SEASON 2 PREMIERE!

If the last post didn't tip you off: It's here! A 17 minute long DIVINE OFFICE, Season 2 Premiere.
Choir Directors, Anglicans and Bishops! Oh My!
Enjoy!

Call Me Tom

Divine Office - 2.1
Uploaded by TheDivineOffice. - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

Also visit The Divine Office's new home at FrErickson.wordpress.com

Subdeacon Suppression

Remember this guy? He made headlines over at the Shrine.



Well, he was ERASED by a terrible person. But he refused to be suppressed again.

Today he reappeared:

If only!

Generate a Barack Obama Quote!

"I think it's time we had a national conversation about heterodoxy. We need to get past all the gather hymnals and recognize that we are our own best hope for overcoming bongo drums. We need maniples , not heretics. Maniples are our sanctity. And we need to have change in heterodoxy."
Generate your Barack Obama quote at Buttafly.com

I BELIEVE IN MANIPLES!



If only he did too.


More like Johnny Domer runs for president

HT to Thornie and thanks to Gianna for playing Mad Libs with me on this one :-)

Alternate versions supplied by the generator:

"These people haven't had sanctity for fifty years. So you can't be surprised if they get bitter and cling to their gather hymnals and their heretics and their bongo drums. That's what my campaign is about. Teaching all the little people in this country that they can have maniples."

"You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about heterodoxy. Well I think Americans are tired of the same old gather hymnals. Ordinary Americans believe in maniples , they want less heretics, they just aren't sure if their leaders believe in sanctity."

The Future of a Philosophy Major

The man who is truly good and wise always makes the best of circumstances. - The Philosopher

Two posts ago, I referred to Homeless Bill. In case you were wondering about that, and what one ever does with a philosophy major from Notre Dame:




P.S. The introduction from the creator:

...This is inspired, I guess, by my family's worries that this is indeed how I'll end up. I know that you, [Matthias], have been subjected to the same warnings and title of "Homeless," so this one's for you...

Liturgical Laundry

Gianna emailed the Pious Sodality of Church Ladies tonight to make sure we had seen Fr. Z's post on the awesome forthcoming publication from Angelus Press about liturgical laundry

"All the various common linens are presented with descriptions of what they are for and what they might mean, for example in the case of the symbolic meaning of the amice, a vestment the priest uses during Mass.

"There are clear directions and also step by step drawings for how to fold the linens, which is very important, especially in the case of a corporal, which has the function of capturing particles of the Host which might have been missed.

Here is what we find on the contents page:

i Quick Reference Chart
ii The Purificator
iii The Corporal
iv The Pall
v The Lavabo Towel
vi The Amice
vii A Few Guidelines and Tips
viii Altar Linens
ix Glossary
ix Notes page

This little book provides a bit of direction for those ladies who are so generous
helping Holy Mother Church (and her sacristans) with laundering,
ironing, and mending."

Oh it looks like the most fantastic Pious Women Guide ever! I can't wait!

For your enjoyment, the conversation re this news:

Gianna: did you see that email I sent about the laundry guide?
Me: Yessss
Gianna: ahh, Angelus Press...
Me: it's really a wonderful thing, even if slightly schismatic on a bad day
Gianna: hey, laundry is laundry ;-P
Me: Oh no! Not Schismatic Laundry!! haha
Gianna: the scandal!!
Me: Terrible: "Excuse me ma'am, but I believe that chasuble just questioned the authority of the pope"
Gianna: ROFL

If anyone wants to get that little book for me when it comes out in July, let me know. Maybe I'll set up some starving-recent-college-grad Paypal donation button or Amazon Wishlist or something. Haha


I mean after all, THIS should never happen!

Gianna Alert!

Gianna has finally started blogging again! ~reeee!~ I can happily remove her blog title from the defunct list and put it back up with the others.
I like the picture of me in Lucy's kitchen :-)

For Men and Women

Paul noticed this wonderful site and posted it today. I thought I'd repost it here for all my gentlemen friends who might not read Paul's blog.

