Category: Culture

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Ugliest Church Art Contest

Well OK, Let’s admit it, the modern age hasn’t exactly been known as the golden age of Church architecture. The following website has collected some of the more “unusual” Church art of the past decades.

Ugliest Church Art Contest


Enjoy, and submit your own entries! By the way, I don’t agree that all the sites listed here are ugly. This is just for fun. It is well to remember the old Latin admonition: De gustibus non diputandem – In matters of taste let there be no disputes. According TO ME some of these entries are authentically ugly, even scary, but some aren’t so bad. You be the judge. And remember it’s just for fun. No polemical ugliness intended here.

And are some more really awful Church exteriors:

Really Ugly Church Buildings

On a more positive note, here is a video I recently put together on some of what I CONSIDER to be some beautiful Church interiors.

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The Teaching in the Title: Caritas in Vertitate

The Pope’s New Encyclical is entitled Caritas in Veritate. Simply translated, Cartias in Veritate means “Love (or Charity) in Truth”. But what the title really sets forth is a teaching that Love and Truth need each other for there to be balance.

Consider charity or love without reference to the truth. Too easily it becomes soft and affirms what should not be affirmed. Charity without truth can easily enable bad behavior. By this it can, though with good intentions, further enslave people in self-destructive behaviors. Charity without truth can lead others into error and sin by failing to correct. Charity without truth can rob others of their dignity through a kind of “soft bigotry” of low expectations. This kind of charity is patronizing and presumes that the poor and needy cannot be expected to attain higher goals, so it simply moves the goal posts. Charity without truth can rob others of the discipline they need to discover self-mastery. Without the truth Charity, or love,  is soft and can become downright poisonous.  Charity (or love) needs reference to the truth to be true charity, true love.

But Consider truth without charity. Without Charity, or love, the truth too easily becomes a club to swing at others, merely an argument to be won. Without Charity the truth can seem harsh and demanding, something to be avoided and feared. Without Charity the truth can seem unattainable. Without Charity, people usually lack the self-esteem necessary to even consider they could live the truth. When I was a child I needed my parents reassurance that I was able to do what was right and true. Without that love and encouragement the truth could seem crushing and impossible.

So there it is, a title, but more than a title, a teaching.

Familiar???? By the way Washingtonians, this title should seem familiar to you. The Late Archbishop of this Archdiocese James Cardinal Hickey had this for his motto: Veritatem in Caritate (Truth in Charity).

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Fr. Barron on PBS Ban of Religion

I remember back in seminary my Philosophy teacher said, “You can’t avoid having a philosophy. Even if you say you don’t have a philosophy, that is, in fact, a philosophy.” I think the same is true of religion. Those who claim to have no religion are in fact taking a religious position. To deny God or to say He should have no role is just as religious a perspective as to say God is my everything. The truth is that if God is not on the throne some one or something else is. Maybe it is the Government, maybe it is man, maybe it is me. But some one has that place in my life. I cannot escape having a religious perspective. If God does not explain this world then I must be advocating the fact that some one or something else does explain it.

Why then does the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) simply exclude one of the positions on this discussion? It appears that it is OK for secular humanists, atheists, advocates of the “new morality” etc all to air their positions, but religious advocates are banned? If the public airways are a kind of forum to field discussions to ban one side is kind of a show stopper. It’s almost like promising to air a basketball game and then only allowing on team on the court. A rather absurd and boring game actually. You might notice that in its logo above PBS is starting to portray its viewers as blockheads. Is that how they see us???

Here is what Fr. Barron thinks:  (Incidentally there is a lot of discussion of this video at the youtube page if you click through you can read it).


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The Best Answers to the Biggest Questions

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“Development needs Christians with their arms raised toward God in prayer.”

 

In a book called How Do You Spell God, the authors say one gift of religion is that is offers the best answers to life’s biggest questions. Today, Pope Benedict XVI is calling on the world to consider how theology can help shape the best answers to some of the world’s most pressing challenges and the questions that come with them; globalization, the growing divide between the rich and poor, care of the environment; protection of freedoms.

 

The Teaching Mission of the Church

 

The encyclical letter is a great example of the teaching mission of the Church. In Caritas in Veritate( Charity in Truth), Pope Benedict writes “Development needs Christians with their arms raised toward God in prayer.” He goes on to say that development requires attention to the spiritual life because it involves the individual and society. As pope, it is Pope Benedict’s responsibility to bring the light of the Gospel to the issues of the day. This encyclical looks at the changes that globalization is bringing to the way the world does business and asking what impact are they having on society and on people. You might be asking what authority the church has in the field of economics and global development. The area of expertise is people! In this field the Church has expertise unlike any other organization or government!

