While that never happened at this blog, I'm happy to say that much of it is currently happening at Intentional Disciples, the blog of the Catherine of Siena Institute (where I am also a contributor). That leaves me with the question about what to do with Take Your Place. My own lay apostolate is beginning to grow (I'm heading out at least once a month for the forseeable future), and with it, my desire to upgrade my web presence to include a home for my apostolate, which I'm currently calling Lay Formation Resources. And since my passion, gifts, and interests lie along the same lines as that of my compatriots at the Catherine of Siena Institute, it leaves me with a challenge as to how to differentiate this blog from other similar blogs.

I recently redesigned my personal site, From The Shattered Drum, and I learned a great many lessons about the flexibility of the Squarespace platform. Therefore, I am going to put this blog on hiatus for a brief period of time as I redesign, relaunch, and restrategize on how to make Take Your Place 2.0 a much more useful site.

Until then, you can stay connected with me over at Shattered Drum. My hope is that this hiatus will last just a few weeks. I'll send out announcements when I'm ready for action again.

And yet, there is a real (and sometimes conscious) movement to de-emphasize the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and emphasize Christ's Presence in the community. At one parish where I served as an adult minister of youth, the DRE was absolutely puzzled when I told her that we had done Eucharistic Adoration on a teen retreat (and they absolutely loved it). She asked, "Why would you do that? We don't do that anymore." I have witnessed and experienced such attitudes personally. It finds its way not only into informal conversation, but also formal catechesis and pastoral praxis.

There is a sense that any emphasis on Christ's Presence in the Eucharist is taking a step "backward," delving into "old" theology that is no longer quite valid. The effect is that generations of Catholics have been incompletely formed and have missed out on a powerful experience of God and His Grace. 

The problem doesn't lay at the feet of the Church's theology--which is the classic Catholic "both/and." The problem exists  imperfect humans, come to Revelation with our own worldview and seek to fit Revelation into that worldview, rather than the other way around. Over at Catholic Culture, Dr. Jeff Mirus identifies and writes about this issue quite clearly and forcefully:

August is the month of the Eucharist, and I have noticed an increase of materials on that topic in our parish vestibule. One printed item features the headline, “What Has Happened to My Devotion?”. The article proceeds to explain favorably the new community-centric experience of Christ that has replaced Eucharistic adoration.

 

A Sound Parish

In my parish, I can take this sort of thing with a grain of salt. As I read this “Catholic Update” leaflet, written in 1992 by Thomas Richstatter, OFM and published by St. Anthony Messenger Press, I was well aware that if I turned and walked through the inner doors into the church I would find the monstrance on the altar and Eucharistic adoration in full swing. But not everyone is blessed in this way.

The frustrating thing is that the theology in this explanation of the shift in Eucharistic piety is actually pretty rich in many ways. Richstatter talks about the fact that Christ is made present in the Eucharist for the express purpose of animating His mystical body, the Church, so that the ultimate crown of Eucharistic understanding is the unity and charity of the Christian community. Thus while many Catholics might have once regarded Forty Hours Devotion as a high point of Eucharistic celebration, new insights have shifted our focus to the Easter Vigil, at which fledgeling Christians are welcomed into the fullness of ecclesial life.

There is nothing wrong with what is being said here. The problem lies in what is left out.

Christ at the Center

The emphasis on the community’s response to Christ—indeed the community’s impenetration by Christ—is certainly important. Union with God is most convincingly demonstrated by the bonds of charity. But emphasizing this at the expense of devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is both philosophically backward and spiritually ennervating. The community cannot be both the recipient and the source of God’s transforming power. To emphasize the gifts that the community has received in a way that deemphasizes the source of those gifts is a reversal of the proper order. 

Christ Himself in the Eucharist is the sign and cause of our unity (or so says the Catechism). As Dr. Mirus says, it is right and good that we acknowledge the presence of Christ in the community, but we should not confuse the effect with the cause. He concludes:

No, we cannot worship Christ in the community, because the community is not Christ; nor, for the same reason, can we worship Him in the Bible, the Tradition, the Magisterium, the confession of sins, the finest pastors, or the beauties of the liturgy (though the action of the liturgy itself is the profoundest worship, in which we can join). But we can always worship Him whole and direct, concrete and visible, in His Real Presence in the Eucharist, because He is the Eucharist and the Eucharist is He. That is why, in contrast to every other kind of presence of Christ—and there are many kinds—the Church calls this one alone by the name of “Real”.

