It is not always easy to buttonhole Catholics along partisan lines. The Church’s tradition is inherently conservative, but at the same time she has a deep concern to relieve poverty. Catholics do not align neatly within the ‘tramlines’ of the political left or right. We are Christ-centered, so our perspective depends upon his priorities, and not the world’s.

But of increasing concern in our secular world is the theme of Ecology. For some Catholics, even the word evokes a sense of suspicion - but it need not. Care for the environment is actually covenantal - it is part of the deal between God and man from the very beginning: “The Lord God took the man, and put him in the Garden of Eden, to work it, and keep it.” (Gen 2:15) Furthermore, it also makes good economic sense: wasting resources is a waste of money.

A good example of being attentive to these questions comes from the use of plants in the Liturgy. One thing people notice at the Oratory is that we do not decorate with poinsettias at Christmas, nor potted lilies at Easter. They are beautiful plants, but we choose not to use them here, because the waste from them is enormous and the logistics of shipping thousands of plants halfway across the continent is not sustainable. Instead, we use what is locally available - festoons of fir, holly and ivy, decorated with berries and pinecones.

Another way to be more environmentally conscious is regarding palms for Palm Sunday. Again, great resources are needed to ship fronds of palm across the country, and sometimes from overseas. In the Middle Ages, people in Northern Europe had no such access to palm branches, so other local trees substituted: in particular, Yew and Willow. Here in New England, God gives us a preponderance of Forsythia and Hazel which provide plentiful fronds for the Palm Sunday Procession, at no expense at all, except for time and effort of willing volunteers.

Our trick, in Georgetown, is to select single withies, from this year’s growth, rather than the branched stems of previous years, and to cut them when they have not yet opened, putting them in buckets of water in the warm to force them open in time for the Procession. They make excellent Ash for Ash Wednesday too - and children can even have fun planting their palms to make new plants.

All these kinds of activities help to build community too. Encouraging people to donate blooms and greenery from their gardens is an excellent way for them to feel fully involved in the life of the Church. Having a home team of flower arrangers is much more satisfying than placing an online order for yet another bird-of-paradise arrangement. But best of all - it demonstrates appropriate stewardship of resources, and concern for order in Creation, which is just as much a part of our baptismal calling.

The Goose on the Loose!

Our new art semester opened with a goose…

God’s wonderful creation provides rich symbolic imagery for many of the mysteries of our Faith.  As our new Art Semester began this past week we focused on an unusual symbol for the Holy Spirit, the wild goose.  Unlike the calm and gentle dove that we commonly associate with the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Celtic tradition preferred the image of a goose. 

The goose is wild, unpredictable, fiercely loyal and persistent.  They felt this was much more indicative of the way the Holy Spirit works in our lives, not allowing us to stay as we are, but warning us against dangers and constantly urging us along on our adventures with God.

In the 7th century St. Isidore of Seville wrote his Etymologies, a vast reference work that had great influence in the Middle Ages.  In it he writes of the goose, in reference to the Battle of the Allia in 387 BC:

We looked at images of geese in ancient Roman mosaics as well as Medieval Bestiaries, very popular illuminated texts of the Middle Ages that focused largely on the religious meanings of animals.  We also looked at the highly decorative borders of these manuscript paintings.  We then looked at images of real geese, specifically snow geese, both stationary and in flight.

With all this in mind, the children began their drawings in pencil on watercolor paper which was masked along the edges.  They moved on to black oil pastels for the contours of their geese and from there they painted the backgrounds with pan watercolors.

Next they added shading to their white geese.  We then removed the making tape from their papers so that they could create their own border designs, with the Medieval Bestiaries for inspiration.  Drawn in white oil pastel, the designs popped through the paint as they added their choice of border color.  Lastly, when the paintings were dry enough, they added the orange of the bills and feet of their geese.

Our collage Holy Card this week was on the Holy Spirit from John 3:8:

As a fun footnote to our art project this week, when the younger students’ class ended, as we were cleaning up and preparing for the next class, the sounds of laughter and activity came from the back of the room.  The children were playing Duck, Duck, Goose with each other.  How appropriate!

A Rose by Any Other Name?

Here is a photo of our latest set for the Oratory, made by Sra. Anamaria Baraboi of Sacra Domus Aurea. Anamaria is based in Sardinia, Italy and has designed vestments for many of the most famous churches in the world, and been worn by everyone from Cardinals and Bishops…to simple country clerics in the woods of New England.

This design is for a Rose set for use on Gaudete and Laetare Sundays in the Roman Rite. That’s right - just two weekends every year. It is executed in Venetian silk with black velvet orphreys. The shade of Rose is exquisite, a blush champagne gold, which lends a much subtler note than the bubblegum shades that can sometimes be seen.

Jesus Guild maintains a directory of vestment makers we have worked with - and clergy or laity wishing to commission new pieces should not hesitate to reach out to us for advice and support.