DOCSLIB.ORG

Pastor's Meanderings 6 – 7 October 2018 Twenty-Seventh Sunday Ordinary Time

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

PASTOR’S MEANDERINGS 6 – 7 OCTOBER 2018 TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME (B) This coming Thursday evening, 11 October St. Stephen, Martyr will be hosting one of the Regional Mass for Atonement for Victims of Abuse. In accordance with the Diocese’s directives the evening will begin with a dinner and a Listening Session for designated representatives of selected parishes and schools meeting with His Excellency Bishop Knestout. This will run from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and will be held in the Commons of the church. Once this program starts no one will be admitted to the Commons. Following the dinner and Listening Session, the Bishop will celebrate Mass beginning at 7:30 p.m. All are invited and encouraged to attend this liturgy to pray as a community of faith and to hear the comments of His Excellency. If you arrive early for Mass you will be directed around the building to the side doors, those on the cemetery side of the church for access to the worship space. Since this is the Month of the Rosary; while awaiting the beginning of Mass this could be an appropriate time to pray the rosary for healing of those who have suffered from abuse as well as for the cleansing of the Church. SUNDAY REFLECTION Let us accept the vocation we have at the moment be it marriage, the single state, widowhood, single parenthood. Let us pray for marriage fidelity in our country, as we reflect on this gift of God to humanity. Father, You created man and woman in love to share Your divine life. We see their high dignity in the love of husband and wife, which bears the imprint of Your own divine love. Love is the origin of man and woman, love is their constant calling, love is their fulfillment in heaven. The love of man and woman is made holy in the sacrament of marriage, and becomes the mirror of Your everlasting love. (Irish Preface of Christian Marriage, III) In our Mass we bring before our minds the redeeming suffering and death of Jesus, and His being crowned in glory. Our minds and hearts are filled with grace, and we are given a foretaste of heaven. Our relationships, too, have a past, a present and a future. We ask Jesus, who triumphed through suffering, to heal the wounds we inflict upon each other, and to help us make our relationships signs of our future glory in heaven. STEWARDSHIP: The phrase in today’s psalm, “May you see your children’s children,” is really a prayer for a long life. The good steward knows that every day is a gift from God, to be lived with joy and thanksgiving. “May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives!” Josiah Royce “’Create me’ – this is the word that the Church, viewed as an idea, addresses to mankind.” READINGS FOR THE TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY 14 OCT ‘18 Wis. 7:7-11: The gift of wisdom is preferred to any riches. The ultimate treasure is found in seeking truth. Ps. 90:12-17: Heb. 4:12-13: The Word of God is alive and active. Our whole life is laid bare in the light of that Word. Mk. 10:17-30: Jesus asks the young man to move beyond observance to faith, beyond comfort to vulnerability. Peter Abelard “The first key to wisdom is assiduous and frequent questioning. For by doubting we come to inquiry and by inquiry we arrive at truth.” OCTOBER - MONTH OF THE ROSARY Following each weekend Mass that I celebrate during the Month of October you are invited to gather on the choir side of the church to pray the rosary. The month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. This is primarily due to the fact that the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on October 7. It was instituted to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the Church in answer to the praying of the Rosary by the faithful. Scholarship traces the development of the Rosary to the High Middle Ages period when it came into use in various medieval monasteries as a substitute for the Divine Office for the lay monks, nuns and devout laity who did not know how to read. Instead of the 150 psalms, they would pray 150 “Our Fathers” counting them on a ring of beads known as the crown or “corona.” With the growth of popularity of Marian devotion in the twelfth century, the “Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary” developed now substituting 150 “Hail Marys” in place of the “Our Fathers.” The 150 “Hail Marys” were subsequently subdivided into fifteen decades by the young Dominican friar, Henry Kalkar (1328-1408), with each decade referring to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary. The Dominican, Alanus de Rupe (1428-1478) further divided the episodes in the history of salvation into the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries. He also attributed the origin of the Rosary to St. Dominic. Accordind to legend the Rosary as a form of prayer was agiven to St. Dominic (1170-1221) by Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, who entrusted it to him as an aid in the conflicts with the adherents of the Albigensian heresy. This spurred the Dominican Order to make the Apostolate of the Rosary their special concern. The Dominicans have, since then, promulgated the Rosary with notable results. The Dominican pope, St. Pius V (1504-1572), did much to further the spread of the Rosary and it became over time one of the most popular devotions in Christendom. It was the same Pope St. Pius, who in 1565 officially approved the Rosary in its present form with the Papal Bull, Consueverunt Romani Pontifices. The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, originally entitled Our Lady of Victory was introduced by Pope St. Pius V in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Catholic League (an alliance of Spain, Venice, the Papal States, Genoa, Savoy, and Malta) over the forces of the Ottoman Empire who were seeking to take over Italy in an effort to move into the heart of Europe. It was on October 7, 1571 when the battle was actually fought and the Catholic League was able to overcome the Ottoman forces.Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The pope attributed more to the “arms” of the Rosary than the power of cannons and the valor of the soldiers who fought there. Prior to the ships sailing off towards battle, Pope Pius V prayed the rosary, asking for Our Lady’s intercession in victory, and every man on board carried a rosary. For this reason, as soon as the men returned from the battle, the pope declared a feast day for Our Lady of Victory. A rosary procession was offered in St. Peter’s square after the victory and in time the whole month became associated with the rosary, rather than just one day. The practice of dedicating the entire month of Octobe to the Holy Rosary developed toward the end of the nineteenth century. Pope Leo XIII (papacy 1878-1903) strongly promoted the increase of devotion to the Blessed Mother by encouraging the constant use of the Rosary. Beginning on September 1, 1883, with Supremo Apostolatus Officio, he wrote a total of eleven encyclicals on the Rosary, ending with Diuturni Temporis in 1898. Pope Leo XIII officially established October as the Month of the Rosary in 1884. That year, he published Superiore Anno, an encyclical which was focused on recitation of the holy rosary. In it, he called for the entire Church to dedicate the whole of the month to the rosary and to pray it daily: “Last year, as each of you is aware, We decreed by an Encyclical Letter that, to win the help of Heaven for the Church in her trials, the great Mother of God should be honored by the means of the most holy Rosary during the whole of the month of October. In this We followed both Our own impulse and the example of Our predecessors, who in times of difficulty were wont to have recourse with increased fervor to the Blessed Virgin, and to seek her aid with special prayers… … We therefore decree and make order that from the 1st of October to the 23nd of November following in all the parish churches, in all public churches dedicated to the Mother of God, or in such as are appointed by the Ordinary, five decades at least of the Rosary be recited, together with the Litany. If in the morning, the Holy Sacrifice will take place during these prayers; if in the evening, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for the adoration of the faithful; after which those present will receive the customary Benediction. We desire that, wherever it be lawful, the local confraternity of the Rosary should make a solemn procession through the streets as a public manifestation of religious devotion.” In recent years, really decades, devotion to the rosary overall has not been what it once was, and so interest in celebrating October as the Month of the Rosary has waned as well. Many churches, whether named for Mary or not, do not have a public rosary throughout the month and there has not been much publicized about reviving this. In part, this seems to have come about due to some misconceptions attributed to the Second Vatican Council. One aim of the council was to ensure that Marian devotion remained balanced.
Recommended publications
  • Understanding When to Kneel, Sit and Stand at a Traditional Latin Mass

