The Catholic calendar has several ways to divide the Christmas season. The Church’s Western liturgical tradition sees Christmas as an octave, an eight-day celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
1. During the eight days of Christmas, clergy wear white, except during St. Stephen’s feast day and the feast of the Holy Innocents, when they wear red. We’ve all heard the Christmas carol ...
They cannot say the words “in the original Greek” without groaning, apologizing, adding layers of irony to the phrase. They seem so ashamed of some of the very knowledge that qualifies them to wear ...
too many hats to wear; buildings, churchyards; the emotional toll of pastoral work; unhealthy power dynamics; bullying. These pressures are well known, and yet little effective structure has been put ...