The Lady in the Pew has an excellent column on the attitude “it’s all about me” and how it is infecting some Masses.
[Via Dom Bettinelli]
April 15 (Bloomberg) — Jobless Brazilians are turning to St. Expeditus, a formerly obscure figure in Roman Catholic tradition who has become the object of cult-like devotion for help in urgent causes, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Brazilians.
Church officials expect 200,000 people to show up for ceremonies in Sao Paulo marking his April 19 feast day, 10 times more than for a turnout eight years ago, the Journal reported.
[Full Story]
Saint Expeditus suffered a lot during the time of Diocletion. He is holding a cross in which is inscribed “Hodie” (Today) while he is stepping on a crow which is crying “Cras” (Tomorrow) in order to remind us not to doubt even for a single moment the great mercy of God, and not to postpone for tomorrow the devout and rusting prayer but to call on him always as our advocate by the side of our Blessed Virgin.
Two Baha’i publications have won awards from the Religion Communicators Council (RCC), an interfaith association at work in print and electronic communication, marketing, and public relations.
Brilliant Star, a magazine for children and junior youth published by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, won an Award of Excellence — and a Best of Class Award — in the category for national magazines.
[Full Story]
The caption on this magazines just cracks me up. I didn’t know anything about Bahá’í beliefs so I looked this up.
The Bahá’í religion may be unique in the way that it accepts all other faiths as true and valid. Bahá’ís accept the divine nature of the missions of Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Jesus and the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). They believe each one was a further stage in the revelation of God. Other prophets and Manifestations are also accepted.
That’s a pretty good definition of syncretism.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — He’s had a No. 1 record, won a Latin Grammy and now has a hit movie — all aimed at revitalizing the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil.
He is the Rev. Marcelo Rossi, Brazil’s pop star priest, a leader of the Brazilian church’s efforts to bolster its waning appeal in the world’s largest Catholic country.
“The majority of Catholics are estranged from the church. So — this was the promise I made to the pope — I promised to use all means of communication available to bring them back to the Church,” Rossi said.
Rossi’s latest foray into mass media evangelism is a Portuguese-language feature film, “Mary, Mother of the Son of God.”
The film tells the story of Mary, with Rossi as parish priest recounting the role of Jesus’ mother in biblical events to a little girl in Brazil’s poor northeast; the child imagines her townspeople as scriptural characters (Rossi is also the angel Gabriel).
The movie has been seen by 2.5 million viewers — an impressive figure for a Brazilian film.
[Full Story]
The Gonzaga School of Law, a Jesuit college in Washington state, refuses to recognize a student pro-life group that requires its leaders be Christians, saying the religious restriction is discriminatory.
“Why not allow a Jewish, Muslim or nonreligious student to be head of the caucus, when they could be equally concerned about pro-life issues as a Christian student?” Gonzaga spokesman Dale Goodwin said in a telephone interview yesterday.
The law school administration’s decision not to recognize Gonzaga Pro-Life Caucus, which prevents the group from meeting on campus and applying for funding, was prompted by the Student Bar Association (SBA). It called the group biased.
“The university supports the SBA in this case because any form of discrimination seems unwarranted,” Mr. Goodwin said.
[Full Story]
By the facts presented I think I would side with them on this. I can’t think of any good reason to restrict an anti-abortion groups membership to just Christians. This is a battle where our allies range from those of different religious faiths to others of good will. To have an open membership but to restrict the leadership gives no advantage to the groups mission, but is a hindrance instead.
“Meshuggahnuns” is the fifth installment of Dan Goggin’s Nunsense series — a safari into ecumenical silliness that this time places the nuns on a cruise ship, the USS Golden Delicious. The cruise was designed as an interfaith journey where, each week, a different religion is featured in a musical comedy. This week, however, all of the “Fiddler on the Roof” cast has fallen ill except for Howard Liszt (Richard Frederick), the nice Jewish man playing Tevye.
So, since there’s no supporting cast to lift him onto the roof, Howard enlists the help of Reverend Mother (Amy L. Washburn) and Sisters Hubert (Cathleen Riddley), Amnesia (Mindy Stover) and Robert Anne (Diane Torres Koss), to create a vaudeville show that highlights the two faiths.
And that is the central plot of this show.
Not that it matters. The “Nunsense” musicals have never exactly been plot-heavy. So by having essentially no plot at all, “Meshuggahnuns” cuts directly to the chase and becomes a two-hour vaudeville show with religiously themed bits that, except for the intermission and bingo game, give the passengers on the ship (us) a wide ranging series of sketches with no more ambition than to entertain and paste smiles on the faces of the faithful.
It’s a formula that has worked for Goggin for the past quarter century, and in “Meshuggahnuns” it works just as well as always, charming the audience as only four slightly addled nuns and one confused Jewish actor can.
[Full Story]
Veterans Tim Rain (L) of Michigan City, Indiana, Charles Martin (C), also of Michigan City, and Jerry Scrivnor (R) of Laport, Indiana, salute US President George W. Bush (news – web sites) during Veterans Day Ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetary.(AFP/Tim Sloan)
16-year-old high school student Mathew Bedore stands guard at a make-shift underwater cenotaph, during a Remembrance Day ceremony to honor soldiers lost at sea, in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, November 11, 2003. Remembrance Day and Veterans Day are observed in many countries to commemorate the casualties of war. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi
