What's on your needles?

The weather's getting colder, Christmas is getting nearer...in short, it's knitting season. So what's in your knitting (or crocheting basket) right now? I'll go first. I have a tendency to have more than one project going at once, and the holiday season just makes that worse. Here's what I've got going on:

Fingerless gloves to fill that gap between bare hands and all-out glovedness (and be usable for winter photography). I'm using sock yarn, which is fantastic to work with.

A Christmas present scarf. The recipient picked out the yarn, so I'm not spoiling anything by posting this picture, but the pattern itself is a surprise. I have to put in a plug for the yarn (Berroco Comfort), which is the nicest acrylic I've ever used.

A lace-patterned sweater (for myself!). The pattern is really easy, but it's been put aside for now in favor of gift knitting.

This has yet to be started, but will be a scarf/hat for a cousin.

So, what are you working now, for yourself or as gifts? Post in the comments below (feel free to link to a post on your own blog or a ravelry page). I can't wait to see what you're making!

Juan Diego & Elizabeth of Hungary teach Religious Ed

Last night, there was an All Saints presentation at The Parish. Sts Juan Diego & Elizabeth of Hungary were in attendance.

"Juan's" tablecloth... er, tilma

The classic St Elizabeth's bread, shaped like a rose. Therese and I started baking and handing this bread out on her feast day when we were students at Our Lady's University.

This one's for all the Pious Men

Reverend Know-it-all answers: "What's it like being a priest?"

Happy feast of St Charles Borromeo, patron of seminarians!

The Year For Priests: Minimum Requirements

Last Sunday I picked up a helpful little pamphlet entitled Five Ways to Support My Parish Priest published by Our Sunday Visitor, with an imprimatur by the Church Ladies' beloved Bishop D'Arcy. For the reasonable price of only $14.95 for 50 the first thing I'd recommend you do is purchase some to distribute at your parish.*

I suppose the five points outlined would be radically new levels of support for some, but Church Ladies will recognize them as minimum requirements:

1. Pray for your priest and let him know you are doing so. Private prayer, certainly, but also consider ways you can publicly pray for your priest.

o The United States Council of Catholic Bishops has a lovely prayer on their site available for distribution. Our bishops recommend it be prayed "during the Prayers of the Faithful, at the conclusion of Mass, and/or at the various meetings of the parish community."

o In our parish, we’ve just started a project where families can adopt a priest and pray for him specifically. We’ve identified 26 priests who serve our parish by hearing confessions, leading retreats, filling in for Masses, etc. We created a card for each which includes a little bit about him (including his photo, a brief bio on his primary assignment and how he serves our parish), and a prayer. The cards are randomly distributed to all the students in our religious educations program and families are encouraged to pray for "their priest" throughout the year.

2. Actively participate in your parish life. Go to Mass, volunteer to support the various ministries and programs there, and donate money to keep things running.

o Now obviously going to Mass is a given. (If you are not joyfully and prayerfully attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at least one time each week, I am directing my most stern Church Lady look at you right now. You feel repentant, don't you?)

o But go beyond that and consider what you can give back to your parish community. I am positive they need catechists, people to serve coffee after Mass, people to help with funeral hospitality, people to distribute food baskets during the holidays, people to do basic office tasks, people to lead the Rosary before Masses - the list is endless. One thing I love about my parish is its commitment to plugging everyone into some kind of volunteer service. It builds up our community life exponentially and allows us to use our combined humble talents for great works of service to our beloved Lord.

o And obviously, this take some money as well. Do your part and give 10% whenever possible.

3. Have realistic expectations.

o Yes, your priest is acting in the person of Christ for your parish. No, he is not God. Your priest needs support, affirmation, rest, nutritious food and yes, even regular time off and vacations. He will be better able to serve you if he gets these things so do what you can to make them happen.

4. Refuse to be part of the problem.

o Avoid gossip, criticism, and negativity toward your priest (and priesthood in general) in every form. Gossip is sin, so call it what it is and avoid it just as you would every other sin. Undue criticism and a generally negative attitude does nothing to build up parish life.

o It is particularly damaging for your children to hear you criticizing your priest on the way home each Sunday. Go out of your way to find positive things to say and save the rest for private conversation between adults.

