Over the years Halloween has taken on an ever more active role in connecting with our neighbors in a wonderfully fun and meaningful way. For almost 20 years (since moving into our current house & neighborhood) we have made Halloween our celebration "launch" for the fall & winter season. For ten of those years our family invited whomever came by for a "treat" of touring our indoor Ancient Egyptian Museum - complete with decorations of "ancient artifacts", a mummification demonstrations, my daughters dressed in Egyptian costume acting as tour guides and my husband completely wrapped as a waking mummy rising from the couch for his beer. It became an annual event and a joy to see parents laughing and the little children aging up and bringing their friends. A joy to share what we learned about an ancient culture and how different its beliefs were regarding death and life after death. Now I have continued with Pirates - friendly and all outdoors and once again an opportunity for all the neighborhood children to be welcomed to our home for a friendly greeting and a very real taste of community. Our neighborhood has blossomed with decorations over the years and happily none have taken on the gruesome aspects you mention. Who knows what we will do next...perhaps a "Midnight Walk of the Saints"...Thanks as always for your wonderful personal posts.
I'm not sure how they got the SNL audience to laugh at that. Good reminder that our childhood TV was crap too when I tell my kids that their TV now is crap.
--> My browser already hates me for the tabs (many for Pillar articles) that get opened and never closed. Nevertheless, I'll do as requested, and read the article "when I have the time".
I was glad to read of your positive experience working in the (less famous) NAC. The problem with the Synod on Synodality, as it seems to me, is that some participants did "make recommendations that contravened Catholic doctrine" and believe that the synod could "compel the bishops".
Otherwise, why were some of the biggest, most enthusiastic boosters of the event - if they were certain the process was being guided by the Holy Spirit - disappointed by the conclusions. Maybe it's because the Holy Spirit did, in fact, guide the process, just not in the way they they anticipated. Maybe they weren't so "open to the Spirit" after all.
It's been a crazy week so I'll condense my thoughts into a single comment.
-"but the contemporary, gory, nihilistic version of Halloween is a probably good reminder of how many people need the Gospel."
I have been thinking on this as well. Over the last several years the entire Horror genre has been taken over by what I think is best described as "Gore Porn." The entire aim is to make those with moral care for the lives and wellbeing of individuals physically sick to their stomach, and to make those on the edges of nihilism desensitized to the idea that human beings are little more than meat puppets with a false sense of value. Our society is simmering in a putrid bath of moral relativism and the resulting stew is nihilism. If the value of and assignment of personhood is merely a social construct of the time and place we reside then any sort of horror-prone decision making is acceptable.
-"In short, he says, the synod on synodality's interim document may be mostly about moving the ecclesiological Overton window ahead of next year’s session."
I am right there with Ed. This is the main impetus that secular society has used to twist our culture from one rooted in the objective morality of Church teaching into one that is defined mainly by our collective desire to not give offense to those who wish to live contrary to God's Law. Think of any major diversion in our culture's moral understanding of how we should live and you will find the glacial, patient shift in the Overton window behind it through incremental tweaks abusing emotion-based reasoning. Our culture is dying by 10,000 cuts and the Church ignores it until salt is poured into the wounds with major law-shifting judgements. The curia seems reluctant to stop the paper-wielding hands (it's easier to denigrate faithful, orthodox hat-wearing clergy) and so the cuts will continue and the window will shift.
-"Diocese of Lincoln"
Diocese of Lincoln represent! Woot woot.
We need more hype men present in our Church.
-'The clear, unspoken, but obvious presumptions were this: The voice of God does not contradict the teachings of the Church. It is not the place of some small, quasi-representative body to presume to discern the 'development of doctrine.'”
J.D. ‘s half time report on the Synod was mostly a reflection of his time spent as an NAC delegate. The correlation seems to be if the Synod follows the NAC ground rules it will be successful. Evidently the NAC did not make recommendations that contravened Catholic doctrine or Tradition and instead focused on how that doctrine should guide the life of the Church. He further said that NAC members that found those ground rules difficult dropped out and let the others carry on. If that is what this Synod is supposed to look like, why have it? The Holy Spirit has spoken. There is nothing left to discern.
Well, I don’t agree that there is nothing left to discern. It should be the ordinary course of Christians to discern how God is calling them - and the Church - to live in the world.
A little confusing. The NAC ground rules you cited said don’t mess with Tradition . Many Catholics say they discern the Church is being called to ordain married men and women. I take it that as an NAC member that was a verboten topic. Is it viable for the Synod?
Hmmm…. Well, there’s another example of transparency and openness and walking together…..as a relatively new convert of 10 years, I find all this so tiresome and beyond…….
Much to the chagrin of my family, I am no horror enthusiast. However, one terrifying movie I've watched more than once is "The Conjuring" and its sequel. It's about real-life Catholics who fought evil, respectfully portrayed and beautifully acted. Every year I must decide if I want to watch something so scary, but the strength and faith of the married couple is worth it.
I like Eijk.
