Another Picture below Caleb

Recent Visitor

This dog was found along the highway without any identification. She got to spend the night with Tobie and Caleb before I took her to the shelter the next day.

Christ the King

Good video for our up-coming Feast of Christ the King.

Video of Christ the King

Arreverdici!

Well, the day has come!

Today was my last day, after 11 years, here at St. Therese. Thank you for the support and love you've given me as your pastor. I'm leaving a big part of my heart here with you.

My two new parishes are Francis de Sales and Church of the Visitation.

By clicking on the above links you can find my new addresses and phone numbers.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Thanks, Faith, for sharing this!

The Vatican

Ecumenical Councils of the Roman Catholic Church

Just a bit of information on the 21 ecumenical council held over the past 1700 years - NOT a complete breakdown of what went on when and where. It's important for Catholics to know where they come from, not just what they're doing and where they're going.

A New Beginning

Dear friends,

First of all, I thank you for this wonderful gathering of support for not only my ministry here, but for what we at St. Therese are, a loving and supportive community.

I must thank Gerry Jones and all who have worked long and hard to plan and make this gathering possible. Thank you, thank you. This is not just a celebration of me, but of us.

We can never be sure whether the news we receive is bad or good.
When I first was told I had to leave St. Therese, I was devastated – all I could think of was what I was losing:

– A community that has had it’s ups and downs and has stilled thrived.
– People with whom I’ve laughed and cried with and have grown to love.
– people who have helped me see what faith looks like in action.
– people who have challenged me to be more than I ever dreamed I could be.
– a community who have seen me at my worst and my best and have continued
to believe in me.
– who have accepted me as I am, warts and all, and have accepted the
factthat I am human – and have decided that’s ok.
– have argued and disagreed with me face-to-face and, because we are
community and in this together, have agreed to disagree and get on with
our mission.

Because of this, when I first was told by our bishop that I had to leave St. Therese, it seemed to be the worst of news.
And, because all the above is true, it is still bad news.

But you’ve heard me say , over and over again, that I believe the Spirit is always present in every situation.
I still believe this.
God’s Spirit will always prevail, no matter what any of us do to squelch it.
She works through the good and the bad.
No matter the way it happened....
No matter how we judge the situation or the manner in which it happened .
Because of this, I believe there’s a good reason I am leaving.
God has something wonderful down the road for me – and for you.

Leaving is painful.
For you and for me.
I’ve spent 11 years with you.
There’s such a big part of me that doesn’t want to go.
There’s a growing part of me that is becoming excited about what lies ahead.

I’ve always been a person who wanted to be in control.
Anyone who has ever watched me pacing back and forth while new Pastoral Council members were being discerned know this.
I would always listen to the nominees and – in my mind – pick out the ones I knew would be the best – the ones I wanted to work with.
Time and time again God’s Spirit always made different choices than I had made!
More often than not, the Spirit chose better than I did!
So, hopefully, I’ve learned to become more trusting in where the Spirit thinks I should be.

Something’s in store for me.
I don’t know how its going to play out.
But, if that’s where God wants me to be, it has to be Good News!

Now, let’s party and celebrate all we have been and all we are going to be.

Get and Stay Thin

The Human Experience

Haven't seen it yet, but intend to see if Netflix has it.

The Year of the Priest

Icon of St. John Vienney, patron saint of priests.

Last Friday begun the official year of the priest. To read the promulgation go to this site.

Scribes and Pharisees

(See Matthew 6:1-6 and Matthew 6:16-18)

Hypocrites: scribes, Pharisees and ...us?

Ouch!

Isn't it strange that Jesus tells us to wash our faces when we fast so that nobody will know we are fasting, and then on Ash Wednesday, when we begin our season of fasting, we put ashes on our faces so that everybody will know we are fasting.

And even though Jesus tells us to keep our charitable giving a secret, we insist on plaques with our names on them, or the names of loved ones, to indicate to all that we gave the money!

And imagine giving presents on holidays and special occasions without a card indicating from whom it came.

And no thank-you notes!

Jesus teaches that simple acts of self-denial produce a kind of cosmic debt that is paid in the next life.
Or, we can seek our reward in this life in the form of respect and admiration from others. One corrupts and passes away, the other blesses and endures for ever.
True disciples, in contrast to the hypocrites, see that our generosity toward each other is not an obligation, it is an act of love, not duty; it’s done in glory and thanks to God, not to gain honor and credit for us.

