I see they\u2019re ringing all the church bells for fifteen minutes in Austria this Thursday at 8pm Roman time to mark the end of Pope Benedict\u2019s papacy.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s a great idea, and at my suggestion the abbot has approved the same here. (1pm Collegeville time.) Well, ten minutes instead of fifteen, but I\u2019ll take it. They still have some of the flair of the Hapsburgs over there, so that needed to be inculturated for Minnesota conditions.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s things like this, however small, that reinforce Catholic identity and bring our faith into daily life.<\/p>\n
Now I\u2019m thinking about bells for when the new Pope is elected. Perhaps the length could be tied in to the name the new Pope takes. Say, 10 minutes if it\u2019s John Paul III, 5 if it\u2019s Benedict XVII, 15 if it\u2019s Paul VII, 30 if it\u2019s John XXIV. And if it\u2019s Pius XIII? Maybe a toller for 3 minutes?<\/p>\n
Last time around, I was watching CNN when Joseph Ratzinger emerged as Benedict XVI. I immediately said to the person with me, \u201cLet us pray for the new Pope\u201d and said the first half of the Hail Mary. Silence. No response. Then this: \u201cI\u2019m not ready to pray for THAT yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pushed to have bells rung that time, too, in 2005. And so it happened. At least the part about starting the bells, but we never talked through how long they\u2019d ring. So they rang, and rang, and rang\u2026\u00a0 until after about 25 minutes a faculty member sent an email to the university list serve asking how long the clanging noise would interfere with his classroom discussion.<\/p>\n
I expect we\u2019ll ring the bells for 15 minutes when the new Pope emerges, whoever it is and whatever his name. And I will say a Hail Mary for the new Pope. This time I\u2019m prepared to say the whole thing myself.<\/p>\n
awr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s things like this, however small, that reinforce Catholic identity and bring our faith into daily life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[2367,1765,2205,2212,3010,287],"class_list":["post-17988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pope-benedict-xvi","tag-bells","tag-catholic-identity","tag-conclave","tag-papal-transition","tag-pope-benedict-xvi","tag-saint-johns-abbey"],"yoast_head":"\n