 

Every other manifestation of Christ will fail in its purpose if our understanding of it obscures rather than heightens our appreciation of His Real Presence in the Eucharist. This is just another way of saying that any focus on the action of Christ is useless if it leads us away from Christ Himself. 

This month, I will make a special effort to attend Eucharistic Adoration and pray for a renewal of this devotion in the life of the Church. It has been my experience in 20 years of youth and young adult ministry that every solid, "successful," and powerful program of youth or young adult formation has been founded on devotion to Christ in the Eucharist. What would happen if we included this devotion more completely in the life of the whole Church? 

Although I never blogged about it, something quite sad happened a few days before I left for my week-long seminar. On a Thursday a few weeks ago, the old pastor of my current parish, Queen of the Rosary, passed away. I didn't really know Fr. Cerniglia at all. What I did experience was a priest who, despite the infirmity of age, continued to minister to his flock. He lived at the parish and assisted Fr. Art Fagan, our current pastor, whenever he could.

As sad as that loss was, it was even more shocking to find out that the day after Fr. C passed away, Fr. Fagan had a heart attack and died as well. That's right, we lost two pastors in two days. The whole community is still in shock over the sad passing of our priests.

Fr. Art was what I call a stereotypical American Irish priest in the midwest. He had a no nonsense way of dealing with parish administration, and a great, mischievous sense of humor. While he and I came from very different places theologically, I appreciated his big heart and love of people. We became friends, and he even had dinner a few times with Deb and I.

His passing has been a lot harder on Debbie. Fr. Art really helped her through a difficult transition in her life, and she is really feeling his absence. She wrote a beautiful reflection about Fr. Art on her blog. 

My prayers are with you Fr. C and Fr. Art, I ask that you keep Deb and I in your prayers, as well.

I finally took about a half hour and sorted through my IE Favorites, turning my oft-visited favorites into permanent fixtures on my blogroll. I've included many more links to Catholic-focused blogs. If you have some time to kill, please peruse these new links!

In this way, I hope to integrate more of the ToB into my own spiritual journey, as well as strengthen my ability to include its insights into my speaking and retreat ministry. I'm sure that from time to time something in this great work will inspire me to reflection on this blog.

Right now, however, I'm having a frabjous moment just contemplating what I'm going to be doing in the next few weeks!

Pray for me!

I'm all about customer service and reader functionality. Seeing as I've been blogging on various topics for three years, I decided to take advantage of Squarespace's newest widget, a very integrated search function. Just type in a word or topic that you want to find on this blog, and you'll be given all of the posts with that word in it. I've even configured it so that you can go through an advanced options search.

Try it out and let me know how it works!

After an amazing week teaching the Making Disciples seminar in Colorado and giving a formation retreat for catechists at Blessed Kateri parish in Califonia, I have finally returned safe and sound to the incredibly hot and humid midwest! God moved so powerfully during this week, touching the hearts and minds of so many people (including myself)!

If anyone from Making Disciples or from Blessed Kateri has found their way here, I wish you a hearty welcome! I can not tell you how blessed I felt spending the last week with you all!

It is, however, also a blessing to be home. Deb and I spent a wonderful evening together. First, we went to dinner and then saw the Bourne Ultimatum. It was, you know, like a real date! 

 I love being home!

Check it out! 

As usual, Aimee over at Historical Christian has an exceptionally informative and reflective post on Infallibility. I hope that you take the time to read the whole thing. Here are some of the most moving passages from it:

The Faith of the Catholic Church today is the faith of the early Church, is the faith of Jesus, is the faith of the bible - explained and interpreted correctly.  The mass, too, is the mass of the early Church: remarkably the same, which I can attest to, having studied the development of liturgy in the early Church.  Nothing, actually, has changed, except for our understanding of it and a few externals of practice; and our understanding has grown and will continue to grow and unfold, guided by the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth, as Jesus said He would, the infinite truth of God, speaking and explaining His Revelation through the voice of the Magisterium.

 

God did not only act in distant history, and leave us only a book to follow, with only fallible men to try to figure out what the book really means – and so fail at what the book asks us to do, because we can’t agree on the meaning.  Infallibility is the lynchpin of authority and interpretation, and of unity, without which the former would be meaningless and the latter would fall apart.  All are a work of the Holy Spirit, all are God working directly in His Church to infallibly teach us, guide us, and keep us united as one.  He’s been doing it all along in the Catholic Church.

Which brings me to another related point: the nature of the Church.  The Protestant world has a very truncated view of the Church, as only a “mystical body” united in faith, though visibly fragmented.  But this is not the Church founded by Christ, and it is not the Church spoken of by scripture.

