An Epiphany Revelation
Over Thanksgiving weekend and throughout the Christmas season, I sent a second Catholicism newsletter each week. The response was enthusiastic, even with the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Therefore, I'm going to keep sending two newsletters per week in 2009. The second newsletter will go out on Friday morning, and it will focus on the more community-oriented aspects of the Catholicism guidesite. Wordless Wednesday and Reader Questions will appear in the Friday edition, along with a new feature: Forum Fridays, in which I will highlight a particular post or thread from the Catholicism forum.
The Tuesday edition of the newsletter will continue to focus on Catholic news, along with two new features. The first is a novena of the week, so that you can join your fellow readers of the Catholicism guidesite in offering a particular set of prayers. When possible, the novena will relate to an upcoming feast or saint's day, and I will sometimes suggest a prayer intention to offer while praying the novena. (If you have a favorite novena, or you'd like to find a novena for a particular intention, just send me an e-mail, and I'll work it into the rotation!)
I'm calling the second new feature Sunday School, and it will be built around the Baltimore Catechism that you may remember from your school days. Each week, I'll provide a link to one lesson from Catechism No. 2 (commonly known as the "Confirmation Catechism") along with the corresponding lesson from Catechism No. 1 (the "First Communion Catechism"). Each lesson will feature the famous question-and-answer format of the Baltimore Catechism, along with a brief commentary on the text and links to further resources.
Whether you're trying to learn more about Catholicism, to brush up on what you learned when you were young, or to teach your own children the truths of the Catholic Faith, the Sunday School posts are the perfect place to start.
And these changes are just the beginning. My tutorial on How to Make an Advent Wreath has proved quite popular, so look for more tutorials in the future, from basic things--How to Make the Sign of the Cross, for instance--to more advanced ones, such as How to Set Up a Home Altar. And I'll be providing more reviews of new and classic Catholic books (and perhaps other items, such as software).
As always, the About.com Guidesite to Catholicism is here to serve you, so if there are features that you would like to see, please let me know, either in the comments or by e-mail.
If you haven't signed up for the Catholicism newsletter, you can do so by visiting this page. (If you already subscribe, please consider forwarding the newsletter to relatives and friends who might like it and encouraging them to subscribe.) And don't forget to check out the Catholicism forum. You can also keep track of both the latest headlines and the most popular articles on the guidesite through our RSS feeds or through the Catholic social-networking site flockNote. And finally, you can find me on both Facebook and Twitter.
I'm looking forward to taking the About.com Guidesite to Catholicism to new heights in 2009. I hope that you'll come along for the ride!
Comments
My suggestion for you site in 2009 is to be more Catholic!!!
The Catholic Church is a communion of over 20 churches, yet your site presents many things that are particular only to the Latin rite as ‘Catholic’. Why not present things as ‘Catholic’ that are common to all Catholic Churches — but where the Latin Church is the lone exception? I know that it would be difficult to include everything from 7 or more distinct Catholic Liturgical and theological traditions, but at the very least you could include more direct information from the Byzantine tradition that is more widely available in English. This could help people better understand the nature of the Church.
I do thank you for the Eastern Catholic information that you do have, but it seems to have been added as an afterthought rather than a presentation of something equally Catholic. These things cannot be merely pushed off to a site for “Eastern Catholicism” unless you move your ‘Catholicism’ site to “Latin Catholicism”. There is no reason why a site titled ‘Catholicism’ should not exclusively present the calendar and theology of the Syrian Catholic Church while including a few footnotes about the Latin and Byzantine traditions.
Theophilus, you’ll get no argument from me. As my bio notes:
In addition, I’ve been studying the Eastern Fathers and Eastern liturgies for over 20 years. I would love to be able to include more information on the many other rites besides the Latin Rite, and as time goes on, I’ll do so.
