Thank you for writing such a lovely and insightful blog. I am a middle school teacher in a Catholic School in the archdiocese. I look forward to Fridays and your posting. I learn so much and feel that you have opened a window on church activities.

God Bless,

Sara-Jane

I’m a 66 year old, well educated person who was born, educated, and lived in Massachusetts until relocating to Louisiana in 1995. The events of world history during my lifetime, my family’s history, and my life experiences have brought me to the point of despair over the unspeakable war the US is waging in Iraq. The reasons for of our invasion and our rationale for behavior and continued presence in the country constitute the greatest examples of intellectual and moral fraud in my living memory. Iraq is one specific. The greater issue is the unspaeakble polices and actions of the Uited States in the entire middle-east.

We are facing a national election in a few days which could have been an opportunity for an honest referendum on the truth of the Iraq issue. But, truthful, bed-rock facts are in painfully short supply any more and shameless mendacity has been twisted become an admired and acceptable virtue.

The thing I want to know is, where is the voice of the US Roman Catholic Church? Where is even the attempt at moral and intellectual leadership in the face of this disaster? The secular issue is what has happened to our country and are the current circumstances the ultimate example of what you have called our philosophy of death? I’m not sure of that one, but I know you have phrased something that way.

You seem like a good guy. You had a rough start in Bosstown but seem to be recovering. My wife and I started our married life together in Pittsburgh 45 years ago. We lived with our Jewish couisns in Squirrel Hill. The older I get, the more Jewish I feel.

Please keep me and all the rest of us in you prayers.

Best personal regards,

John McCloskey

I think that a Tridentine Mass is beautiful, but it would require a rubrical training for the priests, and it may be slightly disorienting for younger Catholics (though I would still encourage them to try it out). Perhaps the Bishops might consider a Pauline Latin Mass to mee the needs of more solemnity while preserving the image of Vatican II in the eyes of the average believer. At Novus Ordo Masses we’ve donr, many Traditionalists can hardly tell a difference.

Thanks. I hope that many other Cardinals, or priest will start blogging and going over the internet, as well as a “global mission”

Matteo

This is a note of thanksgving for your blog site. It is wonderful to get news first hand from you about some of your weekly activity and your thoughts on different Catholic events or issues.

I too agree you are the “coolest” Cardinal yet, but equally important I find you so holy and so singular of purpose in having our community strengthen its faith, love of God and neighbor.

Being instrumental in having St John Vianney’s relic here was beautiful -I attended the Mass, Rosary and final bendiction at the Cathedral and it was a wonderful day of prayer including the opportunity for confession.

Christ in the City is another terrific program and was happy to hear you as well as Andreas this month. i look forward to Sister Olga’s talk next month.

The young adult activities such as TOT are great ways of exploring fellowship and faith – I’m a bit older so maybe there will be something for the over 40 crowd on your agenda too.

Thank you for your commitment to our Archdiocese – it is so needed and appreciated especially in light of the church closings and past clerical abuses.

Elaine Kwiecien
Brookline

Dear Cardinal Sean,
Thank you for this blog. Your response to Lisa’s question is eagerly awaited. No doubt, you see the best and worst as Cardinal Archbishop.

In the trenches, though the picture is bleak. By their teenage years, most are lost to the Church, as the hungers that young people identify are fed elsewehere. Their natural appetite for God is suffocated by both the secular world and by the fluff that is dished out in parish programs. Christ has gotten lost in the guidelines and platitudes, and most young people, with no knowledge of Him and no awareness that they even need Him, spend the time (that is required of them) in church looking for the “Exit” signs.

You recently wrote that the greatest heresy of the modern age is the denial of sin. If we deny sin, do we know God? And, if we don’t know God, isn’t that a crisis? This is not written with any sense of hopelessness, but with frustration over the inaction that persists despite widespread catechetical failures affecting generations of Catholics. The question in my mind is not how to teach the truth, but whether to teach it. And, when looked at that way, it’s not really a question at all. It’s a challenge. Will the Archdioces of Boston rise to it?

Cool Blog, and thank you for making yourself available for our questions.

I recently read an article on the EWTN site stating the Holy Father intends to grant a universal indult on the Tridentine Mass.

Here is the link http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=72164

What is your openion of this?? I personally think its fantastic. Another option is a good thing. It’s as though the reverance has been removed as well as what made the Church visable and tangable.

It seems the Tridentine Mass would help restore authentic Catholic spirituality and make the faith more tangable and visable. ( Ialso believe the Novus Ordo can do the same thing because It’s not the Latin, It’s the reverance)

Also Some diocese have moved the age of confirmation to just after First Commmunion. What is your opinion on this.

May the Lord bring you His Peace.

Is there a TOT for us married 40 somethings? This sounds like an awesome program. Also, please pray for me as I discern a Franciscan vocation for my state in life.

Peace,

Jon

just a comment on your comment — what do we do??? — ever notice that when people look for jewelry they seek “real diamonds”? . . . if “religion” just stays ‘real’ sooner or later people will seek it out . . . that’s what they hunger for and need . . . all the “trinket religious spirituality” gets set aside for ‘the real thing” in time . . .

Without the modern technology and the Internet I would never have thought about it. So that’s why I’m so happy with those new ways of communicating.

Thanks again for taking the time to write this blog.