Making Christ Present

(The High Feast of the Lamb ((detail) Ghent altarpiece - Jan Van Eyck 16th c)


Today is the Feast of The Body and Blood of Christ (or Corpus Christi, for those who still remember their Latin). Historically it finds its origins in the thirteenth century as a feast in honour of the Blessed Sacrament; in earlier years it was traditionally marked by a procession.

Of course we not only offer devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, but most importantly, we receive it through the sacrament of the Eucharist and the sacrifice of the Mass. Through it we are nourished to live like Christ because through the Eucharist, Christ becomes one with us.

This leads me to reflect on something I saw happen during communion at Mass recently. A regular parishioner received communion, then began returning to their seat as quickly and as steadily as their mobility would allow. Another regular parishioner received communion immediately after, and seeing their fellow Catholic walking as best as they could, put an arm around them to support and guide them.

This was heart warming, yes. Yet it was much more. It reflected the very nature of the Eucharist. St. Augustine tells us that at Mass, we say “Amen” to that which we are. That is, we “become what we receive”; we receive and we are the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ today, the Church, must then commit itself to Christ’s mission. The call to “Love One Another” was acted out so instinctively in the service and love shared between these two parishioners. The very act of communion, becoming one with Christ and with each other, leads us (in the words of Mary MacKillop) to never see a need without doing something about it.

Let us never forget that during the celebration of the Eucharist, Christ is present not only in the person of the priest, the proclaimed word and the eucharistic elements, but also in the liturgical assembly who gathers to celebrate the paschal mystery, the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Losing My Religion

"Why do we stick with Christianity? And with the church? I was reading a thing on Beliefnet this morning about celebrities who've changed religions. And the majority of them had changed from some Christian denomination--Baptist, Methodist, Anglican--to something else...Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Scientology."

With these words, the author of the blog Stalking Holiness begins her article describing why she remains Catholic. It's an article worth reading.

Barnabas, apostle

Icon of St. Barnabas


Reflection on today’s gospel: Matthew 5:20-26

Today's Gospel passage speaks of angry thoughts and demeaning speech in the same breath as murder. Do I think before I speak? Do I gossip, just for "fun"? Do I consider the effects of my "good-natured teasing"? Do I find myself compelled to return an angry word to someone who has provoked me? In and of themselves, these sins are usually pretty minor. But they can lead to so much suffering and ill will. It takes courage and the grace of God to say, "I'm not going respond in anger" or "She confided in me; it stops here." Lord, be in my heart and on my lips that I may worthily proclaim your holy Gospel.

Maison Fortune Kids

For pictures of the boys and girls.

Scripture

I've just added a new feature to my blog. It allows you to instantly see any scripture passage by merely moving your cursor over the source.

Try it with this scripture passage from today's gospel: Matthew 5:20-26.

Remember When?

Liturgical Police!

Father Ron then added that the goal of the program is to empower the parishioners to expect and get a properly celebrated liturgical experience free of all distractions and inappropriate activities which might occur in a parish on a local level. "We don't want cookie mass or Barney Blessings. We want an authentic liturgy abuse free" said Father Ron

To read entire article go to this site.

Moving On 2

Just wanted to remind folks that I will continue this blog from my new parish. You will probably not be able to enter through the St. Therese wev site, but you can still read it at www.frrobertcummins.blogspot.com.

Moving On

Church of the Visitation

Most of you know that I will be moving at the end of this month. I will be Administrator of two small churches in Middlesex County: St. Francis De Sales in Mathews, VA., and Church of the Visitation in Topping.

You can visit their web pages by clicking on their names.

You know our recent history; I am at peace with this decision. I know I'm taking a chance, but if feel this move will be good for me and for my new parishioners. I believe I am the right priest for them at this difficult time in their lives. I also believe Fr. Jim Gordon will be good for you, so give him a chance.

Love Comes First

Reflection on today's gospel, Matthew 5:17-19

"I was always too strict with my daughter," the mother complained bitterly, "and now that she's gone, she won't have anything to do with me." The woman poured out her story of regret and loneliness, recounting all the mistakes she'd made as a mother, agonizing over the broken relationship between her and her daughter. She realized, maybe too late, that she had laid the law down too hard on her daughter while she was growing up. Now she was suffering the consequences.

The Jewish community, to whom Matthew's gospel was addressed, was critical of Jesus for not reaffirming the law as the way to salvation. Jesus taught that moral righteousness is of value in the kingdom, but even those who break the law have a place in the kingdom. Jesus places the relationship between God and human above maintaining moral righteousness.

