Byzantine Church Tour & Vespers This Saturday!

Arlington, VA (August 14, 2011)—The Institute of Catholic Culture invites you to attend the Byzantive Church tour and evening vespers, held in conjunction with the 18th Annual Middle Eastern Food Festival at Holy Transfiguration Church in McLean. The weekend-long festival begins on Saturday, September 3 (11 a.m. to 11 p.m.) and goes through Sunday, September 4 (noon to 6 p.m.).

The Institute will offer two special Church tours on Saturday at 4 p.m., prior to the 5 p.m. Vespers, and again at 6 p.m., immediately following Vespers. Join Deacon Sabatino Carnazzo for an extensive tour through the Baptistery and Church, explaining the meaning of the beautiful icons and architecture of the Church. After the tour, all are welcome to join in the festivities and enjoy lamb dinner and authentic Christian Middle Eastern culture.

Please join the Institute for this extraordinary annual festival at Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church, 8501 Lewinsville Road, Mclean VA 22102 Free Admission! No Reservation Required!

The Institute of Catholic Culture is a non-profit education institute dedicated to the re-evangelization of our society through educational and cultural opportunities offered to the public at no charge. For more information, please visit www.InstituteofCatholicCulture.org or call 703-504-8733.

Big Changes Are Coming to the Catholic Standard on Sept. 15th

There is a great deal of information in this week's Catholic Standard on Catholic schools at all levels. However, there are some major changes coming to the Standard.

In my estimate, when you look at what is happening to the Catholic press over the last few years, these are due mainly to financial conditions but also the speed in which we are able to communicate and share information.

In addition, this will give the Archdiocese more time to plan and implement a coordinated communications effort on something, such as illegal immigration.

So, what are the changes?

1. Publication every two weeks.

2. A more glossy/publication with (and insert trumpets blaring here) "striking covers, bigger and more dramatic photos, bolder headlines and insightful graphics."

3. More in line w/ the Spanish paper.

4. More articles from Catholic News Service, Catholic News Agency and I bet, more "Specials to the Standard."

Only time will tell if these changes will save the paper or if it will go down to a once a month publication.

Stupid Biden Quote

Once again, we bring you another stupid quote from the highest elected "Catholyc" in the United States: Vice President Joe Biden. I tell you, he is the gift that keeps on giving.

During his recent visit to China, he told the audience that he has had the opportunity to meet every major world leader in the last 38 years as an elected official. First, he has only been an elected official for 36 years (at the time of this speech), and two, he has not.

In addition, he compared himself to King George VI re stammering but considering the way this administration treats the rule of law, you would think that their authority stems directly from the right hand of God.

When are they going to put him back in the attic.

Sweeney, the Pro-Gay Agenda, Catholic Charities & Cardinal Wuerl

On March 1st, 2011 I wrote the following:

It seems that John Sweeney, the AFL-CIO president for 14 years, was honored. According to the Catholic News Agency article, he and his wife are both parishioners of Church of the Little Flower (Bethesda) and have "actively supported the work of Catholic Charities, including serving as the chairs of Catholic Charities' annual gala."

I don't know the man but I do remember him well from my days when I was an AFL-CIO member. (And I am not proud of that fact either.)I really find it appalling, that the head of the AFL-CIO, who spend millions, upon millions of dollars helping to elect pro-abortion and pro-gay politicians was allowed to be the chair of these charities.

I find it appalling that the Cardinal honored this man, on Sept. 2, 2009 when Mr. Sweeney received an honorary degree from Georgetown.I

find it appalling that the Catholic Standard would have this article, which shows Mr. Sweeney in such a positive light. I thought we had gotten past reporting on these stories.

Maybe if Mr. Sweeney had not funnelled as much money into elections, and more into pension funds, that we would not be facing gay marriage in Maryland, and that union pension funds would be in better health.

Well, it seems that he has documented his support for gay rights going back as far as 1983. His opposition to DOMA in 2005 is well documented.

For this Archdiocese to honor big fund raisers, who do not necessarily support the Catholic faith is the norm, not the exception. The Cardinal honored him in 2009 and earlier this year.

The Cardinal should be ashamed of himself and should admit he has done wrong!!

For the full story on John Sweeney, please go to LIFESITE NEWS.

Earthquake Damage to Archdiocese of Washington

At Holy Name Parish in DC, the chimney on the rectory fell in the quake and hit two cars. No one was hurt. Meanwhile, at St. Gabriel in DC, chunks of the ceiling fell in the sanctuary. In both case, facilities management employees have been sent in to evaluate the extent of the damage.At Mount Calvary in Forestville has had damage to the steeple.

In addition, Mount Calvary School has sustained damage.

For the rest of the story, go to myCatholicStandard.

Thank God there was no loss of life.

Now On Facebook

Well folks, I decided to take the plunge and create a Facebook account. I will link my articles over there too, should you decided to check it out.

You can find me as Joe Washingtoncatholic.

Newest Addition to the Blog Roll

These Stone Walls - Musing from a Priest Falsely Accused

This blog has fascinated me from the time I started to read it about one year ago.

