Spain Trip - Part II: Maybe There's Life in Europe Yet

As promised in my former post (Spain Trip - Part I), one of the more significant--and delightful--surprises on our recent trip to Spain was a pro-life march that we, literally, ran into on our first night there, in the town of Alcalá de Henares. We attended the 7:30pm Mass at the Cathedral and then headed back in pouring rain down the main street of the old town in search of supper, where we encountered a crowd of about 200 people (pictured above) carrying a banner that read, "¿Y yo?... ¡Protege mi vida!" This translates as "And me?... Protect my life! On either side of the banner are side-by-side photos of a human baby and what looks like a linx kitten. The rest of the banner reads, "March for Life/Diocese of Alcala." They were headed for the Cathedral, apparently; we had, in fact, seen flyers in the Cathedral with the same words and photos on them. Cold, wet, and hungry as we were, we decided to follow them. This was clearly something not to be missed….

It took a while for all of us to filter through the rather narrow west door of the Cathedral, which gave us a chance to inspect the crowd. It was not unlike pro-life events I have encountered here in the US – people of all ages, including lots of young people, families with several children, extended families, and a few handicapped people, too. We settled into a pew on the left side and waited.

The banner was set up behind the altar, as pictured below. A succession of speakers went to the lectern to speak, then to offer prayers, and in between we sang praise and worship music, most of which I didn’t recognize. When they set up the monstrance on the altar, however, which you can see in the photo below, the song was “Majestad,” that is, “Majesty,” in English. (The first line is “Majesty, worship his majesty….”) Bernie and I are very familiar with this evangelical standard, so we sang along in English.

Those of you who have read my blog know that I am not overly fond of evangelical praise & worship music as a rule – at least not for use at Mass. But this one is one of the better ones, I think, since the focus is on Him rather than on us. And indeed, this was not a Mass, it was a Holy Hour, and somehow that song made much more sense to me in this context than it ever has before. After all, His Majesty was right there on the altar! It was really quite moving.

We decided to slip out at about 9 p.m., while the bishop (Bp. Ibáñez, to the left in the photo) was still speaking, since we were pretty exhausted and had not eaten supper yet. His topic, as nearly as I could tell, was the Annunciation. Annunciation Day had been the previous Wednesday, after all.

The next day – Sunday – we took the commuter train into Madrid, and who should get on the train after us but a small group of people with a rolled up banner that looked something like the one we had seen the night before. I screwed up my courage and approached a young woman in the group. Neither of us spoke each other’s language, but I did manage to ascertain that they were with the group we had seen and that they were on their way into Madrid for another pro-life rally there – at the Ayuntamiento (the Town Hall) – at noon. Bernie and I decided to make that one of our first stops after we took care of our tourist business at Atocha Station.

I should pause here to explain the occasion for the demonstrations: Spain’s Socialist government, under Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, came to power several years ago in the wake of terrorist bombings, the worst of which destroyed part of Atocha Station. True to form, Zapatero’s government has introduced legislation to liberalize the country’s historically restrictive abortion laws, and hundreds of thousands of Spaniards turned out to protest and to declare, “There is no right to kill, there is the right to live,” as the banner below proclaims. For more on the march see the Life Site News story from March 31. The march was organized primarily by four major Spanish pro-life organizations, Derecho a Vivir (Right to Life), Hazte Oír (Make Yourself Heard), Doctors for Life, and ProLife Madrid. Reportedly, an estimated 100,000 people participated in the Madrid march. Having witnessed it myself, I would say that is no exaggeration. The crowd was enormous! It was stretched out over about a mile, at about 20-people wide.

By the time we arrived it was about 1:30 p.m., and the march was well underway. We stuck around long enough to take a few photos, which I have posted above and below.

It was a great encouragement to see so many like-minded people marching in favor of the right to life, especially in Western Europe, where it often seems that many countries are determined to commit cultural and demographic suicide. Many of the families we saw that day had three or more children, and I saw many expectant mothers – not the norm in modern Europe, where some countries are resorting to paying families to have more children. It was a joy to see that there is a sizable remnant in at least one country who are willing to draw a line in the sand.

Spain Trip - Part I: Alcalá de Henares

I am back to the U.S. after my brief trip to Spain (arrived Saturday, returned home Wednesday). My husband and I got back late on Wednesday night from Madrid after a rather long trip, due to the usual delays and missed connections. Fortunately, we were bumped up to Business Class on the trans-Atlantic leg, so we were not quite as tired as we might have been.

The focus of this post is the town where we stayed, including some of my photos. More in a later post re. the "Jornada por la Vida" (March for Life) we encountered on our first night there.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my husband had to go there on business, so I tagged along for my first trip to Spain. The town where we stayed is Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, among other claims to fame. The photo above was taken outside of the "Casa de Cervantes," and I am the one in the middle--between Sancho Panza and Don Quixote.

