February 05, 2008
Today Is Fat Tuesday, So Tomorrow Is . . .
(Jimmy Akin)
Ash Wednesday!
You guessed right!
And since tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, be sure to beef up (no pun intended) on all the must-know Lent information by reading up on it in the
ANNUAL LENT FIGHT.
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December 31, 2007
Theotokos
(Tim Jones)
From my blog Old World Swine;
Tomorrow - January 1st - is more than just the beginning of a new
calendar year in the West. It is, much more significantly, the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God.
The USCCB site gives the SCRIPTURE READINGS for the day.
From the Council of Ephesus, 431 A.D. -
"We confess, then, our lord Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God perfect God and perfect man of a rational
soul and a body, begotten before all ages from the Father in his godhead,
the same in the last days, for us and for our salvation, born of Mary the
virgin, according to his humanity, one and the same consubstantial
with the Father in godhead and consubstantial with us in humanity, for
a union of two natures took place. Therefore we confess one Christ,
one Son, one Lord. According to this understanding of the unconfused union,
we confess the holy virgin to be the Mother of God because God the Word
took flesh and became man and from his very conception united to himself
the temple he took from her"
Posted by Tim Jones in Liturgical Year, Mary | Permalink | Comments (34)
December 25, 2007
Blessed Christmas
(Tim Jones)
I have been hunting around the internets for some truly great nativity paintings. Doing any kind of internet search involving the word madonna requires an iron stomach, but I did find a few I want to share. I discovered (again) how truly difficult such paintings are to pull off. Even the masters struggled with the subject, in my opinion. By far, most nativity paintings I wouldn't care to hang on my wall. Some of these can be viewed at the Art Renewal Center. You can also by a high quality reproduction of anything in their vast online collection.
God bless all on this Holy Day.
Franz Von Rhoden
Raphael's Sistine Madonna
Sassoferrato
Wm. Bougereau
Posted by Tim Jones in Liturgical Year | Permalink | Comments (24)
August 15, 2007
The Assumption of Mary
(Jimmy Akin)
Don't forget it's a holy day of obligation (in the United States; in other countries, your mileage may vary)!
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March 15, 2007
Michiganders, What's On Your Menu Friday?
(Jimmy Akin)
I was glad to see Catholic News Service run
about a practice that I've heard about before, and that I believe has shown up here on the blog about before, but which I haven't seen the paper trail on: the local practice of eating muskrat on Fridays during Lent.
I'm always a little cautious about reports of local exceptions like this and whether they are still allowed. I want to be able to see the documentation rather than just taking someone's word or taking the word of an old written source that may not reflect current Church law.
The article linked above doesn't provide what I'd like in the ideal--a quotation from a legal document issued by one or more dioceses in Michigan. It doesn't do that because--apparently--there isn't such a document. That's okay (legally), though, because canon law recognizes the possibility of custom attaining the force of law, and it seems to me that in this case that's the current basis for the Michigan muskrat exception. In other words, unless someone produces a legal document that we don't currently know about, it looks like the faithful in some areas of Michigan are allowed to eat muskrat on days of abstinence, according to legitimate local custom.
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March 09, 2007
Lent Resources From The Holy See Itself
(Jimmy Akin)
The Holy See's web site has really improvedin recent years. They still need to get rid of that text-obscuring background, and it's still poorly organized and hard to navigate, but at least they're starting to get a lot of useful resources on the site.
Take, for example,
THESE EXCELLENT RESOURCES FOR LENT.
I wish I'd known about these at the beginning of Lent, 'cause I would have advertised them then, but they're still really cool and could add a bunch to your celebration of Lent.
One thing I'd especially like to compliment is their inclusion of a whole series of mp3 files of Lenten music that you can listen to online or--via a simple right-click--download and listen to on your computer or mp3 player. Even if they are all in Italian, music can touch the heart across the langauge barrier.
THEY ALSO HAVE MP3S IN LATIN HERE.
(It's after writing sentences like that that I find myself contemplating explaining to a medieval ecclesiastic the concept of downloading a Latin mp3 from the Vatican web site. They'd never have guessed that the Holy See would be doing this one day.)
Enjoy!
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Liturgical Year | Permalink | Comments (17)
February 21, 2007
Ash Wednesday
(Jimmy Akin)
Here's the law from the Church's official legal documents . . .
From the Code of Canon Law:
Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.
Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.
Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.
From the apostolic constitution Paenitemini by Pope Paul VI:
III. 1. The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal fat.
2. The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, observing—as far as quantity and quality are concerned—approved local custom.
NOTES:
1. In the U.S. the conference of bishops has removed the requirement to abstain outside of Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and the Fridays of Lent.
2. Having completed your fourteenth year means that you've had your fourteenth birthday (your first year is the year before your first birthday).
3. Having attained your majority means that you've turned 18.
4. The beginning of your sixtieth year is your fifty-ninth birthday.
5. The law of abstinence thus binds everyone who has turned 14 and hasn't yet died and left the jurisdiction of the earthly church.
6. The law of fast binds those from 18 to 58 years old.
7. The laws of fast and abstinence do not bind those who have a medical condition that would materially interfere with their performance. Medical conditions that would interfere with fasting are fairly easy to think of (e.g., type 1 diabetes; people whose doctors have put them on a special diet that requires a certain number of calories or that requires ignoring calories). It is harder to think of conditions that would nullify the requirement to abstain, though, since protein is available from so many sources other than meat.
8. Beverages, even calorie-laden beverages (milk, OJ, coffee with cream, protein shakes) do not violate the law of fast. "Food" means solids food, not drinks (which count as "drink"), though disproportionate consumption of caloric beverages violates the spirit of the fast.
9. Non-nutritive or non-digestible things taken to curb hunger (e.g., water, dietary fiber) do not violate the law of fast. Medicine also does not violate the fast. The fast is from food (solid nourishment; technically, solid macronutrients), not other things (water, other beverages, fiber, medicine, vitamins).
10. You often hear the law of fast summarized this way: "You can have one full meal plus two smaller meals as long as they do not add up to a second meal." THIS IS FALSE. The law (from Paenitemini, quoted above) doesn't say anything about what the two smaller portions of food add up to. What the law says that you can have "some food" twice, and "some food" is clearly less than a "full meal," but it doesn't say anything about how much the two instances of "some food" add up to.
