Well here’s something cool: A Catholic Bible signed by the 1953 Pittsburgh Pirates belonging to legendary baseball executive Branch Rickey was found last week in a library in California, the Sacramento Bee reports.
For those unfamiliar with his name, Rickey is famous for pioneering the modern-day minor league farm system. However, he’s probably best known for the role he played in ending one of baseball’s most shameful chapters — he signed Jackie Robinson, major league baseball’s first African-American.
Jackie Robinson Rickey Branch (Wikimedia)
“The Bible had been sitting in my shop for months waiting to get repaired,” said Joanne Murphy, 65, the book repairer who found the Rickey’s Bible. “No one wanted it.”
The Catholic Bible was signed by 30 ballplayers as well as team manager Fred Haney.
But how did Rickey’s Bible end up in a Sacramento library? Rickey’s grandson, Branch Barrett Rickey, said it’s a mystery
“It’s the first I’ve heard of the Bible,” Branch B. Rickey told the Sacramento Bee.
He did note, however, that there are a number of Rickey relatives currently living in California. But even they say they’re not sure how the Bible ended up in the library.
“Much of the stuff from my grandfather was parceled out among five daughters and a daughter-in-law,” Branch B. Rickey said. “The division of who got what was very informal.”
He added that maybe his grandfather had “given the Bible as a gift to a dear friend,” but added “there’s any number of speculations.”
Oddly enough, of the remaining ’53 Pirates, none of them remember signing the Bible.
“I don’t remember signing it, but maybe I did,” former catcher Eddy Fitz Gerald told the Bee.
He added that the one thing he remembers is that the ’53 weren’t any good.
“It wasn’t a very good team,” he said. Indeed, considering the fact that the Pirates ended the year 50-104, “wasn’t very good” is a bit of an understatement.
A Bible signed by 30 players from the 1953 Pittsburgh Pirates, and manager Fred Haney, sits in the Sacramento shop of book restorer Joanne Murphy this week months after being donated to the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library. (Randall Benton/MCT/ZUMAPRESS.com).
But, again, how did Rickey’s Bible end up in the library?
The Bee examines a few possibilities:
Christopher Jakle, grandson of Rickey who lives in Sacramento, said he, too, doesn’t know how the Bible ended up here, but noted that a number of the family’s belongings had previously sold on eBay.
Jakle believes the buyer probably died and whoever inherited the Bible didn’t know about its significance.
[…]
Branch Rickey – better known for his front-office roles with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers – did have a number of connections to Sacramento early in his career, according to local baseball historian Alan O’Connor. Rickey purchased the Sacramento Solons – the precursor to the River Cats – in 1935.
“He was on Riverside and Broadway all the time, watching players and talking to people,” O’Connor said.
“Baseball collectors have told Murphy the restored Bible could fetch as much as $800,” the Bee report adds. “The Bible will be on public display next month in honor of Black History Month at the central branch of the Sacramento Public Library.”
Final Thought — In case you’re interested, here’s a trailer for “42,” an upcoming film about Robinson, segregation, and the Brooklyn Dodgers (yes, that’s Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey):
Unveiling of the St. Anthony/St. Marks Mural, Feb. 3, 1:30 p.m., Dubois County Museum, Jasper; latest addition by Kim Schroeder to the Our Town Collection Murals; for more information call 812-634-7733 or visit www.duboiscountymuseum.org.
Catholic’s Divorce Survival, Tuesdays, Feb. 5-April 23; St. Joseph Parish Center, Jasper; 12-part DVD program that brings healing and hope to divorcesd and separated Catholics; separate women’s and men’s groups; for more information contact Pam Freyberger at 812-482-1805, ext. 211 or email pfreyberger@evdio.org.
Open Forum on Youth and Technology, Feb. 6, 7-8:30 p.m., St. Mary’s Amphitheatre, Evansville; pediatric psychologist Jim Schroeder presents an opportunity for parents, educators and health care professionals to discuss how potential benefits of technology can be maximized and how risks can be reduced; free but registration required by contacting Kelly Shaw at 812-485-4419
Gospel of John and Church History Lectures, series of lectures presented by Father Donald Dilger;Wednesdays, Feb. 13-March 20, 7-9 p.m., Resurrection School, Evansville; Thursdays, Feb. 14-March 21, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Catholic Center, Evansville; tuition $35; textbook – Catholic Bible.
Study the Catechism during the “Year of Faith,” Feb. 14, 10:30 a.m., Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center, Maple Mount, Ky.; $15 fee for first session includes book and lunch, $10 fee per session includes lunch; for more information or to register contact Kathy McCarty at 270-229-0206 or kathy.mccarty@maplemouont.org.
