Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary! Remember that it's a holy day of obligation. Most churches will have several Masses offered. Here are some pictures from my pilgrimage to Lourdes last spring.
~Why, Algore of course. Vanity Fair says: "21 lines of verse that are equal parts beautiful, evocative, and disturbing."
One thin September soon
A floating continent disappears
In midnight sun
Vapors rise as
Fever settles on an acid sea...
...
Snow glides from the mountain
Ice fathers floods for a season
A hard rain comes quickly
Then dirt is parched
Kindling is placed in the forest
For the lightning’s celebration...
...
The shepherd cries
The hour of choosing has arrived
Here are your tools
..the rhetoric is just unsustainable. How can you have dialogue with people who spew idiotic statements likening ObamaCare opponents to supporters of slavery and women's suffrage by the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Which goes to show the madness that eventually creeps into the illiberal Liberals' mind. Their brains have fallen out. Yes, the source is Fox News, derided as an unreliable news outfit. But the MainStreamMedia have been silent about a whole host of things, and have aligned themselves to ONLY ONE point of view, that of Socialism here in the United States of America. Whatever leads to socialism: good. Whatever opposes: bad. Do you think the MSM will say anything dismissive of Reid? I wager not, in fact, they will repeat this garbage with all the requisite solemnity in agreement with Reid. Oh, Mr. Reid, which party again filibustered the Civil Rights Act?
Meanwhile, Copenhagen....1200 limos, 140 private jets and 40,000 tons of CO2 will be spewed to get this one-world crowd together to reduce emissions. They would've done better staying home and planting trees. And done us all a world of good by leaving us our freedoms instead of plotting against the human race, thank you very much. Oh, and Mr. Gore, how's that energy-efficient house of yours doing?
Ordinary Form:
Processional: O Sanctissima
Introit: I will heartily rejoice in the Lord--Fr. Arbogast
Kyrie: Orbis Factor
Gloria: Andrews
Psalm Responsory: Alstott
Gospel Acclamation: Alstott
Offertory: Tell Out My Soul (tune: Woodlands)
Offertory Verse: Ave Maria, gratia plena (from Gregorian Missal)
Sanctus: from Mass XVIII
Memorial Acclamation is recited
Lord's Prayer: chant
Agnus Dei: from Mass XVIII
Communion Verse: Glorious things of you are said, O Mary--Fr Arbogast
Communion hymn: Draw Near and Take (tune: Coena Domini)
Communion music (sung by schola): Alma Redemptoris Mater (Ambrosian chant)
Recessional: Immaculate Mary
School Mass:
Procession: Sing of Mary Pure and Lowly (tune: Pleading Savior)
Kyrie: follow Father's chant
Gloria: Andrews
Psalm: Alstott
Gospel Acclamation: Listen to Jesus
Offertory: Mary's Song (Millie Rieth)
Communion: Organ music, Improvisation on plainchant Ave Maria
Recessional: Hail, Holy Queen (tune: Salve Regina Coelitum)
Extraordinary Form, Missa Cantata. We just had Missa Solemnis, so we were short on rehearsal time. The Schola Vox Clara is directed by Dr. Patricia Warren. The instrumentalists are also from the schola...they do double duty for which I am eternally grateful.
Prelude: Bach, Suscepit Israel from Magnificat, instrumental arrangement by Dr. Patricia Warren
Procession: Alma redemptoris mater, simple tone
Introit: Gaudens gaudebo
Kyrie: from Mass VIII (I really wanted to do Cum jubilo but, since it's a holy day of obligation, there will be people coming who've never experienced the traditional rite, and may have some vague memory of Missa de angelis. So for pastoral reasons, we're going with Mass VIII)
Gloria: from Mass VIII
Gradual: Benedicta es tu
Alleluia: Tota pulchra es
Offertory: Ave, Maria
Offertory music: Arcadelt Ave Maria; Salve Mater (from Traditional Roman Hymnal, ancient Carmelite tone)
Sanctus: from Mass VIII
Agnus Dei: from Mass VIII
Communion Verse: Gloriosa
Communion music: Byrd Ave verum; Rosa vernans (from Crown Hymnal);
Recessional hymn: Immaculate Mary
Postlude: Grieg, Ave maris stella, instrumental arrangement by Dr. Patricia Warren
Some random musings (well, some of it is related)
We're close to completing a year's cycle of restoration of the chanted Propers in the Ordinary Form of the Mass. For those of you wanting to dip your toes into the restoration of the Mass, the place to start is the Communion Verse. The objections that most pastors and congregations raise have to do with robbing the congregation of their place to sing. The Communion Verse is a place that is unintrusive, no one is singing at that point anyway, as they're processing forward to receive Holy Communion. I would go with a vernacular setting. Richard Rice and Fr. Weber have some lovely choral settings. It's easier to pitch the idea of a choral anthem, vis a vis, Communio.
