(1)  CWNews: The new English Translation of the Order of Mass for the United States was approved by the Vatican July 28:

The United States Bishops Conference announced that it received the go ahead from the Holy See’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments to the first section of the translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal.

It includes most of the texts used in every celebration of the Mass, and involves new translations of the penitential rite, Gloria, creed, Eucharistic prayers, Eucharistic acclamations and Our Father.

Amanda Shaw, blogging at FIRST THINGS, is enthusiastic about the changes, to put it mildly:

Some of the oddities and abominations of the English translation of the liturgy are about to go extinct, reported the Congregation for Divine Worship last week……

Go here to see  some of the changes.

(2) The Knights of Peter Claver, a black Catholic fraternal organization, held its 93rd convention in Florida, 1,500 all told, including the Ladies Auxiliary:

…..Black Catholics founded the fraternal organization in 1909 because they were not allowed in other Catholic lay groups, said Athanase Jones, [who helped organize the 10 a.m. Mass at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront], a retired Navy veteran who works for the federal Department of Labor in Jacksonville. He was once head of the national group and is now in charge of the Southeast chapter.

Though African-Americans can now join better-known fraternal groups such as the Knights of Columbus, Jones said there’s still a place for the Knights of Peter Claver: “It’s historical. It’s tradition.”

The group is open to all - there’s an all-white group in northern Minnesota - and is trying to reach out to Hispanic Catholics, he said…..

(3) According to Christian Newswire, ” Rev. David Runnion-Bareford, Executive Director of the Confessing Movement in the United Church of Christ, apologized for the “division and confusion” caused by former Massachusetts UCC President Rev. Nancy Taylor and the UCC related Church of the Covenant who recently welcomed and hosted a schismatic “ordination” by the group “Womenpriests.”

This gesture in itself is welcome and so is Reverend Runnion-Bareford’s separate letter to Reverend Nancy Taylor. Reverend Runnion-Bareford does not mince words:

“We are also fully aware that this event was not motivated by a sincere desire to honor the call of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the ministry of committed Christian women. We know that ‘Womenpriests’ openly include candidates who are engaged in the practice of sexual license. It is significant that the participants would not take the vow of obedience or chastity. We are aware of the statements on their website proclaiming a false gospel of self and mutual affirmation, denying the fall of humanity and our need for repentance from sin and personal transformation through the atoning crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. <www.womenpriests.org/body/body_ovr.asp>

“We note that it is not incidental that this event was hosted in Boston by a church that is prideful about its aggressive religious sanction of homosexual, bi-sexual and transgender relationships and same gender ‘marriage.’. We also note that the pansexual activist group Integrity participated and assisted with hospitality.”

Rev. Runnion-Bareford, in a separate letter to Rev. Nancy Taylor, cautioned, “you must be aware from your position of leadership that your divisive statements and behavior appear to violate the Minister’s Code of the United Church of Christ, which says, ‘I will be a responsible representative of the Church Universal and participate in those activities that strengthen its unity, witness, and mission’.” He went on to ask, “Can we infer from your actions of this last week that you would approve of groups who have justice issues with the United Church of Christ carrying out their own ordinations of individuals they believe valid regardless of our church’s standards and protocols?”

(4) According to AP, controversial Kansas late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller is headed for a March 16, 2009 trial after a local judge dismissed two requests for the case to be dismissed:

“Abortion jurisprudence in this country has been going through an evolutionary process since Roe V. Wade in 1973,” Judge Owens wrote in his decision, adding that in light of all the interpretations, the statute survives all the constitutional challenges…..

(5) Christians around the world continue to suffer as today’s news story from Iraq reminds us:

(CWN) During his July 25 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news), Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki encouraged the Pope to help him convince Iraqi Christians to remain in the country– or to return, if they have already fled.while the Maliki sought the Pope’s help in persuading Christians to return, the Pope stressed the need to provide greater safety for the Christians who remain in Iraq.

…..The number of Iraqi Christians who have fled their homeland since 2003 may be as high as 500,000, although estimates of the number of refugees vary widely. With the Christian minority suffering through a campaign of intimidation and violence, Vatican Radio estimates that one-third of the refugees leaving Iraq have been members of the Christian minority, which accounted for only 4% of the country’s population in 2003.

(6) And Zimbabwe.  “If that is not faith…”:

(Jul 25, 2008) An eyewitness from Zimbabwe, who for safety reasons must remain anonymous, has sent the following report to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN):

“Two weeks ago we celebrated the opening of the Year of Saint Paul in our parish with a solemn Holy Mass — at exactly the same time as the Holy Father was celebrating the Vespers of the vigil of the feast in the Church of Saint Paul’s-Outside-the-Walls in Rome.

As always in Africa, the Mass was very well attended, and despite the immense transport difficulties, the Catholic faithful had travelled from far and wide, some overnight on open trucks, in a biting cold wind. Needless to say, we also prayed for Zimbabwe.

During his sermon, the priest told how shortly before, a woman had been snatched from a church during the middle of Mass. After Mass, he went looking for her and found her lying in a ditch just a few hundred yards away. She is now lying in a coma.

It almost seems to me that on such occasions, in praying and singing, the people are able to forget not only their worries but even their aching limbs and open wounds, at least for a few hours.

After Mass, I met an acquaintance, a young woman somewhere in her mid-20s. Just a few days before, she had been brutally beaten up in her own home by ZANU PF thugs.

Two of her fingers were broken, as she attempted to protect her head and her face from the blows of the clubs, and several of her ribs were cracked.

Her back and legs were covered in black angry bruises. But despite her pain, she was determined to attend the Mass, and she did in fact come — barefoot and limping on one foot, because her feet were so swollen that she could not even get them into her very wide, worn pair of sandals.

If that is not faith… I thought to myself that evening that St. Paul himself would have been very pleased and proud if he could have seen and heard what these Christians have made of his words and how they are quite literally living out what he taught…..