Coffee Talk: Voting for Non-Catholics

So I wanted to try something some other blogs do to get some discussion going. I have noticed that I post quite a bit, and get readers, but not the ego-filling commenting surge that I need want helps keep a blog vibrant! COFFEE TALK!

Seriously though, commenting is a good way to keep a blog nice and interesting, so from time to time I will  post some quick little topic so that we can all chime in. So if you don't normally comment, just drop a quick note, even if it is to simply vote or state your thoughts on the topic. (This is what Father Z and Faith and Family Live do on a regular basis.)

Today's topic is: Should Catholics vote for candidates that aren't Catholic? Why or Why Not? This may seem like a silly question, but can a Catholic in good conscience vote for someone that they know from the get go does not share the same virtues and values as themselves? Is it true that Catholics and Protestants de facto hold a different set of virtues/values than one another?

Let me know your thoughts in the comment box - and remember: be kind to others.


NB: I get this topic from recent reports that there are those that think Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann hold anti-Catholic beliefs. I think these are silly ploys by the left to disenfranchise them from the Catholic vote, but it does raise an academic question.

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Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles - New Sacred Space

There is a post over at Fr. Z's place about the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles new chapel and buildings in the Kansas City Diocese.

What was most striking was the picture they have of the chapel:

What I found most compelling, and telling about this picture is a set of things. First, the chapel is small and plain, but they are doing so much to make it Sacred, beautiful, and worthy. Second, is the caption on the photo. It says how the Altar needed work "to be worthy of the Sacred Liturgy." 

If only more of our newer churches would take these sentiments to heart, they would realize that modernistic churches, with their whitewashed (or grey?) walls, lack of statutes, misplaced tabernacles, and other novelties don't "move our eyes toward heaven." Instead they confuse, perplex, and muddy our understanding of the Faith.

It is awesome to see a chapel with traditional features and a design that moves our eyes and hearts to Heaven. Deo Gratias!

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Renovation & Reinvigoration

The concept of renovating a parish's Sacred Space has been brought up many time here at the blog. The concept is simple: take a bland, boring, space -- your typical modern parish and with simple and inexpensive updates, make a Holy, reverent, and Sacred space. The point is to transform a church building from a church into a parish. It calls to mind the old saying: "When does a house become a home?"

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Over the past few weeks, the New Liturgical Movement, a favorite website of ours, has been posting real life examples of such transformations. The results are stunning. Some obviously are the result of a little more capital then others, but in general we are talking fairly cosmetic changes, and not really structural. In other words, we are talking about adding to the look and not changing an auditorium style building into a cruciform one, for example.

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What this does for a parish is that it reinvigorates it. It takes the "old" and sheds it, while implanting the new into the heart and soul of each parishioner at the parish. [Well, I guess except for those SOV-II hold outs hoping for Pope McBrien.] It gives new vitality to their worship. This isn't because external and symbolic things are somehow crucial or even necessary to the worship of the faithful, but because we are beings of sense and spirituality, and the sensory 'speak' to our inner core, our soul if you will, and enliven it with thought and emotion.

I feel as if I harp on this enough in my posts regarding Sacred Space, so I will not repeat my past missives. What I will say is that many parishes are in need of many things few are are crucial as a renovation and reinvigoration of their Sacred Space. And again, this isn't because it is somehow necessary in a theological sense, but because the people are often in need in a spiritual sense.

Here are some of the sneak-peek examples:


St. John the Baptist -- Tryon, NC

Before...

...After

St. James Cathedral -- Orlando, FL

Before...

...After

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