First Post at Catholic Stand

I've been fortunate enough to have begun writing over at Catholic Stand, a great website for superior quality content from a variety of Catholic authors. I'm hoping to reach a wider and slightly different audience by writing here, and hoping that somehow my writing will help others on their path to holiness.

My first article is a slightly shortened and edited version of my previous blog post on ugly churches. To find the new article, follow this link, and please be sure to check out the other essays around the site!

St. Nicholas of Tolentino cathedral, Philippines 

Secular Media Gives More Backhanded Insults to the Church Hierarchy

I came across an article in the New York Times that talked very highly of the new Archbishop of Newark, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, while at the same time very slyly made it seem that Cardinal Tobin was different from any bishop not only in Newark, but virtually across the globe as he fancies himself a regular guy who asks others to call him "Joe" when trying to work out clandestinely at the gym.

"As the pope has made clear over the past three years, fancy lifestyles, formality and regal titles like Prince of the Church are out of style for cardinals. So is an emphasis on the divisive issues of abortion and same-sex marriage, even though the church’s underlying position on those issues has not changed.

"Instead, in the pope’s view, the church should emphasize humility and service to the poor. It should be multicultural, welcoming different styles of worship. It should reach out to other faiths and stand up for immigrants, refugees and nuns.

"And that, church experts and members of his flock say, is a close description of the priorities of Cardinal Tobin, who will be heading east just after Christmas to lead the approximately 1.5 million Catholics in the Archdiocese of Newark."

Of course, we have to remember this is the same New York Times that "doesn't get religion". One commenter on the article observed how:

"The phrase 'different kind of Cardinal' seems to condemn all other cardinals as "the same" in the sense of indistinguishable from each other and lacking all of the positive characteristics this particular Cardinal exhibits. How is that not a backhanded insult to the other Cardinals, to the leadership of the Church in general and divisive purely by implication? The press certainly doesn't get religion and demonstrates that fact by pushing its own leftist views on what it is that makes Cardinals 'different' in any laudable sense."

Still other commenters, among them Catholic, praised the article as "excellent" or "splendid". Really? Let's take a closer look at this, but please be sure to read the entirety of the NYT article before going on.How this article can be called "excellent" or "splendid" is beyond me. There's some awesome bits in there about Cardinal Tobin's life and his devotion to the souls he pastors, but it's obvious the article (and its author) has an agenda to push with all its insinuations on the characters of many other prelates in the Church. So what if Cardinal Myers preferred to be called "Your Grace"? That, and they give no evidence of him preferring to be addressed as such, and even if he did I'm sure he wouldn't mind if he wasn't addressed by that title, as the article insinuates.

Going on a Short Break

Things are going to be getting a bit hectic at work for the next week or two, so I'll be taking a short leave from writing until things slow down a bit. I have some new essays in the pipeline though, specifically some on the Eastern Catholic Churches. So stay tuned. Be back soon!

Fr. Paul Saclia and a Lesson on Excellent Homiletics

Last Saturday, I was flipping around when I noticed that the funeral Mass for Chief Justice Antonin Scalia was being televised nationally. I had heard one of Justice Scalia's nine children was saying the Mass, and I was honestly curious to see what the homily would be like. By now, many of you have heard about it, and I was going to write up something earlier on the subject, but soon saw how it had spread and went viral. However, I came across an awesome article over at Crisis Magazine yesterday that I really wanted to share, you can read it here 

I too was awestruck by this homily. I did some research on Fr. Scalia after watching this Mass, and learned that he often celebrates Mass in the Extraordinary Form, and has some really good writings posted on some other prominent Catholic websites. I think that this is a good example of how homilies should turn out at funerals. I can only think of one better homily I heard at a funeral, and that was from a young Polish priest at my wife's grandfather's Mass. And I only say it was better because he explicitly mentioned purgatory. Fr. Scalia got the point across pretty well on why we need to pray for the dead, and that we're not all perfect Christians, as Donald Trump would have you think. No, we're definitely in need of God's forgiveness. No one alive on this Earth is sinless. And Fr. Scalia did a great job of reminding us of that, and turning our focus towards Christ instead of turning the liturgy into a canonization. I'd like to reiterate the thoughts of many people across the blogosphere: make this holy priest a bishop!

Musings on Lent

It's that time of year again, where we give up things, fast, abstain, give... so many different things happen during Lent. This year I've spent a good amount of time learning more about why we do all these things, and why we sacrifice so many things, which led me to learn more about redemptive suffering. This is something I've done for a while now, without fully understanding it, and it's good to get clarity on something that saints like Padre Pio spoke very highly of.