The information that I have included was not “added as an afterthought” but was a very deliberate attempt to remind Latin Rite Catholics that there is more to the Church than simply the Latin Rite. Relatively few major Catholic sites include any information on rites beyond the Latin Rite; I decided from the beginning that this site would be the exception. (My page on the Sacraments of Initiation is a good example of this–try to find another Catholic site that not only mentions the Eastern order of the sacraments but points out that the Eastern order is the traditional one.)
That said, I also have to deal with the fact that the overwhelming majority of Catholics in the United States (where most of the readers of this site are) and Europe (the second-largest group of readers) are Latin Rite Catholics. As websites go, this one is still relatively young; I’ll be celebrating my second anniversary as the About.com Guide to Catholicism in April. I haven’t even begun to offer a comprehensive view of Latin Rite Catholicism, much less to be able to do justice to the other rites.
Thank you, Theophilus, for visiting the site, and I appreciate the suggestion. Later this year (with luck, sooner rather than later), I’ll have more ability to accept user submissions of photos and other material, and I hope that I can count on you to supply me with original material that will help this site to be, as you suggest, “more Catholic.”
I am very much looking for to my catechism lessons! Thank you.
I look forward to the upcoming changes, but I believe I must further explain:
The majority of Latin Catholics in the US and Western Europe are the most in need of education of the general nature of the Church. Your introduction, while a step above many other sites, still has a certain ‘unCatholic’ bias:
“The sacraments of initiation—Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion—are the three primary sacraments, on which the rest of our life as a Christian depends. Originally tied very closely together, the three sacraments are now, in the Western Church, celebrated at different milestones in our spiritual lives. (In the Eastern Church, both Catholic and Orthodox, all three sacraments are still administered to infants at the same time.)”
I would tend to read this as, “this is the way Catholics do things now, but there are still some groups that STILL need to be updated to the Catholic way”
“Originally tied very closely together”?!?!
The 3 Holy Mysteries of Baptism, Chrismation and Communion ARE tied very close together. This is the “normal” order as given in the Catechism of the {Latin} Catholic Church.
“now, in the Western Church, celebrated at different milestones in our spiritual lives” is very problematic even for Latin theologians. It is generally considered improper to view the Latin sacraments as a “catholic bar mitzvah”. I would personally argue that this view is neither Catholic nor the view of the Latin Church. The reason that most, but not all, Latin dioceses do this is merely a historical accident. The “milestone theology” is merely a popular misconception or justification. The Latin Church is resolved to restoring the proper order, but there remains a popular resistance. Education of both clergy and laity is key. See http://www.ewtn.com/library/BISHOPS/ordsacinit.HTM
Also the Latin practice that is currently allowed is an obstacle in the path of reunion with the Orthodox Churches. Eastern theology considers reception of Holy Communion without first being Chrismated (confirmed) is considered a sacrilege! – unworthy reception because the person has not yet received the Holy Spirit. This was also the view of the ancient Latin Church, but it eventually changed because in the West, confirmation was reserved to the Bishop alone which led to logistical problems.
I know that this is not Wikipedia, but I would suggest the following re-write as being more ‘Catholic’:
The Holy Mysteries (Sacraments) of Initiation – Holy Baptism, Holy Chrismation (Confirmation) and Holy Communion – are the foundation on which our life as a Christian depends. They are very closely tied together and theologically necessary for full Christian initiation. Holy Chrismation (Confirmation) is the completion, strengthening, and perfection of Holy Baptism that makes us worthy to receive the summit of the Christian faith in Holy Communion. (CCC1212-1275). In all Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as all Eastern Orthodox Churches, these 3 sacraments are received in this order as infants, children or adults. In the Latin Church this is the order followed by all adults, and some children. For a number of historical reasons, many Latin dioceses still place Confirmation (Holy Chrismation) after First Holy Communion. Currently, a Latin Bishop can set the age of Confirmation anywhere between age 7 and age 16. See the Restored Order of the Sacraments
The problem, Theophilus, is that you assume that the “general nature of the Church” is Eastern–thus what you regard as my “unCatholic bias.”
