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“The world today lives online, so that’s where we have to evangelize.”

Random Thought 1: Following up on the inane project to condemn all things Confederate some of the political reporters have come up with some cute ideas if this is carried to the ridiculous. Maybe we should condemn and remove all Dixie cups. Or should we remove the words monumental, or statuary from the dictionary. Although these are tongue in cheek pun funny. Though these are humorous others are more serious: ESPN actually dismissed a sports caster from football coverage because his name is Robert Lee. Mr. Lee is an Asian American and a recognized sports caster. A high-school in Texas has suspended their fight song Dixie! — My friends, this is political correctness gone amuck.

Send me any asinine puns you might think of to highlight and mock this stupidity.

Random Thought 2: Mohabat News, an Iranian Christian news agency, said in a recent report that Christianity is spreading rapidly among youth in some cities.

“This high rate of conversion of Iranian youth to Christianity is in spite of rigorous Islamic indoctrination of the youth in their families and educational system.”

“The Islamic government of Iran dedicates massive budgets to the support of Islamic organizations that promote Islam among the youth within and without Iran’s borders,” the report continued. “Regardless of such efforts, Iranian youth seem to become increasingly distant from Islam, which is a cause of great concern for the Iranian Islamic government.” — Jesus marches on.

Random Thought 3: Pope Francis told an Italian audience on August 24 that “we can assert with certainty and magisterial authority that the liturgical reform is irreversible.”

Speaking at Italy’s National Liturgical Week, the Pope delivered a major address on the liturgy, insisting that the reforms prompted by Vatican II cannot be undone. He said that the challenge for the Church lies not in “rethinking the reforms by reviewing choices, but in knowing better the underlying reasons” for the liturgical changes.

The reforms mandated by the Council in Sacrosanctum Concilium were not a sudden development, the Pope said; they were the product of years of preparation. He said that the movement toward liturgical reform began with Pope Pius X and continued with Pope Pius XII. The reforms suggested by the Council, he said, “respond to real needs and to the concrete hopes of a renewal.”

Citing the words of Pope Paul VI, Pope Francis said that proper implementation of the Vatican II changes requires not merely changing rubrics but changing minds, helping the faithful better to understand active participation. He said that implementation “requires time, faithful reception, practical obedience, wise implementation.”

Although he did not speak in detail about liturgical guidelines, the Pope said that the reformed liturgy must have three characteristics:

1. •It is a living liturgy, with Christ at its center;
   

2. •It is an action of the people, popular rather than clerical; and
   

3. •It is “a bearer of life,” transforming the faithful, rather than a set of ideas.
   

Before closing his address, Pope Francis acknowledged that although the Roman liturgy is most common in the Church, it is not the only Catholic ritual. “The harmony of the ritual traditions, of the East and of the West,” enriches the Church’s celebration, he said.