Please keep John Kraft, my uncle and Godfather, in your prayers. He had a little run-in with the hospital due to heart troubles. He has left the hospital, so things look up, but prayers would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
March 24, 2007 By Leave a Comment
for your prayers
March 13, 2007 By Leave a Comment
post-synodal exhortation on the eucharist released!
Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, “The Sacrament of Charity”, has been released. The 100+ page document available for purchase through the USCCB, is the work of a meeting of the Synod of Bishops discussing the Eucharist.
I’m still skimming over it, so I don’t know what to highlight yet. Some early highlights include a section on the practice of the liturgy in relation to beauty. Paraphrased, a liturgy done according to the books is always more beautiful than one not according to the books since the liturgy developed over the centuries is designed to awaken the whole human person. Chant is given is a heavy plug.
42. In the ars celebrandi, liturgical song has a pre-eminent place. (126) Saint Augustine rightly says in a famous sermon that “the new man sings a new song. Singing is an expression of joy and, if we consider the matter, an expression of love” (127). The People of God assembled for the liturgy sings the praises of God. In the course of her two-thousand-year history, the Church has created, and still creates, music and songs which represent a rich patrimony of faith and love. This heritage must not be lost. Certainly as far as the liturgy is concerned, we cannot say that one song is as good as another. Generic improvisation or the introduction of musical genres which fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy should be avoided. As an element of the liturgy, song should be well integrated into the overall celebration (128). Consequently everything – texts, music, execution – ought to correspond to the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, the structure of the rite and the liturgical seasons (129). Finally, while respecting various styles and different and highly praiseworthy traditions, I desire, in accordance with the request advanced by the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed (130) as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy (131).
Something I personally agree with, the text mentions greater restraint during the Sign of Peace, noting that within men and women there “…is an irrepressible desire for peace…” and that in the Sign of Peace, Jesus Christ, through the ministry of the Church, brings peace when human efforts can fail. That being said, an overdone actions can be distracting toward the community as they prepare for the reception of Communion and “it should be kept in mind that nothing is lost when the sign of peace is marked by a sobriety which preserves the proper spirit of the celebration, as, for example, when it is restricted to one’s immediate neighbors”
The Pope mentioned Latin in Mass by saying “I wish to endorse the proposal made by the Synod of Bishops, in harmony with the directives of the Second Vatican Council, that, with the exception of the readings, the homily and the prayer of the faithful, [large international] liturgies could be celebrated in Latin.” He continues:
Similarly, the better-known prayers (183) of the Church’s tradition should be recited in Latin and, if possible, selections of Gregorian chant should be sung. Speaking more generally, I ask that future priests, from their time in the seminary, receive the preparation needed to understand and to celebrate Mass in Latin, and also to use Latin texts and execute Gregorian chant; nor should we forget that the faithful can be taught to recite the more common prayers in Latin, and also to sing parts of the liturgy to Gregorian chant.
I have to get a move on my day so I’ll read over the rest of it later. I’ll be out of town for the week so I may not be able to post on it until early next week.
March 12, 2007 By Leave a Comment
where have i been?
Over the past few weeks, I have had many missed calls that I haven’t returned, e-mailed that I didn’t respond to or other social interactions that I didn’t have. Why? The University Catholic Center Student Phonathon.
The phonathon was an effort of the UCC to reach out to alumni, parents and other benefactors informing them of the good things happening at the UCC now, to hear from them some of the good experiences they’ve had as part of the UCC and to ask them for financial support to help us continue our ministry.
Sundays through Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m., we had volunteer student callers calling everyone in our census records (excluding students and resident community) with two goals: attempting everyone which we have a phone number- about 2500 households- and $10,000 in financial support.
The phonathon was a huge step in the UCC’s development program. The UCC’s annual budget is about $715,000 per year with only 30% of that coming from Sunday collections and only 9% coming from the Diocese of Austin. For the remaining 61% of our operating expenses, we have to ask for support from alumni, parents, Catholic foundations, grants and other sources of income.
As one of my roommates indicated, $10,000 doesn’t seem like much compared to a $715,000 budget. Like I said, the phonathon was important because it had the UCC, through our student volunteers, talking to people who have been connected to the UCC for decades, in some cases, for the first time since they graduated from UT. We ere able to give a real human perspective to the work we do by developing this opportunity for our benefactors, who make our ministry possible, to chat with the students that our ministry benefits.
On the financial side, there is no one magic way to raise funds. $10,000 is only a drop in the bucket, but that’s the game we’re playing. Through many different “drops in the bucket”, we’ll fill the bucket by the end of the year. We have to constantly ask for money to make our ends meet since, unlike a normal parish, the members of our faith community are not able to commit the funds needed for a ministry that attempts to reach the estimated 13,000 Catholics on campus.
The phonathon was a massive effort. We had to create a calling room, capable of having eight phones running at a time, develop scripts and recording procedures, develop and send out a “pre-mailer”, a pre-phonathon mailing piece letting everyone know we’re going to call them, recruit volunteers, solicit gift cards to give to our volunteers for great performance, and not to mention, actually call 2,500 households. I was asked to coordinate this project and to assist me, I hired a student manager to help things run smoothly during the calling period itself.
Since this was the first time the UCC had ever attempted such a development event, we started everything on scratch with no real idea of how well we would do. It took a great amount of work without much certainty that we would be successful.
Well, we were successful. With a $10,000 goal over our heads, we were able to raise just over $20,700. Reaching 207% of our goal was great! Now, I have a week off for the break to rest followed by a good amount of work processing the incoming pledge payments and go over the lessons we learn as we decide how to proceed for the 2008 phonathon.
