This Month is Hard on Bishops

Looking over the Wikipedia page on Deaths in 2010, I was struck by the number of bishops and clergy who have died this month. Here’s the list as of 25 January 2010:

• 25-Jan
  Ivan Prenđa, 70, Croatian Roman Catholic Archbishop of Zadar (since 1990)
• 24-Jan
  Lawrence Aloysius Burke, 77, Jamaican Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kingston (2004–2008) and Nassau (1981–2004)
• 20-Jan
  John Moore, 68, Nigerian Roman Catholic Bishop of Bauchi (since 2003)
• 18-Jan
  Josephus Tethool, 75, Indonesian Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Amboina (1982–2009)
• 14-Jan
  Antonio Vilaplana Molina, 83, Spanish Roman Catholic Bishop of León (1987–2002)
• 12-Jan
  Joseph Serge Miot, 63, Haitian Roman Catholic Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, earthquake.
  Also Charles Benoit, Haitian Roman Catholic vicar general, earthquake.
• 9-Jan
  Christopher Shaman Abba, 74, Nigerian Roman Catholic Bishop of Yola (since 1996), Bishop of Minna (1973–1996)
  Armand Razafindratandra, 84, Malagasy cardinal, Archbishop of Antananarivo (1994–2005)
• 7-Jan
  Donald Edmond Pelotte, 64, American Roman Catholic Bishop of Gallup (1990–2008), first Native American bishop.
• 6-Jan
  Graham Leonard, 88, British Church of England Bishop of London (1981–1991), subsequently a Roman Catholic priest.
• 1-Jan
  Alfredo Mario Espósito Castro, 82, Argentinian Roman Catholic Bishop of Zárate-Campana (1976–1991)

Eternal rest grant unto them oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2010

The Face of Christ Crucified

The statues are undergoing refurbishment. Last July, while they were waiting to be shipped out I captured this image of the face of the corpus from the main crucifix.

Mid-month update, inside and out

On 15 January 2010, Allan Eckert sent a link to his latest album of work in the space. The outside looks more finished.

The sheetrock is in and taped, giving the space a lighter feel.

Looking east towards the sanctuary

Note the difference between the view below and during the open house last November by clicking here.

Looking west towards the balcony

Thanks to Allan for his contributions. See the full album here.

Madonna and Child by Stokes

For the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

Madonna and Child by Marianne Preindlsberger Stokes c. 1907/8
Austrian/British Pre-Raphaelite Painter (1855 – 1927)
Tempera on panel
Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK

Click for a larger image

Dominican Joke of the Day #7

A Dominican friar who taught theology at Fenwick High School in Chicago asked his students what a homily was for them.

A first student answered that it was an explanation to the Gospel. Another said it was a commentary to a feast day celebration. A third said it was an occasion to stress moral teachings or doctrines of the Church.

One particular student struck the teacher as having the most promising answer when he said, “It’s like medicine.”

The young friar was intrigued. Hiding his amusement, he asked the student why he thought it so.

The student casually remarked, “Because a homily makes you well, but at the same time makes you feel drowsy.”

Interior during the Open House

Dave Koski sends an image from last month’s open house:

The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple by Hunt

The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple by William Holman Hunt 1860
English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1827-1910
overall: 141 × 85.7 cm (55.5 inches wide × 33.75 inches high)
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK

Click for larger image

[Luke 41-49] Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers.

When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”

And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

On the feast of the Holy Family, the detail of the Holy Family:

The Adoration of the Shepherds by van Honthorst

The Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst 1622
Dutch Baroque painter (1590 – 1656)
overall: 150 × 191 cm (74.80 inches wide x 64.57 inches high)
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, Germany

Merry Christmas to all!

Cathedral Bells Rung by Hand

Maintenance worker David Porterfield looks over Big George, which arrived at St. John's Episcopal Cathedral in 1903. It rings in at 9,240 pounds and is 6 feet tall, 6 feet wide. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

From the Christmas Eve edition of the Denver Post:

At two Denver cathedrals,

bells still rung by hand

<snip>

The Roman Catholic Church considers bells to be “evangelists,” Lane said, and so, unlike a church organ, bells can be consecrated with holy oil.

At the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the bells are rung by hand each Sunday for the 10:30 a.m. Mass and for some special occasions and funerals, said John S. Miller, the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver’s liturgical director.

Four big bells, weighing up to 3,500 pounds each and installed in 1912, are on pull-ropes that turn a large wheel that swings the bells against the clappers, just like the bells of Notre Dame Cathedral rung by Victor Hugo’s fictional heroic hunchback, Quasimodo, according to archdiocese records. Eleven other bells are mounted below these four.

The No. 1 bell, Presentation, was donated by John Francis Campion. It takes its name from the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, described in the Gospel of Luke, Miller said.

Bells, from the beginning and to this day, call a parish and a nation to worship, or to rejoice or to mourn, he said.

In Denver, bells may be rung after midnight on only one day: Christmas.

See the full story here: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14060987

Maria Gaudens by Dave Koski