Wise words from Brother J.R., FFV, superior of the Franciscans of Life, about how we should react to our new pope and accepting the differences between Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI:

"The pope is not our property. We must not try to own him.

The pope is a person and deserves the same respect as any other person.

The pope has a right to freedom. Any attitude, any wish, any desire that imposes our will, our desires, our wishes on his person is a violation of his right to freedom. We do not violate another person's right to freedom, anymore than we want our freedom violated.

The pope binds and unbinds. We do not. Whatever he chooses to bind and unbind, is is up to us to adapt, not him.

His Holiness is a Jesuit. He is not a secular pope as have been all of our popes this past 100 years. He's a regular priest. He has a right to live out his Jesuit vocation, even as pope. Canon Law and theology protect this right. It is we who must get used to the Jesuit way of doing things.

His Holiness has a spirituality, ecclesiology and and worldview that are his own. We have no right to invade that or expect that he accommodate to our own. A servant is not the same as property.

Finally, the Holy Father is not a lab rat that should be put under observation by us. He is a human being with dignity and should be respected as such."

From Catholic Answers Forum

Pope Francis' first Homily

Blog of the Week: The New Liturgical Movement

The New Liturgical Movement is another must read on my daily blog roll. It covers sacred liturgy and liturgical arts with an appreciation of the centuries-old traditions of the Church. If you love Cappa Magnas, Roman vestments, liturgical processions, and all the "smells and bells" traditions of the Church whether its expressed in the Ordinary Form, the Extraordinary Form or even the Dominican Rite, then this is the blog for you.

Carry On

A little Saturday afternoon inspiration:

New Home for Some New York Nuns

The community of Redemptoristine nuns in West Park, New York, are moving to a new convent, in a former Franciscan friary in East Rutherford, N.J. Among the ways they earn their keep is sewing ceremonial capes for the Knights and Ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Blog of the Week - Atonement Online

Atonement Online is the blog of the Rev. Christopher Phillips, pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church, the parish I attend. Father Phillips posts news about the parish and the parish school, as you might expect. But more importantly, he regularly discusses issues related to the liturgical patrimony of Anglican Use parishes and issues related to the creation of the newly-erected Personal Ordinarriate of the Chair of Saint Peter. Fr. Phillips is the founding pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement, the first Anglican Use parish, established in 1983.

Blog of the Week - The Deacon's Bench

The Deacon's Bench, which is updated nearly daily, is by Deacon Greg Kandra of the Diocese of Brooklyn. He is the executive editor of ONE, the magazine of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Deacon Kandra was a writer and producer for CBS News in New York and Washington for 26 years.