(click image or here for the link)

Not that this is to distract you from your finals, boys.


Ladies should take note of the Seraphic Single's new home: Still Seraphic

POPE

Sweet.
Credits
Take that Obama

40 Hours Devotion!

Don't forget, there's 40 Hours Devotion to go along with the Procession!

Children of Mary is sponsoring 40 hours of continuous Eucharistic Adoration in preparation for the Eucharistic Procession at the Univeristy of Notre Dame. It will take place in the chapel of Malloy Hall, following the 5:15 Basilica Mass on Friday 4/18, and ending with Benediction at 9 a.m. on Sunday 4/20. Make sure to use the northwest entrance of Malloy Hall, as this will be the only door open during the weekend.

Please sign up for an hour with Our Lord!

Procession Poster

I thought I had posted this awhile ago (i.e. when I made it), but I guess not. Sorry.

EUCHARSTIC PROCESSION!

EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION AT NOTRE DAME


The Office of Campus Ministry warmly invites you to participate in the Fourth Annual Eucharistic Procession to be celebrated at Notre Dame this Sunday, April 20, beginning at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart following the 11:45 am Mass. The Procession will begin at 1:00 pm and will last approximately one hour.


The Eucharistic Procession will be celebrated on Notre Dame's historic "God quad" and will stop at four altars for hymns, Scripture readings, meditations, prayers, and Benediction. Fr. David Tyson, CSC, Provincial Superior of the Congregation of Holy Cross, will preside. By taking the Blessed Sacrament outside the walls of the Basilica in procession, the students, faculty, religious, and staff of Saint Mary's, Holy Cross, and Notre Dame, as well as all the faithful in attendance, give a vivid and public witness to their faith and devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist and to his saving work in our midst. This Eucharistic Procession also seeks to further the mission of the Congregation of Holy Cross, "to make God known, loved, and served throughout the world." In addition, this Fourth Annual Procession will be a public prayer offered specifically for the following intentions:


* a greater respect for and protection of all human life, from conception until natural death;

* an increase in vocations to the religious life and priesthood, especially in the Congregation of Holy Cross;

* blessings upon the students, faculty, staff, religious, trustees, and administration of our three institutions of higher learning;and

* blessings upon the Holy Father's Pilgrimage to the United States.A picnic lunch will be provided following the Procession through the generosity of the Notre Dame Knights of Columbus Council #1477.


Everyone is invited to pre-register for the Procession (if possible, though it is not required) by visiting the following site: http://www.nd.edu/~adore/procession/signup.htm


In the case of inclement weather, the Procession will be celebrated inside the Basilica immediately following Mass.


For more information about this Fourth Annual Eucharistic Procession, please contact Fr. Kevin Russeau, CSC, at Russeau.3@nd.edu.

Lay Miserables

A few people are going to kill me for posting this 1) because I'm supposed to be writing my thesis so I have time to work on this project and 2)for airing our dirty laundry out on the blogosphere....BUT it is hilarious and by far my favorite way to waste time this semester...

A few of us have taken to rewriting the great musical "Les Miserables" so as to immortalize our own personal drama. And so we most over-enthusiastically present:

"All the drama you never wanted to see again, set to music!"

Mind you "Miserables" is pronounced with a heavy American accent, none of that French stuff - just like the name of our dear University. NOTE-ER DAY-M, MIZ-RA-BULS not no-treh dah-meh, or mis'eh'ahb. It describes us exactly as we are: miserable laymen.

The musical explores our not-infrequent vocation/dating/roommate/academic crises, and everything in between.

One of the last songs we worked on together before parting for break was "Stars" - a wonderful song sung by Javert - or in this case, a roommate resolving to move out.

I can't get it out of my head. So here is one of our verses. (Know that the South Bend 'permacloud' is infamous and so the sky has a lustrous pink glow at night.) Watch the YouTube video, get the music stuck in your head, and maybe it will get out of mine so I can finish my thesis.

Enjoy!

Stars, in your multitudes,
Scarce to be sighted,
Clouded by South Bend,
No order, no light.
You are the sentinels
Hidden but sure:
Keeping watch in the night,
Keeping watch in the night.

