Today, a leisurely drive across the heart of Indiana, from Rensselaer, IN to Carthagena, OH. Tomorrow is the celebration of the Solemnity of the Precious Blood at St. Charles Center. It includes the celebration of many jubilees and the welcoming of new members of the the Cincinnati Province.

Today is my last day as a member of the Province of the Pacific.

Posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. at 6:41 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Discussion at Amy Welborn's blog.

The News Article

This made interesting discussion at the breakfast table this morning. It is close to what we have been considering doing at the parish. I am not sure that I would dismiss the kids from class, but I am interested in separating attendance at class from formation for the sacrament. Why should attendance at class mean one is ready for a sacrament?

There are other factors determining readiness for a sacrament, the way you live being one of them.

Attendance at Mass is something to pay attention to. If you are not attending the liturgy, if your familiy is not part of the community, why is there a perceived right to the sacrament, unless it is diminished to simply a cultural rite of passage.

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...on the Gospel of this morning. It is easy to get bound up in where we are going and what we are doing. Jesus calls us to himself, and the one we are with is more important than anything else.

As St. Gaspar wrote from prison, the greatest consolation is in knowing that wherever we are with are with our greatest desire. I am going to have to go find that passage today.

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ummm... it looks as if the blog is not on Daylight savings time. That last post was posted at 7:36 in the morning, not at 4:36, so there is a three hour difference. I looked; I am not sure how to set the blog for daylight savings time.

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Today: Rehearsal
Tomorrow: Recording

This year we are recording selected chants from Advent and Christmas. I has been wonderful celebrating the Christmas season here in sweltering Indiana, in June. I have have been sweating over the Gradual, Tecum Principium, from Midnight Mass. I will be the cantor for that piece and it is the most daunting piece of music I have ever attempted.

One correspondant inquired about my times posted on this blog. The blog is still set for Pacific Daylight time, so my actual times posting are two hours later.

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Letters 2001-2250 are now available online. It has been more than a year since I last uploaded them and it is a project I would like to finish so I can move on to other things. I have about 1750 letters to go.

Some of Gaspar's letters refer to the mundane items of regular eccesiastical life in the 19th century. There are, however, some gems of spiritual direction in them that are tremendously valuable.

Enjoy!

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Bill White has updated his site on the Psalms. This is a great resource and wonderful reflections on the daily prayers of the Church. I receive a great benefit reflecting on the Words of John Paul on these psalms and I am grateful that Benedict XVI intends on completing the work.

Thanks, Bill, for keeping the links up to date.

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It seems only fitting to return the compliment. It is always a joy to share the company of this family of musicians. It was a privilege to celebrate the Eucharist for them this evening. Mary Jane is a wonderful new acquaintance from Florida and she shares many of the joys and frustrations of the Church musician. It is always a pleasure to find people of similar mind and outlook when it comes to the liturgy and its music. I think that she out does me in the wit department though.

Another joy is to reconnect with the members of the Gregorian Chant Choir from the University of Chicago, a choir I directed for two years. Four of their members are attending the institute.

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...come to find out that the classmate seated next to me at breakfast also has a blog.

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Arrived safe and sound. Just got connected. Tons of email. Off to class. More reports coming.

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....It has been a week from hell. Tuesday was fun, the men in formation are a joy to have around. Wednesday was Council meeting, I think I would prefer a sharp poke in the eye, and Thursday I got a day off, but had to spend the day doing Domestic stuff. Meanwhile the mail piles up. Four funerals this week. The new music director who has been here more often in the past two weeks than the previous one had been in the last six months, is an absolute joy to work with.

I leave Sunday morning for two weeks in Indiana and Ohio. It is time for the Chant institute again. Yippeee.

In the meantime: Sick calls.

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Congratulations to Steve Dos Santos, C.PP.S. who was today ordained to the order of Deacon at his home parish of St. Barnabas in Alameda. It was a fitting celebration of the Feast of St. Barnabas for the Parish family, for Steve's family and for the Precious Blood family who served the parish for 50 years. I had the pleasure of serving as Steve's Formation director.

Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PPS. and Deacon Steve Dos Santos, C.PP.S.

Bishop Allen Vigneron of the Oakland Diocese ordains our newest Deacon

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Last Year

Today

I spent part of my day off taking some pictures. Thirty eight (38) of them can be found here. When I became pastor, the parish did not have a crucifix. The new GIRM requires a cross with a corpus and the Risen Christ figure added two pastors ago does not seem to qualify. It is not forbidden, it is just that a crucifix is required. Ours has been installed next to the ambo. It is quite beautiful and so I have taken several pictures of it. The corpus came from Italy, and the wooden cross was fashioned out of Blood wood here by Ken and Cruz who did a beautiful job putting it together. If you look at the old picture of the sanctuary you will notice that the new picture has new statues, ambry, font, easter candle and credence table and including the new crucifix.

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Rev. Steven Lopes, a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, is a native of St. Edward Parish and a graduate of the parish school. He was a student of mine when I taught there in the '80s. He was in my 6th, 7th and 8th grade class and he sang in the choristers and in the Advanced Choir back then. Formerly associate Pastor of St. Anselm Parish in San Anselmo, CA, the Archbishop sent him back to Rome to finish his doctorate which he sucessfully defended yesterday.

We knew this kid would go far. We just did not know that he would go this far this fast.

He was supposed to return to the Bay Area where he would serve as Director of Clergy Formation. With Archbishop Levada's recent appointment to the Vatican all that has changed. Steven has been tapped by the Archbishop to serve as a doctrinal official in the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and to serve as excecutive assistant to the Prefect.

Congratulations, Steven, on a sucessful doctoral defense and your new appointment.

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