It has happened to me

Longtime readers will remember this post from 2016 where I talked about plans to deal with the declining Catholic population of my hometown.  This last year, I found out things had happened over the last few years.  I don't make it home much due to health difficulties and unless I ask specific questions, my parents don't volunteer much info from home as they are more interested in me.  So I discovered that plans had indeed gone forward with the construction of a new church building.  And on social media, friends from home posted pictures of one of the church buildings as Mass was being said within for the last time before demolition.  Now there is only the church in which I was baptized many years ago.  I don't know what the endgame is for that building; I assume it too will be demolished once the new building is completed.  Oh...

Judging by the architect's drawings and plans, the new church isn't terrible.  On the outside it looks more or less like a church.  The inside has many of the usual defects of a post-conciliar worship space.  Many items were saved from the church that was demolished and more will be from the other, so time will tell how it all turns out.

It can happen to you

I have returned home from a trip. Between my home and my destination is the city where I was born, baptized, and both my parents now reside. When I was a boy, the city had three parishes and there were a number of rural/small town parishes throughout the county, but most of them were all eventually rolled up into one single team ministry that was then put together into an official parish.

It was in that city where I went to Mass on Saturday. After Mass, I was looking through the bulletin and checking out the news of the combined parish. Up in the corner on one of the inside pages was a box containing information on how parishioners could fill out a survey for a plan to build a new church and parish buildings beside the existing Catholic school building. This bit of news, a small box on an inside page, left me feeling startled and anxious.

I was of course being naive. Other cities have had parishes closed and church buildings sold or torn down. I lamented those events that came to my attention as well, especially in the cases where old and venerable examples of quality Catholic architecture and art were either sold off or simply destroyed

The information about the proposal included diocesan long-range planning that included this datum: by 2019, there would be only two priests assigned to the entire county. The proposal then asks this question: Two priests watching over a handful of church buildings across a wide rural county or two priests watching over one large parish with at most two or three buildings?

This is an old draft that I never got around to publishing.  The circumstances of my hometown's Catholic community have not chanced as far as I know for sure.  I have been told though that protests from influential parishioners have delayed matters.  The moral of the story remains relevant.  In the conversation I had about the delays, the woman with whom I was talking said that a lot of folks were not happy to be losing the churches they grew up in.  She didn't have anything to say in reply when I noted they had only themselves to blame by not having more sons and encouraging them to explore a vocation the priesthood.

Gone But Not Forgotten...

...Until I clean out my bookmarks.

I don't put in the time like I used to to post daily.  Maybe I will again someday.  But thinking back, I started going through some of the older folders in my bookmark menu tonight.  After a bit of looking, I found myself in a rather melancholy state seeing as how so few of the Catholic blogs I used to read on a regular basis have stood the test of time except for those authored by professional journalists or those who've evolved and chosen blogging as a calling.

Now I am left wondering where those people went and what they're doing now.  One in particular springs to mind even as I type this.  I read daily the blog written by the Anglican priest who went by the pen name of 'the Pontificator' due to his journey away from the Episcopal Church towards Rome.  His journey concluded with he and his wife joining the Catholic Church.  This was of course years and years ago now.  Has he found his way into the Ordinariate here in the US?  What was his name?

Questions like that linger after half a dozen years of reading the Catholic blogosphere.

Twitter

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Pilgrimage

This last Thursday, we took off for a day trip up to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Thursday ended up being an excellent day to go as it was cloudy, breezy, and cool. The high was 75 degrees for the day. We made it to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The shrine was founded in the mid to late 90s by His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke back when he was bishop of La Crosse. After turning off the main highway, we followed the road to the entrance drive to the shrine and on to the parking lot next to the visitors center. Going inside, we looked around and after obtaining a map of the complex, we decided to ride up to the top rather thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhan walk it as it would have been a good hike, taking time we didn't have. So we and I think another person got on the golf cart with the driver and took off.