But it isn’t. Not by sheer numbers, nor by ecclesiology. Again, I’m very much sympathetic to the East–if we had an Eastern Rite parish in our town, my family and I would be there, rather than at our Traditional Latin Mass oratory. (My wife and I were in the process of switching rites when our first child came along and we decided to move back to the Midwest, and the priest in our Byzantine parish very wisely advised us, for the sake of our children, to put the process of switching rites on hold until we knew whether there would be a Byzantine parish nearby.)
To speak of the Holy Mysteries, while relegating the term Sacraments to a parenthetical (ditto with Chrismation and Confirmation) again assumes that the “general nature of the Church” is Eastern. Such language will confuse far more readers than it will enlighten–because the vast majority of readers are Latin Rite Catholics.
Eastern Rite Catholics understand the Latin Rite language, but the reverse is not true. The solution is further education, not trying to make the “general nature of the Church” into something it is not.
In doing so, you make errors that go beyond what you think I’ve done. You write, regarding the order of the sacraments, that “In the Latin Church this is the order followed by all adults, and some children.” That’s only correct if by “some,” you mean 95-plus percent (and more likely 99-plus).
Similarly, “many Latin dioceses still place Confirmation (Holy Chrismation) after First Holy Communion.” Again, that statement is only correct if you mean by “many” essentially all. There’s a reason why the age of Confirmation can be set between 7 and 16–the lower end is the same as the age of First Communion in the Latin Rite.
Very few Latin Rite bishops have lowered the age to 7 (our bishop, Thomas Doran of the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois, is one, and our seven-year-old daughter will receive Confirmation at his hands in February). Even fewer will confirm a seven-year-old who has not made his First Communion (in fact, Bishop Doran is the only Latin Rite bishop I know of who will do so, though I’m sure there are others).
I do appreciate your input, Theophilus, but for a variety of reasons, primarily audience and resources, this site will have to remain largely focused on the Latin Rite, and speak the language of the West. I will continue, as I have so far, to incorporate Eastern material when I can. It is my hope, down the line, to be able to bring on guest writers from as many of the rites of the Church as possible to provide a more complete vision of the Church, in both Her Western and Eastern dimensions.
It is not my intention to be confrontational in any way. I am just commenting on how I would like to see things go. I would like to see you totally go my way, but you do not even need to meet my half way – I would be happy with any bone you can throw to the East!
I guess my point is simply suggesting that you put a little more effort into distinguishing between Catholic and the Latin Church while injecting a bit that is applicable to the East. (and I do commend the efforts that you have already made)
Yes, the parenthetical in my example shows my bias, but I would not have any problem with whichever terminology is on top. Divine Liturgy (Mass) or Mass (Divine Liturgy) is the same to me.
Please reverse the parenthetical or just switch it all back to ‘sacrament’ and ‘confirmation’ in my example rewrite of your intro. Re-compare the two and try to get a feel for what I mean.
The “general nature of the Church” is a communion of 20+ Churches of equal spiritual, ecclesiastical and theological dignity. No rite or theology or tradition is superior to the others. This is a question of ecclesiology. Most English speaking Latin Catholics, including the clergy, are simply not aware of this fact.
In my opinion, because of the number of distinct Catholic Churches is weighted East, a balanced presentation of “Catholicism” things ought to be weighted to the East about 6 to 1 with the additional fact the Latin Church in history was much closer to the East than it is now. Eastern tradition is also the common patrimony of the ancient West. St. Peter’s in Rome even had a Byzantine iconostasis until the Muslims sacked Rome in 846!
Also, the Church is not a democracy so the sheer numbers of the Latin Church do not define the nature of the Church. There is also the sad historical fact that the lower numbers of Eastern Catholics is partially due to direct actions of Latin Catholics against Eastern Catholics. Things have been pretty good since Vatican II, but we lost so many of our people to the Orthodox and to the Latin Church…
mommy_says, now that the first installment of Sunday School is up, I hope you liked it!