A couple of articles popped into my inbox from zenit.org of some interest. This is an 'independent' news agency that says of itself:
Our objective is to inform about the "world seen from Rome," with professionalism and faithfulness to the truth. We aim to view the modern world through the messages of the Pope and the Holy See; tell about the happenings of the Church; and inform about the topics, debates and events that are especially interesting to Christians worldwide. ZENIT carries out this service independently.
I was interested to read about a plenary indulgence granted by the Pope during the year of the priest, beginning as we all know, on 19 June. Indulgences, and the selling of them during the middle ages, are often misunderstood. I don't want to get into the detail right now - not least as it's pretty complicated and has much more depth than first appears. For an excellent summary you can do worse than go to the Catechism of the Church, available here. There is, however, a lovely line in the news report which goes: The plenary indulgence ... can also by applied to deceased priests. I love this idea. Using an indulgence for others is simply wonderful and wholesomely Christian. I pray when it is my time to purified in purgatory that there will be someone offering up indulgences for me.
Also of interest this week was a post about the liturgy from Fr Edward McNamara, available here. He is debating the heart of the liturgy itself and considers the participation in the liturgy. I love his conclusion: Therefore if some of our Catholic faithful are migrating to Protestant groups, I don't think we should be blaming the liturgy but rather double our efforts to celebrate it properly and proclaim the truth of the great mystery of faith. I couldn't put it better myself, and so wont.
