During and after the grim martial law period in the early 1980s, many freedom-minded Poles would greet each other on Jan. 1 with a sardonic wish: “May the new year be better than you know it’s going to be!” As 2020 opens that salutation might well be adopted by Catholics concerned about the future of the church, for more hard news is coming. So let’s get some of that out of the way, preemptively, before considering some resolutions that might help us all deal with the year ahead in faith, hope, and charity.
Guest Columnists
Missions Collection Helps Meet Dire Need
by Father Charles P. Keeney
Having served as director of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Mission Office for a year now, I see that the office is a microcosm of the universal church. Both have far-reaching arms that assist missionaries all over the world.
Christmas, Freedom And Obedience
On December 17, the day the first “O Antiphon” signaled the intensification of preparations for Christmas, the Church read the genealogy of Jesus from Matthew’s gospel: writing for a predominantly Jewish-Christian audience, the evangelist stresses that the blessings promised to and through Abraham, and the dynastic promises made to King David, are about to be fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
The True Star of Bethlehem
by Father Ronan Murphy
Mary is the true Star of Bethlehem or Christmas Star, because she is the one who leads us to Jesus. “Ad Jesus per Miriam’”(To Jesus through Mary).
The Well-Fought Fight
The incorporation of Anglican hymnody into English-language Catholic worship is one of the great blessings of the past 50 years. And within that noble musical patrimony, Ralph Vaughan Williams surely holds pride of place among modern composers.
Give Some Books For Christmas
Resist the twitterization of thought — give books for Christmas! The following titles will delight, instruct, edify (or all of the above).
A Last Chance for Australian Justice
My late parents loved Cardinal George Pell, whom they knew for decades. So I found it a happy coincidence that, on Nov. 12 (which would have been my parents’ 70th wedding anniversary), a two-judge panel of Australia’s High Court referred to the entire Court the cardinal’s request for “special leave” to appeal his incomprehensible conviction on charges of “historic sexual abuse,” and the even-more-incomprehensible denial of his appeal against that manifestly unsafe verdict.
The Reformed Liturgy, 50 Years Later
Fifty years ago, on Nov. 30, 1969, the Catholic Church marked the First Sunday of Advent with the universal implementation of the revised Roman Rite of the Mass, approved by Pope Paul VI in response to the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
Why Did the Wall Fall, 30 Years Ago?
November 9 marked the 30th anniversary of the peaceful breach of the Berlin Wall — the symbolic high point of the Revolution of 1989, which would be completed seven weeks later by the fall of the Czechoslovak communist regime and Vaclav Havel’s election as Czech’s president.
As Advent Approaches, Remember Missionary Work
One of the gifts summer brings is all but finished: the diocese-wide Summer Mission Appeals made by missionaries who come from around the globe. You may remember a missionary priest, sister or layperson who spoke at your parish earlier this year. There is one more appeal left to be made — at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Ridgewood, on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.