Open House at Center for Family Life, Feb. 17, 3-4:30 p.m., 713 N. Second Ave. Evansville; theme is “Random Acts of Kindness”; tours will highlight the acts of kindness that the Center provides the community; refreshments and door prizes
Seventh Annual Indiana Holy Family Catholic Conference, March 9, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and March 10, 8:45 a.m.-3 p.m., Kokomo High School, Kokomo; event theme is “Why Be Catholic” and features nationally-known speakers, special activities for children of all ages; for admission fees and other information call 765-865-9964 or 765-452-6021 or visit www.holyfamillyconference.org.
Special Exhibit Honoring St. Joseph, Jasper, Dubois County Museum, Jasper; exhibit honoring 175th anniversary of St. Joseph, Jasper, Father Joseph Kundek, Saint mother Theodore Guerin; exhibit will run through Sept. 30; for more information call 812-634-7733 or visit www.duboiscountymuseum.org.
Masses for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Saturday, 4:30 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. and noon (Spanish), Nativity Church, 3635 Pollack Ave., Evansville; ASL interpreter and assisted listening devices available; for information call Father Henry Kuykendall at 812-476-7186.
Rosary for World Peace, St. Joseph Commandery 306, Evansville,Knights of St. John, will begin their monthly meeting by praying the rosary for world peace; meetings held the second Monday of each month; prayer begins at 7 p.m.; all members are encouraged to attend.
Eucharistic Adoration, second Wednesday of each month, 7 a.m-6 p.m., Good Shepherd, Evansville; everyone welcome.
Classes/Workshops
2013 Child Developmental Series, Feb. 28, 10-11 a.m., St. Mary’s Center for Children conference room, Evansville; topic is “The lost art of sleep; What should I expect and why is it so important?; series geared to parents and caregivers of children newborn to 3 years old; child care provided on site; program is free; light refreshments and snacks served; to register by Feb. 21 call 812-485-7425 or 812-436-4501; collaboration between St. Mary’s Center for Children and ECHO Community Health Care.
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Education Programs, 12 Monday evening classes, March 4-May 20, 6:45-9 p.m., Old North United Methodist Church, Evansville; classes are for family members or friends who care for those individuals with serious mental illness; no charge; pre-registration required; for more information or to register contact Diane at 812-423-4333; visit www.namievansville.org.
“Step It Away” Aerobics Class, 5:30-6:30 a.m., each Wednesday, Wellness Center at Memorial Southside Office, Jasper; basic aerobics class that uses an elevated platform to tone and strengthen muscles, while boosting your cardiovascular fitness; cost $5/session; for information call 812-996-2399 or 800-852-7279, ext. 2399.
Dinners
Holy Cross Family Style All You Can Eat Chicken Dinner, Feb. 3, 10:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Holy Cross School cafeteria, Fort Branch; serving fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, Cole slaw, beverage; $9/adults, $4.50/children; dine in or carry out.
Haubstadt Knight of St. John Sausage Dinner, Feb. 9, 5 p.m., Knights of St. John Hall, Haubstadt; serving sausage, sauerkraut, white beans, potatoes, corn bread, dessert (hot dogs available for children); $8/adults, $4/children; dine in or carry out.
St. Theresa Sunday Dinner, Feb.10, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 600 Herndon Dr., Evansville; fried and baked chicken, dressing, dumplings, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, salads and homemade desserts served cafeteria style in school cafeteria; carry out available starting at 10:30 a.m.
Dinner Dance
Mardi Gras Dinner Dance, Feb. 2, Knights of St. John, St. Wendel, chicken dinner 6-7:30 p.m., dance 7:30 p.m.-midnight; $25/person or $45/couple for dinner and dance in advance, $50/couple at door, $15/person for dance only; set ups included, cash bar available; for tickets call Michele Reker at 812-449-4830 or Julie Zirkelbach at 812-499-6626; sponsored by St. Wendel School Athletic Committee.
Fundraisers
Corpus Christi Techno FUNd Night, Feb. 9, 6-11 p.m., Corpus Christi School cafetorium, Evansville; evening includes chicken or ham dinners, unlimited beer and wine, music by DJ Eric Stockton, silent auction, games; $25/person; for more information or to register call the parish office at 812-422-2077 or visit Corpus Christi Facebook page, registration deadline is Feb. 1; must be 21 to attend; all proceeds to benefit the technology department for the school and parish.