Regarding the Tridentine Mass, I don’t think the issue is a matter of Latin or the vernacular; it’s a matter of whether the Mass will be a prayer, led by the priest, of the priest and the people to God or whether it will be a diologue between the priest and the people, which, sad to say, it is in far too many parishes in our Archdiocese. A couple of examples: there is a priest on the North Shore who *always” says ‘Thank you’ following the liturgical response to “The Lord Be With You.” Another priest I know, a lovely man, paraphrases *every* prayer of the Mass even occasionally going so far as to substitute the ‘Hail Mary’ for the Penetential Rite. I asked him about it and he said he thinks the Mass needs a personal touch. No it doesn’t. It needs fidelity to the Sacramentary. It needs to be a homage to the Lord alone, not to ourselves and each other. That is not an issue with the Tridentine Mass.

I’m certain there are many young people in this Archdiocese who have no idea what an authentic Catholic Mass looks and sounds like. I pray you will correct these egregious, and I’m sure, unintentional abuses of the Mass.

Thanks for your time. God bless you. You are in my daily prayers.

Ferde Rombola, Beverly

Thanks for all the information – I’ve found this blog highly educational.

You certainly seem comfortable in that kind of environment. Off the cuff questions seem to be your forte. I will never forget how you handled the Boston Globe and their impertinence last year during that interview! You were amazing!

What do you think our young people really hunger for, in our parishes? I have taught middle school and talked to high schhol CCD kids for years – and the universal cry is “we’re bored!!” Why is that? I feel like tearing my hair out sometimes! On the one hand – I say to them – “if you truly understood what was happening, you’d weep tears of joy, with the angels and saints” – and they look at me like I’m an idiot. Yet, the “guitar Masses” haven’t brought them back. Send them to “events” and they have a good time – but that’s it. Yet my son shivered through a monsoon and slogged through the mud for 8 hours on last Divine Mercy Sunday, to stay for Mass. (he’s 16)

So what do we do? Less “goofy” stuff, less trying to “dumb” things down, and assume they all think like 4th graders? Because I tell ya, I get the best results with these kids myself when I assume they are smart, and hungry, and actually *want* the Sacraments! So – should we be more …. what? How do we be “un-boring” yet not “goofy”???

I’m thinking that’s the mystery of the ages…. ….. and don’t tell me to ask the youth group director… he’s a nice guy… but…. would I type all this out if I thought his board games were generating any enthusiasm? LOL

Anyway….. Thanks! God bless!

Please advise where we can find out more about TOT. This is exactly what the future of our Church needs and what our young people are begging for.

Thank you for being personally involved because it’s only by adults becoming involved and reaching out to our youth that they will become involved (and not by plying pious platitudes down their throats!).

And God bless you for going onto their turf…that’s the clincher…I’m reminded of that Tom Cruise movie “Top Gun” where one of the other Jet Jockeys tell him, “Gutsiest move I’ve ever seen, Mav!”

The Lord give you peace!

Thank you once again for your wonderful blog. Since you referred to the Tridentine Mass and polyphonic music in today’s blog, I thought I would raise the issue of liturgical music. I am concerned that not enough attention has been paid to ensuring the sacredness and beauty of music at masses as an integral part of the divine liturgy. Instead, wide discretion and even indifference has been exhibited that sometimes, in my opinion, results in liturgical music being treated as if it is little more than a gimmick or a sideshow. I have sat in masses where the music was such that, worse than a sideshow, it even seemed to distract from and clash against the rest of the liturgy. In particular, much of the music one hears today in masses often seems to strive more to be sentimental than sacred. Different people have different musical tastes, to be sure – but shouldn’t our liturgical music be above fickle “tastes”? As an amateur musician, I am time and again amazed at discovering the beauty and sacred quality of Catholic music written over the ages. I am thinking especially of chant and the Vatican Graduale but also of Palestrina, Haydn, Gounod, Mozart, etc. I believe such music, especially chant was divinely inspired. I know that the music I speak of is mostly comprised of latin and is not always easy to produce with many parishes limited means, but could not such obstacles be overcome or some sort of a compromise reached? I have seen some parishes introduce chant in their liturgy where it has been used simply and effectively. The heart of the mass will always be the eucharist, but I would suggest that to be part of such a holy and beautiful gift as the mass, the utmost care should be given to the rest of the liturgy so that it can serve as a fitting accompaniment to the holy eucharist. To this end, should there not be some sort of standards established to ensure preservation of the sacred nature of liturgical music?

I would appreciate your thoughts on the subject and also any information you have regarding any current efforts underway either in the Archdiocese or the Church as a whole to review the current state of liturgical music?

God bless,

Ben

Genesis:
”
The LORD God said: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.”

So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name.

The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.
”

I see Baptism in it. The Church helps Jesus to baptize. The Church is a suitable partner for Jesus in baptism. From Eva I go to Mary. Mary is virgin and so The Church is virgin. Mary is an image of the Church. Don’t you think so?

Well, Jesus is the First and the End. Alfa and Omega.
At the end there is the Holy Spirit and at the begin there is Mary pregnant because of the Holy Spirit. At the end there is the Holy Spirit from revived Jesus. That is the pregnant Church because of the Holy Spirit. Therefore I think the Church has to give birth to Jesus. I think Jesus has to return through the Church. What do you think about it ?

Thank You!