Pope Benedict XVI was born to parents Joseph and Mary and baptized on the day of his birth, Holy Saturday 1927. Reflecting on that in his autobiography (published in English as Milestones: Memoirs 1927–1977), he wrote, “That my life from the beginning was in this way immersed in the Easter mystery has always filled me with gratitude.” The old stone baptismal font from the parish church has long been on display in the small museum in Marktl Am Inn, his birthplace. 

Free beer and music for celebrants

Marktl Am Inn, near the German-Austrian border, celebrated their favorite son with a special Mass on the day of his election. According to the travel site goeurope .com, the town of 2,700 has no police force, so firefighters were assigned the job of cordoning off streets as celebrations were to begin. After Mass, it was free beer and music for all. 

Beatifying delegating

This past June, three Polish priests were beatified in a ceremony not in Rome but in Warsaw. Notably, Cardinal Jozef Glemp of Warsaw, not Pope Benedict XVI, presided. One of the hallmarks of the John Paul II papacy was the late pope’s involvement in every beatification. That trend seems to be ending with Benedict XVI, who in the previous month delegated a curial head to lead the celebration for two other beatified persons. 

First communicants in Rome

Has your child been invited to Rome? Yes, if you celebrated first communion this year! Not just bishops but now first communicants have a special invitation this fall. Pope Benedict XVI has announced a special meeting for any child who celebrated first communion in the 2005 calendar year. A “special encounter of catechesis” is planned for Oct. 15, which coincides with the bishops’ meeting scheduled to close the Year of the Eucharist. It’s not always that the world’s children get an invitation commonly reserved for bishops. Book your flight soon. 

Kasper talk on Eucharist and ecumenism

Cardinal Walter Kasper gave a talk at the Centro Pro Unione on the Eucharist and ecumenism in Rome. One important point: “The unity of the church is the reason why the Eucharist exists.” The effort for church unity is not made by reason or negotiation alone, Kasper said, but at its core, it is a spiritual undertaking. 

Kasper also addressed the issue of non-Catholics sharing in communion, balancing on two points. Unity in faith must undergird unity at the table. The church, according to Kasper’s citation of canon law (1752), is for the salvation of souls, and an individual person cannot be treated as a broad category. On the extraordinary circumstances in which non-Catholics may partake of the Catholic sacraments, he said, “This seems to me an appropriate response to the contemporary situation. It allows bishops to reach prudent pastoral decisions in particular instances.” 

Eucharist and justice

At a recent study seminar in Rome, “Peace and Liturgy: A Research Itinerary,” a group of 45 Vatican officials, scholars, liturgists, moral theologians, and others convened to examine the connection between liturgy and justice. One of the many questions discussed: How does the liturgy avoid being an expression of safe isolation from the needs of the world? Benedictine Father Thomas Pott said that the proper direction of liturgical reform is not changing the rites but changing the hearts and actions of those who worship so that liturgy may be seen more and more as a forerunner of the realization of the kingdom of God. 

Is it true? All the fine-tuning and tinkering with the rites and the accompanying fuss over them — are they distractions from the real reform and renewal that should be taking place? 

… Reinforced by the pope on Corpus Christi

The traditional date for this feast is the second Thursday after Pentecost, so Pope Benedict XVI celebrated on Thursday, May 26, with a Mass at the Lateran Basilica and the eucharistic procession to St. Mary Major. The procession seems all but forgotten in modern days; what is the purpose? According to the pope, the traditional Corpus Christi procession begins the Christian’s missionary commitment to bring Christ to the world. 

In his homily at the Mass, he preached that sharing in communion is not just a function of consuming food. In communion, two people meet: Christ and the communicant. In the meeting, the person desires to merge his or her life into that of Christ’s. By implication, the communicant is subsumed into the mission of Christ: compassion and concern for others. The Eucharist, and devotion for it, are inseparable from the Christian’s life in the world. Or should be. 

Franciscan jubilee

Franciscans worldwide are preparing to observe eight centuries of history. Starting next year, a three- year observance will commemorate the conversion of St. Francis in 1206, leading up to the approval of the “Proto-Rule” by Pope Innocent III in 1209. Father José Rodríguez Carballo, in a letter addressed to all Franciscans, wrote, “We Franciscans wish to reaffirm our steadfast will to remain faithful to our charism ... re-creating it, however, in the light of the challenges of present-day Franciscan life.” No word as of yet as to what liturgical celebrations are planned. 

Going to court for a new church

Members of St. Mary, Our Lady of the Dunes in Florence, Ore., bused to Portland to get word from a federal judge on their parish’s new church. Another lawsuit from disgruntled opponents? Not this time. The archdiocese’s bankruptcy proceedings had frozen assets, including the parish’s $775,000 building fund, which was on deposit with other diocesan assets. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris approved the request to release funds to St. Mary’s without definitively ruling who owns parish and school assets: the diocese or the communities themselves. 

Lego church

Frustrated that a building project isn’t meeting your specifications? Amy Hughes began to build a house but ended up with a church. “I drew floor plans and built much of the front wall as a test of concept, then set about creating a pattern for the floor that was to become the living room. I quickly came up with a double row of crosses that reminded me of the center aisle of a church, and building a church suddenly seemed like a more interesting project.” See the results (including the dedication sermon based on Psalm 27) at www.amyhughes.org /lego/church/. 

The completed structure measures seven by five feet and includes an altar, elevated pulpit, font, organ, expansive transparent windows, and seating for more than a thousand, including an 80-member choir. “It was a big project, but it was less time than most people spent watching TV during that same year and a half,” writes Hughes. ML