Obviously, the less the "some food" amounts to, the more in keeping with the spirit of fast it is, but the law does not require or encourage people to scruple over how much "two smaller meals" add up to. That's dumb, anyway, since people do not generally eat three, equally large meals (in terms of calories or volume), making it impractical to try adding up the two lesser quantities of food.
A more helpful way of thinking of it (and a way more in keeping with the way the law is written) is to think of one full meal and two snacks, a snack being something less than a meal.
11. All the above applies to Catholics who are members of the Latin
Church. Members of other churches sui iuris (e.g., Maronites,
Chaldeans, etc.) have their own law in these areas (which is what "sui
iuris" means in Latin).
LET THE ANNUAL LENT FIGHT BEGIN!
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January 22, 2007
A Day Of Penance
(Jimmy Akin)
Universal law provides that the days of penance in the Latin rite are every Friday of the year and the whole season of Lent (canon 1250). But universal law isn't the only kind of law. There is also particular law, or law that applies to particular territories or groups of people within the Latin rite.
Such as the diocese of the United States.
It may come as a surprise to some, but today--Monday, January 22--is a day of penance according to the particular law of the Latin rite in the United States.
According to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal:
In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. The Mass "For Peace and Justice" (no. 21 of the "Masses for Various Needs") should be celebrated with violet vestments as an appropriate liturgical observance for this day (GIRM 373).
The law does not require fasting or abstinence today, though a person may do these if he chooses. Strictly speaking, the law does not require that individual Catholics perform penance as a matter of obligation on this day, but it's certainly in keeping with the spirit of the day to do it voluntarily.
For those from other nations--or those who are simply wondering why January 22 was picked--the answer is that it's the anniversary of
THE EVIL DECISION.
Please pray for an end to abortion.
ONE BISHOP SPEAKS.
(CHT to the reader who e-mailed.)
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January 12, 2007
Lenten Penance Suggestions
(Jimmy Akin)
A reader writes:
I am attending RCIA this year, and with Lent fast approaching, my sponsor and I are trying to come up with an appropriate penance.
There are a number of caveats, however, that are making this a challenge. I am a single parent of a daughter who is a few years old (just baptized recently!); I work full-time; and I attend school part-time. I rarely watch television (because the programming appalls/bores me) or eat out (because I simply can’t afford to). I suffer from depression related to a medical condition for up to a week each month. Last year, I determined to say the Rosary everyday. While it was enlightening to do so, it may not have been the wisest choice; I didn’t realize that it was all Sorrowful Mysteries through Lent, so I was in a funk for a month after Easter.
My boyfriend jokes that my lifestyle is so Spartan that it seems there’s nothing to give up; certainly, the only things are to diligently start or stop doing something. The only trick is figuring out what that ought to be.
First of all, I want to say that it is wonderful to hear how God is moving in your life, in spite of the difficulties you are facing right now.
Concerning Lenten penances, you should be aware that, except for the fast and abstinence that will be required after you become Catholic (unless your medical condition interferes with them), it is not mandatory that you "give up something for Lent." This is a common and praiseworthy custom, but not a requirement.
Here's how the Code of Canon Law describes what Catholics do on penitential days, like those in Lent:
Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.
If you want to do something special for Lent, you could add something--prayer, acts of piety, acts of charity--rather than giving something up. Indeed, your decision last year to say the Rosary would be an act of adding a prayer (though you can take it easy on yourself regarding the mysteries if you choose to do that again; the sorrowful mysteries are not mandatory in Lent, and if you find they exacerbate your depression, you can say the joyful or glorious or luminous ones instead). If you would prefer to do something else, you could also choose to say some other prayer or do a little Scripture reading or study the Catechism a little in preparation for becoming Catholic.
One thing that the canon above mentions as a form of self-denial is striving to fulfill one's duties more faithfully, and you could simply try to apply yourself a little more in your daily situations.
Given the depression that you face, I would consider doing something to resist the depression, such as thinking about the blessings that you do have in your life (like your daughter!) and thanking God for them. Or you might decide to try to go out of your way to get your daughter to smile or laugh, thus bringing joy to her and making you feel good, too.
Also, don't feel that you have to commit to just one thing for the whole of Lent. If you find that whatever you choose isn't benefitting you, or benefitting you that day, then feel free to switch to something else, or simply skip it that day. These voluntary penances are meant to encourage us gently to grow in holiness, and if you find yourself being unduly burdened by them, it is a sign that you need to let up on yourself or switch to something else.
I hope this helps, and God bless you as you approach your reception into the Church!
20
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December 18, 2006
My General Christmas Present
(Jimmy Akin)
Like everybody, when I give Christmas presents, I try to match the present to the person to whom I am giving it.
This ain't always easy.
It's often hard to figure out something (a) that the person would like and (b) that the person doesn't already have.
Sometimes you have a promising candidate, but you're not sure, and so you just have to take your best guess and accept the risk that they won't like it or that they already have it.
But if you have a large number of people that you are buying presents for--family, friends, co-workers--then the process of finding individualized presents for everyone can be extraordinarily difficult.
One solution in recent years has been getting gift certificates/gift cards for people. Those get you around the problems mentioned above, since the person can pick for himself what he'd like, and they're useful. This year I asked my own family for gift certificates from a particular online service so that they wouldn't be burdened with figuring out something that I would like and that I didn't already have.
But there can also be a desire to give something that is specific, and I have that desire myself. One of the ways I've tried to do this in recent years is by figuring out a general Christmas present that I can give people if I don't already have something in mind for them.
I have several criteria that I look for in a general Christmas present. I want them to enjoy it, so I look for something that I myself have really enjoyed. I also don't want them to already have it, so I generally try to pick something that has just come out.
A few years ago, when The Incredibles had just come out on DVD, that was my general Christmas gift. That was something I really liked; it was wholesome enough that almost everyone would enjoy it; and it was brand new.
This year my general Christmas present is occasioned by the election of His Most Awesomeness B16. It's a new book that I really enjoy and appreciate.
It's Robert Moynihan's Let God's Light Shine Forth: The Spiritual Vision of Pope Benedict XVI.
The first third of the book is devoted to Joseph Ratzinger's life story, and it hits the major events of it all the way up to his election as pope. It also includes the author's personal reminisences of Pre-16 (Robert Moynihan is the editor of the magazine Inside the Vatican, and so he knew him before his election).