My next step is to add the melismatic Alleluia. That battle is far off yet. So for now, we stick with the chants found at Chabanel Psalms. I might throw in once in awhile those by Fr. Weber and Fr. Kelly.
I'm grateful for my pastor's encouragement and complete backing and to the family schola and string trio that I can throw music at at the last minute which doesn't seem to faze them. They studied for a year with a local university professor specializing in early music, so they've gotten adept at sight-reading neumes. Of course, it helps that they've been studying music since each of them was four...and they have "perfect pitch". Incidentally, they're thrown off a bit if I give them a lower starting pitch than what's written on the score....but, in Gregorian notation it's not quite an issue since we're thinking in do, re, mi, fa, sol (do being movable) and not C, D, E, F, G. Those notes are set in their brains...anyway, a fascinating piece of trivia. And, the "perfect pitch" ability seems to run in the males in my family and not the females. What's up with that?
...checking the liturgical calendar....Feast of Epiphany transferred to Jan 3rd. Sad, sad, sad. Epiphany is on the 3rd, but the weekdays following are styled "Christmas weekday"...try to make sense out of that! I like the Old Calendar so much better. What happened to the beautiful feasts of the Circumcision, the Holy Name of Jesus, and the Holy Family in January??? Grrrrr....It may not seem like a big deal to y'all, but some of us have to juggle the two calendars and it's a job, let me tell you. For instance, the past year, we celebrated Christ the King twice...and I thoroughly dislike the Sundays after Epiphany and after Pentecost called "Ordinary Time". I know what Ordinary means, but still. It doesn't take that much longer to say "First Sunday after Epiphany" than to say "First Sunday in Ordinary Time". I have a point of reference with Epiphany and Pentecost. Ordinary Time isn't as tangible. Know what I mean?
Exchanging e-mails with a friend in Baltimore who is experiencing Advent Blues. This is from the house parodist at WDTPRS:
O come, o come liturgical blue;
out with the old, and in with the new.
Let’s banish purple vestments from here,
the color blue is very HOT this year.
REFRAIN:
Gaudy, gaudy, gaudy chasubles,
in baby, navy, powder-puff and teal.
Since Advent is the Blessed Virgin’s time,
we’ll wear blue, though it’s a canonic crime,
and in the third week, we’ll wear white.
Although it’s wrong, we’ll say that it’s alright.
R.
Around the wreath we’ll place blue candlelight,
and in one corner, we will place one white.
We’ll drape blue over our communion rail,
and use blue burses with blue chalice veils.
R.
And, just in case you were wondering about liturgical colors for penitential seasons, here's the Saint Bede Studio post on "violaceus". Check out the color swatches. At our parish, we have two sets, one for the Ordinary Form in Royal Purple and one for the Extraordinary Form in Roman Purple.
...no break from work until after January first. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic for Rome since I haven't been back in a couple of years. So here's a website that I'm indulging in at the moment. Rome Interactive. When you walk the streets of Rome, the city becomes embedded in your memory, your heart. There was this chestnut seller at Piazza Venetia that my husband and I talked to a few times. Then there was the poor Romani woman with her sick baby at Porta Latina....Most of my favorite memories are from the Termini/Santa Maria Maggiore section of town, not the safest place, but lots of cherished memories from there.
....hmmm, plotting my next visit....checking airline tickets....
