Post by Séamus on Apr 5, 2023 12:44:18 GMT
"A mystery,a presence,fills even the poorest of Catholic churches. The Church is inhabited. It does not live primarily by the motion of the comings and goings which the crowds bring to it. A church is,rather,the very source of life and purity for those who enter it's walls."
(Cardinal Journet,who lived another decade after the Second Vatican Council,first Swiss cardinal of modern times,quoted in 'The Catholic Mass'- Bp.A.Schneider)
"Old wooden pews are to be turned into cosy bunks as their redundant Grade-II-listed church is reborn as an 18 bed hostel for hikers and pilgrims...the Church of England church was shut in 2021 as the congregation dwindled...(rev Martin Fletcher)added,'The churchyard is open so people come here to visit lived ones buried in the graves,so it's very important the church isn't let go.'"
(Paul Jeeves international express 29-3-'23. Apparently some still-consecrated Anglican churches are doing the same thing part time)
Although it never seems a bad thing when,for one example, sacred music concerts using churches,whether Catholic or protestant,as venues are advertised, particularly in secular media, one can begin to wonder about the balance of these two angles,both of which I happened to read recently.
We aren't really told anything in the Gospels concerning the disposition of Simon of Cyrene before,during or after carrying Christ's Cross. Maybe that's meant to be. The important thing for us to know was that he bore the weight of society's and religion's lowest possible point. Whether there was instant or gradual conversion to Christ,or whether he ever understood his sufferings was left for generations to speculate and apply to themselves.
Shortly before his election Ratzinger suggested that St Mark's mention of Simon's son's names probably points to their importance in the early church. We might speculate "even if that importance wasn't per se extended to Simon himself in the same intrinsic way beyond that Passover"(?).
Last night I happened to read a piece about Mother Alphonsa Lathrop, formerly Rose Hawthorne, Catholic covert/separated wife/widow/religious foundress, daughter of the (Unitarian) Scarlet Letter author. Although her father's primary novel deals with an extremely low-church version Protestantism and may not even be considered anti-religious by today's standards,it's amazing-enough to imagine Nathaniel Hawthorne's daughter nursing cancer patients in the slums of New York, originally with a Jewish friend who was herself a famous writer,later exclusively in Christ's name, eventually in a black-and-white habit.
Would have been another good convert for Mr Maolsheachlann to look up last year for Parnell Square also.
I'm sure there are many traditions about the man Simon; his personal metaphysics aside,any importance that Mark attached to Alexander and Rufus might offer us hope in the 'Good Friday' of today's world, in the tradition of converts like Mother Hawthorne-Lathrop.
[O.P.]
(Cardinal Journet,who lived another decade after the Second Vatican Council,first Swiss cardinal of modern times,quoted in 'The Catholic Mass'- Bp.A.Schneider)
"Old wooden pews are to be turned into cosy bunks as their redundant Grade-II-listed church is reborn as an 18 bed hostel for hikers and pilgrims...the Church of England church was shut in 2021 as the congregation dwindled...(rev Martin Fletcher)added,'The churchyard is open so people come here to visit lived ones buried in the graves,so it's very important the church isn't let go.'"
(Paul Jeeves international express 29-3-'23. Apparently some still-consecrated Anglican churches are doing the same thing part time)
Although it never seems a bad thing when,for one example, sacred music concerts using churches,whether Catholic or protestant,as venues are advertised, particularly in secular media, one can begin to wonder about the balance of these two angles,both of which I happened to read recently.
We aren't really told anything in the Gospels concerning the disposition of Simon of Cyrene before,during or after carrying Christ's Cross. Maybe that's meant to be. The important thing for us to know was that he bore the weight of society's and religion's lowest possible point. Whether there was instant or gradual conversion to Christ,or whether he ever understood his sufferings was left for generations to speculate and apply to themselves.
Shortly before his election Ratzinger suggested that St Mark's mention of Simon's son's names probably points to their importance in the early church. We might speculate "even if that importance wasn't per se extended to Simon himself in the same intrinsic way beyond that Passover"(?).
Last night I happened to read a piece about Mother Alphonsa Lathrop, formerly Rose Hawthorne, Catholic covert/separated wife/widow/religious foundress, daughter of the (Unitarian) Scarlet Letter author. Although her father's primary novel deals with an extremely low-church version Protestantism and may not even be considered anti-religious by today's standards,it's amazing-enough to imagine Nathaniel Hawthorne's daughter nursing cancer patients in the slums of New York, originally with a Jewish friend who was herself a famous writer,later exclusively in Christ's name, eventually in a black-and-white habit.
Would have been another good convert for Mr Maolsheachlann to look up last year for Parnell Square also.
I'm sure there are many traditions about the man Simon; his personal metaphysics aside,any importance that Mark attached to Alexander and Rufus might offer us hope in the 'Good Friday' of today's world, in the tradition of converts like Mother Hawthorne-Lathrop.
[O.P.]
