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worth noting . . . CHURCH MUSIC SHOULD BE SACRED . . . Over the years I have heard many complaints about the quality of church music. Perhaps that explains why Thomas Day’s book, Why Catholics Can’t Sing, was so successful. This month I am happy to bring you an article by Fr. Basil Cole, O.P., on the matter of sacred music at Mass—what it should be and what it should not be. The article is based on his recent book, Music and Morals (Alba House, 1993). Most Catholics who attend Mass regularly have an opinion on church music. If you would like to express your opinion, we would be happy to hear from you, but please, not more than two pages typed and double-spaced (p. 6). DID ST. DOMINIC GIVE US THE ROSARY? . . . Tradition going back to the 13th century has it that the Mother of God gave the Rosary to St. Dominic to help him in his battle with the Manicheans. But the Bollandists in the 17th century challenged this and argued that there was no historical evidence to prove it. In this issue you will find an article on St. Dominic and the Rosary by Fr. Paul A. Duffner, O.P., who argues that the absence of documents is outweighed by the testimony of tradition. Many saints and popes have said that the Blessed Virgin Mary gave us the Rosary through St. Dominic. Fr. Duffner makes a good case for St. Dominic (p. 15). DO YOU HAVE A “CATHOLIC MIND”? . . . Many Catholics in our society do not seem to know that there is such a thing as a “Catholic mind”—a Catholic way of looking at God, man and world. This month Mr. Thomas Storck examines the Catholic mind and finds that it has four characteristics: 1) a supernatural sense; 2) a sacramental awareness; 3) a sense of tradition; and 4) an awareness of the totality of things. Materialism and subjectivism in our culture, along with a confused and disjointed educational system, tend to block the Catholic view of the world for many American Catholics. Try it. What do you think? (p. 21). A MARRIED CATHOLIC CLERGY? . . . The We Are Church dissenters, along with many other secularized Catholics, are actively agitating for married priests. In concrete detail, what would a system of married priests do to the Church in America? In this issue you will find an article by Dr. Lynnewood F. Martin which attempts to spell out for us what it would mean. Dr. Martin speaks from experience, since he was a married minister in a Protestant church before he converted to Catholicism. He views the matter from three angles: 1) economics; 2) the pastor and his family; 3) pastoral implications. He makes a good case against a married clergy in the Catholic Church (p. 29).—K.B. |