...Ordinary Form:
Processional hymn: Comfort, Comfort Ye My People; except in Worship III, it's Comfort O My People. Sigh! (tune: Geneva)
Introit: People of Sion--Fr. Columba Kelly
Kyrie: Orbis Factor
Psalm Responsory: The Lord has done great things for us--R. Rice
Offertory: City of God, Jerusalem (tune: Purpose)
Offertory Verse: Will you not, O God--Fr. Arbogast
Sanctus: from Mass XVIII
Agnus Dei: from Mass XVIII
Lord's Prayer: chant
Communion Verse: Rise up, Jerusalem--Fr Kelly
Communion hymn: Let All Mortal Flesh
Communion music: Veni Redemptor Gentium--Ambrosian chant
Recessional hymn: Savior of the Nations, Come (tune: Nun Komm Der Heiden Heiland)
I've started a Google Wave of liturgical music that I'm sharing with Aristotle. Email me if you want to be part of this sharing project. I tried it on Facebook last year, but it wasn't too successful.
Right now, I'm working on Missa Cantata folder for Immaculate Conception (Byrd, Elgar, Arcadelt in addition to chant Propers) and trying to set the Christmas Proclamation to Gregorian chant in Latin. Last year, I hastily took the Latin text from the Martyrology and set it to neumes. I need to edit it. The vernacular was taken from Fr. Samuel Weber.
...from Politiken
A mere three days before Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen moves into COP15 negotiating mode to reach a political agreement in Copenhagen, there is unrest on the issue in his own Liberal Party parliamentary group.Bingo!!! Meanwhile, Obama White House dismissive of Climategate ahead of Nopenhagen.
According to Berlingske Tidende, several members of the group told a group meeting yesterday, that the climate and energy debate has gone too far, and restricts personal freedoms to an unreasonable degree.
The science is proper and this is about a small fraction of research on the issue, said Holdren, a physicist who has studied climate change.[John Holdren is Obama's science czar. Heil!]And...from the swamp, Algore says Copenhagen targets aren't enough:
“Even a final treaty will have to set the stage for other tougher reductions at a later date,” he said. “We have already overshot the safe levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.”Oh, parody is just too easy.
...sounds like Senator Boxer says it's the emails hacked that was the crime. NOT the manipulation of data to support anthropogenic global warming. Oh, no, that's not what is the crime in the Senator's mind. Sheesh! Millions and millions of dollars of money for grants to prop up a world view. Yeah, it's pretty darn well near a religious movement.
In another time, those hackers would've been hailed as whistleblowers, no?
The messages showed the director of the university's Climate Research Unit discussing ways to strengthen the unit's case for global warming. Climate change skeptics have seized on the e-mails, arguing that they demonstrate manipulation in environmental science.
...at my parish for the Ordinary Form of the Mass. Aristotle has posted the music at his new parish. I've tried to here, but haven't been as faithful. New Year's resolution is to try being consistent.
Processional Hymn: Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Introit: To you I lift up my soul--Fr. Columba Kelly
Kyrie: Orbis Factor
Psalm: Esguerra/Chabanel
Gospel Acclamation: Chant
Offertory Hymn: Creator of the Stars of Night
Offertory Antiphon: To you I lift up my soul--Fr. Arbogast
Communion Antiphon: The Lord shall give his benefits--Fr. Kelly
Communion hymns: Shepherd of Souls; Alma Mater Redemptoris
Recessional: Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates
...calls West Point "the enemy camp" referring to Mr. Obama speaking there. Matthews decried the "lack of warmth".
~by Theodore Dalrymple. Hat tip to Elena Maria. Just to refresh your memory on an old post, here's a concrete monstrosity, St. Gregorius in Aachen, Germany. Compare it to Burgos Cathedral.
Le Corbusier was to architecture what Pol Pot was to social reform. In one sense, he had less excuse for his activities than Pol Pot: for unlike the Cambodian, he possessed great talent, even genius. Unfortunately, he turned his gifts to destructive ends, and it is no coincidence that he willingly served both Stalin and Vichy. Like Pol Pot, he wanted to start from Year Zero: before me, nothing; after me, everything. By their very presence, the raw-concrete-clad rectangular towers that obsessed him canceled out centuries of architecture. Hardly any town or city in Britain (to take just one nation) has not had its composition wrecked by architects and planners inspired by his ideas.Read the rest.
