My Slow Takes About Halo, The Hobbit, Jury Duty and Msgr. Michael.

1. I have been playing the video game “Halo” from the beginning. I own all the current series games and enjoy playing them. There is a new Halo TV series coming out in November, and the trailer is excellent.

2. The third movie of “The Hobbit,” will be released in December. This is titled, “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” Peter Jackson has done an excellent job of recreating Middle Earth and I’m looking forward to this concluding episode.

3. On August 4, 1753 George Washington became a Master Mason in the fraternity of Freemasonry. He was 21 years old. The ceremony was held in Fredericksburg, Virginia at the Masonic Lodge No. 4.

4. I received a “Summons For Petit Jury Duty” this week. The word “petit” made me wonder what type of jury I was being requested to take part in. Apparently a “petit jury” is different from a “grand jury.” A “grand jury” would be “convened to investigate different cases, like misconduct by politicians.” 

So, could it be something like “Runaway Jury?” Although, I’m no John Cusack.

5. "Rev. Msgr. Chester P. Michael, a retired priest of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, died on Thursday, July 31, 2014, at the age of 97. Msgr. Michael was born in Berkeley Springs, WV, in 1916, ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in 1942, and was a faithful priest of the Diocese for 72 years. Please remember Msgr. Michael and his family in your prayers."

6. Patty Loveless, “When Fallen Angels Fly.” I love her voice and her music.

7. Father Kenneth Doyle has a “Question Corner” at NWI Catholic. The Richmond Diocese publication, "The Catholic Virginian" posted some of the questions and answers in the August 4th edition. One of the questions that we discussed at our men’s group this week was about cremains at a funeral Mass. Father Doyle’s answer; 

“For many centuries, the Catholic Church did not permit cremation, due principally to the Church's belief in the resurrection of the body.

Even today, while it does allow cremation, the Church clearly prefers traditional burial or entombment as noted in the Code of Canon Law No. 1176, Section 3.

In 1963, when the Vatican lifted its long-held ban on cremation, it still did not allow the cremated remains to be present at a funeral Mass. But later, in 1997, the bishops of the United States applied for and received permission to have a funeral Mass celebrated in the presence of the cremains.

It is now the prerogative of the bishop of each U.S. diocese whether to permit this, and many bishops do. At the Mass, the cremains are usually placed on a small table near the altar, in front of the paschal candle, and they are reverenced with holy water and incense during the ritual.”

     

Read other "Takes" at Conversion Diary.