Catholics, Lutherans and the Eucharist: There's a lot to share, writes @timothypomalley https://t.co/PTg0N953Ib pic.twitter.com/gOBvztttiJ
In less than three weeks, I'll be back in the classroom teaching an intensive course introducing over forty students to a fundamental theology for catechesis. Most of my students will be parish ministers, high school teachers, or those involved in campus ministry at a secondary or collegiate level. Each day of the class on our blog, I will offer a series of reflections drawn from our syllabus to i...
Since school has ended (and so too the endless number of meetings), I've been dropping my son off for his final days at preschool. Along the way, we listen to Caspar Babypants, the greatest of all child artists. After listening many times to Messy Face, his favorite tune at present, I drop him off.
A resource for catechetical leaders on the Mass for children, teens, and adults from Liturgy Training Publications.
Yesterday, I spoke at St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle, IL, on Sacrosanctum Concilium. Before the talk, I was invited to pray at Mass, as well as eat dinner with the monks in the refectory.
During my first year in college, I heard Eucharistic Prayer I (the Roman Canon as I would later learn) for the first time. Upon first praying the text, I thought to myself, there are so many random saints who are named. Who are they? Why no Saint Patrick or Francis or Clare or Ignatius of Loyola? I also thought to myself, as it was prayed throughout the Easter season, "Hmmm, this is long. I wish i...
When I speak to young adults about why they have left the Church, they often say something about the homily. The preaching is boring. It's unrelatable. It's long. It's like listening to insider baseball. It's like a terrible essay with no organizational structure.
In his recently translated book, Mystery and Sacrament of Love: A Theology of Marriage and the Family for the New Evangelization, Marc Cardinal Ouellet writes:
After the angelic song of the Gloria concludes, in which heaven and earth kiss, silence descends upon the assembly. The priest says, "Let us pray," and then a series of words follow that (if you're me holding a toddler performing acrobatics), you rarely listen to.
At the heart of Catholic life is the celebration of the Mass. This does not mean that Catholics' only purpose in the world is to attend Mass regularly. Catholics serve the poor. They join together with one another in informal prayer. They hang out at bars and talk about theology.