Spring/Summer Children’s Consignment Sale, Feb. 2, 8 a.m. to noon, closed 10-10:30 a.m. for mark downs, St. John the Baptist School, Newburgh; toys, clothes, infant gear; children under 12 and strollers/infants in car seats not permitted, babies in soft carriers allowed, babies in soft carriers only; $1 admission; proceeds to benefit Samstrong; sponsored by St. John’s Mother-to-Mother Ministry; for more info go to www.mother2mother sale.org or call 812-490-1000 or email m2msale@gmail.com.
All You Can Eat Breakfast, Feb. 10, 7:30-10:30 a.m., Holy Cross School cafeteria, Fort Branch; serving homemade sausage, biscuits and gravy, eggs, hash browns, sticky rolls, beverage; for more information call 812-753-3548.
Valentine Breakfast, Feb. 10, 8 a.m.-noon, St. Wendel school cafetorium, St. Wendel; serving whole-hog sausage, pancakes, French toast casserole, eggs, biscuits and gravy, fruit cup, beverage; $6/adults, $3/children 5-12, children 4 and under eat free; sponsored by the Ladies’ Club; also Lucky Heart Draw.
Second Annual Precious Blood School Trivia Night, April 6, registration 7 p.m., Reflections, Huntingburg; maximum of eight players per team, players must be 21 years or older, $160 per team/table, $20/individual to be placed on a team; each player receives two beer tickets, menu available (no carry in food); registration forms available online at www.preciouisbloodschool.com or email a.kippenbrock@yahoo.com.
Good Shepherd, Evansville Bingo, every Sunday and Tuesday night; doors open 4:30 p.m., packets bought at the door start at 6:30 p.m.
Lenten Programs/Activities
Holy Redeemer Parish Lenten Retreat, Feb. 16, 9:30 a.m.- 5 p.m. Mass, Holy Redeemer, Evansville; Msgr. Bernard Powers, author of “A Tree to Climb,” will be presenter; lunch and babysitting are provided; to register call the parish office at 812-424-8344.
Lenten Evening Prayer at Cathedral, Sundays beginning Feb. 17, 5:30 p.m. CST, St. Benedict Cathedral, Evansville; evening prayer consists of singing of psalms and canticles, reading of Scripture, homily, intercessions; contact Matt Miller at mmiller@evdio.org or 800-637-1731 or Jeremy Korba at jkorba@evdio.org with questions.
Annual Lenten Day of Recollection, March 9, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Pal Seton Residence; spiritual directors will be Deacons Joe, Dave and Mike Seibert; Father August Busch will preside at Mass, Deacon Mike will be homilist; $10 fee payable at time of registration includes breakfast and dinner; make reservations by calling March 4 by calling 812-423-7842; open to everyone.
Retreat
Insights from Saint Hildegard Women’s Retreat, March 1, 7 p.m.-March 3, after lunch; Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center, Maple Mount, Ky.; $180/residents, $130/commuters; for reservations or more information contact Kathy McCarty at 270-229-0206 or e-mail kathy.mccarty@maplemount.org.
Spiritual Growth
Healing Mass, Feb. 17, 2:30 p.m. CST worship, 3 p.m., Mass, St. Joseph, Dale; Father August Busch will be celebrant; for information call John Bennett at 812-544-2239 or Charles Mendel at 812-482-7502 or visit www.psci.net/blitzen/.
Support Groups
Alzheimer’s Support Group, meets second Tuesday of each month, 5 p.m., Education Center, Daviess Community Hospital, Washington; no fee; for more information call 812-254-8620, ext. 1622.
NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) Support Group, for families with infants in the NICU, meetings are Mondays, 3:30 p.m., NICU parent lounge, third floor, St. Mary’s Medical Center, Evansville.
Man to Man Cancer Support Group, meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:30-8 p.m., Evansville Cancer Center, Evansville; sessions are free; refreshments served; for more information call 812-474-1110 or 812-425-2545; sponsored by the American Cancer Society.
Pulmonary Fibrosis Support Group, Oct. 8, 6:30-8 p.m., St. Mary’s Cardiac Conference Room, Evansville; theme of group is “Building the Body Around the Lungs”; for more information call 812-963-9543.
Vocation Exploration
Come and See Weekend, March 23-24, St. Francis, Oldenburg, Ind.; open to single, Catholic women 18-45 interested in learning more about Franciscan religious life; meet sisters, pray with them and experience community; no fee; for more information or to register contact Franciscan Sister Joan Miller at 812-455-9348 or by e-mail joanm@oldenburgosf.com.
Sometimes you might need a little inspiration. Why not let the written Word of God help you out?
1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.”
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.””
Revelation 21:4 “he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”
Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be in dread of them: for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.”
Matthew 6:20-21 “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
John 4:14 “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing”
Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!”