The town is also notable as the site of the first meeting between Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand & Isabella, to discuss Columbus' plans for a voyage West to the East Indies. The site of that meeting, the Archbishop's Palace, was also the birthplace of Catherine of Aragon, youngest child of Ferdinand & Isabella and, of course, the first (and true) wife of King Henry VIII. The palace served as the seat of the Archbishops of Toledo from the 13th to the 19th centuries, including Cardinal Cisneros, who founded the university there in 1499. An outside tower of the palace is pictured to the right. Unfortunately, the palace itself suffered extensive fire damage in 1939.

The town is also famous for its storks, which are protected by law in the town and which seem to have nests in nearly every available tower or rooftop in the town. The photo below is of a stork on the roof of the Convent of St. Bernard (San Bernardo), next door to the Archbishop's Palace.
















Since we arrived on Saturday we decided to attend the Vigil Mass at the Cathedral that evening. The Cathedral, built on the site of the tomb of Sts. Justus and Pastor (Justo & Pastor), two young boys who were martyred for their faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, in the early 4th century. It is known familiarly as the Catedral de lost Santos Niños (the Cathedral of the Holy Children). Below is a photo of the west front entrance, an example of Isabeline Gothic (late 15th cen.). My husband is in front on the left, reading the Mass schedule.

When we left the Cathedral after Mass in search of something to eat, we found something we did not expect--a pro-life march through the main street of town. More about that in my next installment (Spain Trip - Part II). It deserves a separate entry.

Not surprisingly, the town of Alcalá is full of references to Don Quixote, including the statues outside of Cervantes birthplace, pictured above. There is also a statue of Cervantes in the main square of town, the Plaza de Cervantes. (See the photo below left.)





As I mentioned above, the town is home to a university. Founded in 1499 at the beginning of Spain's "Golden Age" by Cardinal Cisneros, among its distinguished list of faculty during the 16th and 17th centuries are St. Ignatius of Loyola, Lope de Vega, Ginés de Sepúlveda and Tomás de Villanueva. Renowned for its traditional humanities curriculum, it is well-regarded in the Spanish-speaking world for its efforts to promote Spanish language and literature. The prestigious Cervantes Prize is awarded each year by the University to honor writers who follow in Cervantes' footsteps.



Our hotel, the Hotel El Bedel (below left), is located next door to the original University building (below right), which now houses the university admissions office.

Off to Spain!

No blogging for at least the next several days, since I am leaving tomorrow for my first trip to Spain. My husband is travelling to the Madrid area for a business meeting, so I am tagging along. While we are there I hope to visit Toledo (pictured above), an important center of Iberian culture since Roman times and home to a magnificent cathedral, and Avila--as in St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. We will stay in the town of Alcala de Henares, northeast of Madrid, which is among other things the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes and Catherine of Aragon.

I will take lots of pictures and report on the trip after I return next week and recover from jet lag.

Maybe Catholics CAN Sing, After All

Many of you may already be familiar with the book, Why Catholics Can't Sing, by Thomas Day. It is a humorous, and informative, look at the often sad state of liturgical music in the post-Vatican II American Catholic Church. When my husband and I first began attending Mass at our local parish, we were bewildered and somewhat dismayed at times by both the lack of congregational singing and the often inappropriate music selections for the Mass. This book helped us put things in perspective. Although some reviewers criticize Day for being a bit too hard on the Irish, in my opinion his analysis is less concerned with assigning blame than with offering constructive criticism and practical suggestions for improvement.

Thanks to Jeffrey Tucker, managing editor of Sacred Music magazine and editorial VP of the von Mises Institute, now we have even more helpful suggestions for choosing liturgical music that enriches the Mass rather than distracting from it. His new book, Sing Like a Catholic (see link to the right), is intended to re-introduce Catholics – laymen as well as musicians – to existing resources that will help bring order out of the musical chaos that defines the experience of many modern Catholics. In his article on the subject at InsideCatholic.com, he makes the following observation about the current situation:

For several generations, what was originally permission to sing “other suitable songs” apart from the ritual itself has mutated into a kind of musical nihilism that denies that anything should be called universally appropriate or inappropriate. It is widely believed that, so long as people more or less like it, it can and should be sung or played.

What this has led to is not universal satisfaction with music at Mass, but rather the opposite. One never knows for sure what one will get on Sunday. Catholics are good sports, so they do their best to make a game of it. Will it be the aging hippy Mass, the breathy teen-pop Mass, the pseudo-Broadway Mass, the lone-cantor-plus-guitar Mass, the ethnic parade? The instability of it all becomes a kind of bonding point between us.

