Tag Archives: liturgy

Tres Viae

20 Replies

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.

Continue reading →

Straining Gnats and Swallowing Camels

1 Reply

"You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!" – Matthew 23:24

The irony in the following was too good for me to pass up.  My favorite (I mean that. He’s a nice fellow when not on his soap box.) Bible thumpin’, street preachin’, Jack Chick resemblin’ Fundamentalist, Rand, had an unpleasant exeperience at a church he recently visited.

"We visited a Brethren Gospel Hall on the Lord’s Day and we enjoyed the sermon. There was however, a weird moment, at the Lord’s Table. The problem was with one of the elements. It was the bread. They distributed a loaf of bread; a loaf of leavened bread that you would find at any bakery."

The following day he explained why that was wrong.

Continue reading →

Newman Club Holy Week Activities

Leave a reply

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.

Continue reading →

Still Amusing the Church to Death

7 Replies

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.

Continue reading →