10,000 MASSES FOR UNBORN BABIES Novena

The 2nd annual 10,000 MASSES FOR UNBORN BABIES Novena is scheduled to take place January 13th - 21st, 2010. People may help this effort by having one or more Masses offered for the following intention: For the protection of unborn human persons. Last year, more than 3,000 Masses were offered in at least 18 countries.

"It has been said that within the last fifty or so years, approximately one billion unborn babies throughout the world have been surgically killed. This number does not include the unborn babies killed
non-surgically," said Patrick Benedict, president of the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization which is the coordinator of the 10,000 MASSES FOR UNBORN BABIES Novena. " This unprecedented slaughter of the innocents is hellish. None of us can fully grasp the magnitude of this horror.

" We can, however, engage in pro-life efforts. One of those efforts, of course, is having the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for the protection of unborn babies. And, the 10,000 MASSES FOR UNBORN BABIES Novena is designed to do exactly that.

" Obviously, the Culture of Death is waging a fierce war against the unborn babies. A major and ongoing spiritual response from the Church Militant is long overdue. I hope the day will arrive that has every priest and bishop in the world offering at least one Mass each week for the protection of unborn human persons", continued Benedict.

A person wanting more information may either go to www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org or send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to:
P.O. Box 41257; Memphis, Tennessee 38174; U.S.A.

" The unborn babies can not have Masses offered for themselves, but each person reading this can. And, I hope a great multitude of people will be doing just that," added Benedict.

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[The Saint Michael the Archangel Organization was founded in the year 2007. In addition to coordinating the 10,000 MASSES FOR UNBORN BABIES Novena, the Organization plans on coordinating the 3rd annual ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event(May 7th, 8th, and 9th, 2010) and the 3rd annual WORLDWIDE ROSARY FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event(October 8th, 9th, and 10th, 2010).]

POPE BENEDICT XVI SUPPORTS PATRIARCH BARTHOLEMEW

I thought this was interesting. By giving united witness and supporting one another in the good we seek to do we don't just further Church unity we proclaim the truth of the Gospel.

SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE CONSECRATION OF ALL THE CHURCHES OF OUR ORDER

I have been on and off with this blog since the summer for various reasons. Now I am restarting my endeavours. Today is a Solemnity for us: that of the Anniversary of Consecration for our Churches. Seems strange to celebrate such a feast with a solemnity but think of it this way: the church building is an icon of the Church. The building is the place where the altar resides, where the Sacrifice of Christ, the only Son of the Father, is offered and the Blessed Sacrament is kept in the tabernacle and where the people (lay and cleric) become the People of God through the Sacraments. The Church is itself the Sacrament of the Kingdom to come and it is so because Christ makes it so. To celebrate the consecration of a church is to celebrate the saving work of Christ and the Church that He establishes. As members of that Church we are called to be, not just icons, but tabernacles of His presence in the world, bearers of His Presence to others.

I used the icon above, our Lord with the Samaritan woman at the well, because that was the Gospel of this morning's mass. We are all called not just to worship in 'spirit and in truth' but to share that call with others.

Bulgarian Orthodox Leader Affirms Desire for Unity Video

Following on my previous post this video from romereports :

Bulgarian Orthodox Leader Affirms Desire for Unity

From Zenit (H/T to the New Liturgical Movement)

Bulgarian Orthodox Leader

Affirms Desire for Unity

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 22, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A Bulgarian Orthodox prelate told Benedict XVI of his desire for unity, and his commitment to accelerate communion with the Catholic Church.

At the end of Wednesday's general audience, Bishop Tichon, head of the diocese for Central and Western Europe of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, stated to the Pope, "We must find unity as soon as possible and finally celebrate together," L'Osservatore Romano reported.

"People don't understand our divisions and our discussions," the bishop stated. He affirmed that he will "not spare any efforts" to work for the quick restoration of "communion between Catholics and Orthodox."

Bishop Tichon said that "the theological dialogue that is going forward in these days in Cyprus is certainly important, but we should not be afraid to say that we must find as soon as possible the way to celebrate together."

"A Catholic will not become an Orthodox and vice versa, but we must approach the altar together," he added.

The prelate told the Pontiff that "this aspiration is a feeling that arose from the works of the assembly" of his diocese, held in Rome, in which all the priests and two delegates from every Bulgarian Orthodox parish took part.

"We have come to the Pope to express our desire for unity and also because he is the Bishop of Rome, the city that hosted our assembly," he stated.

This is good news on top of the Pope's response to the overtures of the Traditional Anglican Communion among others and a sign that there is movement - the Holy Spirit is never still and Peter is listening.