    Understanding When to Kneel, Sit and Stand at a Traditional Latin Mass

    UNDERSTANDING WHEN TO KNEEL, SIT AND STAND AT A TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS __________________________ A Short Essay on Mass Postures __________________________ by Richard Friend I. Introduction A Catholic assisting at a Traditional Latin Mass for the first time will most likely experience bewilderment and confusion as to when to kneel, sit and stand, for the postures that people observe at Traditional Latin Masses are so different from what he is accustomed to. To understand what people should really be doing at Mass is not always determinable from what people remember or from what people are presently doing. What is needed is an understanding of the nature of the liturgy itself, and then to act accordingly. When I began assisting at Traditional Latin Masses for the first time as an adult, I remember being utterly confused with Mass postures. People followed one order of postures for Low Mass, and a different one for Sung Mass. I recall my oldest son, then a small boy, being thoroughly amused with the frequent changes in people’s postures during Sung Mass, when we would go in rather short order from standing for the entrance procession, kneeling for the preparatory prayers, standing for the Gloria, sitting when the priest sat, rising again when he rose, sitting for the epistle, gradual, alleluia, standing for the Gospel, sitting for the epistle in English, rising for the Gospel in English, sitting for the sermon, rising for the Credo, genuflecting together with the priest, sitting when the priest sat while the choir sang the Credo, kneeling when the choir reached Et incarnatus est etc.
  • Church and Theology in the Modernist Crisis

