Benedict Approves a Document on the Reform of the Reform

As with past councils, it is only now that the fruits of the council are budding.

Rejoice and be glad!

Succoth, the festival of Huts, was a harvest feast. It was called Pentecost in Greek (fifty days after.) It too will come! We will harvest the fruits of the Council!

There is a special irony. The Hebrews lived in tents (huts, booths, tabernacles=tents) for forty years. We seem fated to spend forty years in the dessert living in tents before we reach the promised land. So it was after Vatican I and so it has been liturgically after Vatican II!

You Never Know What Impact You Have.

Robert (not Michael) Novak died yesterday. Yes, that is the Novak of Novak and Evans. Atholic News Service tells us:

"Novak then started to go to Mass regularly and decided to convert a few years later. According to Novak, the turning point came when he visited Syracuse University in New York to lecture. Before he spoke he was seated at a dinner table near a young woman who wore a cross necklace. Novak asked her if she was Catholic, and she asked him the same.

"Novak said that he had been going to Mass each Sunday for the last four years, but had not converted.

“'Mr. Novak, life is short, but eternity is forever,' the woman responded, thus moving the journalist to begin studying for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, the rite by which people learn the Catholic faith. He was baptized at St. Patrick’s in 1998. His wife was also baptized a Catholic."

When biopsy revealed a major tumor and that he had six months to a year to live, Novak said, “Being read your death sentence is like being a character in one of the old Bette Davis movies. I believe I was able to withstand this shock because of my Catholic faith, to which I converted in 1998.”

If Cardinal Pell Is for It, It Is Worth a Look

Louie Verrecchio has crafted a program of study of the documents of the Second Vatican Council. According to Cardinal Pell, Archbishop of Sidney, "I found Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II to be a rich and detailed resource... I consider this to be an excellent way to study the Vatican II documents whether individually or in a group." Verrecchio's Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II is a highly acclaimed adult faith formation tool that has been helping parish based study groups and individuals worldwide since 2004. He also writes a column on Catholic News service entitled, you guessed it, "Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II."

The New Improved Confession

Progress comes to Spain? Or does it? Don't watch this in a quiet library or study hall, your laughter will disrupt everything! It is in Spanish, but the subtitles will have you rolling in the aisles.



Pray for vocations.