The last two thirds of the book are brief passages from a variety of writings by Cardinal Ratzinger that express his views on different topics. It's divided into three sections: His Faith, Today's World, and The Church Pilgrim.
The first covers Pre-16's thoughts on things such as God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Mary, Judaism, the Church, and the Sacraments.
The second covers things like Morality, Marriage and Family Life, Social Justice, Politics, Culture and the Arts, Modernity, Ecumenism and Other Religions, Bioethics, and the Challenges of the Future.
The third covers things like Loneliness, Suffering, Sin, Death, Faith, Hope, Love, Holiness, Eternal Life, and True Joy.
The final part of the book includes B16's first words, his first message to the world, and his first homily as pope.
All in all, it is a book that I myself am really enjoying--so much so that I decided before I'd even finished it to make it my present for Catholic friends this year unless I already had something distinctive in mind for them.
You might consider it as well--or consider it for yourself.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Liturgical Year | Permalink | Comments (26)
December 08, 2006
Immaculate Conception
(Jimmy Akin)
Today is a holy day of obligation in the United States, so if you're in the United States, be sure to go to Mass.
Also as a result of it being a holy day, I won't be blogging, but feel to have fun with the archives and the comboxes!
God bless!
Here's what the Compendium has to say about the Immaculate Conception:
96. What does the “Immaculate Conception” mean?
God freely chose Mary from all eternity to be the Mother of his Son. In order to carry out her mission she herself was conceived immaculate. This means that, thanks to the grace of God and in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception.
And here's what the Catechism has to say:
491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:
The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
492 The "splendour of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son". The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" and chose her "in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love".
493 The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God "the All-Holy" (Panagia), and celebrate her as "free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature". By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.
MORE INFO ON THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.
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December 05, 2006
Advent: What do you do?
(SDG)
SDG here to thank everyone who commented on my earlier "Advent, Pre-16 and The Nativity Story" thread.
The discussion (still ongoing!) on The Nativity Story has been particularly interesting — but I don't want the subject of Advent and Christmas to get lost either. (That's what I get for cramming too much subject matter into one post… a symptom of posting as infrequently as I do.)
Some readers did comment on practices and customs in their homes (and thank you to those who did!), but I'm hoping there's more Adventy goodness out there in JA.org reader-land.
What goes on in your home during the weeks of Advent? Do you an Advent wreath? Do you set up a creche? Decorate your house? How and when?
What, if anything, do you do to keep Advent different from Christmas? If you have kids, how do you involve them?
I know one common custom with creches is to set up the whole creche except for the Christ child at the center, and then to place the Christ child in the creche on Christmas eve.
I've also heard of a custom involving the Magi figures, in which they are originally placed somewhere at a significant distance from the creche, and are periodically moved closer to the creche, and finally arrive on Christmas eve. Anyone do anything like that?
Do you listen to music during Advent? During Christmas? What are your favorite CDs (or MP3s or whatever)?
Please share your thoughts in the combox!
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December 01, 2006
What's With All The Purple?
(Jimmy Akin)
I've recently got a couple of e-mails on similar themes. First, a reader writes:
There seems to be some confusion as to the mind of the Church on what exactly our approach to Advent to be. History seems to attribute to it a penitential character similar to Lent. The purple vestments, the biblical sense of preparring for something very important with fasting, the "interruption" of the season with a note of a special Sunday--Gaudete Sunday for Advent--to remind the faithful of the ultimate goal and to lighten the burden, so to speak, these all seem to point the way for the exhortation to the faithful to go beyond their normal course of dailly taking up their crosses and takin gon more fasting, prayer and almsgiving.
However, I am not aware of any such documented canon, encyclical, precept or the like such as we have with Lent that calls for this. We, of course, as Catholics are not just peple of the book or written word, but in the modern world, documentation is generally the way the Church communicates her mind. She certainly does so regarding Lent and this exhortation trickles down quite clearly via your local parish in many--I would speculate--if not most or all places, at least in the United States.
So, do you have any sources to which we can turn in addition to what comments you have to offer about the season of Advent and penance?
I would venture to say that many Catholics have no idea Advent is penitential in nature and they have to treat it as such by their practices.
Then another reader writes:
I had a question which has been bugging me and I can't seem to get a good answer except that it seems like "things have changed." Whenever I read something pre-Vatican II it seems like Advent is considered a penitential season. Not as solemn or penitential as Lent, but nonetheless, penitential. Yet, I am confronted with Msgr. Peter Elliot's rather emphatic statement of "The season with which the liturgical year begins is not penitential." - p. 34, #42, "Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year" This seems to be at a difference to the actual practices of wearing violet, not singing the Gloria, not using the organ as much, or not decorating the altar with flowers as much. Even the Saints (I believe Saint Francis in his Rule) have referred to Advent as the "little Lent."
I was curious if you knew.
From the little I have read, there is not as much of a penitential nature to Advent as in the East, but I would think that if this is a time of preparation for the Coming of Christ (especially the 2nd Coming) that penance would be an intrinsic part of that preparation (for final judgement).
Given that Advent starts this Sunday, it seems timely to answer these questions, so here goes.
First, it seems that Advent has at least some penitential involvement in its origin. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes:
A synod held (581) at Mâcon, in Gaul, by its ninth canon orders that from the eleventh of November to the Nativity the Sacrifice be offered according to the Lenten rite on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the week.
And the Lenten practices, such as wearing purple, etc., are also strongly suggestive of a penitential season.
I don't have verification that St. Francis referred to it as the "little Lent." I am aware, though, that that phrase is used in Eastern Orthodoxy.
So there's certainly a penitential cloud swirling around Advent. Whether that actually solidified in the West such that Lent became a formal penitential season, I can't say.
If it ever was formally a penitential season, it seems to have lost this character some time ago. The 1907 article in the Catholic Encyclopedia (linked above) does not mention it being penitential.
A check of the 1917 Code of Canon Law also reveals nothing of this sort. The 1917 Code doesn't use the concept "penitential days." Instead, it uses "days of fast and abstinence" in its place, but when it's setting forth the days of fast and abstinence, it doesn't mention Advent (it does mention Lent).
