Need a demonstration of the fallen nature of man? You’re looking at him. Syndicating Peter’s post linking to P.Z. Myers’ screed about the Eucharist being just a cracker royally offended good friend, frequent commenter, and occasional blogger, Stuff. As a form of public penance, here are links to some Catholic discussion of Myers’ and his rabid rants.:
[NOTA BENE: The following syndicated post links to material that devout Catholics will find offensive. I allowed this post to be published for a couple reasons. First of all, I have never shied away from tough or potentially offensive topics on this blog. Secondly, I am a big proponent of open, civilized dialog, and my hope is that syndicating a post linking to P.Z. Myers’ screed would spur the capable apologists in my readership to respond less embarrassingly than the folks who sent hate mail to him. – Funky]
“Of all the fathers, as many as you can name, not one has ever spoken about the sacrament as these fanatics do. None of them uses such an expression as, ‘It is simply bread and wine,’ or ‘Christ’s body and blood are not present.’ Yet this subject is so frequently discussed by them, it is impossible that they should not at some time have let slip such an expression as, ‘It is simply bread,’ or ‘Not that the body of Christ is physically present,’ or the like, since they are greatly concerned not to mislead the people; actually, they simply proceed to speak as if no one doubted that Christ’s body and blood are present. Certainly among so many fathers and so many writings a negative argument should have turned up at least once, as happens in other articles; but actually they all stand uniformly and consistently on the affirmative side.â€
-Martin Luther
The Fathers of the Pittsburgh Oratory are pleased to announce that the enormous graces of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration will be made available to all who live, worship, work, and study within our university communities beginning June 29, 2008. This is in unity with the whole Church in celebration of the “Year of Saint Paul” proclaimed by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI and heeding the call of our Bishop, His Excellency David Zubik, to allow our Lord to draw us deeper into His Sacred Heart through prayer. Nowhere does Heart speak to heart more clearly and profoundly than in the Sacrament of His infinite love.
Of all the heavy debates on Catholic Liturgy that seem to cause a threatening snarl and an intimidating stripe of raised hair down the backs of even the most gentle child of God, that on appropriate music is the only one which actually causes yours truly to bite. I am no theologian, nor expert on Church documents. I am, however, a musician and a Catholic. As such, I care enough about this debate to investigate suggestions I find contrary to what I have been taught or have come to believe on my own.
This article from an Australian Catholic newspaper made a few such suggestions that rubbed me the wrong way. Fortunately, the author’s arguments are made based on segments of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), which is easily accessible from the USCCB website. Upon reading the document, I found (as I hope you, the astute reader will, too) much of the article’s conclusions to be taken out of context.