BIG C CATHOLICS

There are several plenary indulgences available for the first week in November. They are the following: For the faithful departed § 1. A plenary indulgence, applied exclusively to the souls in Purgatory, is granted to the Christian faithful who: 1° on each single day, from the first to the eighth day in November, devoutly visit a cemetery and, even if only mentally, pray for the faithful departed; [Note: one plenary indulgence for each day, if the usual conditions are met] 2° on the day of Commemoration of All Faithful Departed [November 2] (or, according to the Ordinary, on the preceding or subsequent Sunday, or on the day of the solemnity of All Saints) piously visit a church or oratory and there recite the  Pater  and the  Credo .

The Vatican on Tuesday reiterated one of its longstanding rules about the indissolubility of marriage, making clear that a recent German initiative on the matter was contrary to church teaching. The Vatican's chief doctrine official, German Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, wrote Tuesday that there is no way for Catholics who divorce and remarry to receive Communion unless they get an annulment, a church ruling that their first marriage never existed. "God's mercy does not dispense us from following his commandments or the rules of the church," he wrote in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Church teaching holds that Catholics who don't have their first marriage annulled before remarrying cannot participate fully in the church's sacraments because they are living in sin and committing adultery. 

The coat of arms   of Pope Francis was revealed on 18 March 2013. Francis decided to keep both the arms and motto he used since his episcopal consecration in 1991, however altered to reflect his position as Roman Pontiff. Charges and field The coat of arms has three charges on a blue field. In reference to Francis being a Jesuit, the uppermost charge is the emblem of the Society of Jesus. The emblem is composed of a radiating sun, within which is the IHS christogram (a monogram of the Holy Name of Jesus) in red, with a red cross surmounting the H and three black nails below the H. Below the Jesuit emblem is an eight-pointed star, which is a long-standing symbol of the Virgin Mary, and a spikenard (or nard flower) representing Saint Joseph. In hispanic iconographic tradition Saint Joseph is often depicted with a branch of spikenard in his hand. The charges appeared on Bergoglio's previous coat of arms, used when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, but as pope he...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S.  Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings )  It is natural to focus on gratitude in today’s readings. I’ll get to that later. You probably never read the 1952 book, Prisoners are People by Kenyon J. Scudder. And you probably never saw the 1955 movie Unchained, based on that book. But you have definitely heard the theme song of that film, one of the most famous love songs of all time, covered by dozens of artists. I have been humming “Unchained Melody” all week, ever since I first looked at this Sunday’s readings. What made me think of this song is the phrase in today’s second reading: “The Word of God is not chained.” Although the Apostle Paul is in prison, the Gospel continues to spread. It is unrestricted. It doesn’t depend on him. Another melody comes to mind, from Leonard Bernstein’s opera, Mass. There is a sung reflection, a homily of sorts, on the same passage from 2 Timothy. “You can lock up...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH   ( Click here for today’s readings )  I usually sign MS after my name. It means “Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette.” I think I’ll start adding my academic titles: PhL (Licentiate in Philosophy)and STB (Bachelor of Theology). More impressive, no? Like a doctor with MA, and MD, and PhD. This way I can show off my qualifications and accomplishments. Degrees are not to be sniffed at, much less anything to be ashamed of. What’s wrong with showing people that I’m “somebody”? And yet, Jesus says we are to call ourselves “unprofitable servants.” We may be tempted to reply, “What? After all I’ve done for you?” In the opening scene of Shakespeare’s King Lear, the old king asks his three daughters to say how much they love him, and he will give them a portion of his kingdom in proportion to their love. The first and the second carry on, boasting that they love him more than life, beauty, honor, etc., and...