 

Pope Benedict boldly preaches that the world has lost a sense that the meaning of charity is at the core of one’s personal relationships and the core of societal life. He thinks that the world is losing sight of the fact that charity is the driving force behind authentic development (Caritas in Veritate, #1). The reason he gives for losing the meaning of charity is the devaluing of the existence of truth and the meaning of truth and so the title, Charity in Truth refers to his desire to remind the world that “truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity.” (CV, 2)

 

Learn More

 

More will be shared about this encyclical in this space, I want to encourage you to follow the news stories and pick up the document. In the Catholic Standard, http://cathstan.org. you’ll find background, summaries and reflections on the letter. The Gospel and the intellectual tradition of the Church can help Catholics and all people think deeply about the most serious challenges facing our world and about the big picture. The big picture, as the authors of How Do You Spell God point out, is one of the great gifts of religion—it keeps the big picture in mind—to look at the present through the wisdom of experience and with an eye to the future and the ultimate meaning of life.

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The Face of Christ

In a world filled with images and voices that are contrary to Christ we should heed well the message of this video that we keep our eyes fixed on the face of Christ. There are some today who masquerade as Christ. Perhaps they proclaim part of his message, but they ignore the rest. Heresy involves emphasizing one truth to the exclusion of all others. And so we must look to the face of Christ, the true Christ revealed by the Scriptures and the Tradition of the Church.

A final thought: if you do not know my face then you might confuse anyone as me. If you know me only vaguely, you may have some parameters but still may mistake others for me. If you you know me well, it will be hard to mistake anyone for me. Hence we must strive to know Christ well, to know his face. Then we can distinguish him from others. Seek and know the face of Christ!

The Latest Song from Justin Stroh
 The Lyrics are posted in the COMMENTS section of this post.

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Archbishop Wuerl Begins New TV Series

In an original CatholicTV mini-series, Archbishop Donald Wuerl discusses the Rosary, using the beautiful mosaics of America’s Catholic Church, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, to illustrate his point. His personal approach illuminates the topics, making them both prayerful and a learning experience.

The first program focuses on the Incarnation Dome located in the basilica. He discusses the annunication, the nativity, Jesus’ first miracle at Cana and the transfiguration.

The second program looks at the Redemption Dome. Archbishop Wuerl discusses the death and resurrection of Christ, the temptation in the desert, the crucifixion, Jesus’ descent into hell and His resurrection and closes with the Lord’s Prayer.

The final program focuses on the mysteries of light. The Archbishop discusses the Luminous Mysteries and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and baptism of Jesus. He also discusses the epiphanies, the proclamation of the kingdom, the transfiguration and the establishment of the Eucharist.

Here is a trailer introducing the series:


Find out more about the series Here: CATHOLIC TV
The First episode becomes available this Friday.

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Ark of the Covenant to be Unveiled?

The latest issue of Gloria TV news contains two very interesting archaeological notes. First the Pope confirmed today that scientific testing on the bones of St. Paul confirm that they are of antiquity, most certainly from the first or second century. This would tend to confirm the Churches claim that they are in fact the Bones of St Paul.

The final item on this newscast is cause for some alarm if you ask me:

“The Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia, Abuna Pauolos, has announced last Friday the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, the container of the tablets of the law that God delivered to Moses. According to the Patriarch it has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia. Now, the is supposed to be shown in a museum.”

What?! A Museum?! It is debatable if this really is the Ark of the Covenant but many, even millions, think  it is. For a religious leader of the Church that has reverently kept this reputed treasure and venerated its status as a holy receptacle of the Presence of God, to put this in a museum is reprehensible! For the Jewish people of old the Ark was so sacred that no one could look upon it, except the High Priest and he, only once a year. The Ark carried the presence of God in Israel. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has venerated this Ark for centuries and limited its exposure to the world much as did the ancient Jews. It is astonishing to me that the Ethiopian Patriarch would every consider such a move. It would almost be like a Catholic Bishop taking a tabernacle, fully loaded with the Blessed Sacrament and putting it on display in a museum. Unthinkable! It is so crazy that I think this must be a hoax. There are others who claim that the Patriarch was misquoted (cf  HERE and HERE) . At any rate, I hope the matter proves to be what I suspect, a hoax. So here is the latest Gloria TV News