Saturday, September 28, 2019
Friday, September 27, 2019
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Evangelization in China
Sandro Magister: Let the Amazon Learn From China, Where the Church Flourished With Very Few Missionaries. Celibate
GRANDI PERSONAGGI DELLA CHIESA PRIMITIVA IN CINA. IL RUOLO DELLE COMUNITÀ CRISTIANE
The East Asian model?
GRANDI PERSONAGGI DELLA CHIESA PRIMITIVA IN CINA. IL RUOLO DELLE COMUNITÀ CRISTIANE
The East Asian model?
These Christian communities also reveal some essential characteristics of Chinese religious devotion: communities that are very oriented toward the laity and have lay leaders; the important role of women as transmitters of rituals and traditions within the family; a conception of the priesthood oriented to service (itinerant priests, present only on the occasion of important feasts and celebrations); a doctrine expressed in a simple way (recited prayers, clear and simple moral principles); a faith in the transforming power of rituals.
Little by little, the communities came to function in an autonomous manner. An itinerant priest (initially a foreigner, but in the 18th century mainly Chinese priests) was accustomed to visit them once or twice a year. Normally the leaders of the communities gathered the various members once a week and presided over prayers, which most of the members of the community knew by heart. They also read sacred texts and organized religious instruction. They often held separate gatherings for the women. Moreover, there were itinerant catechists who instructed the children, the catechumens, and the neophytes. In the absence of a priest, local leaders administered baptism.
During his annual visit of a few days, the missionary conversed with the leaders and with the faithful, received information from the community, cared for sick persons and catechumens, etc. He heard confessions, celebrated the Eucharist, preached, baptized, and prayed with the community. After his departure, the community continued its usual practice of reciting the rosary and the litanies.
The ordinary Christian therefore saw a missionary once or twice a year. The true center of Christian life was not the missionary, but the community itself, with its leaders and catechists as the main connecting link.
Above all in the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th century these communities turned into small but solid centers of transmission of Christian faith and practice. Because of the absence of missionaries and priests, the members of the community - for example, the catechists, the virgins and other lay guides - took control of everything, from financial administration to ritual practices, including the leading of sung prayers and the administration of baptisms.
Amusing
But also sad at the same time.
The take of Latin traditionalists on Chalcedonian Orthodoxy (especially in the combox): You Don’t Need to Go Ortho: Every Good Thing They Have Is Already Ours
The take of Latin traditionalists on Chalcedonian Orthodoxy (especially in the combox): You Don’t Need to Go Ortho: Every Good Thing They Have Is Already Ours
A Multicultural Mass for the American Church
Some sort of fusionist multicultural ecclesial identity that has no foundation in political reality nor does it serve to create a genuine ecclesial community -- it merely preserves the illusion of one.
Edit.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Monday, September 23, 2019
Interview with Cardinal Sarah
NCReg: Cardinal Sarah’s Cri de Coeur: The Catholic Church Has Lost Its Sense of the Sacred by Edward Pentin
Exclusive interview with the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
Exclusive interview with the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
Sunday, September 22, 2019
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