Isaiah 40:31 “they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 41:10 “fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”
Romans 8:28 “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
Hebrews 10:19-23 “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful;”
James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
1 Corinthians 16:13 “Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.”
Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”
Philippians 4:4-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Joanne Murphy knew something was unusual when she opened up an old Bible last week. The holy book turned up among the tens of thousands of materials donated to the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library each year.
Inside the Bible, 31 different signatures were emblazoned on the first page along with “Pirates 1953″ written across the top in blue ink.
Murphy, an antiquarian book repairer, didn’t know what all this meant until she did some research online.
“The Bible had been sitting in my shop for months waiting to get repaired,” said Murphy, 65. “No one wanted it.”
As it turns out, she had a piece of baseball history. The Catholic Bible was signed by 30 players and manager Fred Haney of the 1953 Pittsburgh Pirates and given to their general manager Branch Rickey, best known for breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson.
But the question remains: how did Rickey’s Bible end up in a donation bin for a Sacramento library group?
The person most likely to know, Rickey’s grandson Branch Barrett Rickey, said it’s a mystery.
“It’s the first I’ve heard of the Bible,” Branch B. Rickey said by phone from Texas.
Branch Rickey, who was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, died in 1965. About a dozen of the 30 Pirates players, including Hall of Fame member Ralph Kiner and broadcaster Joe Garagiola, are still living. But of the five reached by The Bee, none recalled signing the Bible.
“I don’t remember signing it, but maybe I did,” said Eddy Fitz Gerald, a former catcher who lives in Folsom.
But Fitz Gerald, 88, did remember the team’s record. “It wasn’t a very good team,” he said.
The Pirates finished in last place in the eight-team National League that year with a 50-104 record.
Branch B. Rickey, president of the Pacific Coast League, said a number of his relatives live in California, including a sister in Davis and a cousin in Sacramento. But both said they didn’t know about the Bible.
“Much of the stuff from my grandfather was parceled out among five daughters and a daughter-in-law,” Branch B. Rickey said. “The division of who got what was very informal.”
Branch B. Rickey said it was possible his grandfather had “given the Bible as a gift to a dear friend,” but acknowledged “there’s any number of speculations.”
Christopher Jakle, grandson of Rickey who lives in Sacramento, said he, too, doesn’t know how the Bible ended up here, but noted that a number of the family’s belongings had previously sold on eBay.
Jakle believes the buyer probably died and whoever inherited the Bible didn’t know about its significance.
“I would be interested in buying it back,” Jakle said Friday, while viewing the Bible.
Branch Rickey better known for his front-office roles with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers did have a number of connections to Sacramento early in his career, according to local baseball historian Alan O’Connor. Rickey purchased the Sacramento Solons the precursor to the River Cats in 1935.
“He was on Riverside and Broadway all the time, watching players and talking to people,” O’Connor said.
But arguably the most polarizing part of his career was when Rickey signed Robinson in 1945. Two years later, Robinson debuted with the Dodgers, the first step in ending racial segregation in Major League Baseball. “All his peers opposed him, every one of them,” Branch B. Rickey said. “But he had a conviction to do this.”
Still, Branch B. Rickey said his grandfather never took credit for signing Robinson.
“Robinson didn’t just break the barrier he shattered it. He went from excluded to excellent,” Branch B. Rickey said.
A movie based on Robinson’s life, “42,” is scheduled to be released in April, with Harrison Ford playing Branch Rickey and Chadwick Boseman portraying Robinson.
Frank Thomas, 83, also doesn’t remember signing the Bible, but said he “never got along with Branch.”
Thomas recalled how Rickey wouldn’t give him a $1,000 raise in 1952.
“I was just a young kid trying to make a living for my family,” he said. “It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
Baseball collectors have told Murphy the restored Bible could fetch as much as $800. The Bible will be on public display next month in honor of Black History Month at the central branch of the Sacramento Public Library.
Still, the jury is out on how the Bible made its way to town.
rosemarie kury, just go in with an open heart and an open mind, and don’t rush. If you don’t understand something, but would like to, there’s no shame or harm in asking someone else to explain it, and even to pray about it. When I was first coming back to the Church and didn’t know much about Catholic teaching, I’d tried to read Joseph Ratzinger’s Spirit of the Liturgy, which I thought could teach me more about the Mass. Well, I was right, but I’d in many ways put the cart before the horse: it was tough going at first because I had yet to understand more about what the Mass was, and I am no trained theologian. But once I learned more about praying it, then Spirit of the Liturgy read a lot more easily. Both the first two Jesus of Nazareth books took a bit to read, unpack, and digest (and people wonder why I mark up my books with copious notes in the margins…). But so what? We don’t always understand things instantaneously or immediately, and with things as profound as the relationship between God and Man, I’m not sure we’re meant to. That understanding tends to unfold over time, and good books are meant to be revisited time and time again. Since Fr. Barron mentioned that anything by G.K. Chesterton makes his list, then Orthodoxy is a good place to start. Sure, the Catholic faith gives us a lot to chew over, not just in our intellects but our hearts, but did we really expect any less? That’s the beauty of it, and that’s what makes it bristle on so many levels.
