Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Every year when Trinity Sunday rolls around preachers are reminded that it is almost impossible to preach about the Holy Trinity without lapsing into heresy. This is because the Doctrine of the Trinity is so nuanced and complex, and in efforts to explain the Trinity using examples and illustrations, we invariably make minor mistakes and foster misunderstandings. I prefer, therefore to rely on a favorite definition about “mystery”—and that is “a mystery is something that can be experienced even if it cannot be explained.” So, for …

When I wrote about our worship being a “compendium of culture” I mentioned a few things we often take for granted: the sacred vestments and vessels. The church teaches that the sacred vessels must be inviolable and made from precious metals. When a parish is poor “precious metals” may be copper or bronze or even tin. However, glass or pottery vessels are not to be used because they can be broken and the sacrament desecrated. Most of the sacred vessels at Our Lady of the Rosary are antiques that have …

Brothers and Sisters, We are blessed at Our Lady of the Rosary to have a fine young organist and choir master. Benjamin Philips loves his work and has done a great job developing our choral music program. We now have four choirs with over a hundred participants: Senior girls, junior girls, junior boys and the adult schola. The documents of the Second Vatican Council teach clearly about church music. The pipe organ is to be given pride of place and Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony are to be the primary …

Brothers and Sisters, One of the components of culture is language and literature. Our Catholic faith has produced the greatest literature in the world and the liturgy reflects this great heritage. We may not read sections of the great novels of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy or Tolkien at Mass. We may not read the poetry of Dante or Shakespeare, but we do hear the great sagas and stories of Sacred Scripture. We hear the parables and preaching of Jesus in the gospel. These stories are the foundation of Western culture, and if …

Brothers and Sisters, Last week I wrote about our worship being a “compendium of culture”. Over the next few weeks, I will share some thoughts on the different aspects of our worship. Architecture. The building in which we worship is important to our experience of worship. Not only that, it reflects our theology and understanding of God and our relationship to him. I remember reading about Native American culture. The writer observed that many of the Native Americans lived in round teepees placed in a circle, and that this was …

Saturday, May 13, 8am – 12pm Coffee and Donuts Please bring cleaning supplies and yardwork tools. …

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, May 10, and the discussion will be “Being Catholic in a Non-Catholic Society”. Please contact JohnMark Cayer at jcayer@charlestondiocese.org. …

Join us for a cuppa tea and the Rosary. Our next Marian Tea Party will be Saturday, April 29th at 10:30 am. Guadalupe Hall at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church. We are welcoming author and speaker, Kathleen Billings. She will be sharing with us how to “Be a Living Image of Your Loving Mother Mary.” Please RSVP HERE to reserve your spot for tea today! …

Brothers and Sisters, In the wake of the Second Vatican Council the Holy Spirit inspired the formation of various new communities for evangelization, renewal and catechesis. One of these groups is called the Neocatechumenal Way. The Neocatechumenal Way, also known as the Neocatechumenate, is a program of Christian formation for Catholics. It was initiated in Madrid, Spain in 1964 by Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez. The program is inspired by the formation of Christians in the early church by which converts from paganism were prepared for baptism. it also provides …

Brothers and Sisters, During May my pastor’s letters will focus on different aspects of the liturgy, hoping that by understanding in more depth we will deepen our love for the Lord in our regular worship. This week a summary of a recent article I wrote about traditional worship being a “compendium of culture.” The new Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Greenville draws together a wealth of Catholic art and architecture, and when we celebrate high Mass at 10:30 on Sunday mornings the building surges with a beautiful combination …