My Very Own Catholic Meme!!
Wow! It seems that my one and only Amazon review has burst onto the Catholic blogosphere in a big way! I noticed that Richard John Newhaus, editor of First Things mentioned it in his blog today. He said that he got it from Catholic World News. They both quote the abysmal Thanksgiving day prayer:
Curious as to whether I really did start the meme, I went to Google. The first reference is to the CWN article. The second is by Karl Keating, published in May 2004 [scroll to bottom], scant weeks after my review was put up on Amazon. Further evidence is that he used the same quotations I used (but fewer of them). (also, there is a Dominican/Catholic Answers grapevine, so anything is possible).
In July, 2004 Fr. Dowd published bits of the same prayers in his Waiting in Joyful Hope blog (and linked to my review!). Thank you Fr. Dowd for your kindness.
But this is not a blog about my lack of recognition! No, it is to show how small the Catholic world is. And I wanted to share with you the rest of the story. Fr. Newhaus and Karl Keating implied that we are far removed from these prayers. But I want you to do an exercise with me.
1. Put yourself in the mindset of a new liturgist. You want to order a "Prayers of the Faithful" book. So you go on the world's biggest book buying site.
2. Then you type in "Prayers of the Faithful"
3. And then you click on the top choice.
4. You are lead here. There are no obvious red flags. It was published in 1997 by the innocuous sounding Liturgical Press. It has a plain red and gold cover. It seems to be the most popular choice. Why not?
Well, that's why I simply had to write a review, my first and only on Amazon. I had to because that imaginary liturgist was our liturgist, at St. Albert's Priory, the Dominican House of Studies for the Western Province in Oakland. We actually ordered it and our poor lector read from it. I was so amused/angered that I snatched the book from the sacristan after mass and proceded to read through it cover to cover.
It truly is a scandal that it is the only Prayers of the Faithful available even today. I actually kind of wish that we hadn't sent it back. It would have been a great souvenir. Well, if you want to get me one for Christmas, I hear that Amazon has one left!!
CELEBRANT: As consumers, we are conditioned by our economy never to be satisfied. But God, too, is a fantastic supplier, and we stop and take a sample inventory on this special day for giving thanks.
LEADER : For the smell of new rain, for pumpkins, and Snoopy, for the aroma of homemade bread, for cotton candy, for funny looking animals like giraffes and koalas and human beings; let us give thanks to the Lord.
2. For the smell of fall in the air, for paychecks, and smoked ribs, for the intricate designs of window frost, and for ice cubes and ice cream; let us give thanks to the Lord.
3. For clean sheets and peanut butter, and perma-press, and stereo-headphones, for vacations and seat belts, for escalators, and for views from tall buildings, and for red balloons; let us give thanks to the Lord.
4. For first romances and second romances, for eyes to see colors and ears to hear music and feet to dance, for dissenters and the right to dissent, for black and red and brown power, for pine trees and daisies, for newspapers and sandals and frogs; let us give thanks to the Lord.
5. For parks and woodsmoke and snow, for the smell of leather, for funny buttons and powerful posters, for pecan pies and long hair and french fries and recycling centers, for jet planes and for finding a nearby parking space, for zoos and splashing fountains and rock music and Bach music, let us give thanks to the Lord.
CELEBRANT: God, you overwhelm us with your goodness. And we have yet to mention your greatest gift, our brother Jesus! For these and all your gracious gifts please help us to learn how to live thankfully each day.
Curious as to whether I really did start the meme, I went to Google. The first reference is to the CWN article. The second is by Karl Keating, published in May 2004 [scroll to bottom], scant weeks after my review was put up on Amazon. Further evidence is that he used the same quotations I used (but fewer of them). (also, there is a Dominican/Catholic Answers grapevine, so anything is possible).
In July, 2004 Fr. Dowd published bits of the same prayers in his Waiting in Joyful Hope blog (and linked to my review!). Thank you Fr. Dowd for your kindness.
But this is not a blog about my lack of recognition! No, it is to show how small the Catholic world is. And I wanted to share with you the rest of the story. Fr. Newhaus and Karl Keating implied that we are far removed from these prayers. But I want you to do an exercise with me.
1. Put yourself in the mindset of a new liturgist. You want to order a "Prayers of the Faithful" book. So you go on the world's biggest book buying site.
2. Then you type in "Prayers of the Faithful"
3. And then you click on the top choice.
4. You are lead here. There are no obvious red flags. It was published in 1997 by the innocuous sounding Liturgical Press. It has a plain red and gold cover. It seems to be the most popular choice. Why not?
Well, that's why I simply had to write a review, my first and only on Amazon. I had to because that imaginary liturgist was our liturgist, at St. Albert's Priory, the Dominican House of Studies for the Western Province in Oakland. We actually ordered it and our poor lector read from it. I was so amused/angered that I snatched the book from the sacristan after mass and proceded to read through it cover to cover.
It truly is a scandal that it is the only Prayers of the Faithful available even today. I actually kind of wish that we hadn't sent it back. It would have been a great souvenir. Well, if you want to get me one for Christmas, I hear that Amazon has one left!!
posted by Antioco Dascalon at 5:48 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home