Author: Charles Dittmeier

Finishing Advent

After the 11:00 AM mass today, the parishioners got busy changing the theme of the sanctuary from Advent to Christmas.

Local shepherds were seen near the nativity scene by the sanctuary and were invited to take their places early.

I have a funeral at St. Boniface on Tuesday, but after that we can start setting out flowers and making other arrangements for the Christmas Eve 5:00 PM liturgy.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

The readings on the Fourth Sunday of Advent see God speaking to Ahaz, Joseph, and Mary, and giving them instructions. We see how they responded, either acting with faith or ignoring God’s call.

In what way is God calling us to serve those experiencing poverty, loneliness and illness this Advent? Let us bring the joy of Jesus into every interaction during these grace-filled days of Advent. May the Lord guide us toward ways to share His love and hope with the world.

Signs of decency not wanted

In the past, American Sign language interpreters were provided for White House press briefings and other events so that U.S. deaf people could understand. The Trump White House ended that practice, saying it “would severely intrude on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public.”

The White House has a point. Trump has presented an image of one who mocks people with disabilities; routinely verbally abuses and disrespects people; is against inclusion; and flouts and ignores laws that he doesn’t like. Facilitating communications for deaf people could intrude on the negative image that he has created.

The National Association of the Deaf is suing to have sign language interpreting restored at the White House.

False Alarm–deja vu

A couple weeks ago two fire trucks rushed to Nazareth Home for a false alarm that was never explained. Yesterday morning a fire engine appeared again, this time responding to an alarm triggered by some food scrap that had fallen onto the electrical burner in the building where I live. It started smoking when the stove was turned on and activated the smoke detector and automatic alarm that called the fire fighters. They were most gracious as they checked things out and then climbed back on the truck at the end of their shift for that day.

A different venue…

Last night we had an inch of snow and single-digit temperatures that left snow and ice frozen on streets. That was no environment for riding my bicycle so I used Lyft to get to St. Boniface Church for 8:30 AM mass. The streets near Nazareth Home had a lot of snow and ice but downtown the streets were clear.

We anticipated that we would have fewer people attending the masses, and the 8:30 AM mass ordinarily only has 40-50 people so we proposed moving the mass from the main church to this chapel which was used by the Franciscan friars when they staffed the parish. We ended up with about thirty attendees, more than we expected, and we added some folding chairs to the monastic-style choir stalls in the room..
The small congregation, sitting next to each other rather than spread throughout a huge church, being able to see and hear each other, and being close also to the altar made such a difference! People commented how positive was the experience today with a real feeling of community and a sharing of something important and meaningful. That’s the way we should experience liturgy always!

Christmas Preparation

Last week the Christmas nativity scene was set up at St. Boniface Church and I was introduced to all the figures for the scene, gathered at that time out of sight in the sacristy. The oral lore is that these figure were ordered from Germany when St. Boniface was established so they are approximately 125+ years old. They are about 3-feet tall and really detailed and with real character.

AI training for priests

AI is much in the news and the consciousness of society today and the Archdiocese of Louisville this week offered a training on AI for the Louisville priests. The presenter identified many of the different AI providers and discussed how AI can assist a priest in his general ministry. Discussions covered what AI can do and cannot do, and also delved into the ethics of using AI for tasks like writing homilies.