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Worship Times
NCR slims downSheed & Ward and Credence Cassettes have been sold by the National Catholic
Reporter Publishing Company, according to a report in the May 8, 1998, issue of the
NCR. Publisher Thomas C. Fox said that he was pleased the book and audio
divisions had "found good new homes and that The National Catholic Reporter Publishing
Company will move into the future concentrating its resources on our company's
periodicals led by the NCR newsweekly." Organ-izing youthYou've heard of the priest shortage, but did you know there is also an organist shortage? Fewer and fewer young people are studying the instrument, which has led to a dearth of qualified keyboardists. To help remedy the situation, Jent's House of Music in Lubbock, Texas, Rodgers Instrument Corporation, the Lubbock chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and the Lubbock Music Teachers Association joined forces to hold an organ play-off competition in Lubbock. A teacher won the grand prize -- the use of a new Rodgers organ for a year -- and winning students in each age division won $50 gift certificates from Jent's House of Music.Churches in Lubbock allowed piano students to use their organs to practice on for four months prior to the competition. In conjunction with the event, piano teachers and students practiced with a member of the AGO. All the time spent by the piano teachers and AGO members was donated. Hypocrisy control"It's time to end the hypocrisy on birth control" reads the title of an article in the June 1998 issue of U.S. Catholic. Kathy Coffey says in the article, "It's high time we admit reality: no amount of railing or threatening from popes or bishops seems to affect people's decisions on the use of birth control made in good conscience. On this issue, people have learned to trust their own intuitions, faith understanding, and life experience. On other issues, they may let the church tell them what to do, but on this one they stand firm. Let's applaud their maturity instead of berating them for a supposed 'defection.'"Coffey goes on to note that when Pope Paul VI issued the encyclical Humanae vitae, which condemned the use of any means of birth control other than the rhythm method, "over 600 theologians signed dissenting statements." Coffey points out that The Papal Birth Control Commission, established during the Second Vatican Council by Paul VI to review the issue, concluded in 1966 that the church's teaching should change so as to allow other forms of birth control. However, according to Robert McClory's book on the subject, Turning Point (Crossroad, 1997), a few conservatives outmaneuvered the majority of bishops on the commission and convinced the pope to overrule his own experts. U.S. Catholic polled its readers on the subject and found that 81 percent agreed that couples had the right to follow their consciences on the issue of contraception. The reasons readers gave for taking issue with the church's current stance included: a belief that the teaching is outdated and damaging in today's circumstances (29%), a belief that it is ethically inconsistent to allow for natural family planning but not for the use of artificial contraceptives (34%), a belief that celibate clergy should not dictate moral choices of married couples on this issue (19%), and a belief that current teaching is unrealistic and impractical (42%). Thirty-six percent of those who responded said they have used artificial contraceptives with a clear conscience and 17 percent said they have done so albeit with a guilty conscience. The magazine has published the full text of Humanae vitae on its website (www.uscatholic.org) along with reader comments on the issue of birth control. Poetic licenseIf you frequently hear those close to you screaming, "Stop him before he rhymes again!" Christianity and the Arts is sponsoring a poetry contest you may be interested in. The poem must relate to one of the following themes: Advent, Beginnings and Endings, Birthings, or Nativity. The first prize winner receives $100; second prize, $50; third prize, $25. The winners will be published in the magazine. Entry deadline is Sept. 1, 1998. For more information, contact Christianity and the Arts, PO Box 118088, Chicago, IL 60611; (312) 642-8606; chrnarts@aol.com.A Protestant presenceSome Protestant theologians are trying to move their denominations to a position that recognizes that Jesus is physically or "actively" present in the bread and wine of communion, according to Robert Marquand, staff writer for The Christian Science Monitor.This shift in the understanding of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is showing up in more Protestant communion services, new hymnals and prayer books, ecumenical dialogues, and workshops. It is a shift that is taking place across denominations. The new UCC hymnal includes a Catholic hymn by Thomas Aquinas which includes the line: "underneath these forms lies your reality." A new Methodist prayer reads, "Pour out your Holy Spirit ... on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ." The most recent Presbyterian "book of worship" urges more liturgical services for the Eucharist. "There's a recovery of tradition," says Gabriel Fackre, a UCC theologian. "We can all affirm the real presence of Christ; we just differ in the mode. We agree the Lord's Supper is not just a visual aid but represents the real presence in a sacrament that ought to be celebrated every Sunday." So far, this shift is limited to a scattering of liberal theologians and pastors. Other Protestants disagree that Christ is really present in the Eucharist and see the new emphasis as misguided. "As a conservative evangelical, I don't believe in the physical presence of Christ," says Wayne Gruden of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. "I think this is a willingness to sacrifice historical distinctiveness in our views in order to preserve church structures in the face of declining membership." Pope goes
Pope John Paul II has been pope longer than any other pontiff of this century.
The previous record holder had been Pope Pius XII, who had been the servant
of the servants of God for 7,172 days. However, his holiness still has a ways to go to
capture the "longest ever" title. Pope Leo XIII, whose papacy extended from
1878 to 1903, sat in the chair of Peter for 25 years -- one of the longest reigns. |
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