    Church and Theology in the Modernist Crisis

    CHURCH AND THEOLOGY IN THE MODERNIST CRISIS The first task that our subject presents us with is one of definition. According to the encyclical Pascendí dominici gregis published by Pius X in September 1907, modernism is a coherent system. Although it manifests itself in a variety of spheres and disciplines, the key to its strength and its destructiveness is its philosophy. Its two basic doctrines are "agnosticism" and "vital immanence." Their implica- tions count for most of what is distinctive in modernist theology, history, biblical criticism and apologetics. What helps to make the proponents of this system "the most pernicious of all the adversaries of the Church'" is the fact that they operate not outside but within the community of faith. They include priests and members of religious orders and they present themselves to the unwary as Church reformers. They claim to form no coherent movement but to be responding as conscientious individuals to con- temporary needs and scholarly developments. In fact, however, the encyclical ar- gues, their theories consist "in a closely connected whole, so that it is not possible to admit one without admitting all." The system represents "the synthesis of all heresies." It means "the destruction not of the Catholic religion alone, but of all religion."2 There can be no doubt about the seriousness with which the authors of the en- cyclical view the movement. It threatens "to destroy the vital energy of the Church" and "to subvert the very Kingdom of Christ."3 The pope's pastoral re- sponsibilities and in particular his task of guarding the deposit of faith do not allow him to remain silent.
  • Buried Treasure Sacred Music and the Twentieth Century Liturgical Reform by Susan Benofy

    Buried Treasure Sacred Music and the Twentieth Century Liturgical Reform by Susan Benofy

    Buried Treasure Sacred Music and the Twentieth Century Liturgical Reform by Susan Benofy It is an undisputed fact that nearly every twentieth-century for all practical purposes buried. pope — and an ecumenical council — called for the revival of Musical settings of the Mass in chant or classical Gregorian Chant in the Church’s living liturgy. Yet, after more polyphony were rarely performed in parishes. Much of the than a hundred years, we seem no closer to achieving this goal music was in manuscript form in libraries or museums, written than when Pope Pius X urged that this buried treasure be re - in ancient notation, although serious attempts to understand covered. the notation and edit the manuscripts had begun in the nine - Why didn’t it happen? Although the secular world has re - teenth century. cently shown renewed interest in and appreciation for classic All of the twentieth-century popes wrote on the subject of Catholic music, can Catholics today hope to recover and “re- sacred music, and encouraged the revival of the chant, its pub - inculturate” the Church’s heritage of sacred music? lication in new editions, and the widespread teaching of chant Susan Benofy, research editor of the Adoremus Bulletin , so that Catholics could actually sing it. offers insight into the history of this long effort in a series of Further progress was made on the revival of chant during essays that we first published in 2001. We have collected all the first half of the century. Institutes and schools trained teach - of the essays together here in one document in response to ers and promoted chant, and chant was introduced into reli - reader requests.
  • The Role of the Competent Ecclesiastical Authority in the Reform of the Liturgy And, Ultimately, That of the Church Herself

    The Role of the Competent Ecclesiastical Authority in the Reform of the Liturgy And, Ultimately, That of the Church Herself

    QL 95 (2014) 8-27 doi: 10.2143/QL.95.1.3030643 © 2014, all rights reserved THEROLEOFTHECOMPETENT ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY IN THE PROMOTION OF PARTICIPATIO ACTUOSA PRIOR TO THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL Of all the aims of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the restoration of the full and active participation of the Christian faithful is to be considered before all else in the reform and promotion of the liturgy: Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy, and to which the Christian people, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed peo- ple” (1 Pet 2:9, 4-5) have a right and obligation by reason of their bap- tism. In the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy the full and active participation by all the peoples the aim to be considered before all else, for it is the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit. Therefore, in all their apostolic activity, pastors of souls should energetically set about achieving it through the requisite pedagogy (SC, n. 14). Since the Second Vatican Council successfully ushered in many far- reaching and significant reforms of the liturgy, it is not surprising that, as Huels observes, “popular and scholarly writings, lectures and courses often look to Vatican II as the starting point, rather than the turning point, of the process that led to the restored rites of the contemporary Latin Church.”1 This is due in large part to ignorance of pre-conciliar sources of liturgical reform, and, at times, simplistic characterizations of liturgi- cal worship prior to the Second Vatican Council.
  • The New Rubrics of the Roman Breviary and Missal

