A gritty catechism
At epicpew.com, Stephen Mirarchi opened an older catechism – the 1798 Short Abridgment of Christian Doctrine, “published first in Europe and then ‘newly revised for the use of the Catholic Church’ in the freshly minted USA”. It is, Mirarchi observed, “no-nonsense and gritty”, but also inspiring. “This edition makes clear that Catholics on the verge of 19th-century America were expected to be spiritual powerhouses – or at least they were exhorted to be.”
The Abridgment asked: “How shall we know the things which we are to believe?” and answered: “From the Catholic Church of God, which He has established by innumerable miracles, and illustrated by the lives and deaths of innumerable saints.”
On the question of why Catholics say the Hail Mary so often, the Abridgment explained: “To put us in mind of the Son of God being made man for us.” Mirarchi commented: “Still the best defence today because it’s true: the Hail Mary is about the Incarnation.”
Mirarchi pointed out that, in the following 100 years, the Church in America grew rapidly. “Look at the spiritual fortitude it took to get there. Could we not learn a few things from our 1798 progenitors?”
Ridiculous or true
At Aleteia, Meg Hunter-Kilmer took a step back from Corpus Christi processions. “A bunch of grown men put on silly robes to hold a canopy over another man.” And thousands sing, fall to their knees and adore “a white wafer in a gold container”.
The claim that this is God – “a God who first became a man with a body as vulnerable as mine, and then allowed that body to become a corpse, and then transformed a piece of bread into that very body” – is clearly ridiculous. “Unless it’s true.”
Hunter-Kilmer wrote: “The Eucharist is either heinous blasphemy or the most wondrous thing on the planet. It’s either worshipping a cracker or profound intimacy with the divine. No half-way point makes sense.” It may be beyond our understanding, yet “The mystery of God isn’t something to be lamented but to be rejoiced in.”
Deadly vocabulary
At firstthings.com, Wesley Smith warned against dehumanising language – “foetus” instead of “baby”, “neonate” instead of “newborn”. Proponents of euthanasia understand the power of words: the Hemlock Society has since renamed itself and is now called Compassion and Choices.
“We should be vigilant against words that dehumanise weak and vulnerable people and suspicious of rhetoric that masks movements’ real goals,” Smith wrote. “We should be wary of words that serve as honey to make the hemlock go down.”
✣ Meanwhile…
✣ This year’s World Youth Day in Kraków, like any large gathering of young Catholics, may play host to some romantic misunderstandings. Luckily, the Diocese of Westminster has issued a phrasebook to help clear up any difficulties. As well as common phrases such as “Please” and “Thank you”, the phrasebook offers the Polish for “Unfortunately, I have a calling to the religious life” (Niestety, Mam powołanie do religijnego życia) and “Sorry, I have a vocation” (Wybacz, Mam powołanie). For more hopeful pilgrims, “Will you marry me?” is Wyjdziesz za mnie? – pronounced “Chi-Vay-Jesh za mun-Yeah?”
✣ It isn’t only marriage proposals which get lost in translation. Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill has raised concerns about the use of English words in Russian. The patriarch said their use was often “totally unjustified” – for instance the use of “trend” instead of “the Latin word ‘tendency’”.
✣ Ryanair and Alitalia are locked in competition, say Italian media, over the honour of being the Vatican’s favourite airline. Since Cardinal Pietro Parolin flew Ryanair to Lithuania, the budget airline has been offering special deals to the Vatican. Alitalia, the normal choice, has made an “informal protest”. The Pope’s next trip could be decisive.
✣ The week in quotations
There wasn’t one occasion in which he didn’t speak to me about the Russian Church
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran recalls his weekly meetings with St John Paul II, which took place for 13 years
Crux
It deeply troubles me when I see a timetable in a parish
Pope Francis
Homily at Jubilee for Deacons
Very often modern politicians would rather close their eyes
Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk on the ‘silent’ war in Ukraine
CNA/EWTN News
He’s the best Pope that has ever existed
Actor Salma Hayek
Rome Reports
✣ Statistic of the week
3,282
Pages in a new translation of the King James Bible into emojis
Source: iTunes