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A Portrait of Catholic Schools

Catholic Schools today are very special places where the faith is handed on and children are summoned to discover their talents and gifts. There is a kind of rhythm of life that marks the Catholic School year, centered around the Liturgical year and also the many routines that are essential to school days. It’s not just the books and learning, it’s the visit of the priests, it’s trips. It is the tag days (uniform free), it’s recess, it’s going to mass, stations of the cross and the rosary. It’s school plays and dressing up as saints. Ultimately it’s about the formation of the young person in the ways of faith, parish and family.

Pray for Catholic schools, they are special places that are threatened today by market forces of rising costs and declining affordability. If you’re an alumnus support your Catholic School Alma Mater, if you’re a parishioner pray and work for you local Catholic School. They are worth supporting and preserving and our help is needed as never before.

This video is entitled “Mr R’s Class” and depicts Catholic School life well.

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Maybe It’s God!

All of us face many trials and difficulties in this world that serve to remind us that we are really in a foreign land, far from home. The world can bewilder us, and beguile us, disappoint us and demand of us. But what if our dissatisfaction with this world was not merely a selfishness, or a lack of gratitude for what we have? What if this dissatisfaction is supposed to be there? If your desire is infinite and insatiable, unlimited and unremitting, maybe its about God. Why should this world satisfy you? It is puny and passing compared to your heart’s truest longing. Maybe it’s God you are really longing for!

This video is entitled “Come to Jesus.” It was  produced for young people but if you still have any of that “young at heart” in you you’ll enjoy this beautiful invitation.

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Translation Please

devotions-benedictionSomeone asked me for a translation of a Latin song we often sing called Tantum Ergo. We usually sing it  for benediction and other Eucharistic occasions. There is an English translation of sorts that is out there which begins: “Humbly let us voice our homage for so great a sacrament…”  It’s close but because it is bound by poetic meter it strays a bit. Perhaps a more literal translation will help you in know what the Latin words mean as you sing them. I would like to offer a fairly literal translation here below:



Tantum ergo Sacramentum                 Therefore so great a Sacrament
Veneremur cernui:                                  Let us venerate with bowed heads
Et antiquum documentum                   And as the ancient dispensation
Novo cedat ritui:                                      gives way to the newer rites:
Praestet fides supplementum              Let Faith supply a help
Sensuum defectui.                                    to the defect of the senses.

Genitori, Genitoque                                 To the One Who Begets and the One who is begotten
Laus et jubilatio,                                        Be praise and jubilation,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque                 Salvation, honor, strength also
Sit et benedictio:                                       And may there be blessing:
Procedenti ab utroque                            (and) to the One proceeding from them both
Compar sit laudatio.                                 may there be equal praise.
Amen.                                                             Amen.

Just in case you’re wondering, the “One who Begets” is God the Father, the “One who is Begotten” is God the Son (Jesus), and the “One proceeding from them both” is  God the Holy Spirit.

Alright so now that you hopefully have a better idea what those words mean, enjoy this video which features Mozart’s  version of Tantum Ergo (k. 197).


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Sweeping the Nation?

mm-logo_rgb3003In conversation and in the media you get the sense that redefining marriage is something that is sweeping the nation, that the majority of Americans are in favor of rewriting the definition of marriage and making a new definition law. This is simply not true. As California demonstrated when people are asked to vote on whether the state should define marriage as the union of one and one woman, people usually vote “yes”. Californians are not alone in this opinion. Do you know that 30 states have defined marriage through a constitutional amendment as the union of one man and one woman ? An additional eleven states prohibit same-sex marriage by statute. Only six states have legalized same sex marriage and three states do not prohibit same- sex marriage. Interestingly, in the six states that legalized same-sex marriage, it was through legal activism and through the courts that the legislation was created, not as a result of a ballot initiative or other voting opportunity.

The issue of marriage, specifically same-sex marriage has been featured prominently in the news as the D.C. Council seeks to recognize the marriage of same-sex couples who have been married in other states. Indeed, this will become law on July 7.

As the issue moves to the front page in the local papers it is all the more important to have the correct facts and to realize that the fight is far from over.

The Archdiocese of Washington has launched an initiative called MarriageMatters® with a WebPage that features articles and information about the Church’s teaching on marriage and the importance of marriage to family and society. The webpage also has links to helpful information from other Catholic sources. Please take advantage of its resources so that you can participate in one of the most important questions of this generation.

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Latest Catholic News

This news segment is from CATHOLIC TV.com. Among the issues covered here is Pope Benedict’s address concluding the year of St. Paul. Also extensive coverage of the Pope’s announcement concerning findings on the Tomb of St. Paul. Further – Do you have “adult faith?” Find out what this means and if YOU have it.