In a strange mix of religion and technology, the Times is reporting on the Anglican parish of St. Lawrence Jewry in London holding a public “blessing of the smartphones.” Apparently picking up on the medieval “Plough Monday” tradition of blessing agricultural equipment, the Rev. Canon David Parrott allowed iPhones, BlackBerrys and laptops to be place on the altar for a special blessing.
This was Church 2.0. Behind him, the altar resembled a counter at PC World. Upon it, laid out like holy relics, were four smart phones, one Apple laptop and one Dell…
…Then, after another hymn, came the blessing of the smart phones. The Lord Mayor of London offered his BlackBerry to Canon Parrott, which was received with due reverence and placed upon the altar.
Then the congregation held their phones in the air, and Canon Parrott addressed the Almighty. “By your blessing, may these phones and computers, symbols of all the technology and communication in our daily lives, be a reminder to us that you are a God who communicates with us and who speaks by your Word. Amen.”
Despite my affinity for both Church and tech, I find all of this a bit bizarre.
Published on
August 25, 2009 in
religion.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has posted a side by side comparison of the new English translation of the Novus Ordo1 Mass. The hope for this translation is that it will be truer to the original Latin. This is a very good thing as it brings the English words closer to those being said in the many other local languages of the Church. There will, however, be a great deal of kicking and screaming over this. Some will scream that this doesn’t go far enough. Some will see this as going backward, and some will simply oppose change from anything to which they have grown accustomed. Like seemingly everything in the Church today, there will no doubt be a loud debate once these changes start getting implemented, but in the long run I hope people will cool down after they get used to it. (h/t American Papist)
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1Fancy Latin phrase for “New Order” referring to the liturgical changes to the Mass introduced by Pope Paul VI in 1969 after the Second Vatican Council.
The Washing of the Feet, a Holy Thursday tradition
Holy Thursday has arrived ushering in Easter’s Holy Triduum. The Holy Triduum is a three day remembrance of the last days of Jesus’s life that leads up to the Easter celebration of his resurrection. For those who are seeking to learn more about the Holy Triduum, I recommend listening to Fr. John Corapi’s three part series covering Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. MP3 versions of these talks can be downloaded here.
For more about Fr. Corapi, you can listen to his conversion story on YouTube.
Published on
March 16, 2009 in
religion.
Easter must be close. I know this because every magazine is publishing their annual “secrets of the bible” issues. I’ve read most of them or heard the same stuff on the History Channel, but this article at Time.com caught my attention. It talks to Rachel Elior, a Jewish mysticism professor, who claims the Essenes, a mysterious Jewish religious sect, never existed. The Essenes are most often credited with the authorship of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many also think they were where John the Baptist and even Jesus Christ himself got the basis of their radical views. Should this view of their non-existence gain further traction, it has the potential to change the way Biblical scholarship is approached.
A recent Harris Poll (via Catholic News Agency) shows that President Obama’s status as a hero has eclipsed that of Jesus in the eyes of Americans.
Respondents most often named Barack Obama, followed by Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
Mother Teresa was the tenth most often named, while God was the eleventh most. (from CNA)
Honestly, this doesn’t surprise me at all. The love affair with between the press and Obama is enough to make even moderates like myself queezy, and people think and do what the TV tells them to do. What does surprise me is that George W. Bush appears on the list ahead of Mother Teresa and God. If everyone in the world hates ol’ G.W. like we are led to believe, what does that say about our opinion of God?