So I suppose for Lent this year I'll be giving up a few things. Mainly beer. I've never given this up before, but only in the past few years have I gotten more into the whole craft beer thing. fast food also tops the list. But most importantly, more prayer. I need to get better with the Liturgy of Hours and perhaps read more of the Conversations with God set that we have at home. I also look forward to attending more liturgies at the Byzantine Catholic parish near me as well. I'm interested to see how Holy Week and their All Souls' Saturdays works, as I haven't really gotten to attend these liturgies before this year. Hopefully this will be an exciting and fruitful Lent, and I pray the same for you all!

Taking Care With the Most Holy Name

We all have bad habits. Some of them we want to break, others we really don't care about. Since I'm a pretty imperfect (not-so-angelic, you could say) person, I have a lot of bad habits. There's plenty of things I need to work on to make myself a better person and a better Catholic Christian. One thing that I've had some success with is taking God's name in vain. Of course, this is against the second commandment, which tells us plainly "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." This is something I used to do pretty frequently, but I'm getting better at cutting it out of my vocabulary. However, I've heard some people say that it's not as big a deal to use the Lord's name in vain as one might think. According to one religious, I've seen it said that, "Simply because we may blurt out one of these phrases without the full awareness of their significance, does not render them disrespectful." And I can understand that outlook... to a degree, though.

If for instance, someone tells me that their aunt got in a car accident, or someone is suffering from a horrible disease, then I could see "Oh my God" being permissible to say; perhaps it could be offered up as a prayer as in, "Oh my God, have mercy on that person."

However, I think I disagree with the particular viewpoint above for the most part. It would appear other men who have been ordained to the priesthood have given a contrary answer to the question of if it is a sin to say something like "oh my God!" when not used as a prayer. It's not all as cut and dry as we might make it out to be.

Posting on Catholic365... and a Welcome!

So first off, a hello to everyone who's found their way here from Catholic365.com! To those of you that don't know, I've been writing on Catholic365 for a little over a month now, with three articles up so far culled from this very blog, with revisions and tweaks here and there. if you're new to this blog, please feel free to look around, comment, share and discuss any of the topics I've posted about on here. And for those of you that haven't visited Catholic365 yet, check out my latest article there, On Being "Old School", and also look around the site. They feature stories from many different authors on a myriad of subjects.

Also, I've now added labels to each of my posts to make it easier to search for specific subjects and topics. Hopefully this will make things a bit more organized on here!

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

Better known as All Souls Day', today we of course remember the holy souls of those who have gone before us and pray that those in Purgatory may be able to enter Heaven. I've always had a devotion to the souls in Purgatory, especially those who may be there from within my family. What better place to celebrate this feast than at St. Odilo's Church in South suburban Chicago. It's fitting, as St. Odilo is the abbot who began All Souls' Day, first in his own abbey, and after his death the feast was extended to the entire Universal Church.

Below are some pictures of the Requiem Mass:

Father delivered an excellent homily on how it's OK to be sad that are loved ones are gone; that's why his vestments are black today. But our tears of sorrow can turn to tears of joy because we know that our loved ones aren't dead! The rest of the world may think these people are dead, but we as Catholics know better as we believe in the resurrection. It was great to hear him speak about how important it is to pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

The schola was spot on too, such lovely music and chant we were able to hear today. I can't remember if I was able to hear this last year, as it is an option, but the schola sang the Sequence for the day, Dies Irae, and it was absolutely beautiful to hear and follow along with the English translation in my missal. You can read it below:

The day of wrath, that day
Will dissolve the world in ashes
As foretold by David and the Sibyl!

How much tremor there will be,
when the Judge will come,
investigating everything strictly!

The trumpet, scattering a wondrous sound
through the regions of sepulchres,
will summon all before the Throne.

Death and nature will marvel,
when the creature arises,
to respond to the Judge.

The written book will be brought forth,
in which all is contained,
from which the world shall be judged.

When therefore the Judge will sit,
whatever hides will appear:
nothing will remain unpunished.

What am I, miserable, then to say?
Which patron to ask,
when [even] the just may [only] hardly be sure?

King of tremendous majesty,
Who freely savest those that have to be saved,
save me, Source of mercy.

Remember, merciful Jesus,
That I am the cause of Thy way:
Lest Thou lose me in that day.

Seeking me, Thou sattest tired:
Thou redeemedst [me] having suffered the Cross:
let not so much hardship be lost.

Just Judge of revenge,
give the gift of remission
before the day of reckoning.

I sigh, like the guilty one:
my face reddens in guilt:
Spare the supplicating one, God.

Thou who absolvedst Mary,
and heardest the Robber,
gavest hope to me, too.

My prayers are not worthy:
however, Thou, Good [Lord], do good,
lest I be burned up by eternal fire.

Grant me a place among the sheep,
and take me out from among the goats,
setting me on the right side.