Tribute to our Soldiers

Thanks to Faith for sending this to me!

Taming of the Spirit

"So unruly is the Spirits entrance that we feel the need to tame it."

A good article on Pentecost by Beverly Gaventa. To read go here.

Winona, Minnesota

My alma mater, St. Mary's College: now St.Mary's University of Minnesota.


Someone from Winona has been checking out my blog! Who are you?

Personnel Committee

I received an e-mail from Msgr. Lane today telling me I'm to meet with the diocesan Personnel Committee Friday morning.

I haven't been allowed to talk to them before. They are the ones who make "recommendations" to our bishop about appointments. Hopefully, it will do some good, so keep me in your prayers this Friday.

Lost Generation

This was sent to me by a friend. It is good!

Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord

A few pieces of art representing the Ascension. The one above is by Giotti. The one below by Salvador Dali.



This one is a Greek icon.

Not Said By Jesus

For more of these go to this site. I warn you, however, some are a little irreverent and this author takes no responsibility for their content!

From the Pontifical Office of the Liturgical Police: Liturgy Watch

Now that I've got your attention, click here.

Vatican newspaper says Obama sought 'common ground' at Notre Dame

To read this story click here.

Mea Culpa!

By request, I have changed the leader font color from red to black.

A "Leaderful" Parish

At this very moment, new members of our Pastoral Council are being discerned. I am impressed by their depth of faith and love for this parish. I’m also impressed with the few people who showed up to help in this discernment.

One of the most important issues in parish life, I believe, is leadership.

I don’t mean the leadership of the Pastor. I mean the leadership of the members, or what one author calls, the extent to which a church is Leaderful!!

I am completely convinced that a church cannot rise above the amount of leadership it raises up, and that the Pastor and other staff can only provide a limited amount of leadership.

What that means is that one of the central limiting factors in churches is the degree to which leaders in the parish are inspired, mentored, equipped, deployed and developed, resourced and given the gift of accountability.

I suspect there are hardly any churches that do this effectively

So, is there anywhere that’s doing this thing well. It’s not preaching that’s the difference between small / medium sized churches and large churches, it’s leaderful-ness.

Christ Preaching in the Temple

OOPS!

Somehow this got posted at the bottom right side of my blog. Even though it is late, I thought all you mothers out there would like it.

My Meeting with Bishop DiLorenzo

I met with the bishop this past Thursday.

Bishop DiLorenzo has given me two options:

1. His preference is that I seek a new diocese to serve in.
2. If I choose not to do that, I have to call around the Diocese of Richmond and ask pastors to let me serve with them.

He will not assign me or help me find an assignment. At the moment I don't know what to do. I am praying over it and talking to my spiritual director and friends. I am asking all of you to continue praying with me to help me come to some decision.

Tomorrow, May 17th, I will have been a priest for 23 years. Right now I feel all that I have done the past years as a priest have just been ignored and cast aside. I know my ministry has been valuable, but our bishop doesn't.

When Edgy Becomes Offensive

I have rarely shied away from being edgy.

•“Get their attention!”
•“Prove that you’re a real person!”
•“Give them something to talk about!”
•“Connect with those who aren’t churched!”

These sayings were the unspoken mantra for many pastors in my generation. While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these statements, without wisdom and prayerful attention, a pastor can easily cross the line from edgy to offensive.

(I have unquestionably done this many times—especially in the past. In recent years, I’ve been convicted that I was being a bad example.)

The message of Christ and the cross is offensive. But our language and attitude doesn’t have to be.

Without drifting into legalistic rules, here are a few suggestions:

•When you are promoting something, don’t make your printed materials and billboards something you wouldn’t want your 9-year-old son or daughter to see.
•Don’t use language you wouldn’t want to hear your children say.
•Keep your humor appropriate. A cheap laugh isn’t worth setting a bad example.
Our message will always be offensive to someone. Let’s make sure were are offensive for the right reasons and not the wrong.

by Craig Groeschel

Looking back

I suppose, because I am looking ahead to moving soon, I'm also looking back. Warning, this post is like a home movie! A few years ago I went to Belieze with my friend Fr. Bert. We stayed in Placencia, at the tip of a southern peninsula. We had just returned from a trip inland and gone cave swimming. In this video we are heading through the grounds of the place we stayed at. Actually, we were tired and sweaty and were going to have a beer on the veranda overlooking the beach.