When the General norms for the Liturgical Year and the calendar came out after Vatican II, it had this to say:
V. Advent
39. Advent has a twofold character: as a season to prepare for Christmas when Christ's first coming to us is remembered; as a season when that remembrance directs the mind and heart to await Christ's Second Coming at the end of time. Advent is thus a period for devout and joyful expectation.
40. Advent begins with evening prayer I of the Sunday falling on or closest to 30 November and ends before evening prayer I of Christmas.
41. The Sundays of this season are named the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Sundays of Advent.
The weekdays from 17 December to 24 December inclusive serve to prepare more directly for the Lord's birth.
So no mention of it being a penitential season--unlike Lent, concerning which the General Norms state:
27. Lent is a preparation for the celebration of Easter. For the Lenten liturgy disposes both catechumens and the faithful to celebrate the paschal mystery: catechumens, through the several stages of Christian initiation; the faithful, through reminders of their own baptism and through penitential practices.
And when we look in the 1983 Code of Canon Law--which does use the concept of penitential days--we find:
Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Bam.
So Advent is not a penitential season, at least in the universal law of the Latin Church.
Ya coulda fooled me!
I mean, what's with all the purple?
One clue may be found in Wikipedia:
In the Roman Church the liturgical color of purple or violet is used in the liturgy. Often times the purple used is a darker purple (sometimes called "Royal Purple") whereas in Lent the color is often a reddish purple ("Roman Purple).
So maybe . . . just maybe . . . the purple in Advent is supposed to be a signification of the birth of a coming King rather than a sign of penance.
In any event, it ain't a penitental season, so don't beat yourself up. Do focus on preparing joyfully for getting ready for the commemoration of the birth and the anticipation of the return of the King.
As to how to do that in the concrete, you might want to check out The Catholic Home.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Liturgical Year | Permalink | Comments (38)
November 01, 2006
Happy All Saints Day
(Jimmy Akin)
No blogging for me since this is a holy day of obligation in the United States.
Don't forget to go to Mass if you didn't go Tuesday evening.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Liturgical Year | Permalink | Comments (17)
August 15, 2006
The Assumption of Mary
(Jimmy Akin)
There will be no blogging today in commemoration of the Assumption of Mary (a holy day of obligation in the United States unless it's been dispensed in your area; call your diocese or your local parish to find out).
Regular blogging service will resume tomorrow.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Liturgical Year | Permalink | Comments (77)
May 25, 2006
Ascension Thursday
(Jimmy Akin)
Today is Ascension Thursday--the celebration of Christ's ascension into heaven, 40 days after Easter Sunday.
In many parts of the U.S. (though not in California, where I live), this is a holy day of obligation.
I view that as an absurdity. A country should either treat this as a holy day of obligation or not. Culture doesn't vary that much within a country that it should have different holy days of obligation compared to other parts of the same country. But I'm not the one who makes the rules, and the Vatican approved the current arrangement.
Part of the edge for me is that--given St. Luke's indication that the ascension occurred 40 days after Easter, we know (at least in approximate terms) that the Ascension occurred on a Thursday, and I don't like the idea of transferring it to the following Sunday. Of all the holy days, we have special reason to place this one on a Thursday.
Part of it also is that I've stood on the place on the Mount of Olives where the site of the Ascention is commemorated by a stone tower, though no one knows precisely where on the mountain the spot was from which Jesus ascended.
Still, it makes it more real to me.
Regardless of what ecclesiastical province you live in--inside or outside of the United States--I hope that you have a very blessed celebration of the transition of Our Lord from this lowly, fallen world back to the realms of glory from which he descended.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Liturgical Year | Permalink | Comments (35)
April 03, 2006
Veiling of Crosses
(Jimmy Akin)
We're getting down to that time of year when the crosses in many parishes will be veiled, so it's nice that the current edition of the BCL [Bishops' Committee on Liturgy] Newsletter has a brief Q & A on the law regarding the veiling of crosses in the United States.
Here 'tis:
1. Does the new Missale Romanum allow for the veiling of statues and crosses?
The Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia, provides a rubric at the beginning of the texts for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, which allows that: “the practice of covering crosses and images in the Church from the Fifth Sunday of Lent is permitted, according to the judgment of the Conferences of Bishops. Crosses remain veiled until the end of the celebration of the Lord's Passion on Good Friday; images remain veiled until the beginning of the Easter Vigil.”2. Have the Bishops of the Unites States expressed the judgment on this practice?
Yes. On June 14, 2001, the Latin Church members of the USCCB approved an adaptation to number 318 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal which would allow for the veiling of crosses and images in this manner. On April 17, 2002, Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments wrote to Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, USCCB President (Prot. no. 1381/01/L), noting that this matter belonged more properly to the rubrics of the Fifth Sunday of Lent. While the decision of the USCCB will be included with this rubric when the Roman Missal is eventually published, the veiling of crosses and images may now take place at the discretion of the local pastor.3. When may crosses and images be veiled?
Crosses and images may be veiled on the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Crosses are unveiled following the Good Friday Liturgy, while images are unveiled before the beginning of the Easter Vigil.3. Is the veiling of crosses and statues required?
No. The veiling is offered as an option, at the discretion of the local pastor.3. What is the reason for the veiling of crosses and images?
The veiling of crosses and images is a sort of “fasting” from sacred depictions which represent the paschal glory of our salvation. Just as the Lenten fast concludes with the Paschal feast, so too, our fasting from the cross culminates in an adoration of the holy wood on which the sacrifice of Calvary was offered for our sins. Likewise, a fasting from the glorious images of the mysteries of faith and the saints in glory, culminates on the Easter night with a renewed appreciation of the glorious victory won by Christ, risen from the tomb to win for us eternal life.4. Why are crosses unveiled after the Good Friday Liturgy?
An important part of the Good Friday Liturgy is the veneration of the cross, which may include its unveiling. Once the cross to be venerated has been unveiled, it seems logical that all crosses would remain unveiled for the veneration of the faithful.5. What do the veils look like?
While liturgical law does not prescribe the form or color of such veils, they have traditionally been made of simple, lightweight purple cloth, without ornament.6. Is it permissible to veil the crosses after the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday?
