There are a lot of members of the Broad Chorus of Catholic Thinkers posting articles, videos and podcasts online. So much in fact that one really doesn’t have the time, energy or computer bandwidth to read all the good things being written up and slapped on a web page. And so I decided to bring examples of a 132 of them together in one post. It consists of bits of Orthodox Catholic thoughts from the Catholic Rigorous Vortex and the Liberal Hippie Catholics and everyone else in-between.

WRN # 18 Cool Tunes From the Broad Chorus of Catholic Thinkers
Easy Access to Tunes and Tweets from the BCCT JULY 29, 2022

The diversity of thought within Catholic teaching, like variety within the strictures of sonnets, is one of its most beautiful features. It is nevertheless important to listen, as much as we can, to a broad chorus of Catholic thinkers. I have found great consolation in the fact that someone holier and smarter than myself has likely asked my questions already; my job is to find them and to listen, and then to make as many people as possible read block quotations about it.
Sharon Kabel , OSB vs. UFO: Stanley Jaki and the Theology of Aliens (June 16, 2021)- OnePeterFive

But of course with so many samples of things to look at in one semi-long post, several nifty, pithy and unique writings and more can get lost in the shuffle. So I decided to take what I gathered and break it up into smaller posts based on themes instead of particular individual Catholic websites. I even added a few other things not found in the larger collage of writings.

In this issue I present to you tunes from the BCCT on…

Holy Days and Holidays

It’s hard to keep up with all the Cathodic Feast Days, Holy Days, Holiday and other special days that pop up throughout the year. This post is my way of trying to remember the ones I have and have not written something about.

Holy Days

Upon the heels of the glorious Easter season, Catholics celebrate Pentecost, followed by two more liturgical feasts. Ordinary Time has begun, and yet our spirits feel the extraordinary effects of Lent, Eastertide, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi. Amidst the flowering roses, wedding bells, and vacation destinations of June, our spiritual selves need continual nourishment as we move on with the business of life in a secular culture. As the month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, so Catholic tradition dedicates June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This proceeds from Jesus’ apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a young girl in 17^th century France.
Mary Ennis Meo Claiming June for the Sacred Heart of Jesus –(22 June AD 2022) Catholic Stand

Holy Days: Ascension Thursday – May 26, 2022

Before Christ ascends into heaven, we already have the promise of his return. Jesus, we hear, “who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” Just as the Passion and Death anticipated the Resurrection, so does Christ’s Ascension anticipate the Second Coming, Christ’s Return. The Return is not some metaphor, no more a metaphor than the Cross was. It is a historical event waiting to happen; rather than looking into the past for this event, we look to the future. We await it as the Jews must have waited long years for the Savior. In this age of the Church, we have forgotten or are tempted to forget the urgency of Christianity, what was keenly felt by our ancestors, those first Christians

Fr. Adrian McCaffery Homilies for May 2022 – Homiletic & Pastoral Review (hprweb.com)

Some Ascending Thoughts | Kristin Wilson (patheos.com)

Holidays: Memorial Day -Monday– May 31 2022

Here’s the thing though — Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veterans’ Day should not be thought about on just one day. Rather, let’s strive to remember the reason for these days more often. In the process, teach children about America and how, as President Ronald Reagan said, this “blessed land was set apart…[by a] divine plan” and a courageous “people…who had a special love for freedom.”

From an early age, educate children why America is “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Eager and interested, children are never too young to hear about our great republic. Show how our country works by the family volunteering at the local election level. (We’ve seen the ramifications of bad school boards and district attorneys.)

Share family stories of valor, sacrifice, and service to our Nation, so the next generations know their family heritage of stepping forward for America. Let your children see you often thanking veterans (and police officers). Listen to the stories of veterans in your church and neighborhood. Visit a national cemetery, so children better understand the vast number of Americans whom sacrificed so much, and then as General George Patton said, “thank God that such men lived.”
Hilary Collins Memorial Day – Heroes and Prayers –(May 31, 2021) OnePeterFive

Holy Days: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary -Tuesday – May 31 2022

Scripture goes on to tell us that John the Baptist, still unborn, leapt for joy in Elizabeth’s womb and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. We are shown in this passage the transition between the Old and the New Covenant. On the one hand, we have a woman too old to conceive a child through ordinary means, yet through the extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit, her womb is prepared and granted the grace to bear the last prophet of the Old Covenant. On the other hand, we have a woman quite young and not ready to conceive a child through ordinary means, but again through the extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit her womb is chosen and prepared to bear the New Covenant Himself.