And now you know the secret I've been hiding all these years from most of you -- my family nickname!

Our Haitian Friends

To read what Holy Family parishioners are doing in Haiti read this article from today's Virginian Pilot.

This is a slide show of our visit to Haiti.

Tobie the first day I got her

She's now 75 pounds!

Christvertising!

The US is known for taking our Christian beliefs very seriously. But this initiative from Aberdeen tops it all. Check out the Christvertising website and learn about their brand targeted prayer which involves millions of people pray for your brand. Here's Christvertisings Christmas wish.

Spirit and Consciousness

I've watched this several times and find it intriguing. Let me know what you think.

Preparing Homilies

When I prepare for my homilies, I always begin by reading the scripture, jotting down thoughts as I read. Then I put those away and leave them, coming back to them every now and then.

Some of my first notes on last Sunday’s gospel:

1) Jesus’ disciples testified to what they saw and witnessed first hand.
What struck me (reminded me, because this was always pounded into us during our preaching classes in the seminary) is that any preaching must include illustrations that I have experience first-hand. Sure, I can borrow from here and there sometimes, but, if what I preach doesn’t touch my heart, it will not touch the heart of the assembly.

2) Our communion with each other comes through our communion with Jesus.
It’s like the way airlines operate these days: I may get on in Norfolk, but that plane comes from and returns to it’s hub airport. Jesus is our hub.

3) If we walk in darkness, we are not in the light. (Duh!)

4) All of us sin.

But look at those last two. See how negative they are. Of course I can get that interpretation from the text, but I’ve noticed that I slip pretty easily into moralism and negative readings of Scripture. So, I’m trying to be more aware of it. The more positive reading of these two points might go something like this:

3) If we walk in the light with Jesus, the darkness will find no place within us.

4) If are truly sorry for our sins and sincerely strive to do better, we will be forgiven and cleansed.

What does this have to do with the lectionary reading? Well, for me it puts me on guard to avoid the same mistaken emphasis.

Jesus is the true vine. The message is not about us being cut off or separated. It is not about what will cause us to wither and dry up. It is about what will cause us to grow and bear fruit. Jesus is the vine. He is what connects us to the soil, to the roots, where we gather the nourishment that allows us to be fruitful. When we are grafted on to Jesus, we are in touch with the source of all life and vitality and growth.

It is a simple observation, but I am reminded this day that we are preaching good news. We ought to read with eye open for it as we prepare.

"Abide in Me": John 15: 1-8

In 1998 F. Dean Lueking was teaching at the Lutheran seminary in Bratislava, Slovakia. This article appeared in the Christian Century, April 16, 1997, p. 387, copyright by the Christian Century Foundation and used by permission.

Beautiful music and beautiful pictures.Abide With Me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.When other helpers fail ...