From the parking lot, one can see the visitors center and above it the candle chapel. The cart took us up the path, which was out in the open up through the first switchback and then to the chapel. We picked up another man there and then went on our way up as the path became shrouded in trees. Along the way were memorials and benches for resting, but our cart kept going up to the shrine church.

The inside of the church is pretty impressive. Here are a couple of pictures to get an idea.

The sanctuary

Down the nave

After that, we decided to hike back down the hill since a ride back down required four and we were only three. Along the way, we stopped at the candle chapel and then the visitors center before heading back home. An interesting coincidence is that we headed south and ended up driving past the Dickeyville Grotto. It will have to wait for another trip.

RIP: Father Dietzen

Aside from the usual local stories, the pastoral columns, and the national and international news (along with the opinion page that I hardly ever read), my diocesan newspaper carries the question and answer column by Father John Dietzen.

I got my newspaper today in the mail today and saw on the back page the CNS obituary of Father Dietzen, who passed away on March 27.

I like to pretend I'm up on the Catholic faith, but even when I don't agree with points of his answers, he always has interesting and educational points and his column is one of the principal features of the paper I look forward to each week. Hopefully CNS has a few more to run and hopefully Father's replacement will be as informative.

"Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his souls and the souls of all the Faithful departed rest in peace. Amen."

The Knights of Columbus

This past Sunday I joined the Knights of Columbus. I had been thinking about it for a number of years. Several years ago, I received an application form during a previous recruitment drive, but for various reasons didn't get around to going any further. At Mass the previous few weeks, a gentleman spoke after Communion and information was handed out after the Dismissal. An email address was provided as a point of contact for interested parties and that more than anything helped me follow through this time around.

That was last week. I met with my point of contact last week and received information on how things would work given my disability (booklets were provided for me to read through and a helper helped me keep my place). The gentleman was very friendly and helpful and this put me at ease.

Sunday came around; I got up early and got ready to go, dressing in my suit. My brother drove me out to the family center of the parish council and I was ushered into a front office where I waited with several other gentlemen who there to be inducted with me. All were friendly and while others talked, I got a chance to look at some of the religious prints on the office walls. One of the knights came in and explained a few things to us (I followed along in one of the provided booklets). Then it was time to go inside for the 1st Degree exemplification.

After it was over, pizza was served and I met a few of my fellows. Then it was time to go. I met my brother in the parking lot and we set out for a nearby church where the 2nd and 3rd Degree exemplifications were slated to take place. Once we got there, I went inside and was vouched for by one of my fellows from my council. Then I went to wait with even more men who were from the different parishes of the city. Once more, things got under way and afterward food was served.

I learned a lot and I'm looking forward to helping my fellows and getting to know them better while helping my parish and community with other practical Catholic men.

Personal Note

Hello, brothers and sisters in Christ, and other friends of the blog.

Please pray for me, that the outpatient procedure I had today will prove to be a success.

God bless.

Movie Review: Sapporo Winter Olympics

Sapporo Winter Olympics (札幌オリンピック) (1972)
by Masahiro Shinoda

It's in the previous post, but I'll embed it here again for those who find this individual post through searching.



From the only review at Amazon.com, by a C. Weinstein of Los Angeles:

If this DVD represents the documentary "Sapporo Winter Olympics" by Masahiroo Shinoda, it is probably one of the best that came out of Japan in the 1970's. Extremely difficult to find on video, this film is as much about a meditation on discipline and on pure atmosphere as it is a coverage of the 1972 winter games. Each section has its own rhythm and flows effortlessly into subsequent scenes. Narration is almost completely absent for most of the film, the director preferring you to experience the feeling of cold weather that practically chills you from the screen and the determination on the part of many entrants gunning for a chance to make their mark.

If you like pure atmosphere in a film or are just looking for a good documentary about the 1972 Sapporo Olympics I highly recommend finding a copy of this.