    The New Rubrics of the Roman Breviary and Missal

    (b) during Exposition, the Masses of the Office of the day are said in (a) The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; violet vestments, and not at the altar of Exposition. (b) Our Lady of the Rosary, on the first Sunday in October; 352. On 2nd February, Ash Wednesday, and II Sunday of Passiontide or (c) The Purification of the B.V.M, if with the permission of the Palm Sunday, if the blessing of the candles, or the ashes or palms Holy See, the liturgy proper to that feast is transferred to the respectively is to take place, then the Blessed Sacrament, which had been Sunday. This applies only to the Mass which follows the exposed for the adoration of the Forty Hours, should, during the blessing blessing and procession of candles; and procession or imposition of the ashes, be either transferred to another (d) The duly constituted principal Patron of a nation, region, altar where the adoration can be continued without detriment to the piety of ecclesiastical or civil province, diocese, place, town or city; the faithful, or deposed and the adoration resumed when the blessing and procession or imposition of the ashes together with its Mass is finished. This (e) The duly constituted principal Patron of an Order or same course of action should also be followed on All Souls' Day for the Congregation or one of its provinces; principal Mass of the day and the absolution which follows. (f) The duly constituted Patrons of assemblies or religious institutions, in those churches or oratories where the faithful 353.
  • Divine Worship Newsletter

    Divine Worship Newsletter

    ARCHDIOCESE OF PORTLAND IN OREGON Divine Worship Newsletter Birth of Christ - Giotto ISSUE 15 - DECEMBER 2018 Welcome to the fifteenth Monthly Newsletter of the Office of Divine Worship of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon. We hope to provide news with regard to liturgical topics and events of interest to those in the Archdiocese who have a pastoral role that involves the Sacred Liturgy. The hope is that the priests of the Archdiocese will take a glance at this newsletter and share it with those in their parishes that are interested in the Sacred Liturgy. This Newsletter is now available through Apple in the iBooks Store and always available in pdf format on the Archdiocesan website. It will also be included in the weekly priests’ mailing. If you would like to be emailed a copy of this newsletter as soon as it is published please send your email address to Anne Marie Van Dyke at [email protected]. Just put DWNL in the subject field and we will add you to the mailing list. All past issues of the DWNL are available on the Divine Worship Webpage and in the iBooks Store. The answer to last month’s competition was Msgr. John Cihak - the first correct answer was submitted by Diane Orto of Shepherd of the Valley Parish in Central Point. If you have a topic that you would like to see explained or addressed in this newsletter please feel free to email this office and we will try to answer your questions and treat topics that interest you and perhaps others who are concerned with Sacred Liturgy in the Archdiocese.
  • The Review and Expositor

    The Review and Expositor

    THE REVIEW AND EXPOSITOR Vol. XIII. October, 1916 No.4. SOME DETACHED PAGES FROM THE SECRET HISTORY OF MODERNISM WITHIN THE PRECINCTS OF THE VATICAN. By PROFESSOR GENNARO SACCARDI, ROME. The history of the Holy See and of the church should be written with absolute truth on the only just and im­ perishable principle that the historica veritas ought to be supreme, of which we have a divine example in Holy Writ, where the sins, even of Saints, are as openly recorded as the wickedness of sinners.-Leo. XIII. The Roman Catholic organs have already entirely ceased to occupy themselves with the erstwhile all-en­ grossing subject of Modernism. A profound silence has succeeded profuse inky and verbal dissertations as to the true significance of the term "Modernism," interpreted by some as a sacrilegious attempt to undermine the divine principles of Christianity, whilst to others on the con­ trary it synthetised the expurgation of these same prin­ ciples and gave birth to the hope that the resurrection of the ossified organism of the Roman Catholic church was finally at hand. There are those who declare emphatically that Mod­ ernism is dead, crushed by the iron hand of Pius X, rep­ resented on one of the medals struck annually in the Vatican, as the hammer of Modernism. Others again, Downloaded from rae.sagepub.com at The University of Iowa Libraries on July 22, 2015 432 Some Detached Pages from the Secret History of the more thoughtful, know the fire is only smouldering, and that the sleeping flame will burst forth again with renewed strength and vigor and with its fiery tongues wreak ruin and desolation in the Roman Curia.
  • The Holy See in the International Theoretical (Or Theological) Marketplace.* James G