It is through this powerful encounter between these two holy women that the Old and New Covenant intersect and the totality of salvation history is made clear.
Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (MAY 31, 2022) (catholicexchange.com)

Holy Days: Pentecost Sunday – June 5, 2022

If we open our hearts in response to His knocking, He enters. God leaves no space that we offer to Him empty. Today, and every day, simply ask. Open to His knocking. And as you persevere in that, watch what happens. Fr. Patrick Riviere,Homilies for June 2022 – Homiletic & Pastoral Review (hprweb.com)

Holy Days: Mary, Mother of the Church – June 6, 2022

As Mother of the Church, both collectively and for each individual member, Mary promises to stand by us in our sufferings, to draw closer and closer, and to pray for us, and to pray with us, leading us to communion with Jesus.-,Fr. Patrick Riviere,Homilies for June 2022 – Homiletic & Pastoral Review (hprweb.com)

Holy Days: Trinity Sunday – June 12, 2022

For years scientists have discovered various elements of our world that seem to push the limits of our understanding. The theory that time actually passes relative to the speed of the individual, the reality that everything is composed of various conglomerations of subatomic particles, the infinite vastness and continual expansion of the entire universe — all these theories boggle the mind. It’s hard to wrap your brain around and truly understand the possibility of some of these theories.

It can seem paradoxical to say that suffering and love coexist, just as it can seem paradoxical to say that one God can exist as three Persons. That paradox reveals not a contradiction but a love that is unable to be stopped, a love that brings hope to whoever is willing to accept it-,Fr. Patrick Riviere,Homilies for June 2022 – Homiletic & Pastoral Review (hprweb.com)

Happy Bad Analogies Sunday | Kristin Wilson (patheos.com)

Trinity of Holidays and Feast Days | Kristin Wilson (patheos.com)

Holy Days: Solemnity of Corpus Christi – Sunday June 19, 2022

It’s no secret that faith in the Eucharist in our world isn’t the strongest. Our own American church is taking great steps in the next three years to revive that faith — not by disseminating detailed arguments or proofs, but by inviting people to take a step of faith, to believe that just maybe, He can fill that hunger of your heart. If we give Him a chance, He will not let us down.”
Fr. Patrick Riviere,Homilies for June 2022 – Homiletic & Pastoral Review (hprweb.com)

Trinity of Holidays and Feast Days | Kristin Wilson (patheos.com)

Holidays: Father’s Day– Sunday June 19, 2022

St. Joseph is often seen as a saint for fathers and father figures alike. A spiritual and virtuous counselor to emulate and seek guidance from as we map our role as fathers. Pope Francis penned the apostolic letter titled Patris Corde (“With a Father’s Heart”) in preparation for the year honoring St. Joseph, 2021.

In his letter he explains the fatherhood of St. Joseph through seven lenses: a beloved father; a tender and loving father; an obedient father; an accepting father; a creatively courageous father; a working father, and a “father in the shadows.” Sarah Hanley Father’s Day through the lens of St. Joseph (June 14, 2022) Catholic Philly

Holidays: Juneteenth– Sunday June 19, 2022

For those who are unfamiliar, many African Americans consider Juneteenth to be the most important emancipation holiday in the United States. Juneteenth’s origins date back to June 19, 1865. This marks the date in which notification of the freeing of slaves reached the last plantation, which was in Galveston, Texas. Imagine bringing news via word of mouth and traveling throughout the South from plantation to plantation by horseback to inform the enslaved that they were, by law, free citizens.

Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived at the last plantation in Galveston to issue the order that the people there were free, but there was still a long battle ahead for equality. Following emancipation came a wave of lynching, imprisonment and Jim Crow laws. Then discriminatory housing practices, economic and medical disparities and, now, acts of police violence, racial profiling and systemic racism.

“If the cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. Because the goal of America is freedom, abused and scorned tho’ we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Kathleen Merritt Juneteenth! | The Catholic Miscellany ( June 2021(themiscellany.org) |

Atticus@Ardoramdonua: Wait so Roe was overruled on the birthday of the founder of the March for Life, and the planets were literally aligned, and it was Feast of the Sacred Heart, and it was Feast John the Baptist (who leapt in the womb) at 10:10am, and John 10:10 is a verse about having life? What?�

Holy Days: Baptism of John the Baptist
-Friday June 24, 2022

While God is fire — appearing on Sinai (Exodus 19:18), coming to set the Earth ablaze (Luke 12:49) and descending at Pentecost (Acts 2:3) — even everyday fire by nature is a spiritually porous element. It exists at the intersection of the visible and invisible, a kind of doorway where the Spirits appear and act, such as the angel who consumed Gideon’s offering with fire (Judges 6:21).

It’s no accident that God called John into being at this time of year. Like the sun at the solstice, John declared that he must decrease and Jesus increase. He was the harbinger of fire: Jesus’ baptism of fire and the purifying fire that will burn away the branches that do not produce fruit (Luke 3:16, 3:9). And it is no accident that he who Jesus called the greatest of those born of women (Luke 7:28) intentionally lived off the land in deep communion with all that surrounded him.
Damian Costello Rediscover sacred fire on the eve of the Nativity of St. John | Earthbeat (Jun 21, 2022) National Catholic Reporter

Holy Days: Hypostatic-Order of Hearts
Sacred Heart of Jesus– Friday June 24, 2022
Immaculate Heart of Mary-Saturday June 24, 2022
Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph -Sunday June 25, 2022

On the Marvelous Feast Day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which is also the Nativity of Womb Leaper St. John the Baptist,

A rare, five-planet alignment peaked on June 24, allowing a peek of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn as they lined up in planetary order.

