My little library consists of:
Death & Eternal Life According to Ratzinger
December 2008 (New Oxford Review) By Arthur C. Sippo
Arthur C. Sippo is a physician and specialist in aerospace medicine who has written and lectured as a Catholic apologist for over 30 years. He writes from southern Illinois.
Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life, Second Edition. By Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Translated by Michael Waldstein. Edited by Aidan Nicholls, O.P. Catholic University of America Press. 307 pages. $14.95.
Originally written in German in 1977 as volume nine in the Dogmatic Theology series, Eschatology was first translated into English in 1988 and published by the Catholic University of America Press. A total of three volumes of this series were translated, including Church: The Universal Sacrament of Salvation and General Doctrine of the Sacraments and the Mystery of the Eucharist. When I realized this was a series, I called CUA Press and asked if it would be possible to subscribe to the series. The woman at the Press office laughed and told me that they would probably not be publishing any further volumes from this series because the readers thought the books were “too conservative.” A series of books on Catholic dogmatics written by some of the brightest minds in the German Catholic Church is just too orthodox for a Catholic publisher to consider printing? Therein lies a lesson about the state of affairs in the Church today.
This particular volume was written by Joseph Ratzinger, a former professor at the Universities of Münster, Tübingen, and Regensburg. He was a peritus at the Second Vatican Council and a founding member, during the Council, of Concilium, a theology publication. As he became aware of heterodox elements in this movement in 1972 he broke from it and helped found the Communio movement, whose magazine is a premier source of orthodox Catholic theology in our day.
Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life was written by Ratzinger just before he assumed his diocesan responsibilities in Bavaria. Even though he wrote the most recent Foreword after he had been elected to the papacy, this is clearly a non-magisterial work of private theological opinion written by Joseph Ratzinger the theologian, not by Pope Benedict XVI. Even so, one could hardly come across a more erudite exposition of Catholic dogmatics that includes biblical, patristic, magisterial, ecumenical, and theological insights from the very heart of Catholicism and its patrimony.
In his new Foreword, Pope Benedict tells us that this book was intended to be both a textbook and a manual for spiritual reflection on eschatology, which he considers to be the very essence of Christian hope.
I myself do not read German, but I am familiar enough with translations of German theological works to understand how difficult it is to take thoughts from a Germanic idiom and place them into English. In this volume, Ratzinger is well served by Michael Waldstein’s translation and Fr. Nicholls’s editing. Eschatology is not only a well-constructed theological treatise, it is also literate, unpretentious, and accessible to the intelligent adult Catholic.
The book is divided into three parts. Part One deals with the problem of eschatology and its relationship to the very essence of Christianity. Here, Ratzinger interacts with many of the modern theories concerning eschatology, including proposals put forth by major figures from our separated brethren such as Barth, Bultmann, Cullman, and Dodd. In short, he discusses the meaning of Christ’s return, and what we as believers can look forward to at His coming.
Part Two deals with the theology of death and the various notions of human immortality that have existed from Jewish antiquity up through our own day. Ratzinger points out that the Jewish understanding of Sheol, where the shades of the dead lingered, was similar to the opinions of neighboring cultures. The idea of bodily resurrection was an innovation over and against the common human expectation of a bodiless afterlife, and resurrection was itself the natural outgrowth of the Hebrew concept of man as a creature made body and soul in the image of God. Death of the body was shown in Genesis 1-3 to be a punishment for breaking fellowship with God and not the natural end of a life. Salvation from sin and death, therefore, was salvation of man from his alienation from God. The healing of that rift of necessity meant the restoration of man to bodily immortality. The intermediate state of the soul after death, therefore, was a result of the sinfulness of man, and it was natural that some elements of purgation would be associated with it in preparation for the restoration of man to bodily life in resurrection.