Abide. It’s an old-fashioned word. Highway motel signs read "Stay here," not "Abide with us tonight." Baseball announcers don’t sum up an inning with "One hit, a walk and two abiding on base." Nor do Northwestern University football fans breathe easier because Gary Barnett is abiding as head coach. Of the 17 uses of abide listed in the Oxford dictionary, eight are obsolete. The word seems to belong to another time.
"To abide" has to do with persevering, continuing, lasting, staying with it. No wonder the term is rare. What it means is rare, in this or any time.
Its absence diminishes us. Friendships break off. So do treaties between nations. Business contracts become tissue thin. Marriage covenants, often begun at altars where this passage from John is heard, are broken in divorce. God alone knows the river of tears and dysfunction set in motion by the absence of abiding in marriage, the foundation of human community.
The Gospel lesson for the fifth Sunday of Easter takes us to the night of Jesus’ betrayal. Surrounding him were the 12 who would, each one, fail to abide with him in his greatest hour of need. Once again, "abide" seemed the last word to risk on Judas, Peter and the rest.
Jesus began his Upper Room discourse with the venerable image of the vine and branches, a favorite reference to Israel in the scriptures he knew. As the prophets so often lamented, Israel repeatedly failed to be fruitful branches that grow from the vine. The disciples would fail too. As do disciples now.
Abiding takes its strength from the Christ who went to the cross for all of us in our sins of perfidy. Now that he is risen, abiding rests on belonging -- he in us and we in him. Everything changes when abiding is not an abstract ideal but a response to his offer. Abide in me as I abide in you! First his grace, then our commitment. It is the ongoing Easter miracle that Jesus works us into the astonishing new creation ushered in by the raising of God’s Son. He abides, lasts, endures, continues, hangs in, holds on, to us and in us. He does so despite our forgetting that we have been baptized into his life. "Abide with me," we sing, and keep on singing, knowing that our flawed staying with him won’t stop his abiding in us.
Abide is a where word. We abide where the Lord gathers us, even two or three of us, in his name. More than most of us realize, the powerful currents of contemporary life, especially those that turn the grace of Christ into one more consumer item, make resilient commitment to him and each other an ever tougher call. Ask clergy and parishioners who have been together over time if abiding through thick and thin in congregations is getting any easier.
All the more reason, then, to anchor our abiding as the community of faith in the Easter gospel proclaimed and lived, and to draw deeply from the well of baptismal grace and the nurture of the Eucharist to meet the hunger for things lasting. Looking back on 42 years of pastoring in the same congregation, with a hundred or more new member classes behind me, I bear witness to the sufficiency of Christ to call and gather his own in our time. As essential as lively biblical, doctrinal and liturgical catechesis is the desire to connect with God and people in ways that have depth and can last. The miracle of it is that those connections take root, grow up and mature into fruitful living that binds people together across otherwise impassible boundaries.
Abide is a when word. It includes times when the presence of the indwelling Christ is known in the wondrous fullness of deep-down joy. That can range from the "Et Resurrexit" of Bach’s B Minor Mass to the hands-raised "Hallelujah" of a storefront revival, from the embrace of reconciled enemies to a glimpse of the world charged with the grandeur of God as the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins caught it.
Along with these radiant moments comes the abiding that is neither towering nor spare but steadily evident in the humdrum and hand-over-hand routines of our waking hours. While it may look uneventful, it is anything but. To abide is to leaven the world with steadiness in one’s calling without sliding into the blight of taking health, sight, hearing, mind and belief for granted. It is remembering what Psalm 121 teaches us: the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.
There are moments when abiding is sustained through times of numbing grief. Some months ago a young man was lost in Alaska during a terrible blizzard. His parents made the long trip to America’s northernmost town, searched in vain for his body, discovered the shelter that would have saved him, experienced the high of the four-hour funeral service and the low of leaving with wrenching questions left unanswered. They were bone-weary within and without as they started home.
During a midnight layover in the Seattle airport they saw a couple just arriving from China with two newly adopted infant girls. Despite their exhaustion, they offered words of welcome and good wishes to the couple, seeing in the arrival of those infants a sign of what they could see only by a faith that outlasts heartache: their son’s arrival into that life prepared by the Easter Lord. Such faithful seeing comes from faithful abiding.
In a world trying to make it on fitful sound bites and the faddishness of seasonal obsessions, is there a better gift we can offer than abiding, he in us and we in him?

Mighty Maid

Springtime and
my true Vine
begins to sprout
with
tiny shoots
peeking forth
from deadwood darkness.

Spring cleaning time
for my cluttered dwelling place
too much filled
with barren branches
and
broken promises of praytime,
contemplation
cast aside
in favor of
junk food.

Yet wholesome fruit
and
vegetables in plenty

I would bear
for my own fulfilling
and the nourishment of
my people.

But first,
I must be cleansed ...

What is it
dear Mighty Maid God
that needs to go
so I can grow?

Christine Schenk, Sr.

Fruits of the Spirit

One of the things I learned growing up was that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (look it up in Galatians 5:22-23, or the Catechism, #1832).

Our Lord gives us the formula for a happy, happy life.
The mistake I often make is that I try to be patient, or I struggle to control myself
Jesus says simply to abide in him and I will produce the fruit.

What I try to do is produce the fruit myself.
"Can't do that," Jesus says.
No more than a branch can produce fruit apart from the vine can I produce fruit apart from Jesus.
My task is to abide in Jesus.
If I spent as much time and effort abiding in the Lord as I do trying to be good, I think I'd be a lot further along on the way to fulfillment.



Sit quietly in prayer with some fruit in your lap. Think about which fruit of the Spirit you need the most and ask God for it. Then have a banana!

"Listen Up, You Women"

Preaching blooper

Our Religion Can Be Funny!

Imagine!

Don't We Always Want It Our Way?

………which might be the reason why I lose my way so often!

Subject: Inner Peace

I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me today, and we all could probably use more calm in our lives.
Some doctor on television this morning said that the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started.

