The Narthex
Repentance Is the Message
What the Church’s 'welcome' should be, putting aside 'accompaniment'
By John M. Grondelski | July 15th 2024 11:57 AMSunday’s Gospel recounted Jesus dispatching His Apostles, two by two, on their first missionary internship. They are dispatched to the neighboring villages in Israel and Judea, a fairly circumscribed venue considering they will ultimately be sent “to all nations” (Mt 28:19). That Gospel is instructive as to how the Church…
READ FULL BLOG POSTLo que será, será
We’re now at midyear -- a good time to review our resolutions and efforts
By John M. Grondelski | July 1st 2024 12:10 PMSix months ago, you were toasting the new year 2024. Six months from now, hopefully you will say goodbye to 2024 and welcome the new year 2025, the quarter century mark. We just celebrated Midsummer’s Night on June 21-22. We’re now at midyear. “Midsummer” you say? Wasn’t it just the…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Faithful Dog
If only human fidelity were imbued with the same constancy as the dog's
By John M. Grondelski | June 3rd 2024 11:32 AMRumer Godden is perhaps best known for her 1969 bestseller In This House of Brede, the story of a woman who enters an English Benedictine convent. It was published a year after Godden converted to Catholicism. Religion, however, permeated Godden’s books from very early on, like Black Narcissus, her 1939…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe States & Free Exercise of Religion
Let’s amend state constitutions to prevent future shuttering of churches
By John M. Grondelski | May 27th 2024 3:17 PMPaul Benjamin Linton is author of the magisterial Abortion under State Constitutions -- which has gone through three editions -- and the recognized pro-life authority on that subject. While Roe v. Wade held abortion policy hostage to an imagined federal “right,” Linton reminded us that every state has its own…
READ FULL BLOG POSTCultural Diversity and Unity in the Church
Vatican II's rich vision of the human right to culture remains anemic in the U.S. Church
By John M. Grondelski | May 21st 2024 12:43 PM“Diversity” is a mantra very much in contemporary vogue, although arguably one whose end-goal is often unclear. Any group needs some principle of unity; even the poster children of diversity have to have something that unites one diverse group vis-à-vis others. Otherwise, they’d not be a group but simply a…
READ FULL BLOG POSTAscension: Learning to Prayerfully Wait
Tampering with Ascension Thursday warps both Scripture and our preparation in God's time
By John M. Grondelski | May 9th 2024 1:01 PMOnce more, Ascension Thursday is upon us and once again we see the liturgical and theological incoherence the Catholic bishops of the United States caused, in the name of being “pastoral” while exercising canonical fiat, in the liturgical calendar. I have three major criticisms of what they have done --…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMore on Church Growth
Thinking outside the box about what our Church has now
By John M. Grondelski | May 7th 2024 11:58 AMIn a recent post I criticized the wave of parish closings and the overall mania for “downsizing” the Church in the United States. I argued, against the naysayers who cite “numbers” and “statistics,” that if bishops and priests acted like bishops and priests rather than statisticians and actuaries, they’d stop…
READ FULL BLOG POSTOn Ecclesiastical Growth
I do not believe the “Holy Spirit” is leading us into ecclesiastical shrinkage and retreat
By John M. Grondelski | May 1st 2024 12:05 PMA subtle aspect of last Sunday’s First Reading has to do with ecclesiastical growth. The main thrust of the reading was the suspicion with which the Church in Jerusalem (i.e., Peter and the other Apostles) initially received Paul, former persecutor and now evangelist, who “spoke out boldly in the name…
READ FULL BLOG POSTOn Losing a Baby
Miscarriage is a loss that's often invisible except to the mother and father
By John M. Grondelski | March 22nd 2024 12:17 PMSpring is a time of life and hope. That’s apparent in nature. It’s also apparent in the liturgical year, as the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation on March 25. People begin going outdoors and, sometimes, baby carriages appear more prominent. But, in the midst of that life and…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe 'Tomb Experience' Matters
The practice of cremation clashes with many elements of Christian tradition
By John M. Grondelski | March 18th 2024 2:04 PMI’ve regularly criticized the contemporary Church’s generous toleration of cremation. I’ve voiced many reasons why this indulgence of cremation is wrongheaded, but one reason that I think gets too little attention is the symbolic confusion that cremation generates. Man is a symbolic creature, one who is prone to see, recognize,…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMutations of 'Reparation'
What kind of 'riparazione' does flying to World Youth Day call for?
By John M. Grondelski | March 7th 2024 9:13 PMDonald DeMarco, over at Crisis (linked below), asks whether Pope Francis has a “fixation” with ecological issues. A cursory look at environmentalism and climate fundamentalism suggests these "isms" have in many cases acquired all the attributes of a secular religion. To what degree have even sincerely religious people allowed environmental…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRatzinger as Godfather of 'Fiducia Supplicans'
Is Fiducia's seed to be found in a CDF document from 24 years ago?
By John M. Grondelski | February 28th 2024 3:43 PM“The lady doth protest too much, methinks” is a Shakespeare line about a Hamlet character whose overacting makes one believe she is hellbent on concealing the truth of things. That line comes to mind on reading a featured editorial at Vatican News (Feb. 27): “Fiducia supplicans: Non-Liturgical blessings and Pope…
READ FULL BLOG POSTAshes & Mass
Receiving ashes in a rush and skipping Mass evinces liturgical illiteracy and workism
By John M. Grondelski | February 16th 2024 12:46 PMI have noticed an Ash Wednesday phenomenon in recent years in Washington. It even preceded COVID. Various clergymen set up tables outside Metro subway stations, offering ashes-on-demand. Last Wednesday morning, for example, there was something of an ecumenical duel outside one station. On the north side of the entrance were…
READ FULL BLOG POSTAsh Wednesday Welcomes
'Repent and believe the Gospel' is the Church’s message today, from her Master
By John M. Grondelski | February 14th 2024 12:48 PMThe Church offers two formulae as options to be used during imposition of ashes, the sign of penance. The older formula is “Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you will return.” The newer one is actually not new at all, because it repeats the first public words…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Leprosy-Sin Analogue
And other commentary on Readings for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
By John M. Grondelski | February 12th 2024 1:13 PMThe First Reading and Gospel for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, focus on leprosy. The reading from Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46 (one of the few times that Old Testament book appears in the Lectionary) prescribes procedures for determining if one is a leper and how he was to…
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