Friday, March 31, 2023

The difference between Catholic Mass and Protestant "worship"

 I was reading an article from the Association of Theological Schools on the Asbury Revival ("Asbury provost reflects on revival," by Gregg A. Okesson).  I noticed this quote about the initial service that started the whole thing. 

The preacher that morning even texted his wife at the conclusion of the service that it had 'bombed.'

It struck me that a Catholic Mass cannot "bomb." If it is a valid Mass, it has succeeded infinitely. 

Just saying.

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Signs of hope

Recently a friend ask me for signs of vitality in the US Church. The following is a list of what appear to me to be signs of hope (although no created reality is without potential inadequacies). These are all in the US. My focus is on my experience in Milwaukee. From, what I hear, the real youthful vitality in the Church is in Africa, about which I know next to nothing, being the parochial person that I am. This is just a sampling.
  • Fellowship of Catholic University Students.  See especially the SEEK conference that gathers thousands every January. Many of our men go to it.
  • The University of Mary, Msgr. James Shea, the President, is just on fire. He spoke at the recent Pallium Lecture in Milwaukee. You could say the same for Benedictine College, the University of Dallas, Franciscan University Steubenville, etc.
  • The Traditional Latin Mass movement. Go to St. Stan's in Milwaukee for their ten o'clock Mass some time. Okay, sometimes they are a little skeptical about Vatican II, but that is usually in reaction to the garbage they were fed by "Vatican II" pastors and DREs while growing up. 
  • And it isn't just TLM. You should go to the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Bismarck. You can hardly find a seat for all the young, growing Catholic families that fill the pews. And the same for Our Lady of Lourdes in Philadelphia. There are parishes like this everywhere.
  • Thomistic Institute. These guys are on secular and Catholic campuses everywhere. The St. Joseph Province of the Dominicans in general are really lighting the fire under young people.  Especially fr. Gregory Pine, OP (look him up on youtube). I was delighted to hear that these men have taken over Campus Ministry at CUA, where my son will be attending
  • Home school movement. For instance, every month on a Friday evening 30-35 teenagers (!) gather in the Greater Milwaukee area for a meeting of the Voices of the Holy Innocents, a high school pro-life group for Catholic homeschoolers. Okay, there are snacks afterwards, but still... 
  • Fr. Mike Schmitz's Bible in a Year was for a time the most popular podcast—of all podcasts. He is now doing Catechism in a Year.
  • The Hallow Catholic prayer app beat out Tiktok, Instagram, and Google on Ash Wednesday, 2023.
  • A few weeks ago I went to the fundraising dinner for the Women's Support Center. 450 people were there, many of them young and with growing families. 
  • Catholic Youth Expeditions, at the former St. Joseph Retreat Center in Bailey's Harbor. Hundreds of teenager go on these expeditions every year, many of them go again and again (including my sons) because they really get recharged in their faith. Fr. Luke Stand, the rector of St. Francis de Sales Seminary, was the co-founder.
  • Speaking of Fr. Luke Strand and hundreds of young people, there is Cor Jesu at St. Robert's Parish every week. Fr. Luke also helped found this. Here is Fr. John LoCoco's description of it.
  • The John Paul II House of Discernment is also at St. Roberts. Many of the vocations at St. Francis de Sales Seminary come through there.
  • Another source of vocations is the vibrant Catholic campus ministry at UW Madison, St. Paul's Catholic Student Center.
  • I suppose I can't mention vocations without mentioning St. Francis de Sales Seminary itself. It is one of the model for seminaries in the US, surpassing the old stalwarts in vitality.
  • The John Paul II Healing Center has helped thousands of people around the world find healing for the deep wounds they are living with. They have had several weekends and other events here in the Milwaukee Archdiocese.
  • Eucharistic Adoration everywhere, including in many cases perpetual adoration (St. John the Evangelist in Greenfield, WI for instance). And places that have perpetual adoration are also having a surge in vocations. 
It is all about Jesus, the Word made flesh, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.