Yes. The concluding rubrics which follow the text for the Mass of the Lord's Supper (no. 41) indicate that “at an opportune time the altar is stripped and, if it is possible, crosses are removed from the church. It is fitting that crosses which remain in the Church be veiled.”
Why there are three different Question #3s in the list, I couldn't tell ya, but the data's good.
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March 17, 2006
St. Patrick's Day/Friday/Lent/Meat
(Jimmy Akin)
Today is St. Patrick's Day--and it's a Friday during Lent. So the big question on everybody's mind is: "Do we get to eat meat today?"
The answer is: It depends.
What it depends on is whether or not your bishop has dispensed everybody from the requirement of abstaining from meat.
St. Patrick's Day is not a solemnity in the U.S. (though it is actually a holy day of obligation in Ireland, I recenlty learned--understandably since he was the single most important guy in the conversion of the Irish to the faith) and so it does not automatically override the abstinence requirement the way that solemnities do.
This means that your bishop has a choice of either doing nothing and letting the abstinence requirement stand or of dispensing folks so they can have corned beef with their cabbage (or whatever).
I know that the bishop of San Diego did dispense the requirement, and I've been told that the folks in New York City are similarly dispensed.
(BTW, for folks in other countries, y'all ought not to assume from this blog that you're necessarily obligated to abstain. That's U.S. practice on Fridays of Lent, but it's not the practice everywhere. I recently got a new commentary on the Code of Canon Law that had an appendix with the particular legislation for other English-speaking countries, and I was startled to see how much variation there is on this point in other parts of the world. More on that another time.)
If you know what your bishop has done, you might want to share it in the combox so others won't have to call the chancery and ask.
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March 14, 2006
The Law Of Fast: Beverages
(Jimmy Akin)
A reader writes:
My question is this: Where have the US bishops defined what fasting is for American Catholics during Lent? The reason why I ask is that a friend claims that during the fast days of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we are not only restricted to eating 1 full meal and 2 smaller snacks, but that we must also not drink any alcohol and other "non-water" beverages.
This didn't seem right, because what I had always remembered was that fasting was simply the meal restriction. Although I believe that the spirit of Lent will prevent me from drinking alcohol on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, I just wanted a clarification about the law.
I've looked everywhere, and I can't seem to find a definition of lenten fasting. Help! Thanks in advance.
The U.S. bishops have not created particular law for the United States regarding the form of fasting to be observed here, which means that the Church's universal law on the subject will prevail. That law is found in the 1966 apostolic constitution Paenitemini, where Pope Paul VI provided:
The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, observing—as far as quantity and quality are concerned—approved local custom (norm III:2).
That's it.
Beyond that, we have to fall back on the common and constant opinion of learned persons as to what it means.
When we do that, it is immediately clear that in interpreting the Church's laws regarding fasting the terms "meal" and "food" are understood as being food rather than beverages. If you go look in old moral theologies, they invariably talk about the fact that you can drink things--including things other than water--on days of fasting.
Some moralists have considered alcoholic beverages contrary to the spirit of the day, but they don't consider beverages other than water to be contrary to the spirit. Examples they commonly cite of beverages that are okay to have on fasting days are milk and fruit juices and coffee with cream, all of which contain calories.
Beverages just are not included under the law of fasting.
This means that, if I wanted, I could drink can after can of low-carb protein shakes on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and consume 3500 calories of them and still be within the letter of the law.
I would not, however, be within the spirit of the law, which is to encourage moderate hunger as a form of spiritual discipline. If I use calorie-laden beverages (or hunger suppressants) to get around that then I am violating the spirit though not the letter of the law.
As a result, to comply with the spirit of the law, on days of fast I drink whatever I normally would drink but I don't start chugging extra calories in fluid form. I keep my beverage consumption (mainly zero-calorie Diet 7-Up, since it's made with Splenda rather than Aspartame) the same and lower the amount of food I eat.
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March 02, 2006
MORE On When To Wipe The Ashes Off
(Jimmy Akin)
A reader writes:
Tonight my family and I went to Ash Wednesday Mass. We came home and immediately prepared ourselves for bedtime since it was already way past kids' bedtime, and I wondered what to do with the ashes on our faces. If Ash Wednesday Mass is in the morning, then typically the ashes gradually fade over the course of the day, and so I don't feel bad to wash the residual ash off my face-- the ashes served their purpose most throughout the day. But this evening when I arrived home it seemed disrespectful to immediately remove the ashes that had only been on for 30 minutes and unseen by anyone outside church.
My wife stuck to her extensive face-washing routine, and I (hey, I'm a guy) left my face 'as is', with the exception of some gentle and reverent blotting to clean off excess ash that might soil the bed linens.
Does the Church teach specifics how to treat the ashes once applied to the forehead? For example, how long should we wear the cross on our forehead? And in what manner should we wash-off?
The Church does not require us to get ashes on our heads in the first place. It's a custom, but the individual members of the congregation are not bound to go forward to receive them.
Neither is there a mandate about how long they should say on. If they stay on for a long time and others see them then that is a side benefit, but their real purpose is to remind you of your mortality (hence what the priest says when he puts them on you) and your need to repent.
Once that goal is accomplished, you can wash them off at any time--especially to avoid things like getting them on bedsheets--though if you can leave them on longer then it is a good public testimony to one's faith.
I would definitely not have them on the day after Ash Wednesday. Then you'd look like a nut and the good of a public witness would be undone.
There also is no specific manner mandated for washing them off. Just don't be deliberately respectful as you do so.
Incidentally. lightly blotting the ashes would have never worked for me yesterday. So as to be a better public witness, at Mass at Catholic Answers, Fr. Serpa put BIG BOLD BLACK CROSSES on everyone's foreheads, not the customary small grey smudges you get most places. We had ashes falling on our clothes all day, and the ashes were so dense that there would have been plenty left to get on my pillowcase if I hadn't washed them off first.
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Lenten Protestants
(Michelle Arnold)
More and more Protestants are beginning to see Lent as less and less of a "papist" barnacle on the barque of the Christian Church and instead something to which they feel called to observe.