I’m grateful that Fr. Barron has given us his list. Many of us on here may not be studying for theology degrees, but there is no harm in being curious, and no harm in wanting to learn more from those who have written some truly brilliant works. As he’s asked before: how well do we know and understand their arguments? Especially when the Church is called not to capitulate to the world or hide from it, but to engage it. Fr. Barron has stressed tirelessly that the Catholic tradition is a smart tradition with its faith-and-reason approach. And at least in the Church in the U.S. today, certainly whenever any debate arises over what the Church teaches and why, I sometimes get the feeling that quite a few people first complain that the faith is “too hard,” and then want it watered down. And if and when it does get watered down, then they complain that the faith has no substance, and then use that as an excuse among many to leave the Church or pick and choose what they wish to believe regarding “hard teachings” that the Church teaches with good reason, but which they themselves happen not to like.
Ever since the Pope got on Twitter last year, I have been curious on how to use an Android device to learn or better understand my religious faith or beliefs. If you do a search in the Google Play store, you will see that there are a huge number of apps on almost every major religion. Since I am a Catholic, today’s post is going to able those apps that Catholics could use to learn or participate more in the Church.
This free app contains a ton of resources and tools for Catholics. The developer has been very active with this app, making it available in eight languages. The app’s main function is to provide the daily Mass readings. When you click on daily readings, a variety of choices comes up: Order of the Mass, the readings, a reflection on the reading and then related podcasts online. In addition to the daily readings, there is Rosary and Chaplet, Confession, Stations of the Cross, Catechism, Vatican documents and two different versions of the Catholic Bible.
The app is very simple to use and has a few options you can set. You can change the overall theme (color scheme) of the app, font face and size, podcast player preference, screen timeout and pinch to zoom. The app is really more a portal to Catholic resource since many of the items take you to a website, so an Internet connection is required.
Catholic Droid is a simple app that provides users with the basics. The main section of the app is The Bible. In this section, you can choose from over a dozen translations in various languages. For English speakers there is the King James and Revised Standard Versions. There is a Daily Readings section that will download the daily Mass readings. In addition, there is a second section for the Ten Commandments, Sacraments, Way of Cross, and the Rosary, just to a name a few.
The app has a prayer section that contains numerous prayers. Overall this app is very basic and a bit rough around the edges. There is not a lot of configuring for the app, but it does get the core message across.
Universalis is a very popular Catholic website that is dedicated to the Liturgy of the Hours, a set of prayers done at various times throughout the day. This app is the free version and is only good for a limited time; the full featured app is over $13. Periodically the app will download readings and prayers so a constant connection to the Internet is not required. Under settings, you can adjust the font size, change languages and chose between two Bible translations.
The app provides you with the prayers and readings for the day so when you first open the app the main screen is a scrollable calendar. Simply click on the day you want. You can also choose the day from the top menu. The About Today section contains information on the Saint for the day. After that you can access Readings at the Mass, Mass Today, Office of Readings, Morning, Mid-morning, Midday, Afternoon, Evening and Night Prayers. There is a lot here and the app makes it easy to follow the prayers. You can access most of this material on their website if you do not want to purchase the app.
iMissal has been a very popular app for iOS and is now available for Android devices. This app is very well done, providing the daily Mass readings in one app. When you open the app you are presented with four options: Missal (the readings), My Daily Bread (daily Bible verse which you can share and/or save), Prayers (a selection of prayers, including the Rosary), and Catholic News (RSS feed from various Catholic sources). In addition to these, you can purchase the Saint a Day app/add on for $1.99. All information downloads to the phone, so no Internet connection is needed.
When accessing the daily readings, you are presented with a calendar. To find the readings for a particular day, simply long press on the day and a new window will appear where you can choose the readings format. Within the settings you can adjust the font size and access to a calendar legend so you understand the colors and abbreviations. As a side note, you can access Mass videos from Catholic TV from the bottom menu.
These are just a few of the apps available for Catholics and these are ones that can assist folks to keep up with their faith and the Church. Have you used your Android device to keep up or improve your faith?