With this in mind, Ratzinger reviews the teaching of the Church on human immortality. There was no clear guidance from patristic sources on what human immortality — especially in the intermediate state, but also in a resurrected body — actually meant. There was a strain of thought in the patristic period strongly influenced by Platonism in which the soul was treated almost like a “ghost in a machine” with a strong sense of the body/soul dichotomy. This Hellenistic attitude based immortality of the soul on something innate to the human person and separate from the “mortal” body. Ratzinger points out several theological problems with this and shows how they could be circumvented by St. Thomas Aquinas’s brilliant solution to the question based on Aristotle’s notion of eternal forms as being preserved within real objects and not as members of an unchanging alternate realm. St. Thomas’s new anthropology could be summed up as anima unica forma corpus (i.e., the soul is the unifying principle of the body), and did justice to the original Hebrew understanding of man as an irreducible and integral whole.
Part Three discusses the future life in detail, including what is meant by a resurrected body, the return of Christ, the general judgment, Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. This is the real center of the book, for which the previous material was merely preparatory.
The intermediate state is no longer seen as the immortal soul returning to spiritual fellowship with God. Rather, it is God knowing each of us and remembering everything about us in preparation for returning each human being to full bodily life at the general resurrection. It is God’s individual love for us that grants each of us temporary life with Him apart from our bodies. In that memory, those who have loved God and joined to Him through Christ are contemplated in the light of the Savior, and God reshapes us in preparation for eternal bliss with Him after the resurrection. During that time we are granted a preparatory glance of the beatific vision in eschatological anticipation of our final end in a renewed body.
In like manner, the damned are remembered in their rejection of God, and their memory invokes the wrath and sorrow of God for their wasted lives. Just as God sends the rain on the just and the unjust alike, He will also reunite His image reflected in men on both the just and the unjust alike. Embodied man was made for immortality from the very beginning and — for good or ill — all men will participate in that immortality, whether in paradise or perdition.
The return of Christ is seen as the promise that the world will reach perfection, not through the actions and plans of men, but through the transforming power of God’s love. The world will transcend its very self through Christ. In this section, Ratzinger critiques various chiliastic ideas and emphasizes transformation by Christ. This will be a qualitative change, not merely a quantitative transformation.
The section on Heaven is one of the shortest in the book, comprising only five pages. In this brief statement, Ratzinger emphasizes that Heaven is a Christological concept, not a spatio-temporal one. As such, Heaven will not be complete until all the members of Christ’s body have been gathered in to contemplate their Lord in the fullness of His body, the Church. In fact, the whole of creation will become the vessel of God’s glory.
I was surprised that more was not made of the wedding feast of the Lamb from Revelation 22 in this section. In this last section of the Scriptures, the Church is described as the Bride of the Lamb and the very term “revelation” (Greek: apokalupsis) is the term used when the bride and groom “unveil” themselves to each other on their wedding night as they consummate their marriage. In any future editions of this book, the incorporation of this biblical image will enhance its value for laymen by presenting a powerful metaphor from their own experience of marriage.
There are two appendices. The first includes supplemental reflections that interact with magisterial teaching on eschatology given after the first edition of this book in 1977. Ratzinger also responds to some criticisms of his work and integrates more contemporary ideas into his thesis.
The second appendix was written in 1987 for the English edition of this work. It was an attempt to summarize the ongoing debate up to that time on death and immortality with special attention to work done in the English language. It summarizes much of what the book discusses and can be used as a convenient digest of the book.
This is a monumental book that deserves to be read through many times. We have very little material in English that is orthodox and accessible to educated laymen, and which deals with the very essence of what it is we hope for in Christ. This is an ideal book for private devotion or for a discussion group, especially at the college level and beyond. Even though this work is not part of the Pope’s Ordinary Magisterium, it speaks with the authority of Catholic tradition and is a sound guide into the mysteries of the faith. It also is a superb text for those who pursue apologetics in defense of our Catholic faith. I pray that this book will attract a wider readership in our time, such as was achieved by The Imitation of Christ in times past.
Hi Alaska, I appreciate speaking directly TO you, the people I serve, as your Governor.
People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing’s more important to me than our beloved Alaska. Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.
