The Catholic church in the US: growing and shrinking

People appear to be entering the Catholic church in higher numbers.  But folks also continue to leave.

Medicare

I turn 65 in a few months, so my window for initial enrollment in Medicare opens soon.  

I had a vague notion that Medicare was a simple government entitlement that paid for everything.  But I've since learned that that is far from the case.  In point of fact, even for people like me wife and me who have been navigating corporate medical-insurance offerings for several decades, Medicare coverage choices are both a bit complex and perhaps more than a bit financially risky.  I bought a for-dummies book to explain the options.

What has been your experience with Medicare?  Have you tried MediGap or Medicare Advantage?  What has worked well for you and what hasn't?  I need to make my initial decisions soon, so looking for good advice.

Faith in a time of grief

 This is my homily for yesterday, the 5th Sunday of Lent, Cycle A.  Yesterday's readings are here.

National Shrine Dedicates Outdoor Stations of the Cross

Betty watches the noon Mass at the Basilica of National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception every Sunday. This is after we watch the Saint Cecilia Mass from Boston at 9:30. I usually listen to the music from my office. Both the music and the photography appeal to Betty. The Shrine has been an important part of my life. In childhood we visited D.C. regularly (The shrine was just the crypt church then) I lived in D.C. for a year during the Carter administration when I did my postdoctoral residency in program evaluation at Saint Elizabeth Hospital (then a part of NIMH) I used to go there for Saturday evening Mass.

Today at the end of the Mass, they dedicated a new outdoor Way of the Cross

Fake Gregorian Chant YouTube Channels Produced by AI

Paul Rose produces SING THE HOURS which each day posts Morning and Evening Prayer from the LITURGY OF THE HOURS. It is one of the choices on my website. 

Paul is currently producing a series which he calls OFFICE HOURS to describe how he does this, all the technology behind it. He does this just by going on line and talking to some of his regular listeners. He does this in very disorganized fashion.

He and some of his listeners have concern about the AI generated "Gregorian Chant" channels that in the last two years have been taking over the real market for Gregorian Chant on YouTube. Listening to whole two hours would be quite a chore, however I hope you have enough interest in AI to do the 30 to 40 minutes that I have marked in Red below. It is captioned!

 

00:00 Welcome, my lords, to Isengard. 

Brief Discussion of His Reluctance to talk about AI

It's too early in the development

Analogy to the early criticisms of the printing press.

Risks looking silly when viewed in the future

01:30 Obligatory Beverage Tasting - A Sparkling Water Taste Test

10:21 Soda Stream Product Placement (not an official sponsor)

11:01 Bubble ASMR

12:32 Too many bubbles

13:50 San Pellegrino in a plastic bottle is like Mass with bad music

Part 2: California Pilgrimage

14:53 California Pilgrimage

16:16 Do you want to schedule a group, staff, or business pilgrimage? Reach out to Charlie. 

17:18 Pilgrimage Route

24:20 Stays and Liturgies on the Pilgrimage (some are open to the public!)

40:56 Why go on this pilgrimage?

Presents his case for singing the Hours

Vatican II Decree on Liturgy

83. Christ Jesus, high priest of the new and eternal covenant, taking human nature, introduced into this earthly exile that hymn which is sung throughout all ages in the halls of heaven. He joins the entire community of mankind to Himself, associating it with His own singing of this canticle of divine praise

Part 3: Chant Bot or Not?

51:16 Why AI Bot Music is not real liturgy

52:07 What do you think? Are these chant channels real chant or bot made?

55:05 Brief intermission on the new canticle translations

YOU CAN SKIPE THIS

PAUL IS A STRICT LITURGICAL INTERPRETER

HE ALSO ASSUMES THAT WHEN THE NEW BREVIARY COMES OUT

WE WILL INSTANTALY CHANGE TO IT LIKE WHEN THE MISSAL 

CAME OUT. I WOULD SUSPECT THAT THE CURRENT BREVIARIES WILL

CONTINUE TO BE USED IN PERSONAL RECITATION

1:01:23 Back to it: Bot or Not?

1:02:40 Everything that's wrong with this AI chant

1:13:37 Check out these bot channels

1:16:58 Watch Paul make AI Slop

1:24:02 AI voice replication is so problematic (the commodification of the human person)

1:25:24 What should we listen to then? Floriani, Neums and Tunes, Sing the Hours

I FOUND THE ABOVE 25 MINUTES AN EXCELLENT TUTORIAL ON HOW ALL THESE AI GENERATED "GREGORIAN " CHANNELS ARE PRODUCING SOMETHING THAT HAS ALMOST NONE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GREGORIAN CHANT EXCEPT FOR A LATIN TEXT WHICH IS RENDERED IN VERY GOOD LATIN 

THESE CHANNELS ARE GETTING FAR MORE TRAFFIC THAN REAL GREGORIAN CHANT CHANNELS AND THEY ARE DECEIVING VIEWERS THAT THERE ARE REAL PEOPLE SINGING THEM AND PRAYING FOR THEM  

YOU CAN SKIP THE PART BELOW

1:25:51 Another Channel: Bot or Not?

1:32:33 One way to check if it's AI

1:33:35 Another Channel: Bot or Not?

1:36:11 AI is incapable of praying real Catholic prayer

1:37:05 The Collect Prayer from Mass

1:38:12 AI is blinding us

1:39:13 Another Channel: Bot or Not?

1:44:35 Effects of Baptism. You can't baptize AI.

1:47:15 Can you bless AI?

1:49:25 Support real Catholic musicians

1:50:15 Scandal: The State of Music in the American Catholic Church

1:51:35 Non-Catholics and Catholic Music

1:53:57 Let's Sing Scripture: Entrance Antiphon

 1:57:29 Scandal 2: Hymn Factories Funding Controversial Agendas

 1:59:35 The Actual, Musical Prescription for the Mass (USCCB Citation)

Ask

My contributions to our parish's OCIA program

The discussion following Katherine's post about the historical causes of Vatican II has branched into discussion about what is covered in OCIA (the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, known as RCIA until 2021).  

I don't think I mention it very often, but I'm one of the contributors, or presenters, or facilitators, or whatever the appropriate term is, for our parish's OCIA program.  In case it's of interest, I'm going to describe what I do, and what I've observed of RCIA / OCIA in our parish.

The Precursors to St. John XXIII Calling Vatican II

 Michael Sean Winters had an interesting article in NCR (March 2, 2026) on the lead-up to St. John XXIII calling Vatican II:

What led St. Pope John XXIII to call Vatican II? | National Catholic Reporter

"Vatican II did not drop out of the sky. There were three essential precursors to St. John XXIII's decision in 1959 to announce he was calling an ecumenical council: The first was spiritual and theological; the second was pastoral and existential and the third was personal and historical."