The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible is coming to the system and is now on pre-order. This package includes the RSV 2nd Catholic Edition, and comes with not only the whole New Testament, but also the first two available OT books from the series: Genesis and Exodus. This is a great work from Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch. It’s perfectly accessible to everyday readers, but I’ve also made use of it in graduate-level work.
Some big announcements should be coming soon, including more packages and releases from Ignatius Press and Liturgical Press.
For the last ten years or so,I have really been wrestling with the Book of Tobit. I consider myself a conservative Catholic and attended a Catholic school-elementry and high school (and graduated from it). I remember reading about Tobias in my freshman year. I didn’t really think too much of it, but as the years passed I found myself wondering why it is in our Bible. You say we shouldn’t take it literally and I have to agree, I have even seen a footnote in a recent Catholic Bible- with the “Imprimatur” saying that he book should be considered as allegorical. My question is, why do they allow this Arabian Night fairy tale to even be in our Bible? The Greek Orthodox also allows it, more than likely because, before the Schism, both the Eastern and Western Empires agreed it should be in there. I was told that Satan has NO power over life and cannot kill anyone. Satan can entice someone to kill another, but cannot directly kill anyone – he has no real power over life and death, yet here we have a “demon” killing a woman’s husbands on their wedding night and then here comes Tobit with some “magical” charms retrieved by him and his angel companion from a fish. Tobit then “destroys” the demon with this magical potion. Hard to believe a Pope would give his blessing to such tripe! Of course I could always be wrong about the power allotted to Satan but the magical potion reads right out of something that should begin with: “Once upon a time….” P.S. after having said this, I’ll probably have believers in this book sticking a doll rep of me with pins.
I’m of the opinion (perfectly acceptable, though not, of course, mandatory for Catholics) that Tobit is a work of fiction. The clues in the text strongly suggest this, as when Tobit is named as the uncle of Ahiqar, a figure out of ancient mideast folklore. If you want to get a feel for how that sounded to the original audience, imagine telling a tale to an English speaker that announces its hero as the uncle of Jack the Giant Killer. Your audience instantly knows from such a cue what sort of story it is hearing and interprets it accordingly. That said, I guess I see no reason why God could not inspire a folk tale that begins “Once upon a time”. Jesus told fictional stories all the time. There was not really a Prodigal Son. There was not really an unjust judge, or a man who found a pearl of great price, or Good Samaritan. What’s wrong with an Old Testament author doing likewise and obeying the conventions of a good “entertaining angels unaware’ yarn in order to show virtue triumphing over evil through patient endurance?
Not, I repeat, that you have to think Tobit is fiction. Lots of people in antiquity took it for a factual story. I don’t think it matters. And the people who took it for a factual story don’t seem to have spent a lot of time worrying about it. The Fathers of the Church who comment on Tobit are not, as is their custom, super-concerned with whether it is factual. What they are interested in is what God is saying to us through the story and so they mine it for its moral teaching (primarily) and (secondarily) for its allegorical meaning concerning Christ. As Patrick Reardon notes:
it is instructive to observe that early Christian exegesis of the Book of Tobit was of a predominantly moral and ascetical interest. With very few exceptions, patristic interpretation of Tobit was straightforward and literal, with relatively little, and hardly any sustained, appeal to hidden symbolisms. The longest extant patristic work devoted to Tobit, that of Ambrose of Milan, exemplifies this approach convincingly. After drawing attention to the major moral features of Tobit’s character, Ambrose devotes the rest of his discourse to a robust condemnation of avarice and usury.That is to say, Ambrose went to Tobit almost exclusively for moral teaching.
To be sure, a modest measure of patristic exegesis of Tobit was allegorical, in the sense of finding hidden references to the mysteries of the Christian faith. For example, attention was sometimes drawn to Tobias’s fish, whose various body parts were used to remedy the problems of the family. Given the common and widespread Christological symbolism of the fish (ichthys) among believers, it was virtually inevitable that Tobias’s fish, too, who quite literally gave his life for the family, should be regarded as a foreshadowing of the Savior. This symbolism is found in the fourth century, first in the mural iconography of the Roman catacombs and then in a few literary references.
Similarly, Isidore of Seville believed that young Tobias, inasmuch as he healed his parent’s blindness, “had an image of Christ.”Nonetheless, such recourse to allegorical symbolism to interpret the Book of Tobit was relatively rare among earlier Christian writers.