I want Alaskans to grasp what can be in store for our state. We were purchased as a territory because a member of President Abe Lincoln’s cabinet, William Seward, providentially saw in this great land, vast riches, beauty, strategic placement on the globe, and opportunity. He boldly looked “North to the Future”. But he endured such ridicule and mocking for his vision for Alaska, remember the adversaries scoffed, calling this “Seward’s Folly”. Seward withstood such disdain as he chose the uncomfortable, unconventional, but RIGHT path to secure Alaska, so Alaska could help secure the United States.
Alaska’s mission – to contribute to America. We’re strategic IN the world as the air crossroads OF the world, as a gatekeeper of the continent. Bold visionaries knew this – Alaska would be part of America’s great destiny.
Our destiny to be reached by responsibly developing our natural resources. This land, blessed with clean air, water, wildlife, minerals, AND oil and gas. It’s energy! God gave us energy.
So to serve the state is a humbling responsibility, because I know in my soul that Alaska is of such import, for America’s security, in our very volatile world. And you know me by now, I promised even four years ago to show MY independence… no more conventional “politics as usual”.
And we are doing well! My administration’s accomplishments speak for themselves. We work tirelessly for Alaskans.
We aggressively and responsibly develop our resources because they were created to be used to better our world… to HELP people… and we protect the environment and Alaskans (the resource owners) foremost with our policies.
Here’s some of the things we’ve done:
We created a petroleum integrity office to oversee safe development. We held the line FOR Alaskans on Point Thomson – and finally for the first time in decades – they’re drilling for oil and gas.
We have AGIA, the gasline project – a massive bi-partisan victory (the vote was 58 to 1!) – also succeeding as intended – protecting Alaskans as our clean natural gas will flow to energize us, and America, through a competitive, pro-private sector project. This is the largest private sector energy project, ever. THIS is energy independence.
And ACES – another bipartisan effort – is working as intended and industry is publicly acknowledging its success. Our new oil and gas “clear and equitable formula” is so Alaskans will no longer be taken advantage of. ACES incentivizes NEW exploration and development and JOBS that were previously not going to happen with a monopolized North Slope oil basin.
We cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions; we ushered in bi-partisan Ethics Reform.
We also slowed the rate of government growth, we worked with the Legislature to save billions of dollars for the future, and I made no lobbyist friends with my hundreds of millions of dollars in budget vetoes… but living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow.
We took government out of the dairy business and put it back into private-sector hands – where it should be.
We provided unprecedented support for education initiatives, and with the right leadership, finally filled long-vacant public safety positions. We built a sub-Cabinet on Climate Change and took heat from Outside special interests for our biologically-sound wildlife management for abundance.
We broke ground on the new prison.
And we made common sense conservative choices to eliminate personal luxuries like the jet, the chef, the junkets… the entourage.
And the Lt. Governor and I said “no” to our pay raises. So much success in this first term – and with this success I am proud to take credit… for hiring the right people! Our goal was to achieve a gasline project, more fair oil and gas valuation, and ethics reform in four years. We did it in two. It’s because of the people… good public servants surrounding the Governor’s office, with servants’ hearts and astounding work ethic… THEY are Alaska’s success!
We are doing well! I wish you’d hear MORE from the media of your state’s progress and how we tackle Outside interests – daily – SPECIAL interests that would stymie our state. Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an “all-knowing attitude” – I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular. Some of those dollars would harm Alaska and harm America – I resisted those dollars because of the obscene national debt we’re forcing our children to pay, because of today’s Big Government spending; it’s immoral and doesn’t even make economic sense!
Another accomplishment – our Law Department protected states’ rights – TWO huge U.S. Supreme Court reversals came down against that liberal Ninth Circuit, deciding in OUR state’s favor over the last two weeks. We’re protectors of our Constitution – federalists protect states’ rights as mandated in 10th amendment.
But you don’t hear much of the good stuff in the press anymore, do you?
Some say things changed for me on August 29th last year – the day John McCain tapped me to be his running-mate – I say others changed.
Let me speak to that for a minute.
Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt. The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I’ve been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations – such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters’ questions.
Every one – all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We’ve won! But it hasn’t been cheap – the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to “opposition research” – that’s money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers – or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the “politics of personal destruction” … Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn’t cost them a dime so they’re not going to stop draining public resources – spending other peoples’ money in their game.
It’s pretty insane – my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with THIS instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more “politics as usual,” but THIS isn’t what anyone had in mind for ALASKA.
If I have learned one thing: LIFE is about choices!
And one chooses how to react to circumstances. You can choose to engage in things that tear down, or build up. I choose to work very hard on a path for fruitfulness and productivity. I choose NOT to tear down and waste precious time; but to build UP this state and our country, and her industrious, generous, patriotic, free people!
Life is too short to compromise time and resources… it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: “Sit down and shut up”, but that’s the worthless, easy path; that’s a quitter’s way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and “go with the flow”.
Nah, only dead fish “go with the flow”.
No. Productive, fulfilled people determine where to put their efforts, choosing to wisely utilize precious time… to BUILD UP.
And there is such a need to BUILD up and FIGHT for our state and our country. I choose to FIGHT for it! And I’ll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and LIFE… I’ll work for and campaign for those PROUD to be American, and those who are INSPIRED by our ideals and won’t deride them.
I WILL support others who seek to serve, in or out of office, for the RIGHT reasons, and I don’t care what party they’re in or no party at all. Inside Alaska – or Outside Alaska.
But I won’t do it from the Governor’s desk.
I’ve never believed that I, nor anyone else, needs a title to do this – to make a difference… to HELP people. So I choose, for my State and my family, more “freedom” to progress, all the way around… so that Alaska may progress… I will not seek re-election as Governor.
And so as I thought about this announcement that I wouldn’t run for re-election and what it means for Alaska, I thought about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks… travel around the state, to the Lower 48 (maybe), overseas on international trade – as so many politicians do. And then I thought – that’s what’s wrong – many just accept that lame duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck, and “milk it”. I’m not putting Alaska through that – I promised efficiencies and effectiveness! ? That’s not how I am wired. I am not wired to operate under the same old “politics as usual.” I promised that four years ago – and I meant it.
It’s not what is best for Alaska.
I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is unconventional and not so comfortable.
With this announcement that I am not seeking re-election… I’ve determined it’s best to transfer the authority of governor to Lieutenant Governor Parnell; and I am willing to do so, so that this administration – with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future – can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.
My choice is to take a stand and effect change – not hit our heads against the wall and watch valuable state time and money, millions of your dollars, go down the drain in this new environment. Rather, we know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time, on another scale, and actually make a difference for our priorities – and so we will, for Alaskans and for Americans.
Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me – sports… basketball. I use it because you’re naïve if you don’t see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket… and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN. And I’m doing that – keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities – smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it’s time to pass the ball – for victory.
I have given my reasons candidly and truthfully… and my last day won’t be for another few weeks so the transition will be very smooth. In fact, we will look to swear Sean in – in Fairbanks at the conclusion of our Governor’s picnics.
I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision – but it’s no more “politics as usual”.
Some Alaskans don’t mind wasting public dollars and state time. I do. I cannot stand here as your Governor and allow millions upon millions of our dollars go to waste just so I can hold the title of Governor. And my children won’t allow it either. ? Some will question the timing. ? Let’s just say, this decision has been in the works for awhile…
In fact, this decision comes after much consideration, and finally polling the most important people in my life – my children (where the count was unanimous… well, in response to asking: “Want me to make a positive difference and fight for ALL our children’s future from OUTSIDE the Governor’s office?” It was four “yes’s” and one “hell yeah!” The “hell yeah” sealed it – and someday I’ll talk about the details of that… I think much of it had to do with the kids seeing their baby brother Trig mocked by some pretty mean-spirited adults recently.) Um, by the way, sure wish folks could ever, ever understand that we ALL could learn so much from someone like Trig – I know he needs me, but I need him even more… what a child can offer to set priorities RIGHT – that time is precious… the world needs more “Trigs”, not fewer.
