Journal
1939 K Tue 9 Oct 2001
Last night I started a journal: www.livejournal.com/users/lector
I think I will continue using this one, using livejournal for talking to people. But it raises interesting questions: Who do I let read it? Who do I let write comments there? What do I do if I don't like the comments? Which other journals do I link to, making them friends? I suppose they are normal social decisions we all make, but they are made more explicitly with the livejournal choices. At present its open to anyone to write comments and I am only linked to one friend, Kellie, who gave me the code to set up the livejournal.
I was impressed with the editorial in The Australian, which I thought gave a well balanced assessment about the air strikes.
Here is an extract from the Eleventh General Congregation of the bishop's meeting.
ARCHBISHOP JULIAN HERRANZ, PRESIDENT OF THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE LEGISLATIVE TEXTS. "I would like to refer to an aspect of justice in ecclesial society, concretely, to the duty of the bishops to guarantee and to promote the rights of the lay faithful in the life and mission of the Church. ... 'The Christian faithful have the right to receive assistance from the sacred pastors out of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the Word of God and the sacraments'(can. 213). Many faithful, however, express complaint in this regard: they are unable often or always unable to find confessors, even though priests are not lacking in the parish; they note that the Sunday Eucharistic celebration - center of the community of the faithful - is not properly taken care of - contrary to the canonical norms concerning public worship - the churches are always closed on weekdays, and they cannot receive Communion of pray before the Blessed Sacrament, etc. ... 'The Christian faithful can legitimately vindicate and defend the rights which they enjoy in the Church before a competent ecclesiastical court in accord with the norm of law'(can. 221, para.1)."
I find it encouraging. He is highlighting the concern about liturgical laws and he seems to be encouraging the laity to take cases to the Tribunal. This has been my approach. While I seem to have been unsuccessful, perhaps what Archbishop Herranz is saying will result in more people following this approach.
Copyright J.R. Lilburne, 8 October 2001.
Links to other sites:
Eleventh General Congregation of the Bishop's Meeting