As to why the Pope keeps it in the Bible, it’s not the Pope’s Bible to fiddle with. The Pope is bound by apostolic tradition. The apostles accepted and used the canon of books found in the Septuagint (including Tobit). So the Pope accepted it as Scripture because the apostles taught him to. Once the canon of Scripture is defined, the Pope has no authority to contradict what the Holy Spirit has spoken through Holy Church. Nor do we. Scripture is not there to affirm our aesthetic choices, but to reveal divine truth to us on God’s terms, not ours. The healthy approach to Tobit is therefore to let it challenge you, rather than for you to ignore it. Why not try a decent commentary on Tobit that draws on the Catholic tradition to see what the great saints and thinkers of the Church have mined from it?
This Sunday we’re going to hear the gospel account of the wedding at Cana, where Jesus turns to Mary and says, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”
Sounds disrespectful, doesn’t it?
Or at least you could take it that way.
But Jesus wasn’t being disrespectful at all.
Here’s the story . . .
Pronoun Trouble
First, the translation “How does your concern affect me?” (John 2:4 in the NAB:RE) is not a literal rendering of what Jesus says in Greek.
Word-for-word, what he says is “What to me and to you?”
In context, Mary has just come up to him and informed Jesus that the people running the wedding have no wine, so you might literally translate his response as “What [is that] to me and to you?” In other words: “What does that have to do with us?”
He’s not dissing her. He’s putting the two of them–both of them–in a special category together and questioning the relevance of the fact that people outside this category don’t have wine. He’s saying that it’s not the responsibility of the two of them to make sure they have wine.
But that’s lost if you take the Greek pronoun that means “to you” (soi) and obliterate it in translation.
“Woman”
Part of what makes it sound like Jesus might be dissing his mother is the fact that he refers to her as “woman.”
We don’t talk to women like that today–not if we respect them, and certainly not our own mothers.
But the connotations–of respect, disrespect, or other things–that a word has in a given language are quite subtle, and we can’t impose the connotations that a word has in our own language on another.
Consider: Suppose, in English, we replaced “woman” with a term that means basically the same thing but with better connotations.
For example, the word “lady” or “ma’am.”
Suddenly what Jesus says sounds a lot more respectful.
In British circles, “lady” has distinctly noble overtones (it’s the female counterpart to the noble honorific “lord”).
And even in demotic America, a son can say, “Yes, ma’am” to his mother and mean it entirely respectfully.
So what can we learn about the connotations of “woman” as a form of address in Jesus’ time?
Evoking the Vocative
Before we look at specific verses, I should point out an aspect of Greek grammar (Greek being the language in which we have the New Testament).
In Greek, nouns and pronouns change their form depending on the role that they are playing in a sentence. We call these different forms “cases.”
As it happens, there is a special form–or case–that is used for nouns when they are being used as terms of direct address.
In other words, when someone is using a noun to refer directly to someone (talking to them), it will take a special form or case.
The name of this form is “the vocative case.”
You hear this at Mass when we say “Kyrie eleison” (“O Lord, have mercy”).
The ordinary Greek word for “lord” is kyrios (or kurios), but when you are talking directly to the Lord, it gets changed from Kyrios to Kyrie.
English sometimes does the same thing by putting the word “O” in front of something. If you say, “O Lord,” you know that you are talking directly to the Lord.
The fact that Greek has a vocative case makes it easy to just do a Bible software search to turn up all the instances in which a word is being used as a form of direct address in the New Testament.
So what do we find when we do that?
“O Man”
As a control on the term “woman,” it makes sense to look and see if “man” gets used as a form of direct address.
And it does.
One common Greek word we translate “man” is anthropos, which gets put into the vocative case as anthrope (“an-thro-peh”).
Jesus uses this as a term of address:
And when he saw their faith he said, “Man [anthrope], your sins are forgiven you” [Luke 5:20].
But he said to him, “Man [anthrope], who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” [Luke 12:14].
So do others, such as Peter and Paul:
And a little later some one else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man [anthrope], I am not” [Luke 22:58].
But Peter said, “Man [anthrope], I do not know what you are saying.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed [Luke 22:60].
Therefore you have no excuse, O man [anthrope], whoever you are, when you judge another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things [Rom. 2:1].
Do you suppose, O man [anthrope], that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? [Rom. 2:3].
And there are other instances (Rom. 9:20, 1 Tim. 6:11, Jas. 2:20).
So we have “man” (anthrope) being used as a form of address without it being disrespectful.
And there’s another term that means almost the same thing . . .
“O Male”
The Greek word anthropos is commonly translated “man,” but it isn’t fully gender-specific. It can include both genders, like “human,” except translating it that way would sound totally awkward.
There is, however, a Greek term that means a male human specifically: anér (“ah-NAIR”).
The difference is a bit like the difference between the English word “man” (which can be used for both males and females) and “male” (which can be used only for males).
