Comments for Stations of the Cross at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 5 out of 5 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Thu, 23 May 2013 05:57:21 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/stations-of-the-cross.html#comment-10360 Thank you, Fr. Praying the Stations are so dear and precious to me. As a convert, I found them compelling and between them and the deeper fasting, Lent has become one of my most favorite times of the year. It reminds me of the last month before the baby comes....such anticipation and suffering, a true ache for Resurrection and Eternal Life. My parish uses this very moving version of Stations. by the end of them i can no longer sing, and barely speak the prayers aloud. Caryll Houselander's meditation The Way of the Cross is also very inspirational. Some of her meditations, written during the bombing of London in WW2, are gritty yet deeply moving; the stark reality of my sin and my only chance of redemption-His suffering, all His blood. This Faith is so RICH in grace and beauty. What a unfathomable privilege to be His! - debby Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:33:12 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/stations-of-the-cross.html#comment-10345 @Patrick K, I'm guessing you're Polish? (Polskie rzeczy) My wife's Polish and we currently live in Poland. As to your question why some parishes have removed the ornate altars and decor . . . I don't want to answer for the priests of those parishes. Who knows exactly why they've done that. But I'm familiar with the phenomenom. Maybe they were embarrassed by the richness of what they had? Maybe they think they're being more modest? Maybe they're trying to appeal to American Protestants? I grew up American Protestant and I have to say I love the traditional, beautiful Catholic churches. I believe that any "permanent" structure where the Holy Eucharist is celebrated ought to be as beautiful as human beings can possibly make them. Finally, one thought on the Stations of the Cross. It happens to me every single time in the 12th station, where Jesus dies, and every one kneels and there's a moment of heart rending silence before we all pray the Our Father. I can barely gasp out the Our Father at that moment because my heart is in my throat. All I want to do is weep in sorrow and gratitude. God loves us so very, very much - I can hardly fathom it. - Randall Mon, 12 Mar 2012 01:11:45 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/stations-of-the-cross.html#comment-10344 I attended Stations of the Cross recently at St. John Cantius in Chicago and we used a text that I happened to notice was copyrighted in 1936. It mentioned the indulgence for attendance, which was interesting to me. I am 31 years old and I don't remember ever hearing of indulgences before. (I knew what they were, mostly from reading about the history of the Protestant Reformation, but I had never encountered them in a liturgical setting.) I suppose that Vatican II (or the "spirit" thereof) made the granting of indulgences no longer fashionable? I don't know. It seems to me it might be helpful to remind us lay faithful that there are such things as indulgences, and that the Church has the authority to grant them. Of course, the perfect saint would be content to obey the laws simply out of love, and then merely, meekly ask "that I may love You always; and then do with me as You will." But since I'm not a perfect saint, I found it encouraging to know that God would respond in an appreciable way to my attendance, namely with an indulgence. That it meant something. And as an aside, why were ornate altars removed? St. John Cantius and St. Mary of Perpetual Help are two of the churches in Chicago that I attend that have kept them. The other church I usually go to is Holy Name Cathedral. It took out the altar and now has an abstract wooden design, with a small coat-of-arms of the Archdiocese of Chicago. St. John Cantius and St. Mary of Perpetual Help have kept them, along with their statues, murals, and other Polskie rzeczy... beautiful colors. Did the Romans think them campy or cartoonish? - Patrick K Sun, 11 Mar 2012 18:01:49 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/stations-of-the-cross.html#comment-10342 Not having seen it I have no idea. The rules for devotion are wider than they would be for sacraments for example. But the text of the devotion still has to be theological and theologically accurate. Your diocese could discern that for you. - Fr. Bramwell Sun, 11 Mar 2012 14:15:29 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/stations-of-the-cross.html#comment-10338 We have been subjected to a Stations of the Cross liturgy put together by Development and Peace. It looks like something that could have been written by David Suzuki. It was alarmist, anti-western and so on. I would like to know if this is appropriate and whether the Bishops approve of this? - 4Subsidiarity Sun, 11 Mar 2012 08:06:11 +0100