Do you know about Old Catholics?

Old Catholics.

No, not elderly Catholics, but the schismatic sect known as Old Catholics. They date back to the 17th century. Their orders are valid, but illicit. It is my understanding that in a grave emergency, or if a Roman Catholic was in danger of death, the Old Catholic sacraments are valid. The Wild Reed has an interesting post on Old Catholics and their history, including an in-depth interview with Fr. Robert Caruso, a local Old Catholic priest. (Ed: The site is pro-gay, so if that offends you, use the Wikipedia links below for information on "Old Catholics". Neverthelesss, it is a good interview and not focused upon pro-gay issues.)

Old Catholics (Wiki link) should not be confused with the SSPX (Wiki link) or any sedevacantist group (Wiki link). (For instance, the Old Catholic church ordains women.) In the United States they are much more liberal than the most dissident of Roman Catholic churches, while they remain distinct from the so-called Liberal Catholic Church (Wiki link), which has no connection with the Roman Catholic Church whatsoever. In these confusing times, I believe it is good to know the differences.

[Photo: Ordination in an Old Catholic church.]

Mother Teresa

It was something she said:

"People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway."

"Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway."

"There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness, and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much." - Bl. Teresa of Calcutta

[It turns out the first two paragraphs are not original to Mother. My friend David sent me the original source: http://www.enotalone.com/article/4991.html]

Sister Mary Charles McGough

+ Sister Mary Charles McGough OSB +

On Sunday, 2 September, Sister Mary Charles McGough OSB died at St. Scholastica Monastery <http://www.duluthbenedictines.org/ministries_arts.php>, Duluth, Minnesota. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from Notre Dame University, and received training as an iconographer from the St. John Damascus Sacred Art Academy in Ligonier, PA.

She was an experienced artist in other media as well. Sister Mary Charles was proficient in woodcut prints, watercolor, and ceramic sculpture. Her iconography follows the Byzantine style.

Sister Mary Charles completed many large commissions for churches and religious houses such as; St. Paul Priory, St. Paul; St. Olaf's Church, Minneapolis; Glastonbury Abbey, Hingham, Mass.; St. Michael Monastery, Elkhorn, Nebraska; and St. Andrew's Church, Brainerd, Minnesota.

Visitation will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, and the Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, 7 September, both in Our Lady Queen of Peace Chapel at the monastery in Duluth.

(Thank you David for this obituary.)

The silence of God.

"There was silence in heaven..." Revelation 8:1

The Holy Father said today that Mother Teresa suffered the "silence of God". He explained that some souls experience the silence of God in order to better understand the dilemma faced by unbelievers. The linked article also mentions the Holy Father's statement at Auschwitz when he said the holocaust was a time when God was silent.

"All believers know about the silence of God," he said in unprepared remarks. "Even Mother Teresa, with all her charity and force of faith, suffered from the silence of God," he said. - Reuters