    The Holy See in the International Theoretical (Or Theological) Marketplace.* James G

    The Church-State(s) Problem: The Holy See in the International Theoretical (or theological) Marketplace.* James G. Cussen Abstract Blink, and one might miss the Holy See on the international plane, although it hides in plain sight. With accredited diplomatic representatives from 180 countries, the Holy See enjoys widespread recognition of its perhaps idiosyncratic sovereignty claims. These claims are the jump-off point for this paper; the tangled legal skein they represent notwithstanding, there is no compelling argument to exclude Holy See from the International System. In parsing the well-rehearsed arguments against Holy See sovereignty (i.e. its capacity to conduct international relations at all) we find that, rather, it is more the case of competing meta-narratives with at least equally questionable sets of assumptions. In the blue corner, the historically contingent reality of the 'Westphalian' secular world order; and in the red corner, the historically subversive Kingdom of God. It is a matter of reclaiming the term 'subversive', of course – it is heavily leaden by the 'is-ought' problem. Students of International Relations [IR] are subjected frequently to an account of the development of International Society which situates the 'secular breakwater' in 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years' War in post-Reformation Germany Religion abided, and did not 'resurge' after September 11th 2001. Religion, in fact, had been, and continued to be instrumentalised by the same state-system that claimed to deprecate religion as inherently destabilising. Colonial contexts were rife with Protestant providentialism married to laissez-faire Capitalism after a Weberian fashion. Catholicism, likewise, was instrumentalised against Communism there and in Europe after 1848.
  • Parish Bulletin

    Parish Bulletin

    A weekly publication of the KEWEENAW CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVING THE PARISHES OF SACRED HEART, ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE, OUR LADY OF PEACE, AND THE KEWEENAW MISSIONS AUG 1ST, 2021 — “EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME” Sacred Heart Our Lady of Peace Our Lady of the Pines Holy Redeemer st St. Paul the Apostle 56512 Rockland St.; 2854 US Hwy 41; Ahmeek 443 1 St.; 507 South St.; 301 8th St.; Calumet Calumet Copper Harbor Eagle Harbor Pastor: Fr. Gracious Pulimoottil, MCBS Residence: 301 8th St.; Calumet, MI E-mail: [email protected] Rectory Ph: 906-337-2044 Cell: 906-373-7485 Deacon Art Stancher E-mail: [email protected] Ph: 906-369-0596 Deacon Jeremiah Mason E-mail: [email protected] Ph: 906-281-0862 Eucharistic Adoration will be held at St. Paul’s every Friday from 5:30 PM-6:30 PM, every First Friday from 1:00 PM-6:30 PM. and from 6:15 pm to 8:00 pm at the church hosting the Joint Parish Council mtg. 8/2 ___ Monday ____ 6:30 pm _____ Sacred Heart † Dorothy Pietila 8/3 ___ Tuesday ____ 6:30 pm _____ Sacred Heart † June Burich KCC Parish Contact Information 8/4 ___ Wednesday _ 8:00 am _____ Sacred Heart Office Hours: † Clarence Perreault, Sr. Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; 8/5 ___ Thursday__ _ 8:00 am _____ St. Paul’s Office Phone: 906-337-0810 † Florian Rauch Address: 56512 Rockland St., 8/6 ___ Friday _____ 6:30 pm _____ St.
  • Vincent Zapletal and the Question of the Modernization

