Author: Peter Rehwaldt
-
The Vatican Has Released the Program for the Canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II
On Sunday, April 27th, Popes John XXIII and John Paul II will be canonized, and the Vatican has just posted the program for the grand event. There’s lots to chew on here for those of a liturgical bent . . .
-
Faithfully Listening to the Assembly of the Faithful
Last March, I wrote that I’d like to see the conclave elect a pope who loves being part of great conversations. With the call from Pope Francis to the church to talk about how the Church relates to families, I think I got what I prayed for — and his questionnaire is filled with liturgical…
-
The Baptism of Prince George, Senator Paul Simon, and Me
Britain’s Prince George, third in line to the throne, was baptized in a small private service at St. James Palace. But a conversation I had years ago with the late Senator Paul Simon makes me wonder what his baptism might have been like, had it happened elsewhere . . .
-
Good Friday, the Child Abuse Scandal, and The Long Dark Winter’s Night
In his book The Long Dark Winter’s Night: Reflections of a Priest in a Time of Pain and Privilege, Father Philip Bergquist, formerly of St. Raphael Catholic Church in Fairbanks, Alaska, uses the metaphor of living through the long Alaskan winter to describe his own struggles with the crisis gripping the Roman Catholic church over…
-
How a Lutheran Cardinal-Elector Might Vote
I received an email recently that rocked me to the core, first with laughter, and then with much more seriousness. It came from a Roman Catholic friend, inviting me to share “what a ‘Lutheran elector’ would be looking for in the next pope.” Is there some cardinal, anxious to hear a word from faithful voices…
-
A Gift from the Danish West Indies to New Jersey and New York
What do you say — how do you pray — in the aftermath of a hurricane?
-
A Reformation Meditation for Those Who Shape Worship
In a time of liturgical questions, changes, challenges, reforms, and reforms of reforms, filled with arguments, disputes, power plays, and power players, perhaps a bit of psalmist-inspired Reformation perspective is in order. If it worked for 16th century Martin Luther and 20th century Roman Catholic hymnal editors, perhaps we 21st century folk can profit from…
-
The Preaching of the Sisters
“When you look around,” Sister Hiltrudis told the youth, “you are seeing the preaching that my sisters and I do. Your pastor preaches in his way, and we preach in ours.”
-
Holy Week Is for Children
What the church does together in its liturgical assembly during Holy Week is almost by definition much more accessible to children than what the church does on, say, the umpteenth Sunday in ordinary time. What the church does during Holy Week, when one boils it down, is simple. In our words and our actions, our…