The clip is all of three minutes and thirty-five seconds, but it is amazing how it captures all the points listed in Mr. Weinstein's review. It is absolutely atmospheric and a meditation. When I first watched it yesterday, I thought to myself at first that it was some kind of extremely stylistic film portraying fictional characters, starting with the opening shot showing the lone building against a bleak, empty sky and then moving on to the bird's-eye view of the skater alone on the ice and going from there. The katakana characters only added to the feeling of foreignness. Only during my reading of the commets at YouTube did I discover that the clip is from the documentary by the noted Japanese director.

The clip has that quality that so often is found in photos and films of that period that is hard to describe. It's detailed and focused, yet subdued. without the rich colors one today associates with digital film.

The action is simple, three different ladies skating around and judges judging the figures left behind. I think only a Japanese director, with his attention to nuance and unspoken expression, could capture with such detail the emotions evident. The first skater is calm, collected, disciplined and confident. The second skater is uncertain and hesitant. Shinoda captures this by showing both her facial expression and her posture before starting as she stands there before beginning her figure. The crowd looks nervous. She begins tentatively and looks wobbly. This is followed by close-ups of two of the judges, judging, watching, commenting as they examine everything.

Like I said, it's barely over three and a half minutes, but it is captivating. It reminded me immediately of Tarkovsky's Solaris, especially the prewiew shot of the second skater, standing there with her short blond hair. It looks surreal.

I need to find this documentary.

Visiting The Dead: Compulsory Figures

In the world of traditional Catholics, the loss of what is now known as the Extraordinary Form was keenly felt in a Church gone crazy as it threw aside the old ways in favor of the new.

In the last half of the twentieth century, that phenomenon was not restricted solely to the Church. Even in the world of sports, things changed, not necessarily for the better. In baseball, the mound was lowered and the designated hitter was introduced. In basketball, the skilled teamwork of bygone eras was replaced by a more free-flowing style that was perhaps more entertaining, but at the expense of basic fundamentals.

So it went in the world of figure skating. Figure skating had for a long time been composed of two elements, the compulsory figures and the free skate. The free skate is of course what we see on television today, men and women skating around at various speeds, performing jumps and spins throughout. Compulsory figures was a portion of the competition that involved the drawing of figures on the ice with the edges of the blades of one's skates. The figures' exactness in terms of how they were made and their shape were judged and marks were given. Watch the video below, a clip from coverage of the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary, Canada for more information along with interviews on the change going on in the sport as the idea of removing compulsory figures from international events was first considered.



Over time, the figure skating changed as the free skate gained in importance, especially with the advent of television coverage of premiere events. Compulsory figures did not translate well in the medium as the above clip demonstrates (though by the late eighties, much had been done to make it as appealing as possible); audiences watched the jumps and spins of the free skate and then were left confused by the compulsory figures and the winners of competitions who excelled at the latter and beat the favorite of the general public who watched for the skaters who excelled at jumping and spinning.

The clip below from a documentary on the 1972 Winter Olympics at Sapporo, Japan happens to document not just the games themselves, but the turning point for the sport of figure skating. The first skater shown, Beatrix Schuba of Austria, is considered to be one of the greatest compulsory figure skaters ever. The second skater shown, Janet Lynn of the United States, was known to American audiences for her free skating ability.



Schuba received a 5.0 for her figures, a high mark that was what I have read extremely rare at senior international events and placed first. Lynn was tentative as the clip shows so well (more on the second video later) and placed fourth. The situation was reversed though for the free skate as Lynn placed first and Schuba seventh. Due to the weight given compulsory figures, Schuba won the gold medal and Lynn the bronze. After that result, a new short program was introduced and the weight of compulsory figures was slowly reduced over the years until in 1990 they were removed from international competitions altogether.

Today, compulsory figures have been largely forgotten by the viewing public and in the skating community at large as well, though there is debate in some circles as modern skaters are seen by some as having lost the skills needed for fundamental footwork that even the mediocre compulsory figure skaters of yesteryear displayed in their jumps and spins due to their training in the discipline. Whether this is actually true, I cannot say, not being an expert myself, but it stands to reason that something has been lost.

