Regarding St. Patrick's Day, this is not unique to America. Irish Catholics immigrated elsewhere as well, including Canada. Which exists northward of the U.S, by the way. ;)
In Ottawa, at least, the diocese has provided a dispensation because of the unique legacy of Irish Catholics here. We actually have a unique situation of having a Cathedral (Notre Dame) and basilica - St. Patrick's Basilica. The Cathedral is more associated with the French population in our bilingual diocese, and St Pat's (my parish, incidentally) with English-speakers.
Montreal has a similar situation, with both a Notre Dame Basilica and a St Pat's Basilica - again, due to the Irish immigrants in Montreal. There, too, St Pat's remains an English-speaking parish.
Tying into last week’s discussion, the First Provincial Council of Baltimore forbade Freemasons from the sacraments and the Second Plenary Council forbade the faithful from societies which plotted against church and state under oaths of secrecy.
-on the secret societies -- the discussion threw me back to Umberto Eco's Foucalt's Pendulum, which I think is his best book. Ed watch out! You may find yourself hunted down by the societies!
- I can see the problem the priests have re: the synod stuff. In most places I know, the priests are too busy to get involved. They have duties and don't have backup. My own parish has the good fortune to have three priests, two permanent deacons, and one subdeacon, and we're still stretched. I'm part of our nursing home ministry, and we have trouble making sure they're served adequately. I feel for our priests. I know they're stretched.
But here's the obvious: as a layperson it's easy for me to say the following -- I find all this synodality stuff as an exercise in the bishops avoiding their responsibility. BISHOPS GO BISHOP, DAMMIT. I can say this to the cardinal's face (howdy, Dolan!) and what is he gonna do? Excommunicate me? He doesn't do anything to the "public Catholics" in New York. I actually donate to the archdiocese in spite of the things I know are going on, because there are services that need to be provided.
But the priests in the archdiocese of NY may find themselves in a difficult position if they say something.
Does anybody wonder why the priests aren't involved?
It's nothing but danger for them.
It would be much safer for laypeople to go forward to represent priests than vice-versa.
I grew up in Kentucky where the English Catholics who originally settled in Maryland often ended up, so we had lots of English last name Catholics, for instance Fields.
It should also be noted there were no Deacons at the Synod. Most of us are married and work 40+hrs a week in a secular job. But who cares what the servants (diakonos) of the church are experiencing?
"This is the single greatest comment ever left on the site so far." - Ed Condon
@Jeff the Less
Come on down! You're comment on the March 14th Synod article was so fantastic that both Ed and JD felt it deserved special recognition. I, and 64 other like-minded individuals, agree with them.
I think you guys are leaving money on the table by not having a subscriber-only "Society Talk" podcast. Surely with the demise of another well-known site there must be a lot of people out there with subscription fees just burning a hole in their pocket who are looking for a fix of one of their favourite topics - and who better to give them a balanced and factual viewpoint for a small monthly fee?
Regarding St. Patrick's Day, this is not unique to America. Irish Catholics immigrated elsewhere as well, including Canada. Which exists northward of the U.S, by the way. ;)
In Ottawa, at least, the diocese has provided a dispensation because of the unique legacy of Irish Catholics here. We actually have a unique situation of having a Cathedral (Notre Dame) and basilica - St. Patrick's Basilica. The Cathedral is more associated with the French population in our bilingual diocese, and St Pat's (my parish, incidentally) with English-speakers.
Montreal has a similar situation, with both a Notre Dame Basilica and a St Pat's Basilica - again, due to the Irish immigrants in Montreal. There, too, St Pat's remains an English-speaking parish.
Tying into last week’s discussion, the First Provincial Council of Baltimore forbade Freemasons from the sacraments and the Second Plenary Council forbade the faithful from societies which plotted against church and state under oaths of secrecy.
Sources:
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02239a.htm
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02235a.htm
Two bits:
-on the secret societies -- the discussion threw me back to Umberto Eco's Foucalt's Pendulum, which I think is his best book. Ed watch out! You may find yourself hunted down by the societies!
- I can see the problem the priests have re: the synod stuff. In most places I know, the priests are too busy to get involved. They have duties and don't have backup. My own parish has the good fortune to have three priests, two permanent deacons, and one subdeacon, and we're still stretched. I'm part of our nursing home ministry, and we have trouble making sure they're served adequately. I feel for our priests. I know they're stretched.
But here's the obvious: as a layperson it's easy for me to say the following -- I find all this synodality stuff as an exercise in the bishops avoiding their responsibility. BISHOPS GO BISHOP, DAMMIT. I can say this to the cardinal's face (howdy, Dolan!) and what is he gonna do? Excommunicate me? He doesn't do anything to the "public Catholics" in New York. I actually donate to the archdiocese in spite of the things I know are going on, because there are services that need to be provided.
But the priests in the archdiocese of NY may find themselves in a difficult position if they say something.
Does anybody wonder why the priests aren't involved?
It's nothing but danger for them.
It would be much safer for laypeople to go forward to represent priests than vice-versa.
I grew up in Kentucky where the English Catholics who originally settled in Maryland often ended up, so we had lots of English last name Catholics, for instance Fields.
It should also be noted there were no Deacons at the Synod. Most of us are married and work 40+hrs a week in a secular job. But who cares what the servants (diakonos) of the church are experiencing?
"This is the single greatest comment ever left on the site so far." - Ed Condon
@Jeff the Less
Come on down! You're comment on the March 14th Synod article was so fantastic that both Ed and JD felt it deserved special recognition. I, and 64 other like-minded individuals, agree with them.
I think you guys are leaving money on the table by not having a subscriber-only "Society Talk" podcast. Surely with the demise of another well-known site there must be a lot of people out there with subscription fees just burning a hole in their pocket who are looking for a fix of one of their favourite topics - and who better to give them a balanced and factual viewpoint for a small monthly fee?