Fresh from his 10-day stay in the hospital, Pope Francis dropped a Friday bombshell when he released his document, issued "motu proprio," restoring, and in some cases adding to, the church's restrictions on celebrating the Tridentine Mass.
The June virtual meeting of the U.S. bishops has created a firestorm of press coverage and commentary regarding a proposed document on the Eucharist, unfortunately, much of it negative.
When I have reunions with my brothers and sisters, at some point we start telling stories about growing up. Invariably, we will remember events, good and bad, from different perspectives. We each tell the same story slightly differently. In the retelling, we sometimes get a fuller picture of what happened. Or we realize that as children, we didn't fully understand at the time what was taking place.
When I first learned of the imminent arrival of the 17-year cicadas, Brood X according to those who name such things, it brought to mind my years in the Midwest. There the whir that accompanied their annual appearance was comforting. It was nature's Muzak, soothing background noise as summer drew to a close.
The famous Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor recounted in a letter the time she got in an argument with another famous writer, Mary McCarthy, over the Eucharist. McCarthy described the Eucharist as a symbol.
There is a particularly unexpected twist in the saga of many families when the child suddenly starts acting the parent and the parent resembles the child.
Jan. 6, 2021, was an epiphany of sorts for Americans who watched in horror as a mob breached the U.S. Capitol, assaulted police and vandalized offices. It was both shockingly unexpected and shockingly unsurprising given growing extremism, a polarized electorate and the relentless marketing of allegations that a huge, if unproven, conspiracy had stolen the election.
