Signs of the Holy One: Liturgy, Ritual, and Expression of the Sacred Fr. Uwe Michael Lang Ignatius Press, 2015 180 pages $9.99 Kindle; $19.95 Paperback In recent years Fr. Uwe Michael Lang’s talk on sacred art, music, and aesthetics has been one of the most effective such presentations available on the internet. Fr. Lang has since…
Saint John Paul II, in his prescient Letter to Artists, reminded us that “The Church needs art,” and that art needs the Church. While much of the Catholic world has forgotten about this document, it fell like a thunderbolt amongst Christian artists, helping further intensify the growing rebirth of spiritual synergy between art and Mother…
“The talk might turn in any direction,” chronicled Warnie Lewis, “[always featuring] the cut and parry of prolonged, fierce, masculine argument and “the rigour of the game.” Later Warnie would chronicle that Out would come a manuscript, and we would settle down to sit in judgment upon it – real unbiased judgement, too, since we…
Perhaps the most prolific living Catholic author in the English language, Michael O’Brien has been thrilling us with theologically rich and emotionally poignant works of fiction for over twenty years. He recently returned to finish one of his most popular tales – Fr. Elijah – with the sequel, Fr. Elijah in Jerusalem. The short (by…
“I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener.” -Arvo Pärt Every person intent on a joyous eternity beyond time and space is bound by the question of what to do –…
In every age of darkness, there is always present the Spirit of the Church, facing down the worldly spirit of the times. In seeking to understand the conflicts of our own times, we may turn allegorically to the mythical world of J.R.R. Tolkien – and the experiences of his contemporary, Dietrich Von Hildebrand – to…
There are times where an important spiritual concept is lost in the marketplace of religious ideas, subdued and modified by pop psychologists and religionists seeking simple solutions rather than lasting challenges. The concept of “acedia,” if mentioned at all, is often grouped with negative emotions, depressive states, and feelings of underachievement. Jean-Charles Nault’s (O.S.B.) The…
Most Catholics in our world seem to take a flippant attitude towards liturgical music. It is all-too-frequently deemed something suitable for competent amateurs, of lesser concern and of secondary importance – until, of course, it isn’t. The news this week of the unexpected and noteworthy resignation of Johh Romeri as head of Liturgical Music in…
With the release of another predictably vapid World Youth Day “hymn”, the time may be ripe to once again address the problem of “kitsch” in the Catholic Church. The age of glowing artifice has successfully blinded even some of the most faithful, and it’s high time that somebody shot the elephant in the room (poaching…
Poland, 1982: A young woman early into her fifth pregnancy sits in a doctor’s office at the end of an examination. “You know, ma’am, you really need to be more responsible about your fertility. You don’t have to breed like a rabbit.” The doctor – a dedicated communist – proceeds to write her a referral…
If you build something truly beautiful, the people will come of their own accord. So it was for the tenth annual Festival of Lessons and Carols at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, which – in the presence of Most Reverend Joseph N. Perry, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago – saw an enthusiastic and capacity crowd.…