He goes on to describe the missing element (which forms the thesis of his book): "both a lack of direction and a lack of any fixed ideals."

As he goes on to point out, this confusion is entirely unnecessary:

The music of the Roman Rite has been part of the structure of the Mass for as long as 1,500 years, and the roots trace to apostolic times. It still would be part of our practice were it not for the fact that we have lived through one of those periodic ruptures that afflict the Church.

However, there is no reason for it to last. The beginnings of clarity come from looking at the actual music attached to the Mass, which you can do by picking up the Gregorian Missal.

He concludes by citing a criticism from one of his musical colleagues to the effect that the book is a waste of time, since the entire point is to point out what Catholics should know already – that the core music of the Mass is the Graduale Romanum (Roman Gradual). As Mr. Tucker rightly points out, if this were widely known there would be no need for books like his. But it is not widely known; it has been largely forgotten. This book can help remind us of that neglected treasury of Catholic liturgical music.

The Solemnity of St. Joseph

According to the liturgical calendar, today, March 19, is the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. For obvious reasons he is one of the most significant Saints of the Church, and certainly one of the most popular, judging from the number of statues of St. Joesph that I see in churches. Not to mention the rather odd custom of burying a mini statue of St. Joseph in the yard to facilitate the sale of your house. According to the online Patron Saints Index, among other things he is the patron saint of families, of workers (including carpenters, cabinetmakers, craftsmen, etc.), and of a happy death. Why? Because according to Church tradition, he died of natural causes with both Jesus and Mary by his side. According to the CNA website, his feast "has been celebrated throughout the church since the tenth century and has been honored as the Patron of the Universal Church since 1870."

At my parish, Holy Spirit Church-Annandale, we will mark the occasion with a high mass at 7:30 pm, when we will also dedicate our parish's new organ. As I wrote in an earlier blog entry ("The Beauty of Holiness"), our parish is in the midst of our own "reform of the reform," and we have gradually been re-introducing chant (in both Latin and English) and other neglected forms of sacred music. Tonight will sing all of the ordinary parts of the mass in Latin, including the Credo for the first time. Please join us if you are in the area. (See map.)

I consider St. Joseph the very embodiment of a "stand-up guy," the sort who always put the good of others first, especially his family. When faced with the news that his prospective wife is expecting a child, his response reveals a man focused on her best interests: “…Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly.” (Matt. 1:19) In other words, although the marriage was null and void according to the law, Joseph wanted to protect Mary from public scandal. Then when an angel explains to the real story to him in a dream, he doesn’t hesitate to follow the angel’s command and take Mary as his wife. He is the one to whom God reveals the name by which the child will be known – Jesus.

This is the first but not the last time that Joseph’s obedience to God’s direction proves crucial. It is Joseph whom God warns in a dream to take Mary and the child to Egypt to escape Herod’s search-and-destroy mission. Once again, he obeys, and his obedience saves Jesus’ life.

His role in the story of Jesus' life is not quite front-and-center, but his role is crucial. Imagine for a moment what that story would have been like without Joseph. Had he not been willing to follow God's instructions in the first instance, Mary might have been exposed to public shame and even the penalty of stoning under the law. Had he not obeyed God and taken his family to Egypt, Jesus might have ended up as one of Herod's victims. Certainly God would have found a way to work out his plan of salvation, but the point is that Joseph's obedience, like Mary's, was crucial to the success of this particular plan.

The Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square in Rome in 2007 was set in Joseph's carpentry shop in Nazareth, rather than the traditional stable in Bethlehem. It incited some controversy, but one reason that the Holy Father did it this way was to remind us of the critical role of Jesus' earthly father and, by extension, of all earthly fathers, in protecting and guiding their families.

Here is a prayer to St. Joseph with origins, as I understand it, in the first century. It is included in the program for tonight's mass at my parish:

O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires. O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son, all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your heavenly power I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most Loving of Fathers. O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press him in my name and kiss His fine head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us. Amen.

Anglican Use Conference 2009

The recent news that Italian bishops have suggested a Lenten fast from technology (texting, iPods, web surfing, etc.) got me thinking. I concluded that for me it might be more appropriate to resume blogging as a Lenten discipline. There has been so much to write about lately that I've felt rather overwhelmed. But I have to start somewhere, and it may as well be on an upbeat note...

This year's Anglican Use Society Conference is scheduled for June 11-13 in Houston, Texas. Our Lady of Walsingham (OLW) Catholic Parish and St. Mary's Seminary. OLW is, one of the earliest Anglican Use parishes established in the U.S., and this year marks their 25th anniversary. St. Mary's Seminary is the home of the Graduate School of Theology of Houston's University of St. Thomas. St. Thomas is the future home of former Episcopal Bishop Jeffrey Steenson, who resigned his Episcopal orders in September of 2007 and was ordained a Pastoral Provision Catholic priest in New Mexico on February 21, 2009. He will teach Patristics at St. Thomas and St. Mary's Seminary beginning this fall. He spoke at last year's Anglican Use Conference in San Antonio. You can read a copy of his address here.