My decision was also fortified during this most recent trip to Kosovo and Landstuhl, to visit our wounded soldiers overseas, those who sacrifice themselves in war for OUR freedom and security… we can ALL learn from our selfless Troops… they’re bold, they don’t give up, they take a stand and know that LIFE is short so they choose to NOT waste time. They choose to be productive and to serve something greater than SELF… and to build up their families, their states, our country. These Troops and their important missions – those are truly the worthy causes in this world and should be the public priority with time and resources and NOT this local / superficial wasteful political bloodsport.
May we ALL learn from them!
*((Gotta put First Things First))*
First things first: as Governor, I love my job and I love Alaska. It hurts to make this choice but I am doing what’s best for Alaska. I’ve explained why… though I think of the saying on my parents’ refrigerator that says “Don’t explain: your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe you anyway.”
But I have given my reasons… no more “politics as usual” and I am taking my fight for what’s right – for Alaska – in a new direction.
Now, despite this, I don’t want any Alaskan dissuaded from entering politics after seeing this REAL “climate change” that began in August… no, we NEED hardworking, average Americans fighting for what’s right! And I will support you because we need YOU and YOU can effect change, and I can too on the outside.
We need those who will respect our Constitution where government’s supposed to serve from the BOTTOM UP, not move toward this TOP DOWN big government take-over… but rather, will be protectors of individual rights – who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it’s time so the team can win! And that is what I’m doing!
Remember Alaska… America is now, more than ever, looking North to the Future. It’ll be good. So God bless you, and from me and my family – to ALL Alaska – you have my heart.
And we will be in the capable hands of our Lieutenant Governor, Sean Parnell. And Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will assume the role of Lieutenant Governor. And it is my promise to you that I will always be standing by, ready to assist. We have a good, positive agenda for Alaska.
In the words of General MacArthur said, “We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
[July 4th Update - posted on Facebook]
Happy 4th of July from Alaska!
On this Independence Day, I am so very proud of all those who have chosen to serve our great nation and I honor their selflessness and the sacrifices of their families, too.
If I may, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the last 24 hours and share my thoughts with you.
First, I want to thank you for your support and hard work on the values we share. Those values led me to the decision my family and I made. Yesterday, my family and I announced a decision that is in Alaska’s best interest and it always feels good to do what is right. We have accomplished more during this one term than most governors do in two – and I am proud of the great team that helped to build these wonderful successes. Energy independence and national security, fiscal restraint, smaller government, and local control have been my priorities and will remain my priorities.
For months now, I have consulted with friends and family, and with the Lieutenant Governor, about what is best for our wonderful state. I even made a few administrative changes over that course in time in preparation for yesterday. We have accomplished so much and there’s much more to do, but my family and I determined after prayerful consideration that sacrificing my title helps Alaska most. And once I decided not to run for re-election, my decision was that much easier – I’ve never been one to waste time or resources. Those who know me know this is the right decision and obvious decision at that, including Senator John McCain. I thank him for his kind, insightful comments.
The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the “politics of personal destruction”. How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country. And though it’s honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. But every American understands what it takes to make a decision because it’s right for all, including your family.
I shared with you yesterday my heartfelt and candid reasons for this change; I’ve never thought I needed a title before one’s name to forge progress in America. I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!
God bless you! And I look forward to making a difference – with you!
At the first concert of his summer ballpark tour, Bob Dylan sang Forgetful Heart, somewhat differently from the recent Together Through Life album, of course!
For the full interview, visit runnersworld.com/sarahpalin
For the full interview, visit runnersworld.com/sarahpalin
Photo: Brian Adams
From an article on First Things by Michael Novak:
. . .
An accurate presentation of real existing capitalism requires at least three modest affirmations:1) Markets work well only within a system of law, and only according to well-marked-out rules of the game; unregulated markets are a figment of imagination.
2) In actual capitalist practice, the love of creativity, invention, and groundbreaking enterprise are far more powerful than motives of greed.
