Two high-profile projects, the building of the cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles and the renovation of the cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, have shown how high a pitch the controversy surrounding church building and renovation can reach. Some have scorned the cathe
My husband and I are frequently approached after Mass by people who feel compelled to tell us how good our children were in church that day. How do we do it, they want to knowwith four young boys, no less? Some days are better than others, I respond with a grin.Which is true. Some Sunday mornings ar
Since Sept. 11 the world’s attention, or at least America’s, has been focused on the war on terrorism. One of Pope John Paul II’s responses to this horrific attack was to summon an international assembly of almost 200 religious leaders from 12 of the world’s religions in Assi
The ultimate measure of a choir, cantor or music program is the fervor with which the congregation sings. The Congregation for Divine Worship (1970) instructs: “All means must be used to promote singing by the people” (Third Instruction on the Proper Implementation of the Constitution on
In Lake Wobegon land, where I teach, ecumenism is largely a Lutheran-Catholic affair, cemented by the shared sacraments of beer and ice-fishing. My students are not much concerned with the subtleties of the recent joint declaration on justification or with the difference between transubstantiation a
Every practicing Catholic, if asked, can summon a number of memorable moments (memorable being the operative word) in their liturgical life experience. Lucky for me, these span two time zones: pre-Vatican II and post-Vatican II. I am convinced it was the magic and mystery in the priest’s Intro
Credit Where Due
In reading through the items in Signs of the Times of your March 11 issue, my eyes went to the picture of the unidentified woman waving the youth day flag at the World Trade Center in New York. And yes, even from the side view I recognized her. She is Francine