"So, how did Catholic Lenten traditions spread across the border [to Protestantism]? For one thing, the boundaries between traditions are not what they used to be. Crossing them is a steady traffic of believers and seekers. Want to meet someone who was raised Catholic? Try an evangelical megachurch, or the local United Church of Christ. About one-third of believers change churches at least once, according to commonly cited studies. Inevitably, all this changing of churches ends up changing the churches, as people bring bits of their worship traditions with them. Catholic liturgy has appropriated pop music and hand-holding in evangelical style. So, maybe it's not that surprising that more Protestants are now dipping into the well of Catholic ritual and devotions. In that sense, Lent may be part of a trend: Check out the Ecumenical Miracle Rosary, which recasts Catholic devotional beads for Protestant use by eliminating those troublesome Hail Marys.
"Observing Lent is also part of a Protestant move in the last generation toward more classical forms of spiritual discipline. The hugely influential 1978 book Celebration of Discipline, by Quaker theologian Richard J. Foster, encouraged churchgoers to rediscover fasting and meditation in 'answer to a hollow world' and as a way to turn toward God. Some questing Protestants started making like monks, practicing silence and solitude. All this was made more palatable by the improved relations between Catholics and Protestants that followed the Second Vatican Council reforms of the 1960s.
"Perhaps it's the things that made Lent hard to take as a Catholic kid -- the solemnity, the self-denial, the disappearance of hot dogs from the lunchroom -- that account most for the season's broadening appeal. I was schooled to see Lent as a time apart, a respite from the daily pursuit of self-gratification. That apartness seems not unlike the 'inward and spiritual reality' that Foster suggested could be found in the ancient disciplines. Catholics have for so long thought of themselves as the defenders of ritual -- the masters of incense, genuflection, and splendor -- that it still seems strange to be sharing ash-wearing with Presbyterians and Methodists. But our shared affection of late for some of the old ways of worship represents a small victory for mystery, ritual, and awe. Now if we could just come to ecumenical agreement about the evils of frozen fish sticks."
Perhaps the main reason why Lent is migrating again is because the human heart sees in it a helpful spiritual discipline in which the Christian believer may draw near to Christ. That human longing for asceticism as a spiritual discipline may be stifled but cannot be smothered. The renewal of Lent in Protestant circles goes to show that when a wheel is useful enough, it will be reinvented.
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Hungry, Yesterday?
(Jimmy Akin)
Good. It was Ash Wednesday. You were supposed to be.
Ash Wednesday is one of two days of mandatory fast under current Church law. (The other is Good Friday.) Neither day of fasting is severe. In fact, the reduction in food required by law is quite mild.
This is not how it has always been, though. There used to be many more days of customary fasting in Lent. In fact, you basically had to fast for the whole of Lent under universal law.
Sometimes fasting has also been much more severe than it is now.
And that's okay. There is no one right way to do fasting, and the same amount is not always suitable for everybody in every time and every place, which makes it a good thing that Christ didn't mandate a particular amount of manner of fasting for his followers. He simply said
And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you [Matt. 6:16-18].
The general manner in which Jesus addressed fasting allowed his Church to adjust the requirements of fasting to meet the changing needs of society.
It'd be really hard--in a developed society today--to mandate a whole month of severe fasting for the entire populace.
For example, if you required people to fast all day and only eat at night then people would get up (or stay up) to eat before it was light and then be tired during they day, perform their job duties sluggishly from lack of sleep and food, and then drive home at 90 miles an hour in a hunger-induced panic to get their evening meal, causing bunches of traffic accidents.
If the only fasting requirement was that you not eat during the day then people would gorge themselves at night, actually gain weight during the month of fasting, and make each night a sleepless Mardi Gras, figuring they'd sleep on the weekends.
How do I know this?
BECAUSE IT'S WHAT HAPPENS IN SAUDI ARABIA EVERY RAMADAN.
Unfortunately, the specificity with which Muhammad is held to have mandated the Ramadan fast makes it difficult or impossible to adapt the institution to the needs of a modern society.
It's easy for us today to look at the Ash Wednesday and Good Friday fasts as not very much to ask--perhaps even too little to ask--but more severe fasting for long periods of time causes its own problems. It's one thing to keep a strict fast when the pace of life is slow and you're in a pre-industrial society and don't have to get behind the wheel of a car while you're ravening with hunger.
But those kinds of long, more severe, society-wide fasts are not suited to the living conditions we find ourselves in today in much of the world.
Whether or not the Church always adapts its laws on these matters wisely, I'm so glad that the Church has the Christ-given freedom to adapt them.
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March 01, 2006
Annual Lent Fight!
(Jimmy Akin)
Oyez! Oyez! Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, for that annual powerhouse of pugilism, that feast of fisticuffs, and that mother-of-all-liturgical-battles,
THE ANNUAL LENT FIGHT!
Yes, indeed. It's time once again to hash through all those vexing questions about Lent that are caused when Catholic folk tradition smacks into the Church's official documents, with all their ambiguities, complexities, and lacunae!
Countless illusions and popular rumors about Lent will be dashed! Disputes will be started! Friendships will be ended! Ashes will be smeared! Hamburgers will be skipped!
Yes, the annual Lentomachy has it all!
To prepare yourself for the Annual Lent Fight, please check out the following links:
GENERAL
DURATION
- THE DURATION OF LENT
- LET'S COUNT THE DAYS OF LENT
- "FORTY" DAYS
- THE INFAMOUS SUNDAYS IN LENT CONTROVERSY: I, II, III, IV, V
PENANCE IN GENERAL
ABSTINENCE
- THE LAW OF ABSTINENCE
- FISHING INDUSTRY HOAX
- CAPYBARAS AND OTHER AQUATIC NON-FISH
- SOLEMNITIES THAT FALL ON FRIDAY DURING LENT
- SOUPS MADE WITH MEAT
ASH WEDNESDAY
HOLY THURSDAY
GOOD FRIDAY
FRIDAY PENANCE OUTSIDE OF LENT
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February 14, 2006
St. Valentine's Day
(Jimmy Akin)
Today is St. Valentine's day--a celebration that is among the top five holidays which have had their Christian meaning forgotten in contemporary culture (along with Easter, Christmas, Fat Tuesday [Mardi Gras], and Halloween).
But it's still popular, and certainly if you have a special someone, you need to do your part and get or do something nice for them.
In some ways, St. Valentine's day is the hardest one of the Forgotten Five to articulate is Christian meaning. I mean, Easter is about the Resurrection, and Christmas is about the Nativity. Fat Tuesday is about the last chance to enjoy things we will give up for Lent, and Halloween is the preparation for the day celebrating all of the saints in heaven.
