Word of the Day*

When I first read about Elizabeth Scalia's new "Word of the Day" feature, my immediate thought was "why didn't I think of that?" Ever since I worked with a parish group that rejected the use of a picture of a thurible on a t-shirt because "no one knows what that is anymore," I have been on a mission to use my tiny sphere of influence toward using proper terms, defining things, and introducing others to the beautiful vocabulary of the Church.

With that in mind, it just seems right to begin with a word that is near and dear to us -

Sodality (so-DAL-ih-tee)

A group, usually of lay people, formed to promote pious and charitible acts. The Code of Canon Law tells us:

In the Church there are associations which are distinct from institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life. In these associations, Christ's faithful, whether clerics or laity, or clerics and laity together, strive with a common effort to foster a more perfect life, or to promote public worship or Christian teaching. They may also devote themselves to other works of the apostolate, such as initiatives for evangelisation, works of piety or charity, and those which animate the temporal order with the Christian spirit.

Christ's faithful are to join especially those associations which have been established, praised or recommended by the competent ecclesiastical authority. (Can. 298 §1 and §2)

*I need to add some qualifiers here. (1) I guarantee there will not be a word each and every day. Maybe Word of the Week would be more realistic. Sometimes Word of the Month may be closer to the truth. (2) I can also guarantee that every entry will not be a single word; there are just too many interesting phrases to learn. Perhaps a more accurate title would be The Church Ladies Sporadically Write About Words and Phrases That Currently Catch Their Attention. Or perhaps we'll just use Today's Word ;-)