Over the years Halloween has taken on an ever more active role in connecting with our neighbors in a wonderfully fun and meaningful way. For almost 20 years (since moving into our current house & neighborhood) we have made Halloween our celebration "launch" for the fall & winter season. For ten of those years our family invited whomever came by for a "treat" of touring our indoor Ancient Egyptian Museum - complete with decorations of "ancient artifacts", a mummification demonstrations, my daughters dressed in Egyptian costume acting as tour guides and my husband completely wrapped as a waking mummy rising from the couch for his beer. It became an annual event and a joy to see parents laughing and the little children aging up and bringing their friends. A joy to share what we learned about an ancient culture and how different its beliefs were regarding death and life after death. Now I have continued with Pirates - friendly and all outdoors and once again an opportunity for all the neighborhood children to be welcomed to our home for a friendly greeting and a very real taste of community. Our neighborhood has blossomed with decorations over the years and happily none have taken on the gruesome aspects you mention. Who knows what we will do next...perhaps a "Midnight Walk of the Saints"...Thanks as always for your wonderful personal posts.
I'm not sure how they got the SNL audience to laugh at that. Good reminder that our childhood TV was crap too when I tell my kids that their TV now is crap.
"Open this in a new tab ...."
--> My browser already hates me for the tabs (many for Pillar articles) that get opened and never closed. Nevertheless, I'll do as requested, and read the article "when I have the time".
I was glad to read of your positive experience working in the (less famous) NAC. The problem with the Synod on Synodality, as it seems to me, is that some participants did "make recommendations that contravened Catholic doctrine" and believe that the synod could "compel the bishops".
Otherwise, why were some of the biggest, most enthusiastic boosters of the event - if they were certain the process was being guided by the Holy Spirit - disappointed by the conclusions. Maybe it's because the Holy Spirit did, in fact, guide the process, just not in the way they they anticipated. Maybe they weren't so "open to the Spirit" after all.
“If you want to know what that tool has to say”
You are a cold and violent people😂
It's been a crazy week so I'll condense my thoughts into a single comment.
-"but the contemporary, gory, nihilistic version of Halloween is a probably good reminder of how many people need the Gospel."
I have been thinking on this as well. Over the last several years the entire Horror genre has been taken over by what I think is best described as "Gore Porn." The entire aim is to make those with moral care for the lives and wellbeing of individuals physically sick to their stomach, and to make those on the edges of nihilism desensitized to the idea that human beings are little more than meat puppets with a false sense of value. Our society is simmering in a putrid bath of moral relativism and the resulting stew is nihilism. If the value of and assignment of personhood is merely a social construct of the time and place we reside then any sort of horror-prone decision making is acceptable.
-"In short, he says, the synod on synodality's interim document may be mostly about moving the ecclesiological Overton window ahead of next year’s session."
I am right there with Ed. This is the main impetus that secular society has used to twist our culture from one rooted in the objective morality of Church teaching into one that is defined mainly by our collective desire to not give offense to those who wish to live contrary to God's Law. Think of any major diversion in our culture's moral understanding of how we should live and you will find the glacial, patient shift in the Overton window behind it through incremental tweaks abusing emotion-based reasoning. Our culture is dying by 10,000 cuts and the Church ignores it until salt is poured into the wounds with major law-shifting judgements. The curia seems reluctant to stop the paper-wielding hands (it's easier to denigrate faithful, orthodox hat-wearing clergy) and so the cuts will continue and the window will shift.
-"Diocese of Lincoln"
Diocese of Lincoln represent! Woot woot.
We need more hype men present in our Church.
-'The clear, unspoken, but obvious presumptions were this: The voice of God does not contradict the teachings of the Church. It is not the place of some small, quasi-representative body to presume to discern the 'development of doctrine.'”
</cheer>!
J.D. ‘s half time report on the Synod was mostly a reflection of his time spent as an NAC delegate. The correlation seems to be if the Synod follows the NAC ground rules it will be successful. Evidently the NAC did not make recommendations that contravened Catholic doctrine or Tradition and instead focused on how that doctrine should guide the life of the Church. He further said that NAC members that found those ground rules difficult dropped out and let the others carry on. If that is what this Synod is supposed to look like, why have it? The Holy Spirit has spoken. There is nothing left to discern.
Well, I don’t agree that there is nothing left to discern. It should be the ordinary course of Christians to discern how God is calling them - and the Church - to live in the world.
A little confusing. The NAC ground rules you cited said don’t mess with Tradition . Many Catholics say they discern the Church is being called to ordain married men and women. I take it that as an NAC member that was a verboten topic. Is it viable for the Synod?
Hmmm…. Well, there’s another example of transparency and openness and walking together…..as a relatively new convert of 10 years, I find all this so tiresome and beyond…….
Much to the chagrin of my family, I am no horror enthusiast. However, one terrifying movie I've watched more than once is "The Conjuring" and its sequel. It's about real-life Catholics who fought evil, respectfully portrayed and beautifully acted. Every year I must decide if I want to watch something so scary, but the strength and faith of the married couple is worth it.