Having started to watch curling during the Winter Olympics a few olympiads ago and having watched the clips above, could there be an audience for compulsory figures, if not as a component, then as a sport unto itself? Certain people are willing to sit through curling, thought by others to be exceedingly boring, not because they are well versed on the ins and outs of the sport, but due to the human drama unfolding on the ice. Especially on television with the close-ups of the participants, viewers can get a very good sense of the tension of the back-and-forth match of wits and skill. The second clip above demonstrates that there certainly was tension in compulsory figures. With high-definition televisions and modern technology demonstrating the sport, I would suggest that the viewing experience today would be far different from all those years ago.

This obviously isn't a blog dedicated to the sport of figure skating and this post is pretty much for me alone, but it's something I have thought about and wanted to share. Make of it what you will.

Merry Christmas

I will be away from my computer until after the holiday begins. God bless.

Blog Template Changed

1. I got tired of the old template.
2. If you still have trouble posting comments, let me know. My email is in my profile.

Passing This Along

Announcement: Rorate Caeli to begin New Purgatorial Society

Last week, my aunt lost her battle with cancer, and went to her eternal reward. When I received the sudden news, I prayed to Our Lady that her reward be Heaven, and then I quickly took to Twitter and Facebook to ask friends and family to pray for the repose of her soul.

When I was finished, I thought about how difficult it is to get people to pray for deceased loved ones, especially in today's society when even most Catholics wrongly believe everyone outside of murderers and rapists are automatically going to Heaven and thus are not in need of prayers. And I thought how wonderful it would be if there was a Purgatorial Society to turn to -- a free one as well.

I am now happy to announce the official launch of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society!

Details on how to submit deceased loved ones and who is being accepted for inclusion follow in the rest of the post.

We applaud Mr. Paulitz's efforts and will be taking part.

Heartening To See

My parish puts out a pamphlet to its members now and then in addition to the usual Sunday bulletins. The pamphlet I received in August had the following that I was surprised to read due to its clarity. It's probably not new at all and has been in previous pamphlets, but I don't remember it.

Which church would you most like to see your children choose for their adult life?

Methodist? Lutheran? Presbyterian? Baptist? Pentecostal? Mormon?

Or do you feel that that they should have no real worries about religion until they're settling perhaps into their second marriage?

In our increasingly secular and even anti-religious culture, we and our children are being persuaded that all religions are at best equally valid, and at worst, of no real value at all. Our culture disregards the guidance of the Church in favor of an ever changing set of secular values.

Are you able to tell your children why the Catholic church is The Church, the only church that Christ founded? Can you help your children to resist being drawn into another faith or living with no faith? Or have you been persuaded that Christ founded thousands of churches that are equally good and that it's okay to choose whatever feels best from among this myriad of options?

The choice of religion or the absence of religion in your life determines how you live your life and most likely how your children will live theirs.

You need to know how the roots of your Catholic faith began with Adam and Eve, grew with Moses and the Jewish people, has been completed in Christ and will be carried on through you and your family. Scripture from Old Testament to New Testament, The Church and Catholic Tradition are your history. This history from ancient times to the Catholic Church today offers a foundation and guidance to your life that no other faith and no secular institution can provide.

You need to know your history.
You need to teach your children.

Business

Prayers are asked for my grandfather who died yesterday evening. He was eighty-seven.

Anima eius et animae omnium fidelium defunctorum per Dei misericordiam requiescant in pace.

Today, my brother and I drove home and after meeting up with our dad, we went to see our grandmother. While there visiting, we saw various old family pictures. My grandmother had two women religious in her family besides the one I already knew about, I think. I will have to investigate that more.

Regarding the Feast of the Sacred Heart

This feast and devotion emphasizes divine mercy and the infinite love of Christ over a distorted version of Christianity which stresses divine judgment and punishment.