Anér also gets put in the vocative case and used as a form of direct address. On one occasion, St. Paul writes:
Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband [anér], how do you know whether you will save your wife?
Here the meaning of “man” is obscured because Greek does not distinguish between the terms “man” and “husband” (or “woman” and “wife”), but it’s the same term being used as a form of direct address, and it’s not disrespectful.
Interestingly, the word anér gets used as a form of direct address far more often in the plural–when a speaker is addressing a group of men. In this case the word takes the form andres, and it occurs over and over in the New Testament.
For example:
And [the angels] said, “Men [andres] of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” [Acts 1:11].
“Men [andres] of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know” [Acts 2:22].
Here is a complete list of all the times andres gets used this way: Acts 1:11, 16, 2:14, 22, 29, 37, 3:12, 5:35, 7:2, 26, 13:15, 16, 26, 38, 14:15, 15:7, 13, 17:22, 19:25, 35, 21:28, 22:1, 23:1, 6, 27:10, 21, 25, 28:17, Col. 3:19, 1 Peter 3:7.
So much for the term “man” (either anthrope, anér, or andres). What about the term “woman”?
“O Woman”
The Greek term for “woman” is guné (“goo-NAY”; same word we get “gynecologist” from). In the vocative case, it takes the form gunai.
Jesus does refer to Mary by this word–twice.
We’ve already seen the first instance, where he does so at the wedding at Cana (John 2:4).
The other instance where he does so is when Mary sees him being crucified:
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman [gunai], behold, your son!” [John 19:26].
He is hardly being disrespectful to her here.
Other Women
But Mary is far from the only woman for whom this word (gunai) is used as a form of address. We also find the following:
Jesus uses it to address the Syro-Phoenician woman (Matt. 15:28).
Jesus uses it to address the woman with a hemorrhage (Luke 13:12).
Peter uses it to address the high priest’s servant girl (Luke 22:57).
Jesus uses it to address the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:21).
Two angels use it to address Mary Magdalene (John 20:13).
Jesus uses it to address Mary Magdalene (John 20:15).
Paul uses it to address an individual wife among his readers (1 Cor 7:16).
Paul uses it to address the wives in his audience (Col 3:18, using the plural: gunaikes).
Peter uses it to address the wives in his audience (1 Peter 3:1, using the plural: gunaikes).
That’s quite a number of uses, to which we can add the two Marian uses, but none of them are disrespectful!
“Sir,” “Ma’am,” and the Ten Commandments
What we find, then, is that neither the term “man” nor the term “woman” had negative overtones when used as a form of direct address in the New Testament books.
Instead, they were used respectfully.
In fact, they were used much the way we would use the terms “sir” and “ma’am.”
There is also another reason why we can be sure that Jesus wasn’t dissing his mother when he referred to her as “woman”: He kept God’s law perfectly, and that included keeping the Ten Commandments, one of which is:
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you [Ex. 20:12].
DENVER, CO (Catholic Online) – Enyart was sued for his radio show by NPR’s who claimed infringement in both New York and Federal courts over the name of the NPR show, “Science Friday.” Enyart named his show “Real Science Friday.” Representatives for NPR claimed the name was confusing listeners.
Aside from confusion, NPS’s motivation may have literally come down to science.
Enyart, is the self-described fundamentalist pastor of the Denver Bible Church with a congregation of about 60 members. In his program, he claims the Earth is young, its age measured in thousands of years rather than billions. He also spends time commenting on Darwinism and the Big Bang theory, using scriptural passages and interpretation to challenge current scientific journalism.
The details of the settlement have not been announced, but Enyart said he would be changing the name of his program to “Real Science Radio.”
That Enyart preaches real science however, is questionable, and likely the source of much of NPR’s ire. Despite resistance from Protestant fundamentalists, scientists have done a very good job providing concrete evidence regarding the age of the Earth and evolution by means of natural selection. Pope John Paul II even made allowance for such beliefs within the context of Catholic belief.
As for the Big Bang theory, it was suggested by Jesuit scholar and priest, Georges Lemaitre. Lemaitre’s theory is now the leading scientific explanation for the creation of the universe.
Still, the Catholic Church emphasizes the primacy and role of God in all creation noting that creative limits, scientific or miraculous, cannot be placed on God. In other words, God may create as He pleases.
Catholic Droid is a simple app that provides users with the basics. The main section of the app is The Bible. In this section, you can choose from over a dozen translations in various languages. For English speakers there is the King James and Revised Standard Versions. There is a Daily Readings section that will download the daily Mass readings. In addition, there is a second section for the Ten Commandments, Sacraments, Way of Cross, and the Rosary, just to a name a few.