Here on earth some pro-life issues lined up including the decision by the Supreme Court in the United States to overturn Roe V. Wade thus ending the constitutional right to abortion. If women still feel a need to terminate the pregnancy of their growing child in their womb, they can still get an abortion if their state allows it. Abortion has not disappeared from our country; it has moved from a federal issue to a state issue.

Sacred Heart Planetary Pro-Life Issues | Kristin Wilson (patheos.com)

Yes, devotion to the ‘Sacred Heart’ may descend into saccharine spirituality and kitsch art, but the central point is sound: That Christ loves us with His whole being, not just as God, but as Man, with His human heart that moves Him to have mercy and pity, willing the salvation of all men, and drawing all to Himself, even to the point that we from our humanly, earthly perspective might find mysterious, even disconcerting. His mercy always triumphs over His justice. Get behind me Satan, was Christ’s response to the ‘logic’ of Peter, trying to find a non-suffering way for Christ to save Man. Christ follows a higher, supernatural ‘logic’, if you will, the way of the word. Suffering is the way of love, and love always, always implies giving oneself for the other, in some way.
John Paul Meenan, Editor The Logic of the Sacred Heart (June 24, 2022) Catholic Insight

The Sacred Heart of Jesus beats for every LGBTQ person from the moment of our conception and doesn’t stop at that: Jesus even pours out his entire self in love of each of us as He gives us his living Flesh and Blood to eat and drink. Knowing the Bread from Heaven is a living man, Jesus Christ—who loves me dearly and who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is closer to me than anyone else—is such good news.

The month of June doesn’t need to be “reclaimed” for the Sacred Heart. The Sacred Heart of Jesus beats for all of humanity, for every LGBTQ person, with a love that will never cease.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, aflame with love for us and well-spring of all virtue, have mercy on us!

Stephen Staten Reflection: The Sacred Heart Beats For LGBT Catholics (June 07, 2021) (blackcatholicmessenger.com)

The model of the Holy Trinity on earth consists in three members, not two: Jesus, Mary and Joseph, who together constitute the Holy Family and belong to what has been referred to as the hypostatic-order. A term which describes the essential role played by Mary and Joseph in the Incarnation of the Word who joined the Divine Nature with the human nature hypostatically—that is, in His single person.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary—indicative of our Christic and Marian devotion itself—is at the heart of, and is the very heart of our Christian life of devotion. Yet we can hardly forget the Righteous, Chaste and Hidden Heart of Joseph which is one in an indissoluble union of grace with the superior Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary—which forms the habitation in which they abide. Together they are the Three Hearts, which are so close they look as though they were one, and indeed, whilst distinct, they are inseparably one in a union of the profoundest love.

Br. John Joseph The Righteous, Chaste and Hidden Heart of Saint Joseph – (19 May 2021 IGNITUM TODAY

Holy Day: Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul
– June 29, 2022

When you think about it, it’s really quite astounding that the Church actually still exists. The great empires of the ancient world were founded and led by powerful leaders with great skill and charisma. Jesus picked the two weakest, least qualified, and most unlikely men to be the pillars on which the Church that He established would be built.
Fr. Patrick Riviere,Homilies for June 2022 – Homiletic & Pastoral Review (hprweb.com)

Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
– June 26, 2022

Next weekend, we’re celebrating Fourth of July weekend. So it might seem fitting that the second reading for Mass today is all about freedom. Freedom is much more than doing whatever I want. Freedom is living the way I was created to live. Happiness isn’t a passing pleasure, but an enduring peace that is found only in loving communion with Jesus-
Fr. Patrick Riviere,Homilies for June 2022 – Homiletic & Pastoral Review (hprweb.com)

Holidays: Independence Day– July 4, 2022

Most everyone who has sung or heard Faith of Our Fathers would be astonished to hear it is a Catholic hymn written by a Catholic priest. Yet so it is. Nor was it first written for American patriotism, although that is what it has become for its greatest popularity.

The composer, Father Frederick Faber, first an Anglican clergyman in England, entered the Catholic Church in 1845 a month after Blessed John Henry Newman did. They knew at Oxford Faber joined Newman’s Oratory of St. Philip Neri, then co-founded the Oratorians in London and devoted himself to writing Catholic hymns.

Faber wrote Faith of Our Fathers in 1849 to memorialize sufferings and persecutions endured by Catholics during Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth’s reigns. The first verse refers to that, but at the same time has a universal application, hence today’s patriotic appeal: Faith of our Fathers! living still,/ In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword:/ Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy,/ Whene’er we hear that glorious word.

Printed in several Catholic sources, by 1853 the popular hymn arrived in America — in a Protestant hymnal, prompting a change to Faber’s third verse beginning: Faith of our fathers! Mary’s prayers / Shall win our country back to thee…was changed to: Faith of our fathers, faith and prayer / Shall win all nations unto thee… The verse appears that way in the St. Michael Hymnal today.

Soon this Catholic hymn with its timeless quality became connected with patriotism. As one uncredited source suggests, the hymn “honors both the Author of Our Faith and any Christian who has risked their life for their faith and/or for freedom of religion.”

Joseph Pronechen Even More Patriotic Hymns for the 4th of July (July 4, 2020) National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)