More to follow...maybe.

Saintly Soaps and Sancti-Teas!

WOW! Before Mass tonight my fellow church lady told me I had to see what she posted on the Church Lady blog...Saintly Soaps and Sancti Teas!

I think I might just have to put in an order. The only hitch is that all prices are in Canadian dollars and there's a flat rate shipping cost of $15 for American orders. At first we were complaining, but that's really not that bad if a few of us pooled together our orders.

So, Miss Caitlyn and I will order the Pier Georgio Tea... and for all of the members of the Congregation of Holy Cross there is

*Drum Roll*






BROTHER ANDRE SOAP!!!!!



YOU KNOW YOU ARE GETTING SOME!
Yes, R., I mean you! Reeeee!

We may also need a stock of St Maximilian Soap. If only they had some for St John Neumann too!

New Tridentine Mass Poster!

Look at this SWEET poster for the campus Tridentine Mass designed by fellow church lady Gianna


It made my night :-)

SISTERS!

Last month, right before I visited, the Dominican Sisters in Nashville were visited by a crew from PBS who filmed and interviewed Sisters for their Religion and Ethics series.
I love them!

Last I checked, the link and embedding function weren't working, but you can try to go here to GloriaTV

You can also go straight to the source, PBS.

In a few shots you can see novice Sr. Michaela, a ND grad and one of the sweetest and coolest young ladies you'll ever meet :-)

War!

No - not that war, Domers. Too much stupid out of hand media in the past 48 hours regarding this university. Chill out. - those are my only comments for at this time.

Watch this and laugh.


Thanks to Thornie and the Cannonball and Catholic Warrior!

Notre Dame Magazine - or - "I survived Fr Z!"

I'm sure by now most of my usual readers have either read on Fr Z's blog or in the Notre Dame Magazine itself a wonderful article featuring myself and Johnny.

I was quite pleased with the article, and even more pleased that Fr. Z actually complimented it! What an honor! You can read Fr. Z's comments over at WDTPRS.

Here is the article itself:

An extraordinary liturgy returns to campus (Photo: Matt Cashore)

By John Nagy '00M.A.

The Mass is celebrated publicly about 176 times each week at Notre Dame when the University is in session, says Father Richard Warner, CSC, the director of campus ministry. Different Masses meet different spiritual needs. Congregants may pray together in English, Spanish or Latin and choose from a sampler box of musical styles and aesthetic surroundings. All of these Masses are celebrated according to the reformed Roman Missal of Pope Paul VI introduced in 1970.

All except one, that is. At 8 a.m. on October 14, some 100 people gathered with Father Thomas Blantz, CSC, in the Saint Charles Borromeo chapel in Alumni Hall to participate in what was likely the first Tridentine Mass on campus in nearly 40 years.

"It's very exciting," says senior Mary Elizabeth Walter. "Had you told me three years ago we would be having the Tridentine Mass here on campus I would have said 'Yeah, right, I wish.'"

For years, pockets of Catholics have secured permission from local Church authorities to celebrate the Mass using the 1962 Missal of Blessed John XXIII. The reforms issued under Paul VI had turned the priest toward the congregation, allowed translation of the entire Mass into the vernacular, changed other important customs and prompted reactions from the faithful that ran the spectrum from elation to acceptance to devastation.

Unlike most Catholics born after Vatican II, Walter grew up with the Tridentine Mass at her family's parish in Baltimore, which she says also offers Sunday Masses in English and Lithuanian and brings all three communities together for vibrant parish functions.

Church leaders hope Walter's experience of unity in liturgical diversity is the norm. At Notre Dame, the decision to initiate Sunday celebration of the old Mass came swiftly last summer after Pope Benedict issued Summorum Pontificum, an apostolic letter affirming it as the "extraordinary form" of the Roman rite established after the Second Vatican Council.

The move also reflects the persistence of students, who have expressed their interest to Warner and his staff in person over the past few years. Recently, more than 150 students showed their support on Facebook, the social networking website, by joining a group called "I am interested in having the Tridentine Mass at Notre Dame."

