Divine Mercy in Rome

One morning in Rome walking in the area just south west of the Vatican I couldn’t help but notice this church with a huge poster of St. Faustina on it. Seeing her picture I knew I had to go in. Click on the photos to enlarge although some dont for reasons Im not sure of.

On the right hand side of the aisle there was this popular chapel. It was a special treat for me as someone who has been saying the chaplet for almost one year. After having visited many churches in Paris and Rome on this trip and having looked at many side chapels it was sort of like seeing a good friend in an unexpected place to come across this one. It was a beautiful moment for me to light a candle and pray a litle here. I felt hugged.

On the left side of the church was this chapel with two very familiar faces; Pope John Paul II and Our Lady of Fatima.

Back outside the church looking left.

Sketching Mary

This photo was taken after mass by my brother in 2005 while we were sightseeing in Yamanashi prefecture.  I haven`t been back to the church since but I hope they found a nicer place for the statue than the utility area!

The Pieta

 

My raw unedited photo of the Pieta in St Peters.  How did I feel to see it in person?   I was completely awestruck by St Peter`s basilica on many levels such as spiritual, art, and architecture, and to see the Pieta just added to that. 

What is Going on in Sendai?

This story on the CBCJ site caught my attention for its what the heck factor.

The number of parishes and districts in Sendai that are implementing “collaborative evangelization” is increasing.

http://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/eng/jcn/may2008.htm#1

This collaborative evangelization seems to favor replacing the homily with a lay person giving a speech or faith sharing groups. That sets off warning bells in my mind since replacing the homily or anyone giving the homily besides the priest is a liturgical abuse. I don`t know what else collaborative evangelization entails but I hope it stays far away from my diocese if they are going to be messing with the homily.

Because of the story I was digging through the diocese of Sendai`s website and came across these photos form an international mass they had in 2004. It seems the dancing and such came after the mass but still is it really necessary to do that in the sanctuary?

http://www.sendai.catholic.jp/intar-mas.htm

This is the cathedral it took place at. It looks like a sterile operating room with a surf board for a operating table to me not a house of the Lord. Most troubling of all is I don`t see any obvious crucifix.

http://st.cat-v.ne.jp/catholic-sendai/mototerakoji.html

Here is a church in the diocese that looks like it has not been wreckovated.

http://www.sendai.catholic.jp/c%20hirosaki.htm

Genzo Mizuno

The previous post with the story from the CBCJ site gave me the name of the late poet Mr. Genzo Mizuno 水野 源三 who due to a childhood illness was left paralyzed and wrote his poems by blinking!  A quick google of his name will lead you to the same sites I found.  It seems he was not Catholic but is simply described as Christian which is fine because I have no problem including remarkable Protestants on here too.

I found a page in Japanese with a photo of he and his Mom at the top

http://www.work-out.jp/mariko/mizuno.html

Sharing Hospital Room with Nun Leads Woman to Faith

Finally the CBCJ site has been updated and with the update comes this story.

“Four years ago, Sr. Emiko Hiraoka, 56, not a Catholic at the time, was admitted to the university hospital in Geno to be treated for cancer. She was assigned the same room as Sr. Fumiko Koyama, who had a similar condition…”

http://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/eng/jcn/may2008.htm#6

Japanese Bishops Versus the Neocatechumenal Way

I had read about the NW over on CathCon http://cathcon.blogspot.com/search/label/Neo-Catechumenal%20Way but didn’t know they were a problem here until I read this

http://sognodargento.blogspot.com/2008/05/japanese-bishops-second-visit-over.html

The results came very quickly and the NW will be shut down.  Let`s pray they stay shut down here.

http://amywelborn.wordpress.com/2008/05/10/shutting-down/

Posture at Mass

A recent post I wrote entitled Bowing Instead of Genuflecting… received an interesting comment that I though might as well be answered as a new post. 

I’ve been to Masses in Japanese here in the US. I notice that on entering the Church Japanese Catholics do not genuflect but bow. I am sure this must have been contrived by some liturgist in the 1960’s.
Barring a problem with the knees, there’s no excuse for Japanese Catholics not to genuflect. First, bending the knee is an authentic part of their tradition. Anyone who has seen a samurai movie can attest to that. [Just try bowing and then standing in the presence of the daimyo!]

Ive read articles online with comments by the late Cardinal Hamao for one who said things along the lines that Japanese should worship in their own distinct Eastern way etc.  This article gives outrageous quotes by him http://qien.free.fr/2007/200704/20070412_ucan.htm so I’m wondering if even the Japanese bishops and cardinals had a hand in this?    Good point about posture before the daimyo and other cases in the past.  Of course posture before the daimyo was a matter of keeping your own head or not but still I agree the bow they do at mass is not extraordinary.

This brings me into my main point and why I started a new post for this.  Even at St Peter`s basilica the posture of Catholics is not uniform.  At the very heart of Catholicism it is striking how much disunity there is in our postures at mass.  I attended a weekday evening mass at the altar of the chair I think it`s called.  This chapel has the famous holy spirit window and the chair of St Peter, and here at consecration our posture was not one as most knelt and some stood.  During the agnus dei some knelt again while most stood, and during the Our Father some held their hands up in the orans position while many others didn’t.  Yes I was paying attention to the priest but while looking at him it is very easy to see everyone is not doing the same thing.  I know a lot of parishes have been rocked by seemingly constant changes in the last fourty, even the last ten years, and I think it leads to a lot of confusion!  I will give my parents home parish as an example because almost every time I visit they are doing something new.  Thinking back they have gone through praying with hands in orans, holding hands during the Our Father, a lot of crap from life teen (which is out of there now thankfully) and a bunch of changes as when to sit stand and kneel during the liturgy of the Eucharist.  I am all for any pope approved changes but some of the ones that have come through probably aren’t (life teen) and it can be very confusing for both Catholics and non Catholics who might be looking in. 

 

Communion at Massive Mass

While in Rome on Sunday May 4 there was an outdoor mass in St Peters square which I attended.  This was my first time to attend such a massive mass and due to the midday heat was standing in the colonnade for most of it.  Communion time came and I squeezedinto the main square to receive the Holy Eucharist but wait where is the extraordinary minister?  No announcement was given, no obvious lines existed, and after pushing around in the crowd for about ten minutes I realized I wasn’t going to get it, and it seemed like many others didn’t either.  Very disappointing to say the least.  What kind of mass is it when the properly disposed faithful in a state of grace (including me) cant receive the Eucharist?  I should add that this was not a papal mass but still there’s no excuse.  There is a huge basilica right there why cant we go inside and have mass there instead?  The square is good for non mass events such as the papal audience but what happened at that mass has rather put me off of attending further large outdoor masses like that in the future.

 

Kamikaze Myths

For those who wonder what were they thinking, was it really for the emperor, read from the pilots themselves their thoughts.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Weekend/FK20Jp04.html