The Independent News Source
Twitter - Facebook - Email Alerts - RSS
CUA's Symposium & Mary
by Michael Sean Winters on Oct. 06, 2009
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend
PDF version
Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF versionThe Catholic University of America’s symposium for the Year for Priests got underway today. The presentations were very scholarly and quite fine. Fides et ratio at their best. (I will try and give a synopsis of the talks tomorrow.) But, it was something at the end of the morning session that brought home to this CUA alumnus what a distinctive place a Catholic university is and how that distinctiveness opens up not only new avenues of thought but how it grounds us in something more substantial and permanent than any intellectual theory. Father O’Connell led the more than 100 assembled participants in the Angelus.
Prayer. And not just any prayer, but a prayer that is as old as universities themselves. A prayer that includes Scripture from the earliest centuries of the Christian Church. A prayer to the Virgin in whom eternity took flesh.
Intellectual fads come and go. The great insights of Freud are now taught as having historical interest, but they are not taught as effective psychology. Newton’s physics explained much, until Einstein’s theories came along and I am told that contemporary scientific minds have long since passed Einstein. There was a time before the theories of Darwin and Copernicus, and those times were not without their measure of intellectual rigor. Our knowledge is, as the Apostle Paul wrote, imperfect. But, through the centuries, through all the intellectual achievements and intellectual failures of our civilization, prayer endures.
Our prayers, too, suffer from imperfection. We get distracted. We ask for the wrong things. But the Virgin’s Mary’s prayers on our behalf do not suffer from our earthly imperfections. We turn to her when we cannot see any value in turning to ourselves or to our own. How fitting that a highly intellectual symposium should finish its morning’s work by turning to her. THAT is what it means to have a Catholic identity.
How did this get into NCR? It
How did this get into NCR? It is so truly Catholic!
Appears appropriate given the
Appears appropriate given the opening is the eve of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary... Mother of God pray for us! Alleluia!
I have to be honest. In the
I have to be honest. In the panel session, I was a tad offended by a question about how "clerical" the young priests and seminarians are. The answers were good, and thankfully highlighted the need for unity in the priesthood among our diverse personalities and respect for the cultures that produced each of us.
Vatican II priests are a result of the tensions and world events that came to a head in the 60's and 70's. The so-called John Paul II priests were products of their time and some of the excesses of the immediate response to the council, and the cold war, and perhaps a nlostalgia for what seemed a simpler time. And, the Benedict XVI priests, of whom I, good God willing, will one day be a member, are a result of the tensions and events of the turn of this century and the disgusting and infuriating scandal of the past decade and a certain distance from--and thus taking for granted of--the fruits and teachings of Vatican II. I also agree with the Monsignor's (or was it Fr Witzak's?) evaluation that a divided presbyterate is a scandal and we must do all we can to effect a unified priestly fraternity among the differing generations.
However, nevertheless the very question being asked irritated me. Calling us seminarians and our newly ordained brothers clerical is about as hurtful as when some of our misguided confreres call so-called "Vatican II priests" heretics. I love the Church, just as the Vatican II priests do, I love her people, and I want to present to them in the most useful way possible the Gospel in its entirety without additions deletions softenings or novel restrictions. I want to be both a servant and leader for them (indeed each necessitates the other and to ignore either would be a sin) just as you all do. We don't always agree on application or articulation, but hopefully we have the same principles and message.
Thank you for these insights.
Thank you for these insights. We read from Michael "How fitting that a highly intellectual symposium should finish its morning’s work by turning to her." yet we do not receive any evidence of what he deems "highly intellectual" contrasting this with Mr. Allen who does give us direct evidence of the Synod without such an in a nutshell summary, letting us draw our own conclusions from the primary evidence he provides.
Angelus Domini nuntiavit
Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae . . .
Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto
Ave.
Ecce ancillae Domini . . .
Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum
Ave.
Et Verbum caro factum est . . .
Et habitavit in nobis
Ave.
Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix.
Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
Oremus:
Gratiam tuam, quaesumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut qui, Angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem eius et crucem, ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
=================================================
For those of us Roman Catholics who no longer remember or who oddly never learned. Pray above all else the Magnificat, please! "THAT is what it means to have a Catholic identity:"
Et misericórdia ejus, a progénie in progénies
timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui.
Depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Israël púerum suum
recordátus misericórdiæ suæ.
This verse we must pray everyday, at sunset, standing, to recall our most profound and Catholic identity, not proud, not rich, seeking mercy.
Post new comment