Writings about Le Corbusier often begin with an encomium to his importance, something like: “He was the most important architect of the twentieth century.” Friend and foe would agree with this judgment, but importance is, of course, morally and aesthetically ambiguous. After all, Lenin was one of the most important politicians of the twentieth century, but it was his influence on history, not his merits, that made him so: likewise Le Corbusier.
Yet just as Lenin was revered long after his monstrosity should have been obvious to all, so Le Corbusier continues to be revered.
~more from the Treasonous Clerk, James Matthew Wilson. In First Principles:
Art speaks a suffering that cannot be spoken in the discursive language of society without losing the truth of its content. One is often disgusted with the modern propensity to provide technocratic or juridical solutions to moral or intellectual problems; in the age of such continuous “ameliorations,” art provides the useless and inassimilable language that does not betray the experiential truth of its meaning. The limitation of this answer to the content of the truth of art is precisely its historicism; suffering is the underbelly of an age of rationally distributed delights. As Adorno instructs, its teleology is immanent and particular, and so art’s identity is distinct in the age of enlightenment from what it might be at other times, at least as a matter of degree.
Can art make eloquent something more profound than the suffering produced by, but excluded from, rational history? Perhaps surprisingly, Adorno gestures toward such a fundament, located precisely in that which modern aesthetic theory is thought to have transcended: natural beauty....
...Art thus strives to make present to us a primordial truth that—while never simple, pure, or “immediate” as the romantics or modern art-religion advocates claim—touches the reality of the human condition buried beneath ideology. Art’s autonomy from modern use reminds us of, or reveals to us, the autonomy of the natural world in whose bosom all human beings uneasily live.
~a new book from Ignatius Press. Another one for my wish list:
Pope Benedict offers in-depth, inspirational reflections on the unique spiritual role Mary has as the Mother of the Savior, showing her to be the universal “woman” that Jesus calls her in the Gospels, his mother that God made the spiritual mother of all mankind. Using Biblical references of Mary as “full of grace” and the “woman clothed with the sun”, Pope Benedict emphasizes that Mary’s main role is to lead us to union with Jesus, to help us know and love him much better and to be his true followers.
...this is pathetically sad. From the Charlotte Examiner:
The Bishop, as published on the diocesan website, made drastic and forceful measures in the face of the Swine Flu outbreak. Mandatory as of November 9th, the bishop suspended communion on the tongue and from the chalice, stopped shaking hands at the sign of peace, removed the holy water from the fonts, as well as some minor non liturgical changes.
When FSSP told the bishop they were unable to comply, the result was a notice that the EF was suspended for the duration of the restrictions.
According to Catholic Family News, the bishop has been notified of the CDWDS notification regarding this matter. Allegedly, the bishop replied: "I am well aware of what the Congregation decided but quite frankly, it is not their call. It is mine."
First read this on Papa Benedetto Forum. Pope Benedict's thoughts on Advent:
In the language of the ancient world, it was a technical term used to indicate the arrival of a functionary, the visit of the king or emperor to a province. But it could also mean the arrival of divinity, who emerges from hiding to manifest itself with power, or whose presence is celebrated in worship.Read the complete text at Zenit
Christians adopted the word Advent to express their relationship with Jesus Christ: Christ is the King, who has entered this poor 'province' called earth to make a visit to everyone. In the feast of His coming, all participate who believe in Him, all who believe in His presence in the liturgical assembly.
The word adventus was substantially intended to say: God is here, he has not retired from the world, he has not left us alone. Even if we cannot see and touch Him as we can with sensible realities, He is here and comes to visit us in multiple ways.
The significance of the word Advent thus also comprehends that of visitatio, which means a visit pure and simple. In this case, it is a visit by God: He enters my life and addresses himself to me. Yet we all experience in daily life that we have little time for the Lord, and little time even for ourselves. We end up being absorbed by 'doing'.
Is it not perhaps true that often it is this activity that possesses us, that it is society with its multiple interests that monopolizes our attention? Is it not perhaps true that we devote too much time to diversions and amusements of various kinds? Sometimes, things 'overwhelm' us.
Advent, this important liturgical time that we are beginning, invites us to pause in silence to understand a presence. It is an invitation to understand that the single events of the day are signs that God addresses to us, signs of the attention that he has for each of us.
How often God makes us perceive something of his love! To keep an interior diary, so to speak, of this love would be a beautiful and healthy task in our life.