Once the cursed have been rebuked,
sentenced to acrid flames:
Call Thou me with the blessed.

I meekly and humbly pray,
[my] heart is as crushed as the ashes:
perform the healing of mine end.

Tearful will be that day,
on which from the ash arises
the guilty man who is to be judged.
Spare him therefore, God.

Merciful Lord Jesus,
grant them rest. Amen.

It was truly wonderful to be present for this beautiful Mass and to go back to my old parish once again. I have to say, I have been very blessed with great homilists and reverent priests, and my current parish is no different. The pastor has just reintroduced the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei in Latin during the Mass I attend on Sunday mornings. It's great to know that all of our Church's beautiful traditions have not been cast aside, and are still living on even today. Our Church has so many rich treasures, and I'm glad I'm still able to experience them wherever I may go.

Introduction

So if you're reading this... I'm not entirely sure how you got here, but welcome! My name is Nicholas, and you're probably wondering why this blog is here. In a sense, I am too. The best reason I can muster for why I decided to start this blog in this tiny corner of the Internet, is so that I can have the choice to write down whatever it is I have flowing through my head. Kind of like a journal, but one where I don't mind other people reading what I have to say, that is if any.

You see, I love writing and reading; I always have. It's a passion that has never went away despite all the changes, impediments, and what-have-you that have sprung up in my life over the years. Another passion I have, is to my Lord and God Jesus Christ, and to His Bride, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that He founded nearly 2,000 years ago. Over the past six or seven years, I have gone through not what I would call a reversion by any means, but a... reclaiming of sorts; a reclaiming of my faith and wanting to understand it ever more deeply.

Carlo Maratta- Assumption and Doctors of the Church

I've found myself in recent years learning why the Catholic Church teaches what it does; why we Christians hold on to our beliefs; why our history is important even today. I've gobbled up all sorts of books, news postings, and treatises on apologetics in an effort to better understand my faith, how it connects to the Mystical Body of Christ and how it connects to our world today; a world that seems increasingly more and more difficult to live in as a practicing Catholic Christian. This is why I say this is a blog both on "daily life and theology".

As I mentioned before, a lot of things flow through my head throughout the day. Things I see on Facebook or other social media outlets; things I hear in discussion at work or among friends, and typically, one of my first thoughts is, "How does what we're discussing/reading fit in with my faith?" This has led me in recent months to engage many more people one on one, or on social media sites, in discussion of controversial issues where the Church and current culture seem (and often, but not always) are opposed. I've been told by someone close to me that I often try to clarify things for people, and make things that seem complex or misunderstood easier to understand. I had never considered that, or thought of myself like that, until that was said. Which leads me to the more specific and less witty reason for why this blog is here.

It is my hope that as a 20-something man who wears many hats, (husband, father, construction tradesman, religious education catechist, liberal arts college graduate, et al.) I can have a somewhat unique perspective on current events in our world, and how it all relates back to Christ and His Church. I hope to post musings and short essays (don't get scared by the word "essays", this is a blog after all!) on what I see going on in our world and how it affects today's parents, those who are considered millennials, young Catholics and other non-Catholic Christians, and just the world in general. In addition, I hope to post some Catholic apologetic work here as my knowledge keeps increasing, but keep in mind I still have MUCH to learn, as all good Christians do. I also hope to post some of the conversations I've had on Facebook or other com-boxes relating to both current events, the Church, and apologetics.

As I have much to learn, and I hope you don't mind me admitting that as I post my musings here, this is why I've selected the title for this blog to be called "The Not-So Angelic Doctor". I am, obviously, neither angelic, nor a doctor. As some may know, the "Angelic Doctor" is the title often given to St. Thomas Aquinas, for his eloquent philosophy on God, the Church, and man. I've always found him to be an excellent example, and in recent years I've come to really appreciate his philosophy grounded in such classical thinkers as Aristotle and Plato, leading me to think of myself as a "budding Thomist" as I delve more and more into his immense body of work. I just want to know EVERYTHING, and right now, but as is attributed to Aquinas:

"We can't have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves."

Filippino Lippi- Scene From the Life of St. Thomas Aquinas (detail)

I admit I don't have all the "knowledge" yet, but there are some subjects that I feel I have become articulate in, and it is my hope that I can show some of that evidence that I have found for my beliefs, to you the reader, so as to clarify these things in a world that seems to have lost its direction in the wake of secular humanism and moral relativism. This is why I put this blog under the patronage of St. Thomas Aquinas, in hopes that even though I am not NEARLY as well-versed, wise, or "angelic" as he, I can at least do something here to help even one person on their road through life and on their road to Christ. God-willing, of course. Enjoy your stay, and feel free to comment on any and all posts.

In Christ,

Nicholas