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| Yesterday, inside Saint Mary of Catarat Church |
"One of the most beautiful churches in the United States. The pristine beauty of a mid-19th century church, which has changed with the times, but still retains its historic beauty and atmosphere. The liturgies are fantastic, and the music is superb; the restored 1860's pipe organ is incomparable. The relic display in November is not to be missed. The homilies given demonstrate a precision of thought and economy of words which is greatly appreciated. The location near the Falls and casino make this the Catholic meeting place for people throughout the world visiting the Falls, and make's it the most interesting church in the Diocese of Buffalo."
40 comments:
This church is near where I'm staying. Although I'm not Catholic, its a good thing they don't check me at the door.
I'm taking more pictures and posting them to my Flickr page.
You would make a good Catholic Lem. The Knights of Columbus like to tilt a few back too. Just sayin.
Ask Trooper about it.
Relic display? Is that like when you're driving through the South and you see one of those little civil war museums and you go inside and they have a glass case containing three belt buckles, part of a canteen and one of those bullet molds with an assortment of bullets?
Didn't think so.
I see it's a comfy 72 there.
I had a nun in high school who would never just say "Catholic Church." EVERYTIME she would say, "The Holy Roman Catholic Church, the one true church."
Funny, I've never heard any Catholic ever say, "Roman Catholic", and still think it's only something a Protestant would say.
I did hear a lot of nuns say, "the one true church", however.
The odd one I've heard is distinguishing Catholics and Christians. Which isn't odd for some Protestants certainly, but it's odd when I hear Catholics say it.
Some have used it to say they grew up Catholic then had a revitalized faith in a Protestant congregation.
But some just use it as a way of talking about Catholics and Protestants.
Seems a young person thing. I hear college students use this distinction.
Meanwhile, the Orthodox wonder why we're all still heretics.
We are checking out of the hotel and heading to the Canadian side.
Depending on the phone service, or if I run into an internet café, a la top, I may not be able to comment here, or there.
But you in good hands with Allstate.
Evolution!
I said "Catholic" as short hand for "Roman Catholic" to an Episcopalian priest who noted that the Anglican Church is "catholic" too.
But of course it is not. But I like Episcopalians just fine anyway.
Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have Lem, Freeman, and Chip Ahoy in that order, and should Lem decide he wants to transfer the helm to Freeman, he will do so. He has not done that. As of now, I am in control here, in the Comment Home, pending return of Freeman and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course.
I like Orthodox faith because when you go to Russian Church they give you babka for Eucharist. How can you not like that!
The bad part of Orthodox, you stand a lot. And when you are not standing you are kneeling...without kneelers.
Meade, you are like some renegade lesser French pope trying to up sort the true faith.
Lem, enjoy the whole world of the falls, both sides. You have the whole Edison empire trying to outdue the Teslas of the world. You have American Canadian thing. You have French vs. English. You have Hurons vs Mohawks. It is an interesting place.
Meade, you are like Cardinal Richelieu, but without the intelligence and mojo. Just the animus.
I was just window shopping at eBay before clicking over to read this post and I felt like I was still in eBay considering a purchase.
Kinda creepy.
I said "Catholic" as short hand for "Roman Catholic" to an Episcopalian priest who noted that the Anglican Church is "catholic" too
Well, of course, the Anglican church is just that, "Anglican," which by such limitation fails to be universal (the meaning of "catholic"), especially with them tracing their roots all the way back to Elizabeth I, or at most Henry VIII. Otherwise they might taint themselves with connecting their roots to those Papists who really can trace their roots all the way back to Peter and other Apostles and, hence, Jesus Himself.
The other point is clear too -- Catholics do not, as a rule, refer to themselves as "Roman Catholic," except perhaps to distinguish themselves from the Eastern Catholics who are still united to the One Church under the Successor of Peter, who happens to be in Rome.
It is a particularly bad time to discuss the differences between Protestants and Catholics since the troubles have heated up in Belfast this past weekend.
But if you want to use the proper nomenclature then Catholics should be referred to as mackerel snappers and Protestants should be termed dirty prods.
Entering St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York on those days when I felt close to suicide was utter balm. Of course if the weather were good I could always hike over to Central Park and recuperate there on a park bench. But when the weather was foul St. Paddy's was the only port in the storm. The only suffering I ever did in the Cathedral was fighting the urge to fall asleep in a side aisle back pew - I knew my place! - so peaceful it was.
If any of the above sounds disrespectful...it's not. Even an unbeliever gets the holiness of holy places.
Trooper York said...
It is a particularly bad time to discuss the differences between Protestants and Catholics since the troubles have heated up in Belfast this past weekend.
Damn -- just when I started rewatching "Downton Abbey" season 1.
bender, true. Of course he was not really Anglican but Episcopalian...but a guess a few missions beyond North America, New Zealand and Australia make that church "catholic" too (at least in his mind).
I took no offense by it, I just thought it interesting at the time.
In my upbringing in central Ct. "Roman Catholic" was often used. I guess I really never gave it much thought, but there were many Eastern Orthodox Ukrainians and Greeks around. Many of my friends were Ukrainians[DON'T call them Russian] and I even went to their church for their later Christmas mass a couple times. Because there were so many Uke's in our school system they got 3 extra days off for their Christmas, which pissed off us RC's and Protestants[mostly Congregationalists].
A lot of Ukrainians are Eastern rite but not Eastern Orthodox (They are technically part of the Roman Catholic church).
And don't call them Russians.