Advent invites and stimulates us to contemplate the Lord who is present. Should not the certainty of his presence help us to see the world with different eyes? Should it not help us to consider all of our existence as a 'visit', as a way in which He can come to us and be near to us in every situation?
Another fundamental element of Advent is waiting - which is at the same time, hope. Advent impels us to understand the sense of time and history as kairos, as a favorable occasion for our salvation.
Jesus has illustrated this mysterious reality in many parables: in the story of the servants asked to await the return of the master; in the parable of the virgins awaiting the spouse; or in that about sowing and harvesting.
In life, man is in a constant state of waiting: As a child, he wants to grow; as an adult, he aims for realization and success; as he advances in age, he aspires for a deserved rest. But the time comes when he discovers that he has hoped too little, if beyond professional or social position, he has nothing more to hope for.
Hope marks the path of humanity, but for Christians, it is inspired by a certainty: The Lord is present in the course of our life, he accompanies us and one day he will dry our tears. One day, not far, everything will find its fulfillment in the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice and peace.
But there are different ways of waiting.
...well, of course, it would. Too much invested in this catastrophic anthropogenic global warming scheme. It's too delicious a temptation to yield one's subjects to a one-world governing body that curtails freedoms for the good of the earth.
But White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed the controversy on Monday, saying that most people don’t dispute global warming.Well, now, Mr Gibbs, you don't have much credibility after the manufactured "jobs saved/created" business that you clowns cooked up at the White House....where were those districts again? Oh, yes, in the 57 states that President Obama traveled as candidate. I see.
“In the order of several thousand scientists have come to the conclusion that climate change is happening,” Gibbs said. “I don’t think that any of that is, quite frankly among most people, in dispute.”
~via Times Online. The sky is falling, disaster is coming and it's man's fault!!!!! The IPCC chief says:
“There are enough technologies in existence to allow for mitigation,” he said. “At some point we will have to cross over and start sucking some of those gases out of the atmosphere.”How? Here's how:
Dr Pachauri raised the prospect of so-called geo-engineering, whereby carbon dioxide is actively stripped from the atmosphere. A range of techniques have been proposed including seeding artificial clouds over oceans to reflect sunlight back into space, sowing the oceans with iron ore to boost plankton growth and using carbon capture and storage technology to fix emissions from power stations.Dr. Pachauri, dude, planting a tree is, erm, even simpler. Oh, wait, you're thinking ahead of me here. Artificial trees, you say?
These 12m boxes, filled with absorbent materials, soak up and store carbon. The devices, which could be placed by roads, would be emptied regularly and the carbon buried. About 100,000 artificial trees would require about 600 hectares of land, but the carbon that they remove from the atmosphere would be equivalent to all the non-stationary and dispersed emissions to the UKI still say planting REAL trees is easier. Oh, and did you check those Climategate e-mails by any chance? You have? And you say, it's, gasp! A corporate conspiracy! Of course, corporations are always at fault!
Dr Pachauri, speaking to The Times on Saturday before travelling to Paris to brief President Sarkozy, suggested that the fossil fuel lobby could be behind a hacking incident last month that led to the publication of thousands of leaked e-mails between climate scientists. He said that it was entirely possible that “corporate interests” had had a hand in the leak.It's the leak, stupid. Right? Nothing about the FALSIFYING and other shenanigans that those climate scientists cooked up, right? Nothing to see, off we go to Copenhagen.
~from my various travels:
At the base of St. Peter's Dome, Vatican City
St. Andrew's, Scotland
Cathedral of Sant'Andrea, Amalfi
Relics at Sant'Andrea, Amalfi
...from the people that gave to us Chabanel Psalms, the Corpus Christi Watershed has unveiled the new site:
Saint Antoine Daniel Gregorian Chant Ordinaries
This site is great for learning the different Mass settings for the year. The site offers scores for each part of the Ordinary and also the different Credo settings. Free Kyriale organ settings are also included. In addition, mp3 sound files are provided so that you can hear what the chant sounds like.
Two companion sites which help a schola learn the Propers are (also from Corpus Christi Watershed):
ReneGoupil.org for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass
JoguesChant.org for the Ordinary Form of the Mass
One of the things my choir members have said to me, and they are untrained in music except for the three section leaders, is that neumes are so much easier to read than modern notation. You don't have to count, and all you have to know is your solfege.