5. Show appreciation!

o Church Lady Lucy has posted several ideas over the years for tangible ways you can show appreciation for your priest.

o Notes of appreciation are always a wonderful surprise and even an email will serve the purpose if you’re pressed for time. Just be careful that you don’t ruin the gift by attaching some condition to it (“Thank you, Father, for praying the Roman Canon and wearing those beautiful vestments yesterday. I look forward to the day when you'll finally be able to do something about the music also.") Be sincere and save your suggestions for another opportunity.

*Of course, you'll want to check with your parish office for policies on distributing materials first.

Feeling needed

For the University's trip to Chicago yesterday for a solemn high requiem Mass, I decided to fill my bag with some potentially useful items (for myself and the group at large - roughly 80 people!). I sent 20 chapel veils with the campus ministry employee to hand out as needed, which left me with the following in my bag:

-1 black chapel veil (mine)

- 1 missal

-1 bag of cough drops (lots of colds going around)

- The Privilege of Being a Woman (Alice von Hildebrand): my current spare-time reading (hopefully a post will be forthcoming about this fantastic book)

- The Holy Mass (Dom Prosper Gueranger); the book was given to me over the summer, and I absolutely treasure it. It's a wonderful explanation, succinct but thorough, of the Tridentine Mass. Perfect for study or meditation during Mass itself (though the section on sequences wasn't quite long enough to get me through the Dies Irae last night).

- 1 in-progress scarf (worked on in the car, not in church)

After Mass, the gentlemen in my immediate company wanted to go mingle without their books, so I added to my collection 2 more missals and a Breviary. And no, lest you ask, my bag isn't really that big. It was quite bulging with leather-bound books and I attracted lots of funny looks as I walked through the church. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but you'll notice that a camera was not on my list because my purse-sized camera was forgotten at home last time I was there.

A Little Something For My Christmas List ...

Dear Nina,

This book is dedicated to you because you are my goddaughter and godmothers are made to bring everything that there is about God to their godchildren as far as they are able.

Of course, you know the story of the boyhood of Christ in the Bible, the most beautiful story in the world. I have copied this music and painted these

pictures because they make it come real.

The music is called Gregorian music. It is the true music of the Church. It very nearly got lost and it pretty badly got spoiled and this is the reason why -

If you want to know, it is the reason why everything gets spoiled. It was pride that spoiled it. There came a time in the turning of this funny world when men became pompous (that time is called the Renaissance), when men went back to what the Greeks had done, and the Greeks were worshipers of the body. After that, Church music that you could sing and I could sing, and painting and architecture and all the beautiful things to do with God, lost their spirituality and

became humanistic. That is why a Fra Angelico Blessed Virgin looks to be a Heavenly Soul and the Boy is all pure and kingly, while a Raphael one is just a

good human mother with a good, fat baby boy.

Now the music again. That is why they wove patterns all around the simple music - because they thought it needed to be more grand. It was beautiful music but it all became so complicated that they had to have special singers to sing it and, just like the Raphael Madonnas, it became good, human music and gradually lost its spiritual quality. And it became so difficult that it moved upstairs into the organ loft and that is why you and I just sit downstairs and listen.

Gregorian music is not like the music you know ... It hasn't any chords and the words are very important. They can't be translated because translation makes the words get out of place. This music is like the flight of a bird - on important words, like God or Mary, it will rise and hover in the air a minute as though it were holding its breath - and then come quietly down and slip off peacefully before you know it.

Thus begins the opening letter from Auntie Lauren (Lauren Ford) to her goddaughter, Giannina in the book The Ageless Story. I read about this intriguing book on someone's blog (I'm sorry, but I've lost track of where) and requested it from interlibrary loan. In 1940 this book won a Caldecott Honor Award for it's beautiful illustrations, but it's the combination of the chant and these peaceful paintings that make it such a treasure!

All Souls' Day

Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine on them. May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Patron Saints are coming!

I've already received a few excited emails! The most popular Sodality event, the patron saint drawing for the coming year, will begin on November 15. 2010's patrons are thematically connected to the Year of the Priest.

Image source: World Gallery of Art

For all the saints

As you may have noticed, the Church Ladies are all fans of Our Lady's football team. (I am a convert- I was raised in Ann Arbor.)

If you saw last night's game against Washington State, you heard the commentators say "When is a Hail Mary pass not a Hail Mary? When it's thrown to Golden Tate."

Here you can find everything you wanted to know about Hail Mary passes.