So I looked around my house to see things I'd started and hadn't finished and, before leaving the house this morning I finished off a bottle of Merlot,
a bottle of shhhardonay, a bodle of Baileys,
a butle of vocka, a pockage of Prunglies,
tha marinder of botl of Prozic and Valum pscriptins,
the res of the Chesescke and a box a chocolets.

Yu haf no idr who fkin gud I fel.
Preas sen dis orn to dem yu fee ar in ned ov inr pece

Vern: My Spell Checker has just applied for indefinite stress leave

from Rumors

Quote of the Day

God is not a moral theologian, for which we should all be grateful!

William James via Stephani Keer

Quittin' Time

from the Naked Pastor.

Why Do We Want People to Stay Catholic, Anyway?

A couple of interesting posts below have worried about the number of people leaving the Church. Is it because they’re badly educated? Is it because the Church no longer resonates experimentally with them? Is it because they view the Church as morally corrupt (child abuse)?

This interesting article by Cathleen Kaveny in Commonweal is worth reading.

Obama the Conservative

First off, mirabile dictu, is L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican daily that titled its analysis “The 100 days that did not shake the world.” As John Thavis reports for CNS, the Vatican paper says Obama has “not confirmed the Catholic Church’s worst fears about radical policy changes in ethical areas” and says the “the new president has operated with more caution than predicted in most areas, including economics and international relations.”

“On ethical questions, too–which from the time of the electoral campaign have been the subject of strong worries by the Catholic bishops–Obama does not seem to have confirmed the radical innovations that he had discussed,” the paper said.

To find out why the article calls President Obama a true conservative, go to Commonweal Magazine.

Easter 5 B (May 10): There is No Such Thing As a Private Faith

Future Church?

The following comes from Faith Keczan

Every Parent's Dilemma!

Background.

It's time for me to have "the talk" (about sex) with my 14 year old son. I should have had this discussion before now, but since we home-school and he's never really showed interest in girls I didn't want to push the issue. I didn't grow up with my father so I was never given the talk. He does play hockey so I'm sure he has some idea from hearing other boys in the locker room talk about girls. He's the oldest of 5 and has sisters.

Question.

I was hoping for a few bullet points of the main points I should touch on during our talk. What I mean when I say this is, I'm not talking about the biology as much as the things God wants us to know about sexuality and our Catholic faith. Is it possible for you to give me the "it's really important that you say this" ideas. I'm trying to psych myself up to do this this weekend. I'm not even sure how you start the conversation.

Thanks, I appreciate any help I can get on this.

Answer:

Hi,

Forget the urgency. Believe me; at fourteen, he knows. What you need to do is give him a Christian foundation in which to understand his sexuality. I suggest that you get Jason Evert’s CD set, “How to Talk to Teens About Chastity.” It’s available through shop.catholic.com or by phone: 888 291 8000. Listen to it yourself, and then with him.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P

Did You Miss This One?

Help!

Please send me any links you think others will enjoy.

Thanks,

Fr. Robert

Economics, Patriotism, The American Dream

This is a "have to see." If you agree, please visit the sight and sign the Declaration. Thanks, Rita, for sending me the link.

Great View of Vienna Church

For a wonderful panoramic, interactive view Piaristenkirche in Vienna.

Jack Poche sent this link to me and said that this church is the one Elfie Psimas attended in Vienna.

Some background: The eight district of Vienna is funny - it is densely populated and among the busiest and most rental districts starting lust behind the Rathaus city hall. Yet it is also one of the least touristy district in the central parts of Vienna. One of the few things that do attract some touristy attention is the Piaristenkirche Church "Maria Trea".
The church's characteristic twin towers with pointy spires are dearly visible from many spots in Vienna and make a good landmark - almost as good as those of the Votivkirche in the neighing:tin ninth district. The church was designed by Lukas von Hildebrandt and is considered his masterpiece on the list of his sacral buildings. Together with the Peterskirche in the first district, the Piaristenkirche is his answer to the Kartskirche, which was designed by his lifelong rival Fischer von Eriach.
The "Piarists" are an order that was founded in 1597 by Saint Joseph of Calasanz. Its objective was - besides many monkish ideals and principles - to provide schooling for the children of the poor. The Piarists opened an abbey in Vienna after the Second Turkish Siege in the late 17th century. From the beginning, the designs for the church were done by Vienna's star architect Lukas von Hildebrandt