3) The fundamental systemic motive infusing the spirit of capitalism is the imperative to liberate the world’s poor from the premodern ubiquity of grinding poverty. This motive lay at the heart of Adam Smith’s important victory over Thomas Malthus concerning the coming affluence—rather than starvation—of the poor.
Since the origins of modern capitalism around 1780, more than two-thirds of the world’s population has moved out of poverty. In China and India alone, more than 500 million have been raised out of poverty just in the last forty years. In almost every nation the average age of mortality has risen dramatically, causing populations to expand accordingly. Health in almost every dimension has been improved, and literacy has been carried to remote places it never reached before.
Whatever the motives of individuals, the system has improved the plight of the poor as none ever has before. The contemporary left systematically refuses to face these undeniable facts. . . .
All discussions of a nation’s economy would profit by including every nation’s biggest monopoly: its government. This is often left implicit in economic discussions, including Novak’s.
John Newman wrote:
Trust the Church of God implicitly, even when your natural judgment would take a different course from hers, and would induce you to question her prudence on her correctness. Recollect what a hard task she has; how she is sure to be criticized and spoken against, whatever she does; recollect how long is the experience gained in eighteen hundred years, and what a right she has to claim your assent to principles which have had so extended and so triumphant a trial. Thank her that she has kept the faith safe for so many generations, and do your part in helping her to transmit it to generations after you. (from The Idea of a University – Part 2, Section 10: Christianity and Medical Science)
From Stand Firm (Anglican blog):
The leader of the Orthodox Church in North America has re-kindled the oldest ecumenical relationship in Christian history. Addressing delegates and attendees of the inaugural assembly of the Anglican Church in North America, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, said, “I am seeking an ecumenical restoration by being here today. This is God’s call to us.” This significant gesture represents the possibility of full communion being exchanged between the churches.
Metropolitan Jonah represents the North American branch of the Orthodox Church, a Christian denomination that has a long history of strong relationships with the Anglican Church. “We have to actualize that radical experience of union in Christ with one another,” Jonah said. Speaking for 45 minutes, the Metropolitan addressed the importance of looking past our differences in order to work together for mission. “Our unity transcends our particularity,” he said.
The Titus 1:9 blog has a convenient index page to material on the ACNA Inaugural Assembly June 2009, for those interested in Anglican ecclesial structures in the USA.
Mary Alice Ailes is blogging from the Assembly, as is Wannabe Anglican.
There’s an amusing WSJ article today which argues that the Court’s “right to privacy” arguments underlying Roe v Wade and Casey also imply that government mandated health care would be unconstitutional. O the irony 
. . . If the government cannot proscribe — or even “unduly burden,” to use another of the Supreme Court’s analytical frameworks — access to abortion, how can it proscribe access to other medical procedures, including transplants, corrective or restorative surgeries, chemotherapy treatments, or a myriad of other health services that individuals may need or desire?
This type of “burden” analysis will be especially problematic for a national health system because, in the health area, proper care often depends upon an individual’s unique physical and even genetic history and characteristics. One size clearly does not fit all, but that is the very essence of governmental regulation — to impose a regularity (if not uniformity) in the application of governmental power and the dispersal of its largess. Taking key decisions away from patient and physician, or otherwise limiting their available choices, will render any new system constitutionally vulnerable. . . .
There will be a Special Extraordinary Form Mass in Greensboro at Our Lady of Grace Church 2205 W. Market St., this Sunday, 21 June 2009, at 4pm.
This will be a Solemn High Mass/Missa Cantata with
Fr. Ferguson, FSSP, who will be the priest, has prepared a beautiful and thorough program.
The parish website is http://www.olgchurch.org/
[Update]
The mass was celebrated ad orientem, was well-attended, and the printed program made it easy to follow along. On the musical side, I particularly enjoyed the organ and organist at this parish; while the scholas started out a bit shakey, the pieces further into the Mass were lovely. It was wonderful to join with many folks to reverantly worship our Lord and, as a special Father’s Day present, to have MaryAlice there with me, too.
