Blithe Spirit Daily

Dear priests who improvise at Mass: Please don’t. At least not in gauche way. But if you have inspiration to pass on, go ahead. Huh?

Priest not master of liturgy, but servant, says Cardinal Sarah. But what else can he be, counters a reader, put up front as master of ceremonies and performer with a crowd before him?

Fourth of July! Embattled farmers' shot heard round the world, Paul Revere's midnight ride. Old testament prophets. Reverence itself a target? Faith or pandemonium? Opening door for man with cane.

Beautiful, hot summer day watching Clark Street traffic and small birds. The private mass a liberating experience. Pope Leo on praying for an end to climate change.

Cardinal Cupich and "unity," a match made in heaven?

Restore Individualistic Piety. Follow St Newman, Pius XII’s Mediator Dei, avoid "unthinking conformity to the collectivistic spirit of the times." Take a pass on an unnecessary “feeling of community.”

More of "10 Critical Issues Facing the Next Pope" offered by old Vatican hand: clearing up Vatican 2 "ambiguities" and reforming the Jesuits . . .

Mass as holy lecture? Head trip? Readings in Novus Ordo vs. traditional: something cooking here? St. Michael prayer scary? Latin bad? Good? Reverence under attack? And what happened to the Holy Ghost?

Adjust to modern world for pastoral reasons, but aren't there limits to such adjustments? Of course there are. Above all, do not change the message, only make it more effective . . .

Glad-handing at Mass #6. First, it's a mirror of the overall new-mass problem. For many not all a problem, that is, who should not be thrown under the new-mass bus by overly enthusiastic bishops.

Leo reinterprets Scripture to meet UN purposes. Why does he talk that way? Presents vineyard workers story with a modern twist, as if making a case for DEI.