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Reposted by CatholicGeekery

John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 4h

Bronze grotesque
Greek

Since its discovery in 1727, this figure's identity has been debated. Prevailing scholarly opinion calls it a mime, 1st century B.C./A.D. A recent suggestion is that he is a caricature of an Alexandrian pedant, datable to 2nd Cenury BCE.

(Met Museum)

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 4h

Taize chant was popular at my university Catholic Society. I'm pretty convinced that's purely because it was rhythmic, repetitive, and scriptural. And guess what!

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 4h

I think the same would have been said by many about Eucharistic adoration in various parts of the world after Vatican II. We really do have more influence over our own trajectory than we think.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 4h

The way I see it, if I can convince some friends to play a moderately crunchy tabletop rpg for three hours a week, I can probably get at least 5 parishioners to pray for 20 minutes.

CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

I'm in no danger of breaking away from Rome because of it, or any other issue of sacramental practice. I'm well aware the grass is always greener. But it would be nice.

CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

This is, to me, one of the biggest "obviously a good thing which we only don't do because of historical inertia" issues in the Church. Would easily be one of the best things we could take from our Orthodox brethren.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

If the Eucharistic revival of the last few decades has taught us anything it's that organic participation is best when you put a lot of well-organised effort into encouraging it. ;)

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

It sounds like your experience has been different, but my experience of both Dominican and Benedictine communities in England has been very positive in this regard. To say nothing of the still-healthy tradition of Evensong in the Anglican church.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

I think this is why the religious communities which serve parishes often have better luck with it. It is very visibly the *community*'s prayer, not "just Father", and the parish can (if the community is open to it) be folded into that.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

Again, being raised Anglican probably helps here. We never went to evensong, but I knew it *happened* at least. I thought it was unique to the CofE for a few years after becoming Catholic, until I encountered the Dominicans.

CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

I can imagine. But I have led people completely new to the Office before and so long as you don't try teaching them plainchant it tends to go fine.

CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

I mean, the obligation isn't to say the office though...

I like the idea of getting people praying more, but more people not encountering Christ the Eucharist is surely not the answer.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

As Tom says of priests, as a Lay Dominican I am obliged to pray it anyway, so I may as well rope other people into it to.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

Sure, but tbf there is no *need* for a priest to do it - the laity can do it themselves.

Our new priest is still settling in, so I've not been throwing ideas at him just yet, but the possibility of doing a lay-led Vespers is on my to-propose list.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

That's wild. I get doing *some* of the Office enclosed, but for an Order of *Preachers* to cut off the laity from a very easy way of sharing in prayer is bonkers.

Fortunately, literally none of the OPs I've encountered in the UK do this. I owe it to them that I ever encountered the LotH.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

Maybe this is my Anglican background coming through, but I have seen firsthand how easy it is to get laity interested in the Office. It isn't a "lack of interest" problem, it's a lack of encouragement problem.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

...it is sad to see a priest just shrug off the suggestion that the laity might be able to share more deeply in the prayer of the (whole) church. I get that priests are busy - perhaps this will need to be spearheaded by weirdo laity.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 5h

"They would sooner come to..." seems like a total guess given that, as you say, they don't know what Vespers is. I am, as you kindly say elsewhere here, both a weirdo and someone who discerned out of religious life, but...

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 1d

Another good story hook for #arsmagica. A grog from the local village is being hounded by a demon of discord, causing the villagers to turn against him as a scapegoat. If the covenant intervenes, the frustrated demon starts revealing secrets the characters would rather keep hidden. #ttrpg

Medievalist.net @medievalists.bsky.social · 1d

The Medieval Village and its Evil Spirit www.medievalists.net/2023/10/medi... #Halloween

The Medieval Village and its Evil Spirit - Medievalists.net

Today’s horror movies could make use of this story from the ninth century, of how an evil spirit terrorized a medieval village. It also reports on one of the earliest recorded attempts at an exorcism…

www.medievalists.net

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 1d

Clearly he was making his own custom character with Skills & Powers for AD&D 2e, keep up.

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Reposted by CatholicGeekery

CAFOD @cafod.bsky.social · 1d

In the newly-published Dilexi te, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that love and care for our neighbour and those who are poor and marginalised is a fundamental part of our faith and the Church's social teaching.

The key messages in his first Apostolic Exhortation.

https://bit.ly/3KJRjdc

A photo of Pope Leo XIV with a quote from Dilexi te.

"I have chosen to recall the age-old history of the Church’s care for the poor and with the poor in order to make clear that it has always been a central part of her life. Indeed, caring for the poor is part of the Church’s great Tradition, a beacon as it were of evangelical light to illumine the hearts and guide the decisions of Christians in every age."

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 1d

The Union Flag pasted over Mac saying "I'm playing *both* sides, so that I always come out on top."

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 2d

They desperately want Catholicism to be a fully coherent, already worked out, abstract philosophical framework. When in fact it is the work of the living God operating on human hearts and minds in concrete reality.

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Reposted by CatholicGeekery

Will Quinn @willquinnart.bsky.social · 2d

Daily bunny no.3104 does not have a map

An intrepid bunny creeps through a labyrinth or dungeon, arranged in a grid like an old videogame. There is a snake and a skull in the bunny's path, as well as a spike pit. The bunny has a small sword.

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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 2d

The Master of the Order should seriously start looking into why the US Dominicans are like this. The English Dominicans don't have this problem (either with politics or reading comprehension).

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