But what is St. Valentine's day about? Obviously, about St. Valentine--but he lived so long ago that we don't really know very much about him (other than that there was one and he was a martyr). The facts of his life have become enmeshed with Christian legend, and it's hard to know much about him for sure.
Many of those legends connect him with helping out lovers in various ways, which explains why all the married men (among others) have got to get flowers and candy on the way home from work today (don't forget!).
Still, it would help us better appreciate the day if we knew what there is to know about St. Valentine, which is why you should also
Happy St. Valentine's Day, y'all!
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December 25, 2005
Christmas Wars Episode I: The Puritan Menace
(Jimmy Akin)
Slate has an interesting piece on the history of Christmas and the war conducted against it by Puritans et al. in of all places (are you ready?) Massachusetts.
EXCERPT:
Between 1659 and 1681, Christmas celebrations were outlawed in the colony, and the law declared that anyone caught "observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting or any other way any such days as Christmas day, shall pay for every such offense five shillings." Finding no biblical authority for celebrating Jesus' birth on Dec. 25, the theocrats who ran Massachusetts regarded the holiday as a mere human invention, a remnant of a heathen past. They also disapproved of the rowdy celebrations that went along with it. "How few there are comparatively that spend those holidays … after an holy manner," the Rev. Increase Mather lamented in 1687. "But they are consumed in Compotations, in Interludes, in playing at Cards, in Revellings, in excess of Wine, in Mad Mirth."
After the English Restoration government reclaimed control of Massachusetts from the Puritans in the 1680s, one of the first acts of the newly appointed royal governor of the colony was to sponsor and attend Christmas religious services. Perhaps fearing a militant Puritan backlash, for the 1686 services he was flanked by redcoats. The Puritan disdain for the holiday endured: As late as 1869, public-school kids in Boston could be expelled for skipping class on Christmas Day.
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Christmas Eve Homilies
(Jimmy Akin)
Last night I went to Mass at a local Catholic Church other than my usual parish. It's a good parish, where a friend of mine who is a priest often says Mass. This priest is an excellent homilist, and I was delighted when he came out to do the homily last night.
Unfortunately, I basically heard none of his homily. The priest himself was heroically battling with the sound system, which was misbehaving, but that wasn't the major problem.
The major problem was that there was a father with a young baby walking up and down in the world-class echo chamber that serves as a vestibule for this parish, and the baby was exercizing the full capacity of its lungs.
It was also crying so loudly that it occasionally threatened to set off rounds of sympathetic crying among other babies in the congregation.
I was sitting in the back, and the baby positively destroyed my ability to hear anything that the priest was saying. I suspect he did so for much of the congregation--perhaps all of it.
Now, I don't mind a little bit of baby tearfulness in the congregation, because it signifies two good things: (1) there are babies in the congregation and (2) their parents are religiously active. Those are two wonderful things, and I normally smile and remind myself of them when I hear a baby sounding off during church services.
But when a baby is totally out of control, his parents need to do something, because they do have some responsibility not to allow their child to ruin everybody else's ability to hear.
Taking the wailing infant into a large, tiled echo chamber is not among the most responsible things I can think of to do in such a situation.
The ushers were quite useless in this situation. Indeed, though they were standing right in front of the doors of the nave, they didn't even close the doors to the echo chamber for several minutes, lest the young father feel excluded, which made it impossible for the congregation (or much of it) to hear the priest's Christmas Eve homily. Finally, they did close the doors--which are quite thin and so provided next to no relief from the sound.
"Perhaps the person minding the baby would like to know that there is a cry room," I suggested to one of the ushers.
"I think he knows," the usher replied, indicating that he would do nothing to alleviate the situation. "It's too cold to go outside."
"Oh yeah," I thought to myself. "This is Southern California. It's in the 50s outside and there is a think blanket of Christmas FOG in the parking lot. I didn't even have to turn on the heater in my truck on the way over. That baby will really get sick and die if the father takes it outside for twenty seconds so that he can take the face-saving route to the cry room instead of having to walk in front of part of the congregation."
The ushers having determined to be useless and the baby continuing to destroy everyone's ability to hear the homily, I *almost* took matters into my own hands to kindly and politely and warmly and helpfully inform in the young father that there was a cry room on the premises, but the homily ended (meaning that we were now in a part of the Mass where the congregation could at least roughly follow what was going on by memory) and the child seemed to settle down anyway.
I admired the priest for being able to soldier on with his homily under these conditions, beset as he was on two fronts (the baby in the echo chamber and the sound system's refusal to behave). I was a little surprised that he didn't pause the homily to gently invite the use of the cry room to help with one of these, but he soldiered on anyway. (And, yes, I know the reasons he might not want to.)
Yet I was disappointed that I didn't get to hear the Christmas Eve homily of a particularly good homilist.
But I was able to read one!
This morning I discovered that the folks who do the Vatican web site have (mirabile dictu) put THE POPE'S Christmas Eve homily online--and he's a good homilist, too!
I was interested to compare what the pope actually said with the highly political reading given to his homily in THIS REPORTAGE (which is better than most you get). The pope's homily wasn't just about stopping war and abortion. It was much more focused on Christ and the spiritual meaning of Christmas than the political stuff the press is interested in.
Which is as it should be.
So all seems right in the world: There are good homilies out there for Christmas Eve. There are babies with excellent lung capacity. There are echo chambers for those who need them. And there is a surplus of cry room space for those who wish to use it.
YEE-HAW!
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Putting Things In Perspective
(Jimmy Akin)
A reader writes:
I bought myself a Christmas decoration with Santa in it (left). I thought you might appreciate the effect.
Indeed.
That's the best Santa Claus decoration I've ever seen.
HERE'S THE LINK FOR ANY WHO MIGHT WANT TO GET THE DECORATION FOR THEMSELVES FOR NEXT CHRISTMAS.
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"Let Earth Receive Her King"
(Jimmy Akin)
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December 22, 2005
Season's Greetings
(Michelle Arnold)
No, I'm not wishing you "Season's Greetings" instead of a "Merry Christmas." It turns out that the season's greeting that many Americans prefer is "Merry Christmas." Imagine that!