Brett Perkins, who runs Notre Dame's programs for Catholic peer ministry and outreach to Protestant students, says many of these students are as attracted to contemporary prayer services as they are to older devotions. "They're not willing to be . . . labeled as a particular type of person," he says. "What they are is fully Catholic."

For students like Walter, love for the old Mass and its reverence for God's transcendence runs deep. Some critics of the pope's letter have dismissed their preference as "nostalgia," a take that makes Walter cringe. The history and medieval studies major started exploring the Mass more critically in high school. "I wanted to check it out for myself and make sure it wasn't this irrational attachment just because my parents loved it," she says. "They're both the Mass. They're both beautiful. But there's a particular richness to the Tridentine Mass. The prayers are so much deeper there. It heightens your awareness of the sacred."

"It's an acquired taste," says John Gerardi, a sophomore classics and philosophy major who is one of six volunteers qualified to serve the old Mass because of his knowledge of Latin and his training in the traditional gestures, or rubrics. "I know the first time I went I was lost. . . . Once people get comfortable with it, you see a lot who start really preferring it."

Gerardi's experience -- more than six years' worth -- is hard to come by, which is one reason Benedict's letter will have limited impact on Catholic parish and campus life. Eleven priests attended a training session that Perkins and Father Peter Rocca, CSC, rector of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, set up to prepare for the Mass. Some were older priests who wanted to get reacquainted with rubrics they hadn't practiced in decades. Others were younger priests who, Father Nicholas Ayo, CSC, warns with a smile, will have "quite a bit of homework" to do.

Ayo celebrated the old Mass for 11 years after his 1959 ordination and, though he prefers the new missal and believes Catholics would get more out of it if they were better instructed, volunteered because he was capable. "If we're going to do it at Notre Dame, we're going to do it right," he says.

"The language comes easily, [but] I'm having to look at the book and read what it tells me to do, when that should all be done by memory and routine," he says. "It would become contemplative for me, too, if it was just second nature."

Father Warner sees the reintroduction as a learning opportunity for students, too. Before the first Mass, campus ministry hosted a series of talks explaining the Eucharist, the history and theology of the Tridentine Mass and the meaning of the Vatican II reforms. "We had three excellent presentations, good questions and a lot of interest on the part of the students," he says.

Walter and Gerardi believe that interest will only grow in the years to come. They hope the low, recited Mass in Alumni Hall may be joined by the occasional high, chanted Mass in the Basilica and by baptisms and weddings in the Tridentine form for those who request them. But for Warner, whether interest waxes or wanes over time is beside the point. "What matters for me is that people truly feel nourished by our encounter with God through the Eucharist."

John Nagy is an associate editor of this magazine.

(January 2008)

The Hermeneutic of Suspicion

Hey everyone -

Just so you all know, you should check out this out.

What a bunch of nuts

Gaudete!

Despite exams, Gaudete!


Yesterday I got a call from the lovely Lucy that sent me dashing across the snowy campus in a skirt, knee highs, and Mary Janes (a look I inherited from Lucy by the way) to find her and Drew of Holy Whapping in the Notre Dame bookstore with
wonderful news!

Congratulations!

I am so happy for them!


Another, less significant, reason for rejoicing: We finally got a really good snowfall! It's about time (just like the engagement of Lucy and Drew :-P)

And so we celebrated with snowball fights...

Behold, a scene from the Post-Post-Trid-Mass-Brunch Snowball Fight outside South Dining Hall:

Uhh that's a rather large 'snowball.' Watch out!!

We successfully snowballed friends on their way to the Dining Hall after 10am Basilica Mass and members of both the Folk and Liturgical Choirs. Haha! (ps, don't worry we only threw snowballs at the choir members we knew!)

The afternoon was quite beautiful.





What a wonderful Gaudete Sunday!

(both photos: me 12/16/07)

it's coming...

On my screen right now...yes 11:30 Rome time...that means 5:30am Notre Dame time!