Good piece by John Allen on Pius XII

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John L. Allen, Jr., the ubiquitous fair-minded former Rome correspondent for the lefty National Catholic Reporter in his weekly flash as a very good piece on, get this… why Pope Pius XII ought to be beatified immediately.

1. I grew up with Pope Pius (he died when I was 16, but in those days before live television, he was a very remote figure to me, and probably most American Catholics).

   I have a question about the canonization process which is taking place at a time when many of the Vatican’s records from the World War II period are just being released and it will be many years before the records up until the year of his death in 1958 will be released.

   Have the officials responsible for the ultimate recommendation had access to all of those records still kept under lock and key?

   Pius’ role in World Affairs after the Soviet Union took over Eastern Europe and Mao took over China might be something need to be examined.

   I doubt that anything but laudable actions would be discovered.

   But I guess my real question is “Is it too soon for his canonization?”

   Comment by ray from mn — 8 June 2007 @ 3:03 pm

Holier Than Thou

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Originally posted on AbbeyRoads2

Ray from MN Says:
June 5th, 2007 at 6:53 am

Well, now that you brought it up, Terry, I can no longer keep my silence on the matter.

I have raised the issue with a canon lawyer (who did not give me the courtesy of a reply).

No before you think I have gone off the deep end on this issue hear me out.

I have no problem with the Saturday (and Holy Day) vigil Masses. I’ve got other things to worry about.

But, being a constitutional conservative and legal literalist, there is a problem with the argument used to justify the vigil Masses.

Reverting to the pre-wristwatch days of the Old and New Testament, the canon lawyers have determined that the “day” lasts from Sundown to Sundown and accordingly, “Saturday at Sundown” is legally “Sunday.”

I won’t quibble about the 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. vigil Masses that take place long before Sundown, especially in the Summer months under Daylight Savings Time.

What I do wonder about are all those 5:00, 6:00, 6:30, 7:30 and 9:00 p.m. (in the Twin Cities) Masses that take place on Sunday Evenings.

Especially in the winter months here, aren’t those times legally “Monday?”

It seems to me that a strict interpretation of the Saturday Vigil Mass rule would declare that all of those who attend Sunday Evening Masses have missed their Sunday Mass Obligation.

What do you think?

"I'm O.K. with you being a Catholic, as long as you aren't actually Catholic"

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Originally posted on Recovering Dissident Catholic on June 4, 2007

Ray from MN said...

There are a lot of CINO's out there. And they feel threatened by ORCIMMN!'s out there (Orthodox Roman Catholic is my middle name!).

I have been volunteering at the local Veterans Hospital for the past few months. Frankly some of my most rewarding interactions with patients are with those who admit that they haven't been a good Catholic.

The honesty brings tears to my eyes.

Today a patient admitted that he hadn't been practicing his faith. It sounded like he had had almost no education in his faith. He was in for some major surgery and admitted that he had been near death.

That got him reminiscing a bit and he mentioned a time when he was in Vietnam and his Division was engaged in some kind of major movement and as the men moved by, a "Mexican Priest" stood on a high platform and "splashed water on us" and prayed the Hail Mary over them.

He claimed that he had always remembered the prayer and agreed to say it with me (but he didn't remember most of the words).

I later brought him a little prayer book with the words and asked him to pray "one Hail Mary a day."

Many of you might have heard Father Corapi tell how his mother send him a holy card with the Hail Mary on the back and asked him to do that when he was at his lowest in California. It worked.

June 04, 2007 4:51 PM

Change of Concentration

I haven't been posting anything here for over a year. I am going to start posting comments that I have made on other blogs and "letter to the editor" and other things like that here.