From mass at the Mustard Seed Catholic Worker, Worcester. Mass offered in celebration of the wedding of Christine and Joseph Valecco.
Category: Religion
508 #68: WPI and PILOT
508 is a show about Worcester.
This week, I talk to Brendan Melican. Topics include inaccurate predictions, the Telegram & Gazette’s website troubles, and WPI making non-tax payments to the city.
If you’d like to leave a comment for next week’s show, the number is 508-471-3897.
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Christopher Lydon interviews James Carroll: “Practicing Catholic”
Lydon: And the main question I think is, simply, why are we so tenaciously devoted to discovering ourselves as Christians, and what that means. You, me, lots of people.
Carroll: Well, that’s the big question. I’m mystified, frankly, by my own Catholic Christianity. I love it. I argue with it, I’m in a fierce conflict with it. I’m deeply consoled by it. For me it’s as simple as going to mass. That’s the practice. The practice outweighs all the doctrines, and even all the aesthetic glories of the Church.
James Carroll interview from Lydon’s excellent “Open Source.”
Flower festival, Japanese Buddhist temple, Washington, D.C.
Palm Sunday mass was not the only important religious ceremony I attended this weekend. At the temple in DC where I’ve been living, today was the annual celebration of Buddha’s birthday, the “flower festival” or hana-matsuri. It’s also the 35th anniversary of this temple, and the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
Continue reading “Flower festival, Japanese Buddhist temple, Washington, D.C.”
I dreamed I saw Tom Lewis last night
Alive as he could be.
“Tom,” I said, “You’re one year dead.”
“I never died,” said he,
“I never died,” said he.
Tom said, “When people pray for peace
Or paint what’s good and fair,
Whenever people fill the jails,
Tom Lewis will be there.
Tom Lewis will be there.
“When people open up their homes
Or serve soup on the street,
Assuming that I don’t get lost,
Tom Lewis you will meet.
Tom Lewis you will meet.”
And standing there as short as life,
Two caps upon his head,
Tom hugged me and before I woke
He whispered, “I ain’t dead.”
He whispered, “I ain’t dead.”
Today’s the anniversary of Tom Lewis’s death. Matt Feinstein was singing “I Dreamed I Saw Tom Lewis Last Night” at a party late last year–seems fitting.
I haven’t dreamt about Tom in months, but I think about him every day.
Father Bernie Gilgun’s homily, March 27, 2009
Homily from mass at the Mustard Seed Catholic Worker soup kitchen, Worcester.
Remebering Tom Lewis at the Peace Abbey, April 4
Via e-mail:
Remembering Tom Lewis
April 4th, 2009
5pm-6pm
It was a year ago on the anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination that Tom passed away. This year a portion of his cremation ashes will be buried on CO Hill at The Peace Abbey. He joins several other CO’s at this burial site, including Pat Farren, Chuck Matthei, Wally Nelson and Dave Dillenger.
Please join us with your presence and any story of Tom that reflects his life journey as a CO and peacemaker.
You are invited to bring light refreshments to share afterwards.
The Peace Abbey
2 N. Main Street
Sherborn, MA 01770
508-655-2143
Wish I could be there.
Lent Day 18: St. Patrick’s Day
Yes, the White House fountain is green today.
Just wanted to note that this Lent has been a real time of learning and growth for me. I’m finally recognizing that when I’m uncomfortable, that often means learning and growth is happening.
Pie and Coffee classic: The Real Saint Patrick, starring the Duffy Bros.
Lent day 7
Today 12 people in orange jumpsuits from the 100 Days Campaign attended Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy’s “Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry” hearing. (Several folks were amused this was a hearing about forming a commission; see also I Think We Should Start Talking About Starting A Band.)
Tapestries at the Cathedral
On Ash Wednesday I attended Mass and received ashes at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Many criticized its building as an extravagant expenditure, and some traditionalists have criticized the modernist architecture of the mother church of Los Angeles, which opened in 2002, and I don’t entirely disagree with these criticisms. About the design, however, it must be said that the interior is far more welcoming than the stark exterior and does a much better job of focusing the visitor’s attention on God.
In particular, there are lovely 18-foot-tall woven tapestries all along the north and south walls of the nave depicting the Communion of the Saints as a crowd of people, individually recognizable and identified, gazing toward the altar. These are truly moving — proof that people can still make great sacred art. The artist (John Nava) painted them using a realistic “old master” style, then digitized the images and programmed a computerized loom to make the tapestries, producing an effect that is both classic and very immediate.
If you click on “art” and then “tapestries” on the cathedral’s website, you can read more info and click on the thumbnails to zoom in on a couple of the individual panels.