SECOND ANNUAL 'WORLDWIDE ROSARY FOR THE UNBORN

SECOND ANNUAL 'WORLDWIDE ROSARY
FOR UNBORN BABIES' SEEKS SUPPORT

Global prayer effort set for October 16th - 18th

The October 16th - 18th WORLDWIDE ROSARY FOR UNBORN BABIES is being held to pray for an end to the surgical and non-surgical killing of unborn human persons. People wanting to participate will pray the Rosary for this intention on either October 16th, 17th, or 18th. In addition to participating, it is hoped many people will let other persons know about this pro-life effort(people may contact family members, priests, school personnel, friends, etc.).

It is hoped many Rosaries will be prayed at schools on the Friday, October 16th date. Also, the Sunday, October 18th date is an ideal time for people at parishes to pray the Rosary either before or after Masses.

Information about the WORLDWIDE ROSARY FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event is available in several different languages at www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org. Or, a person may receive information by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Saint Michael the Archangel Organization; P. O. Box 41257; Memphis, Tennessee 38174; U.S.

FOTA ISLAND INTERNATIONAL LITURGY CONFERENCE

St Colman’s Society for Catholic Liturgy

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TEXT BEGINS

“Following on the two highly successful liturgical conferences held in 2008 and 2009, St Colman’s Society for Catholic Liturgy is pleased to announce that its Third International Liturgy Conference will take place from 10 to 12 July 2010 in Cork and Fota. The title of the Conference is “Psallite sapienter: Benedict XVI on Sacred Music”.
The expression “Psallite sapienter”, literally translated “Sing ye wisely”, is found in Psalm 46 of the Vulgate. According to Joseph Ratzinger, this text synthesises what Sacred Scripture has to say about the kind of music that befits worship. Such music must be in accordance with wisdom, and therefore with reason and, ultimately, with the revealed word that comes from God, with the Word made flesh. In this way, it becomes capable of touching the human heart and raising it to communion with God, as it did in the case of St Augustine: “Greatly did I weep at the beauty of your hymns and canticles, moved deeply by the sweet chants of your Church’s music. The voices flowed into my ears and truth was poured forth into my heart, from which the emotion of my devotion overflowed: tears ran from my eyes and I was blessed in them” (Confessions, IX, 6, 14).
Unfortunately, recent decades have witnessed an impoverishment of liturgical music in many parishes and religious communities. All too often, church music has been reduced to the trivial and the banal, providing a poor substitute for the musical entertainment easily obtainable elsewhere and sadly failing to raise the heart and mind to God. Many factors have contributed to this situation, including an inadequate understanding of the kind of music appropriate to a liturgical setting, the banishment of the Church’s extraordinary heritage of plainchant and polyphony to concerts and recordings, a superficial interpretation of “active participation” which has effectively eliminated specialised choir music in the name of congregational singing, where such exists, and a pastoral pragmatism that has led to the adoption for worship of the mass-produced melodies of popular music.
Mindful of these problems, Joseph Ratzinger has addressed the question of sacred music in various writings, especially in his liturgical trilogy, “The Feast of Faith”, “A New Song for the Lord” and “The Spirit of the Liturgy”. In these he indicates the principles which underlie its historical development, he describes the qualities which should characterise all forms of liturgical music and he proposes a way forward, which is in line with the Church’s musical tradition, while encouraging genuine creativity.
The Society’s Third International Liturgical Conference seeks to promote the ideas advanced in the Holy Father’s writings on liturgical music. It also provides a forum for a younger generation of liturgists and musicians who are presently engaged in the recovery of the Church’s musical heritage for liturgical use or in composing beautiful new and uplifting works of sacred music.
An international panel of experts in the fields of theology, liturgy and music – drawn from Ireland, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Australia and the United States of America – will discuss various theological, historical and practical questions relating to sacred music in the Roman Rite. Following an examination of Joseph Ratzinger’s writings on sacred music, the Conference will consider such issues as the place of the Psalms in the liturgy, the importance of Gregorian chant and polyphony, the Second Vatican Council’s directives on sacred music, the contribution of German musicologist Mgr Johannes Overath and sacred music in the Church today.
The Conference is open to the general public and registration forms can be obtained from the Society at colman.liturgy@yahoo.co.uk or by contacting the Secretary at Leeview, Rushbrooke, Cobh, Co. Cork.”

TEXT ENDS

20 September 2009

Contact details:

Terry Pender
e-mail: colman.liturgy@yahoo.co.uk
Telephone: 021-4813445