The real Church in its fullness truly is a single, living organism, united in faith and practice.  It is the Body of Christ, united as one through the Eucharist, His Body and Blood.  It has a single head on earth, the Pope, stewarded and guided by Christ in heaven, the real Head of the Body.  The Holy Spirit lives in the Church as His Temple, guiding her leaders and sanctifying her members.  It is a single organism, and God really is living and speaking and teaching in her midst and is really her Real Leader – without whom it would all fall apart.  In a very real way, the Church is God Incarnate on the earth.

This is why I say that, when it comes to matters of the faith, to trust the Church is to trust God, and not to trust the Church is to fail to trust God.

To trust the Church is to trust God. So often, when we begin to share our faith with those who are far from the Church, we have to demonstrate our trustworthiness--to let them see Christ working in us through the way we live and speak. Hopefully, as our friendship with these men and women deepen, they learn to trust not just us as individuals, but also to trust the One who created us, called us, and sent us into the world to be His hands and feet--Jesus, the Christ. 

And through that trust in Christ, they (and we) can begin to see and experience the Church as more than a collection of believers united by a common creed, but as the very Mystical Body of Christ, incorporated into the fullness of the very Life of God through Baptism. There is no separation, then, between the Eternal Bridegroom and His Bride, The Church. Both are One, united in a Love sealed with the Blood of Christ.

This interpenetration between Lover and Beloved is made manifest in the Eucharist. Therefore, it is not enough for an individual to confess faith in Christ and live apart from His Body. All are called around the Eucharistic table, to dwell in the heart of Christ's Death and Resurrection. This is the Mind of Christ, that "all may be One, Father, as you and I are One" (John 17:21), and it is the hope of His Church.

It all begins with trust.

Made possible by the gift of Infallibility that Christ gave to Peter and his successors.

I love the Interweb! What could be better than the group Gregorian singing modern songs with an ancient twist? When they are singing U2 songs! Without further ado:

And lest you think that I would leave you with a secularized Gregorian style divorced from its liturgical and monastic roots, I give you some authentic Gregorian Chants:

Here's some from The St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary:

And finally, some chant from Notre Dame, with a beautiful, almost heartbreaking countertenor solo:

Oh. My. God!!! I Love This!

In honor of the pope's recent Motu Proprio freeing up the 1962-Missal Latin Mass, I bring you this chanted version of a great song!

I for one am delighted that the Church's liturgical life has been enriched by the acknowledgement that we have ONE Rite with two forms--the Novus Ordo (a term I dislike because it seems to imply a break with the liturgical continuity of the Church) or Mass of Paul VI and the Latin Mass or Mass of Pius V. My hope is that the richness of the Pian use (though extraordinary) will heal the rift between the SSPX and the Church and encourage traditionalists to take another look at Vatican II to see what it really has to say.

I also hope that the reverence and ritual of the Latin Mass will have an enrichening liturgical effect on the Mass of Paul VI so that it will be celebrated more intentionally and reverently. Our beloved Pope Benedict XVI has given the Church something of inestimable worth, and although I do not personally wish to attend TLM's exclusively, I am grateful that he has made them more widely available to the whole Church.

I do not think that the Motu Proprio signals the end of "Vatican II." To say such a thing is to misunderstand the 2nd Vatican Council entirely. We are seeing a reform of the reform, the (super)natural movement of the Holy Spirit as He leads the Church to "unpack" the richness of the Council.

We live in very interesting times!

Sometimes I feel as if Time were an eel squirming through my hands! I can't believe it's been 5 days since my last update. In that time, we have survived a blisteringly hot and humid period here in Chicago, I have started working on some freelance copywriting, and I am putting the finishing touches on some more editing. I'm also still preparing for a retreat I'm giving to 100 catechists in CA, as well as a week-long seminar on Making Disciples with the Catherine of Siena Institute. 

In a miraculous turn of events, both Qila and Orion are laying on the kitchen floor quietly. I think all of the heat has sapped the strength of my snow dogs! At least it gives me some time to update things here before I jump in to more freelance work.

On the prayer front, I want to ask you to pray for my neighbor's Mom, who just had a stroke, and for the repose of the soul of Frank Czarnek, one of Deb's friends who recently passed away.

Other than that, I am committing to more updates--though look for things to thin out toward the end of this month as I spend my time traveling!

If you're interested in a thoughtful journey through the Conciliar Documents, then stop by Todd's blog. He's also posted some stunning pictures of other planets, as well.