Romantic comedies, of a certain type at least, are often criticized for being predictable. Such criticisms miss the point altogether; in fact, the more predictable the storyline, the more true to form. The whole point of the genre is to be as predictable as possible (not in its hypotheses but in the resolution) but still be entertaining. How else could one create something to be enjoyed over and over?
Of course the predictability is of a rather specialized kind, more common to music, and it is more a matter of seeming completely predictable due to graceful artistry with the conventions.
The just released The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, is an excellent example of the genre.
On a Musica Sacra forum Noel Jones made excellent observations on Hymn Playing That Works which I’ve reproduced below.
Noel’s Basic Chant site has info on his booklet “A Beginner’s Guide to Reading Gregorian Chant” and biographical info.
Noel Jones’ concise observations on hymn playing are, from my perspective (in the congregation), right on key and cover precisely what must be emphasized in today’s milieu with regard to hymns:
If the hymns are not boring for you as a church musician, you are not programming them frequently enough for the people to learn to sing them and eventually love them.
Anyone can star in On Golden Pond in a community theater. Only a professional can perform it daily for a year. There are elements required to get a congregation singing a hymn. It require consistency and repetition. If you follow the rules that are required to make a hymn singable long before it becomes a congregational staple you will be bored with it. And that boredom has to be overcome or at least suppressed if you are truly going to serve the church.
HYMN PLAYING THAT WORKS
Consistency is essential.
There must be a clear visual guide to what number the hymn is, through the use of a hymn board or a printed bulletin.
Announcing of hymns is an interruption in the Mass that should never be tolerated by a congregation.
The Introduction:
The hymn introduction must start from the beginning and continue to the end. If, and only if, the format of the hymn is AAB, it is permissible to play just AB. But if so, it must always be played AB. This is a clear reminder to the congregation of the melody.
The volume of the introduction must be at the same level as the first verse to be played. This indicates to the congregation the level at which they should sing.
The tempo of the entire introduction must be the exact tempo of the hymn. Slowing down to indicate the end of the introduction is specifically banned. This tells the congregation what tempo to sing.
There should be a pause, in exact tempo, when the organist lifts the fingers from the keys that indicates that it is time to sing at the end of the introduction and each verse.
All elements of the introduction are solely to provide a solid presentation to the people who are about to sing.
An improvised introduction is appropriate only on hymns that the people can sing the first verse of from memory. Once they know a hymn that well, your introduction merely needs to indicate the melody to them. But all other hymns, if you want them sung, must always be introduced in the same manner.
For this reason, it is best if there is only one organist playing for the hymn singing at all Masses, whenever possible. Consistency.
The Hymn:
No fluctuations from tempo are permitted.
Volume levels, through the use of the expression pedal or stop pistons, should occur during the silent pause between each verse. However, the expression may at times increase the volume level during the last line prior to choosing a louder stop setting in the break.
During the last line of the last verse only there may be a ritard or no ritard.
The organ shall hold the last chord without diminishing the volume, instead letting go of the chord with a clear cut off, as a choir would. The organ has its own voice. Hushing it during the last chord is inappropriate.
Frequency:
By the time a hymn is first sung in the church, the organist has played it many times, first when learning it, second when teaching it to the choir. The congregation will have heard it only one time, as it is introduced. It takes at least 10 singings of the hymn before the average person in the congregation becomes comfortable recognizing it and at this point they are still not solid singing it.
Do not sing hymns that cantors and choir members like, instead concentrate only on hymns that the congregation will sing and that are worth spending the time to teach them through repetition.
Choice:
You must determine if the hymns in your church are congregational or are primarily solos for cantors and choir.
You may schedule a few hymns and get a lot of people to sing them, or choose a lot of hymns to more exactly match the scriptures of the day and have just a few people singing them.
And, special services, such as funerals, require careful attention. Only the most familiar of hymns and chants should be chosen for congregational participation.
 | Thomas on Trusting the Church |
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