Hymns Can Help Change Lives
After many years in a spiritual wilderness, Happy Jack was in Westminster attending a professional conference on child abuse. It was a particularly difficult stage of his life, both professionally and personally. He happened to be passing Westminster Cathedral and felt drawn to enter. He hadn't crossed the threshold of a Catholic Church for many years and had a sense of ambivalence about this.
He sat at the back. He felt like an intruder. The hymn below was being sung by the choir and, truthfully, it triggered a process that reshaped his life. Even today when he hears it, it brings a tear to his eye.
Do Not Be Afraid For I Have Redeemed You
After the service, Happy Jack went to Confession - not easy after some 20+ years of sinning! After what Happy Jack now knows to have been a "general confession" (click here for more on this), the young priest said to him: "These are serious sins." Happy Jack's reply: "Well, yes, that's why I'm here!" Thankfully, that ended any further questioning - the Father didn't quiz the Prodigal Son about detail. If need be, there would be time for that later.
Do you have a favourite hymn with a special place in your heart?
If so, post the hymn details in the comments box and Happy Jack will do his best to add it to this post.
For Little Hobb: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
For Cressie: Ave Verum
Bring Flowers of the Rarest was a favourite of my mother's and has, over the years, become one of mine, too. It's not heard so much these days, but one church near me, a Carmelite community, dusts it off every May, the traditional Marian month. I received the Faith from my mother, but never appreciated what it meant until one day when I brought her to Mass in that church and the hymn, which she hadn't heard in years, was sung and brought tears to her eyes.
ReplyDeleteHJ loves all the traditional Marian hymns! He was raised on a diet of these as every May the Irish Catholic Sisters at his school organised processions.
DeleteThat is indeed a beautiful, modern hymn to lift a soul out of the panic of feeling abandoned.
ReplyDeleteI have always had a fondness, despite my profound Protestantism, for an Orthodox hymn, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QU3-E5mWNg
Good choice, Little Hobb.
DeletePanis Angelicus and Ave Verum. Memories of Benediction in a candle lit Chapel sung by the nuns...they had good voices...Mother Alphonsus' high notes were legendary. If you move away from religion you will inevitably return if you were fortunate enough to have had this formative experience ....I am clinging to the Catholicism of my ancestors...I am sorry that those who follow after me have missed out on our amazing traditions and culturally rich heritage. When I was at school every page header was marked AMDG...God deserves the best we can offer...
ReplyDeleteonly achieved by the pursuit of excellence. I really like being a Catholic
Thanks, Cressie. Wonderful choices.
Deletehttps://youtu.be/DsUWFVKJwBM?si=2nFKes1-j9UU7v8r....Ave Verum....Cressie
ReplyDeleteNow updated ....
DeleteOff topic, but it appears that well-beloved artist and visionary, Marko Rupnik, has been accepted back into ministry by the Slovenian diocese of Koper. Considering Archbishop Ganswein got busted out of the Vatican for less -- a hell of a lot less -- than Rupnik did, and is still looking for a gig, it's hard to imagine this has not happened without a nod from a very high place. Since God generally brings good out of evil, maybe the maniacal support for Rupnik is what will kickstart an unstoppable reaction against the excesses of the synodal Church. We can but hope.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255805/rupnik-accepted-for-priestly-ministry-in-diocese-in-slovenia
Yes, Happy Jack noticed that.
DeleteUpdate:
DeleteThe mosaic artist Fr. Marko Rupnik will face a canonical process over allegations of sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse against women religious, the Vatican announced Friday, in an apparent about-face.
The Vatican has not formally specified the charges Rupnik will face, and the Vatican’s press office has declined questions on its statement.
The Holy See press office said Oct. 27 that the process would take place after Pope Francis decided to waive the statute of limitations on the claims, amid a worldwide outcry after it emerged this week that Rupnik had been accepted into a diocese in his native Slovenia after being expelled from the Jesuit order.
The statement:
“In September, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors brought to the pope’s attention that there were serious problems in the handling of the Fr. Marko Rupnik case and lack of outreach to victims. Consequently, the Holy Father asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review the case, and decided to lift the statute of limitations to allow a process to take place.”
“The pope is firmly convinced that if there is one thing the Church must learn from the Synod it is to listen attentively and compassionately to those who are suffering, especially those who feel marginalized from the Church.”
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/pope-francis-waives-statute-of-limitations
On the ABC tonight I heard that the Spanish Catholic Church is being accused of 200,000 child abuse cases....Speechless ! Cressida
ReplyDeleteThis is an estimate based on a phone and online survey of 8,000 responses. This found that (since 1940?) 1.13% of the Spanish adults (i.e. 440,000) claim they were sexually abused as children by either priests or lay members of the church, including teachers at religious schools. Of those, 0.6% identified their abusers as clergy members (i.e., 200,000).
DeleteThe Spanish Church has uncovered 927 cases of child abuse through a complaints procedure launched in 2020.
A investigation by the newspaper El País which began in 2018 uncovered 2,206 alleged victims and 1,036 alleged clerical abusers dating back to 1927.
The Spanish Church's complaints indicated that of the 927 allegations 728 alleged perpetrators were: 170 diocesan priests and 208 ordained religious, 234 non-ordained men and women religious, one deacon, 92 laypeople, and 23 people whose state is unknown.
DeleteAccording to the data provided to the Church, the majority of those accused are men (99.4%) and in more than eight out of 10 cases the abuse was of a homosexual nature. 63% of alleged abusers are now dead.
DeleteThe report indicates that 80% of the cases occurred before 1990 and that seven out of 10 took place in the 20th century.
The 1970s was the decade with the most cases of abuse.
Nearly half of the reported abuses (46.96%) took place in a school setting and slightly more than 15% in a parish environment, with another 14.57% in seminaries, boarding schools, or choirs.
8 out of ten cases were homosexual in nature? The same proportion the John Jay investigation into child sex abuse in the American Catholic Church found. Is it just me, or is there a pattern here?
Delete