Author Archives: Anthrakeus

St. Anne’s Novena

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Remember today is a great day to begin a St. Anne’s Novena. While this novena to the mother of the Blessed Virgin and Holy God-bearer may be said at any time, starting today will allow you to finish on the feast of St. Anne. Many parishes hold public novena’s during this time, so check the local churches, especially if one of them is named St. Anne’s.

EWTN’s website has the most common novena to St. Anne.

There is also the chaplet of St. Anne, which dates back to the 1800’s, to be found here.

And for those Oratoriophiles out there, a prayer translated by Ambrose St. Jean (pronounced "sinjin"), CO of the Birmingham Oratory.

The feast of St. Anne is quite old. It is celebrated as the "Dormition of St. Anne" in the East on the 25th, and the feast of St. Anne in the West is celebrated on the 26th (in the calendar of the Novus Ordo Missae the feast of St. Joaquin, the BVM’s father, is moved to this day, as well).

It is often observed that Grandmothers play a very important role in the return of many young Catholics to the Church during the last two decades. As this generation now grows older, it is an important time to pray to the grandmother of Christ for these grandparents, whose witness is still needed in the Church today. Few saints have shown the effectiveness that St. Anne has shown with countless miracles, no doubt due to the love Christ has for His own grandmother. We all have needs which St. Anne, who loves us as only grandmothers do, desires to present to her Divine grandson. So, join us in this novena, praying for your own needs as well as for the intentions of this blog and the Pittsburgh Newman Clubs.

Pentecost Novena

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As we celebrate today the Solemnity of the Ascension, we likewise commemorate the first novena. After the Ascension the Apostles gathered together with the Blessed Virgin, praying nine days until the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Church recalls this event with a novena, especially that novena promoted by Pope Leo XIII for the reunification of Christianity. Because Pentecost is the birth of the Church, we take this occasion to implore that the full number of the faithful be brought into the "one fold". There are links below for a popular novena to the Holy Spirit (although any novena will do) and the ancient Hymn "Veni Creator" (with translation by Oratorian Fr. Caswall). Join us in prayer for the unity of the faithful, and that this Pentecost may be an occasion of great grace.

novena
Veni Creator Spiritus music
Veni Creator Spiritus mp3
Come Holy Ghost (translation by Edward Caswall, CO)

N.B. There is a partial indulgence attached to any public novena before Pentecost. If this blog community is saying it, is this novena "public"? Oh, who knows. Do it anyway.

They’re Coming to America

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I feel the need to write a political post, for a change. I've been observing the recent debate over immigration, and it's got me thinking. The part of the debate I dislike the most is the idea of a guest worker program. First of all, this system is in place in Germany (you know, one of those evil European powers that didn't support the war), but doesn't work that well. In Germany there is a sizable Turkish population (Turkish, but not born in Turkey), but the Turks stay low income and separated. In some parts of Europe this ghettoesque set up is fueling the terrorist cells. It doesn't work in Germany, but that's not what makes me cringe at the idea of an American guest worker program.

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Tres Viae

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It seems that a lot of the problems within the Church today stem from Catholics, who have vastly different ideologies, thinking every Catholic thinks as they do. This simply isn’t true. Within the Church today there are at least three distinct ideologies in use. What are these ideologies? Well, I hope to explain that. Now, the names used are arbitrary. Just because you call yourself “traditionalist” doesn’t make you one. Furthermore, these distinctions have little to do with politics. Conservative Catholics may be quite liberal politically. And please, bear in mind, “liberal” is not synonymous with “heretic”. While the liberal position may constitute heresy, we can’t assume that right off the bat.  The greater portion of “liberals”, for example, oppose abortion, and if they don’t it’s because nobody has explained abortion to them in their terms.

Oh, and most Catholics in the pews fit into none of these, they just go to Mass on Sunday.

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Seven Heresies For Seven Errors

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As many are already aware, in December Rev. Roger Haight, S.J. was notified by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that his book Jesus: Symbol of God contained errors contrary to the faith. The notification contained seven propositions concerning which Fr. Haight’s book was judged to be in error. These errors, however, were not original with Haight, nor should the Vatican’s reaction be surprising. All are in contradiction with Ecumenical Councils and other infallible teachings of the Church. Below are found the systems to which these propositions belong, and the infallible teaching which refutes them. Citations are given by the Denzinger Enchiridion Symbolorum as edited by Rev. Karl Rahner, S.J. Full discussion of these matters, and quotes with complete citations to the individual documents can be found here.

  1. Theological Method: Modernism. Proposition condemned at I Vatican in 1870 (DR 1811, 1813)
  2. Pre-existence of the Word: Arianism. Proposition condemned at I Nicea in 325 (DR 54)
  3. Divinity of Jesus: Nestorianism. Proposition condemned at Ephesus in 431 (DR 111a, 114)
  4. The Holy Trinity: Sabellianism. Proposition condemned at I Constantinople in 381 (DR 85); explicitly condemned at Florence in 1442 (DR 705)
  5. The salvific death of Christ: Pelagianism (and others). Proposition condemned officially at the Synod of Orange in 529 (DR 194; not an ecumenical council, but usually considered infallible) and at IV Lateran in 1215 (DR 429)
  6. The unity and unicity of the saving mediation of Jesus Christ and His Church: Religious Pluralism. Proposition condemned at IV Lateran in 1215 (DR 430)
  7. The resurrection of Christ: Rationalism. Proposition condemned at I Nicea in 325 (DR 54)