Exorcism Explained

Credo of the Catholic Laity and the Catholic Union of Missouri were pleased to welcome Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois the evening of Sunday 20^th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Clayton for the annual Christ the King Dinner and Frederick Philip Kenkel Memorial Lecture. With over 150 in attendance, the forum provided excellent opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones, and learn something.

A Great Novena

A Great Novena of Masses to the Immaculate Conception will begin at St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis on Wednesday, November 30^th, 2011. There will be guest sermons at each Mass on various aspects of Mary's role in Salvation History. The Masses will be according to the Classical Roman Rite.

We are very fortunate to have here in St. Louis a place of prayer with the resources to pull-off something like this – a Great Novena is a difficult thing to do, but the rewards in graces are... infinite.

Know Your Liturgical Colors

I would give my life for a single ceremony of the Church.
-St. Teresa of Avila

• White for joy, the Blessed Virgin, Christmas, Easter and the Transfiguration.


• Red for the Holy Ghost and martyrs.


• Green for days in the new springtime.


• Purple for the seasons of penance and fasting.


• Black for sadness and the darkness of the grave.

These are the colors of the liturgy, generally understood, in the Western Church and they are most obvious in the Mass as they are the colors of the priest’s vestments and they correspond to the season or occasion.  We are often enough told that this or that is a reminder of something and often enough it goes in one ear and out the other.  Here we have something for our eyes instead.

How Faith Impacts Art and Vice-Versa

One of my personal interests is the interaction between Faith and Art. This idea encompasses a great deal: it is just as much about Philosophy and Art, Popular Culture and Art, and Propaganda and Art. Contrary to modern superstition, there can be no Art for Its Own Sake. On this all the world agreed, Catholics and Communists alike. 19^th century Bohemians coined the slogan to avoid the accusation that their art was subversive (and it was subversive). Whether their art was attempting to subvert something that ought to be subverted is an entirely separate question. There are people today who use the slogan, and even defend it, but I think they're wrong: at the very least their art reflects something of their world view, even if they themselves do not recognize it. It isn't for its own sake, a purely aesthetic exercise. It communicates something even by the style in which it is done.

Take this piece here by Willem de Kooning (Woman V). It is recognizably a woman. But what does the painting say? Is the woman mentally ill or confused? Are all women confused? Or only blonde women? What about the artist? Is he confused by women? (I know I am). Is this how he sees women? If so, he's missing a lot, and more's the pity. Women are indeed mysterious. de Kooning seems to think they're ugly as well.

Institute for Pastoral Theology Preview Weekend

Credo Advisory Board member Larry Feingold is one of the instructors for Ave Maria University's Masters in Pastoral Theology program here in St. Louis. You can get a taste of what the program has to offer during their "Open Class Weekend" coming on November 11^th, 12^th, and 13^th.

You can think of Pastoral Theology as something like Applied Theology. The program is meant for anyone whose duties include religious education: DREs, religion teachers, deacons, homeschoolers and parents generally, and leaders of lay apostolates will especially benefit. The program is also meant to be one of personal formation and calls students to a personal holiness as emphasized by Pope John Paul II in Christifidelis Laici and is quite appropriate for anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the rational basis for The Faith.