• Full and Active Participation
  • In the first of the series, we highlighted the phrase, “Source and Summit,” one of the most oft-quoted ways to refer to the Mass. For a Catholic, everything begins with and then brings us back to the Eucharist.
  • Another very common phrase from Vatican II is “full, conscious and active participation,” referring to the role of all those who attend Mass.
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Dear Friends,

I am sure many of you were surprised last Sunday to see that our music ministry has changed. The speed at which it all transpired was as much of a surprise to me as to many of you. Ike Ndolo, who has served Our Lady of Mt Carmel for many years, informed me on Sunday, Aug 8th that he would be resigning his position, effective that date. He declined to state the reasons, but I assume (and hope) that he made his decision based on what was best for him and his family.

What keeps these couples together? It is free and complete submission to Jesus Christ, whose Cross deeply unites every aspect of their lives.

Catholics need to show charity for self-identified transgender people without compromising their faith or adopting “simplistic” solutions offered by activists and misleading views of gender. That is the teaching of the Diocese of Arlington’s eight-page document, “A catechesis on the human person and gender ideology,” released Aug. 12 by Bishop Michael Burbidge.

Dear Friends,

School is back in session and parish activities are starting to pick up. We are not only returning from the normal summer lull, but also the devastating effects the pandemic has had on Church life, in general. Many have not returned to Mass because of their lingering uncertainty over the continued dangers of the virus. And there are also large numbers of Catholics who, over these past 16 months, have filled their weekends with other activities that don’t include attending Mass. Will all of them change these newly acquired habits and once again come back to Church? The answer to that question remains to be seen.

The last major dogma of our faith to be promulgated by the Church’s Magisterium or Teaching Authority is today’s celebration of the Assumption of Mary.  The Church’s unwavering belief that Mary was assumed, body and soul into heaven, had been held by all the faithful since the early Church, but was only formally defined in 1950. 

Mary is in heaven, body and soul, sharing the presence of her Son, who is also there in His Resurrected Body.  When we receive the Holy Eucharist, we join Mary in this full communion with her son, the Resurrected Jesus Christ.

COMMENTARY: Mary’s assumption is not ‘just’ a special privilege for her, ‘conceived without sin.’ It tells us that what began with Jesus’ resurrection, already realized body and soul in Mary, is what God intends for all ‘who love him.’

The Catholic Church, along with every major Protestant denomination, has witnessed a precipitous decline in Church attendance. This slide, set off during the 1960s, has accelerated with the rapid rise of the “nones,” Americans claiming no religious affiliation. We could wonder, has the bottom fallen out with this huge exodus? Or put more theologically, has Christ abandoned his Church? Moments of crisis test us, calling us to exercise great hope and trust in the Lord’s providence. Even though Jesus told us that he will never abandon us, he also calls us to do our part. We are not simply helpless in the current freefall. We can assess why things have gone off track and then adjust, focusing our attention on what can help us reverse course.

• The celebration of the Eucharist is a confluence of three events:
  • the Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his blessings to us. The very word, Eucharist, is Greek for “thanksgiving.”
  • It is a memorial of the Lord’s Supper, the night He instituted the priesthood and the Eucharist.
  • It is a communion with Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. We consume His Body and Blood, and He becomes part of us. It also makes us one with the whole Church.
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When I was in college, I took several semesters of archery. I loved shooting arrows at targets, but what ultimately won me over was the nature of archery; you immediately know how you are doing, based on where you hit the target. Still, there was one time that I hit the bulls eye and yet I scored a zero, because I was aiming at the wrong target! In some ways ministry can be like archery, we need to not only aim for the bullseye - but we also need to hit the right target! Too many Catholic parishes and dioceses are aiming for the wrong thing and miss the target. Then when questions arise about why the results they expected aren’t happening, they are puzzled.

• A home builder would never start with the roof or windows.  He always begins with the foundation—level ground and a cement foundation.  He then proceeds to build the walls, the joists and all of the structure needed to build a sturdy house that will not collapse
• God, the Divine Builder and Architect, has done the same: before sending His Son Jesus to redeem us by his Cross and resurrection, he prepared the way for over 2000 years.
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