    Vincent Zapletal and the Question of the Modernization

    Vincent Zapletal and the Question of the Modernization Strategies in the Catholic Church OPEN ACCESS at the Beginning of the 20th Century Tomáš Petráček KEY WORDS: modernisation — modernist crisis — secularisation — catholic church INTRODUCTION The concepts of the modernization of society or the state are large themes of social history, which have undergone an enthusiastic conjuncture as well as subsequent critique and revision of the created models.1 With an awareness of the limits of these concepts, they can provide a useful interpretational framework for an explication of the historical processes. Within social history, the process of modernization repre- sents a great challenge also for the European Churches, not only as a process influ- encing the form of the external framework of their activities, something with which they had to come to terms, which reshaped the milieu of their existence, but also fun- damentally touches their internal life and development, because it forced them to en- deavour for their own modernization and adaption. The most important problems of the development of religious society are the moments of development, changes, i.e. the questions of continuity and discontinuity.2 For the emphasis of their credibility and authority, the relevant religious tradition usually stresses its stability and inal- terability given by the declared divine origin of its teaching and its perfection, au- thenticity and completeness. At the same time, the transformations of the forms of religious practices, institutions and formulations of doctrine are inevitable, and their success or failure depends on the viability of a given tradition. The Catholic Church has experienced several paradigm shifts, mainly success- ful, because it was therefore able to develop and acquire the religious, cultural and symbolic dominance typical of the late ancient and medieval periods.
  • 1962 Missal Sheet

    1962 Missal Sheet

    OUTLINE OF THE 1962 MISSALE ROMANUM Brief history of the rubrical development of the Tridentine Rite after the Council of Trent To understand where the rubrics stand today, it is necessary to understand something of the decisions of the popes in the past. Here are some major highlights: Saint Pius V (1570): Following the Council of Trent (1545-1563) the Tridentine Rite of Mass was promulgated with the Papal Bull, Quo Primum. However, this did not introduce a new rite of Mass, rather it simply codified the Mass as was used in Rome at the time. It also fixed the text of the Ordinary and Canon of the Mass. Clement VIII (1605): Thirty years after Quo Primum, this pope was required to re-issue the official edition of the Tridentine Rite due to grave departures that had occurred, chiefly in the unauthorized substitution of the Itala Vetus texts with that of the new edition of the Vulgate (1592). New feasts were added as was the Common of Nonvirgins and Rubricae Generales, XX. Urban VIII (1634): Again thirty years later another revision was made. The rubrics were simplified, made clearer and brought into conformity with decisions made by the SRC since the time of Urban VIII. The number of feasts were reduced as well, which simplified the calendar. [Caeremoniale Episcoporum]: This book is separate from the Missal and deals with the ceremonies, especially regarding Pontifical Masses and processions, as performed in cathedrals and collegiate churches. It was drawn up between 1496 and 1528 by various papal master of ceremonies and was issued by Clement VIII in 1600.
  • Documents from the Vatican Secret Archives Concerning the Pontificate of Benedict XV the Positiones of the Consistorial Congregation

    Documents from the Vatican Secret Archives Concerning the Pontificate of Benedict XV the Positiones of the Consistorial Congregation

    Le pontificat romain dans l’époque contemporaine The Papacy in the Contemporary Age sous la direction de | edited by Giovanni Vian Documents from the Vatican Secret Archives Concerning the Pontificate of Benedict XV The Positiones of the Consistorial Congregation Alejandro M. Dieguez (Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Città del Vaticano, Italia) Abstract This brief overview sheds light on certain aspects of Benedict XV’s pontificate: the condi- tions of dioceses and the bishops’ pastoral governance; the monitoring of religious practices and the particular needs of specific regions and nations; and the supervision of disciplinary matters regarding preaching and the clergy’s participation in politics or social life (i.e. dancing parties or membership at associations such as the Knights of Columbus). Through a review of primary sources, this contribu- tion demonstrates a growing attention toward the non-European world manifested by the Church’s concern for emigrants as well as through an interest in Protestant proselytism. Furthermore, specific records indicate a gradual process of modernization taking place within the Church: for example, the projection of films in churches or the clergy’s use of modern means of transportation. Summary 1 Introductory Remarks – 1.1 The Activities of the Consistorial Congregation According to the Areas of Its Competence. – 1.2 The Personal Positions and the Scrupulous Search for Suitable Candidates for the Episcopacy. – 1.3 The Positions on the State of the Dioceses and on the Pastoral Governance of the Bishops.