The Feast of St. Mary the Virgin, Dormition, and Assumption

From Interrupting the Silence-

Today, August 15, is one of the great Marian feast days. The Eastern Orthodox call it the Feast of the Dormition while Roman Catholics call it the Feast of the Assumption. They deal with the same event but the interpretation is a bit different. The Rev. Patrick Comerford offers the following distinction:

The Orthodox Church teaches that Mary died a natural death, like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her burial, at which time she was taken up, bodily only, into heaven, so that her tomb was found empty on the third day.

On the other hand, Roman Catholic teaching says Mary was “assumed” into heaven in bodily form. Some Roman Catholics agree with the Orthodox that this happened after her death, while others hold that she did not experience death. In his dogmatic definition of the Assumption in Munificentissimus Deus (1950), Pope Pius XII was not so dogmatic, for he appears to leave open the question of whether or not she actually underwent death and even alludes to the fact of her death at least five times.

Fr. Bosco Peters, blogging at Liturgy, offers some quotations from the Anglican – Roman Catholic dialog concerning Mary. 

https://interruptingthesilence.com/2011/08/15/the-feast-of-st-mary-the-virgin-dormition-and-assumption/

Anglican Priest Smears the Virgin Mary

From Patheos-

Just when you thought the Anglicans couldn’t stoop much lower, in a disgusting article published, predictably, on Christmas Eve, Anglican priest-journalist Giles Fraser not only publicly denies the Virgin Birth, but he ridicules the idea, proposes that the Blessed Virgin Mary was just another teen fornicator and that it’s probably a good thing that Jesus was a bastard conceived when Mary had a romp with a Roman soldier.

I’m surprised that he didn’t title his article, “That’s Why Our Lady is a Tramp”

The crass arrogance of Fraser’s article in London’s  The Guardian is only superseded by its ignorance. Fraser writes,

More here- 

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2015/12/anglican-priest-smears-the-virgin-mary.html

Sorry Giles, the virgin birth is central to Christmas

From Premier Christianity-

After Giles Fraser questioned the virgin birth on his Guardian blog, Ian Paul responds on why we abandon this central Christian truth at our peril.

I really don’t know what goes through the mind of people who argue that they know much better than the gospel writers what Christianity is all about. Do they think the evangelists were stupid, ignorant, or just a little bit slow on the uptake? And how did Christian tradition make such egregious errors until this enlightened modern mind came along to set us all straight?

Such were my thoughts when reading Giles Fraser’s latest piece, pointing out how the virgin birth doesn’t really fit with Christian belief:

The idea that Jesus was born of “pure virgin” could well have been a reaction to insults [that Jesus was illegitimate]. That Mary’s womb was “spotless” was perhaps a cover story designed by Jesus’s supporters to explain a more God-like nature for his arrival.

More here-

http://www.premierchristianity.com/Blog/Sorry-Giles-the-virgin-birth-is-central-to-Christmas

What do you see? Some parishioners call this picture a miracle in the suburbs

From Chicago-

One north suburban Catholic Church is talking about a very thought provoking picture, shot with nothing more than an iphone.

One woman snapped a photo last Friday in the chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Glenview and says she got so much more.

Maureen Kent has been attending Eucharistic adoration at the church for more than 2 years. Kneeling last friday, she wanted a picture of the eucharist or host in the monstrance, the ornate gold stand it’s placed in.

The picture showed a bright light, an image larger than a human and appearing to hover next to the host on the alter. Catholics believe the host is the body of Christ.

No photo-shopping, she says, no doctoring the digital image. Just what she calls a great surprise when she looked at her screen.

Her friends in the chapel also believe it is the Virgin Mary, the supernatural right in suburban Glenview.  Authentication is not, right now, a consideration by Maureen Kent or even the church. They are relishing what they call a miraculous moment, privileged to have seen and believed, they say.

Read more

 http://wgntv.com/2013/11/22/what-do-you-see-some-parishioners-call-this-picture-a-miracle-in-the-suburbs/#ixzz2m5jRwn8s

Baltimore archbishop tells woman to stop delivering messages she says come from Virgin Mary

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) _ The Roman Catholic archbishop of Baltimore told a Pennsylvania woman to stop disseminating messages that she claims she receives from the Virgin Mary.

The warning, in a pastoral advisory from Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, marks an escalation of the church's efforts to silence Gianna Sullivan of rural Fairfield, Pa.

It warns Sullivan not to talk or write about the alleged apparitions anywhere within the archdiocese, which includes Baltimore and nine Maryland counties.

The archdiocese concluded in 2000 that the alleged visions were not divine and barred Sullivan from delivering them at an Emmitsburg church. The Vatican upheld that decision in 2003.

Sullivan had been delivering her messages at monthly gatherings at a conference center in Frederick County. After O'Brien's statement, she canceled her scheduled appearances there.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-rel-religion-briefs,0,2187300.story