I went to St. Rosa Lima Catholic church for k, 1st and 2nd grades. I didn't fit in.
a few missions beyond North America, New Zealand and Australia make [the Anglican church] "catholic" too
There are quite a few Anglicans in Africa--in fact, the largest number may be there now. And it is they who are now filled with a missionary spirit to bring traditional Anglicanism back to Britain, Canada, and the U.S.:
"All these people brought Christianity to us, but now the church is growing here [in Africa] like wildfire, it's spreading everywhere, while the church in England is withering, the church in the States is going completely, and there has been a cry, 'Why don't you come? You should have come here a long time ago to evangelize,' " said Archbishop Bernard A. Malango, the Anglican primate of Central Africa. "We need to send missionaries, even to Britain; we need to send missionaries to the United States, and we need to send missionaries to Canada, because those who brought the church here have lost what their intention was, and the same Bible they brought to us is being misinterpreted. We find it very odd."
The evanglized become the evangelizers and the former "home country" becomes a mission land.
But there are some - many of whom constantly cry about "social justice," etc. - who simply find intolerable that a bunch of dark-skinned people from Africa should come to the land of elite whites, who have "progressed" beyond the faith as handed down for thousands of years to embrace all the right things, like divorce, abortion, contraception, "same-sex marriage," assisted suicide, androgeny, and so on.
Today Mass was said by Father Peter who is from Uganda. He is a holy man whose faith shines like a bright light from the pulpit when he visits us every August. He is a simple parish priest who tends his flock and gives us an example of how to live our life in Christ even in the most challenging circumstances which he faces every day at home.
We are humbled by him. He is truly the servant who watches over his masters house in the way that Jesus speaks about in today's Gospel.
The rest of us need the beating that he also mentions. Just sayn'
Well, of course, the Anglican church is just that, "Anglican," which by such limitation fails to be universal (the meaning of "catholic")
The Anglican church is "universal" in the sense that Christians use the term.
especially with them tracing their roots all the way back to Elizabeth I, or at most Henry VIII.
The Anglicans trace their roots back to the same source as the Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox.
Mamie, I am teasing about the Anglican missions, heck they are the only real Anglicans left!
The Queen is still an Anglican, but the Prince of Wales is essentially a Gaia-Muslim, who eats pork. Just ask the Duchess of Cornwall.
There have been studies down that show Catholics win up to thirty per cent more at the casinos than Protestants. These studies apply only to Catholics who go to we'll maintained churches such as the one pictured by Lem. Also please note these results only obtain at the slots where the will of God is most evident. There's too much human agency at the blackjack tables, and prayer doesn't work there. But a visit to a clean, decorous church before hitting the slots often attracts the favorable attention of God.
Mamie said...
...Archbishop Bernard A. Malango, the Anglican primate of Central Africa.
That's gotta be racist.
creeley:
"I was just window shopping at eBay before clicking over to read this post and I felt like I was still in eBay considering a purchase."
What?
deborah: The review read like ad copy -- which I don't mean as a slam to the Google User or to the church, but it felt exactly like what I was reading at eBay to persuade me to buy one item over another. I found that unsettling applied to a church.
There was no spiritual or even human element in the review. Homilies were praised for their precision and econoomy, no more. The rest of the review sounded like a come-on for a vacation resort.
What did Jesus mean when he said, "Come, follow me..."?
The Summons
Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?
--John Bell
Lyrics: link
Youtube: link
Thanks, creeley, I missed the connection.
Here's a math problem. Solve for X:
John McCain + Chuck Schumer + X = Wise Legislation
Meade channeling Al Haig -but without the voice cracking, which always makes people super confident.
My home parish is in a beautiful old church built by Polish immigatnts125 years ago. They quarried the stone and cut the timbers themselves. Many parishioners mortgaged their homes to build the church.
The Polish families moved out of the city several generations later and the building fell into disrepair. Ten years ago it was entrusted to an order of priests from Europe. They have raised funds and slowly restored the building. Our current pastor is French and struggles a bit with English. But his elegant manner, superb homilies and sense of humor overcome language problems.
The traditional Latin Mass is said in our church. It's quite interesting. People arrive thirty minutes before Mass to say a group rosary, high Mass takes 90 minutes, and when it's over most people stay around for another 30 minutes or so for so e private prayers. The pews are full. No one expected that there were so many traditionalists left in our area. Surprising thing is the high number of parishioners in their 20s and 30s, some with large families started.
When I'm out of town I attend Mass at whatever church is nearby. I'm usually eager to leave at the 45 minute mark. But when I'm in my beautiful old traditional church with its kneelers, windows, incense, bells and choir singing in Latin, two hours passes in the blink of an eye.
And we call ourselves RCs. Or mackerel snappers.
Here's a homespun hymn I first heard on Prarie Home Companion and it killed me. The main vocalist Leilani Clark, the dark-haired teen on the left in this Youtube brought the house down with her performance. That's her father on guitar and the co-writer of the song.
I later searched out a copy and wound up corresponding with the other writer, Val Halloran, a charming woman who got zapped by the Lord when she was 19, fell deeply into Scripture, and began her music ministry.
Keeper of My Heart
Keeper of my heart, anchor to my soul,
I'm so glad to know that You are in control
I give my life to You, show me where to start;
Guide me in Your truth, Keeper of my heart.
--Val Halloran and Daniel Clark
Creely - Thank you for that YouTube link. What a remarkable voice she has! And her Dad has passed away; such a loss for her family.
Yes, creeley, an amazing video. I'm going to send it to my church-going sister. She does a little music ministry from time to time.
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