into something that actually looks like a Church. There will be candles, chanting, and yes Eddie, incense. These offices will be done as “Reader Services” (as we aren’t forcing the priests to put in more work than they already do during Holy Week). This means that we need people who can sing (still come if you can’t). If you have the slightest idea how singing goes (even better if you’re familiar with Gregorian or Byzantine chant) let our Pitt VP, Steven Kesslar, know so that he can send you the texts/music so that we can sound a little better. If you don’t know how to sing a brief tutorial is all you need (most of the parts only have two notes). We need three leaders for each office and some powerful people in the choir (that’s everyone else, liturgically speaking). So volunteer! Steven’s e-mail address is anthrakeus@gmail.com.

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Offensive Statue #2

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[maryjesusstatue.jpg]Hot on the heels of one controversial pro-life statue, we have another.

“A SCULPTURE OF the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, proposed as a ‘memorial for the victims of abortion’ at Villanova University, has upset some students, including some who oppose abortion.”

[…]

“Pro-life freshman Clint Gilliam agrees with the concept of the statue, but thinks its high-profile placement is a bad idea. ‘It’s just a little in your face,’ he said. ‘It sort of makes people who don’t believe in those things uncomfortable.’ Adds freshman Peggy Costello, ‘I’m personally pro-life and I don’t like the statue at all.’ ‘I feel that putting up a statue like that completely counters the diversity we’re trying to advocate or uphold,’ said Costello, 19, who thinks the memorial could alienate non-Catholics.”

Villanova is a Catholic university for heaven’s sake! There should be no need whatsoever to justify a tasteful pro-life statue, especially one with of Mary and Jesus.

Don’t Pray For Peter

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Here’s an interesting exchange between Peter (aka Theomorph) and a commenter about the efficacy of intercessory prayer.

“I still think that so long as anyone believes in the same God who made an appearance in the book of Job, the idea of prayer getting a person what he or she wants is theologically unsound. If I may paraphrase in the vernacular, God basically told Job, ‘Don’t f*** with me; I do what I want and you can’t stop me.'”

Still Amusing the Church to Death

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Remember the post I wrote about Chuck Colsen’s critique of trite worship music? I agreed with Colsen’s distaste for “Draw Me Close to You” and its ilk. My buddy Rob didn’t. When discussion on both blogs died, I figured the matter was closed for the time being. I didn’t think the article had legs beyond my little corner of the net, but it seems I was wrong.

Sam Storms of Enjoying God Ministries and Justin Tayler of Between Two Worlds threw their two cents in with Rob. I wouldn’t have know that, though, if Godblogger heavyweight Tim Challies hadn’t joined the fray. I’m happy to say he’s on my side. 😉 Challies presents a seven-part test for “whether a particular song is suitable for worshiping our God, especially in a corporate setting”, borrowed from a book by Elmer Towns and Ed Stetzer. He also adds an eighth criterion of his own.

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