My bolding. I read the above in a PDF posted at my diocese's website while searching for info on the Ascension (it's moved to Sunday in my province).

I must be distorted then as I take the Four Last Things seriously. Oh well.

Have You Kissed Your Bishop's Ring Lately?

I have. First time too. I didn't go down on one knee though. I have poor balance and would probably end up falling over.

This is the first time I've ever been face to face with my current bishop. Tonight at Mass was Confirmation for the kids in our parish, the neighboring parish and the local Newman Center.

After His Excellency, three priests and one deacon filed out with a troupe of altar servers surrounding them, the congregation kept on singing. My row had already emptied out at Communion and singing isn't for me anymore, so I ducked out and on my way by the bishop, I reached out to shake his hand and gave his ring a quick kiss.

Layout

I am going to be messing with the newfangled layout system. Links in the sidebar may disappear without notice. Dum dum DUM!

Deafness in the Catholic Church

At his blog, Father Z posted this question he received and asked for answers since he didn't have one himself:

I have often wondered if there was any specially approved liturgy for profoundly/ severely deaf people prior to the liturgical reforms of the ‘60s? Surely, there must have been some adaptations of the Tridentine Mass to accomadate their needs? For instance, a Tridentine facing the people, or even it being said in sign langauge or something?

In the comments, there are no specific answers and the general consensus is that there were no provisions for the extraordinary form of the Mass prior to the introduction of the new Mass. The comments though focus more on the larger question of how best to accommodate the deaf in Mass. My comments throughout are from the perspective of an adult who has lost his hearing after already being fluent in English. The commenter Ana argues from the point of view of a congenitally deaf person (she is hearing, but her brother is deaf and she is a sign language interpreter).

I could summarize it all, but it would be time consuming. Just go check out the thread.

Quotes

In email or in posts at messageboards, little quotes at the end of each message have been a common sight since the beginning. Below is a series of quotes I've used over time that I rediscovered the other day when I was checking something out.

My indifference has shut me out. I live in a world of ghosts, a prisoner of dreams. I want God to put out his hand, show his face, speak to me. I cry out to him in the dark but there is no one there.
-Antonius Block, 'The Seventh Seal'

Block is of course the protagonist in Bergman's The Seventh Seal. Block here is expressing his existential crisis of faith as he struggles with Death to learn what comes after.

But I say to you, King of the Numenoreans, not till now have I understood the tale of your people and their fall. As wicked fools I scorned them, but I pity them at last. For if this is indeed, as the Eldar say, the gift of the One to Men, it is bitter to receive.
-Arwen Undomiel, 'The Lord of the Rings'

This passage spoken by Arwen the daughter of Elrond in an appendix of The Lord of the Rings is one of my favorites. Tolkien's elves are immortal, bound to the earth unto the end. Men on the other hand are granted at their creation the Gift: they are allowed to die and their souls pass beyond the circles of the World to heaven. Of course, immortal elves view death as a release while mortal men view death and the great unknown beyond as a punishment. Hence Arwen's words as she goes from immortality to mortality.

There should be a science of discontent. People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.
-from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan

This is one of Frank Herbert's epigrams attributed to the protagonist that preceded each chapter of Dune. The idea that 'hard times' and 'oppression' bring out human ingenuity in coping and overcoming is certainly not new, but Herbert's expression of the concept is eloquent.

Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
-Roy Batty, 'Blade Runner'

All the best lines from the science fiction/cyberpunk classic Blade Runner are given to the antagonist Roy Batty (played by Rutger Hauer). In the movie, Roy is an artificially created and enhanced being whose ranks are used by Man to fight, to work in hazardous environments and to provide sexual services. Roy escapes in order to track down his creator in a bid to obtain more life (his kind live and die in a span of only a few years). In this quote, Roy expresses to the protagonist as the protagonist hangs off a building about to fall to his doom the sense of what it is to be a slave.