The lowdown on genuflection in church
Should you always genuflect when entering a Catholic church? Not necessarily, says Philip Kosloski at Aleteia.org, who has written a handy guide to genuflection etiquette. He explains that genuflection comes from court etiquette, where it was “a sign of respect as well as a pledge of service”. The left knee “was always used to give reverence to a king and so to distinguish the Christian usage of the custom, Christians would genuflect in church on the right knee to God.”
He notes that Catholics should only genuflect “when there is a tabernacle present with the Precious Body within it”, as indicated by the red sanctuary lamp.
For example, there is no need to genuflect on Good Friday as the tabernacle is empty. “A simple bow is substituted whenever the Eucharist is not present.”
I’m not a trial run, says married priest
Fr Joshua Whitfield, of St Rita’s in Dallas, is a married Catholic priest with four children who doesn’t believe that married men should, in general, be ordained. In fact, he writes in the Dallas Morning News, he thinks it would be a bad idea. Fr Whifield, a former Anglican minister, says people “assume I’m in favour of opening the priesthood to married men.” Not so. “Because the Catholic Church believes Christians should be united, it sometimes makes exceptions from its own, even ancient, disciplines and norms, in my case celibacy. My family and I are not test subjects in some sort of trial run put on by the Vatican to see whether married priesthood works. Rather, we’re witnesses to the Church’s empathy and desire for unity. “That’s what we married priests wish people would see, the Catholicism we fell in love with and made sacrifices for.”
So you think you know what a gargoyle is?
What exactly is a gargoyle? Daniel Esparza at Aleteia.org wrote that it’s “simply the protruding part of a pipe that serves to deflect water”. “Technically speaking,” he said, the stone carvings we often associate with the outside of Gothic cathedrals are known as ‘grotesques’.”
These grotesques have a pedagogical function. “The fantastic beasts reinforce the notion that evil remains outside the church, metaphorically and literally, and that evil flees from the holy places.”
‘Recognising porn as evil has changed me’
Fr John Smith (a pseudonym) had struggled with pornography addiction throughout his ministry, a problem exacerbated by loneliness and isolation – until one day, he wrote at America magazine, “the words of a song at Mass moved my heart. ‘Let your gentleness be known. Do not worry. Reach out to God in prayer.’” It was then he resolved to ask for help. With the support of other addicts, friends and the power of prayer, Fr John began to recover.
“Recognising porn as an evil,” rather than as harmless or unavoidable, “has changed the way I approach it in Confession.” he writes. “It can be stopped, by recognising its power and asking for help. I respond more mercifully than before.”
✣ There’s no peace for Pope Francis, even when he takes a loo break, if events in Milan last week were anything to go by.
During his day trip to the city Pope Francis was mobbed by fans taking videos and photographs of him as he emerged from a Portaloo.
The Pope had nipped into the loo before appearing on stage in Milan, but did not manage to escape the media glare. During his trip Francis visited poor families, had lunch with inmates at a prison and, at the Meazza San Siro stadium, spoke to 78,000 young people preparing for Confirmation.
✣ A young girl reduced the Pope to fits of laughter when she stole his zucchetto
last week. According to reports, the three-year-old, Estella Westrick, was being presented to the Holy Father for a blessing. She was brought to meet the Pope by her godfather, the Catholic blogger Mountain Butorac, who posted a clip of the meeting on his Twitter account.
“Right before she went up she was a little nervous, then she stole his hat. It was hilarious. Everyone was laughing, including the Pope,” Butorac told CNN.
He added: “It’s her first full day in Rome. Who knows what she will get up to tomorrow.”
We settled that long ago
Theologian Fr Paulinus Odozor on African beliefs about the prohibition on Communion for the remarried
Interview with Crux
Shareholders and owners would be considered traitors
Mexico City archdiocese warns firms against working on the ‘Trump wall’
The archdiocesan magazine Desde la Fe
Medicine will run out in 40 days, food in two months
Stephen Rasche, aid co-ordinator for Christians in northern Iraq
Address in Parliament quoted by Lord Alton
A new European humanism
Pope Francis on what Europe should aim for
Address to European leaders
5m
Sudanese on the brink of starvation
Source: Catholic Relief Services
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