I have decided to link to it, since it helps me to better understand a priest whom I have known now for over 35 years.

You see, he too has been accused, but in this case, no civil or criminal charges have been brought against him. His case sits before his Bishop. It has sat there for months/years. As long as this bishop does not do anything, there is no resolution. Although he has not been convicted (or even put on trial), in many ways he has been sentenced by his bishop.

I pray for all priests who have been falsely accused.

CCHD Collection - Let Your Voice Be Heard

Our colleague over at Restore DC Catholicism has done a bit of research an has come to the bottom of the change in the how the CCHD collection was conducted this year. You can read all about it here. However, it is time to LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD.

Mr Bosnick (abosnick@adw.org) is the Coordinator for CCHD in the Archdiocese of Washington. We need to contact him to make our displeasure known. We should also contact the archdicesan communications director, Ms. Chieko Scheve (cnoguchi@adw.org) her phone number is (301) 853-5340. Of course be polite, but be plainly-spoken as well.

The Errors of Modernism

Arlington, VA (August 14, 2011)—On Sunday, August 21, the Institute of Catholic Culture, featuring Rev. Paul Scalia, Pastor at Saint John the Beloved Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia, presents an in-depth examination of today's enemies of Christ. These are the “modernists” who attack the Church under the guise of ideological and political progressivism. As Pope Saint Pius X wrote, “It must be confessed that the number of the enemies of the cross of Christ has in these last days increased exceedingly, who are striving, by arts, entirely new and full of subtlety, to destroy the vital energy of the Church, and, if they can, to overthrow utterly Christ's kingdom itself.”

The Institute of Catholic Culture is a 501(c)3 Catholic nonprofit organization dedicated to the re-evangelization of our society through educational and cultural opportunities offered to the public at no charge. All Institute of Catholic Culture programs are approved for catechetical credit in the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.

Please join the Institute and Rev. Scalia at 7:30 p.m. at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 8213 Linton Hall Rd., Gainesville, Virginia. Admission is free, and no reservation is required. All are welcome to attend. For more information, please visit www.InstituteofCatholicCulture.org or call 540-635-7155.

The CCHD Collection in the Archdiocese of Washington

Folks, due to a number of other pressing issues (work, family, etc.), I did not get the opportunity to post about the CCHD collection this past weekend.

It seems that the Archdiocese has decided to move up the collection from later in the year to now and to re-name it.


Our colleague over at Restore DC Catholicism has all of the lurid details about this deception. Seems the Communications folks have been working overtime on this one.

A Large St. Jude's Catholic Family: Making It Work

The Kilmer family of St. Jude's - making it work each and every day. What a wonderful story.

So my question is...why can't others?

For more, read here.

O'Malley and Archbishop O'Brien on Gay Marriage

Two days before Gov. Martin J. O’Malley announced his July 22 decision to sponsor legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in Maryland, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien sent him a private letter urging O’Malley – a Catholic – to “refrain” from promoting the redefinition of marriage.

The governor's office decided to make the letter from the Archbishop public, as well as, his response.

You can read all about it here.

Knights of Columbus bail out JPII Center & Detroit Diocese

The August 4th edition of the Catholic Standard has the center pages focusing on the latest with the John Paul II Cultural Center. The Center was opened in April 2001 and for most of this calendar year, was only opened by appointment.

As readers of this and other blogs know, the JPII Center has not attracted the numbers and events hoped for since it was established.

Now, this is not to say that the facility and the exhibits (at least when I visited them a couple of years ago) we terrible. In fact, they were very nice. However, it was not easily accessible by metro or even vehicle. I mean, I had a bit of a difficult time finding it by car and if it wasn't due to the fact that the person with me knew the area very well, I would have never found it.

As you know, in the Fall of 2010, it was reported that the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, were looking into the possibility of purchasing this property for use as a house of study. However, this did not work out.

So the question then comes up: What do we do with this? We cannot just let it sit there and rot. We have spent all of this money and countless hours.

The answer: Let's make it a Shrine and have the Knights of Columbus "foot the bill."

The Standard reported that the Knights will repay the Diocese of Detroit the money spent to establish and operate the Center. (The Diocese of Detroit has taken quite a bit of heat over the cost of this.) In addition, proceeds from the sale will also go to Catholic University of America (CUA), which has a secured interest in the property. Further, the JPII Center will will be declared as an Archiocesan Shrine.

Let's be honest about this.

One, how much pressure was put upon the Knights to fund this effort. Personally, I bet a fair amount. I don't think that they would have jumped at it on their own.

Two, do you really think that by simply declaring it a shrine, people will naturally flock to it? Nope. Oh yes, we will see an increase in attendance but because they will ensure that when Church groups come, they must include a visit to it. But will this be enough to make it viable? I doubt it.

Three, how much of this was about "saving face" and "taping into someone else's coffers." As mentioned earlier, Detroit needs the money, the center is just sitting there and is in probably need or some repairs and the Archidocese of Washington is looking bad.

I really hate to say it but this is really throwing good money down the drain.