I understand their anger

but I also understand the Church's position on this. I think it's an issue of Church officials being more bureacratic and not terribly pastoral in the way they interact with these people.

Fury at boy’s Holy Communion ceremony ban

On the other hand, it gets tedious hearing people go on about their 'rights' regarding things that are really privileges. There are many times you don't have a right to receive the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. We've all forgotten about that, I think, with all our concern about 'rights'.

And so the Church loses more members...

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Founded on truth which can't be ignored

but applied with love and charity...

No Communion for Outlaws. But the Pope Is Studying Two Exceptions

"The ban on Eucharistic communion for divorced and remarried Catholics is increasingly contested and disobeyed. Benedict XVI is standing firm. But he is republishing an essay from 1998 that opens two loopholes, the second entrusted to conscience"

Heh. Outlaws. This is what happens when things are translated on the intertubes...

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It is wonderful, but...

Cloistered nun and former actress to tell story of Hollywood and faith

Reading the list of people to be present to take part in the conference it is interesting to note how many of them are priests or religious. It would be a shame for anyone to lose their vocation by being elevated to a position of celebrity. It's a real risk for these people, I think, and it has happened before...

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Uh-huh...

Scottish archbishop tells Catholics not to kneel for communion

I love it when these news items quote someone like a renowned Catholic blogger as if it carries any serious weight. (And whom I've never heard of despite the fact that I read more 'Catholic' news and commentary in a week than most Catholics read in a year.)

Tempest, meet teapot...

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Alas, the time

for a 'slap down' by the Vatican is coming for a Jesuit, it looks like...

Jesuit head of Asian Catholic news agency criticizes transubstantiation

You can't blame Rome for letting it get this far. You've likely heard that the 3 things God doesn't know is 1) What the Dominicans are thinking, 2) What the Jesuits are doing, and 3) How many orders of Franciscans there are.

Now if God didn't know...

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A beautiful article...


Fr. James Farfaglia: I Love Being a Catholic Priest

There are very few things that a priest can do that a layperson cannot. The Mass is one of them. I'm always heartened and awed when I hear a priest or read of a priest with such a love and devotion to the Eucharist...

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And, of course,

we all know his heart and his relationship with God, don't we?

Berlusconi accused of sacrilege after receiving Communion

While they may simply be trying to avoid scandal in the Church, I would suggest that it would take a lot more than this to cause scandal in the Church these days...

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Hope for Catholic celiac disease sufferers

I've read a lot about the issue over the past few years...

Catholicism and Celiac Disease- Part 2 - Sacramental Hope

It would be best if the whole parish could change over to this type of host, but they're expensive compared to the regular hosts. Could the priest consecrate them all together, regular and the new low gluten ones, and then just give these special ones to the celiac sufferers? I suppose so. It would take a bit more organization at Mass, but that would be the best solution when dealing with cost...

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Another group of Catholics

know who is in proper standing with the Church and who isn't. I wonder if they agree with those other groups who claim the same thing?

Kevin Rudd's communion at Blessed Mary MacKillop's Chapel troubles church

"Kevin Rudd's decision to take holy communion at the Blessed Mary MacKillop's Chapel in Sydney on Sunday posed a dilemma for the chaplain and the Sisters of St Joseph. "

No, probably not...

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This is

an incredible achievement!

Nebraska cathedral celebrates 50 years of perpetual Eucharistic Adoration

I don't care how large or small the community is, crime has made churches so frightened of crime that they can't leave the church open. If they lock the church and give the individuals keys, it's still remarkable to have so many people devoted to prayer and adoration of our Lord for so many years, for so many days, for so many hours. God bless them all!

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Good heavens!

All because he's a political big shot?

Dispute rises over Canadian prime minister's reception of Communion

While I could easily take shots at the Archbishop for allowing this, it's probably just as appropriate to do the same to the Prime Minister. I guess nothing is really holy for Evangelical Protestants in Canada, other than Western separatism and free enterprise, but still, he should be sensitive to the beliefs of others, as well. They're both equally at fault. It's not just a cookie...

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Interesting

Chaput on Communion, and nasty e-mail

His comments on the reception of Communion aren't surprising, as they're in keeping with the Catholic Church's teaching on the topic. I like this, though:

"The left mail I get will use terrible words but be less vitriolic. They use the F-word and things like that, call me names like that. But the right is meaner, but they’re not as foul.""

(Once again, be sure to read the comments...)

Another

young priest who, not having experienced the pre-Vatican II Church, knows what to do to 'fix' the current one...

Opinion: Fr. Markey on 'Communion on the Hand'

I have no problem with receiving Communion on the tongue, in fact, during certain periods in my recent life, I have done just so. If the move is going to be back to kneeling, though, it has to be done through the parishes and with the return of the altar rail (as kneeling also seems to be part of the 'repair'). I can't kneel in front of the priest. I won't be able to get up again. I need the altar rail to help me, given my wrecked knees. Right now, the occasional kneeling recipient just creates a bottleneck and confusion at the front of the Church. Bring back the Communion rail and then we'll talk...