"In the cultural battle over whether to use the seasonal greeting 'Happy holidays' or 'Merry Christmas,' the latter appears to be winning, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll released Tuesday.
"In the poll, which surveyed 1,003 adult Americans by phone, 69 percent said they prefer 'Merry Christmas' over 'Happy holidays,' which garnered 29 percent.
"Compared with the 2004 Christmas -- or holiday -- season, the number of people who said they use 'Happy holidays' has dropped 12 percentage points, from 41 percent to 29 percent."
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December 20, 2005
Christmas Day, All Secure
(Michelle Arnold)
Michelle here.
A local radio station has been playing round-the-clock Christmas music for the past week, and one of my favorites is "A Soldier's Silent Night," performed by Fr. Ted Berndt, a Catholic priest, former Marine, and Purple Heart recipient. Curious about the origins of the song, I did some searching on Google. There must have been some controversy over the poem's authorship because the urban-legend debunker Snopes took on the case and verified the claim that it was written by a U.S. serviceman. The author is another former Marine, James M. Schmidt.
This part of the poem always makes me puddle up:
"I didn't want to leave him so quiet in the night,
this guardian of honor so willing to fight.
But half asleep he rolled over, and in a voice clean and pure,
said 'Carry on, Santa, it's Christmas Day, all secure.'
One look at my watch and I knew he was right,
Merry Christmas my friend, Semper Fi and goodnight."
GET THE STORY.
NOTE: I couldn't find a recording of the performance for sale online. If you find it, please post a link in the combox. Thanks!
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The Santa Wars
(Michelle Arnold)
When I saw the following news story on a Santa contest turned ugly, I thought I had clicked on the satire news site The Onion by mistake. No such luck. There actually are people out there who take Santa contests so seriously that they darkly suspect fellow competitors of dirty play.
"The British Father Christmas who lost his Santa of the Year world crown has lashed out, citing a suspected campaign to stop him from winning again that has damaged 'Santa morale.'
"Ron Horniblew, 70, has been authorised by the Master Santa in Greenland and is part of the elite international Santa circuit who compete at the Santa Winter Games, where up to 50 Father Christmases compete for the world title.
"Estonian accordionist Aare Rebban grabbed the crown 'amid dark mutterings of political voting, professional jealousy and backbiting,' The Mail on Sunday newspaper said."
I don't know about you, but if one of these bickering Santas is assigned to visit my home on Christmas Eve, he's going to find set out for him a lump of coal rather than a glass of milk and a plate of cookies.
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December 19, 2005
Here Comes Scary Santa
(Michelle Arnold)
Christmas has evolved a great deal over the centuries. It gone from being a sacred holiday to a secular vacation to a political football. What is the next logical step? Perhaps what we might call a winter Halloween. Halloween has long been a time for satirizing popular culture, but one New York couple has decided to move that Halloween custom to Christmas by decking their halls with a Serial Killer Santa, all in the name of decrying the commercialization of the holiday.
"Joel Krupnik and Mildred Castellanos decked the front of their Manhattan mansion this year with a scene that includes a knife-wielding 5-foot-tall St. Nick and a tree full of decapitated Barbie dolls. Hidden partly behind a tree, the merry old elf grasps a disembodied doll's head with fake blood streaming from its eye sockets.
"In a telephone interview Wednesday, Krupnik explained that his family thought it would be a fun way to make a comment about the commercialization and secularization of Christmas.
"'It is a religious holiday, but they have turned it into a business. And it shouldn't be,' he said. 'We didn't put it up to offend anybody. It was just something that came out of our imagination.'
[...]
"Walter Garofalo, a musician from Brooklyn who wandered by wearing a black bandanna covered in skulls, was awe-struck.
"'I wonder if these people would let me use this as our next album cover,' he said. 'It's perfect!'"
I can the album now. Coming soon to a music store near you: "The Silence of the Elves."
That does it. I've had about enough of the cultural Christmas spirit for one year, thank you very much.
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December 13, 2005
"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like The Holiday"
(Jimmy Akin)
A reader e-mails this press release from The Catholic League:
December 9, 2005
HOLIDAY CAROLSIn keeping with the spirit of political correctness, the Catholic League recommends the adoption of the following songs at Holidaytime:
“I’m Dreaming of a White Holiday”; “O Holiday Tree”; “All I Want for The Holiday Is My Two Front Teeth; “We Wish You a Merry Holiday”; “The Twelve Days of the Holiday”; “The Holiday Song”; “Rockin’ Around The Holiday Tree”; “You’re All I Want For The Holiday”; “Baby’s First Holiday”; “Do They Know It’s The Holiday”; “Merry Holiday Darling”; “I’ll Be Home For The Holiday”; “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like The Holiday”; “Blue Holiday”; “The Holiday Waltz”; “Holly Jolly Holiday”; “So This Is The Holiday”; “Merry, Merry Holiday Baby”; “Have Yourself a Merry Little Holiday”; “Twas the Night Before The Holiday”; “Holiday Serenade”; “Feliz Vacaciones.”
Can you think up any more holiday songs that the Catholic League might ought to add to their list?
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December 12, 2005
The Grinch List
(Jimmy Akin)
I've had a number of requests for lists of stores that are and aren't honoring the holidayChristmas season by calling it "Christmas."
Now I've found one!
Concerned Women for America has developed a list of stores that are honoring the Christmas spirit by referring to Christmas--as well as stores that are hypocritically trying to get your Christmas money out of your Christmas pocket without ackowledging the Christmas that you are celebrating.
In other words: The Politically Correct Commercializers.
My own philosophy is that if any business wants my Christmas dollars then they can darn well ackowledge that they ARE Christmas dollars--either by sending me a CHRISMAS catalogue or by wishing me "Merry CHRISTMAS" or what have you.
But none of this "Holiday catalogue" or "Happy holidays" crud.
Any business going that route will get NONE of my Christmas dollars.
And, since boycotts are no good unless you tell the person THAT and WHY they're being boycotted, I plan on telling such business that's what I'm doing.
I, for one, refuse to sit by and allow Christmas to be banished from public consciousness and be added to the social "taboo" list the way that Christian concepts have in so many areas in our society.
As bad as the commercialization of Christmas is (something we must also all fight), having it vanish from our culture in a fit of political correctness is not acceptable.
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