The following churches will offer the Sung Office of Tenebrae this Wednesday evening:

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, 7 pm (Traditional Mass at 6 pm)
Tenebræ responsories (Lassus & anon. German, ca. 1550)
Miserere (George Malcolm)

Church of the Holy Innocents, New York, 8 pm (Traditional Sung Mass at 6 pm)

St. Anthony of Padua, Jersey City, 7:30 pm

Palm (or Olive Branch) Sunday in the Traditional Ambrosian Rite. As celebrated  at the church of the Traditional Ambrosian Rite Catholics in Milan:  Santa Maria della Consolazione.

Difficile est saturam non scribere. (Juvenal, sat. 1,30)

In February Cardinal Turkson paid a  – rather low profile – visit here to preach the environmental Gospel of Pope Francis. First, to Molloy College on Long Island.

Thank you for the invitation to introduce the Encyclical, and then to reflect on “Catholics, Capitalism and Climate” with the help of Fr James Martin as moderator and three distinguished panellists Meghan Clark, R.R. Reno, and Erin Lothes. (my emphasis)

Today, we must discover the “fundamental and astounding” steps we need to take to address global warming, environmental and social degradation, or else face cataclysms like the more frequent and higher coastal floods that are predicted here in New York.

Vatican Radio

And later, he travelled to Philly and spoke at Villanova University. There he offered, as part of a”Lenten Reflection,”  a Bergoglian “better translation” of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy:

You may remember the Works of Mercy from catechism, or they may have slipped your mind, and I hope you have found them printed in this evening’s program. “They are still valid, still current… they remain the basis for self-examination,” says Pope Francis. “Perhaps some aspects could be better ‘translated’” for our situation, our society. It is just such a “better translation”, inspired by
Laudato si’, that I would like to share with you this evening. 8) Let me read the Works to you slowly.

First, here are the 7 corporal ones:
1. to feed the hungry; especially those who suffer from poverty and drought.
2. to give drink to the thirsty; especially those who lack clean, abundant water.
3. to clothe the naked; especially those exposed to the cold of winter and the sting of indifference.
4. to give shelter to the homeless; especially victims of war, storms, and rising seas.
5. to care for the sick; especially those who have been poisoned by the wastes of our industries.
6. to ransom the captive; especially those oppressed by cruel economic and political systems, or from addictions to the pleasures of the world.
7. to protect the dignity of the human person, especially in reverently burying the dead.
And here is an additional 8th:
8. to care for our common home.

Now, here are the 7 spiritual ones, again with the same additional 8th:
1. to teach those who do not see how their lifestyles harm others.
2. to offer hope to those who despair for the future of loved ones or the future of the world.
3. to admonish those who sin against neighbor, the natural order, or the laws of nature.
4. to patiently bear the sufferings inflicted by gluttony and greed.
5. to willingly forgive offences committed against humanity and the goodness of creation.
6. to comfort those afflicted by corruption, by changes to our climate, and by unwholesome desires.
7. to desire always to pray for the living and the dead and future generations.
And again here is the additional 8th:
8. to care for our common home.

8) Written by Bill Patenaude for the Global Catholic Climate Movement (Cardinal Turkson’s note)

Source

(Thanks to Catholic World News)

A small but precious early Renaissance painting the New York Historical Society has had in its collection since the 19th century has been recently restored and is being exhibited with two other panels which originally were probably attached to it.

Thomas Jefferson Bryan was an avid collector of art in the mid-19th century; the Gaddi altarpiece formed part of his collection. He exhibited these painting in New York as part of his Gallery of Christian Art, where the arrival of the so-called “Italian Primitives” must have been quite a shock. Mr. Bryan’s own portrait (above) reflects the neoclassical/romantic styles that at that time governed artistic taste on this side of the Atlantic. In 1867 Bryan’s collection of Christian art found a home at the New York Historical Society, the first museum in New York. Regrettably, much has been dispersed over the years.

This depiction of the enthroned Madonna and Child (Maestà) from 1330-34 is from the hand of Taddeo Gaddi of Florence, who had worked in Giotto’s workshop. His painting unites the hieratic style derived ultimately from Byzantium with the early Renaissance style originating with Giotto. Gaddi achieves monumentality in a work of modest dimensions.

(Above) The exhibit unites the central Maestà with two shutters that art historians think were likely attached to it.

Bryan’s Gallery of Christian Art was one of the first attempts by a wealthy collector to bring Catholic art of the medieval and Renaissance eras to the United States. In New York City alone a remarkable series of successors followed: J.P. Morgan’s Library, Huntington’s Hispanic Society of America and Rockefeller’s Cloisters. Do we not sense a longing for something their contemporary culture could not provide?

And now is not this art with its gold background, symbolism and solemn hierarchical figures a thousand times more foreign to the contemporary culture of New York than it was in Bryan’s day? For at that time a kind of Christianity, still shared by almost all in mid-19th century American culture, provided a means of access to this art. That is no longer the case. And even the Catholic Church, for which these masterpieces were created, has largely forgotten – indeed, has actively repudiated – this art. But for those pondering – or actively working on – a new rebirth (“renaissance”) of both culture and Church this painting and the story of how it came to this City will be a hope and inspiration.

(Above)The exhibit also includes several other Renaissance works that had been a part of Bryan’s collection – such as this Sienese crucifixion.

On view until March 20 at the New York Historical Society. (The permanent collection is closed until 2017 and the admission charge is on the high side – so you may prefer visiting during “pay-as-you-wish” on Fridays 6:00 – 8:00 PM.)

The Art of the Beautiful series continues next Saturday, February 6th! Architectural historian Dr. Denis McNamara, of the Liturgical Institute at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary, offers a talk entitled “Incarnation and Transfiguration: Rediscovering the Iconic Nature of Church Buildings.” Dr. McNamara is the author of Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago (2005), Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy (2009), and How to Read Churches: A Crash Course in Ecclesiastical Architecture (2011).

Regina Pacis Academy in Norwalk, CT, will be holding an open house week from Monday Feb. 1 to Thursday Feb. 4, 9:00 – 11:00 am for parents who are interested in enrolling their children for the 2016-2017 school year. Please call the school at (203) 642-4501 to make an appointment to visit.
The mission of Regina Pacis Academy is to provide the highest quality classical education to our students in small classes by teachers committed to the orthodox Catholic faith. We are to offer a curriculum from the classical tradition of the Roman Catholic Church at a reasonable cost for all. Visit the school’s website for more information: http://www.reginapacisacademy.com

Beginning on Sunday, February 7, 2016, the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena in Manhattan will offer a three-part series of workshops on Dominican chant, the dialect of Gregorian chant used by the Order of Preachers.

Led by Fr. Innocent Smith, o.p., the workshops will take place on three successive Sundays, February 7, 14, and 21, from 3:00–3:50 pm in the Parish Hall of the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer (in the undercroft the Church, accessible from Lexington Ave. to the right of the front steps of the Church). On February 14 and 21 the workshop will be followed by Vespers at 4:00 pm in the Church, giving participants a chance to sing some of the chants they have studied in the workshop.

To RSVP for the workshops, please email parish@svsc.info.