December 10, 2003
Maybe if we hit them over the head with the Catechism something will stick!
Last night I was talking to someone who went to a different church than I did on Monday. We were talking about the homily and sure enough the priest had to explain that Monday did not celebrate the conception of Jesus, rather the conception of Mary. Guess what? Our priest had to explain this as well. Looking around St. Blog's, I see that the priests here had to explain that, too. My friend had even encountered an ordained deacon who was confused on this issue!
I don't know about the rest of my readers, but this always seemed a pretty basic thing, something that you maybe had confusion on very early on, but certainly did not get confirmed without this basic distinction explained somewhere. I don't think these priests are explaining this for the fun of it, I imagine that they encounter the confusion all the time. It is just hard to imagine that the sort of Catholics who go to mass regularly are confused on this.
Posted by erik at December 10, 2003 10:16 AM | TrackBackEven I know this, and I'm Buddhist. Sheesh. People should try to stay awake in church.
Posted by: ann at December 13, 2003 2:06 PMPerhaps the great feasts of the Annunciation on 25 March and of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 8 September should also be made holydays of obligation so that their connections with Christmas and with the Immaculate Conception are hammered home.
Posted by: Francis at December 12, 2003 11:02 AMMy mother-in-law was baptized and confirmed as a Catholic and continued to attend Mass until a few years after my husband was born. A couple of years after my husband and I were married (and LONG before I was interested in the Catholic Church), she and I were discussing the Immaculate Conception. She insisted it refered to the conception of Jesus, but even I knew (despite being a die-hard evangelical Protestant) that it referred to the conception of Mary. My mother-in-law was even confirmed before Vatican II yet she did not know this. Bad catechesis, or she wasn't paying attention.
In Christ,
Jenny
Posted by: Jenny Lemieux at December 10, 2003 3:55 PMMy pastor mentioned this peripherally, as in "A lot of non-catholics or poorly instructed catholics are confused on this issue" and then went on to preach a wonderful message on the importance of purity for all. At the end of Mass, he dedicated himself, his priesthood, and the parish to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Posted by: alicia the midwife at December 10, 2003 2:36 PM