A moment of quiet

Most of you are probably familiar with the French ecumenical community and pilgrimage site called  Taize.  I learned of them many years ago and was intrigued, as I am very much interested in successful ecumenical efforts.  However, I was not familiar with their services or music until about 20 years ago.  I attended a Taize Good Friday service at the Washington National Cathedral and was mesmerized. It was, and is, the most memorable Good Friday service I have ever attended. Pure simplicity.

A couple of months ago I revisited the Sacred Space website of the Irish Jesuits, and downloaded the Pray as You Go app onto my tablet.  I read before going to sleep, and download my reading materials onto the tablet. So I started using the Pray as You Go app as the last thing at night. One of the first dates I listened to had a Taize chant that literally lulled me to sleep.  I now use Taize chants every night to calm my spirit so that I can sleep after a day reading so much upsetting news.

https://pray-as-you-go.org/

Taize chant is probably not to everyone's taste, especially among the music experts on this forum.

But,perhaps some might find some of the chants soothing and calming.  One that is very appropriate for now is the Taize chant of the prayer of St. Teresa of Avila, "Let Nothing Disturb you"


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=go1-BoDD7CI

Peace to all.

Hope for the Future

This photo of a seven year old Omaha girl, taken by Dalton Carper, was taken at a protest and shared by Kamala Harris.
From the story in the Omaha World Herald
"Zuri Jensen climbed onto the roof of her dad’s pickup truck. She balled her right hand into a fist and hoisted it in the air....Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California shared the image on her Instagram page, where it racked up more than 66,000 likes."

Archbishop Gregory has a word...update: photo op!

Apparently, Trump has followed up his visit to St. John's Episcopal Church last evening with one this morning to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine (formerly the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception; ooops fact check: Still there. Two different institutions and buildings.).  Many fingers raised in welcome!

Archbishop Gregory of Washington, DC: “I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree,” Archbishop Wilton Gregory said in a statement.
“Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth. He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace.” From the Guardian.

Good for Gregory (also from Chicago!).

Here you have it:

Voting By Mail

The latest disingenuous election year panic du jour is potential voter fraud from mail-in ballots. Why do I say that it's disingenuous?  Because most of the people (whom I have been in conversations with) who have voiced concerns about it have said that they voted by mail in the primary and planned to do it again in the fall.  But then went on to say that they felt it was too easy for someone who might want to cheat the system to vote fraudulently (but they didn't want to make it less convenient for themselves).
Oh, and guess who else voted by mail last time?  None other than the president, not to mention White House staff member, KellyAnne Conway.

Fauci: Distributing Communion Risky

Interview with America:


Dr. Anthony Fauci: To keep churches safe, use masks, limit singing and wait to resume Communion

“If you are in a region, a city, a county, where there is a significant amount of infection, I think with distributing Communion, I think that would be risky. I'm telling you that as a Catholic, it would be risky.”

“As many times as a priest can wash his hands, he gets to Communion, he puts it in somebody’s hand, they put it in their mouth...it’s that kind of close interaction that you don’t want when you’re in the middle of a deadly outbreak,” he said.

Dr. Fauci said he believes some people should continue to avoid crowded situations whenever possible, including religious services. He said that in the short time since the coronavirus was discovered, churches have been shown to be particularly risky in terms of creating clusters of infection.

“There have been situations in multiple countries where the source of the cluster was a church service,” he said. “That's the reason why we gotta be so careful about that.”

As a result, even if churches are open, the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions should consider staying home, “because they really are at high risk,” he said. “It would be so tragic for someone who just comes to a place of worship, gets sick themselves, or gets infected and brings it home to an elderly person who might have a compromising comorbidity, and the person gets seriously ill and dies.”

MY CONCLUSION

Most American Bishops are in areas where they are taking very high risks, as are the elderly and those with vulnerable medical conditions.  When we should not be singing under any conditions or even speaking without a mask, and really don't have safe procedures for distributing communion, we should really be worshiping from home. After betraying our children to sexual abuse, the Bishops are  betraying our elderly to the virus, all because of money. 

Come, Holy Spirit during this time of killing, looting, shooting - and irresponsible leadership

                                                                                                  Julio Cortez/AP

The horrifying killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer (please be warned: I found the linked video upsetting to watch) has unleashed protests in cities across the US.

[Update 1:41 pm CDT: the officer identified as keeping his knee on Floyd's neck, Derek Chauvin, has been arrested by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and will be charged with murder and manslaughter by the Hennepin County Attorney.]

President Trump is actively seeking to turn the situation to his re-election advantage.

Seems Like Old Times. Not.

 I went to Mass this morning, and you probably couldn't. So I'll tell you about it.

 Our governor, considering the best available advice (the kind that comes from The Don) is opening Florida as fast as he can. For one thing, Rudy Guilliani is delinquent in property tax on his Palm Beach condo; we had to get people back to work to dun him. In keeping with the spirit of everything, our bishops are reopening the churches.

 On Monday weekday Masses started, and this Sunday, y'all come but stay six feet apart and please, please, please observe social distance. (OK, we know you won't observe social distance, but we are required to ask.)

 I didn't return Monday because it was Memorial Day and first Mass since March 19, so a crowd was likely. Only forty showed up, I am told. I missed Tuesday because of my grocery shopping hour, and Wednesday because of the men's group. So today was the day.

 It was different, but not that different. Every other pew had a rope across the entrance and a sign explaining why. Thursday attendance usually has been the lowest of the week. There were 27 of us today, about half or an ordinary Thursday. We were all sitting at the ends of unblocked pews, except for three people from Century Village (over-55 community) who came together and sat together. That is OK under the rules. We all wore masks.

 It is hard to sing with a mask on.

 At Communion Deacon Pete read a prepared statement recommending reception in the hand and asking people who want to receive on the tongue anyway to wait until last. Pete tells the mouth-takers are pretty much ignoring the request. They are supposed to receive from the kamikazi priest. But Father George sat down, and Pete had to risk seppuku.

 The rest of us received in two hands and then used one to raise or lower our masked. The raisers and lowerers seemed to be about 50-50.

 We did better than I am told is usual at maintaining distance leaving church.

 There was a Mass, but it had strong elements of learning to color between the lines. I am in no hurry to try it with a full house of one-third the usual Sunday Mass crowd while the state teeters on the edge of a surge (and Rudy isn't answering his phone). I told the pastor last week that he'll see me on a Sunday sometime in October.

HOUSEKEEPING NOTE: I wrote this on the new, revised Blogger page format, which I think the old one says will become mandatory in June some time. If you hit the red "try it" button on the left side of the old screen, you will end up here and probably never get back. At lease I can't.