If you are interested in attending this year's conference or know someone who might be, find out more by visiting the Conference website or clicking on the tabs below. Whether you are clergy or laity, Catholic or perhaps a Protestant at some stage of discerning whether to dip your toe in the Tiber River, I would encourage you to attend. Several of last year's attendees were Anglican clergymen who were there to learn more about the Pastoral Provision.

(click here to visit the parish web site) Featuring His Eminence Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, S.T.B, S.T.L. Archbishop of Galveston-Houston (For more information, click here) and Fr. James Moore, Ph.D. Co-founder and Pastor Emeritus of Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church (For more information, click here) and Fr. John Saward, M.Litt. (Theology) Greyfriars Fellow & Associate Lecturer of Blackfriars at Oxford University, Parish Priest, Catholic Church of St. Gregory & St. Augustine, Oxford, Author of numerous books, including The Beauty of Holiness (1996) and Sweet and Blessed Country: The Christian Hope for Heaven (2005) (For more information, click here) and Mary C. Moorman, M.A., J.D. Apologist, author, consultant, Ph.D. candidate. (For more information, click here) (click here to download the event flyer pdf) E-mail Questions to: Margaret Pichon

Long Time No Blog

Those of you who check my blog on any sort of regular basis may have noticed that I have been AWOL for some time now. (A couple of you have kindly sent e-mails asking whether I was ill. Thank you for asking.) I have not been under the weather, just lazy. Anyway, I'm back now, and I will try not to fade out again like that without some advance notice. I apologize for the unscheduled hiatus.

One of the reasons I have neglected my blogging duties is that I have been busy with several projects, some of which will be the subject of upcoming blog entries. Stay tuned.

One project that has kept me and my husband busy lately is teaching an adult class at our parish--the second installment of "Catholic Christianity: Re-Introduction to the Faith." The text we are using is Peter Kreeft's Catholic Christianity (pictured at right), and the class this fall is devoted to the second section on "Catholic Morality." The materials are very good, and we are enjoying the class. Last Sunday's focus was natural law. What is even more intriguing is the process of trying to create a culture of adult faith formation at a Catholic parish. As evangelicals we took adult "Sunday school" for granted; we have found this not to be the case in the Catholic Church, in general. Catholic Mom has written a good deal about her experience (here, for instance) of trying to teach CCD students whose parents are ill-equipped to reinforce what she teaches. Fortunately for us she teaches at my parish and has broken some ground in this area. In addition to teaching CCD again this year, she is currently teaching an adult class on the Theology of the Body.

I was recruited a couple of weeks ago to help promote the local "40 Days for Life" campaign, a national effort to encourage prayer & fasting for 40 days to end abortion in America. The focus of my efforts is the prayer vigil at a site in Alexandria, one of four sites in Northern Virginia. To be precise, I was asked to recruit Protestant churches to join in. I have done the best I can on short notice, and most churches I have contacted have been receptive and willing to publicize the campaign however they can. It's not entirely clear to me why this was left to the last minute, but I try not to think about it too much. At the very least maybe my efforts can lay the ground work so that next year's campaign will be more "ecumenical."

To find out more about the 40 Days campaign in your area, visit their website at www.40daysforlife.com.

And speaking of the issue of human dignity (a.k.a., the sanctity of life): With the "silly season" of election year politics upon us, I have found it fascinating to see this issue take center stage. First there was Nancy Pelosi's inept pontifications about when life begins and what the early Church Fathers (Augustine in particular) allegedly had to say about it. Then to see the Catholic bishops, especially some of the real stand outs among them, respond forcefully to Speaker Pelosi's comments with a lesson on what the Church actually teaches. Then the nomination of Sarah Palin as the Republican VP nominee--a woman whose life in many ways embodies the pro-life movement. And then to see the priests in my own parish preach equally forcefully and unequivocally about the duty of Catholic voters to consider this issue as paramount.... All of this has been, to borrow a phrase I have borrowed before from Proverbs, “like cold water to a thirsty soul.” Not that I have not heard equally strong pro-life preaching from Protestant pulpits, and even from some brave Episcopal bishops. But now I have the added assurance that the bishops are supported from the top. To be sure, in some cases they are being prodded from the top, but the scandal of pro-abortion Catholic politicians is being exposed, and no one can be in any doubt about what the Church teaches on the subject.

Enough for now. More later. The dog is lobbying hard for a walk at the moment, and she is hard to ignore.