One accomplishment we had this year with the Ordinary Form was to learn the Kyrie from Orbis Factor using the neumes.
Many, many thanks to Jeff Ostrowski and the good folks at Corpus Christi Watershed for their dedication in providing us with tools to re-enchant the Mass.
...liturgically speaking. This Sunday's Propers:
Introit: Ad te levavi animam meam: Deus meus in te confido, non erubescam: necque irrideant me inimici mei: etenim universi qui te exspectant, non confundentur. Ps. Vias tuas, Domine, demonstra mihi: et semitas tuas edoce me.
To you, my God, I lift my soul, I trust in you; let me never come to shame. Do not let my enemies laugh at me. No one who waits for you is ever put to shame.
Gradual: Univérsi, qui te exspéctant, non confundéntur, Dómine. ℣. Vias tuas, Dómine, notas fac mihi: et sémitas tuas édoce me.
All they, that wait on Thee, shall not be confounded, O Lord. ℣. Show, O Lord, Thy ways to me: and teach me Thy paths.
Offertory: Ad te Domine levavi animam meam: Deus meus, in te confido, non erubescam: necque irrideant me inimici mei: etenim universi qui te exspectant, non confundentur.
Unto you, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul; O my God, I trust in you, let me not be put to shame; do not allow my enemies to laugh at me; for nonw of those who are awaiting you will be disappointed.
Communion: Dominus dabit benignitatem: et terra nostra dabit fructum suum.
The Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her fruit.
Happy New Year!
~via Chiesa. Guess what I want for Christmas? Yes, you can access the homilies via the Holy See's website. But having a portable hard copy to stick in my back pack is just right!
ROME, November 27, 2009 – On the eve of Advent, a book has been released in Italy that collects the homilies by Benedict XVI in the liturgical year that just ended.
Each liturgical year runs from Advent to Advent. It is a grand sacramental narration that, from Mass to Mass, has this distinctive feature: it brings to fulfillment what it says. The protagonist of the narrative, Jesus, is not simply remembered, but is present and acts. The homilies are the key to understanding his presence and his actions. They say who he is and what he is doing today, "according to the Scriptures."
This, at least, is what is learned by listening to pope Joseph Ratzinger, an extraordinary homilist.
The homilies have become a distinguishing feature of the pontificate of Benedict XVI. They may be the least known and understood feature, but they are certainly the most revealing. He writes many of them himself, and improvises them at times; they are the most genuine manifestation of his mind.
He is dedicating himself to them to a great and growing extent. In the liturgical year just before the last one – also published in a volume one year ago by the same publisher – there were twenty-six homilies; in this new collection, there are forty.
And to these must be added the "little homilies" on the readings of the Mass of the day that the pope delivers on Sundays at the noon Angelus, all of them unmistakably his own creation, also reproduced in an appendix to this volume.
To facilitate the reading, each homily in the volume is followed by the texts of the biblical readings of the respective Mass. Benedict XVI, in fact, systematically refers to these texts. Not only that. When necessary, the reader will also find the other liturgical texts commented on by the pope in the homily: from the "Magnificat" of vespers to the "Te Deum" of the end of the year, from the "Victimae Pascali Laudes" of Easter to the "Veni Sancte Spiritus" of Pentecost.
Last Holy Thursday, pope Ratzinger made a long commentary on the canon – the central prayer of the Mass – that is read on that day in the liturgy of the Roman rite. And the reader will also find this canon transcribed in the book, both in Latin and in the vernacular.
The papal homilies are arranged according to the chronology of the liturgical year, Sunday by Sunday, feast by feast, from Advent to Christmas, to Lent, to Easter, to Pentecost and beyond. But under each title it is specified where and how the rite was celebrated: for example, in the Sistine Chapel, baptizing a few children, or in Jerusalem, in Bethlehem, in Cameroon, in Angola.
In each homily, in fact, Benedict XVI "situates" his preaching, applying it to the community to which he is speaking, or taking from the context a lesson for all.
Cure D'Ars Prayer Group: Praying for Bishop Burbidge and priests in the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh. Praying also for seminarians and vocations.
